Radio 5 now !!!!

[Concrete John]

Sightly off-topic, but this is the point a lot of people miss when they say "GH took over a top-6 team".  Milner was colossal for us - he did the work of 2 midfielders & was the main reason we stayed in 6th last season. 

That doesn't mean we should be where we are now & GH has made some massive blunders, but there's no way we would've been 6th again this season under anyone else.

I was a huge fan of Milner - even when others were giving him pelters as a wide player - but have to say I disagree.

I started a thread not long after he signed reagrding Bent and whether, all other players being the same, our side would be worse, better or about the same for the 'swap'.  The winning vote was that we would be better as a goal scorer was more important to us than Milner.

For what it's worth my own opinion was 'about the same'.

Now, I accept we weren't going to be 6th come May 2011 as he only had bent for half a season, but the points to game ratio from end of Jan onwards should have been at or around that level.  It hasn't been.

[Ads]

Honest to goodness, I'd have Fat Sam on a 1 year rolling deal.

Players get that breath of fresh air feeling, we put some wins together, as we're more than capable of, finish 12th or something like that.

See how the football goes, if its sub-O'Neill, then sack him in the summer, no bother.

[bones.]

On a tangent but radio related,did anyone hear Brian Little on TS with Keys and Gray? I missed it,though i caught them finishing the show,and Gray said if it was for Sir Brian,his career in England wouldnt have developed as it did.

McGrath was on before Sir Brian too ,as was Ugo, Ugo sounded a little out of touch with the Villa but the two Gods sympathised with the fans ,said a massive massive club like the Villa should never be in this situation ,mistakes had obviously been made but a change at this stage would just cause more disruption for the club and the best bet for now was to have patience, all pull together and drag ourselves over the finishing line.

[garyshawsknee]

On a tangent but radio related,did anyone hear Brian Little on TS with Keys and Gray? I missed it,though i caught them finishing the show,and Gray said if it was for Sir Brian,his career in England wouldnt have developed as it did.

McGrath was on before Sir Brian too ,as was Ugo, Ugo sounded a little out of touch with the Villa but the two Gods sympathised with the fans ,said a massive massive club like the Villa should never be in this situation ,mistakes had obviously been made but a change at this stage would just cause more disruption for the club and the best bet for now was to have patience, all pull together and drag ourselves over the finishing line.

Ta for that,ill try and catch the interviews on the website.

[barrysleftfoot]

   MM has been banging on for about 4 months now about 6/8 players who are causing serious problems down VP.

   I think the actions of the last week show that this might be not to far from the truth. Would i trust Dunne, Warnock,Collins, to help us out of this current situation?......personally No, each has shown unbelievable unprofessionalism over the last 3 months.Regardless of their feelings/concearns, for a professional sporstman to act as Dunne and Collins did is unacceptable.

  In some ways i think it is essential that GH wins this battle, and that Dunne and Collins are put in their place.

 Now AYoung is going............honest?......put him back on the wing, and get him to play for AVFC, and not for himself.
 Downing dispirited?.........so as i when i saw him bottle out of 2 tackles on sat, and show no creativity at all.Wants to go, good let him go, not got the bottle to be a top player.
 Are either better than Jarvis, N'zogbia,AJohnson,.....probably not.

  We need players who have the drive to want to be better players, most of the above named have not got that, Clark has , Delph has, Walker has, Albrighton has.

  In some ways i want GH to survive, get rid of the unprofessional dross, and bring in some players with a bit of respect for us fans

[sfx412]

Pat Murphy is another Oliver Holt. Never liked us but he is quite right about "him".

I think Pat Murphy is pretty even-handed when it comes to talking about all of the Midlands clubs.   

He is??

Ever since he had his balls chewed off by Ellis he's always been anti Villa, and only comments on us if he feels he can stir it.
The guys a twank who knows his cricket and comments on football. The day I believe he has the inside at Villa, especially from forked tongue Faulkner, is a long way from arriving.

[richard moore]

   MM has been banging on for about 4 months now about 6/8 players who are causing serious problems down VP.

   I think the actions of the last week show that this might be not to far from the truth. Would i trust Dunne, Warnock,Collins, to help us out of this current situation?......personally No, each has shown unbelievable unprofessionalism over the last 3 months.Regardless of their feelings/concearns, for a professional sporstman to act as Dunne and Collins did is unacceptable.

  In some ways i think it is essential that GH wins this battle, and that Dunne and Collins are put in their place.

 Now AYoung is going............honest?......put him back on the wing, and get him to play for AVFC, and not for himself.
 Downing dispirited?.........so as i when i saw him bottle out of 2 tackles on sat, and show no creativity at all.Wants to go, good let him go, not got the bottle to be a top player.
 Are either better than Jarvis, N'zogbia,AJohnson,.....probably not.

  We need players who have the drive to want to be better players, most of the above named have not got that, Clark has , Delph has, Walker has, Albrighton has.

  In some ways i want GH to survive, get rid of the unprofessional dross, and bring in some players with a bit of respect for us fans

Very good post, I feel the same way which is partly why I have mostly avoided the Hotlips bashing to date...

Plus I'm looking forward to all those games I can get to in the Championship next season as well as Villa rediscovering a bit of cult status...

[Mister E]

   MM has been banging on for about 4 months now about 6/8 players who are causing serious problems down VP.

   I think the actions of the last week show that this might be not to far from the truth. Would i trust Dunne, Warnock,Collins, to help us out of this current situation?......personally No, each has shown unbelievable unprofessionalism over the last 3 months.Regardless of their feelings/concearns, for a professional sporstman to act as Dunne and Collins did is unacceptable.

  In some ways i think it is essential that GH wins this battle, and that Dunne and Collins are put in their place.

 Now AYoung is going............honest?......put him back on the wing, and get him to play for AVFC, and not for himself.
 Downing dispirited?.........so as i when i saw him bottle out of 2 tackles on sat, and show no creativity at all.Wants to go, good let him go, not got the bottle to be a top player.
 Are either better than Jarvis, N'zogbia,AJohnson,.....probably not.

  We need players who have the drive to want to be better players, most of the above named have not got that, Clark has , Delph has, Walker has, Albrighton has.

  In some ways i want GH to survive, get rid of the unprofessional dross, and bring in some players with a bit of respect for us fans

Have to say, I agree with this pretty much.

[Risso]

Pat Murphy is another Oliver Holt. Never liked us but he is quite right about "him".

I think Pat Murphy is pretty even-handed when it comes to talking about all of the Midlands clubs.   

He is??

Ever since he had his balls chewed off by Ellis he's always been anti Villa, and only comments on us if he feels he can stir it.
The guys a twank who knows his cricket and comments on football. The day I believe he has the inside at Villa, especially from forked tongue Faulkner, is a long way from arriving.

Rubbish. Pat Murphy was a big defender of Ellis, and his perceived problem with Villa has arisen due to the fact that he doesn't enjoy as close or open a relationship with Lerner as he did Ellis.

[dave.woodhall]

Pat Murphy is another Oliver Holt. Never liked us but he is quite right about "him".

I think Pat Murphy is pretty even-handed when it comes to talking about all of the Midlands clubs.   

He is??

Ever since he had his balls chewed off by Ellis he's always been anti Villa, and only comments on us if he feels he can stir it.
The guys a twank who knows his cricket and comments on football. The day I believe he has the inside at Villa, especially from forked tongue Faulkner, is a long way from arriving.

Rubbish. Pat Murphy was a big defender of Ellis, and his perceived problem with Villa has arisen due to the fact that he doesn't enjoy as close or open a relationship with Lerner as he did Ellis.

And the truth is somewhere in the middle. "I'm not a Villa supporter. I have no opinion one way or the other about Doug Ellis."

[Eigentor]

Reading this thread is (maybe) a bit like following a discussion in the UN Security Council. Hotheads like Risso/Sarkozy is adamant that something must be done about Houllier/Ghadafi, whereas ditherers like Chris Smith/Obama ask "suppose we do, then what?"

It is true that Liverpool has apparently benefited from firing an underperforming but well-respected manager, and that we could perhaps do the same. The comparison stops there, however. Liverpool had an obvious replacement -- an experienced manager who the board knew would be supported by 99 per cent of the fans no matter what he did. We have no such obvious candidate.

This fact places me in the camp of ditherers. I've been supporting Houllier since he was appointed, claiming that he has enough strong points to be a success and enough weak points to be a failure -- and, of course, hoping for the former. I'm realising that he may end up as the latter, but cannot see a clear (and realistic) alternative that would work better in the short and long term.

For me, there are three worrying factors:
1. Results. 1 point above the relegation zone at this stage is worse than even the most pessimistic predictions. Even so, there are still three teams between us and the relegation zone, which means that at least four of the six teams below us must outperform us between now and the end of the season if we are to be relegated.

2. Negativity. Even if we believe in the manager's long-term plans and philosophy, we are (I feel) starting to approach a point where things are going to far. There is too much negativity stemming from poor results, discontent from fans and player unrest, and if this continues too long it will be difficult to change things around.

3. Houllier's lack of pragmatism. It's clear that he has the courage of his convictions, and that's admirable. And it is also quite clear to me that he was dealt a poorer hand than we thought when he was appointed. However, a good manager should be capable of conceiving game plans that gets the best out of the players at his disposal, even if that game plan isn't perfectly aligned with the long-term goal of how he wants the team to play. Houllier seems uncapable or unwilling to do so.

[LeeB]

   MM has been banging on for about 4 months now about 6/8 players who are causing serious problems down VP.

   I think the actions of the last week show that this might be not to far from the truth. Would i trust Dunne, Warnock,Collins, to help us out of this current situation?......personally No, each has shown unbelievable unprofessionalism over the last 3 months.Regardless of their feelings/concearns, for a professional sporstman to act as Dunne and Collins did is unacceptable.

  In some ways i think it is essential that GH wins this battle, and that Dunne and Collins are put in their place.

 Now AYoung is going............honest?......put him back on the wing, and get him to play for AVFC, and not for himself.
 Downing dispirited?.........so as i when i saw him bottle out of 2 tackles on sat, and show no creativity at all.Wants to go, good let him go, not got the bottle to be a top player.
 Are either better than Jarvis, N'zogbia,AJohnson,.....probably not.

  We need players who have the drive to want to be better players, most of the above named have not got that, Clark has , Delph has, Walker has, Albrighton has.

  In some ways i want GH to survive, get rid of the unprofessional dross, and bring in some players with a bit of respect for us fans

Pretty much sums up how I feel too.

[KevinGage]

MON walking out, Kevin McDonald, Rapid Vienna, Newcastle, conceding in the last minute, not being able to keep a lead, Man city away, Liverpool, Dunne, Warnock, FA Cup,

Sounds like the lyrics to that Billy Joel song.

Houllier

Blown away

What else do I have to say

[Percy McCarthy]

   MM has been banging on for about 4 months now about 6/8 players who are causing serious problems down VP.

   I think the actions of the last week show that this might be not to far from the truth. Would i trust Dunne, Warnock,Collins, to help us out of this current situation?......personally No, each has shown unbelievable unprofessionalism over the last 3 months.Regardless of their feelings/concearns, for a professional sporstman to act as Dunne and Collins did is unacceptable.

  In some ways i think it is essential that GH wins this battle, and that Dunne and Collins are put in their place.

 Now AYoung is going............honest?......put him back on the wing, and get him to play for AVFC, and not for himself.
 Downing dispirited?.........so as i when i saw him bottle out of 2 tackles on sat, and show no creativity at all.Wants to go, good let him go, not got the bottle to be a top player.
 Are either better than Jarvis, N'zogbia,AJohnson,.....probably not.

  We need players who have the drive to want to be better players, most of the above named have not got that, Clark has , Delph has, Walker has, Albrighton has.

  In some ways i want GH to survive, get rid of the unprofessional dross, and bring in some players with a bit of respect for us fans

Have to say, I agree with this pretty much.

I agree with it too, the only reason I don't want him to survive is because he's going to get us relegated.

[tsvet]

I wish people would stop going on about Warnock. Hes been useless and a c**t .    He needs fooking off..

Unfortunately the so called manager has not shown much more class in the way he has treated him.