The future of Houllier and McAllister?

[JUAN PABLO]

the quicker those seniors fo*k off the better for all of us...

[K3Villa]

I was told last night (from someone who was at a recent Villa Charity Golf day) That GH will need an operation later in the year and will quit Villa at the end of the season.

[eastie]

all this gossip and rumours will continue until the club make a decision - they know the medical history and therefore surely a decision needs to be made as soon as possible with so many contracts to be sorted out.

on another note where has wikivilla gone? ive been away in cyprus , have i missed anything?

[Greg N'Ash]

Its a tricky one, and i can only see him retiring but i won't be celebrating that much because of the circumstances he's faced.

If he hadn't inherited a side is disarray both in morale and preperation for the season
If the squad hadn't been full of wasters and trouble makers
If the squad had been overhauled in the summer like it desperately needed.
If he hadn't picked up the worse injury list for donkey's years
If he hadn't been laid low for the last month

then i'd probably be wanting him out as soon as possible. As it is faced with so many things he had no control over,  i'm prepared to give him the start of the season to put it right. IF, he's 100% fit.

[Mazrim]

no offence meant here , but do people seriously think a young reserves cousin 1000s of miles away is seriously going to know who any new manager might be ?

No offence taken, but when I did get the odd tidbit from behind the scenes, this is almost exactly how I got it.
So yes, it's very possible. They would at least hear more solid rumours than anybody outside the club.

[eastie]

all true greg , but he also made many fuck ups , the liverpool fiasco and man city cup game along with his choice of gary mac and i feel that even if his health wasnt a doubt then there would have to be serious questions asked about how the season has gone.

there have been many problems but gerard has contributed to the problems himself and a club of villas size and resources should not drop from top 6 to bottom 8 as we have done.

[Greg N'Ash]

I agree he's made a lot mistakes, but still i think most teams would have struggled given whats happened off the pitch this season . Chelsea lost their coach and couldn't win for a month, we've had 4 managers.......

[eastie]

we were both vociferous in our wanting mon out greg, but  i have some sympathy for ged and i feel he would be useful as a dof or on the board , but i really think the club needs a fresh younger approach at the moment and the likes of moyes , coyle or rijkaerd would be the sort of direction to go.

[Greg N'Ash]

I feel the same really given the choice, but i still feel it could have worked out given a bit of time and luck

[Mazrim]

Talking sense greg.

[Concrete John]

The way I see it is some of the problems we have had may have been caused by him:-

Injury crisis - did the double training sessions he brought in contribute to that?

Player unrest - not an issue before so has he failed to be seen as the necessary authority figure to them?

But when you take all that away and look at the teams we have put out in certain games and the results that we have got from them, then it's hard to argue he's done anything other than fail, IMO.

[Mister E]

Talking sense greg.

Now, take it easy Maz; this ain't the season of goodwill you know!

[OzVilla]

Yeah and the Titanic could have been a great Ocean Liner if it had not been fro that pesky iceberg.

The fact is, we had some bad luck and inept professionalism from some but still managed to compound this with poor tactics, poor team selection, poor formation, general disorganisation and attrocious PR skills.

So how about we do the simplest thing for a change - get rid of the of those inept players and management and start afresh.

[VillaZogmariner]

Considering all these bizarre tactics etc we've a better record since Christmas than Man City and Spurs in the league.

[Mr Diggles]

The way I see it is some of the problems we have had may have been caused by him:-

Injury crisis - did the double training sessions he brought in contribute to that?

Player unrest - not an issue before so has he failed to be seen as the necessary authority figure to them?

But when you take all that away and look at the teams we have put out in certain games and the results that we have got from them, then it's hard to argue he's done anything other than fail, IMO.

I'm sorry, but that's a very narrow view of things with regards to injuries and player unrest. If the players couldn't hack the fitness regime then they clearly weren't fit in the first place, an allegation that can not fail to find its rather larger mark in the guise of players like Dunne. Secondly any player unrest is simply inexcusable given the salaries they are on, short of the manager being more fascist than Franco of course. If there was trouable in the ranks, and there clearly were, then I would say the players need to be far more accomodating for someone who has been appointed their manager. We have heard that the younger players were delighted with both the training and the new attitudes from the management to training and football tactics, whilst the older players were somewhat more reserved. Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Carew, Beye... I'm sorry, but for me Houllier had so much crap to deal with I think he gets a pass on some of the issues this year which were out of his control.

There have been mistakes by Houllier of course (Liverpool, Man City, too much change too quickly etc) but not everything has been his fault. I like him, if I'm honest, and if he hadn't have had his recent heart scare I was really looking forward to what changes he was going to make this summer. As it is, that looks an unlikely scenario.