How far up MON's a*se is Rod Liddle?

[Mister E]

In today's Sunday Times, the poisonous Liddle makes yet more disparaging remarks about our club - all done weaved within the sort of rampant speculation that's been evidernt on here during the past week or so.
"the man on a white charger racing towards Villa Park might be Steve McClaren, with his gelaming new teeth and sudden acquisition of a Brummie accent. The Villa faithful may cleave to the hope that it might be Carlo Ancelotti but I cannot see why he would want to go there.
"As things stand, you would not bet on Villa finsihing higher than Fulham next season, whoever ends up in charge; they still look oddly uncompelling and there are likely to be more notable dpeartures from the club this summer than arrivals. If Martin O'Neill can't hoist them into the top four, who can?"

I don't mind people having a view on the Villa - blimey, I'm hardly in a position to sensor anything! nor would I want to - but he seems to trot out his snidey, insidious stuff every week, feeding the careworn myths about MON and using all the belittling tools and undermining drivel employed by DOL in his 'prime'.

The article reads somewhat different when you add in the opening paragraph where he talks about how Randy Lerner isn't the kind of Chairman to touch a "disloyal" manager like Mark Hughes with a bargepole and the beginning of the sentence that you missed from your quote where he says "And the terrible thought is that the man on a white charger racing toward Villa Park might be Steve McClaren...

I don't think that my  selection of quotes, VD, really changes the point I was making about Liddle's general antagonsim toward us (if News International weren't a subscription-only website, I'd have copied the whole article rather than type in the bits that were directly relevant to the point I was making). And your addition of other comments made by 'The Rod' adds nothing.

[Percy McCarthy]

I don't take that much notice what so called 'football media experts' write in their papers anymore. Let's face it, what do they know about football that a lot on here don't?

I reckon that's true about so many different things. You can read articles or watch TV shows about lots of things you don't really know much about and feel better informed and educated, and think the writer has a real insight. Then an article or show appears on a subject which you personally have experience of or know a lot about, and it's then you realise how wrong they've got it. I suppose that's how they get away with writing such shit - the majority of their audience/readership are usually not experts on each particular subject.

[Villa'Zawg]

...
I don't think that my  selection of quotes, VD, really changes the point I was making about Liddle's general antagonsim toward us (if News International weren't a subscription-only website, I'd have copied the whole article rather than type in the bits that were directly relevant to the point I was making). And your addition of other comments made by 'The Rod' adds nothing.

" The man on a white charger racing towards Villa Park might be Steve McClaren, with his gelaming new teeth and sudden acquisition of a Brummie accent..."

"...One suspects that he had been led to believe that Aston Villa were waiting with their knickers already around their ankles, panting for the sudden arrival of Hughes on a white charger. But, as it turned out, Randy Lerner wouldn't touch Sparky (nice) with a barge pole. If he could do that to Fulham, the Villa chairman will have been thinking, what would he do to us?

And the terrible thought is that the man on a white charger racing towards Villa Park might be Steve McClaren, with his gleaming new teeth and sudden acquisition of a Brummie accent..."

I agree it doesn't change the point you were trying to make but I think it reads quite differently. It's not a big deal.

[German James]

Rod Liddle thinks he's an even pithier reincarnation of Samuel Johnson, when in fact he's a smug fool who's been trying to be contraversial since he got forced out of the BBC. He's a good example of the media eating itself and if he ever became aware of this 60+ comment thread devoted to his opinions, he'd wank himself into a coma. 

I find his anti-Villa (or pro-O'Neill) bias bizarre but ultimately irrelevant.

[Greg N'Ash]

You can understand why MON appeals to certain sections of the press especially the broadsheet middle class hacks. The whole softly spoken persono he projects screams "i'm one of you" and obviously appeals to them more than the cliched ron-manager type. Not to mention the "he's practically a lawyer" myth. Fooled lots of people and fooled a lot on here. Even i was took in for a while until i started reading his written interviews in a Mick McCarthy voice and vice versa - Couldn't tell the difference - both the interviews and the style of football

[Mazrim]

Let's take Oliver Holt for example, he writes for the Daily Mirror. There's not that much more to be said really?

Oh there is. He's a chubby faced, smarmy, clueless, whining, self important, arrogant, boring, childish, petty, sychophantic, retarded bastard spawn of Emily Bishop and should have been flushed down the shitter 30 seconds after he was conceived.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

You can understand why MON appeals to certain sections of the press especially the broadsheet middle class hacks. The whole softly spoken persono he projects screams "i'm one of you" and obviously appeals to them more than the cliched ron-manager type. Not to mention the "he's practically a lawyer" myth. Fooled lots of people and fooled a lot on here. Even i was took in for a while until i started reading his written interviews in a Mick McCarthy voice and vice versa - Couldn't tell the difference - both the interviews and the style of football

He's more Mike Bassett than Mick McCarthy, at least football wise. In fact whilst Mick is a blunt Yorkshireman who generally tells it as he sees it, Martin tends to speak in riddles. Maybe the press think he's deep and fail to realise he talks out of his arse. Still, good luck to him, it's worked for him until now.

[Pat McMahon]

I find his articles thought provoking and interesting. I think a lot of his comments hit the mark and frankly the negative reaction here is because often the truth hurts.

No, it's because he's another of the metroplitan media pack who can't understand how their mate could be dumped by ungrateful Aston Villa.

Dave, did we dump MON? Am out of the loop on a lot of stuff over here and have not heard or read an official version of the events of last summer. I thought the general concensus was that MON had walked...?

I'd love to know what actually happened between the Valencia friendly and the Monday evening when he resigned.

[Brazilian Villain]

I find his articles thought provoking and interesting. I think a lot of his comments hit the mark and frankly the negative reaction here is because often the truth hurts.

+1

[Rip Van We Go Again]

You can understand why MON appeals to certain sections of the press especially the broadsheet middle class hacks. The whole softly spoken persono he projects screams "i'm one of you" and obviously appeals to them more than the cliched ron-manager type. Not to mention the "he's practically a lawyer" myth. Fooled lots of people and fooled a lot on here. Even i was took in for a while until i started reading his written interviews in a Mick McCarthy voice and vice versa - Couldn't tell the difference - both the interviews and the style of football

Spot on Greg.

[Brazilian Villain]

Let's take Oliver Holt for example, he writes for the Daily Mirror. There's not that much more to be said really?

Oh there is. He's a chubby faced, smarmy, clueless, whining, self important, arrogant, boring, childish, petty, sychophantic, retarded bastard spawn of Emily Bishop and should have been flushed down the shitter 30 seconds after he was conceived.

Not a fan, Maz?

[Mazrim]

Not really mate, no.
The thought of uppercutting his head off into space is more appealing than it ought to be.

[WarszaVillan]

You can understand why MON appeals to certain sections of the press especially the broadsheet middle class hacks. The whole softly spoken persono he projects screams "i'm one of you" and obviously appeals to them more than the cliched ron-manager type. Not to mention the "he's practically a lawyer" myth. Fooled lots of people and fooled a lot on here. Even i was took in for a while until i started reading his written interviews in a Mick McCarthy voice and vice versa - Couldn't tell the difference - both the interviews and the style of football

Spot on Greg.

Some people really need to find closure

[Rip Van We Go Again]

You can understand why MON appeals to certain sections of the press especially the broadsheet middle class hacks. The whole softly spoken persono he projects screams "i'm one of you" and obviously appeals to them more than the cliched ron-manager type. Not to mention the "he's practically a lawyer" myth. Fooled lots of people and fooled a lot on here. Even i was took in for a while until i started reading his written interviews in a Mick McCarthy voice and vice versa - Couldn't tell the difference - both the interviews and the style of football

Spot on Greg.

Some people really need to find closure

Closure has been made, but Greg's comments were spot on and worthy of note.

[Greg N'Ash]

You can understand why MON appeals to certain sections of the press especially the broadsheet middle class hacks. The whole softly spoken persono he projects screams "i'm one of you" and obviously appeals to them more than the cliched ron-manager type. Not to mention the "he's practically a lawyer" myth. Fooled lots of people and fooled a lot on here. Even i was took in for a while until i started reading his written interviews in a Mick McCarthy voice and vice versa - Couldn't tell the difference - both the interviews and the style of football

He's more Mike Bassett than Mick McCarthy, at least football wise. In fact whilst Mick is a blunt Yorkshireman who generally tells it as he sees it, Martin tends to speak in riddles. Maybe the press think he's deep and fail to realise he talks out of his arse. Still, good luck to him, it's worked for him until now.

Don't get me wrong, I find McCarthy quite entertaining. Its just the "hey oop, I'm training me whippets" accent which to some parts of the media equates to being a bit thick, just like the media stereotype of anyone with a brummie accent is a borderline retard. MON had a smooth way about him in interviews, with the long pauses, the nice accent and the rhetorical questions he threw in all over the place, but faced with the evidence of his tactics and style of football during his villa reign there's precious little evidence of genius at work.