Sir Graham - yet more dignity

[Fred]

I remember when he came back for his 2nd stint as manager when we played chelsea, the love and respect for him that day was fantastic.Compare that to our manager now. As things were not working out in his 2nd spell he (for me) acted with diginity and honour and stepped aside, something DOL did not do, and i could not imagine him dropping the club in it like MON did.
He would be a fantastic chairman for Aston Villa.

[Chris Harte]

UDLC (about £1m) was nowhere near as bad as the people who made him their scapegoat made out. Postma cost about £1m so was worth it as a backup keeper. Leonhardsen (free) and Kinsella (another one who was about £1m) were about all we could afford at the time.
He bought in cheap experience which we needed and was all we could afford. And tried cheap overseas players like Postma and Gudjonsson, the very thing we slated MON for not doing.

I thought De La Cruz, Postma and Kinsella were all well below a million each (I'm thinking £250 - 500k each) but my mind might be playing tricks. That aside I agree with this quote.

As for people being unhappy about not playing Angel, that would always be the case from the blinkered ones given that it was perceived that it was the fans poundsign protests that made the deal happen.

[PeterWithesShin]

UDLC (about £1m) was nowhere near as bad as the people who made him their scapegoat made out. Postma cost about £1m so was worth it as a backup keeper. Leonhardsen (free) and Kinsella (another one who was about £1m) were about all we could afford at the time.
He bought in cheap experience which we needed and was all we could afford. And tried cheap overseas players like Postma and Gudjonsson, the very thing we slated MON for not doing.

I thought De La Cruz, Postma and Kinsella were all well below a million each (I'm thinking £250 - 500k each) but my mind might be playing tricks. That aside I agree with this quote.

As for people being unhappy about not playing Angel, that would always be the case from the blinkered ones given that it was perceived that it was the fans poundsign protests that made the deal happen.

I think Postma was the most expensive of the cheap buys, but can't swear exactly how much any of them cost as my memory for fees that far back is a tad ropey. So I used £1M as a guide price as that was probably the max we paid for any of them.

[LeeB]

You're more or less right there mate, Kinsella cost £750k, I think Postma £1.5, UDLC £1m and Leonhardsen was a freebie.

[Mister E]

I remember being at Blackburn when UDLC, Solano and JPA all played; and played well! At the time, there was a sense that this south american trio would be the start of something really good ...
... now, Citeh can boast £n millions of Argentinian 'intagnible assets' and it ain't really that big a deal.

[gervilla]

I have nothing but respect for GT, GTII doesn't taint that whatsoever.
I finally got to see the "Do I Not Like That" documentary this week (I was off work with a bad back and was very bored).
Phil Neale looked the numptie in the documentary not GT.

[KevinGage]

I remember when he came back for his 2nd stint as manager when we played chelsea, the love and respect for him that day was fantastic.Compare that to our manager now. As things were not working out in his 2nd spell he (for me) acted with diginity and honour and stepped aside, something DOL did not do, and i could not imagine him dropping the club in it like MON did.
He would be a fantastic chairman for Aston Villa.

The way I heard it (not that I'm disputing his dignity or decency)  is that he asked Herbert for some pretty substantial funds to rebuild a side that had narrowly avoided relegation- starting with David Dunn.

Herbert refused- GT walked.

GT also said later in the following season that if he had remained having not been given the tools to give the side the overhaul it needed, he feared his reputation would have taken a hammering. In short, he didn't want to risk it.  At least he was honest.

Despite the later shortcomings that became all to apparent, it illustrates the good job DOL did to get virtually that same side to 6th.

[LeeB]

I remember when he came back for his 2nd stint as manager when we played chelsea, the love and respect for him that day was fantastic.Compare that to our manager now. As things were not working out in his 2nd spell he (for me) acted with diginity and honour and stepped aside, something DOL did not do, and i could not imagine him dropping the club in it like MON did.
He would be a fantastic chairman for Aston Villa.

The way I heard it (not that I'm disputing his dignity or decency)  is that he asked Herbert for some pretty substantial funds to rebuild a side that had narrowly avoided relegation- starting with David Dunn.

Herbert refused- GT walked.

GT also said later in the following season that if he had remained having not been given the tools to give the side the overhaul it needed, he feared his reputation would have taken a hammering. In short, he didn't want to risk it.  At least he was honest.

Despite the later shortcomings that became all to apparent, it illustrates the good job DOL did to get virtually that same side to 6th.

There's part of me that thinks DOL is actually a good manager, who undermines this by being a wanker.

[dave.woodhall]

I remember when he came back for his 2nd stint as manager when we played chelsea, the love and respect for him that day was fantastic.Compare that to our manager now. As things were not working out in his 2nd spell he (for me) acted with diginity and honour and stepped aside, something DOL did not do, and i could not imagine him dropping the club in it like MON did.
He would be a fantastic chairman for Aston Villa.

The way I heard it (not that I'm disputing his dignity or decency)  is that he asked Herbert for some pretty substantial funds to rebuild a side that had narrowly avoided relegation- starting with David Dunn.

Herbert refused- GT walked.

GT also said later in the following season that if he had remained having not been given the tools to give the side the overhaul it needed, he feared his reputation would have taken a hammering. In short, he didn't want to risk it.  At least he was honest.

Despite the later shortcomings that became all to apparent, it illustrates the good job DOL did to get virtually that same side to 6th.

There's part of me that thinks DOL is actually a good manager, who undermines this by being a wanker.

O'Leary's biggest problem was that we were a rebound - he never got over Leeds and he never got over not being asked to go back there.

[KevinGage]

There's definitely a good coach/ foootballing brain in there somewhere.  And if nothing else, he did introduce the likes of Laursen, Bouma and Milner to the club. But he's probably the first manager I can recall who always gave off a vibe that he was doing us a favour just by being at the Villa, and that we were a stepping stone.

You can't always expect professionals who have had long associations with other clubs to fall in love with the Villa - but some of his comments in that last season were disgraceful. I got the bigging up of rival clubs-even clubs on smaller budgets and with inferior players to us. That was just his piss poor attempt at reverse psychology.   

But his dismissive nature about our history -and I'm not talking about the ancient stuff either- was breathtaking.   I think it was mentioned on here -or elsewhere- that someone was talking to Roy Aitkin pre player statement, asking if DOL was sticking around. Aitkin's response was that Ellis wouldn't pay him off.   Not that he wanted to stay and turn it around, that he knew the problem areas to address and was keen to get motoring et.c. Just that Ellis wouldn't pay him off.  So effectively he was happy to remain and go through the motions. Wouldn't surprise me at all TBH.

[oldtimernow]

SGT.....anytime he wants to be involved with the Villa....I'd welcome him here

[dave.woodhall]

There's definitely a good coach/ foootballing brain in there somewhere.  And if nothing else, he did introduce the likes of Laursen, Bouma and Milner to the club. But he's probably the first manager I can recall who always gave off a vibe that he was doing us a favour just by being at the Villa, and that we were a stepping stone.

You can't always expect professionals who have had long associations with other clubs to fall in love with the Villa - but some of his comments in that last season were disgraceful. I got the bigging up of rival clubs-even clubs on smaller budgets and with inferior players to us. That was just his piss poor attempt at reverse psychology.   

But his dismissive nature about our history -and I'm not talking about the ancient stuff either- was breathtaking.   I think it was mentioned on here -or elsewhere- that someone was talking to Roy Aitkin pre player statement, asking if DOL was sticking around. Aitkin's response was that Ellis wouldn't pay him off.   Not that he wanted to stay and turn it around, that he knew the problem areas to address and was keen to get motoring et.c. Just that Ellis wouldn't pay him off.  So effectively he was happy to remain and go through the motions. Wouldn't surprise me at all TBH.

The thing I could never understand is that given the situation of the time all he had to do was keep his gob shut, say a few platitudes about wonderful fans and big club, and he would have had us firmly behind him and blaming Doug. Instead he went out of his way to alienate press, supporters, board and players.

[KevinGage]

I think he just had a really inflated sense of worth, combined with a bad case of Foot in Mouth.

There are reports that he was unpopular in the game long before he game to Villa, telling Irish players on international duty that the only reason George Graham wasn't picking him at Arsenal was because he had a bigger house than Gorgeous George.  And not meaning it as banter either.

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

Sir Graham would be a superb appointment to our board, he knows a million times more about football than anyone else on the board and has a real love for the club.

I've had the pleasure of meeting him away from football and he oozes class, his feelings for Aston Villa are unquestionable. If he wanted to work at Villa in any board type position Randy Lerner would be stupid to not take Graham up on that opportunity.

I'd seriously consider Brian Little also. 

[PaulWinch again]

Well he's just appeared on the start of Strictly Come Dancing.