Villa Park: a managerial graveyard?

[SoccerHQ]

In following the club for 20 odd seasons I would say that season was the most flattering league position.

When we've finished near the bottom we've generally stunk the league out and deserved to be down there and when we finished 6th under MON we were one of the best teams (or most consistant in the league) and should've finished higher in two of those seasons if we had better squad management and a little bit more luck.

For most of 10/11 we were bottom half and indeed fighting relegation up to the middle of April. League was very condensed that year for some reason and we just timed a decent end of season run while others lost form.

Maybe what it did show is for all the issues of that season we still had a decent squad who could turn it on when they felt like it. More fool the club then for appointing McLeish and accelerating the decline.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Bottom line is houllier was way past his best and it showed

[BOB MANSFIELD]

MON's " consistency " was surely the result of playing his favourites all the time.
You can't say we've had much of that since - certainly this season with 19 in and 19 out. Stability comes from consistency and that comes from playing the same team week-in and week-out surely?

[SoccerHQ]

Bottom line is houllier was way past his best and it showed

Yes to save 4 futile hours of arguing about whether we deserved to finish 9th in a season or not, this.

Haulier was our managerial equivalent of Schmiechal, Ginola or Robbie Keane.

Good manager but way past his best. He was not going to build a dynasty here ffs.

If we'd got him just after he left Liverpool or Lyon then yes I'd have been more optimistic but he was drawing a pension from the FA which set alarm bells ringing for me.
No idea what we were smoking in August 2010.

What's worse if he'd turned us down...it would probably have been Curbishley.

[Villafirst]

Bottom line is houllier was way past his best and it showed

Bottom line: 9th place finish. I'd take that finish now!

[BOB MANSFIELD]

9th from the bottom even sounds vaguely appealing..........

[Ads]

Might have had something to do with winning the League Cup.  We were third that season into February.  Having secured the cup (our first in 20 years) and European football  in March , BFR decided to field sides made up of the likes of Beitkreutz, Beinlich and Yorke with one eye on next season. Finishing 4th or finishing 10th didn't matter a whole pile either way back then.  This was pre 1999, when you couldn't get a CL place by failing to win the league.

6th was the highest we were in Feb.

We beat Blackburn away to go 3rd under O'Neill. Durh, ignore me.

[Meanwood Villa]

There's a lot of revisionism going on with Houllier just because the season he was manager for some of the time (lest we forget the results before he arrived and after he was ill were better than when he was in charge) wasn't as godawful as what's followed. He was old, semi-retired, out of touch and as it turned out not physically capable of being the manager of an ambitious club competing for European football. It was a bad appointment. Just because what followed was worse doesn't make it better.

[dave.woodhall]

There's a lot of revisionism going on with Houllier just because the season he was manager for some of the time (lest we forget the results before he arrived and after he was ill were better than when he was in charge) wasn't as godawful as what's followed. He was old, semi-retired, out of touch and as it turned out not physically capable of being the manager of an ambitious club competing for European football. It was a bad appointment. Just because what followed was worse doesn't make it better.

There's no revisionism - just plain fact. We finished ninth, and for the last time until now there seemed to be some plan emerging.

[olaftab]

Might have had something to do with winning the League Cup.  We were third that season into February.  Having secured the cup (our first in 20 years) and European football  in March , BFR decided to field sides made up of the likes of Beitkreutz, Beinlich and Yorke with one eye on next season. Finishing 4th or finishing 10th didn't matter a whole pile either way back then.  This was pre 1999, when you couldn't get a CL place by failing to win the league.

6th was the highest we were in Feb.

We beat Blackburn away to go 3rd under O'Neill. Durh, ignore me.

I think we were 3rd at the time of Moscow and Stoke fiasco and that was February?

[PeterWithesShin]

Not sure the results we better before he came in, we won 2 out of 7. Got slapped for 6 at Newcastle and dumped out the UEFA cup.

[PeterWithesShin]

Might have had something to do with winning the League Cup.  We were third that season into February.  Having secured the cup (our first in 20 years) and European football  in March , BFR decided to field sides made up of the likes of Beitkreutz, Beinlich and Yorke with one eye on next season. Finishing 4th or finishing 10th didn't matter a whole pile either way back then.  This was pre 1999, when you couldn't get a CL place by failing to win the league.

6th was the highest we were in Feb.

We beat Blackburn away to go 3rd under O'Neill. Durh, ignore me.

I think we were 3rd at the time of Moscow and Stoke fiasco and that was February?

We're talking about 1993/94.

[olaftab]

Bottom line is houllier was way past his best and it showed

Not sure he was but we have found one now collecting his pension from us.

[olaftab]

Might have had something to do with winning the League Cup.  We were third that season into February.  Having secured the cup (our first in 20 years) and European football  in March , BFR decided to field sides made up of the likes of Beitkreutz, Beinlich and Yorke with one eye on next season. Finishing 4th or finishing 10th didn't matter a whole pile either way back then.  This was pre 1999, when you couldn't get a CL place by failing to win the league.

6th was the highest we were in Feb.

We beat Blackburn away to go 3rd under O'Neill. Durh, ignore me.

I think we were 3rd at the time of Moscow and Stoke fiasco and that was February?

We're talking about 1993/94.

Oh ok I think I need to sleep😟

[Meanwood Villa]

Not sure the results we better before he came in, we won 2 out of 7. Got slapped for 6 at Newcastle and dumped out the UEFA cup.

You're right, I thought he came in after two wins from three and I must have obliterated Rapid 2- the nightmare returns from my mind.