danceoftheshamen

Hmm where & when was he supposed to have actually said this i wonder? Just smells a bit like BS & it is in the Sun afterall! All the redtops are quite anti-Villa lets face it as traditionally we are major competition for their beloved London clubs. Having said that... even if he did say it all he is saying is he wouldn't play SI in AY's position which having seen the way we conceded goals with him there you can't really argue with surely? Doesn't mean he wouldn't play him in a different formation though. Sounds like just another "kick em' whilst they are down" comment which lets face it the media love to do with any football club/celebrity they see in a spot of trouble.

Absolutely Yes! The atmosphere has never been the same since all seating came in.

I had to post on this as for me there are 3 reasons that we are where we are today. 1. The new incoming regulation regarding all clubs having to operate "within their means". This i feel was a key factor in RL's "trimming the wage bill" thinking.. & it simply had to happen at some point as it will at all the other clubs.. Interestingly including Man City & Chelsea. This for me is when our youth policy will come to the fore in it's fullness. 2. MON's untimely departure. This was as close to "sabotage" of a football club as you can get surely?! To leave with a week to go till seasons start was as we all know extremely poor on his part. It was for me utterly unproffesional & a real shame as he had no doubt done a good, though unfinished, job up to that point. What happened who knows but for me having the massive wages on offer for a Premiership manager goes hand in hand with being responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of such a huge institution.. What he did was akin to a grand prix driver bailing out with 5 laps to go & not caring if the car got written off in the resulting crash. In came Mr Houllier & i feel he knew what he was taking on & felt he could get us through the season with a view to strengthening in January to a point with no doubt plenty of comings & goings in the summer. What nobody could have accounted for however was.... 3. 3 years worth of injuries in 6 months. I really don't see how we can judge GH until the injuries have eased up & he has had some time to instill his methods & sign a few. Problem is we could just possibly be a division lower by then! By my reckoning we need about 7 wins & a couple of draws but it could be a higher points total needed this year to survive & we have a right bunch of hard games upcoming!... I think what many are forgetting is that when these "missing" players come back they will surely not be match fit for a few weeks at least so it may take some time for results to significantly improve? Worrying....... Very worrying

Why do our players look like they can hardly keep their feet? Doesn't seem to be affecting Liverpool but it looks like we are playing on ice & them on grass?! Only thing i can think of is their players have more experience & know how to play it in these conditions. They are making us look like clowns & both their best players arn't even playing :shock: It has been a long while since i have seen such a shockingly bad performance as that 1st half. The players look completely non-plussed about it too.. not comfortable seeing James Collins laughing & sharing jokes when we are 2-0 down & playing like a conference side?! I fear for us this season i really do... Hope i'm wrong

Hi General, I noticed a story in the local press regarding the former Villa manager John Gregory selling his V1LLA number plate on ebay & thought someone who may have been interested in it might not have seen it & would possibly be annoyed at missing it?! Some other VTers suggested i post it on here also as the sale on Ebay ends tomorrow (Sat 20th Nov) & someone at the club may like to know about it?! LINK:To: "Ex Villa boss Gregory sells piece of club memorabilia." http://tinyurl.com/38c3mlo Regards

Link http://tinyurl.com/3yp4wn6 just been released!

Houllier released from french contract just!!! Link: http://tinyurl.com/3yp4wn6

Same complete load of b*****ks as usual. Thats 2 awful defeats against 2 relegation candidates in my book & one of them 6-0. Shocking display of finishing as per usual with the old "couldn't hit an aircraft carrier from 4 yards" thing resurfacing.

I am happy with the appointment & think GH is a really proffessional guy who could do a very good job here.. & lets hope he does! For me he has a very good youth set up here already so if he can improve that still further then great. He has inherited a decent side with some previously disillusioned players who may well just suprise us now they have a new opportunity, & here's to hoping they see their new chance & take it! It will be fascinating to see who he buys in when he gets the chance although we may have to wait for the summer for this unfortunatley for obvious reasons regarding the Jan window. Things which i think are really woeful with the club at the moment & in desperate need of attention are: 1. Our scouting network: As revealed by GT recently this is in a very poor state. 2. Our profile as a club abroad: This is for me very poor for a club of our stature. Even clubs like Newcastle have more of a presence abroad than we do & for me we are badly missing the boat with this issue. I travel a lot & know that we have real strong points abroad especially in places like Sweden, Norway in fact scandinavia in general & yet the presence over there in shops etc is by all accounts non existant. I even gave my Villa top to a lady from Sweden on a trip to Egypt recently as she couldn't get one over there! I have "in Laws" in eastern Europe & Villa are just not represented in the shops.. Not even the flippin Nike stores for goodness sake!! Even in the sports shops by me you have the top 4 clubs strips, Newcastle & Liverpool.......No Villa!!! & i'm 35 miles away! Good luck GH!

If Phil Thompson has, as has been touted by many on here, said loads of negative stuff against AVFC then surely it will mean he will now have the opportunity to come & put everything right?

Exactly! over the years i have seen a lot of players & others come to Villa who have admitted they were suprised at just how much potential this club had once they had seen it from inside the walls so to speak. A lot of this would be down to biased reporting over the years which has tended to belittle the Villa whilst inflating the image of other teams.. especially those in London of course! So i am not suprised in the least when someone such as PT has a bit of an underwhelmed view of Villa as at the end of the day if you throw enough mud..... I think he would be quite suprised when he actually saw 1st hand what this clubs true potential is.

Actually i think he could do really well. may take a year or 2 to get us anywhere like up to challenging top 4 but for me there is still at least 1 top 4 spot up for grabs even allowing for the uneven playing field we now have with Chelski & Man Sheikhty & so it seems possibly Liverwok soon too.

Fast approaching 666 pages!! :shock: ..surely not? .............................

Staggering the amount of negative people on here. Then i really don't think it would matter who was appointed as some would still find some way of turning it into a negative so i guess with Houllier's age, former heart problem & consequential loss of form at Liverpool it merely makes him an easy target for the "ink bullies". Don't get me wrong i understand just how much this means to us all but for me it is time to accept the difficult predicament the club found itself in & move forward with positivity & focus on all the good in this situation. If it is GH then we can rest assured that Randy & co must have seen him as the best option & therefore, as i trust their judgement, i will trust he is the best guy for the job at this time. So what are the positives? 1. By all accounts his tenure at Liverpool was split into 2 halves. The 1st half before his heart problems was fantasic. He won the treble etc & made good signings mainly. The 2nd half, after his heart problem was poor but was that really any suprise? The guy had serious problemss for goodness sake. 2. He is now over his health problems so surely we would be getting more of an "early period" liverpool manager which would be awesome. 3. His age for me is a bonus as he will need every ounce of experience coming into this particular situation. Also he will be the perfect guy for KM to learn from at close quarters. 4. His style in the way he likes setting up strong foundations for youth development etc would seem to be perfect for us. 5. He's a proven winner which none of the other candidates are. Neither are Moyes or Jol in the Premiership. 6. His style of play would suggest he would be able to utilise the current squad to it's full capacity.

If it is Houllier/K Mac i will trust our board to have come up with the best option for the club. They were the ones who interviewed everyone afterall! It could be a perfect match actually with K mac taking some of the work load off Houllier which would be better for him with his health concerns & Houllier bringing a wealth of experience & knowhow to the table & doing the manager stuff which KM has clearly indicated he does not like. KM will have more knowledge of the playing staff than anybody else alive & both enjoy the development of youth systems etc. I am sure they can work out an agreeable system of working between them they are grown men afterall! Of course this will most likely all change tomorrow mind with someone else throwing his hat in

OMG lets hope the appointment is not made in just under 500 posts time because that will be the 6666 post anouncing the arrival of........HIM :shock:

Has to be said i too think KM has had a really rough ride by many. The guy worked a minor miracle really to even remotely hold things together with the evacuation of virtually the entire management & coaching team. I mean even the chief scout walked by all accounts for goodness sake! So not surprising we lost a couple amidst all that chaos & to actually win a couple was nothing short of miraculous. So just wanted to say, with the apparent impending appointment of our new manager/head coach or whoever is about to be bestowed upon us, that i think KM deserves a massive Thank You. If he is appointed then good luck to him, if not then i hope he finds himself where he truly wants to be he deserves it.

Ahhh come on! just a clue, a riddle even..ANYTHING!

Thanks for this, very interesting view given his relationship with the club. Yeah i like the way he sees it as a potential opportunity to tighten the ship & challenge the top 4 properly but also sees the potential dangers too! (Soz for not posting a copy of the article but my copy & paste has decided to stop working )

Very interesting read here http://tinyurl.com/34k9zq6 Graham Taylors thoughts on the Manager situation Is basically saying he thinks it's time to move on from the typical all embracing manager to a head coach with some of the responsibilities such as money, transfers etc dealt with by someone else. He think KM would be a good choice as he is unsure about the candidates who are avaliable & others are tied up elsewhere i.e. Hughes & Jol

I think Curbs has got something about him tbh. I can also see why he is not the most popular candidate mind you especially as he would be coming in on the back of one of the games most flambouyant characters. He does kinda seem like Mr Dull in comparison but i'm sure he's not that bad. Would personally prefer someone who has the potential in there somewhere to pull a rabbit out the hat & actually win us something though. Ah well no harm in dreaming...

Must admit this is a point i was wondering about too! I mean yes backroom teams usually leave pretty soon after the manager for sure but immediately? Seemed a touch like a 2 fingers up job to me.

At least it looks better now in terms of "Wanted.... manager to manage a team currently in 4th place of the Premier League!"

Does kind of hint that it won't be KM either actually... Although i guess that is down to him deciding on whether or not to throw his hat into the ring which he evidently has not as yet. Will say though that i hope whoever gets the job makes a signing or 2 & also that they sort out the incredible "not able to hold onto the ballitis" infection which our players seem to have. I find it incredible that everytime i watch Villa they always come up with new levels & tricks on "how to give the ball back to the opposition as quickly & daftly as possible!!"

If it's Klinsmann can we have him as player manager please?! exactly the sort of striker we so desperately lack!! On a more serious note... Could this whole manager debacle actually be a blessing in disguise? In the long term of course as it's obviously crippling us at present. I mean had MON taken us as far as he could really? Also was O'Neills brand of football actually much fun to watch anyways? They say every cloud has a silver lining so who knows?