Super-Villan

Shocking that bench. Bannan and Delfouneso pushed out by Heskey and Pires? Bullshit. So much for giving youth a chance.

I didn't like Benitez during the Barry saga, nor how he had his Liverpool playing, so he'd be starting with a few marks in the negative column for me. I'd also be wary because the highest profile manager, or the one who has worked at the highest level and won the most trophies, isn't necessarily going to be the one that's the best fit for Villa.

Something along those lines is an absolute racing certainty I think, given what has happened.

This. If he had any real ambition at all he'd jump at the chance to manage us. Winning something with teams like Chelsea, Inter and Real, considering their players and finances, is peanuts really, any half decent manager will accomplish that. If he truly believes he's 'the special one', why not come here and prove it!? Not. A. Chance. Why stop at us? If he really wants to prove he's so great, why not go and take over a non-league team and take them on to win the Champs League. This just isn't going to happen. It would take him out of the limelight, and if it went wrong it would damage his reputation a hell of a lot. The best managers manage the best clubs. They don't drop down a step or three just for the hell of it.

Crikey. Whatever you might think of him as a footballer, you've got to feel sorry for the guy. He's obviously not the most stable of guys mentally in the first place, and he's had a lot of crap thrown at him over the last few years.

A draw would keep him in a job, I'm almost certain. I don't think he'd go after a loss unless he walked.

Do me a favour and read what I've written. Neither are the answer but theres no point in changing one stupid system for another equally stupid system. They are both stupid and AV presents so little a change its hardly worth it, I'd say its disadvantages outweigh its advantages. I'm not in favour of FPTP, I just don't see the point in replacing it with something equally as dumb Quite. The referendum needed two questions to be of any use really. The first obviously being 'Do you think the current FPTP' voting system needs to be changed?' Otherwise it's pretty pointless. But they wouldn't have had the balls for that.

I'm not sure if a form of PR will be proposed after this, perhaps it won't be. But I think there is more chance of it if AV doesn't go through, for the reasons I've outlined. And I'm unsure right now that AV is enough of an improvement to risk that chance in voting for it. The libs may not have had AV in their manifesto, but they have proposed this system now and Clegg is putting everything behind it. Make no mistake that it would be a bloody nose for them if AV is rejected. And a bloody nose right now will put more pressure on them, especially any lib dem MPs in marginal seats. It could cause a lot of damage to the coalition as a whole. And for me that's a good thing.

We never had the option of buying Adam Johnson. So I don't really get the point of this, sorry. He was always going to a bigger team.

I think almost exactly the opposite. (Or at least that it could work both ways.) A yes vote and the politicians would think they've satisfied the urge for electoral reform and nothing else will be done for a long time. A no vote and I believe reform of a better kind could be more likely in the future. Plus it would give the libs a bloody nose and hopefully do a lot of damage to the coallition.

I don't think I'll ever really like Houllier, no. But if he has us 5/6 playing nice football next season I won't be calling for his head quite so strongly. And I might accept that he's doing a decent job as a manager, depending on the circumstances. (No, I don't see this happening.)

This for me too.

I think it was pretty much impossible to tell from the MOTD picks. I guess they didn't have that many cameras there because it wasn't a main game, so there won't be the same number of angles. Watching it in real time it looked over, but I guess we'll never know for sure.

and surely as a Villa fan you wouldn't be claiming you'd rather have had 0 points than 1 idiot Not necessarily. I am glad we got a point at least today, but at the same time I can see his point. In terms of Villa's long term future it could well be that a loss today (coupled with Houllier's sacking) would have seen us much better off in the long run. Quite possible, and certainly not as ridiculous as some people want to make out.

And I suppose he's fortunate to have finished in the top half almost every season, including a top 4 finish, despite never being able to strengthen his squad when all around are improving theirs. I'll have some of that 'fortune' at VP then. Remember that Fellaini cost about £15m. To say he's never been able to strengthen his squad is not correct. He's spent less overall than us, and maybe Sunderland of the chasing pack, but he has had money to spend.

And it doesn't even enhance his reputation if he keeps us up, as we'd be getting rid of him regardless. That doesn't look good to other clubs looking to hire him. He'd get himself a rep as a manager who can save teams in trouble and nothing else, and that would be the death knell of his career in the long term. It's a no win situation for a manager like him.

Not a chance. Kean was because he was inexperienced, that happens. Dalglish was a special case too, coming out of 'retirement' to do something for his club. Hodgson? I don't remember him doing anything similar myself.

I like to hear of one instance where a manager with as big a profile as Big Sam has taken a job on that basis. It has never happened, it won't ever happen. Regardless of the money (which I don't imagine he's short of) it would be seen as an insult, and rightly so.

It defies belief that people still mention this as any kind of possibility. This kind of appointment just doesn't happen, and any club who tried it would be rightly derided in the media. Not being nicey nicey is one thing, but employing a guy on a full time contract with the plan of getting rid of him after 8 games is a pretty nasty and ridiculous thing to do. Sacking a guy on a long term contract after 8 games after he kept you up would also have legal ramifications, I would imagine. Cloud cuckoo land. Never ever going to happen. Can we please stop mentioning it as any kind of possible scenario now?

This is my biggest worry. And why I think pressure needs to be kept on the board to get rid of him. Whether we go up or stay down, in my opinion we can't risk GH being at the helm.

His first trip to an away game at Anfield would be an exciting moment... It does sound rather like a frying pan/fire scenario.

I've not really forgiven Rafa for the way he acted over Barry. I wonder if other Villa fans have.

Is it possible part of the problem is that some people were never prepared to give the manager a chance ? When a player pulls on the Villa shirt he has my full support (even Oyvind Leonhardsen), and it's the same when a manager is appointed. When fans don't get behind a manger on his appointment, perhaps it makes players like Dunne, Warnock etc feel justified when they too don't give him a chance. It's possible but for me it's the very opposite. I was one of GH's most vocal cheerleaders on here when he was appointed. Now I believe he is a cancer and needs to be operated on. Me too. I thought he was a good appointment at first. Had no problems with him at all until things started going downhill.

If we go down and Houllier still stays in the job I think Mr Lerner would lose a lot of the popularity he still has. But right now I could even see that happening.

With McClaren, we're a big enough club for him usually, but it would be a fairly large risk for him to come in with 8 games left and try and keep us up. I don't think he'd risk his reputation on it, and I wouldn't blame him. There's pretty much no chance GH is getting sacked now though. I think we're stuck with him until the bitter end.