MrDuck

I've never dated a website. That would just be weird.

Villas boas wouldnt really be a gamble though he's probably already a step up from us.

Any young manager with no Premier League experience is likely to be more of a gamble.

Well if the board are giving Houllier every chance of a return - the chances of same board 'growing a pair' and poaching Moyes from Everton appear slim - I reckon we will go for an out of work guy - Rafa or Jol

The idea of Rafa coming in appalls me. We already have one manager who openly admits his love for Liverpool, the club where he ultimately failed... do we really need another?

I'd rather Bruce than Houllier.

The reason why Sunderland are doing so bad is because we took their best player!

I'd rather Dave Bassett than either of those!!!

Even Fred Bassett would be a step up.

The manner in which he left the club, and the timing of it, is nothing short of criminal and i dont understand why he is still hailed as a god by many villa fans when in my opinion he is on a level with Gobby Cabbage and Alpay - he's an absolute word removed.

I'd go as far as saying the manner in which he left the club and his general attitude might seriously affect the thoughts of any chairmen considering him for their clubs. Totally unprofessional, also the manner in which he took most of the 1st team coaching staff with him, showed a complete lack of respect for the club and it's fans. He wanted to inflict the most pain he could. He comes over as a very arrogant, self centred man. He will never manage a club on the scale of Villa again.

And there was me thinking nobody actually knew what happened yet... Still, nothing like forming solid opinions on speculation eh?

MON has a track record of success everywhere he's been. There will be plenty of takers for him when he wants to work again.

Just curious here... I see a number of people saying they wouldn't mind Hughes as manager. What do people see in Hughes? His track record is not exactly remarkable.

And I have absolutely no doubt he'd have done a far better job than Houllier.

To be fair, your relative Donald could have done a better job than GH this season Mr D.

We know Houllier (obviously) and Sven were interviewed.

We approached for Moyes (but were told to **** off).

Decided not to go for Jol because he was at Ajax.

Mourinho said 'next year'.

Thats about all we know.

Didn't Curbishley get an interview too?

Did he?

Jesus. We really were scraping the bottom of the barrel.

While there are others I'd prefer to Curbishley, he's hardly bottom of the barrel. Did a brilliant job for Charlton and was doing an excellent job at West Ham too. He doesn't really have any black marks against him as far as I can see... other than the bizarre attitude so prevalent on here that if a manager has never won honours with a big club then he can't be any good. Much like Allardyce, I suspect with decent resources at a decent size club (like Villa), he'd probably do pretty well. And I have absolutely no doubt he'd have done a far better job than Houllier.

But personally I'd take Moyes out of the realistic candidates for the job right now

We know Houllier (obviously) and Sven were interviewed.

We approached for Moyes (but were told to **** off).

Decided not to go for Jol because he was at Ajax.

Mourinho said 'next year'.

Thats about all we know.

Didn't Curbishley get an interview too?

It would be quite the shock if top four-placed Manchester City managed to win at home against bottom-half Stoke City.

You dick.

Not the point. I think in the interests of fairness, sporting integrity and to avoid putting everyone in a difficult position, the game should be moved. You are right that Citeh would probably win that fixture more often than they wouldn't win it. But it doesn't mean there wouldn't be question marks. The league must be seen to be 100% squeaky clean and this fixture would clearly have a conflict of interests for Stoke City thereby potentially bringing the league into disrepute. Ergo move the fixture. It solves all the problems and it's very easy to do.

Definitely.

The article was clearly suggesting that Torres might be burnt or burning out which sounds daft at his age but then when you think about it both Owen and Fowler were past their best by his age now due to injuries and being over played. Its ironic that all three played for Liverpool and in all 3 cases Liverpool depended upon them far too heavily and rushed them back from injuries time and time again in a way that the likes of Utd wouldn't have done.

Yeah, I think the comparison with Owen is very valid. And Fowler too, although Robbie had a bit of drink issue as well which didn't help matters.

Platini, great player, but what did he do?

Captained France to European Championship win in 1984. Remarkable performance in that tournament - scored 9 goals in 5 games including two hat-tricks, player of the tournament award.

If he came back in summer and got his head down i would give him another chance as their is talent in there. Just cant see it happening myself

he could come back and start performing as we know if he puts in the hard work

Hard work? Stephen Ireland?

I like Harry.

And I'd rather have him here than Houllier any time.

Didn't know where else to put this but I just read an article on Dean Ashton. He said that Shaun Wright Phillips didn't even call him after he announce his retirement. Personally I thought that was disgusting behaviour from him.

Am I missing something here? What's the connection between Ashton and SWP?

Yeh SWP broke his ankle very badly on England training and that basically led to other injuries and effectively ended his career.

Ah, gotcha. Thanks!

Didn't know where else to put this but I just read an article on Dean Ashton. He said that Shaun Wright Phillips didn't even call him after he announce his retirement. Personally I thought that was disgusting behaviour from him.

Am I missing something here? What's the connection between Ashton and SWP?

I cant see Moyes leaving them for one and they wouldnt let him go either.

I can see Moyes leaving this summer. I can also see Everton letting him go for the right compensation. As much as he's done at Goodison, there's a kind of feeling in the air that maybe its time for both to part ways. Moyes probably has ambitions of his own that he won't be able to fulfil at Everton due to the ever tighter budget there. Everton may also feel its time for a fresh face and fresh ideas

I think Moyes would find the Villa job quite appealing. He can't go any further at Everton unless they find new investment from somewhere. The idea of coming to a similar size club but with more money for players is probably quite appealing I think. It's not like he's gonna get a chance at one of the CL clubs anytime soon.

And I reckon he'd be a great manager for Villa for what it's worth.

Why don't we just relocate to Merseyside and be done with?

Me too. I thought he was a good appointment at first. Had no problems with him at all until things started going downhill.

When was the uphill bit?

Interestingly enough, Sunderland were (in there own words) considering me for the position. Two days later they appointed Roy Keane. I felt betrayed.

Well it came back to bite them didn't it?

Big Sam: would get us fighting and saved Blackburn in a similar situation.

Alan Curbishley: saved West Ham from a worse situation than we're in. Ex-Villa player, knows what the club is about.

Both available. Would anyone place their money on Houllier keeping us up as opposed to one of those guys?

Although frankly I'd take Dowie over Houllier right now.

really???

Really.

I just don't see any of those people as a step forward. Appoint them and we might avoid relegation now but the best we can ever hope for with them is lower mid-table.

I really think we have to stay with a foreign manager to really revolutionise our club like Wenger or Mourinho have done and lets be fair Houllier did for Liverpool. Jol, Van Gaal someone in that mold is what we want but we'd obviously need to wait for the end of the season for that if GH is shown the door.

Well, I wouldn't see Dowie as a step forward. And don't get me wrong, I'd rather see us with someone of the calibre of Mourinho or Wenger in the long term.

But in the short term, we need someone else. How many times do we see a manager come in and turn a club around towards the end of the season? We won't get a Mourinho character at this stage of the season will we?

Curbs and Fat Sam are both available, and have succeeded in similar situations that we are in now with West Ham & Blackburn. **** next season, all we should be worried about is doing everything possible to make sure we're not relegated.

But... for all that, I think Fat Sam and Curbs are very hard done by on here by some. Allardyce is widely recognised as a manager using modern ideas, he worked wonders at Bolton and was doing very well at Blackburn. Sure he would have done well at Newcastle given half a chance. I think at a decent club with some backing, we wouldn't see his Bolton-esque football for long. He's done well in the past by making the most of small resources, his style of play has effectively been forced upon him by his budget, and it's served him and his clubs very well. For what it's worth, I think he'd get us challenging for Europe again.

As for Curbishley... again, what black marks has he got? Did a great job for years at Charlton, then was doing a great job for West Ham before they **** him over. Much like Allardyce, I think given the resources he'd do a great job at a big club.

It's all very well saying they're mid-table managers, but the reality is that both Bolton and Charlton were a complete mess before these guys turned them around. They turned them into respectable mid-table Premier League clubs and I think that is just as worthy an achievement as, for example, Houllier coming in to Liverpool and winning just a couple of trophies in half a decade.

Although personally I'd probably plump for Moyes or Coyle.

Big Sam: would get us fighting and saved Blackburn in a similar situation.

Alan Curbishley: saved West Ham from a worse situation than we're in. Ex-Villa player, knows what the club is about.

Both available. Would anyone place their money on Houllier keeping us up as opposed to one of those guys?

Although frankly I'd take Dowie over Houllier right now.

really???

Really.

Big Sam: would get us fighting and saved Blackburn in a similar situation.

Alan Curbishley: saved West Ham from a worse situation than we're in. Ex-Villa player, knows what the club is about.

Both available. Would anyone place their money on Houllier keeping us up as opposed to one of those guys?

Although frankly I'd take Dowie over Houllier right now.

Good work Spurs! Hope they go on to win it.