DelboyVilla

Bloody hell I go off line for 12 hours and I miss the meltdown!! Bummer!!

One of the problems with a 8 hour time difference I surpose (but hey ho it 34 in the shade outside and sunny).

Cracking piece of business (especially as I don't really care about the money) and a player who is proven at this level so no bedding in time required and I reckon the move will be a big boost to his confidence which seems to have taken a knock (why I don't understand considering his record up there)? We wouldn't be in this position now if he had been banging the goals in for us over the past couple of years!!

Houllier certainly seems to be building his own now and it seems to be in line with what most of us could see was required to improve the team. So far with Walker and Makoun in and hopefully Bent and Adam he appears to be filling the obvious gaps that the previous incumbent was incapable of seeing/filling. After the summer when all the squad should be Houllier's the real test will come in making the progress that we seemed to struggle with over the past few years i.e. taking a big shot at the top 4.

Happy so far this window though and a bit more confident that we will not be talking parachutes in the summer.

The board should give GH at least 3 seasons and a bit of financial backing before looking to change, if we are back up to the 5th or 6th place then we should be happy.

When initially asked who I'd want in as soon as MON left I said Mark Hughes or David Moyes. I didn't think about GH cause I thought he had finished with Mngt. When his name was touted I was very happy as his record speaks volumes. I actually think he is better than MON and he will take us to the next level.

Quite agree I think we have taken a step up in terms of quality.

Do we know when the press conference is today, I may sneak off and watch it(benefit of working from home )

The Ginger SSN reporter is outside BMH and he don't think there will be one till tomorrow, he thinks they're going to talk about the Stoke game and show off Houllier in one go.

He said Petrov pulled up rolled down his window and asked him what he was doing outside BMH today, the ginger reporter said you've got a new manager coming today.....Petrov said...Oh yeah

Petrov having a little joke there??

The players had the day off yesterday I think??

Sounds like a very good management team is being put together which can hopefully include KMac. This is the best available candidate IMO and he will steady the ship after the shitstorm left by MON.

Who are the front runners on betfair?

I would imagine GH and PT have their noses in front??

Mmmm of MON worst signing, can't decide between Heskey or Sidders?? Both shite and on very high wages?

General's thread has been locked, what's going on?

He has decided not to post for a while.

Posted this about 30 mins ago:

General Krulak here:

1. Having spent a good deal of time trying to keep Fans up to date on the current situation at the Club...and having many of my comments end up in the Press (normally out of context or simply misquoted and wrong)...and having some on the site either 1) not believe me or 2) continue to say the same things after being provided the best facts I can give, I have decided to drop off this site until things have settled down a bit. It is unfair to the Club to have me misquoted in the paper...and it is unfair to the Fans. As I have said all along, Randy will do the best he can to get the "right" man for the job. There is not much more I can say.

Whilst I think that is the right decision I have to ask does that just apply to this site or all Villa sites?

3 AV fan sites Richard, This site and another I've seen him post that message on, but on the other site he did say 3 sites he was stopping posting on.

Bloody hell it Vietnam all over agian?? :oops: (sorry Gen no offense meant)

The other thing with Thompson I am very unsure of is his commitment.

I think it is obvious why he was succesful at Liverpool, coz he absolutely bled for the club. It is heart and soul and would crash cars into walls at 200mph for them.

Would he at Villa - or will he just be going through the motions.

Thats the worry for me.

Its swings and roundabouts, but I would take Staunton over Thompson to be honest. However, I'd take McInally (who has all his coaching badges) over both of them

Can you imagine Carew trying to cry off with a snivvle with Rambo standing over him !

Just commitment? You wouldn't be worried that he has been negative towards the club?

I think he is probably putting his underpants on outside his trousers now ready to make his grand entrance when he arrives to save us and turn us into a mirror image of the mighty plop!!

I think 600 may be pushing it a bit

Nah unless there's an accouncement today 600 is a realisitc target!!

Ok whats happening.. The markets have disappeared from Paddy Power and SkyBet.

Gone.

they probably think GH is a done deal??

Surely O'Leary was foreign as well?

Good old Evening Mail.

No they mean proper foreign i.e. smells of garlic and eats odd food like snails, frogs and horses???

It's funny that when MON was in charge alot of people on here wanted a DoF now he's gone people seem to hate the idea?? What we have to remember is that MON left most of the day to day training pitch stuff to JR and SW so the player will be used to that kind of set up? Houllier is not that bad an appointment IMO rather him than Sven or Curbs to be honest??

I think, very conveniently, we will not see a manager in place until after the window closes.

I mean what could he do now anyway in 5 days or so in terms of assessing the squad and bringing in players to help that? nada

We will see no signings this summer and I doubt we will see any in January as that is "notoriously bad to get players of the right quality"

Very conveniently?

Why not rush out and sign up Megson straight away?

They are just sitting around doing nothing waiting for the window to close.........right lets find a manager!

Megson seems a bit of an extreme example. I am sure the board could have taken 20 seconds finding Mons replacement and came up with a better manager than Megson.

As it is they have had 16 days and counting. If it was my job to find a new manager, for one of the biggest names in British football who had re-established themselves as a top 6 club, if you gave me 16 days to find a manager I'm confident I could have a very good one in place by now.

It will certainly be interesting to see if all the waiting has been worthwhile and if that waiting is justified when the new manager is eventually appointed.

I love how when MON was signing players he needed all the time in the world to research and decide which would be best for the club.

Now with a manager and a board to attack its suddenly pretty easy to find a manager in no time at all.

Does the similar if not same research and consideration apply for a managers appointment?

I'm sorry if I've misread, but it's not suddenly pretty easy to find a manager in no time at all. We simply don't have one yet after 16 days.

If this would have happened 1-2 months ago I think it would have been "A LOT" easier than it is now as some managers i.e Mark Hughes wasn't in a job or it would have been easier to tempt one of the other managers away from the clubs they're in.

2 weeks into the season managers don't want to leave the clubs they're in, in limbo.

Which is down to MON IMO!!! He seems to have had doubts since the end of last season but decided to wait to 5 days before the season started!!! The only thing the board should have done with hindsight is sack him in June!!

why though?

because he accepted a job he was offered by a club who happen to be close to ours?

I remember him joking with some villa fans when we sang sit down potato head to him..he's a really nice guy. Plus everyone on here seems to think we should get a high profile manager - 12 years ago he was part of one of the best teams in English History..how d'ya like dem apples?

If we did appoint him, he would not get booed and if he did, 1 win would change that

He's missed the boat in IMO done nothing at sunderland, where he was suppossed to turn them into a top 6 challenger. And he hates the villa.

Really dont see what him being in a good united team has to do with anything. Shall we get pallister in aswell?

Exactly he probably spent as much as we did last year and they came no where? He seemed to have the knack of finding a few gems at Wigan but the guy has never acheived anymore than mid table medioctrity with any of his clubs?

Not for us IMO!

Again Moyes is quite over rated as he hasn't won anything and he has had a fair bit of money to spend after selling average players for big money?

Don't know who I would like personally, I have always rated Jol but he seems stuck at a cash strapped Ajax, Sven seems to have gone lazy since the England job, Bradley is a complete unknown quantity, Kev Mc has never really managed on a day to day basis and Hughes has just gone to Fulham (again he seems to be in the over-rated bracket aswell).

The choices are really quite woeful unless Randy goes out and offer alot of compo to a team for an established man?

Thanks for the reply General, I am glad to some feedback from the horse's mouth with all the rubbish been spouted by third parties who are guessing at why MON has left.

I also completely trust that Randy and Paul will find the right man for the job.

I cant believe how defensive some are on this forum.

Managers from other teams sign players..and..no surprise..branded as crap. Especially those who comes from abroad.

Well...at least they are trying.

Why buy foreign shit when we have plenty of British shit to choose from??

All this look foreign is in general a complete and utter myth with only about one gem a season out of 10 journeymen being signed by the likes of Blackburn, Bolton or Fulham.

Hmmm won't mind some of Man City's 8/10 signings by 14th August???

Can see us getting beat by the Spammers at the rate we are going!!

Even I, a big optimist, am getting a bit stressed now

Well less than 2 weeks to go and nothing has changed since the end of last season and the most likely transfer involving us is the sale of our POTY to one of our closest rivals.

I am getting to a stage where I have told the wife to lock away all the sharp impliments??

Bloody hell I thought he'd retired years ago??

Non starter for me the rigors of the premier league will be to much?

As far as I can see all GB has said is when he had all the plop speculation it messed up his head. The advice to get it sorted one way or the other asap is the most sense any of the involved parties has said to date?

Why would he sign it? Players would think if i go for say 12Million, i potentially get a bigger signing on fee to bridge the gap. Footballers are essentially businessman in their own right these days.

Gets a pay rise, buys back some goodwill from the fans?? (I know good will is not as good as money in the bank) Recieves a nice little percentage of the fee if he is sold?

Not mine but just saw on H&V

Will Sunderland be offering Emile a rolling contract, or just a stumbling and falling contract?

I think that if he stays we should get him to sign a new contract with a clause that if someone offers more than £20M for him then he can go next year if he wants. This at least means we have lost no money on him from this year?

16M for Carlton Cole ??? That would make me reassess my viewpoint to the extent where both MON and Randy need psychiatric help

Don't worry the pornodwarves won't sell him to us for less than £80m???