fleet_avfc

General, Firstly, welcome back to the messageboards. 1) Personally I am very happy at the appointment of Houllier as manager, bit gutted that he won't be able to take charge of the first game, and maybe the first couple of games, but as you said, he is honouring committments, so that has to be respected. Well done to the board for getting the best available manager in to the club. 2) Regarding the kit, as you've said, its frustrating. A lot of people who have pre-ordered the kit will be dissappointed, and others will not feel like they want to go out and buy the kit anymore. Just a thought for you to consider, as tvillain has said, why not make this years kit a 2 year kit, and then fans will still buy the kit, instead of just waiting for 6 or 8 months for a new kit to be released again? And General, thanks for taking time out to read what fans think and respond to them, very much appreciated and respected.

With Houllier looking set to become the new manager, does anyone think that we could see the return of Milan Baros to Villa Park? Houllier seems to be a fan of Baros having signed him for Liverpool and Lyon, so this wouldnt surprise me if it was to happen in January. What does anyone else think?

General, it is brilliant that you keep responding on the forums, and a lot of people on here respect you for responding to everyone. As you say, you are not just sitting around having a beer, and that you and the club are looking for the right man for the job, and this can only be a good thing for everyone. But I am sure that you can appreciate that the fans are just as frustrated by the whole goings on starting with the departure of MON, to the loss in Europe, as the board are. Obviously, we want the new manager in as quick as we can, especially as the transfer window closes on Tuesday, but again, none of us know what it is like finding the right manager with the passion for the club, and persuading him to manage the club.

General, I dont normally post on this section, but the shambles at our club needs to be sorted out.....and FAST. You say that Randy will spend on players that will improve the side, but so far in this transfer window, this isnt the case. There are 4 days left of the window, there is no movement on the transfers side of things. There are players out there that would improve the team, but for some reason, nobody at the club can see it. It doesn't even look like the club are moving for ANYONE. Okay, we have no manager, but if we have no manager, then surely there is someone at the club who could get players into the club. I love Randy, glad he is our owner, but youve got to understand that, to fans of the club, our current situation is not looking good AT ALL. Out of Europe already, no manager, and no signings apart from Ireland, for whom we got rid of our best player for. Regarding the managers position, I think Kev Mac is a very respectable coach, but I dont think he is cut out for Premiership management, and I think the Villa players need a man manager who can give them the confidence to push on. At the moment, this doesnt seem like its going to be the case. We need a big name to help push on, but as far as we are concerned at the moment, it seem as though the board are happy for Kev Mac to carry on, with us signing no players. Big name managers attract better players. I do not care whether you say Martin O'Neill is not as big as the club, at the end of the day, he was the best manager available to us. He should have been the given the funds to buy players, but clearly hasnt been. As a fan and a season ticket holder, I do not want to see our football club being dragged down, and I feel, that at the moment, this is the way our club is heading, and thats down. It doesn't take a genius to see that. I feel that Aston Villa Football Club will be struggling to retain their Premiership status as we are currently going along the season at the moment without a manager and signings. What is the club thinking about in waiting to appoint a manager? I think the club want to do it the cheap way and appoint MacDonald. I think that they want to appoint Kev Mac because he knows the younger players and they know he will give them a chance, and lets be fair, if this is the case, then its not right. I'm not questioning Randys committment to the club, far from it. And I'm not having a go at you, I think what you do, taking time out of your own schedule to talk to fans, is brilliant, and I have seen and chatted to you when Villa beat the Blues 5-1 when you were in the Holte End, and you came across as someone who cares a lot about the club. But fans also care a lot about the club, and to see them lose 6-0 to Newcastle and then crash out of Europe, is depressing. We have let our best manager go, and our best player in Jimmy Milner. We need to get spending. At the end of the day, youre saying there are no players AVAILABLE who would improve the side, but lets look at it from this point of view. The best players are never AVAILABLE, a club has to pay a reasonable amount of money to get them. Look at Jimmy Milner, he wasnt available for transfer, but Man City paid a reasonable amount to get their man, to which personally I feel we were mugged. We need to dip into other clubs to get better players to improve the team, and not wait for players to be transfer listed. As for the slogan, Proud History, Bright Future, shouldnt it be Proud History, Diabolical Future?