markavfc40

Anyone know how Houllier got on last night?

I heard he was up for best male and getting a special award for outstanding contribution. Hope it went well.

General,

With the new manager now in place what would you consider a successful season?

,i dont think GH gave this job enough thought,i mean Thompson now the very man that worked with GH for years.something just doesnt seem right to me.

From a distance it certainly seems a little disorganised. He is unsure when he can actually start and unsure of who his back room staff will be. If he does know then why not get them in place now and get cracking.

If this was happening at any other club, especially down the road, we'd be laughing our bollocks off.

You can maybe understand him wanting to dampen expectation as it then takes a bit of heat off him.

What I don't like is if he indeed said we should be looking at 7th -12 on what basis did he come to that conclusion. Is it in terms of Premier League? The last 50 years? The history of the club as a whole. Seems he has picked a position far weaker than the fact in terms of points we are the 5th most successful Premier League team, in terms of trophies we are the 4th most successful English Club and in terms of recent history we have finished 6th in the last three seasons.

I'd suggest to Mr Houllier and anyone else who agrees with him that the facts, past history and recent history ( last 3 years ) would suggest that 7th is not considered success for Aston Villa and therefore 12th certainly isn't and is quite frankly a **** insult.

He came across well today I thought. As for him trying to set our expectation levels I personally don't think he tried to and even if he did I certainly wouldn't let him set mine. I'll judge him on the standards the previous manager set. Hopefully he'll at least match those. If he doesn't then either he or the board will have have failed.

General,

With the new manager now in place what would you consider a successful season?

Passed 3 years we have established ourselves a a top 6 club. As for all this bollocks about lets take average Premier league finishes since the Premier Leagues inception to set our expections. By that token Man Cities expectations should be to finish around 14th and Spurs and Everton around 12th.

The previous manager established us among the top 6. Had it have been once it could have been judged as a fluke but 3 times on the bounce is long enough to have set a consistent standard therefore I'm happy to judge the clubs, and new managers, progress or regress against that league position.

Any word on if there is likely to be a press conference today?

Whenever it is be interesting to see if Randy is in attendance or, which I'd guess is more likely, if it will be Paul Faulkner alongside the new gaffer.

That Phil McNulty article certainly paints a positive picture of Houllier.

His managerial record certainly stands up against any of our past managers. I'd suggest those against the appointment at least give the guy a fair crack of the whip.

I think the perception of Houllier would be a little different if it wasn't for the fact he had not managed for three years.

If he was currently manager of Lyon having just won the French title twice on the bounce and had in the six years previous to this had a relatively successful spell at Liverpool having picked up three pieces of silverware, we would see it as a real coup that we had managed to pouch him from Lyon to come to us.

The fact he has been out of management for 3 years should not however diminish his past success and whilst it doesn't appear to be the major capture it would have been three years ago it is still certainly a high profile appointment and one that, despite still having some reservations, I have now warmed to and welcome.

Phil Thomson on the other hand will take a little longer to come to terms with.

Nice post Jules.

I fear that your right that Houllier won't get the luxury of a honeymoon period.

I hope we are both wrong though. As much as he is nowhere near my first choice If he does indeed become manager of the club I love I'll give him a fair crack at it.

Coming in when the season as already started and the transfer window is shut is never going to be easy and the last thing we as supporters need to do is make it any tougher.

If the poll on another Villa Forum is anything to go by Houllier could start off with a supporter approval rating of less than 50%.

A bad start and this could turn ugly very quickly. There will be no honeymoon period.

Heres hoping we get off to a flyer or his reign will be very short lived.

Mark were you not one of MON's avid supporters regardless of what he did saying lets see what happens and trusted him no end etc etc?

Now i think Houllier is meh and Thompson is a blumin plonker.

But surely there is no point kicking off until we are bottom half of the table come May?

Jez I'm actually not disappointed we have got Houllier. The appointment doesn't excite me but I'm OK with it.

As for Thomson I can't stand him and the fact he has on a number of occasions belittled the club I love. Having said that as long as he throws himself into the job and shows half the passion for us as he as for Liverpool and his nose doesn't block my view of the pitch then I'll accept him.

I hope we do well under Houllier push on from where the previous manager left us and make that last step into the top four and actually win something.

I do however fear that the new manager will be shown little grace and if things don't start well or we hit a sticky patch early in his tenure things could get very uncomfortable and turn ugly very quickly.

A good start is vital for Houllier in my opinion and who knows where this season can go if we can gain a bit of positive momentum.

If the poll on another Villa Forum is anything to go by Houllier could start off with a supporter approval rating of less than 50%.

A bad start and this could turn ugly very quickly. There will be no honeymoon period.

Heres hoping we get off to a flyer or his reign will be very short lived.

I don't want Phil Thomson anywhere near Aston Villa Football Club.

He as on numerous occasions shown contempt for Aston Villa during his media work. Only a couple of weeks ago when discussing Aston Villa on Soccer Saturday he said in a very condescending tone something a long the lines of " this is Aston Villa we are talking about they over achieved under Martin O'Neill and they need to remember that ". Continually emphasising this is Aston Villa we are talking about like a little club like Villa should be grateful to finish in the top 6.

As for him quitting Sky will show he'll be committed to us how the **** does that work? Thomson would be lucky if he is on anymore than a few hundred pound a week for the little work he does for Sky. The primary reason for him coming to Villa will be money. I don't have a problem with that but lets not make out the prick is doing us a favour.

Theresa May getting absolutely mullered in the HOC

Yes was just watching that Ian. Even for this Government so stands out as being out of her depth and an embarrassment.

All Villa sites. I'm just hoping that it isn't because he knows that an appointment is still a way off or that one is around the corner that isn't going to go down too well.

Its probably more to the abuse and general ungratefulness people have expressed to him.

He has always been for discussing the pros and cons and never shied away imo apart from when it comes to abuse that some fans have thrown at Randy for god knows what reason.

Abuse. Come of it Jez he is a man not a **** mouse. Sure the board have come in for a bit of stick, some justified some not, but nothing that he shouldn't be able to handle.

In all fairness he as given as good as he has got also.

Facts are we have not had a manager for four weeks, sold our best player, made one signing during the transfer window and in the opinion of many gone into the new season weaker than we finished the last one and added to that those around us have strengthened. Gone out of Europe at the first hurdle and been humiliated by a piss poor newly promoted side.

People are understandably a little pissed and the club shouldn't pass the buck for all that happening on the ex manager leaving. They have to take a fair share of the responsibility something for me the General has been somewhat unwilling to do.

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?

All Villa sites. I'm just hoping that it isn't because he knows that an appointment is still a way off or that one is around the corner that isn't going to go down too well.

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.

Probably for the best General that you bow out for a while.

If rumours that Phil Thomson is to get a coaching role at Aston Villa, a man who in the last couple of weeks said a club like Aston Villa was over achieving finishing 6th and as over the years been very condescending towards us, you could have expected a fair bit of abuse to be posted on this thread.

Heres hoping when you return we will have a manager/coaching staff in place who have the ability to take us forward, who believe that Aston Villa are worthy of being among the elite in this country and see it as an honour to be involved with such a great club.

l

as for thompson dont really like him, but he is an outsanding coach believe me.

An outstanding coach says who? that outstanding a coach he hasn't coached in 6 years.

How can a manager not have man management skills?

Only worry is i have just read brad friedels book and he could not stand phil thomson so that could be interesting.

What kind of things did he say about him?

If Houllier and Thompson decide to give Villa a crack they must think they can push us on or they wouldn't bother trying.

Either that or the couple of mill a year pay packet might be the motivation. In Pinochios case he won't be earning a lot for talking bollocks on sky sports so I'm sure he'll be more than happy to come to Villa and pick up a few thousand a week.

Phil Thompson to be assistant.

That's just rumours atm, but that will not stop people slating him and it hasn't.

Phil Thomson as on numerous occasions shown contempt for Aston Villa during his media work. Last time being only a couple of weeks ago when discussing Aston Villa on Soccer Saturday when he said in a very condescending tone something a long the lines of " this is Aston Villa we are talking about they over achieved under Martin O'Neill and they need to remember that "

If people are happy to have a prick like Thomson at our football club then god help us.

Thompson was on soccer Saturday a couple of weeks ago and alongside the usual suspects on that program they were discovering Aston Villa. One of the things that stood out for me, mainly because he made me **** mad, was that in regard to us attracting a new manager and what fans should expect he said something along the lines of " this is Aston Villa we're talking about ( in a very condescending tone ) they have over achieved under O'Neill and they need to remember that.

People who see us like that are not the kind of people we need at this great football club.