ozvillafan Posted January 28 VT Supporter Share Posted January 28 Still stand by my signature below at the time the majority on here wanted his head. We lost 1 of the last 7 games, including wins against Arsenal and Liverpool - which people unbelievably attributed to McAllistar - to finish 9th despite flirting with relegation through most of the season. Sadly, he never got the chance to prove me right or wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 (edited) OK so here we go: 1. Despite everything he did for Villa in his first stint, Graham Taylor's performance in his second spell is one of the worst performances by any Villa manager I can remember. We were constantly a top 8 side for 7 years and he came in and made some woeful decisions taking us to 16th, and a close shave with relegation. 2. Most controversial of them all: given his budget compared to other Villa managers, O'Leary did well in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 and he also had a point about the club in general in that era. 3. I thought, and still think, Houllier was a bad appointment and the beginning of our decline. Spent a lot of money on Bent and Makoun and while we squeezed into 9th, the threat of relegation was there most of that season. It was the beginning of a survival attitude creeping into the club. He also made some comment like we belonged 7th-12th which was bizarre after 3 consecutive 6th place finishes. Now if O'Learybhad said that it would be remembered. 4. If I was in charge of the club I would have sacked Dean Smith at Christmas 2019... thought we were heading back down. Glad I am not in charge! 5. I never liked either the Luke kit or the Muller Yoghurt stripey kit 93-95. The only novelty kit I find OK is the 99-00 one. I still maintain you wouldn't see Arsenal play in stripes or all red and I don't know why we deviate from our classic look as often as we do (93-95, 99-00, 00-01, 17-18). Edited January 28 by Captain_Townsend 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted January 28 VT Supporter Share Posted January 28 I thought at the time, and still do that Mon did the right thing playing a reserve side in that European game! 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 5 minutes ago, Nigel said: I thought at the time, and still do that Mon did the right thing playing a reserve side in that European game! Yeah me too I was seriously impressed with CSKA in the first leg and thought we did well to draw, they had some big players and were better than us, I had no confidence in us getting a result in the away game 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imavillan Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 I was still buying kids tickets up to the age of 21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 1 minute ago, imavillan said: I was still buying kids tickets up to the age of 21 I read that wrong the first time, I thought ‘pedo’ so I read it again and understood what you meant 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 1 hour ago, ozvillafan said: Still stand by my signature below at the time the majority on here wanted his head. We lost 1 of the last 7 games, including wins against Arsenal and Liverpool - which people unbelievably attributed to McAllistar - to finish 9th despite flirting with relegation through most of the season. Sadly, he never got the chance to prove me right or wrong. I agree, Houllier was a superior manager to O'Neill and if we had Houllier from the start of the Lerner period we would have win a trophy and made the top 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 22 minutes ago, Nigel said: I thought at the time, and still do that Mon did the right thing playing a reserve side in that European game! I don't even this there's even a real debate about that amongst the level headed fans. He made the right decision at the time (we were behind on away goals after first leg, the game was in depths of winter in Russia), the problem was we failed to get Top 4. It's a case of where only the outcome can justify the decision not the decision itself. People who make bad bets but win claim they were right when in fact they were lucky. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 (edited) Lerner did a lot of good initially and made an excellent first impression… redeveloped Bodymoor Heath (something JG was crying out for but Doug refused to do), the Acorns sponsorship, heavily backed the manager and provided ample funds… unfortunately, MON wasted much of them and made plenty of poor decisions (quite poor at identifying and signing players in general, largely went with what/who he knew previously with a few exceptions. Young and Carew were great…) A better chairman than Doug??? Maybe his biggest mistake was not employing knowledgeable football people or experts to oversee and aid things… an experienced director of football would probably have been a good idea… people who knew the game and everything that it entailed… guess he was quite naive… He paid the price for MON’s recklessness and a messy divorce… everything went downhill from there… including having to tighten the purse strings. I think Houllier was a good appointment too and there were promising signs until his health problems forced him to step down… was excited about the players he may have signed in future… Taylor was horrific second time round, for sure.., McLeish appointment was unforgivable but maybe that could be attributed more to Faulkner - who was terrible, and so was Fox He wanted out a lot sooner (no longer romantically nourished ) but couldn’t get any interest or a decent buyer.. bringing in people like King and Hollis to get the job done… a shame no one foresaw how much of a fraud Xia was…. doctor? Of what? Doctoring accounts? After such a positive arrival and initial period of relative success… things went sour and declined severely but… there were mitigating circumstances perhaps… One thing is for sure… this club has made a whole heap of terrible managerial appointments and poor decisions many, many times… Edited January 28 by Jas10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 1 minute ago, Jas10 said: Lerner did a lot of good initially and made an excellent first impression… redeveloped Bodymoor Heath (something JG was crying out for but Doug refused to do), the Acorns sponsorship, heavily backed the manager and provided ample funds… unfortunately, MON wasted much of them and made plenty of poor decisions (quite poor at identifying and signing players in general, largely went with what/who he knew previously with a few exceptions. Young and Carew were great…) A better chairman than Doug??? He paid the price for MON’s recklessness and a messy divorce… everything went downhill from there… including having to tighten the purse strings. I think Houllier was a good appointment too and there were promising signs until his health problems forced him to step down… was excited about the players he may have signed in future… Taylor was horrific second time round, for sure.., McLeish appointment was unforgivable but maybe that could be attributed more to Faulkner - who was terrible, and so was Fox IIRC didn’t he want out sooner but couldn’t get any interest or a decent buyer? After such a positive arrival and initial period of relative success… things went sour and declined severely but… there were mitigating circumstances perhaps… One thing is for sure… this club has made a whole heap of terrible managerial appointments and poor decisions many, many times… I think he saw what football now is, what FFP actually means in terms of whoring ourselves out to official fruit juice partners, charging fans more, kit deals and sponsorship deals that fans don't want but ultimately pay for We had a kids charity on our shirt when FFP was introduced Maybe he was too naive or too much of a dreamer but I don't think his vision for us matched what the PL now is Id happily argue in terms of big top flight clubs we were the ones stung the most by FFP, they introduced rules that said we can't do what MON had just spent 2 years doing, it properly **** us And that's before you throw in man city... The goalposts completely moved for Lerner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 3 minutes ago, villa4europe said: I think he saw what football now is, what FFP actually means in terms of whoring ourselves out to official fruit juice partners, charging fans more, kit deals and sponsorship deals that fans don't want but ultimately pay for We had a kids charity on our shirt when FFP was introduced Maybe he was too naive or too much of a dreamer but I don't think his vision for us matched what the PL now is Id happily argue in terms of big top flight clubs we were the ones stung the most by FFP, they introduced rules that said we can't do what MON had just spent 2 years doing, it properly **** us And that's before you throw in man city... The goalposts completely moved for Lerner Maybe the problem was MON, not Lerner. Maybe we could have appointed a better manager who would take on that role and responsibility with more sense and acumen or been more willing to delegate… Opportunity blown really… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Steve Hollis was a dumbass for selling the club to Xia… 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 I liked Xia’s tweets 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Gabby was largely shit and a leech, a disruptive presence… a limited player… should have gotten rid way sooner… Peaked too early with MON then all downhill from there… pace merchant, technically very poor… 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jas10 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 55 minutes ago, CVByrne said: I agree, Houllier was a superior manager to O'Neill and if we had Houllier from the start of the Lerner period we would have win a trophy and made the top 4. Interesting… I think I have to agree… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain_Townsend Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 (edited) A lot of revisionism here with Houllier. I simply cannot let it stand. We played Newcastle on 10 April 2011. It was our 31st game and we were on 34 points. It was basically a must win game. Remember that effort to make an official remake of "Bells are Ringing" was the week before that game because our survival was at stake. That was our first flirt with relegation since Ellis was owner in 2006 and, I think, it eroded a lot of confidence at the club That was a horrible season. He upended the whole team, he rubbed the fans up the wrong way, especially at Anfield, and after 3 consecutive top 6 finishes, and spending a club record fee on Darren Bent, it wasn't good enough. I concede we finished very strongly in the final 7 games. But then Downing and Young were sold of course. For me, that was the year the rot really set in. Edited January 28 by Captain_Townsend 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 Monchi absolutely isn't the guy and is and will sell the family silver just like M'ON did. Emery is elevating not only every players careers but dozens of staff around the non playing side of the club that aren't fit for purpose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 46 minutes ago, Jas10 said: Steve Hollis was a dumbass for selling the club to Xia… One of the biggest clowns in Villa history but bizarrely built up as a genius that some wanted him to be the next chairman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 O'Leary was a better Villa manager than MON though both are unlikeable clearings in the woods and pretty much had the same highest place finish with about a tenth of the budget Roy Keane was spot on about the dressing room poisons under Lambert and it still took years to clean up MIlner was overrated by Villa fans 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted January 28 Share Posted January 28 1 hour ago, Jas10 said: A better chairman than Doug??? … Talk about damning with faint praise. Being dead has worked wonders for that bastard's reputation. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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