Confirmed: Houllier is the new Villa manager

[heystally!]

If I was Andy Gray, I would make a statement refusing to rule myself out of the Villa job. This would increase betting on him on Skybet, then when he doesn't take the job, he'll get a bonus for generating some extra income for the company.

[Stevo985]

IIRC that's exactly what Sven did when he took over at Man City. Bought a load of players very very quickly, with mixed success it must be said.

[Hanky]

There were one or two who were good signings but I don't think Sven could work under the current conditions i.e sell to buy.

[sellyoakvilla]

Did say Bob Bradley before but upon later reflection and a good think about things I honestly think we will go for Mark Hughes.

[LondonLax]

Did say Bob Bradley before but upon later reflection and a good think about things I honestly think we will go for Mark Hughes.

Fulham will not give us permission to speak to Hughes the week after signing him...

[fran_villa]

Did say Bob Bradley before but upon later reflection and a good think about things I honestly think we will go for Mark Hughes.

no way,i dont think this is Randys style,Fulham only got the guy..I wonder could Ireland and Sven team up again though..

[sellyoakvilla]

Not Randy's style? Did we think sell to buy was Randy's style? Why would Ireland come for talks with no manager here, not knowing whether he will even play or not? It's one of the two out of Hughes and Sven in my opinion.

[JulieB]

Someone's sent me a message on FB that their ITK is that the new manager of AVFC will be Alan Shearer..

You heard it here first!!

(I think it maybe a wind up)

[rjshare]

i can only see us getting someone unspectacular like curbishley - but in some ways it might not be such a bad thing. we have a good side who have gone close to the champs league two seasons on the bounce - and that is under a regime of total tactical inflexibility, minimal rest due to a lack of squad rotation and poor team selection. if the new manager could just put eleven players out in their prefered positions we will probably improve.

[CBGB]

Said it this morning and I'll say it again ,,, Shearer

You can keep saying it, but it'll make you look a bit silly.

[deeps]

if it is sven i will lose all hope of this club.

[claret75]

Martin Jol is too much of a long shot.

He almost left Ajax to join Fulham, because the Ajax ownership wanted to sell the best players, and wouldn't provide adequate funds to push forward.

Why would he then join a team where the owners are selling the best players and there isn't much money to spend?

Maybe those financial constraints only applied to MON after his waste in the transfer market, and a new guy = new conditions?

Just a thought.

There was a strong suggestion that the board wanted MON to sweat the assets he's aquired, so to speak. Either by making do and playing them more or giving him the freedom to trade them. In the end he wasn't up to it/ didn't fancy it and bailed.

But those conditions wouldn't automatically apply to a new manager/ coach if he spotted a weakness at, say RB or CM and wanted a fair opportunity to strengthen that dept.

Don't swallow the 'little Aston Villa' lined being peddled in the media by some of the more Pro MON elements. They always had more regard for him than they did us as a club. It was always an anomaly to them that he pitched up here in the first place.

Don't be under the illusion that we aren't an attractive proposition to a high profile candidate either. The two previous managers were in that bracket (as much as DOL turned out to be a bellend) and took on the job with far less favourable conditions. Jol was very complimentary about us back in 2008 when we were drawn in the same group as Hamburg, has often stated his desire to return to England and -seeing as that's unlikely to be Chelsea/ United or even Citeh- a club who have been in contention for fourth for the past two seasons (and backed their previous manager to the tune of £120+ million) might hold some appeal. Realistically we are probably the best he could get if he wanted to return to England, and he probably knows that. It's all about just how keen he is to come back, to what extent is he prepared to burn his bridges at Ajax.

He was also present at our greatest night in Rotterdam -in the Villa end of all places- so you can imagine how that would be spun if he pitched up.

Sometimes we don't need the media to do us down -our own fans are more than capable of that- it seems.

I also thought the sell to buy might go out the window with a new manager.

I'm very much in favour of Jol taking charge.

[fran_villa]

Not Randy's style? Did we think buy to sell was Randy's style? Why would Ireland come for talks with no manager here, not knowing whether he will even play or not? It's one of the two out of Hughes and Sven in my opinion.

yes,we where all told it was buy to sell,and i dont think Randy is the sort to go sniffing around a manager thats only there a few weeks..

[MR.Smalljob]

Someone's sent me a message on FB that their ITK is that the new manager of AVFC will be Alan Shearer..

You heard it here first!!

(I think it maybe a wind up)

It must be a wind up :-) Alan Shearer??? come on

[heystally!]

Fulham might well accept it because we'd have to pay compensation which would effectively cover his contract. That's enough for at least one player if not two. Then they could easily get another unemployed manager (Zola, Curbs, Southgate) who would probably do an effective job at Fulham.

[Guest av1]

I know some will accuse me of having blind faith, but i have 100% confidence in Mr Lerner finding the right man.

[sellyoakvilla]

Not Randy's style? Did we think sell to buy was Randy's style? Why would Ireland come for talks with no manager here, not knowing whether he will even play or not? It's one of the two out of Hughes and Sven in my opinion.

yes,we where all told it was buy to sell,and i dont think Randy is the sort to go sniffing around a manager thats only there a few weeks..

But did we expect it a few years ago? Get this far then have to sell our assets to free up money for more squad players?

[villafan306]

I'm thinking it will be Bradley or Klinsman.

Not awe inspired with any of the options really though tbh.

[LondonLax]

Our wages to income ratio isn't going to suddenly change with a new manager. I think it is just hopeful thinking.

Lerner didn't sack MON remember, MON quit becaue he wouldn't work under the clubs current finance structure where we have to off load players to get anyone new in.

[fran_villa]

Not Randy's style? Did we think sell to buy was Randy's style? Why would Ireland come for talks with no manager here, not knowing whether he will even play or not? It's one of the two out of Hughes and Sven in my opinion.

yes,we where all told it was buy to sell,and i dont think Randy is the sort to go sniffing around a manager thats only there a few weeks..

But did we expect it a few years ago? Get this far then have to sell our assets to free up money for more squad players?

a few years ago w wouldnt have though MON could spunk so much money on pure and utter shite,but he did thats life.all i'm saying is Randy isn't the sort to go messing around with another clubs manager that only has the job a wet day,anyway Hughes would be a crap manager for us.we'd end up with a team of butchers..