briny_ear Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 It's all relative. DOL didn't have too much to work with and started well but had completely lost control of his relationships with the players, chairman and fans by the time he went. Houllier had a top 6 squad and took it into a relegation struggle, with the squad often seeming not to know how they were supposed to be playing. Mcleish had a squad stripped of most of its star players but didn't buy very well to try to rebalance the squad and played the most abysmal football I have seen in a long time (although at least, unlike with Hou, they did seem to know what they were supposed to do - play for 0-0, 1-1 or 0-1!). Like some others, I think the man who wasted his opportunities the most was Houllier, so he gets my vote but there isn't much between any of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CI Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Is there any reason MON isn't in the poll options You could argue he's done more damage than any of the other 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Houllier was a cancer. And McLeish wasn't? If Houllier damaged club and fan morale McLeish obliterated it. He's the definition of soul-destroying. He's the grim reaper of football. Not only the worst Villa manager in my life-time but one of the worst managers of any club. From a fan's perspective, I can see that McLeish would be seen in such a bad light. I had the "pleasure" of knowing some of the inner workings of the squad during Houllier's regime. That's why I called him a cancer. Everything he touched within the club went to shit. There were absolutely NO redeeming features about his time as manager, in my opinion. For what it's worth, McLeish never lost the dressing room to the same extent as Houllier did and I'm convinced that if McAllister hadn't taken over when he did, we were nailed on for relegation.Jesus Christ, if McLeish never lost the dressing room then he must've been even worse than I thought! Wow, to think that his teams can turn in such shit and lifeless performances without him even loosing the dressing room. I don't even want to imagine how poor we would have been had he actually lost the dressing room. We were already pretty much safe from relegation when Houllier was taken ill. After his last game we were on 40 points. The highest placed relegated team (SHA) finished on 39 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanky Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 What exactly was the difference in style between Houllier and McLeish, they were both uber defensive long ball merchants I'm with Bickster on this particular point. We were poor under Houllier and our style of play was awful to watch. There were many times under Houllier that we folded especially away from home. When we reverted to the tried and tested methods we actually started picking up results, and still had a massive chance of going down by April 16th. That being said McLeish was absolutely awful, and still disrespected the club in some of his post match interviews in my opinion (maybe not to the extent of the Houllier 'Anfield' moment). I'd go with McLeish by a whisker I think. O'Leary just lost the plot in his final season but still delivered two wins over sha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Mcleish was the manager who pretty much killed my interest in Aston Villa FC, therefore my vote's going his way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adbo9 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 My opinion was McLeish was poor - however the odds were stacked against him, even if he didnt help himself. He also lost a bulk of his better players which we didnt have the reddies to replace. But with the squad we had we shouldnt have even thought about the bottom half of the table. Houllier. I think it was starting to come together. We did play some quality football at times and if hed stayed fit and rebuilt the squad last summer with the players he wanted I think we'd be doing well now. For instance, if he had stayed on Ba, Kallstrom and that kid whos now at Newcastle were all gonna join us. DOL. A difficult one. I think he did really well, made some top signings, but shot himself in the foot with his personality towards the fanbase (FWIW i think he was right - we are Fickle) Baros, Solano, Laursen, Sorensen, Bouma etc.... all mainstays for a while and we went from 16th to 6th. It went belly-up but I think majority of that was down to Ellis tightening the ship to sell-up........... id have like to have seen what he could have done with the early lerner years funding....... He wouldnt have signed Nigel Reo fecking Coker and Curtis Davies thats for Certian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 DOL > Houllier > McLeish. With more time and his signings I think Houllier would have been really good for the club. I think Lambert will now have that effect with a top to bottom refit of Aston Villa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daholteend Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 What exactly was the difference in style between Houllier and McLeish, they were both uber defensive long ball merchants Roughly about two touches and a pass bicks.. Under Houillier defenders were encouraged to get the ball , pass the ball to a wider defender who would then clog it upfield. Eck was more direct... Just clog it upfield but anywhere away from our goal preferably . Yep so no real diffference at all at least under MCLeish, we'd give it to their defenders not their midfielders ;-) hahahaha well that would depend on who it was that was doing the huffing. If it was Collins it would end up half way up the pitch going for a midfield throw in to the oppo. If it was Dunne, it would end up going to one of their forward midfielders strategically placed so Dunney could then make a running charge as if he had saved the day yet again on his arse. If it was Hutton, it would be kicked over the oppos byline for a goal kick just after he had made a blinding run up the right side side and had two strikers in perfect position to score. On the way back to right back he might have a couple of clips at any straggling legs that got in the way... a matter of habit.. hard to tell if it was a very very late tackle or just silliness. If it was Warnock he would get the ball and straight away pass it to one of their attacking midfielders in much better position than anyone else on the pitch and then realising his guff would make a marvellous slide as if it was the pitches fault . One thing about McLeish's dour defensive tactics was...... predictable in the very worst way. I have supported AVFC for over fifty years.. Last season under Eck was so bad that I actually stopped even looking at the results by Christmas and even stopped coming here. You have no idea how happy I am with what Paul Lambert is trying to do with this squad. In my teen years I used to watch Aston Villa accompanying the legendary Billy Walker and sit with him in the Trinity Road Box seats. Last season I could feel the ghost of Billy shaking his head in sheer amazement. I could almost hear him say "If dynamite were brains, this lot wouldn't have enough to blow their caps off in a gale " Thank you Paul Lambert. Already you have restored my faith in our beloved Aston Villa . Now all you have to do is find the next Billy Walker! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Mcleish has to be the worst in our history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adbo9 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Mcleish has to be the worst in our history. Dont be daft - we've had far worse spells as a club than last year ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 It doesn't surprise me that McLeish is a mile out in front, but I've gone for Houllier simply because of what he had to work with. Houllier had far more talent in his squad than McLeish did and he also didn't appear to be under quite the same financial constraints as McLeish. McLeish appears to have been given a fairly clear remit. Keep us 'competitive' (read : up) while getting the wage down. Houllier was given more freedom and the chance to start a mini playing revolution at the club and yet we were every bit as close to relegation with 4 or 5 games to go that season with a much better squad and an absentee manager. Yes he was sick, but that doesn't keep you up nor is it much good to Villa. Houllier came as close to disaster as McLeish did but under far more favourable managerial circumstances. Now, he was more popular than McLeish and that will (and appears to have) cloud the issue in a poll, but the cold fact remains that he was a short-term disaster every bit as bad as McLeish. The fact that our best results that season almost always came under McAllister only compounds Houllier's failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KjParton Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Mcleish has to be the worst in our history. Dont be daft - we've had far worse spells as a club than last year ! Sorry poor worded statement from me, He has to be the worst since i've been watching villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 think Warnock treatment by Houllier was pathetic especially as he ratehr play Delph there than Warnock. He is not greatest player we ever had but id ratehr a natural left back than a midfielder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa_shere Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Has to be Eck! most DEPRESSING manager ever. GED was crap, but his excuse was, no pre-season, best plyers sold and not replaced and several major injuries. That team we put out at Anfield was literally a reserve team, and we played like that through most the winter. He did turn our defence into a shambles, although it was on its way to being like that anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted August 3, 2012 Moderator Share Posted August 3, 2012 Oh I even forgot Houllier's behaviour towards away fans and at Anfield and his complete capitulation before certain games had even kicked off when I was lambasting him. His is a rich tapestry of clusterfuckery made worse by the fact he was a smug French word removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Is there any reason MON isn't in the poll options Maybe the fact that he was actually a good manager, Got us in the the top 6, 3 years running... And Voted McLeish, Just have to look at last season.. I really don't want to be reminded of past managers, lets look forward to the Future Under Lambert,and Move on From DOL,GH,MON,Ginger Tw*t etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 think Warnock treatment by Houllier was pathetic especially as he ratehr play Delph there than Warnock. He is not greatest player we ever had but id ratehr a natural left back than a midfielder Nah disagree, he was right to freeze him out even better he was with the reserves and nowhere near first team just a shame he didn't ship him off too.. still waiting for this day it will come soon I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Oh I even forgot Houllier's behaviour towards away fans and at Anfield and his complete capitulation before certain games had even kicked off when I was lambasting him. His is a rich tapestry of clusterfuckery made worse by the fact he was a smug French word removed.We capitulated even more under McLeish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevangrealish Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 People really need to stop and see that houllier was bad. Infact bad is an understatement. DOL - Decent signings decent results ( Overall he was decent, his last season was dire i do know... but consider the start and he was okay ) Houllier - Good signings crap results Mcleish - Crap Signings crap results Houllier for me was the worst.... The fact that he was so blank when being asked questions by journalists . Then clapping liverpools fans and not villas. And had players like downing,young,bent and still managed to get us near relegation. The only positive was his signings... Walker was class. I like makoun as a player. And of course bent was a saviour for him. Mcleish seemed very annoyed and frustrated because he wanted to win the fans over ( even though it was never going to happen) Houllier just didnt care about winning us over :s ... more like looking forward to the reunion at anfield and the final pay check for his managerial career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-Reacho Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 DO'L: I was always more pissed off at Ellis's regime than anything O'leary himself did. He was a smug git but I can't remember being furious about how the team was set up or the players he used or anything like that. Our squad in that last season was pretty pathetic. Houllier: I was always optimistic that he would gradually implement his way of doing things and we would come good. Was also excited about our signings under him. McLeish: Miserable. Start to finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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