The Villa Times - 19/12/2010

Unoial Villa News...

Paul Brown: Fan favourite Ian Taylor is next up in our popular Live Chat series. Following the success of supporter interaction with General Krulak, James Collins and Ashley Young, former midfield ace Tayls has agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to join the media team in a Q&A with supporters. Full article: www.avfc.co.uk

Speaking on the Official Site ahead of the game against Wigan, Jonathan Hogg said he was loving the reputation he's slowly earning as a midfield terrier who isn't afraid to put his foot in but overall he's just 'loving every minute of playing for Villa.' Full article: Jonathan Hogg Happy As A Pig In ****

A report in the Daily Mail (click here) by Neil Moxley says that Stephen Ireland would be allowed to leave Villa Park after a short and thus far unsuccessful spell IF Villa can get the £8million they paid for him (as part of the James Milner deal). The report, amongst others, claim that Ireland has told Gerard Houllier that he wants out. I believe Sky are reporting that Ireland has put in a transfer request. Houllier is quoted in the Mail as saying: 'Stephen has told his agent that he wants to go in January. I'm not convinced about that. But once a player says he wants to go, he can go.' Full article: What The Hell Is Going On With Stephen Ireland?

Tony Morley says Villa would be mad to sack Gerard Houllier right now (which they won`t anyway!). Speak in the Star he says: "We have got to give Gerard Houllier time. Gerard has come in and been hit with a terrible streak of injuries to a bunch of senior players and has had to play with a lot of young kids in the side. The other side of the coin is that some of these kids have been excellent and look as though they have great futures in the game."


Transfer talk including Steven Sidwell and Ash Young out and ... gulp... Joey Barton linked. Full details: JOEY BARTON To Villa? :( TRANSFER Talk

Barry Bannan has said that the players have been training with more of a spring in their step following our win against the Baggies. Speaking to the Official Site Bannan is determined to keep the momentum going against Wigan, given the lift the players felt after the last game and with a run of tricky festive fixtures coming, he knows another 3 points today could be invaluable for the second half of the season. Full article: Squad's Spirits Are High - Bannan

This week has seen the return to light training of Stiliyan Petrov, Steve Sidwell and Fabian Delph but both Young's are ruled out of the Wigan game (called off so no probs!) Speaking on the Official Site Houllier confirmed that Ashley had strained his medial ligament and would definitely be out of the clash against Wigan, but was hopeful that he would be back in time for the Spurs game. Details: Three Return But The Young One's Are Out

Gerard Houllier has dismissed reports of a player revolt over the new training regime being employed by the club. Quoted on the BBC today Houllier said: 'I've read about dissent in the squad over training methods but it is not true. I know it is different to what it was before but it is not true and the players will adapt gradually. We do a lot of work with the ball, we play a lot of games, we do some tactics aswell.' Full report: Houllier Dismisses Player Rebellion Rumours

Excellent as ever: Something For The Weekend (312)

An excellent Fieldy rant! I was going to ignore the report by the Daily Star when I read it the other night, as to be honest it was that daft I thought the best response would be to forget it. But sadly yesterday those in the sports media world proved the phrase 'football journalist' really is an oxymoron as everyone and their dog have jumped on the story, rearranged the words a bit and come up with new catchy headlines without actually checking the substance of the claims made, like Sky who go with 'Houllier U-turn For Krulak' but back to Sky later. The Star 'story' (and you'll see it is a story in the truest sense) leads with the headline: 'Aston Villa Director General's Changed His Tune On Gerard Houllier.' The hook is imaginatively: 'Randy Lerner's right hand man has performed a U-turn by hailing Gerard Houllier - less than a week after infuriating the Aston Villa boss.' Sounds good doesn't it, very juicy. So what's it based on: A General U-Turn Or A Simple Contradiction?

Previous Villa Times: The Villa Times - 17/12/2010

Thought for the day: I just checked the word paranoid in the dictionary.....it said 'what do you want to know for' (Shamelessly stolen from Tom Ross!)

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