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Two Villa Fans Say Give Houllier A Chance

Two Vital Villa stalwarts ask for patience and support amongst the hysteria surrounding Gerard Houllier. Brave men!

Give him a chance

Let's not give up hope yet.

Just imagine that Houllier uses a knowledge of European players that we are not used to seeing and brings in half a dozen good players without breaking the bank in the Jan and Summer windows, and gets rid of some of the higher paid, non playing players that we all talk about?

Imagine starting next season with 5/6/7 good players from around Europe in the squad, earning the money saved from the departed Sidwell, NRC, Carew, Pires, Ireland, Dunne, Davies, Heskey (or is that last one just wishful thinking), and possibly Warnock, L Young and maybe a big fee from Ash. Plus some really promising youngsters who have had the experience of a difficult premier league season and one or two less experienced younger players like Herd and G Gardner.

Maybe I am just a 'glass half full' type, but if he sorts out the things that MON got wrong, then it could be a good 3/4 years ahead, with some good kids maturing into the 1st team. I know that GH has not got the team fighting to win like MON did, but I would like to see what he can do after presiding over a couple of transfer windows. Randy can't have just plucked a name out for manager.

He must have got advice from people who know football, so lets not write him off too soon.

Give him a chance.

neilh111

A plea for perspective

Back the manager I know this goes against the grain but I still think we have to back Mr Houllier.

Not that I'm a fan of his in any way right now but I can't see a better way through this nightmare than to all get behind the manager and whichever players are not walking around with their arses in their hands (Carew, Ireland et al) and push forward.

If we get rid of him now it will be tantamount to the manager leaving 5 days before the start of the season (and we all know how that worked out when MON left) and if we make his and the players' lives a drudge they will respond in kind and never pick themselves up.

I know it's difficult but if we want to get out of this I can't see any other realistic way than to work together as a team.

If we still want rid come may, let it be known but until such a time our complaining will do nothing but harm.

Villan Of The North

The sane part of me agrees, the football side of me (ie the insane part) says we are 3 points off bottom place, the squad appear in disarray and the game at Man City was nothing short of woeful, albeit having seen the replays, that second goal shouldn't have been allowed!

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Writer: NeilH111 / Villan Of The North

Date:Thursday December 30 2010

Time: 10:20AM

Your Comments

No, get rid. GH is a terrible appointment.

wurzel

The word 'Imagine' appears rather too often for my liking...the only thing Villa fans are imagining now is relegation...Yes Houllier has had no time to bring in new players yet, but he has had time to steady the ship, and he's failed completely...I say get a new manager in now and just hope to stay up....because after watching Villa this season I cant see anything but misery ahead.

MASON_PARKER

And what if we chuck money at the problem do you think he is going to all of a sudden come up with a way of playing that does'nt resemble a shower of *****e headless chickens all chasing the ball. The problem is the frenchy even with the senior players back the shambles is still there for all to see. Lets not give him a penny to spend lets get rid Randy NOW.

reno

just get behind the manager and team instead of being fickle and always criticise... if we get rid of houllier we will be in a worse position than we are in the moment?

RJones

We're not fickle, just aint that keen thats all....

Stourbridge Villan

We already gave him a chance. He's taken us to 3 points off rock bottom with over half of the season gone (& Chelsea away next); alienated most of the fans by showing where his loyalties lay and clearly upset most of the squad as well. He needs to go NOW before his wasted all of out money in Jan.

SchoolBoyError

I usually agree with a lot of what these two people say, but not in this case. We are on a super-slippery slope here. Even if GH went now and we had a similar window this time around to last time ... even if nothing happened in the window ... the players we have now are still good enough to bring us up the league with a manager who can motivate, organise etc. I'm not putting forward any names, but I'm convinced many, if not most, could do the simple managerial stuff much better than GH is doing.

Beovilla

Right now all i can say is Alex Ferguson and manchester united!! any one remember his first season?

Astonian Villan

ok we`ll give dem a chance........right count to ten ,now run after dem with sticks!!!!

paul muldrew

Imagine:

We lose against Chelsea

We scrape a draw against Sunderland

We are bottom or second from bottom

We get rid of 50% of our defenders

We are favourites for relegation.

Having imagined all that, as you suggest, now try to imagine what sort of players will be happy to come to VP. I can imagine it all too clearly:

players that other clubs are desperate to get rid of

players long past their best and looking for one last big pay day

untried youngsters from the French Second Division

players who will not look out of place in the second (or third) division.

What a nightmare.

chocolate teapot

Astonian Villan - When Sir Alex took over at ManU in November they were second from bottom. Performances improved gradually and they finished 11th. I do not see the connection.

chocolate teapot

The only thinks that are good about Houllier are his contacts in the game. Put him upstairs and get a new manager in ASAP. If he won't go, the very least he can do is take a step to the side and let someone with fresh ideas take over. That's what he's been doing for the last few years anyway. But then again, France haven't been the World Cup winning giants of recent years with him at the top ( and we'd probably end up with Domenech in charge.) On second thoughts, F Off Houllier.

Villan444

if GH is going to do a sir alex on us he'll be 108 by the time we win the league!

eltoro

Good article fellas, obviously their is little "perspective" amongst some of our fans and I thought us villa fans had more brains. I know we all have opinions but for hou to get balmed for injuries, trainign methods, arrogant senior players who do not want to play is beyond logic. The same is happening at Fulham and L'pool, their appears to be a formula for success that is instantly available now that Hodgson, Hughes and Houllier have missed out on.

VillainYorks

I see a lot of corporal jones' on here at the moment - I can just imagine them running around like he does in Dad's Army. Don't Panic Don't panic Mr Mainwaring - they don't like it up 'em sir!. Chill pill guys. We will not go down (and again so many are confident we will that they won't do what I've done - pledge £10 to Vital if we go down - think my money is safe - but will give it anyway). They won't pledge £10 when we survive. Hmmmm..... will they or won't they?. Fear - at the end of the season I'll put £10 into the Vital charity regardless as I have faith unlike many others.

nazvfc

I agree with Villan of the North. Give the manager a chance. I know that we are in the ***** at the moment but give Houllier a chance in the transfer market and lets just see what happens. Every manager needs time and it aint going to help anybody if we have fighting in the camp. Some of the senior players need to get their act together and stop sulking and get out there and play.

shandy-bass

I agree with VillainYorks, Give the manager a chance, I’m sick and tired of saying get GH out, we cannot get anyone better in at the moment, and with the likes of Dunne, Ireland, Beye and Carew throwing their dummy around who would want to take over this mess. GH will do alright for us, give him a chance, he has had a tough run of games with injuries, he didn't get his plan across in pre season because he wasn't even bloody here, so he is trying to change football while focusing on getting points on the table. The players are slowly getting back and once they are at full fitness we will start to see more points on the board, Everton are only 2 points above us, and the likes of Liverpool who are having a rubbish season aren't far behind. 6th place is still only 9 points away and the way Chelsea have been playing of late everyone is expecting Villa to roll over and die, just like Arsenal was expected to Steam roll West Ham not long ago, it just didn't happen, I can see a close encounter seriously, I see a Chelsea win but I see it as 2-1, Let's just see if the players bounce back, trust me they will of been going through hell and feeling embarrassed themselves, let’s see if the lads can pick themselves back up.

Villa 4 Ever

I think a lot of fans blindly backing Houllier are doing so because they are hoping he is going to unearth some Gems of players in January. You are foolish to think this as he has no history of doing so! He is no Arsene Wenger! He has an average/poor history in the transfer market at best and I would not like to see him waste money again here. There is no way he is our long term manager so why let him waste money on players our knew managers probably wont want? No ones blaming Houllier for things he has no control over but we blame him for where he openly shows where his loyalties lie, his lack of tactical leadership to grind out results, his lack of professionalism handling the media, his lack of man management skills when dealing with players. In three months I recon he has managed to upset 3/4 of fans and 1/2 the team. If you really want a man in charge that does that to your players and your fellow fans then you seriously need you heads looking at! No matter how genuinely you think how great Houllier is, he has lost it with most fans now so there is no way back if we want to go forward. Au revoir Houllier!

revua

He was the first to spot Ronaldo before Man Utd, and tried to Sign Van Dar Vaart twice while at Lyon and Liverpool, he also has a great number of players who he brought to Liverpool and brought through the academy. He might of just got us the next Patrick Vieira. What if you are wrong revua, and he actually does the business for us ?? At the moment he is working with one trick ponys who are MON followers who have lost their way a little.

Villa 4 Ever

Thanks for the comments lads. I knew you would all agree with me. lol. Let's just hope this vision is possible, even those amongst us who think that it is probably not.

neilh111

@Villa 4 Ever. According to KB1 (Vital L'ppol I think), GH and Phil Thommo bought those two household names, Le Tallec and Pongolle to Liverpool, INSTEAD of that obscure journeyman....whatisname....er....I remember....Cristiano Ronaldo. OK, CR and his agent might have pulled a fast one but he could and should have been a Liverpool FC player. You might also ask why exactly did Houllier fail to land R.VdV TWICE?????

VillaWillRiseAgain

I'm sure given time GH might be able to turn things round at VP but we don't have time. GH basically needs to replace most of the senior squad and have a good preseason to build a new playing style, it is not the kind of work that you undertake mid season and certainly not in the kind of position we are in. These players can only play one way and they need to play the hoof and chase, counter attack style they suit and someone needs to put a rocket up their arses quickly or we are going down.

AVbornandbred

Also, according to KB1 Le Talec and Pongolle were regarded as a couple of European footballs "hottest prospects". "New Vieira"???? Yeah sure!!! There is/was only one Patrick Vieira, one of the EPL's greatest ever players.

VillaWillRiseAgain

Am i mad to actually be a bit excited about the next few weeks? Yeah, times are hard at the moment, but i think with the transfer window opening, maybe a bit of cash for Houllier to spens, we can buy some exciting players. On skysports, we are linked to M. Diarra from R.Madrid, when would we ever be linked with or even have signed a player like that. Houlliers name attracts the players and im excited to see what he can do. If it doesnt work out, it doesnt work out. But im supporting the team and the manager while he is in charge at Villa Park.

AndyFC

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