A view from the Holte..

Le roi est tort, vive le roi!

2010-09-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

This weeks worst kept secret in English football has finally been revealed. Gerard Houllier is the new Aston Villa manager.

It is an appointment that has divided opinion in the claret & blue ranks, with Randy Lerners' right hand man, General Charles Krulak, defending the decision before it had actually been made public. "Whatever anyone thinks of him, he deserves respect from the fans of this club," said the General on a fans message board.

And to that extent I don't think anybody can disagree.

Some fans didn't want Kevin MacDonald becuse of his lack of experience. Well Houllier has that in bucket loads.

Some fans didn't want Curbishley because he hadn't won anything of note. UEFA CUP, League Cup, Charity Shiled, Super Cup, FA Cup, French League and cup. Yes, Houllier checks that box.

Most fans didn't want Sven Goran Eriksson because of the huge amount of bagage he would have come with. Last time I checked I didn't see Gerard Houllier entertaining a fake sheik, wining and dining an endless line of women, or putting himself in the frame for every 'big job' that came along. Three out three for Gerard then.

Out of the others linked with the job Maradona was a none starter, Koeman has no English experience and Alex McCleish was never going to cross the divide; and I doubt Randy Lerner ever seriously considered it.

Since his last managerial post at Lyon, Houllier has been working for the French Football Federation, travelling the world, taking in game after game, player after player. The scouting network which Holte Enders have lambasted over the past few years will undoubtedly be reformed from top to bottom. A bit of foreign flair to compliment the British graft and guile can only be a good thing in B6.

The only thing the club is yet to resolve is the coaching structure at the club. Kevin MacDonald is without doubt a talented coach, and possibly a future manager. Houllier would do far worse than have him as his assistant.

So when General Krulak demands that Villa supporters respect Gerard Houllier this is the least they should do. The Frenchman will bring dedication, planning, desire and above all enthusiasm to the job that most fans would do for free. He deserves the support of the fans from the off. The job is tough and it wont be easy but if anyone can improve on what Martin O'Neill did in his four years at the helm then Houllier can.

The King is dead. Long live the King!

UTV!

P.S. Villa fans, if that doesn't convince you, maybe the memory of Houlliers' Liverpool reducing Trevor Francis and Andy Johnson to tears in the League Cup Final in 2001 will!

O'Neill:

2010-08-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

The King is dead. Long live the King.

Almost four years to the day since Martin O'Neill was swept into Villa Park by his adoring subjects, carrying the hopes and dreams of the claret and blue faithful, the hyper-sensitive Irishman slipped out through a back door without so much as a whimper but causing an almighty bang.

He thanked the players. He thanked the fans. He thanked the staff. Pointedly there was no mention for chairman or directors.

The cracks in the relationship began to appear soon after the 7-1 drubbing at Stamford Bridge in March. Whilst trying to reaffirm his passion for the job to the assembled press O'Neill overstepped the mark in sending out a pointed message to his chairman: My loyalty is not blind. He soon backtracked but the fracture in their relationship was there for all to see.

Frustration at the sale of Gareth Barry to Man City was somewhat placated by the almost immediate reinvestment of the £12m transfer fee in Stewart Downing. However it would appear that the end was nigh when Lerner implemented a sell-to-buy policy.

For over three years O'Neill and Randy Lerner seemed to sing from the same hymn sheet. O'Neill demanded a player, Lerner fixed it. Ashley Young, James Milner, Stewart Downing all arriving for double figure transfer fees. In total over £170m of 'talent', a word I use loosely, arrived in B6.

There have been some major hits. The afore mentioned Young and Milner would easily collect double their original fee. Swapping Milan Baros for Holte End hero Carew was a master stroke. Collins, Warnock, Dunne, Friedel form the basis of one of the best rearguards in the league. Even Petrov turned up eventually!

But for all of those hits there have been some major, major misses. Reo-Coker, Sidwell, L.Young, Beye, Shorey, Heskey, Davies, Harewood, Routledge, Maloney, Salifou. The majority signed for fees of £4m+ and on at least 30k a week. Sidwell, Young and Reo-Coker on substantially more than that.

After allowing the manager to spend more than his budget on Dunne, Collins and Warnock last summer Lerner asked that O'Neill sell some unused fringe players in the last January window. This did not happen. As a result the sell-to-buy policy was implemented.

How could the chairman justify the release of more funds to a manager who has invested heavily and then proceeded to dump the players on the bench whilst moaning about fatigue, lack of depth and other such issues. Would you be happy if your girlfriend spent £200 on shoes only to wear them once, put them back in the wardrobe then say she had nothing to wear?

If we all believe what the London Press have to say this is the darkest day at Villa Park in many a year but, for all the lauding of O'Neill, the bare fact is that a large number of the players he brought to the club failed. Failed whilst sitting on the bench and sitting on very lucrative contracts. Contracts that were all sanctioned by O'Neill. If his exit came down to money then he is equally to blame for squandering millions on sub standard players.

The Martin O'Neill who talked about Aston Villa so passionately, the Martin O'Neill who avoided the public politics will be missed at Villa Park. Unfortuantely the O'Neill that left had alienated a lot of fans, aired his grievances in public and attempted to stamp his authority Clough style on the club. He will not be missed.

UTV!

New Season, New Beginnings....

2010-07-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

So the World Cup is over. The most overwhelming favourites in recent memory eventually lived up to the billing and brought the shiny gold replica of Sepp Blatters favourite bathroom ornament back to millions of adoring matadors!

While this World Cup might not be remembered for free flowing football or individual acts of brilliance, one new superstar was created. Enter Paul the psychic octopus!

Not since spoon bender Geller 'moved' the ball at Wembley in Euro 96 to deny the Scots has the power of the mind so captured the worlds imagination. Eight out of eight correct predictions, nations on the edge of their seats and even Sky Sports News showing the feeding live, Paul bowed out of the World Cup with a record as good as New Zealand - UNDEFEATED! Unlike the All Whites squad though, Paul has had transfers bids from Madrid and death threats to boot!

Rumour has it that the exiled mollusk is retiring from what he does best. An octopus can only take so much pressure and expectation from a nation these days. Even a psychic one.

Speaking of expectation, on to England. Oh England. Where to start. The writing was on the wall the moment Rob 'for sale' Green lobbed a daisy cutter from that power house of football Clint Dempsey into his own net. If Green was on a one man mission to prove Don Fabio's choice of goalkeeper was as inspired as Steve McClarens then mission accomplished! All that was missing from Don Fabio was an umbrella.

Although fortunately for us the Italian messiah is keen to stay on in order to right the wrongs. I'm sure the £12m over the next two years had nothing to do with it.

As for Wazza, he was much like an Aston Villa signing in mid July: Nowhere to be seen. Sir Fergie put the no-show down to fatigue. This is Sir Alex Ferguson who rushed back his wonder boy in the Champions League and then dumped him on England a shadow of the player who had plundered 30 plus goals for Utd. At least Villa had the decency to rest Heskey all season.

To top the lot off JT, clearly feeling agrieved at something (unconfirmed rumour has it Fabio called told him 'Bridgy never used to do that' in a training session), decided to stand up to Capello infront of the worlds assembled press. Again, unconfirmed rumour has it that Terry woke up with a horses head on the pillow next to him and a half smoked cuban cigar in the ash tray.

Fortunately England weren't the only laughing stock. Step in France. Evra spat his dummy so far out of the pram it was home before the economy class French boys could set foot in Paris ready for a dressing down from the countries politicians.

Swiftly followed the doddering Italians. Unlikely World Cup winners four years ago, the defending champions looked like extras from an episode of Last of the Summer and promptly packed their bags to leave.

The rest of the tournament involved a Uruguayan single handedly dragging his team to the semis, another Uruguayans' single hand getting his team to a quarter final penalty shoot-out and the most cynical display from a footballer (cue Mark Van Bommel hack after tackle after hack) a World Cup has seen since Rivaldo went down clutching his face from a Turkish piledriver by the corner flag eight years ago. Spain were dazzling, sublime, fantastic and every other adjective Alan Hansen could spit out while grinding out 1-0 wins, while the Germans were ruthless and efficient while spanking four past England and Argentina. Makes sense huh?

Oh, there was something called a Vuvuzela but i don't think they'll catch on. Not in the Premiership this season anyway eh Sky?