OnlyOne

I wouldn't deny Man City just yet. Apart from Tevez, they haven't really got good goal scorers have they?

He has never done a good job either. A draw specialist. :yawn:

MON - Houllier - Hughes. We're really pushing forward guys. Let's see what Hughes has on his C.V. Oh yeah, **** all. He didn't even win the League Cup with Blackburn. Souness did. It appears some of your expectations have dropped and don't care this club is moving backwards, but funny enough I do. Don_Simon - Just laughable. I'm sure any manager would attract a player AND club if they're willing to splash out over 30 million. What brilliant signings did he do at Fulham that was so drool worthy?

Mark Hughes would be a terrible appointment. The club would basically make a statement saying they're not ambitious enough to push forward. Darren Bent would look at that and must think what is he doing at this club. It's no different than Sunderland and I'm sure he would want out next season. There's no way we would get another Marquee signing, not even a quality signing. I'm sure Hughes would only attract players like Sidwell where he could turn them into a better player. Hell, he may play Ireland and Warnock again. Who the hell wants to see them in our squad? His scouting level sucks. He isn't even a manager who has stability. I mean come on, he's only been at Fulham for 1 year and he wants out straight away? He seems more of a journey man now. That club seems more his level. I don't recall him playing much of kids either. How are we suppose to blood our youngsters then? The only highlight I can see is he'll only trim the wage bill, but that's it. Don't expect any good players to stick around, just average players such as Dunne, Collins etc and don't expect us to do any better than West Brom who imo could do better than us seeing as they have a better manager.

Like **** off I'd imagine. Ones things for sure the managerial choice is going to have to be spot on in terms of making our top players think he is someone who can take the club forward and match their own ambitions. If we hire Hughes, the board would have to be brought into serious question. It would just be a backwards step after another.

I think there's no way back for him now. We'll have to sell him for a considerably high profit if we can. The board have to do better with these contracts. It's really not good enough atm.

Why do people keep bringing this up? He also bought Robinho for over 30m. I admit he's good enough for a midtable club who's on a tight budget. But we're more of an upper club on a decent budget. I just don't think Hughes would fit that bill at all. It would also contradict everything on why they hired Houllier in the first place.

At least with Young he stayed with us for a decent amount of time and contributed more than the price we paid him. Downing? We saved his career who didn't even settle in the first season. He still owes us.

Oh come on. I wouldn't be that happy if Hughes was appointed but at least give him a chance. Not when there's better options out there. The whole thing would be a farce.

If the board hire Hughes, then they've proven me right. No ambition whatsoever.

Please stop moaning. Downing is one player. That is still largely unproven at a consistent level in this league. I am sure there will be players intent on leaving whoever is appointed anyway. If a player wants to leave, they must go IMO. If we sold him for over 20m, I'd be celebrating.

Okay, it's Paul Ince.

If the board appoint Hughes, he'll be gone. There's no way he'll want to stick around when the board are making their actions clear. That's no hope of Champions League, no hope of even top 6.

Even if it was Avram Grant?

For once, I actually agree with Mantis. I mean bloody hell, doesn't anyone think we could do better than Hughes? Have we really gone so low that fans would be happy with this appointment? Why would anyone pick him over Martin Jol who is equally obtainable?

Why would anyone want Hughes? He's average. There won't be any exciting names, results or development under him. We won't progress. He'll just keep us between 8th-10th doing nothing worthwhile at all.

That would require Randy paying off his contract to bring him here and that's without him having Premier League experience. The board won't have the guts to do such a thing. It's either looking likely to be Hughes (who's contract is looking to run out soon) or Benitez. Both wouldn't need to be paid off and they have Premier League experience that for some reason the board can't stop drooling over. Hiring one of them would basically be a middle finger to nearly the whole Villa fanbase if one of them is hired.

Eh?? There's Villa/Blues fans everywhere in Birmingham, the majority being Villa. From what I've seen, there's no domination in a certain area. There's also a few annoying Utd fans I've noticed.

Haha, that's way too low.

Same here. People on here seem to think Houllier is the God of the transfer market. He isn't. Move on.

Even I can realise Liverpool are a bigger club than us. If that's where Downing wants to go then what's stopping him? It's not exactly gonna be our powerless board is it?

We've folded 3 times. What makes you think the board has guts to prevent Downing going? They're gutless to do a damn thing. Blame them.

Like I said before, I don't want him playing at this club if he doesn't want to extend his contract. I don't think he's CL quality at all. Let the mugs pay over 20m.

Can anyone explain this fatal flaw. Why do we give players 4 year contracts, but other clubs give their players 5 year contracts? It's no wonder we're in this situation.