CVByrne

Seriously what was wrong with Knight? He was brought in to do a job and did it well enough. We then sold him for a profit. I can't see how people consider Knight such a failure.

Scottish titles?! Bwahahaha! Like I said - real trophies. Ok then, what about the League cups he won? I think the general point is that O'neill is regarded as a top, top class manager without actually winning trophies of any genuine significance, like european trophies, international trophies and league titles in hard, competetive leagues. How's he supposed to win meaningful trophies with Leicster and Villa ?? We were relegation fodder when he took over and every season he was here he overachieved in the League. He did btter than every pre season poll expected on here. He along with Lerner rebuilt this club, He broke Rangers dominance at Celtic and the team he left went on to win 3 leagues in a row. He made 3 cup finals with Leicster. He has been successful at his last 3 clubs. Never did he leave a club as a failure.

You see pointless posts like this drive me nuts on here. Nobody is berating him, people are expressing their opinions on his record. My only negative opinion is his transfer record. He's a fine manager.

I'm expressing my current opinion of the man. I've said I hope he proves me wrong, I'll of course change my opinion if he turns out to be a success at signing players next summer. Some people on here are more concerned with their opinions being right and about 1% of people are man enough to admit when they're wrong or when their opinions turned out to be wrong. I'm just worried about his transfer record. We wont get to see that till this time next year after he's made some.

No, I'm trying to point out flaws I think the man has. But you can't have discussions on VillaTalk, the army of sheep just come out with 10 posts per minute all saying the same thing and views become entrenched. Houllier is a good manager, he did good things a Liverpool and he did nothing wrong at Lyon either. But I have gone through his transfer record and would deem it overall as a failure. We are low on money and we can't afford to have that number of failed signings. That's my worry. I think the immediate impact of his appointment will be good, I just fear it'll tail off over the next 2 years when his signings are put into the team.

Why do we care what he did with youth development, we have a great setup here at Villa, he doesn't need to build anything.

Anyway, I would imagine he'll do a good enough job this season and next summer will be where my worries about his abilities in the transfer market will be tested. So if he's signed a 2 year contract then that means we can have an amicable parting of ways if those transfers result in failure.

Well, as far as i can see, Houllier HAS a job, so that point is irrelevant here. me was right. I said managers job, MANAGERS job, you know what that means??? As in manager of a football club. Some people who post on here are simply retarded. How can people not read. Houllier has had 2 years of management since he left Liverpool. 2 years out of the past 6.

I just don't think it works like that, it's far too simplistic. If you want a manager for a year to wait for another candidate then you leave Kmac as caretaker. You certainly don't get someone the quality of Houllier to come to you and tell him he can only have a year because you're not sure about him. He'd have quite rightly told us to go do one. If you appoint a permanent manager you have to show confidence in them. If you don't like him, that's up to you, but personally I'd be even more concerned if the club was appointing a manager in a half-hearted way, even if it was someone I really didn't like - Curbs or someone. It would show weak leadership and lead to uncertainty and quite likely land us deep in the doo doo. Curbs, Sven or Southgate could come in do an ok job for the season, rebuild a bit of their reputation and then go in May. We would save money and have a nice kitty for Jol next summer. He'd come if he was interested in Fulham this summer he'd come here next year.

I mean Jol, Moyes or Hughes. We try get one of them for next year. Accept that the timing was poor for getting a manager good enough, then appoint someone for the season, deny them any money in January and sort out funds for a new manager. Moyes might come if we offered him 25mil to spend next Summer. All I'm saying is don't settle, we shouldn't settle on a managerial appointment. I'm a firm believer that getting the right manager is more important than any other signing.

The bunch being touted by the media, you dont know who Randy did consider/contact/interview, Houllier is Randys choice and may well be the best of a good bunch. Well good/bad is a matter of opinion. The managers that we didn't have to pay compensation too were the only ones we considered it seems. So he was the best of a bad bunch. The good managers don't stay out of the managers job that long.

Then you are limiting yourself to the standard of manager who will accept that kind of situation. We're back to the 'paying peanuts getting monkeys' scenario. If you want a decent manager you have to put faith in him with a decent contract. It's as simple as that. You see I'd prefer we get in an ok manager for this season and get a good one for next rather than get an average one and giving him a long contract just because he's the best of a bad bunch. Houllier is the best of a bad bunch, that's the problem. This will end, and when it does I fear our squad will be in a bad state like when he left Liverpool.

Many teams have a good cup run, nobody get's lucky over 38 league games that's why we've only ever seen the best win the Premier League, thats why cracking the top 4 is so hard.

Oh and on Jol he hasn't failed at a club he's been at yet, he has left those clubs in very good condition after he has departed. He is also well regarded by the clubs he's managed so far. Hughes the same, did a great job at Wales, Blackburn and was hard done by at City considering his replacement failed to get 4th too. Moyes has done well at Everton on zero budget too. So none have had failures of the level Houllier ended at Liverpool. THAT is my worry.

For the Last time Jez even Liverpool fans know they were beyond lucky to win the champions league, late strike from Gerard to get out of the group, phantom goal and Gudjonssons miss to beat Chelsea and 7 lucky mnutes against Milan. Benitez signed Alonso and they didn't even come close to beating Everton to 4th. They were rubbish in the Premier League that season, rubbish. So stop bringing up how lucky they were in a cup competition. Cardiff made the FA Cup final, that make them among the best 2 teams in England that year? Of course not.

villain-scott peoples worry about Houllier is that the state he left Liverpool in required rebuilding. If after 2 years we are in that sort of state it could be a disaster for the club. All the past 4 years of building under O'Neill and Lerner could be reversed. That's my main worry. That's why I bring up his transfer record.

No I don't agree Brian and I don't see why a managers contract should be public knowledge, if the manager does well enough he can get a contract extension. Or we can give him a 2 year contract with a preset agreement that we can fire him for a preset amount, say 1mil in May. But what if Houllier does okish this season, say 8/9th and as expected get's a summer to make his mark. We give him another season and he gets sacked, but leaves the club damaged. We are less attractive to a new manager and we'll have some rebuilding to do. I personally thought he left Liverpool an absolute mess as did Benitez, both were more miss than hit in the transfer market. Which is what has me worried. I personally thought after early reservations that O'Neill turned out to be top notch with his transfers. We don't have the money to have the number of misses I'm expecting in the next 2 windows with Houllier.

An appointment until May. We spend the season trying to find a better candidate and appoint them. Unless the man we gave the job to did well enough to earn an extension. What I fear this appointment will do is result in stagnation and a parting of ways that leaves rebuilding to do. No matter what any of you want to say about O'Neill he left us with a solid team that requires no rebuilding. Ranierie did well for Chelsea but they got rid of him because Mourinho was far far better. I don't want to settle for a manager because he was the best we could get at this point in time when the long term damage to the club would be worse than waiting to make the right appointment.

I wish I shared some of your optimism about this Brian but I'm rather downbeat about this appointment.

So was it Houllier who made this happen now or not? Case in point about who was a better man in the transfer market.

Davies was 8mil and still has a career, he has had injuries that hampered him and we'll get 5mil for him easy if we sell him. Heskey cost us a few mil, yet you quote his wages. Downing has only had just over half a season, cut him some slack. He was excellent in the West Ham game. Shorey was a few mil loss. Sidwell would be a few mil too. So his worst signings are merely a few mil loss each. Nothing major. Compare to.. Friedel, Warnock, Dunne, Collins, Cuellar, Young, Milner, Ashley Young, Petrov & of course swapping Baros for Carew. All what you'd call success stories. It can't imagine ANY manager could have done a better job than Martin did in the transfer market with a net spend of around 60mil. Houllier certainly won't do much better. Or ever come close.

i'm sure the are loads on here that used to slag GH where managed liverpool,but now that he's on his way here there opinion is changing.. Exactly, it's typical of Villatalk. I'll change my opinion of Houllier if he proves me wrong and does a good job. But right now I'm worried about the future with him in change. I admit he has the managerial skills to do well this season, but it's after he starts spending money that the tide turns.

We're all pretty used to signing garbage and still finishing 6th, maybe this time the garbage will at least have some fancy names. Bullshit. Martin O'Neill signed our whole f'n team and we did well every season. We all slated him for paying 12mil for Milner and 9mil for Ash. We were wrong, he was right. All the poor players he signed cost only a few mil.

Oh and changing my opinion of a manager just because he's going to become manager of our club is called being a hypocrite.

Well I just don't like Houllier's record in the transfer market. I used to mock my Liverpool supporting mates becuase he bought rubbish like Diouf, Traore. Then when at Lyon he swapped Carew for Baros, which is one of the worst transfer decisions ever. I don't buy into the 2 years of league titles at Lyon. Winning the league is par for the course, they were utterly dominant when he took over and he won for two years. Nobody can make a case for him being good in the transfer market. Noone. So don't even try. I think he;s good in the other areas but cripples himself by poor transfer decisions.