Houllier to be new Boss?
The Daily Mail have reported tonight that Gerard Houllier is to be the new man in charge at Villa Park. The 62 year old, if the papers are anything to go by, is now the hot favourite with the board and will become Villa’s first foreign manager for 20 years, Jozef Venglos was the man in charge, spending just one season at the club.
Houllier will be best known to the Villa faithful for his role in charge of Liverpool. The Frenchman spent 6 years at the club, originally alongside Roy Evans, so has plenty of experience of the league and also valuable experience of playing at Europa Cup and Champions League level. This is thought to have been a clinching factor for the Midlands club and they will be hoping, if Houllier does take charge, he can lead them back into Europe at the first time of asking.
Houllier spent a year in charge of the French national team after a 3 year spell at PSG before a 5 year break until his days at Anfield. He made some landmark signings including Hyypia and Hamman who became scouse favourites but also made some questionable transfers whilst in charge, see Djimi Traore! A couple of interesting links to Villa players include his signing of current Villa striker Emile Heskey as well as the sale of keeper Brad Friedel whilst at the club.
After he left Liverpool in 2004 he took charge at French giants Lyon between 2005-07. Whilst there he was inadvertently helping Villa improve by agreeing to swap John Carew with the frankly useless Milan Baros. Let’s hope those sort of deals aren’t emulated were he to join. It’s fair to say Villa could expect to see some young French hopefuls arriving at the club as Houllier looked to do whilst at Liverpool, not all of whom set the world alight. If Houllier does get the job I would hope to see him employed alongside MacDonald who knows the ins and outs of the club although maybe a reunion with the great honk of Soccer Saturday, Phil Thompson, could be on the cards.
If true this is pretty massive news so what do you think guys, is he the right man for the job?
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Deadline Day
Filed under: Aston Villa, Hot topic debates, Transfer News
So its transfer deadline day and it’s a hectic time, on the phone all day looking for new last ditch signings, bargain and loans isn’t it? Well no. Not at Villa anyway. The current managerial vacancy means no dealings this window other than the part exchange for Milner and Ireland. I’m trying to stay positive after a good win against Everton but it doesn’t help seeing the Blues making signings left, right and centre, most notably Aleksandr Hleb who Villa have been linked with on numerous occasions even prior to his Arsenal spell. So nothing to report and nothing to expect on the transfer front as the manager’s situation still overshadows any hopes of a team building exercise over the international break.
One positive note is at least there are no new boys, bigger boys or bullies coming in so squad harmony should be relatively high after the weekend. Just Ashley Young in action for England on Friday which should see Gabby Agbonlahor get a lengthy rest to recover from injuries. Warnock misses out once more due to the so called revolution of the England side with Kieran Gibbs getting the nod as Cole’s understudy.Young will face club captain Stiliyan Petrov if selected and the midfield workhorse is wary of a lashback from the Three Lions despite a depleted squad.
We know how strong England are. They had a disappointing World Cup, but now they are going to show the fans that is all behind them, they will try to win the game because of that feeling.
So, back to the usual business of discussing the next manager at the club. Interestingly this Monday saw Everton boss, David Moyes’ odds slashed quite drastically making him favourite with many bookies which will encourage many Villains. The Scotsman has scooped Manager of the Year awards along with his rave reviews at the club since arriving in 2002 and has impressed in all departments including his ability to pull in some big names for low prices (See Arteta, Pienaar, Cahill, Baines and the rest). The slightly scarily intense 47 year old certainly fits the boards criteria with his extensive Premier League experience despite still being somewhat of a whippersnapper in managerial circles.
USA coach Bob Bradley has now committed his future to the American dream so is out of the running although caretaker boss Kevin MacDonald is still in with a chance. The club statement from Paul Faulkner seemed to effectively rule KMac out but the current man in charge finally made his interest in the job known to chairman Randy Lerner and is still sitting pretty as one of the favourites for the job after an impressive victory against Everton. It is now thought by many that the two Scotsman who met in battle on Sunday are now to duel over the post at Villa Park despite the fact that Moyes ruled himself out just a few weeks back.
Still lurking in the bushes waiting to pounce on the opportunity is dirty dog Sven Goran-Eriksson along with the likes of Alan Curbishley and Phil Brown but there’s no doubt that most Villa fans would see Moyes as a major coup. Let me know what you think about the rumours and the lack of activity at the club and I’ll be sure to write about the new signings that won’t happen later on!
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