Aston Villa fans have reacted angrily to the actions of manager Gerard Houllier after the awful 3-0 defeat to the Frenchman’s former club, Liverpool. The travelling Villa faithful had to watch their team put on a pretty woeful performance in freezing temperatures and were upset by Houllier’s apparent lack of support to those who made the trip. After the game the Liverpool manager applauded the Kop at Anfield who sang his name, in turn ignoring the fans who is supposed to be caring about and indeed apologising to. The supporters were also angered by some of Houllier’s actions and comments including touching the Liverpool sign in the tunnel before the game, a sign of allegiance to the club as well as stating that if he was going to lose 3-0 to anyone he would prefer it to be Liverpool ‘because he likes them’. Many upset Villans posted their opinions to General Krulak on a fans forum who has since released a statement confirming that he had passed the concerns on to Randy Lerner. The posts included fans calling for Houllier’s head following the Liverpool match, many of which have since been removed from the site.
In an attempt to clear up the comments made after the game on Monday, Houllier stated on the clubs official website:
“To the fans who travelled to Liverpool and to all Villa supporters, let me assure you that we are working as hard as we possibly can to achieve the level of success which this great club aspires to.
“No-one likes to lose 3-0 against any team and, if comments I made in the immediate aftermath of our defeat by Liverpool have been misconstrued – comments which were intended to be humorous, by the way – let me put them into context.
“The experiences I enjoyed with Liverpool some years ago will always stay with me, as will many experiences I have had in football both before and since, and I have taken all these experiences into my job as manager of Aston Villa.
“I understand the fans’ feelings of hurt and disappointment at the moment – I am hurting as much as anybody, believe me – and I say emphatically that we will battle through.
“Building lasting success at Aston Villa is my focus and my commitment to this challenge is resolute.”
This is a safe place guys and your comments won’t be removed! What do you make of Houllier’s comments and actions after the Liverpool game and what do you think of the job he is doing in general? Is he the right man for the job or do you think ignoring the Villa fans and saluting those of Liverpool was over the line? We want to hear from you so comment, below!
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