Villa manager Gerard Houllier will be released from hospital within the next 24 hours after scans taken earlier today revealed he was fit to continue his recovery from home. It was confirmed earlier in the week by Villa’s club doctor Mark Waller that the Frenchman’s chest pains were a result of a dissection of the descending aorta. Despite the fantastic news for the 63-year-old, and the club, Chelsea’s cardiologist Duncan Dymond told TalkSport: “My own assessment, without knowing Gerard Houllier or having seen him, quite frankly he’s had one brush with the grim reaper already and now’s he had one serious warning, and to put himself through this again with the stresses and strains of being a football manager, I think he should call it a day.” Reports have been rife over the past couple of days that Houllier will indeed step down from a managerial role and it was suggested this morning that the club were lining up another former Liverpool boss, Rafa Benitez, as his replacement. The Spaniard resides in England once again after a very brief failure at emulating the work of Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan and is thought to be keen to return to a job in the Premier League. Despite all this Villa assistant Gary McAllister couldn’t comment on when his counterpart could return to management, but did announce his delight at the former Lyon bosses return to health.
“Gerard is fantastic. All the staff have been visiting him and the players are looking to see him today.
“He has just come through a scan which has been very successful and the doctors are really pleased. He is going to be discharged in the next 24 hours.
“It cannot get any better for Gerard in terms of what has happened this morning.
“The good news from the scan has convinced the doctors he is fit enough to go home.”
“I am sure the first question is going to be when he does come back. It’s something he will be advised on by the specialists and the doctors.
“But just knowing Gerard, knowing his love of the game – and he found his time with the French Federation, when it wasn’t hands-on, at a club difficult.
“He just loves being with players on a day-to-day basis. I think personally he will be back but there is still quite a bit to run.
“He has still got a bit of recuperation and a lot of rest in the immediate period so he will be guided by the right people.
“We are only eight days away from when he was first admitted and I don’t think anyone thought he would be at home.”
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