Houllier leaves Villa

[RoadEnd]

Agree with kenneth.

I love Rafa the man,but I wouldn't want him as a manager at Liverpool again. As for other clubs fans - that's up to them.

[Vermilion]

For Villa fans to dismiss the idea of Rafa is ridiculous. However, he is somewhat over-rated by many Liverpool fans who just refuse to see his flaws. The fact that he was good at massaging the egos of the fans maybe has something to do with it. The owners is given as a blanket excuse for any criticism that come his way.

Whatever the context of the Inter job, he took it, his team were utter ****e by their standards and he was out after a few months. Can't blame people for giving weight to that, we would if a potential manager had just come through the same.

See i don't get that feeling at all, most fans are grateful for what he did for us, and believe under better circumstances he could have achieved more.

I rarely talk to lfc fans that would argue he did'nt have his flaws, all managers have flaws, it's a fact of life.

But when certain fans from whatever club talk about him as though everything he's ever done is football was by luck, and he had spent more than his rivals, etc etc, then bull**** like that just has to be answered.

[Shaggy]

Agreed, don't buy that at all. I love the guy, obviously, but we know his flaws. Even Paul Tomkins knows his flaws.

And yes, bull**** like this does have to be answered. I see it as restoring balance, some of the absolute drivel talked about him defies belief.

[Roboklopp]

Not really the thread, but it is a joke that GH seems to be rated higher than Rafa by other teams.

[Exiled_red]

Do you think it was possible for Rafa to do much better with us under the conditions he was under though?

But if you ignore the context of what happened at Inter, your views have little relevance.

I think given the circumstances overall he did about as well as he could have, you can argue about some of the decisions or signings etc. But our record in the Champions League and making the top 4 (all but one season) was probably as much as we could have hoped for given the vast amounts of money Chelsea and later Man City were spending. Whilst this was going on we were often forced to break even (or make a profit on transfers). For me there was a certain inevitablity that things would come crashing down once we were forced to sell to buy, it was only a matter of time. That wasn't Rafa's fault.

I think most of us feel the need to defend Rafa because of how unfairly treated he was by the media, perhaps he could have done a little better in some games but he could easily have done worse in others, overall I don't think we could have done much better.

[Exiled_red]

Not really the thread, but it is a joke that GH seems to be rated higher than Rafa by other teams.

[kev776]

Rafa's name is mud in England.

Only because they have no idea what circumstances he was working under, if they read Meades book, they would think again, the guy performed miracles under the circumstances.

[Fan65]

Surely Rafa wouldn't work for another suspect yank chaiman.

I thought MON was heading in the right diection when he was there then the fall out with the yank

[Rich]

Surely Rafa wouldn't work for another suspect yank chaiman.

I thought MON was heading in the right diection when he was there then the fall out with the yank

Heading in the right direction? Spending a fortune and not winning a thing, or even challenging the top four positions.

[peekay]

I went over to Villa talk just to see how they were viewing potential candidates. They had a poll on there and obviously this poll was done before Ged announced his retirement.

G.Houllier (w/ G.Mac as #2) 4%
G.Houllier (with a new #2) 11%
D.Moyes 49%
M.Jol 10%
M.Hughes 5%
P.Lambert 3%
S.Allardyce 1%
O.Coyle 3%
R.Benitez 4%
Someone else (specify) 5%

Here is the link:

http://www.villatalk.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=67776

Moyes 49%, Jol 10% and Hughes 5% with Rafa 4%

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

I guess they know they won't have much of a budget to work with so moyes is a good choice.

[Exiled_red]

Surely if Moyes were to leave Everton it would be for a big step up? Aston Villa is a sideways step. I know Everton aren't in a great position at the moment but I don't see him being much better off at Villa than he is at Everton.

[Craig_H]

2nd post on the thread:

Paul Lambert deserves a chance. Either that or I'd take a punt on Benitez.

I dont think Rafa gets much support from that point on

[Craig_H]

Some of them seem to know their level though. After suggesting Billy Davies and being asked why, one fella's first reposte was:

has a superb record in the championship

[Craig_H]

And this bloke has clearly forgotten to take his realism pills this morning...

Ancelotti (with Wilkins hopefully) or Deschamps for me. Highly ambitious but worth a shot. I think Rijkaard would be a big gamble.

Wouldn't be unhappy with the likely top-targets Hughes or Moyes, though.