I know many people were more than a little concerned about Gérard Houllier’s age when he was appointed and that may well have caused feelings that his appointment wasn’t a long term solution. Initial reports of a two year contract seemed to compound that feeling, despite his predecessor operating on a 12 month rolling contract that proved to be entirely worthless in the final analysis anyway.

Maybe the fact that his contract, once it was eventually signed, was actually three years in length alleviated some concerns, but I’m not sure that his age doesn’t remain a significant concern. So I decided to run through Villa managers of the past to see how old they generally were and how long we enjoyed their company at Villa Park. Or didn’t enjoy in some cases.

Firstly, I have to say, maybe it’s just that everyone seemed to look 10 years older in the 70’s and beyond, but I was honestly surprised not to find a single one of our past managers were in their 60’s when they came on board. The oldest – that I know for sure, I have a couple of gaps – was Graham Taylor in his 2nd stint, which we all know was a short term fix. GTII was 57.39 when he moved back downstairs.

You might be surprised to learn that Martin O’Neill and Jozef Venglos were the next oldest, both 54.43 years old when they took over. The average age of new managers when they were hired was 45.

So, at 63, Houllier is considerably older than any manager we’ve employed in the past, but his three contract does keep him within the retirement age and, if he saw out those three years, would that be considered short term, or long term?

What is long term in football management anyway?

Here are the top 15 Villa managers by length of service and a wee note about George Ramsay follows as his almost 42 years at the helm is clearly an anomaly worth explanation.

George Ramsay is often referred to as the founder of Aston Villa and played from inception in 1874 until retiring as captain 8 years later at the age of 29 and became what was the pre-cursor of the modern day football manager; the secretary. It was a job he held for close to 42 years before stepping down at 71.25 years old.

His successor, WJ Smith, was the 2nd and final secretary of Villa, his successor, Jimmy McMullan, the first manager in anything close to the sense we would understand it today, but still probably doesn’t compare very well. McMullan ranks 19th in terms of time in the job with just 1.42 years as manager.

Should Houllier complete just three years in the job then, he would still earn himself a place in the above table and be entirely comparable with Taylor, Little and Atkinson. Were they short term?

Premier League Managers

Harry Redknapp isn’t a man I imagine will conjure much affection among readers here at AVC, although Tuesday night’s incredible victory over Inter might soften views a little, but I wonder if fans would have felt so uneasy about the long term view had he somehow been appointed in Houllier’s place.

It seems inevitable that Roy Hodgson will end up a short term appointment at Liverpool, but I’m not sure he went there with that intention himself. Regardless, both Redknapp and Hodgson are ever so slightly older that Houllier, so I can’t help wondering whether either manager would have elicited such feelings of unease.

Yes, Roberto Martínez is only 37!

And the good news, if you had your heart set on someone like David Moyes, is that there’s plenty of time for that.