FFF Releases Houllier, The New Boss Stays True To His Word, Will Take Charge After Bolton

If you didn’t watch last week’s press conference, you can be excused if this is new news. However, those of us who watched it and paid attention heard Gerard Houllier explain quite succinctly that he had prior commitments that prevented him being at Stoke. He went on to say that he might be in charge for Bolton, but it may well be afterward, he did promise to attend that match regardless, watching from the stands if necessary.

He also

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Statshack – Stoke 2 Aston Villa 1 – We Missed Carew

It lived up to the preview, we got what we expected at the Britannia Stadium. When Stoke had the ball, they were direct and made effective use of possession. When they didn’t, they dropped deep into two well organised banks of four, the midfield almost on top of the back line. Very tough to break down.

During the opening spell, 15 to 20 minutes say, Gabby & Ash were struggling to get into the game, both occupying fairly

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Hate The Game, Not The Player (Or Referee)

Look, no excuses here, we need to take our medicine, we brought this defeat on ourselves by not pressing for a win or sufficiently holding what we had, but I want to quickly highlight an issue that we all know needs fixing.

I’m not advocating that we should do this kind of review during the game, obviously that would be a ridiculous disruption. I’m not advocating that every decision be reviewed either. However, contentious issues that had an effect

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Houllier Speaks Of Pride, Passion And Ambition, Confirms MacDonald Position

Gerrard Houllier has just completed his scheduled press conference at Villa Park – well, so far as Sky Sports’ questions go – and said all the right things. He showed deference to our history and pedigree, while talking about his pride and passion in taking this job.

He briefly outlined his ambitions, which included Europe and silverware, while making it clear he intends to build on our existing squad and facilities, not attempt to start afresh with his own

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EXCLUSIVE: AVFC Marketing Plans Revealed

If you’ve been on the Aston Villa website since Gérard Houllier was confirmed as Martin O’Neill’s replacement you may have noticed that the marketing team have wasted no time in leaping on this new opportunity. If not, you may have received an email. Take the image below which shows the two frames from a 300×250 ad block appearing all over the site.

A good offer, no doubt, click here if you want to get in on it, but am I

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Stand Up Pinocchio – Thompson Explains, Plus Phil McNulty and Patrice Bergues

Phil Thompson has explained why he had to turn down Gerard Houllier’s offer to return to coaching in the Premier League and, despite what you might think about him, it’s difficult not to respect him, both for his rationale and his honesty.

Phil Thompson
Had circumstances been different, I would have been delighted to accept the chance to join Gérard Houllier and work with him and Patrice Bergues once again at Aston Villa.

But I had to weigh up the pros and cons

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Official: Gerard Houllier Confirmed As New Aston Villa Manager

Gerard Houllier has finally been confirmed as new permanent manager at Aston Villa, succeeding Martin O’Neill. He has resigned from his position of technical director at FFF.

I’ve put together a mini-biography here and compiled his Premier League statistics while at Liverpool here for anyone who is interested.

Gerard Houllier
I am very happy and proud to join this great and historic club. It was a very difficult decision for me to leave the FFF [French Football Federation] but I could not

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Gerard Houllier – Mini-Biography

I thought I’d pull together a Gerard Houllier mini-biography of sorts while we wait for the inevitable announcement, expected sometime very soon.

Lens & PSG 1982 – 1988

A significant part of Houllier’s playing and early management career took place in Le Touquet, a small town near Calais that many English holidaymakers will know fairly well, but his first appointment of note was at Lens in 1982 for what would be their fourth season in Ligue 1 following promotion in 1979.

Houllier guided

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Gerard Houllier’s Premiership Statistics In Context

I suppose it’s a little like the Milner deal now: it seems certain that Gerard Houllier will be joining Aston Villa, it’s just a question of finalising the details. To that end, the latest word from the street suggests the Frenchman will be joining as the new manager, not a technical director, but I’ll leave worrying about the details until we actually know what they are.

In the meantime, I’ve seen one or two people throwing their weight behind Houllier

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