Gerard Houllier has reflected on his departure from Aston Villa and admitted that it was entirely necessary; it was just too risky for both the club and his own health. He also says that the club were “still traumatised” by the nature of Martin O’Neill’s exit five days before the season started.
He apparently spoke to France Football originally, but here are the translated quotes according to Sky Sports:
Gerard Houllier
I almost died. The doctors advised me to not resume before late
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Brad Friedel had a surprising number of options open to him as his Villa contract came to an end. Interest was reportedly shown by Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham, along with an offer of further 12 months at Villa Park.
However, it’s Spurs who have won the American’s signature and are due to announce this morning (Friday) that he will be moving to White Hart Lane from July 1st, presumably on a two year deal.
It’s sad to see Big Brad go, but
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With the headlines currently being dominated by Mark Hughes’ resignation from Fulham and the inevitable linkage to the Villa Park vacancy (I’m not convinced by the way), it’s easy to miss other news going on today.
Actually, this one is barely more than a footnote on German website RP Online, but it’s being reported that we will exercise our option to purchase Michael Bradley permanently from Borussia Mönchengladbach for a fee of €5m which includes the loan period.
The Google translation
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The official confirmation has just been published, Gerard Houllier’s tenure as manager of Aston Villa is over. Here’s the official statement:
AVFC Official Statement
The Club can confirm that, by mutual consent, Gerard Houllier has stepped down as manager of Aston Villa with immediate effect.
The 63-year-old took charge in September 2010 but suffered a dissection of the descending aorta in April 2011.
He was unable to take charge of team affairs for the final five games of the season and doctors have advised
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David Moyes has been a favourite among fans for the Aston Villa job from the moment Martin O’Neill quit. Long before that in many cases truth be told.
He’s also been a hot favourite with the bookies; they even had to close the book on him at one point last year. That was after Bob Bradley had been the favourite for a spell as I recall. You know, just sayin’.
That episode at least forced Moyes to address rumours and he was
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The headline I went with when Martin O’Neill walked out on Aston Villa was something along the lines of “They think he’s taken us as far as he can… he has now“. It was a reference to the persistent theme among the growing dissent that our club was stagnating under his stewardship and also the fact that the record would forever confirm that that would indeed be as far as he could take the club.
The truth is, we’ll never know
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We have a number of players with contracts expiring this summer and uncertain futures, but the one with the biggest question mark over his head was Nigel Reo-Coker. That question mark remains no longer, the club have just announced that he has been released along with nine other players.
I know Reo-Coker wasn’t in everyone’s list of favourite players, but he’s always given 100% and frequently was the only one providing anything close to the grit we needed in the centre
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It’s widely known that Man Utd have adopted a couple of firm policies when it comes to player dealings.
Firstly, they want to stick to players under 26 years old when it comes to bringing in new faces to retain a potential resale value.
Secondly, they won’t allow existing players to enter into the last two years of their contracts if at all possible. Again, this is intended to protect a resale value that decreases rapidly if the player is to leave
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The LMA has just issued a statement confirming that the dispute between Martin O’Neill and Aston Villa has been amicably resolved during the course of the tribunal.
Martin O’Neill said:
Martin O’Neill
It has taken a long time to deal with this matter but I am pleased that all issues have now been amicably finalised.
I am very proud to have managed Aston Villa and I wish the club all the best for the future. I would also like to thank the LMA
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