Gerard Houllier returns to England as Aston Villa manager
It has been a long time since Martin O’Neill resigned from Villa, with the managerial post vacant since. Finally, the owners at Aston Villa decided to appoint Gerard Houllier as the new head coach of their senior team.
Gerard Houllier, in his official statement, has confirmed that he has taken the job at Aston Villa with immediate effect. He showed his happiness over joining Aston Villa, which he regards as one of the biggest clubs in England, steeped in history. Houllier also said that he had long admired the philosophy and approach adopted by Villa, which was a major factor in making up his mind.
Aston Villa’s senior management said that they had kept in mind two things before appointing a new manager: prior experience of working in the Premier League and building on the current strengths and philosophy of the club. Houllier filled both criteria and was thus appointed.
Gerard Houllier was previously working as a technical director at French Football Federation. The FFF has also confirmed the resignation of Houllier from his previous job, in order to join Aston Villa.
Houllier certainly has the credentials to do a good job at Villa. He remained at Anfield, as Liverpool’s manager, for six years. During that time, Houllier won three trophies for the Reds, including the League Cup, FA Cup and the UEFA Cup. However, these trophies were won in one single season, while Houllier was also unable to win a league title for Liverpool. He started well with the team, as during his tenure Liverpool finished above Manchester United, their archrivals, for the only time since the inception of the English Premier League. However, towards the end of his tenure, Houllier was again clueless, as he ran out of options for Liverpool. Although, he did retain the Champions League spot for Liverpool, he could not win any further silverware for the Reds.
After the Liverpool job, Houllier was manager of Lyon. During this time, Houllier won two Ligue 1 titles in 2006 and 2007. Since then, he has left the job as a coach, as he has been working with the French Federation.
There is a lot of criticism regarding Houllier’s appointment at Aston Villa. He has been out of the English Premier League for a long time now, and returns with a lot of things changed. The major changes since he was last here are the introduction of extra money in a few clubs, including Manchester City and Chelsea, while some of the teams have lost their glory, especially his old club Liverpool.
As a result, Houllier has a big task ahead of him. He has to understand and assess all his players in a very short period of time. Apart from that, he would have to face his first test at Stoke City, an EPL match that would be played on Monday. The last time when Houllier met Stoke City, Liverpool beat them 8-0. Now, a lot of things have changed, as Stoke have become a consistent mid-table club.
The real problem with Houllier is that he is not known for working with youth players, or improving his youth academy. This might cause problems for him at Aston Villa, because there are fewer resources available to buy new players. So, it is always important to bring in some players from the youth system to fill the deficiencies in the senior squad.
Whether Houllier would be successful or not would become obvious in a few weeks. However, the important thing is that there is some stability returning to Villa, as the players can now focus on the English Premier League matches ahead.
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