The former Aston Villa boss denied the idea of ‘mutiny’ or major rebellion in his team during his reign as the media reported.
Aston Villa in the summer 2010 faced uncertainty after their fine season in the 2009/10 under Martin O’Neill. The current Celtic boss suddenly left his post due to the disagreement with the management on the player transfer. His successor was the former Liverpool and Lyon boss, Gerard Houllier.
There had been some report on how the French manager’s tactics and training methods were seen unfit by a number of players, especially the senior one like Richard Dunne. They were said to be disgruntled and could lead to a ‘mutiny’.
Nevertheless, Houllier snubbed such rumor, as he made a statement reported in BBC.
“I’ve read about dissent in the squad over training methods but it is not true.I know it is different to what it was before but it is not true and the players will adapt gradually. We do a lot of work with the ball, we play a lot of games, we do some tactics as well.
“Do people have to adapt to a new manager and methods? In a way, yes. You adapt or you die. We are changing a lot of things and that upsets the comfort of some players.”
The French boss appeared to know how to deal with such situation. There is always players who agree and disagree with the changes. It is a part of the dynamic of the job. He only did what was necessary for the team and the players are also expected to do the same.
“They think the methods are not good and they think the manager is not the right person but we have to live with that. We know that we are changing things, we know that sometimes people are whingeing and moaning but they have a fantastic job.
“They are paid high wages to play and enjoy football. This is a fantastic job and sometimes you forget that.”
Houllier also did not discredit or blamed his player personally. His experience in big teams like Liverpool and Lyon plus Les Blues made the difference. The team comes first, not the star.
“I am not going to talk about the players who are dissenting and not happy. Any manager who runs a team knows the players who are playing are happy, and the players who are not playing are not happy.
“There was not an incident with Richard Dunne. Not at all. I took a football decision not to play him and [Carlos] Cuellar came in and did extremely well and he will be playing against Wigan.”
Dunne did return to the starting line up versus Wigan and played full 90 minutes. In fact, the former Ireland international was still playing regularly till the end of the season.
The manager who passed away in 2020 had a mixed results during his reign in B6. The Frenchman led Ashley Young and Co in 40 games, winning 14 times only and sharing spoils in a draw in 11 games.
His team did have notable results such as holding eventual league champion, Manchester United in a draw, as well as the reigning champion, Chelsea in a goal galore tie, 3-3 at Stamford Bridge. Villan also managed to pick up a win over Manchester City.
Unfortunately, Houllier’s stint ended abruptly in April due to his heart attack. He was unable to be on the sideline in the last five Premier League games and replaced by his assistant, Gary McAllister. The Lions only finished 9th in the final standings.
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