Aston Villa: Randy Lerner considers extra transfer funds to help Houllier
Dec 30 2010 By Mat Kendrick
RANDY Lerner will NOT be panicked into rash decisions about Gerard Houllier’s future – and is considering giving the manager extra transfer backing to revitalise Villa.
Houllier’s position has been the subject of wild speculation on fans’ internet message boards since Tuesday’s embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Manchester City at Eastlands.
But the boss continues to have the full support of the board to transform a season which has seen the club slump to just one point above the drop zone.
Contrary to rumours, Houllier did travel back from City on the team coach and did not meet Lerner and chief executive Paul Faulkner at a Manchester hotel on Tuesday evening for showdown talks about potentially leaving the club. Lerner and Faulkner were in fact attending to other business in London after departing Eastlands.
Villa’s board are sticking to their decision to back Houllier in the January transfer window and, if the right opportunities are there, could even give the boss added funds to address their worrying slide down the table.
They are not burying their heads in the sand or underestimating the gravity of the situation and saw and heard for themselves the abject performance and anti-Houllier chants against Manchester City.
But they remain confident the 63-year-old French manager is the right man to revive Villa’s flagging fortunes and pick up the points to climb the table before a full-blown relegation crisis takes hold.
The club’s power-brokers showed their ongoing commitment to the Houllier regime by making progress with the signing of French starlet Gueida Fofana yesterday.
