September 2010 Archives

IT'S been a year and a week since Nigel Reo-Coker was involved in a 'contretemps' (bit of a scrap, to you or I) with his former manager.

Yet still the battling midfielder hasn't broken his silence.

Not necessarily on that training ground bust-up with Martin O'Neill. That's yesterday's news and the club's spin doctor would probably faint if we tried to touch on that subject.

But what about Reo-Coker's thoughts on his new lease of life, his early impressions of Gerard Houllier, his love of fishing, Sierra Leone.....anything.

As the club's stand-in skipper whenever club captain Stiliyan Petrov is unavailable, surely there is a responsibility on him to address the fans occasionally.

And, what's more, he's a bloomin' good talker. Thoughtful, intelligent, articulate.

It's probably our (the press) fault because we haven't requested an interview with NRC for quite some time - mainly due to the likelihood of getting knocked back by the player or the press office.

But I would quite like to hear from Nigel so I'll ask if we can have a chat with him over the next week or so and let you know.

Come on Nigel, talk to us.

JUST been asked by a couple of readers to expand on the intro to my match report from last night's game which basically went along these lines......

"The last time Gerard Houllier kicked Emile Heskey off a bench with such an impact the big striker was lying between his manager and life-saving heart treatment in the Anfield physio room.

Last night Aston Villa's new boss repeated the feat by sending on the much-maligned forward and super sub Heskey responded by getting Houllier and the Holte End's blood-pumping again.

Needless to say Houllier will not be quite as grateful for Heskey's assistance last night as he was on that eventful October afternoon back in 2001, but he might just have started this Villa revival."

Apparently, many of you haven't heard the tale about Heskey being an eye witness when Houllier suffered his serious heart problem during back in October 2001.

In fact neither had I until I saw a piece from Patrick Barclay in The Times a couple of weeks ago.

FAIR play to Kevin MacDonald, who having conducted his final pre-match press conference at Bodymoor Heath this afternoon, returned moments later to shake all of the press pack by the hand and thank us for our support.

Fingers crossed that one of football's genuine good guys gets what he wants - whether that be as a quiet unassuming unsung hero for Villa's reserves again or as a first team manager at another club.

I've written a piece in the Sports Argus supplement in tomorrow's Birmingham Mail outlining my feelings over the exemplary way Kev has conducted himself while he has been in caretaker charge.

Whether or not you feel he has been messed about having stuck his head above the parapet to apply for a post he subsequently missed out on or whether you think Newcastle and Vienna proved the top job was a step too far, MacDonald, to his credit, has never moaned about his lot.

Interestingly it also seems the role he was offered - and turned down - in Gerard Houllier's backroom team was not that of assistant manager as first thought, but an undefined coaching role.

Let's hope his eventful experiences of the past six weeks, far from holding him back will in fact make him an even better, stronger coach, wherever he decides to ply his trade.

Cheers Kev.