Agbonlahor reluctant to endorse Houllier

THE jury appears to be out on new Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier if the remarks of Gabriel Agbonlahor are anything to go by.

Agbonlahor appeared reluctant to offer any kind of endorsement of Houllier, who watched Villa’s 1-1 draw with Bolton from the directors’ box alongside assistant Gary McAllister.

That is despite Houllier’s enviable managerial record that includes winning French league titles with Paris St Germain and twice with Lyon, as well as the UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup (twice) with Liverpool.

The Frenchman takes over from Kevin MacDonald, who has spent the last six weeks in caretaker charge following Martin O’Neill’s departure.

Asked whether Agbonlahor was impressed by Houllier’s cv and was looking forward to working with him, he said: “Next question.”

Pressed for an answer, he said: “If you look at his record at Liverpool, what he’s done, what he’s won, obviously we’re looking forward.

“It’s hard to say anything because Kev (MacDonald) has done so well, but times change and we’ll be looking forward to training with the new manager.”

It is clear there is an affinity for MacDonald, highlighted by Ashley Young’s celebrations after opening the scoring with a superb 24-yard free-kick in the 13th minute.

Young turned, pointed towards an applauding MacDonald before racing over to the Scot on the touchline and embracing him, with several players joining in.

Asked whether there was any sadness MacDonald had not been offered the role on a permanent basis, Agbonlahor added: “It’s hard to say that. We don’t want to discuss that now because there is a new manager in charge, so we have to look forward to that and be happy with what Kev did for us. He’ll still be around... but I think you could see by the goal, how everyone celebrated, that it shows how well we’ve enjoyed working with him. He’s been a good manager.”

ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Luke Young, Collins, Dunne (Cuellar 46), Warnock, Petrov, Albrighton, Ireland (Carew 72), Downing, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor.

BOLTON: Bogdan, Steinsson, Knight, Andrew O’Brien (Ricketts 18), Robinson, Petrov (Taylor 83), Muamba (Mark Davies 69), Holden, Lee, Kevin Davies, Elmander.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral).