ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE:STEWART DOWNING believes Gerard Houllier has all the credentials to be a successful manager at Aston Villa, although he has also acknowledged the work done by Kevin MacDonald, who was overlooked for the role and who will resume caretaker duties against Stoke City tonight, writes Stuart James.

Houllier will not be at the Britannia Stadium tonight as he is yet to come to an agreement with the French Football Federation, where in his role as technical director he has three months’ notice to serve. The Frenchman is yet to meet the Villa players and will have to wait until September 26th to take charge of his first league game at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Downing is confident, however, that, when Houllier does finally arrive, Villa will have a top manager in place. “I’ve not really met him in person so I don’t know how he is but, if you look at his past record as a manager, with what he did at Liverpool obviously and at Lyon, you don’t generally get jobs like that if you’re not very good,” he said.

“There’s no reason that I can think of why he can’t do very well [here]. It’s a great club, great facilities, so everything’s in place for him to do very well.”

MacDonald’s unexpected return to first-team duties comes after he failed to get the manager’s job on a permanent basis and declined to become Houllier’s assistant. The Scot will go back to his role as reserve team-manager when Houllier comes in.

Downing made it clear that the players appreciated his efforts.

“He’s done a very, very good job in the circumstances he was given with the first team. Obviously he’s got a lot of respect here.

“He’s done really well for us up to now. I think he’s an ultra-professional.”

Guardian Service