Following Martin O'Neill's childish strop Villa had time and money to make the right appointment to build on the Northern Irishman's foundations. They didn't. Bizarrely choosing Houllier as their man they even allowed his arrogance to be rewarded by not insisting he started the job immediately. In what was undoubtedly the least welcome appointment since Graham Turner in 1984 Houllier did as everyone expected. Demoralised players, demoralised fans, a collapse in form and non-stop dismissive arrogance. Quite how it had come to this after the previous four seasons of progression was unfathomable. That it presaged a series of awful managerial appointments that ultimately led to relegation five years later simply underlines the stupidity of hiring Houllier. With health issues removing him from his role before the season's end at least there was respite from his nonsense but the club had been broken in his 30+ games and would take nearly a decade to recover.