“I think we deserved it, but there is still a lot of work to be done.”

Gérard Houllier


"I'll never change until the day I die.

"I am someone who is very competitive, driven, ambitious and focused. I want to be a winner. I have always had that drive in me and I will never lose that regardless of how much money I am earning.

"Football is not always going to go the way you want it to go. But I have always been committed to the cause. That's something I hope people can see, regardless of whatever happened in the past. Even when I played and might have been taken out of the team unfairly and then came back in, I still performed to the best of my ability. I never said: 'I've had enough.'

"It's the first time I've experienced something like that [the training ground fracas with Martin O’Neill] and some people will have this view of me as a troublemaker, which I'm portrayed as in the press sometimes, but I know that's far from the truth.

"If people actually spoke to people who work at the club, who know me on a personal and more intimate level, I'm sure they could give you a true reflection of the type of person I am. I'm not a troublesome person. If people want to say that's what I am, that's down to them. But I'm secure in the man that I am and people true to me know my character and intentions.

"I stayed and continued to fight on to make it about football. That's the way it has been for me. It has never been a personal issue. You can't be held responsible if other people try to make it personal or if it is personal to them. I was concentrating on the football side to try to perform to the best of my ability when given the opportunity.

"It is fantastic to be playing again. That feeling of not being involved for such a long time and then feeling part of it again – it is something money can never buy. No matter how much you earn, when you are not playing you do feel very low.

"The modern game has completely changed from when I was coming through at Wimbledon. A lot of the younger players now, you would have to question why they play football, whether it is to win trophies or just for the lifestyle and the fast cars and showbiz life.

"I am from the old-school generation. It was about respect – and that is the main word that is missing nowadays with the younger generation. Kids are coming in and getting it too good too early. They lose track of reality. And reality comes back to bite them on the arse.

"This is the fittest I've felt since I've been at the club.

"I don't know where my future lies.

”It's a difficult situation for the club with the finance side of it – they've got to be very shrewd. It would be a different conversation we would be having if we were guaranteed Premiership survival. But I truly believe that we will stay up. And all I can do is to continue to perform on the pitch."

Nigel Reo-Coker.



"What's gone on in the past couple of weeks is done and dusted now.

"We are professional footballers. We'll always try our heart out and perform and be as professional as we can. It was our first home game since all this has gone on and we've got three points and a clean sheet.

"It is a winning goal in a game we needed to win.

”I am concentrating on performing on the pitch. It is what I get paid to do and that is what I'm trying to do, trying to get back to the form I showed last year and repay Villa for signing me and spending a lot of money on me.

"Villa is a massive club and to be in the position we are in is not acceptable.

We know everyone hasn't performed and we need to step it up to the way we performed last season. It is a big win against Newcastle and hopefully we can take confidence from this and get three points at West Ham.

"The spirit has never been in question. The lads are great together, everyone gets on and we are all fighting for the same thing. No one wants to be in a team that has been relegated. For a club of Villa's size it would be disastrous for everyone."

James Collins.