John Carew fires parting shot at Gerard Houllier
Thursday 27th January 2011, 11:28AM GMT.
John Carew today fired a bitter parting shot at Gerard Houllier after claiming the Villa boss showed him the cold shoulder.
The 31-year-old striker fell out of favour with Houllier and found his first-team chances restricted to just a handful of appearances.
Carew had been Villa’s leading scorer last season but the pair have not seen eye-to-eye since they were both previously at Lyon.
The Norway international was allowed to join Stoke on loan until the end of the season earlier this month and on his departure Houllier insisted he had “no problem” with the player.
But Carew, whose Villa contract expires in the summer, has now taken a swipe at the Frenchman.
“In all my clubs the manager has wanted me, except for the last three or four months,” said Carew.
“But that is only three or four months out of 14 years playing. It’s a long story with Houllier. There are personal problems you cannot control, but I find no motivation in (playing for) Houllier.
“I could have stopped playing and I would have had a fantastic career and done everything I wanted to. But I didn’t really want to stop. I’m inspired by this.
“I had a fantastic relationship with the Villa fans more or less from the start, but that’s now over.”
Meanwhile, Gabby Agbonlahor admitted Villa’s players are willing to put their preferences over positions to one side in order to boost the march up the Premier League table.
The 24-year-old striker has been used on the left wing in Villa’s last two games which have yielded victories over Manchester City and Wigan.
It has helped Villa climb up to 13th place and Agbonlahor accepts that while he may prefer to play through the middle he can see the bigger picture.
“I think with the formation we’re playing everyone’s playing in different positions,” said Agbonlahor.
“People might not be happy with where they’re playing but the team comes first.”
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Glad now we didn’t get Carew. Mighty big man for a cry baby. Thought he had more guts than that. Couldn’t say that to the face of Houllier.
JACK the HAT.
Report abuse
Top man John Carew. He will be missed. Good luck John with the rest of your career. Hope you score a shed load although obviously none against the Villa! UTV
Report abuse