switters

I don't buy that last part. Expectations have been driven so low by the awfulness of the past 2 years that fans aren't going to be expecting any new manager to come in and perform miracles. We just want someone who's going to put out a team who'll play in a way we can actually get behind - one that will try to score goals and try to win. McLeish has given fans absolutely nothing to support. A new manager would rekindle hope and even if the season goes badly again, I can't imagine any fans saying 'if only we'd kept McLeish it would be better'. Lerner may calculate that he will get criticized if he changes manager and it starts badly, but he must surely see that he is going to get criticized a hell of a lot more if he retains the manager and it starts badly.

Dear lord. As depressing transfer links go, this one truly is a winner. Karl Henry is a talentless hacker. Would want him nowhere near Aston Villa. Championship is where he belongs, and that's being generous.

Well, we kinda did last season, although there was mitigating circumstances. In the last few years, found these examples of post season sackings/'mutual consents': Chelsea sacked Ancelotti immediately after their final game last season. Zola @ West Ham, 2 days after end of season. Benitez @ Liverpool a couple of weeks after end of season. Avram Grant @ Chelsea, 3 days after losing CL final. Stuart Pearce & Sven Goran Eriksson in successive seasons @ Man City.

Don't believe ITKs, but I certainly expect he will be leaving soon after the Norwich game - if I was trying to look like an ITK person on twitter, that's what I'd be posting, because it is a pretty reasonable guess and may well come true. McLeish has looked like a dead man walking since Bolton - 1 win in 15 now is it? He can't survive that. I think they letting him leave as honourably as possible by giving him till end of season, rather than humiliating him by sacking with 1 or 2 games to go, but I expect a 'mutual consent' type announcement by this time next week.

The league was so different when he was playing to how it is now and his only managerial experience is with international sides in East Asia. It's hard to see that he'd be able to make the transition - you can't give someone managerial job on playing reputation alone.

These are bound to be last season's figures. The full list has Blackpool and Birmingham included. Hence it probably includes Friedel, A.Young, L.Young, Downing, Beye, Pires, Carew, Reo-Coker and possibly even Sidwell and Davies. Pretty certain average wages will be lower now, given that only a few of them have been replaced with equivalent earners, and most have been replaced by kids.

Er, no. If McLeish goes, all bets are off. He's still under contract with Villa, so any new manager coming in could consider him as much as any other player he inherits. Makoun left because McLeish didn't fancy him and he was one of the (few) players who we could find someone to take his wages (in order to sign Jenas, presumably). Quote from McLeish in Jan: "Has he got a future with us? It depends. The reason for letting Jean out was I looking for a different type of midfielder. I’m not saying he’s not got a future – it would be stupid to say that – but certainly I was looking at our midfield without Jean."

Most interesting/dangerous set of results: Blackburn beat Spurs Spurs beat Bolton Spurs beat us QPR beat WBA Bolton beat Stoke Blackburn beat Wigan Table going into final day: Villa 37 37 QPR 37 37 Blackburn 37 37 --------- Wigan 37 37 Bolton 37 37 (exact order would depend on results but we'd definitely have best GD) Okay, the results aren't exactly likely, but not impossible. The Spurs results are the most unpredictable..

Spot on. A good manager would not have settled for a point here, in the situation we are in. You'd think he'd have learned something from the way he took Birmingham down. I dread us going to Norwich on the last day and him doing exactly what he did last season - playing for a draw because it 'should' be enough..It failed that time and it could fail again. WBA were there to be beaten and we could be sitting pretty much safe on 39 pts. Now we're in a situation where if we lose to Spurs (quite likely) we are guaranteed not to be mathematically safe on the last day.. If he'd given Carruthers and Weimann half an hour, they might have won the match. It was never going to happen with the players we had on the pitch in the 2nd half.

I can see it going to the last day with us, QPR and Bolton all on 37 pts level vying for the last spot. Goal difference is in our favour at least. If QPR get something at Chelsea tomorrow, it won't look good.

Players showed some decent fight. Given MOTM for the crucial save. Manager beyond woeful. The 2nd half was just waiting for WBA goal. No attempt to make us attack, no positive subs until the 90th minute, and as ever, we came out at half-time much worse than we went in. God knows what he says, but whatever it is, it saps the players spirits. Given 9 - didn't have many saves to make, but made them and the last one was VITAL Hutton 3 - tried his best to cost us the match Lichaj 7 - mostly good Cuellar 5 - bit ropey Dunne 6 - look off the pace at times but made important headers Warnock 5 - crossing and passing mostly bad. Tried hard Herd 6 - good battler Clark 6 - see Herd N'Zogbia 6 - little end product but still seemed the most likely. Had a couple of decent chances saved. Shouldn't have been subbed Gabby 4 - off form and not taking chances Heskey 6 - worked hard but is never going to get us goals

WHAT a save. Might've just kept us up.

That sums up our striking prowess. Neither Gabby or Heskey able to get a shot on target with no keeper in place. Woeful.

What the hell kind of sub is that

The choice is more: go for a win and probably lose or go for a draw and probably lose. McLeish needs to go for a win but he's too much of a coward. We had a reasonable first half, with more of the chances. Half time team talk should have been a galvanizing 'we can win this' but they come out anxious and negative, which suggests more a 'let's try and hold on'.

You reckon we gonna finish with 11 men. Should sub Hutton and one of Warnock/Clark - can't afford a red.

WBA are there for the taking, frankly. McLeish should be going for the win. Weimann for Gabby and Carruthers for one of the 3 DMs. They will both be unfamiliar to WBA defenders and could make the difference. McLeish doesn't seem to learn anything from last season's experiences where he went for draws at the end of the season but it turned out they needed a win to stay up..

Dunne with our first creative moment Good chance that.

Jesus Cuellar. Air kick in the 6 yard box

Same. Certainly the home crowd will be on his back in a big way after he broke Shane Long earlier in the season. He is stupid enough to get riled, particularly if their players have a go at him..

I expect a huge gap between Zog-Gabby-Heskey and everyone else. Lots of hopeful balls for Heskey to flick on and the 2 pacy players to chase. Might work if WBA defence is asleep, but I suspect Olsson and Ridgewell will be happy enough if that's all we can offer. It's a lineup that should threaten at set-pieces, but we've rarely managed that this season.

Really should be Weimann rather than Gabby. Half-fit Gabby in v.bad form doesn't suggest big goal threat to me.. Warnock played okay in midfield the other day so that's sort of understandable, though Herd, Clark, Warnock does not suggest much creativity..need Zog to step up today like he did for Wigan last season.

Have to applaud HackneyVillain. Almost spot on with the ones played (only got Pool loss and Bolton draw the wrong way round).

i agree, i think the fans have been very patient, and i also think thats because he came from Bham City so we gave him an extra chance to improve. I think it's actually because fans burnt out on protesting in the summer before the season started. If owners don't listen before they hire him, they're hardly going to turn around and sack him if you protest again a few months later.. Once it had been McUnLeished on us, we were pretty powerless. Had to wait until it got really bad before the fanbase was energized enough to really try again..lots of draws and drab football just sapped the spirit from everyone.

On the OS now.. I stopped reading after this, hold on for the points, there was half an hour to go! Has AM wrote this? I love the way it says 'ultimately', as if we were in front for most of the match and threw it away at the end. We were in the lead for all of 90 seconds!