Foxy1

It would have been incredibly unseemly and tacky for Randy to sack McLeish straight after securing our survival. Rightly or wrongly it would have shown Randy to be a disloyal and reactionary employer - not a great look if he is going to be trying to convince a new manager to work for him in the near future.

At the very least, from Randy's point of view, McLeish deserves some loyalty because he has worked within the very restrictive parameters set down for him that and he has done so under considerable provocation from the fans and considerable poor fortune in terms of injuries to key players, but he has not really complained and he has not tried to deflect blame for the situation from himself onto Randy.

So while McLeish may well be informed that his services are no longer required at some point I suspect that Randy is seeking to make that happen in a dignified and sympathetic manner, rather than simply stabbing him in the back and dumping his carcass into the arena for the hungry lions to devour.

A considered and intelligent post Ponky and I really hope you're right.

I know hes not the right manager, and he has'nt done a good job, and he will probably go and cost us another fortune, but i do feel that McL is a genuinely nice bloke, and does'nt deserve the level of personal abuse he is getting.

Still want him gone though.

Absolutely agree, he is still a human being (albeit a Ginger, Scottish one)

Has to be Harewood. We'd just spent the season struggling by with O'Leary's squad - had got Stan, Carew, and Young in and all the talk was about Schnjeider, Miguel or Bosingwa signing as it would be the first transfer window where O'Neill could really splash the cash on Europe's top talents.

Then we signed Marlon...

Emile a close second, given where we were in the table and so desperately needed a good striker.

This. Summed up perfectly Senor Reach.

I didn't see the fuss with taking Zog off today, thought he was quite poor.

Collins just tipped Ireland for MOTM for me

It was an unwise PR decision to sign him...but I think Lerner had one eye on the unruly dressing room needing some sorting out.

I'm more angry with MON for walking out still when the going was about to get tough than ever I would be over Lerner or McLeish.

At this stage McLeish has my support - we are improving as a team the longer the season goes on and what's more he's bringing

through the young talent we should rightly be proud of. You can't say we're playing negative football at all, that's simply untrue.

What I'd say is that at times the team are playing passionless football but I think that's down to some of the players more than

the manager because again you can't complain about McLeish not being passionate - he absolutely kicks every ball with them on the touchline.

Good post, agree with this

We're actually playing some good stuff, results are not always coming but we were unlucky against Toon and Arsenal.

Ecks biggest problem is some of the toxic personalities and error prone technically inept defenders that he has inherited. I don't go along with the view that Hutton is shite , he's really improved in recent weeks.

Bannan is one of our most technically gifted players - keeps the ball well, has good vision and has a sweet left foot (witness the cross into Gary Gardner against Newcastle)

The problem is that he is very small and lightweight however players like Silva or Mata have overcome this.

I also think he needs to work harder on and off the pitch to become a better professional. I'm not sure he's dedicated enough for what it takes to become a Prem player.

I can't think of another Premier League team that has as much talent coming through the ranks as we do right now, hopefully Gary will be the jewel in the crown.

No credit for the Keane signing then? Lets just stick the boot in shall we ....for me McLeish has done little wrong in the last 2 months and I NEVER thought I would say that after the debacle against Spurs and Liverpool.

Still don't love the guy but he deserves some credit IMO. Today he started Gardner and dropped Warnock which took some balls. Keane was different class in the second half.

What? He's got a lot wrong in the last 2 months.

However, it was a good win today and I'm certainly not complaining about that. Our home form is still abysmal though so it would be nice to get a run going with a win against QPR.

What I forgot to add is that our 'experienced' defenders have let him and the club down on several occassions ....perhaps he should have dropped Collins and Warnock sooner. Still think Cuellar is far superior to Collins so perhaps something he should have addressed but overall stand by my point that McLeish is doing much better recently.

No credit for the Keane signing then? Lets just stick the boot in shall we ....for me McLeish has done little wrong in the last 2 months and I NEVER thought I would say that after the debacle against Spurs and Liverpool.

Still don't love the guy but he deserves some credit IMO. Today he started Gardner and dropped Warnock which took some balls. Keane was different class in the second half.

You are clearly a prick. Well done to Marc for banging your missus

He probably nosed her too

Now get over it and acceot he's the better man

This kid needs to grow up fast, get his head down and work hard instead of writing bollocks on twitter and crashing Range Rovers. He needs to earn a starting place like Clark and Albrighton have.

Damn it we really should have won it though over 90 mins a draw was fair as we were very poor in first half.

Ireland MOM

Zog should come in for Albrighton against Wolves

Performance was fine today, very comfortable despite the idiotic last 5 mins

It's great that we have Clark and Herd competing for that 2nd midfield berth however Petrov is the lynch pin... I'd worry about the midfield without Petrov, still think we need another experienced head in there.

He has done it though for a full season at City under Hughes.

I think it's taken him a long time to get over thr rejection of being exited from City soon after being one of their star players. Psychologically I think it killed him. Perhaps now he's realising that these should be his prime years and he still has the chance of a great career at the top level.

"Always the best player in training" according to Benty

Someone must get a Superman flag or costume for the Swansea game, has to be done!

Quick word for Carlos, I hope we offer him a new contract

this

I love King Carlos, he's so reliable, so committed. He's come in after a long period out and has hit the ground running. brilliant.

Sorry mate, it was a good win but if you want to get carried away with that, good luck to you. The opportunity was there throughout, we didnt go for it for some reason until it fell in our lap. When your euphoria (and the babycham) wears off, you might see that.

Sorry I am not one of the "hang myself" when we lose, "get a tattoo" when we win extreme brigade.

Good result, still a hell of a lot of work to do.

Think its just confidence though mate, our performances in the last 3 games have been pointing to this - we just needed to believe we could do it and not just hope for a point. Ireland in his usual enigmatic way was the catalist we needed.

Where did the last 5 minutes come from??

I am not getting over excited here, Chelsea were there for the taking throughout and we didnt seem to want to go and beat them!

Then, McLeish was trying to take off Ireland after the second goal, thankfully, the crab was injured after finally running past the half way line and the substitution was changed meaning Ireland was on the pitch for number three.

Still not sure why Collins was playing at centre back instead of Cueller, but again, it shows that if we play to our strengths and attack, we can win games.

How does the saying go? When in Rome talk complete rubbish

Mate please take your negativity somewhere else, just for today please.

Petrov has been our best player this season and he took his goal magnificently.

Whole team and the management deserve great credit today, Up the Villa!!

What I find most depressing is that I love this club so much, but I hold so little power over it. It's a bizarre feeling.

Is that you, Herbert?

IMO he should keep the jersey whilst in this form, even when Given returns.

We played well tonight, fought hard and generally passed well. Just lacked cutting edge but that's more down to lack of attacking quality we have now. No criticism of McLeish from me here, not at all.

I know I shouldn't be surprised at negativity on VT but I thought we played well tonight, just lacked a bit of cutting edge and clinical finishing required.

We did have most of the possession and created the best chances - positives there surely??