NeilS

Another thing that's bad with the whole McLeish scenario is that one of the reasons why the board think he's good for the job is because Ferguson gave him credit.

But wait a minute....

Firstly, Ferguson doesn't always tell the truth. Secondly, are you telling me they turned down McClaren who played a huge part in Ferguson's treble? Lastly, that's a rubbish reason.

We must also remember that DOL said Fergie spoke highly of Djemba Djemba when he was off loading that waste of a shirt to us.

If you've accepted McLeish, that's fine. No problem with that, although I massively disagree.

But how anyone can argue with the opinion that the majority, in fact the VAST majority, of Villa fans don't want mcLeish is baffling. It's pretty clear from any source that most fans don't want him.

This. I can only guess the agument is for arguments sake, or it's a head in the sand type moment. I can't believe anyone would argue any different.

Yes the message board is a small percentage of the fan base, but I think it is a fairly decent reflection of peoples opinions. You get a wide range of characters on the message boards, ranging from ranters to more lay backed people. The vast majority seem to agree on this matter, I have only read a handful of people who like the idea, and I've read various message boards and the message is the same on all of them.

Very sad news. That is no age at all. RIP.

I'm not a supporter of the decision to employ McLeish but I have been doing some research. Earlier I posted the link to that story about his time with Houllier at Lyon. Here is another story where Dick Advocaat speaks of McLeish's qualities when he got the Rangers job. It is interesting stuff.

http://bbc.in/mphWWw

Those will be the same qualities that saw McLeish lead Ranger to 3rd place in a 2 team league I presume?

And from reading Wikipedia, go on a winless streak that lasted 2 months and ten games. Their is a good chance they met someone poor during those games!

Is there one Villa fan that thinks this would be a good appointment?

There will always be a few people who think differently, but i reckon if you put up a satisfaction poll, then you would probably get 90%+ in the dissatisfied category.

I would say that of those 90%+, that 80%+ of them would be because of his playing style, and maybe maximum 20% for the sha connection.

I agree with the first bit, you would get 90% dissatisfied. But to say that only 20% would be because of the SHA connection is a bit of an understatement (bit = major). If we were getting McCleish straight from e.g. Rangers, or hypthetically he had just took down e.g Newcastle, or Wigan or the like, I think more people would be prepared to give him a chance. They wouldn't be happy but hey would give him a chance. You would end up with alot of people in the "neither satisfied nor dissatisfied group" (if there was one).

But, I have to stress, I don't want him for both reasons.

I don't think us Villa fans would be happy with any manager who had just been relegated with their team, no matter where they were from. You are probably right about my percentages though, it is probably a 50-50 split on the dour football/sha connection.

For me it is 100% down to the dour football and relegations, I couldn't care if he was from sha if he was doing a great job.

Is there one Villa fan that thinks this would be a good appointment?

There will always be a few people who think differently, but i reckon if you put up a satisfaction poll, then you would probably get 90%+ in the dissatisfied category.

I would say that of those 90%+, that 80%+ of them would be because of his playing style, and maybe maximum 20% for the sha connection.

I would much rather we took a risk on someone who could turn out to be fantastic rather than sign someone who has proven themselves average at best.

Spot on, that is what I was trying to get at in my post. Well put!

I voted "No". Why limit yourself to a small pond, when you can fish in the ocean? The majority of the best managers in the Premiership will be employed already, as if you're succesful the best teams will want you. Also, the majority of the top teams in the Premiership have employed managers from outside the Premiership. Which proves that to do well in this league doesn't mean you have managed here previously, but that you need to have the right management skills and knowledge. Sometimes you have to take a gamble to get somewhere in this game, playing it safe and steady has got us nowhere over the last 15 years.

So according to the boards criteria AM is more suitable than Rijkard ?

Yes and Van Gaal..

Because McLeish has Experiance of the English game and Premierleague..Maybe its seen as less of a gamble appoinment. I was just wondering how many fans would share this view of the club. And lets say if the club did abolish this Prem Experiance stance and appointed a manager like Van Gaal would you as Fans still get behind him whilst he settles into the new surroundings? Do fans have patience to allow a manager to settle in? I mean look how impatient we was in waiting for Houllier to instil his methods.

On the other hand, we were quite patient with MON in his first season when we went without victory for a few months. I think if the fans believed in the man appointed they would stand by him at the start. Houlliers problem was he had a hard act to follow, a fair few questioned his appointment from the start and he didn't help himself with some silly words at the beginning of his tenure.

I just think we are limiting the chances of success by sticking to the "Must have Prem Experience" criteria. The succesful managers in the Prem are already in jobs, we're basically picking from what is left.

In the 46 yrs that I have followed Villa I'm struggling to think of a time that I felt worse, relegated in 87? Nope we deserved it and besides it was a great season following. DOL? No I would have him back before McLeish, Saunders leaving? No we had just won the league and went onto win the EC.

I will never give up loving Villa but this crap has really put a downer on it.

And to think we still have to go through the normal shit of the summer transfer window :-(

I'm the same. 50+ years a Villa fan, so I'm not a teenage FM-warrior who thinks we should be able to get Mourinho and Messi and win the Champs League in three years. I'm a realist. But this isn't realism, this is suicide - on a PR level, a financial level and a football level.

Last year was bad after MON dropped us in it. Having lost Milner and having to scrabble for a manager at the last minute, I was fairly happy with Houllier, but he was on a hiding to nothing with his health, the fan hostility and sheer bad luck. The season was a write-off.

This year though, I was optimistic. We had plenty of time to get a new boss in before the transfer window, and there were plenty of good managers already free or definitely gettable.

I'd chuckled at my Sheffield United mates in their anguish at having an ex-Owls boss foisted on them, because I knew that nothing similar could happen at Villa.

As many people have said though, it's not just the ex-sha tag that's the problem - although given the inevitable fan hostility, that would be reason enough not to do it, even for a very good manager. But he's not a good manager, he's an anti-football failure.

This is a disaster on every level. There is a slim chance that we'll be proven wrong and he'll be a surprise success, but I'm not holding my breath.

The "Premier league experience only" stipulation was plain stupid. Getting someone with experience of doing things differently would have been a sound idea. But we still had options - a big name with a good track record (which would cost more), or an young up-and-coming boss with something to prove - Martinez was a good shout that didn't come off, but I'd have seen some point in an Owen Coyle or a Simon Grayson.

But this is the worst of all worlds. They literally couldn't have made a worse choice if they'd tried. I'm appalled, embarrassed and depressed.

Spot on.

I'd give it to KMac & Sid rather than stumble into another costly mistake. Assuming they'd want it that is

That could be a costly mistake, if they get us relegated.

Glad Bob is not the man.

This manager hunt saga is fast turning into a farce though. Just get it sorted Randy.

Ditto.

Everyday this rumbles on doesn't reflect well on the name of Aston Villa. Yes, the reports in the press may not be true, but each press report linking us with someone else, and then getting turned down leads to the public perception of Villa in turmoil.

I also hope it gets sorted before Monday, as I'm not getting much work done.

Think its the amount of PM's he got JB! Said to me he needed his PA to manage his VT account lol!

Oh right, that's understandable. I thought it was because he was given lots of grief.

Any word from MM today over on H&V?

Why doesn't he post on VT hardly anymore?

I think it was because some posters gave him loads of grief for not getting things 100% correct all of the time. Sad really because he was a good source, and one that I could trust to be right most of the time.

Martinez would be a totally underwhelming appointment if it's him, given the calibre of manager that's available out there at the moment.

Is he the man to get us into the Champions League? Of course not.

He's a man who will agree to work with a limited budget. Martinez would just about sum up our limited ambition as a club, and we will lose our best players (again). The board had the chance to appoint a manager who could have created a real buzz of optimism around the whiole place and perhaps persuaded the better players that their future lay at VP.

Dperessing if it's true.

This about sums up my feelings. My only hope is that there are others being interviewed that we don't know about, and this is Randy making sure no stone is left unturned.

I'm sorry, but with all of the available managers about, if the best we can get is Roberto Martinez then I'm stunned. The managers job is the most important job in the club, you need someone with the right philsophy and the right know how and skills to back it up. If I was making a list of managers for the job Martinez would be well down that list. He may turn out to be an excellent manager, but for a team the size of Villa it is a massive risk to give him the job. I fear for next season if this is true. :cry:

Isn't the Bent article just old from Saturday?

Ancelotti is out of it.

He is unlikely, though I wouldn't 100% rule him out just yet. I remember Big Ron categorically saying he'd be mad to leave Sheffield Wednesday, days later he was rocking up at Villa Park as our new manager. Houllier said we weren't looking to sign a new striker in January, days later Bent was holding the shirt on the pitch. Basically, what is said and reported in the press isn't always the truth.

Who was in charge of Wigan when Spurs whooped them 9-0? Was that Martinez?

that was martinez, i really hope we don't go for him

I thought it might have been. I don't want him as manager either. I think he would be way out of his depth. He seems like too much of a nice guy to succeed in this game.

Who was in charge of Wigan when Spurs whooped them 9-0? Was that Martinez?

I really just can't see it being McCLaren!! If it is the Villa board have gone crazy.

This is what I keep telling myself. Randy isn't stupid. Is he? :?

Might be a financial decision.

Sometimes the cheapest option in the short term, isn't the cheapest option overall. Loss of revenue from ticket sales, possible loss of income from low finishing place. I hope Randy isn't that short sighted.

Darren Bent is proof that you get what you pay for in this game. What's the saying that got bandied about under Ellis "If you pay peanuts, you'll end up with monkeys".

Moyes or Rafa for me now.

Moyes is Moyes and will do a top job

Rafa has got something to prove so who knows plus he builds normally from the back which is what we need.

Either of those and I'd be happy.

Pretty much where im at with the whole affair.

Either of those two would be very good appointments in my book.

I really just can't see it being McCLaren!! If it is the Villa board have gone crazy.

This is what I keep telling myself. Randy isn't stupid. Is he? :?

I always remember a Boro fan chucking his season ticket at him.

If he aint good enough for those smoggies.......

It is my memory of him as well. It was late Jan or early Feb after we drubbed them 4-0 at the Riverside, and this was when we were playing badly under DOL in his final season. The only reason he got the England job was because the FA had to have an English manager after Sven. it was no suprise to me when England failed miserably under him. I would be devastated if Randy hired him, and my opinion of Randy would plummet.

How can his opinion be wrong? Would it be wrong to say Liverpool haven't won a trophy since Pako Ayestaran left?

Cup runs are great but hardly indicate progress as your neighbours will testify.

Pako left in the summer of 2007. Our highest league position and best form under Rafa came in 2009.

I think what we also need to remember is, Rafa had to work under those Clowns Hicks and Gillette towards the end of his spell at Anfield. That probably didn't help his cause, having all that uncertainty going on in the background.

Please Mods,

can we find the 15 people who voted for FSW, ban them from the site and then arrange for remedial treatment for them in a mental home before allowing them back

I just hope the three that voted for Mclown were not Lerner, Krulak and Faulkner

I'm suprised Steve McClaren has as many as three votes on this site, I can only guess it is someone being mischievious.

As Villa fans we have differing opinions, and disagree about a lot of things to do with our team. The one thing that we almost all agree on is, A big NO to Steve McClaren!