Mantis

The thing is I'm actually fine with the squad. The defense is a bit shit but we have some good attacking players in there. There are many things out of McLeish's control but the main things people are complaining about - style of play and tactics - are completely in his control. It's silly really because if anything our squad is more geared towards attack.

Randy's invested a lot of money into the club. By far his biggest mistake was appointing McLeish, and I think most will agree with me there. That's why I find it so odd that you can be against Randy but not McLeish.

Alex McLeish? Honest? He's one of the most prolific liars in the league.

Perhaps a couple may have been waiting for him to fail, but again I must stress that the mood around here in August/September was one of "let's give him a chance". We wanted to be proved wrong. I absolutely hate seeing us play like this. If we had been winning games I don't think many would care, but the fact is we're losing/drawing most of our games and playing absolutely diabolical football at the same time.

That's very odd. Can't understand how you can possibly be no to Randy but only unsure about McLeish?

People were protesting because he'd just been relegated and his SHA side had been playing dire dire football all season. McLaren never got those sort of protests a) because he has achieved more and isn't known for playing the worst football ever seen and it was just a bit of press speculation, whereas with McLeish by the time the protests went down there was much more weight to the speculation.

Not going to happen is it tho? Mark Hughes was deliberately ignored in the summer for whatever reason. I believe we bypassed him due to some sort of respect our club had for Fulham's owners and the circumstances in which he left them. However, I will say that, if we get to a certain point in the road (i.e. staring relegation in the face come January) then all bets are off, and Hughes could be in quickly. Funny thing is I was very anti Hughes last summer, and now it would be like a godsend if we saw his appointment. Boy do I feel like an idiot now... I'm in exactly the same boat as you. The first thing I said when MON walked was "I'm just glad Hughes is taken". However, since then I've come to realise that he's a fairly decent manager and would be good for us. After every game and abject performance I'm starting to like the prospect of Hughes managing us even more. He's becoming somewhat of an elephant in the room now. While he's out of a job he simply can't be ignored. We must get rid of McLeish and get Hughes in before somebody else snaps him up.

I reckon appointing someone like Mark Hughes would give the club a massive lift. The players seem rudderless and completely unmotivated EVERY game. The fanbase are deeply unhappy. McLeish's football is some of the worst to ever grace the league. Hughes is currently unemployed, and we know he's decent. He's gettable too. He would be treated like the messiah if Randy went out and appointed him now.

He has to go.

Unsure. He's done a lot of good for the club. He dropped an absolute clanger in appointing McLeish but there is still time to turn things around and get rid of him.

No it's not. If you'll look back most people on here (myself included) were giving him a chance. However, he sets the team up so negatively that it's only a matter of time before people get on his back.

"Convenient" heart trouble? Wtf!? :| Whatever your opinions on the man were I think it's a bit low to call a potential life threatening heart scare as "convenient". Even when looking at Aston Villa, it was anything but convenient. It was Houllier's departure which led to McLeish's appointment. Anyway, I want him gone. I'm aware that my attitude towards McLeish is quite different than it was towards Houllier and there's a very good reason for that. Last season, we were inconsistent in that we'd put in a heroic performance and then straight after that do the opposite, then put in another excellent performance a few weeks down the line etc etc. This season we've achieved consistency - we're now always poor. It's just a question of how poor. McLeish is so negative it's unbelievable. He's the worst manager in the league. Also, I liked some of what Houllier was doing with regards to playing style. McLeish's style however is just hoof hoof hoof and it's not working.

They were there for the **** taking, but we didn't even try. I'm not even going to bother going up to watch us play the better teams anymore and instead use the money to go and see us play the weaker teams, because those seem to be the only ones that McShit even remotely tries against. Oh yeah, and the hoofball needs to stop.

Remember South Africa Even the England got 5 points in the group stage.

This. Far too many are getting teary eyed about his return on this thread for my liking. He was a good player for us, and I have warmed to his petulance over time, but as Paul says he is now on the opposition. He was business-like about his move to United, and we should be business-like with our response to him. I can't help but think the Aston Villa mentality of recent years sums this situation up - what other fans would seem positively excited about welcoming a former player back to us? Let's hope our players don't show him so much respect otherwise we'll get raped. A polite clap if he acknowledges us at the start is fair enough, but christ some people are making out he was some sort of Villa legend. I agree with this. Young is NOT a Villa legend. Great player for us, but that's it. I'd say the only player we have right now who I'd class as a "Villa Legend" is Gabby. Ridiculous. One's an opposition player and one's a Villa player. As a Villa fan I would've thought there'd be no question of who you'd rather be injured. :|

FFS stop going on about Gary Megson.

MON would never have achieved 4th with us. He had a glass ceiling and while he he did well (but not as well as some people think when you take the spending into account), he had certain flaws that always stopped us from getting there. I think Randy "pulling the plug" was the right move as we would've gone bankrupt chasing that damn 4th place.

Gareth's posts

But that's not the Alex McLeish way.

CI you're overrating Ireland and drastically underestimating England. Ireland sneaking 2nd place and England going home with 1 point? Behave.

I don't rate him, and everyone has different opinions you know. I think with the funding he had he did an ok job here, although his legacy leaves much to be desired. Personally I think MON is somewhat overrated on here due to the decline we've experienced over the past 18 months. Many people point to O'Neill's absence as the cause of that, but I don't agree at all.

I think to have this opinion you have to over rate the impact a manger can have in the modern game. I think the clubs infastructure is by far the most important factor. As a Villa fan to not rate MON surely you have to think he didn't take the club as far as other managers could given the restrictions placed on them by the infastructure of the club. I'm sure you could list numerous things MON did badly, but the same could be said of Pep at Barca or Mourinho at Real. No manager is perfect but the set up of certain clubs allows for the manager to make many mistakes and still have success, whilst other jobs are less forgiving. Given the circumstances MON worked in when at Villa, I'd say 3 6th place finishes were pretty good. Had Mourinho taken over at the same time do you really think he'd have done any better? Yes, I do think other managers could've taken us further. The thing is though, Mourinho wouldn't have spunked so much money on medicore British players and I doubt he would've relied on such a small core of players either.

Are you a Sunderland fan in disguise?

No bloody way. It would be a massive insult what with how he **** us over. Not only that but I don't rate him that highly anyway. He's better than McLeish but name me someone who isn't?

No, definitely not. Mediocre manager with some fatal flaws. He's lucky to get the Sunderland job in all honesty.