markavfc40

Unfortunately it won't work like that will it. He was given the job 6 months ago on a bumber 3 year contract. Lerner and Faulkner for **** knows what reason thought he was the right man then and will think he is the right man now. What we could do with is a spate of sackings in the Premiership to help plant the seed and make his sacking look more justified. It doesn't help that managers who have been in their jobs sometime, or at least way longer than McLeish, who are struggling in Kean, Coyle, McCarthy haven't and don't appear in iminent danger of being sacked. The media also don't seem to be reporting that McLeish is under pressure. I would be amazed if McLeish goes before the end of the season and expect him to still be here in 18 months. I would love to be pleasantly surprised though. Of course that then means Dumb and Dumber having to find another manager and as we all know they are **** clueless at that.

The higher they rise and the further we drop certainly makes Randys managerial appointments post O'Neill look very, very poor to say the least.

They actually have a good history all be it like us a lot of it is pre WWII - 7 League titles and 2 FA Cups. They also have an excellent fan base and with a sniff of relative success will easily average over 40k. I'm sure they are enjoying there upturn whilst us, and specifically Darren Bent, look set for a bleak immediate future. It is no surprise that they are revelling in it and having a few digs in our direction.

You wanted a manger to give you an instant bounce you couldn't pick better than O'Neill. He is an excellent man manager and at motivating players to give their all. Its how he gets so much out of players that other managers can't seem to. He has his limits though as we know but he will certainly take Sunderland to relative success and that will be top 8 for them especially as he is likely to have a limited budget. Perhaps not this season but next. He proved at Leicester when he had relatively **** all to spend that he could do well on a shoestring and he got them promoted, 4 seasons on the spin in the top 10, two League Cup wins and also losing finalists. That was for them great success.

Whilst we continue to struggle then some will look at what O'Neill is doing and if he is doing well use that as a stick to beat the club with. By the same token there are those that don't like O'Neill who will also take great pleasure in posting when Sunderland lose. In all fairness if we were doing well or had done even remotely well since he left no one would give two **** what he was doing.

I'd guess Reo Coker would be worth around 3 - 5mill. Had he not been out of contract we could have got around half what we paid for him back and he then perhaps wouldn't have seemed such a flop. We certainly paid slightly over the odds for him but he was at the time only just 23, West Ham captain, ex England Under 21 Captain and on the verge of the full squad.

With Squarez out for 8 games and Carroll still looking well out of sorts then you wouldn't rule it out. I still don't see it though but there is no doubt that a bid of 17mill+ will see Randy rubbing his hands and Bent wanting out quicker than Downing.

If not tonight it will be sometime soon. Same can be said for Fulham who will also over take us. The shit of it all is of course they both have worse squads than us along with a number of other sides above us.

Right **** up from Reina. 1-0 Man City.

Ah, there's no failure like a glorious failure. Mike Bassett would have done a better job than O'Neill with the same backing. He achieved about par for the course. What was his net spend in 4 years? I'd hazard a guess at 60 - 80 mill. You take in to account the 30mill+ profit we have since made on Milner, Young and Downing and it would be way less. This was also our wage bill in comparison to league finishes: In 07/08 - 8th highest wages, finished 6th. In 08/09 - 8th highest wages, finished 6th. In 09/10 - 6th highest wages, finished 6th. He certainly didn't fail. In fact in terms of wages to league finishes he over achieved...twice.

The tactics aren't going to change whilst McLeish is manager. As much as it grieves me to say it the manager will not be replaced in the medium term. Therefore I think what some are suggesting is that Bent will never be prolific under McLeish and given that if Bent isn't scoring he is doing **** all else it may be better if he goes and McLeish brings in players who better suit the way he likes to play. I am not saying its Bents faults but yesterday we may as well have played with 10 men as Bent was anonymous. Bent will continue to be ineffective in a lot of games whilst McLeish is manager and that isn't going to change any time soon. For at least another 18 months in my opinion.

I don't agree. I played football at a decent level and when any decent players left or were out injured we pulled together and worked harder to try and make up for that loss. In a work environment you do the same as well. If someone leaves or is off work then those remaining work harder to make up for that loss. Bent can either feel sorry for himself and yearn for the days of Ash and Downing who are long gone or he can knuckle down and try to do all he can to make up for their loss. Fans can accept players being off form. What is unacceptable regardless of circumstance is not giving 100%.

McLeish has been managing for the best part of 20 years. He isn't going to suddenly change his approach.

There were plenty of really entertaining games at home. Off the top of my head - Beating Chelsea twice, the 4-1 against Newcastle, the 3-0 against Sheff Utd, the 4-2 against Man City, the 5-2 against Burnley the 2-1 against Ajax, the 5-1 against Sha, the 4-0, 4-2 and 5-1 against Bolton, the 2-2 against Arsenal, the 3-3 against Everton, the 6-4 against Blackburn. It is incomparable what we served up back then to the tripe we have been served up over the last 18 months. It really is a shame that it seems we will look back on the O'Neill years and see them as our most successful of this century for many years to come. The blame for that at the moment has to be laid firmly at Lerners door and it simply isn't good enough for this great club. Oh and to compare McLeish to O'Neill is foolish. Just look at his record at Leicester a comparable sized club to Sha. Got them promoted, 4 top 10 finishes on the spin, 3 league cup finals winning it twice. McLeish may be a nice bloke but in terms of management he isn't a patch on O'Neill. Again though the fault for us being lumbered with him is down to Lerner.

Except the person who made the appointment. He has made two astonishing choices really. Firstly Houllier a guy who hadn't managed for 3 years, hadn't managed in the Premiership for several years, was out of touch and a known cheque book manager when we were looking to cut back on spending. It was no surprise then that we found ourselves in deep shit sitting in or around the relegation mire for 5 months and he had to spend the best part of 30 mill to get us out of the shit he'd got us in to. Now with Mcleish a manager who had two recent relegations on his record known for playing negative unattractive football. It is again therefore no surprise that we find ourselves struggling, playing unattractive football and attendances quickly dwindling. It is hard to believe really that anyone could be so incompetent to not see where we would be heading by making the managerial appointments they have. Lerner and Faulkner it is very clear to see know **** all about football but given it is Lerner that appointed Faulkner he is ultimately responsible for the shit we find ourselves in. I'm all for sacking McLeish but don't expect his replacement to be much better if its Lerner and Faulkner choosing him.

I must have those 5 sitting behind me then as they seem to blame everyone bar McLeish. Does my head in and given the number of spare seats I'm seriously considering moving our season tickets.

I like it. I've tried to add it mate but it makes my sig too long and as much as you'd like me to I can't let George off the hook just yet. :winkold:

I just can't understand this kind of thinking Agreed. We have a decent squad - as good as anybody outside of the top 6 That may well be the case. You think though that last season we also had Ash, Downing, Luke Young, Friedel and yet were in relegation mire for 5 months then this club has now been under achieving for some time and that blame has to ultimately lie with the owner for appointing two useless bastards to manage us. I wouldn't have any confidence he would make a good choice next time.

McLeish because he's beyond shit. He shouldn't be in this job. And who gave this beyond shit manager a job? That doesn't excuse McLeish from blame.And Mcleish does not excuse Lerner for blame for events of the last 18 months which have brought us to this point. Spot on. McLeish has been here for 6 months. We have been heading down shit creak for the last 18 months.

I'm all for getting rid of McLeish but what then. I genuinely thought they couldn't do any worse than an over the hill, out of touch, disrespectful, chequebook manager in Houllier. Well it seems they may of done. Could we really trust Randy and Faulkner a third time? Like I said the organ grinder needs to **** off along with the monkey.

There has been no point where Randy Lerner has sought publicity, nor platitudes. He has always been quiet to the point of reclusiveness. I can't recall him hiding away either. And of course, the fans who are 'demanding answers' may only be demanding that the club tell them what they want to hear, whatever that may be. What is very apparent is that he regularly attended games for his first 4 years as owner when things were continually on the up. Over the last 18 months during which time things have gone tits up he attended I believe around 10 games last season and has attended less than a handful this season. Of course this could all just be coincidental and him attending less and less has just coincided with us serving up crap. On the home front crap was being served up when he was attending regularly. The last few days have so typified the Villa during Mr.Lerner's tenure. An exhilarating smash and grab victory away at a fancied side, followed by a turgid defeat at home against a team that we would expect to roll over. Football at VP during the entire reign of Mr.Lerner has been bloody awful. Well lets put it this way then he was attending regularly when we had season on season improvement during his first 4 years, finishing top 6 three times on the spin for the first time since the 1930's, achieving our highest points total in a 38 game Premiership season and going to Wembley twice. Since then over the last 18 months as we have gone backwards and its all gone tits up he has attended less and less to the point where this season he has apparently attended twice.

Who would the protests be against exactly? McLeish? he is just the monkey its the organ grinder who the real problems lie with. He has shown twice that he is clueless when it comes to managerial appointments. The monkey and the organ grinder need to **** off.

There has been no point where Randy Lerner has sought publicity, nor platitudes. He has always been quiet to the point of reclusiveness. I can't recall him hiding away either. And of course, the fans who are 'demanding answers' may only be demanding that the club tell them what they want to hear, whatever that may be. What is very apparent is that he regularly attended games for his first 4 years as owner when things were continually on the up. Over the last 18 months during which time things have gone tits up he attended I believe around 10 games last season and has attended less than a handful this season. Of course this could all just be coincidental and him attending less and less has just coincided with us serving up crap.

The reaction at full time wasn't that bad surprisingly. I even saw a few pratts clapping I think in protest at those booing. He is getting an easy ride really especially compared to the abuse Houllier got away at Man City and at home to Spurs, Sunderland and Wolves which was the worst I'd seen in 30 years.

In all fairness what the General knows about football you could write on the back of a stamp. It has also become increasingly apparent over the last 18 months that the same applies to Lerner and Faulkner. McLeish deserves all the stick he is getting but the problems are much deeper. The most important appointment an owner and CEO have to make is that of manager. They have shown they can't make a decent appointment and I wouldn't be in anyway confident that they will be third time lucky.