The Next Villa Manager Part 3

[Valhalla]

[NeilS]

people will still go Dem!

Theres no such thing as bad adverisement

sorry tom but i think we wont get more thn 25-30k next season. its randys fault for this whole mess

Sad to say it, but I think you are right. Unless we hit the ground running and are in the top 6 then I see a maximum of 32k. At best i can see him being another John Gregory, dour but fairly steady football in the top half. The crowds under JG were averaging 32k. I know some will say we were top under JG, but we never looked liked staying up there.

I hope he proves me wrong, I really do.

[commander]

Five years of board/supporter harmony completely ruined in 4 days. It'll never be the same again due to their stupid actions

I'm not sure who I blame more, General, Randy or Faulkner. All three have come out of this with reputations shattered

have to agree here - IF this happens it's the sheer stupidity and sheer bllodymindedness of it.

if it was McLaren - a lot of peopel would've been unhappy - but you can understand teh logic behind it - did well at Twente - involved in the 1999 man u teble.

Uninspiring at Boro &Wolfsburg & pretty awful at England... but you can at leats undertsand some logic - but this - I jsut can't see it. Perhaps after l;ast season when he ghot them t 9th - but he's spent fairly big bought in (on paper) decent players and basically surrendered the league position. He tried to draw vs Fulham and Spurs knowing a win would keep them up. I won't watch games where we set out to draw hoping for a wn. We've proven we can give anyone a game so let's try to win everygame.

[BkkVilla]

I had strange nightmares last night. It involved a yellow passport with a 1960's recording device installed in to it. And Alex McLeish.

Now, the dream was a recurring dream. I was dreaming about collecting my passport back from the Chinese Government for my new

resident permit today (Thursday). I was dreaming about going to collect my yellow passport with a recording device in it. (why is it yellow and with a recording device in it I don't know?) The passport was handed over to me by Alex McLeish. That is when I got startled and awoke. To my annoyance

this kept happening all night long. I am not joking this is true. I was wondering if I could sue Aston Villa for 7 hours lost sleep? Any good layers out there?

[GaztonVilla]

Our only hope is Chelsea come in for him at the last minute.

More chance of batman opening my door and offering me a sandwich.

[Shillzz]

The thing which pisses me off the most about the whole thing ;

I've sat next to the same people for the past 5 seasons, we've all gotten to know each other reasonably well and enjoy a nice chat every matchday.

They were all umming and arghing about whether to renew or not, and I know full well that this will have pushed them all over the edge.

Villa Park is going to be a crap way to spend your Saturday afternoons this year, and I'm beginning to question whether its worth wasting a whole day on it.

[romavillan]

IF that flores story in the mirror is true, then i'd much prefer the board had gone with him...

anyone know if it's been reported elsewhere too?

[Didiersix]

I had a really sad moment last night with my 8 year old boy. I told him he couldn't have a new Villa shirt as I am not putting a penny into our club after this.

nice

I know but what's the alternative? Mindlessly handing over money when they have committed the biggest betrayal of Villa fans in my lifetime?

There are things Aston Villa Football Club should never do. Tapping up the manager of Birmingham City is one of them.

Yes, it´s probably best to take it out on your son... He is a kid FFS.

Exactly, it's your **** kid. He's a kid, if you usually buy him a shirt and were planning too this season, why should that be stopped?? you care more about Villa appointing a manager you don't like? :?

So what do you do then? Just keep doling out the money as if nothing has happened? For me, it becomes a matter of principle.

[SeanO]

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.

This made me laugh as I remember the last time SAF recommended a player to us!

1.5m for the Dejemba twins, I wouldn't trust him when it comes to recommendations.

[Daholteend]

The Honeymoon is over and all Eck is about to be let loose if they announce Tin Tin as manager today.

In two words that even a Semper Fi Hail and Well Met American General can understand - BENEDICT ARNOLD

It's worthy of note that Judas sold and betrayed only one man, but the choice to enlist an ex manager from sha is akin to selling out and betraying several thousand fans who help pay the bills at Villa Park who in many cases really can't afford to keep doing this.

It has nothing to do with whether the candidate is qualified or not. I happen to think that he probably is. It has everything to do with loyalty to your tribe and holding true to the values and history that one american a few years ago thought had a Proud History and Bright Future.

I will continue to support Aston Villa because it has been in my family's tradition to do so since 1874. However, I never thought that I would say this but Randy, I think you have let yourself down by choosing your business economies over your loyalty to the club that you claim to be a fan of.

A true Villa fan would not even think of it. Faulkner I can understand because he is young, lacking in experience of the football business and probably at heart a Norwich City fan, but Randy, you had so much promise and suddenly since Sunday it is all going horribly wrong.

[Qwpzxjor1]

If the board had settled for 'middle of the road' then fair enough. There are cheap options out there, and they could do a decent job, solid midtable and all that, quite uninspiring but acceptable in times of cost-cutting.

The appointment of McLeish is not 'middle of the road' though. It's the site at the side of the road for the monumental car crash. The appointment of McLeish seems more like a '**** you, we make the decisions' to the fans than anything else. He has a poor management record, he has a poor record with his signings, he has a poor style of football, he has just come from a relegated club, he has just come from the club who scored the least goals in the league, he begins his tenure here with protests against his appointment, he will have the fans calling for his head at the first defeat, he will have fans boycotting games and merchandise leading to heavy drop in revenue, and he will cost us alot in compensation to bring all those wonderful things to our club. This is completely fogetting the Birmingham City link, which I can do - but he is a poor poor manager, and I am gutted our board honestly think this is a good decision.

It makes no sense, in a sense of business, financially, football or loyalty to the fans. Randy Lerner has been an amazing chairman up to this point, I've had friends (particularly Liverpool fans during Hicks and Gillette) who have said they were jealous of our chairman and what he was doing, he was improving not only the football club, but the image of the club with the surrounding areas and throwing in a load of charity work to boot; truely amazing stuff - and that could all be completely undone with this appointment. Expect a season of absolute turmoil, fans revolts, player revolts, players leaving, and that will inevitable lead to a relegation battle.

[smetrov]

From Vital Villa ...worse than we thought:-

I feel the record needs setting straight on McLeish`s record in management as for anyone to think he has what it takes is deluded in my opinion. Maybe this will help some realise why we are so opposed to him being our manager.

Motherwell, Yes he had a bright start at Motherwell taking them to 2nd in the league before two season fighting relegation. Despite that second place finish he had a very poor average of 1.21 points per game. Good start, bad finish!

Hibernian, In fairness they were struggling when he took them over with three months of the season left. He was unable to get them to stay up and they were relegated in last place. He did a good job bringing them back up and then finished 6th out of ten teams the next season which is mid table but still an ok achievement. I should point out though that they were only four points from 2nd from bottom.. The next season he finished a very good third although 31 points behind the leaders it is still a very good improvement.

All going well but then in his last season he managed Hibernian into December leaving them in 8th and two points from relegation. Does anyone else see the pattern to this guy`s management yet? Anyway he achieved a respectable overall average of 1.66 points per game although a lot of that was from the first division league. His top division points average is 1.38 with Hibernian which does not look quite so good.

Rangers, Right then he went on to manage one of the top two teams in Scotland. Hardly the hardest job in the world but he did well. Celtic won the league the season before McLeish came but Rangers had won the league the previous two seasons to that so he hardly ended Celtics dominance like quoted in some places. He started managing them part way through the season in December and they were in 2nd place. He kept them in second place but lost a further 7 point on Celtic to end up 18 points behind them. The next season was very good for McLeish as he finished top beating Celtic by one goal on goal difference. Next season back to second 17 points behind Celtic, Next season won title again by 1 point.

His final season he finished 3rd 18 points behind Celtic again. He then left the club after fans protested against him and the chairmen. While his average points of 2.27 looks excellent, the two Scottish giants are that far ahead of anyone else in the league anyone could achieve reasonable results. So while he did well at Rangers the average points over the last 10 years at Rangers is 2.2+ so he did nothing special in my opinion. While his record was still ok until his last season his management again seemed very inconsistent. One season being close to Celtic and then next season a massive points difference again. Again after initial success he took the club back down to below where he started with them. He also did well with the cups he won at Rangers but again there is only a few teams in with a chance of winning any cups in Scotland.

Birmingham. On to the Blues we go. He took Birmingham over 14 games into the season with them lying in 16th, he managed to lead them to 19th and relegation. All I can say is well done McLeish that`s about your best piece of work so far ;-) He led them straight back up finishing in 2nd. Then a respectable 9th before taking them back down again. Inconsistent is the key here again. His whole management at Birmingham he had an average points total of 1.41 which sounds ok but that is cup and league games including 1st division games. Take league games only and his average is 1.30 and then take his Premiership games only and his average points total is 1.13 per game YES 1.13 per game. I had to check that several times to make sure I have it correct! As we all know he won a cup (many will say luckily but credit where credit due) which is a fat load of use when you get your team relegated.

Now can someone pass that onto the board for me and then ask them to explain why they think he is a good manager! All he has proven in his management career is he can take a top team that are streets ahead of almost every other team in the league and keep them there or there about. He has had bad times at every club he has managed so I totally understand why he is not welcome at Villa by most fans. A few big signings are not going to win the fans around. Why the board would even consider a manager that would alienate so many fans when he is not even a good manager is beyond any reason or logic I can think of.

For clarification average points totals were worked out on three points for a win and one for a draw.

Read more: http://www.astonvilla.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=7509055#ixzz1PQplHm93

[Bane17]

If AM is appointed, then I will be extremely dissapointed knowing there were better options out there. I won't stop supporting the Villa but I will probably lose interest in them like the O'Dreary days.

I will still be interested to see their results, league position, signings etc.. but how we can appoint a manager who has been relegated twice and from our closest rivals is unbelievable.

I don't and won't believe that McCleish will be our manager until I read it on the Official Site. Aston Villa and Lerner keep things that close to their chest that I honestly don't believe the media havea clue what's going on and know as much as the guy next door!

Time to cheer Sven and the Leicester boys on

[switters]

Five years of board/supporter harmony completely ruined in 4 days. It'll never be the same again due to their stupid actions

I'm not sure who I blame more, General, Randy or Faulkner. All three have come out of this with reputations shattered

have to agree here - IF this happens it's the sheer stupidity and sheer bllodymindedness of it.

if it was McLaren - a lot of peopel would've been unhappy - but you can understand teh logic behind it - did well at Twente - involved in the 1999 man u teble.

Uninspiring at Boro &Wolfsburg & pretty awful at England... but you can at leats undertsand some logic - but this - I jsut can't see it. Perhaps after l;ast season when he ghot them t 9th - but he's spent fairly big bought in (on paper) decent players and basically surrendered the league position. He tried to draw vs Fulham and Spurs knowing a win would keep them up. I won't watch games where we set out to draw hoping for a wn. We've proven we can give anyone a game so let's try to win everygame.

We could ignore everything else and that Spurs game would be enough evidence to not hire this guy. Setting up to try and eke out a draw when you need to win to stay up is so horribly cowardly that it got exactly what it deserved.

[VillaCas]

If appointed which now seems enevitable, it signals the end of what was the most positive and optimistic period at VP for some time.

The arrival of RL and MON made me beleive that the PROUD HISTORY, BRIGHT FUTURE era would see us claim a Champions League spot and put some long-awaited silverware in the cupboard. No-one expected us to win the treble but we all felt that Villa would become a feared and respected side once again

The resurgence of Spurs and the money pumped into Man City and latterly Liverpool has scuppered our plans. Randy can no longer finance a run at the top 4. The next five years will not be viewed optimistically, but rather usher in a period of cost cutting and mediocrity. For this period our rivals will be Bolton, Stoke, Fulham and Sunderland. 8th will become the new 4th!!

What is puzzling is that RL could have assured this mid-table obscurity with half and dozen managers so it is baffling that he is on the verge of appointing McLeish. Houillier I understood to some degree but McLeish!!!

Some people will go to VP no matter what rubbish is served up. I invested my money buying tickets and merchandise in support of the five-year plan, but if Randy has stopped investing maybe I ought to think along the same lines

I'm not expecting £100m investment in players (which some have asked for) but I would like a manager (Flores? Poyet?) who signalled some ambition

PROUD HISTORY, AVERAGE FUTURE

[Villan81]

Is the story about Mclaren interview being cancelled due to the fans reaction true?

Assuming it is...could this be a case of,,you done it once and wont again?

I am the owner and i feel Mclit is the best man for the job out of candidates interviewed so i will appoint him as i also put money into this club?

maybe he thinks those that have said they wont come back will be back withn a couple of months?

[VillaRoy]

Steve McClaren just confirmed in his press conference we approached him, then cancelled the appointment. So if it was fan pressure that stopped it, then I don't understand why we have gone for big Eck. Strange.

[greenz]

Useless...that is all.

[SheldonVilla]

McClaren on SSN now:

I had an appointment with Villa and it was cancelled.

So the club cancel an interview with him, but seem happy to accept the backlash (and probable compensation) with McLeish.

This does not make any sense whatsoever

[ED]

I wish we could all go back and embrace McLaren

Or Martinez had said yes.