The, he's finally GONE! Tell us your thoughts Thread

[Demitri_C]

Great ball lad! Total football i tell Ye, total football!

[picicata]

Is that an Albatross? Now where did I put my gun..

[barry'sboots]

Can't say I dislike the bloke, I just don't think he's a very good manager. I want him to be a huge success here, and if he were to achieve something with us (back in the Europa league, a cup win etc.) I'd gladly cheer his name all day, unfortunately I just don't think he has the managerial ability to do that. I'd love to be wrong though and I'm happy to give him the chance to get things right here. We've been hiring and firing managers every few seasons for 20 odd years and it's gotten us nowhere, it's time that habit was broken and if we see a significant improvement next season I'd be willing to give McLeish the time needed to build a good side.

I can't believe that there are still people out there willing to give McLeish time.

No-one is saying that he is a horrible person as few of us, if any, will know the bloke personally. I didn't use to dislike him as a person but I am getting very tired of his endless list of excuses, his blaming of individuals and his constant twisting of the truth to deflect criticism away from himself.

I think most Villa fans would like a period of continuity just not with McLesih at the helm. He is not, as pointed out above, a very good manager. He had three years at the Blues and did not really develop them. When given money/resources he bought in players like Hleb and Bentley and could not integrate them into his team effectively.

We need to get him out asap and bring in someone with some tactical nous and a plan to develop this club by bringing in an appropriate mix of experience to sit alongside our undoubted youth prospects. We have lacked wide options this season because we sold two but only bought in one. We have lacked a decent DCM because we let NRC go and the only real replacement was a young unproven Herd - he has developed well BUT he should be doing that behind an experienced first choice. He has also damaged Delph's prospects because he has been asked to play DCM which is out of position for him - I really dislike McLeish for this alone. He is now trying to do the same thing with Gardner because we do not have options.

We have to decide the way we want to play and build the squad accordingly to supplement the youngsters coming through. If we are going to play 4-2-3-1 then we probably don't need 5 strikers BUT we do need cover for SI in the middle of the three. I suppose that this could be Holman? We need more wide players, although again Holman could possibly do a job out wide and we have Carruthers coming through - but not having seen either I don't know how realistic they are as cover. We have a couple of good ball playing CM'ers in Bannan and Delph (and possibly Makoun if he returns) BUT we need another option besides Herd as a strong DCM to accompany them and do the leg work. I don't trust McLesih to do this on the evidence of Hutton and what he has got out of NZogbia.

[Risso]

Unless I am overly suspicious, MYSTERYMAN, tends to turn up with a bit of news here and there when the club seem to have something they want to say/release? If MM has the ear of the club, FFS tell Randy what a poor Manager McLeish is and persuade him to get rid of him. I'd rather invest in compensation for getting rid of him than spend 50mill with him in charge. What a waste of money otherwise.

Spot on. He's merely a puppet for the club to try and release little snippets of info here and there. They used to do the same on H&V via the General's son. Pathetic really.

[TrentVilla]

I read yesterday that McLeish has produced our lowest home points haul in 26 years.

Randy is a fool.

[Morpheus]

Yes he has done that with the left overs of O'Neill's team and not his own team.

Judge him when he has had a chance to rectify O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market and is not so dependent on bringing the wages down.

[brummybloke]

i would say that a full season and preseason is ample time for everyone to make a clear and acurate assessment of this buffoons qualities.

his tactics have not changed from his previous club, despite the difference in personel at the club

his points per game has not changed from his previous club despite the difference in personel at the club

the fans opinion of his style of football has not changed from his previous club despite the different club

if we have any good youngsters, how many of them will stick around to be ruined by this anti football?

his style of football, his brand of football and everything about him means he will continue to use the tactics which have somehow managed to secure him a 3 year contract on close to 2 million per season.

he wont change, so either get used to 6 foot 8 strikers being wheeled in, defenders who can just kick the ball as high and far as possible and midfielders who cant pass but can just run back and forth all day long chasing the hoof and then running back when the ball is lost

or complain

this season there have been some utterly shit teams, it is the ONLY reason we may escape, not through us being great, through a very very weak premier league this year

alot of small teams without funds to invest in the better players, they have made do with using tactics and style of play over quality players

we were relying on quality players and no tactics or style of play

when the quality players have all gone which will happen, what are we left with?

relegation is your answer

this is nothing to do with being PRO or ANTI the manager

it is being PRO VILLA, wanting what is best for villa, if you think relegation, lack of money, all the good players leaving, shit football and no hope are whats best for villa then by all means keep bigging up this shower of shite manager

[TrentVilla]

Yes he has done that with the left overs of O'Neill's team and not his own team.

Judge him when he has had a chance to rectify O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market and is not so dependent on bringing the wages down.

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

In the summer it was judge him after January, after January it was judge him at the end of the season and at the end of the season its judge him next season.

I will judge him when I want thanks and my judgement based on what he has done this season and what he has done throughout his managerial career is that he isn't the man I want to be in the job.

Forget rectifying O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market, he needs to rectify his own first.

[Morpheus]

AM took over a squad bereft of quality with the exception of Bent and actually got SI playing well again.

He needs to be given time to bring his own players in and thats when we should judge him.

[irreverentad]

Yes he has done that with the left overs of O'Neill's team and not his own team.

Judge him when he has had a chance to rectify O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market and is not so dependent on bringing the wages down.

You are spot on.

But don't expect many to agree with you. The problem McLeish has is that for the people who want him out, their feelings are so strong that he faces a near impossible task to change their minds. Eg finish top 7 and there would still be a lot who want him out.

This is why the chance of him succeeding is so low and almost makes it pointless him staying.

[TrentVilla]

You can make as many excuses for him as you want you aren't going to change my mind about him. You are welcome to think what you want about him but as I said previously I will judge him when I want thanks.

As for bringing in his own players how many more times do we need to cover this one? Take a look how shit Hutton is, how bad a signing Jenas was and how he has failed to get any decent form out of N'Zogbia or take a look at his signings for Birmingham, Zigic for £7m for a start.

As I say, if you want to make excuses for McLeish fine. If you think he is a decent manager again fine. Just don't expect me to agree with you because there isn't an excuse that you can offer that excuses his woeful performance this season.

[brummybloke]

AM took over a squad bereft of quality with the exception of Bent and actually got SI playing well again.

He needs to be given time to bring his own players in and thats when we should judge him.

he didnt get ireland playing well again

he played ireland then dropped him and only brought him back in when there were no other senior players in his position

then after yet another tactically shit performance by the clueless ****, ireland spoke his mind

as did nzog

and low and behold dropped again

if you are saying he has made ireland good again, i presume you also think he made the rest of the team **** wank , ineffective and clueless?

[CI]

AM took over a squad bereft of quality with the exception of Bent and actually got SI playing well again.

He needs to be given time to bring his own players in and thats when we should judge him.

I was going down that road but it's just so below par, I'm not sure he's viable as a manager anymore

As for players like Ireland Hutton NZogbia, I really would have to say I'm not proud they're villa players at all

[Morpheus]

Yes he has done that with the left overs of O'Neill's team and not his own team.

Judge him when he has had a chance to rectify O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market and is not so dependent on bringing the wages down.

Excuses, excuses, excuses.

In the summer it was judge him after January, after January it was judge him at the end of the season and at the end of the season its judge him next season.

I will judge him when I want thanks and my judgement based on what he has done this season and what he has done throughout his managerial career is that he isn't the man I want to be in the job.

Forget rectifying O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market, he needs to rectify his own first.

Its not excuses though. Its quoting facts.

O'Neill left the club in an awful mess financially and indeed squad wise.

AM has had to deal with our chairman's cutbacks as well as trying to replace Downing, Young, Luke Young, Friedal, on a limited budget while also having to rely on our youth to make up the numbers in our squad.

Not exactly ideal is it.

[ozvillafan]

He's had longer than Houllier got.

He's had 2 transfer markets.

His signings are Hutton, Jenas, Given and N'Zogbia.

We play worse football than we did under either Houllier or MON - especially at home.

And, more importantly, we play the kind of football that all McLeish teams have.

He's had a chance.

I see no reason to allow him any more time to "rectify mistakes" beyond the final whistle of the last game of the season.

[brummybloke]

Yes he has done that with the left overs of O'Neill's team and not his own team.

Judge him when he has had a chance to rectify O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market and is not so dependent on bringing the wages down.

You are spot on.

But don't expect many to agree with you. The problem McLeish has is that for the people who want him out, their feelings are so strong that he faces a near impossible task to change their minds. Eg finish top 7 and there would still be a lot who want him out.

This is why the chance of him succeeding is so low and almost makes it pointless him staying.

10th upwards i think it was the majority on here expected when the question was asked at the start of the season, not unreasonable bearing in mind the teams going down, the teams being promoted, that we finished 9th last year with no preseason and 4 managers and a huge injury crisis.

hardly near impossible to change peoples minds, getting a 10th place finish in such cirtcumstances, with a full preseason with £20 million budget and knowing which senior players you have got to play with when you come into the club.

so knowing full well that there is no downing and no young, he did not make any plans to include them in his tactics, they never played for him.

so having a full clear list of who he has, being able to soprt out tactics, being able to watch the players every day in training, to speak with the backroom staff, the medical staff and so on.

to interact with the playing staff who had managed to still get 9th after a shocking season and see where their strengths and weakness are

to the make plans and get in players to cover up the weaknesses and to play to the stle of play YOU as the manager want

this tit has actually got not one vaild excuse for the turid shit he has been forcing us the long suffereing fans, to watch week after week.

i cant believe that it is not obvious to some, i know their opinion is their opinion but just judging things on facts and forgetting anything else

the facts show he is shit as a premeir league manager

[LondonLax]

I don't see any positive hope for the furture with this manager in charge.

I don't hate the man and am not going to be verbelly abusing him but I would be very happy if he and the club could part ways in the summer.

Personally I was happy with Houllier and wished we had given him a summer and preseason but I would like the new manager to be younger and play a short passing style, keeping possession etc.

[Hanky]

Yes he has done that with the left overs of O'Neill's team and not his own team.

Judge him when he has had a chance to rectify O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market and is not so dependent on bringing the wages down.

You are spot on.

But don't expect many to agree with you. The problem McLeish has is that for the people who want him out, their feelings are so strong that he faces a near impossible task to change their minds. Eg finish top 7 and there would still be a lot who want him out.

This is why the chance of him succeeding is so low and almost makes it pointless him staying.

Finishing top 7 would involve McLeish winning a string of games together though which he hasn't done so far and I can't see him doing.

As one person said, if we were playing this dire football but winning (as we did for SOME of the O'Neill era in my opinion) then I'd be able to take it. However we are putting poor performances in and not turning them into 3 points. 7 wins in 32 tells it's on story.

[Morpheus]

You can make as many excuses for him as you want you aren't going to change my mind about him. You are welcome to think what you want about him but as I said previously I will judge him when I want thanks.

As for bringing in his own players how many more times do we need to cover this one? Take a look how shit Hutton is, how bad a signing Jenas was and how he has failed to get any decent form out of N'Zogbia or take a look at his signings for Birmingham, Zigic for £7m for a start.

As I say, if you want to make excuses for McLeish fine. If you think he is a decent manager again fine. Just don't expect me to agree with you because there isn't an excuse that you can offer that excuses his woeful performance this season.

Judging him is as you say totally up to you. Just stating that in my own opinion he should be given more time and i am not trying to change your or anyone else's mind about him, just putting my own opinion forward.

Yes we have discussed his choice of player to date and again we differ on their present level and indeed why N'Zogbia in particular is not regaining his form at Wigan.

I have never said that i feel he is a decent manager. I have however defended him against certain posts which i felt were unfair, in particular, when you said he was not 'a victim of circumstance.' I still believe he has been and nothing would deflect me from that opinion.

I also didn't want him as our manager and i have stated that time and time again, much preferring Martin Jol who we wouldn't have had to pay any compensation for.

But unfortunately AM is our manager. The team have been very poor under his tenure but i still maintain that certain circumstances have contributed to that and indeed AM is not totally to blame for where we are at the moment.

[irreverentad]

Yes he has done that with the left overs of O'Neill's team and not his own team.

Judge him when he has had a chance to rectify O'Neill's mistakes in the transfer market and is not so dependent on bringing the wages down.

You are spot on.

But don't expect many to agree with you. The problem McLeish has is that for the people who want him out, their feelings are so strong that he faces a near impossible task to change their minds. Eg finish top 7 and there would still be a lot who want him out.

This is why the chance of him succeeding is so low and almost makes it pointless him staying.

10th upwards i think it was the majority on here expected when the question was asked at the start of the season, not unreasonable bearing in mind the teams going down, the teams being promoted, that we finished 9th last year with no preseason and 4 managers and a huge injury crisis.

hardly near impossible to change peoples minds, getting a 10th place finish in such cirtcumstances, with a full preseason with £20 million budget and knowing which senior players you have got to play with when you come into the club.

so knowing full well that there is no downing and no young, he did not make any plans to include them in his tactics, they never played for him.

so having a full clear list of who he has, being able to soprt out tactics, being able to watch the players every day in training, to speak with the backroom staff, the medical staff and so on.

to interact with the playing staff who had managed to still get 9th after a shocking season and see where their strengths and weakness are

to the make plans and get in players to cover up the weaknesses and to play to the stle of play YOU as the manager want

this tit has actually got not one vaild excuse for the turid shit he has been forcing us the long suffereing fans, to watch week after week.

i cant believe that it is not obvious to some, i know their opinion is their opinion but just judging things on facts and forgetting anything else

the facts show he is shit as a premeir league manager

I am talking above about next season. As I have said before I am not justifying him staying on as he has done nothing this season to warrant it. Although for some wierd reason, I am intrigued to see what he would do this summer.

The point I was trying to make is that peoples views are so strong on him for differeing reasons that the odds of him succeeding are remote. Even if he did succeed to an acceptable level the feelings are so strong that the negativity about him would not go away. Therefore there is little point in him continuing.