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

[Richard]

I can't entirely blame Mcleish, the board need to take some flack for not investing in the squad properly.

Mcleish hasn't been helped by the boards mandate either, which seems to be 1) reduce the wage bill 2) don't get relegated.

IMO Randy needs to get his check book out in January!

Yes I hear this a lot too. For me though it is hard to have too much sympathy with him.

Are you saying he was not aware of these restrictions before taking the job? I doubt that yet he still took it.

On the Lerner front, and people not understadning why Mcleish was appointed in the first place, how about this as an answer to that. Lerner knew full well the shit coming our way this season, why not appoint a manager to take some of the flak for that so supporters would focus on Mcleish rather than Lerner ? So appojt Mcleish as a cushion.

[johndunse]

In my opinion, we were battered at Everton and if you think we put some monumental Churchillian effort into getting back into it when 2-1 down you must be watching a different game to me.

That chance came from a moment of quality from Albrighton and a good finish from Gabby against the run of play. We didnt have them pinned back, they werent there for the taking, it was fortuitous to say the least.

If you take solace in that being fighting spirit, then good luck to you, your going to need it.

No one mentioned a Churchillian effort, just a fighting spirit. But they way you put it I'm surprised the players bothered to try and equalise then or even defend whilst getting said battering.

If you dont think that coming from behind twice in any game is showing a fighting spirit then I guess you will always be one to moan.

Then I guess I will always be the one to moan, particularly when we lack any shape, cohesion and desire to be winning games.

To me, where are currently stuck in an abyss, not moving forward, slowly getting sucked down. No focus for the club, no plan apart from cut wage bill, it is aimless shite.

Slowly getting sucked down to where? We're 6th. There are 14 teams that haven't started as well as us. Jesus Christ, what will your reaction be when we actually lose a game? Surely you can see that 'we are currently stuck in an abyss' is absurd?

Get some perspective, it could be alot bloody worse - my family are Sheffield Wednesday fans!

OK John, prehaps you could give the reasons I am missing to be cheerful.

Where are we going as a club, what are the players striving for?

I'm not saying we should be cheering from the rooftops, but it's far too early to be quite so downbeat. It's very early days and this level of criticism isn't merited, being 6th in the league and undefeated.

[Bazdavies79]

Yep, sixth and undefeated.

[ender4]

simple answer to the opening question is NO.

AMC was on £1.6m/year at Bham City.

I'd assume he is on £2m/year at Villa.

Has he got a 3-year contract?

If so, then thats just under £6m to pay him off at this point in time.

after negotiating a settlement, maybe he'd go for 66% of it, £4mill.

But after hiring him only a couple of months ago, there is no reason to sack him now.

wait till May, see if he achieves his targets, if he does, then good.

if he doesn't, then that it the time to talk about sacking him.

[ender4]

I can't entirely blame Mcleish, the board need to take some flack for not investing in the squad properly.

Mcleish hasn't been helped by the boards mandate either, which seems to be 1) reduce the wage bill 2) don't get relegated.

IMO Randy needs to get his check book out in January!

i disagree.

We still have a great squad compared to 13 other teams in the PL.

Its now up to AMC to get 8th or better with the squad he has at his disposal.

(i do agree that the board made a huge mistake in hiring him in the first place, but thats a different discussion, its too late to change that).

[honest_bertie]

I can't entirely blame Mcleish, the board need to take some flack for not investing in the squad properly.

Mcleish hasn't been helped by the boards mandate either, which seems to be 1) reduce the wage bill 2) don't get relegated.

IMO Randy needs to get his check book out in January!

I understand where you are coming from but to be honest right now I would rather Randy held his hands up and admitted they got it wrong hiring AM and sent him packing along with Faulkner. Then he needs to hire someone who actually understands football business to replace PF and hire a manager with the ability and foresight to build something longterm inter grating the young players and has an eye for a bargain in the transfer market.

How do you know Mcleish won't do that for us? He's been in the job for 5 league games - how can you criticise a longterm vision after 2 months?!

I don't but thats just my opinion. I'm sure people will disagree with me but AM's record (especially in the prem league) inspires me with no confidence in him at all, that, the negative football his teams play and the fact that 2 out of 3 seasons in the premier league his team was relegated were the reasons I never wanted him at Villa and still have no confidence in him.

[symmouk]

The problem is that getting rid of McLeish would do more harm than good.

Key players such as Given, Dunne, Collins, Gabby, Bent and Albrighton have all come out and said they are enjoying life under McLeish, Dunne particularly has said he now wants to paly football for Villa again.

By sacking McLeish so soon, would just disrupt the dressing room and things would get worse, whoever we brought in.

[ender4]

I don't but thats just my opinion. I'm sure people will disagree with me but AM's record (especially in the prem league) inspires me with no confidence in him at all, that, the negative football his teams play and the fact that 2 out of 3 seasons in the premier league his team was relegated were the reasons I never wanted him at Villa and still have no confidence in him.

i agree, i also have no confidence in AMC, based on the points you mention.

but now he is here, i will give him till the end of the season to prove me wrong or right.

in that time, he will get my full support, as anything else is detrimental to AVFC.

[theunderstudy]

Would be happier if we were to get Hughes in.

Much better style of football.

The main criticism of McLeish is that he draws too many games... so this is solved by getting in another manager... who is accused of drawing too many games.

[macandally]

In my opinion, we were battered at Everton and if you think we put some monumental Churchillian effort into getting back into it when 2-1 down you must be watching a different game to me.

That chance came from a moment of quality from Albrighton and a good finish from Gabby against the run of play. We didnt have them pinned back, they werent there for the taking, it was fortuitous to say the least.

If you take solace in that being fighting spirit, then good luck to you, your going to need it.

No one mentioned a Churchillian effort, just a fighting spirit. But they way you put it I'm surprised the players bothered to try and equalise then or even defend whilst getting said battering.

If you dont think that coming from behind twice in any game is showing a fighting spirit then I guess you will always be one to moan.

Then I guess I will always be the one to moan, particularly when we lack any shape, cohesion and desire to be winning games.

To me, where are currently stuck in an abyss, not moving forward, slowly getting sucked down. No focus for the club, no plan apart from cut wage bill, it is aimless shite.

Slowly getting sucked down to where? We're 6th. There are 14 teams that haven't started as well as us. Jesus Christ, what will your reaction be when we actually lose a game? Surely you can see that 'we are currently stuck in an abyss' is absurd?

Get some perspective, it could be alot bloody worse - my family are Sheffield Wednesday fans!

OK John, prehaps you could give the reasons I am missing to be cheerful.

Where are we going as a club, what are the players striving for?

I'm not saying we should be cheering from the rooftops, but it's far too early to be quite so downbeat. It's very early days and this level of criticism isn't merited, being 6th in the league and undefeated.

I hate to disappoint you John, but I was this downbeat the moment that we made this managerial appointment. I struggled to see how anything good at all could come from it and so far, I have not been disappointed.

You see 1 loss in 6 games as a steady start, I look at who we played and how we played them and it worries me immensely. This was our easiest start for years and yet we have failed to take advantage of that.

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

Hate to say it again but we've lost ONE game.

I didn't want McLeish here no one did and yes the football is predictably very poor but this type of thread is just silly

[briny_ear]

Yeh, but you just knew we'd get all this crap as soon as McLeish lost his first game, didn't you.

I expect some people have had their posts ready in draft since the day he was appointed.

[macandally]

Yeh, but you just knew we'd get all this crap as soon as McLeish lost his first game, didn't you.

I expect some people have had their posts ready in draft since the day he was appointed.

If that was directed at me, I think I anticipated this type of situation and wrote about it on here before our first game.

I cannot see how anyone failed to see what is coming. We have a manager who cannot manage, who was "poached" from our nearest rivals and who has an abysmal record in the premier league.

Want in gods name was anyone expecting? A surge to the champions league? Get real.

Those who tried to justify the appointment of this guy, or who somehow feel our position is satisfactory are now digging up the likes of "posts ready in draft since the day he was appointed" when actually, there are some that saw this for what it was from day one. A mindless decision.

[DiegoD]

Hate to say it again but we've lost ONE game.

I didn't want McLeish here no one did and yes the football is predictably very poor but this type of thread is just silly

Pretty much, why not wait till november/december when we have actually played a decent number of games and the table starts to take shape. If we are bottom 6 then i would be worried but for now lets wait and see.

[mykeyb]

Hate to say it again but we've lost ONE game.

I didn't want McLeish here no one did and yes the football is predictably very poor but this type of thread is just silly

Correct.

He has won just one game though and drew the rest. Not looked like we have a formation, game plan or tactics apart from trying to strangle the life out the game.

Has not improved the defence because we still struggle to keep a clean sheet so will need to score goals to get anything from a game and dont really look like doing this even when Bent was fit.

He should be allowed time to see if improvements he is trying to make improve us but looking at his managerial career as a whole it appears he only knows one way to set teams up regardless of personnel.

[Oaks]

The players show absolutely no signs of fighting for him, if anything, performances have been dull and uninspired with little by way of fighting spirit.

Twice behind at Everton

Did we at any stage look like we wanted to go out and win that game?

We just dont look like we have the desire to go and win games, full stop.

Thats not what you originally said though is it? You said the players show absolutely no signs of fighting. Coming twice from behind suggests otherwise.

And to add another thing, how long last season did it take us to score an equaliser? It was pretty late in the season i will tell you that.

[VillaDave]

Not looked like we have a formation, game plan or tactics apart from trying to strangle the life out the game.

Obviously different scale, but that approached work remarkably well for Jose Mourinho.

[sne]

Hate to say it again but we've lost ONE game.

I didn't want McLeish here no one did and yes the football is predictably very poor but this type of thread is just silly

I see what your saying, but you can look at it the other way too.

We've won only ONE game.

It all comes down to if our aim as a team is to not loose or to win?

[Morales]

To be fair to AM, we have the same point total as Liverpool who spend over £100mil over the last 8 months. AM was always a lost away from a crisis just because he came from Birmingham. I think he trying to make Villa defensively sound again as we did leak too many goals last season. So we going to have to go through a period of playing some unattractive football. It doesn't help that our flair players are out of form in Albrighton, N Zogbia and Ireland. Not going to start to panic yet, I just think the lack of a crowd and atmosphere at Villa Park is not helping.

Also under MON the fans were crying out for 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 and now under AM we alll seem to want 4-4-2. We need to make our mind up.

[Oaks]

Hate to say it again but we've lost ONE game.

I didn't want McLeish here no one did and yes the football is predictably very poor but this type of thread is just silly

I see what your saying, but you can look at it the other way too.

We've won only ONE game.

I all comes down to if our aim as a team is to not loose or to win?

I think its McLeish's biggest problem. We are never gonna play expansive football. I dont think we have the players. The midfield is as weak as i can ever remember, even in O'Leary's last season we had Barry, McCann, Milner, Davis and Hendrie. Under GTMK2 we had Barry, Taylor, Steve Stone, Hitz, Hendrie, this midfield is the WORST we've had in the 20+ years ive supported us. Add that our defence was better under O'Learly(Mellberg, Laursen, Cahill, Bouma and Hughes) you can see where the problem is.