McLeish - Yes / No / Unsure

[VillaRoy]

If there are banners at the Liverpool game, it would be a rather odd coincidence, as it was also the first home game after Bolton away when the first Houllier out banner popped up last season

Yes but that was in early March not early December. McLeish has **** up a whole lot sooner.

Yeah Houllier had the excuse of no preseason and the worse injury crisis in my memory at Villa. Until now, our team has stayed fairly clear of injury.

[NowDoINotLikeThat]

I don't really get this "with time McLeish will do well with us" thing. Did people not watch his SHA team play at all?

Me neither, this with time stuff is nonsense. Its like the American thinks big Scottish blokes with proper Glaswegian accents are what is needed to for good leadership and success. Its easy to sound like him, but not everyones gonna turn out like an Alex Ferguson or William Wallace. He's been a manager for nearly 20 years and his greatest achievement is winning a cup, which in the process involved last gasp equaliser at home against Rochdale to take it to extra time, a 1-1 draw (win on Penalty shoot out) against Brentford again at home, a 2 legged win against bottom of the league West Ham under Yoda, a lucky win against injury hit Villa and a terrible **** up from Szcezney in the final. Fine lines. Then got relegated.

In his career, when given time, he has not proven he can do anything that good. I mean you gotta be pretty dam rubbish to take Rangers to third in the SPL.

Randy you silly so and so.

Really was such a daft appointment.

[KHV]

If there are banners at the Liverpool game, it would be a rather odd coincidence, as it was also the first home game after Bolton away when the first Houllier out banner popped up last season

Yes but that was in early March not early December. McLeish has **** up a whole lot sooner.

Yeah Houllier had the excuse of no preseason and the worse injury crisis in my memory at Villa. Until now, our team has stayed fairly clear of injury.

It would be better if we had an injury crisis right now. That way he might stumble on the correct starting line up and formation

[Mantis]

If there are banners at the Liverpool game, it would be a rather odd coincidence, as it was also the first home game after Bolton away when the first Houllier out banner popped up last season

Yes but that was in early March not early December. McLeish has **** up a whole lot sooner.

Oh yeah I know, I just thought it was weird that's all. I also recall us playing Bolton away straight after we got thrashed 7-1 at Chelsea a couple of seasons ago.

[pacbuddies]

Well Given and Jenas have started it off. Who knows, perhaps a few others might start picking up injuries so that they don't have to play the boring negative football every game.

[OnlyOne]

Randy could sack AM this season. Houllier didn't get sacked because to be fair we didn't know what he would be like with relegation battles. I guess that was worth taking the risk and it paid off.

With AM though we know what exactly he is like with relegation battles. Randy wouldn't want to jepodize over 50 million of his money. It's not just that though. If we're relegated through AM he would lose the entire Villa fanbase. No one would forgive him when the warning signs were there all the way back to June. He still has the chance to rectify it, but the longer he leaves it the worse it's gonna get.

It was a dumb move regardless. It wasn't worth taking the risk at all. The odds were against him from the start, but sadly his ego of being the Villa owner and thinking he knows best got the better of him.

[Mantis]

Randy could sack AM this season. Houllier didn't get sacked because to be fair we didn't know what he would be like with relegation battles. I guess that was worth taking the risk and it paid off.

With AM though we know what exactly he is like with relegation battles. Randy wouldn't want to jepodize over 50 million of his money. It's not just that though. If we're relegated through AM he would lose the entire Villa fanbase. No one would forgive him when the warning signs were there all the way back to June. He still has the chance to rectify it, but the longer he leaves it the worse it's gonna get.

It was a dumb move regardless. It wasn't worth taking the risk at all. The odds were against him from the start, but sadly his ego of being the Villa owner and thinking he knows best got the better of him.

Never considered that first point. Gives me just a bit of hope that Randy will indeed get rid of McLeish if things carry on like this.

[deeps]

I still can't believe we can no longer email the club. What a joke.

[Mantis]

I still can't believe we can no longer email the club. What a joke.

What?

[KHV]

Randy could sack AM this season. Houllier didn't get sacked because to be fair we didn't know what he would be like with relegation battles. I guess that was worth taking the risk and it paid off.

With AM though we know what exactly he is like with relegation battles. Randy wouldn't want to jepodize over 50 million of his money. It's not just that though. If we're relegated through AM he would lose the entire Villa fanbase. No one would forgive him when the warning signs were there all the way back to June. He still has the chance to rectify it, but the longer he leaves it the worse it's gonna get.

It was a dumb move regardless. It wasn't worth taking the risk at all. The odds were against him from the start, but sadly his ego of being the Villa owner and thinking he knows best got the better of him.

Never considered that first point. Gives me just a bit of hope that Randy will indeed get rid of McLeish if things carry on like this.

It was a terrible move. I had my fears it would turn out like this as I knew the type of football McLeish would bring.

It still totally baffles me how he could go and bring in a Birmingham City manager. Suerly he must have realised that if McLeish started badly then it would turn sour almost straight away given the rivalry between the two clubs.

I hope we lose at Bolton so we can get McLeish out quicker. If he scrapes a win at the Reebok then no doubt Mr Faulkner will be saying we are on for Europe sitting in 8th place :x

[deeps]

I still can't believe we can no longer email the club. What a joke.

What?

I recall when ECK was linked with the job people battered the club with emails via the address on the website, its since no longer there. Guessing they got more and more emails.

Not forgetting the abuse the clubs Facebook page gets about ECK. Mind you the club delete a lot and then sent a message moaning of it all.

[bose]

Randy could sack AM this season. Houllier didn't get sacked because to be fair we didn't know what he would be like with relegation battles. I guess that was worth taking the risk and it paid off.

With AM though we know what exactly he is like with relegation battles. Randy wouldn't want to jepodize over 50 million of his money. It's not just that though. If we're relegated through AM he would lose the entire Villa fanbase. No one would forgive him when the warning signs were there all the way back to June. He still has the chance to rectify it, but the longer he leaves it the worse it's gonna get.

It was a dumb move regardless. It wasn't worth taking the risk at all. The odds were against him from the start, but sadly his ego of being the Villa owner and thinking he knows best got the better of him.

Never considered that first point. Gives me just a bit of hope that Randy will indeed get rid of McLeish if things carry on like this.

It was a terrible move. I had my fears it would turn out like this as I knew the type of football McLeish would bring.

It still totally baffles me how he could go and bring in a Birmingham City manager. Suerly he must have realised that if McLeish started badly then it would turn sour almost straight away given the rivalry between the two clubs.

I hope we lose at Bolton so we can get McLeish out quicker. If he scrapes a win at the Reebok then no doubt Mr Faulkner will be saying we are on for Europe sitting in 8th place :x

After it was clear McLeish would be appointed, I though (very naively) that maybe Randy knew something that we didn't know. I mean surely there must have been something behind the move? Turns out it was just a letter from Sir Alex Ferguson!

I don't live in England so the sha rivalry has never been quite as big of an issue for me like it is for those who live in Birmingham so the reason I didn't want McLeish was just because he didn't seem like a very good manager.

I sincerely hoped that maybe being at the right club he would play some good football but it turns out he just isn't capable of that

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I'm surprised I feel as strong as I do, but I **** wish that Houllier was still here. Perhaps the results would be by and large the same, but at least we'd be playing **** football.

I can't believe that's my opinion, I took a real dislike to Houllier fairly early on. But there you go.

We should have known the second he drove a ball playing midfielder from the club (Makoun) without giving him a chance that this would happen. Bannan is doing a sterling job in his place mind you, but the signs were there. Not that Makoun would make a difference right now, he's not a game winner. But it should have set alarm bells ringing regardless.

I want him out, more than I wanted O'Leary gone. That's quite a lot.

[Mantis]

I must admit I wasn't too fussed when Houllier went. Even though I could see what he was trying to do it didn't exactly work out and he'd have a mountain to climb to rebuild his relationship with a lot of fans. Not only that but he clearly had health problems anyway. I thought we'd go out and get somebody fairly decent. I was wrong.

I really miss him now. I miss O'Neill as well, and I hate him with a passion. I miss enjoying watching my team. I envy practically fans of all other clubs because odds are, they're at least being partially entertained by their team. McLeish is the football equivalent of a **** Dementor (soul sucking things from Harry Potter for those who don't know). He's sucking the life and soul out of the very club.

[fripono]

It would be better if we had an injury crisis right now. That way he might stumble on the correct starting line up and formation

I agree with you . It's the upside of injury that's rarely highlighted.

Villa are not going to be relegated so the risks are manageable. We have waited long enough to see Guzan properly tested in the Premier League and the sooner our manager can judge him under pressure now the better.

We all can recall his difficulties when the refs and our defence failed to protect him against Blackburn's blatent intimidation in those cup matches.

What we forget is that he had perhaps never met those tactics in the USA.

.

Likewise, Jenas isn't going to feature longterm so if a tweaked Achilles gives another opportunity to, say, Ireland, I shall see the positive.

We have a clutch of young players just waiting for squad injuries to strike.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Villa are not going to be relegated

I'm not convinced. Genuinely.

Convince me.

[Mantis]

A month or so ago I would've adamantly said we're not going down. Now I'm not so sure.

[fripono]

Well Given and Jenas have started it off. Who knows, perhaps a few others might start picking up injuries so that they don't have to play the boring negative football every game.

Unsettled footballers don't usually pick up injuries intentionally. Cause and effect is a lot more subtle and subconscious than that.

Nonetheless a long injury list is one symptom of wider issues.

[TrentVilla]

Villa are not going to be relegated

I'm not convinced. Genuinely.

Convince me.

Sadly neither am I, it isn't likely but I'd still not rule it out especially when you see this little stat.

McLeish -

Blues after 14 games last season: P14 W3 D7 L4.

Villa after 14 games this season: P14 W3 D7 L4

[OnlyOne]

I too miss Houllier. **** hell. I was so wrapped up on his negatives last season. At least with him there was potenial. He knew there was troublemakers and had a plan to bring us into modern football. He was just so frustrating at times.

With McLeish though there's no positives. He hasn't brought us back to the stone age, he has brought us even further backwards to the dark age where there's just no hope for anything. We don't play for the win, we don't play football, we don't have ambition, we won't show up against the big teams and we're looking over our shoulders.