McLeish to lay down the law

[Villanation]

The players last season fell out with either Houllier or Mcallister. Or both. Now they are no longer in charge, there genuinely is an opportunity to have a clean slate. Ireland will be his biggest challenge. He might need some terrestial help to get that back on track........

With some you wonder about their ability though.  Beye never seemed, or at least was not reported, to be a disruptive influence, but then he's not good enough regardless.  And apart from his first 6 months here the same could be said of Warnock.  Collins and Dunne you'd be hopeful of getting back to their 09/10 form

And then there's Ireland.  He strongly strikes me as the sort who needs an arm round their shoulder as opposed to a rocket up their arse.  If Mcleish can do that he'll be called a managerial genius by some, yet if he can't he won't be blamed as he's not his signing and he's all but been written off anyway.  It's a no lose situation for him.

Trouble is with Ireland i think its the rocket up the arse he's actually gagging for

[PaulTheVillan]

It didn't work for Houllier, what makes him think it will work for him?

Guess it depends how you approach it

Houllier always came across almost too soft & gentle.

I can see McLeish losing his rag & sending the shits up some of our little sulkers like Ireland & Warnock.

[IRISHPHIL]

i think mcleish will have time for players if they are prepared to put effort in, if not thing will get rid straight away
he will be able to gage  players attitude within few days of starting pre season , so they all need to make good impression or will be sold very quickly

[The Man With A Stick]

he will be able to gage  players attitude within few days of starting pre season , so they all need to make good impression or will be sold very quickly

Providing there's a buyer of course.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Think Alex will be good for our players and our discipline and defending, but I still want to see how he will cope when we want quality attacking football. As long he adapt his methods for our team there is no problem.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

All new managers come in with this "I will be tough but fair" sort of approach. I dont blame them and frankly its bit boring the media reporting it.
If I was a football manager I would adopt an entirely new approach.  I would tell the players do what you like, there are no real rules, go out drinking when you want, turn up and train whatever time you come in and only if you feel like it, and there is  no particular dress code on match days. Make it clear I am the easiest going most lax manager in football.
After a month, those that took me at my word I would boot out the club and those that carried on with good standards would be in the team. Simples.   

[brian green]

Jocks are very scary.   That is why they make good managers.   You cannot reason with them.   Rub them up the wrong way and they will commit some serious act of bodily damage to you when all other races will only threaten it.

He will eat Dunne, Collins, Warnock and Beye for breakfast and will no doubt make them better and probably happier clubmen.

Ireland is having too much fun being bonkers to respond to normal football management.   He reminds me of Edmund Blackadder with pencils up his nose.   He will do a Sasa Curcic and will need to be bought out of his contract so that he can go and start his own reindeer herd in Lapland.   It will be the multicolour skirts and leggings with the curly toe shoes and hats with tassels which will make him do it.

[Le Lapin]

I tell you, I wouldn't want an earful from Alex, he'd tear you a new one. The fear of an earful from a beardless Grounds Keeper Willie should motivate these guys.
Hopefully he can get through to Ireland and can also give Warnock a reason to stay around. I really think that he is going to surprise a lot of us this season. Feck me, we need a decent manager after the last few years, a guy that can manage a team to maintain a challenge for the whole season and not fall away in March like MON's teams. MON was good, but, we need a manager that can play people in their correct positions, that doesn't spend ridiculous money on average players. Alex is the guy to do this........hopefully....

[mozza]

It didn't work for Houllier, what makes him think it will work for him?

Guess it depends how you approach it

Attended a forum last night (North Walsall Lions) the 'Legend' guest speaker was Ken McNaught who answered
that question by saying ' take him round the back' ............he was referring to how players used to sort out their
differences but I guess it applied to the manager also ?

[ian c.]

Ireland is having too much fun being bonkers to respond to normal football management.   He reminds me of Edmund Blackadder with pencils up his nose.   He will do a Sasa Curcic and will need to be bought out of his contract so that he can go and start his own reindeer herd in Lapland.   It will be the multicolour skirts and leggings with the curly toe shoes and hats with tassels which will make him do it.

That's very good.

[Surrey Villain]

He can 'lay down the law' as much as he likes, at the end of the day the players have the upper hand and can tell him to fuck off on the slightest whim.

Sad, but true.

Exactly true, can you imagine laying down the law to Stephen Ireland, he'd be away reporting a child abuse case.

Has he got any grandmothers left to go crying to?

[Daholteend]

"Laying down the law" is almost a number one priority for an incoming manager arriving at any club that has had a "history" of insolence.

However, there are ways of doing it and the weak link in Mr H's method was his penchant for washing his dirty linen in front of the media. The MON approach would be to talk privately with a player about an issue or completely ignore them, as no doubt NRC might have found out.

Nobody in any job likes to be ridiculed  in public and what players do we know that have responded to that technique?  McLeish seems to have addressed player issues in private, which is as it should be, and in that case he has a good chance of starting out on the right foot with any of our players who might have felt locked out by Houiller or MON.

The rest is up to the players themselves. If they want to play and enjoy their football no one will stop them. If they want to sulk and play silly buggers, no one will stop them, but I doubt that they will last long at B6 if they do.

I am looking forward to see if any of our "recalcitrants" can be converted. Even if one of them comes good it will be worth it. Warnock was close to international honours when MON walked out.

Despite what he may or may not have said about Brum, I would be willing to give him a chance. Beye was a Newcastle supporters favourite, a clean slate and an opportunity to play again has to have some appeal for him.

No one can complain when a clear structure and guideline is put in place. For a playing squad the size of Villa's it is a must. If it is implemented fairly and justly for all there can be no problem. In such cases the player's themselves do the monitoring as a previous poster mentioned.

Club unity  and a happy morale is important. If  McLeish accomplishes this to any degree he will get my applause.

[Toronto Villa]

It didn't work for Houllier, what makes him think it will work for him?

Guess it depends how you approach it

Houllier always came across almost too soft & gentle.

I can see McLeish losing his rag & sending the shits up some of our little sulkers like Ireland & Warnock.

That's the thing though, Houllier was exactly the opposite which didn't do him any favours as a short term strategy when he joined us. He is well know to get in the face of players that didn't toe the line, and maybe he should have taken a more balanced approach when he arrived. Houllier being soft and gentle is more of a media front, and by all accounts he can be a bit of bully, and had no problem going after the big characters at a club. It worked at Liverpool because he took on the likes of Ince, bombed them out the club and brought in players that would listen. I think he'd have done the same with us had he been able to stay in charge.

[Lambert and Payne]

Forgot this forum was about football with the hitler thread

I would give Warnock a chance because he's got the ability and I think it was a clash with Houllier, they'd had problems before right?
If he can get the best out of Ireland then itd be brilliant, if not then 80k a week better off
Never rated/wanted Beye in the 1st place, nothings changed my mind and I think he's a fuckwit for saying he's happy to sit out and receive his wages, sooner he goes the better

[UsualSuspect]

I tell you, I wouldn't want an earful from Alex, he'd tear you a new one. The fear of an earful from a beardless Grounds Keeper Willie should motivate these guys.
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Didn't work for Blues twice did it?