McLeish 'Downing must keep the right attitude.'

[Rip Van We Go Again]

sportinglife.com

McLeish 'Downing must keep the right attitude.'

Alex McLeish expects Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing to maintain the right attitude and professionalism if his hopes of a move to Liverpool fail to materialise.

Villa have rejected bids of £12million and £15million from the Reds for Downing and McLeish wants the England international to remain at the midlands club.

McLeish says he overcame failing to secure a move to Manchester United as a player and would expect the same response from Downing if he is still at Villa next season.

He said: "I've spoken to Stewart, I've told him I don't want to sell him.

"There's an obvious distraction there for him but he's been a credit to himself and applied himself in the right way and worked his socks off in training. I don't see a problem professionally.

"Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign me for Manchester United when I was at Aberdeen and that wasn't possible in the end.

"That was a big disappointment but I got my head down and worked and I don't doubt Stewart has the character to get through this is he stays at the club.

"It's part of your growing up as a footballer."

Villa will demand £19-20million if it becomes apparent they cannot retain Downing, who has two years remaining of his current contract.

McLeish is optimistic of signing a new keeper to replace Brad Friedel in the near future with Shay Given expected to complete a £3.5 million move from Manchester City.

He said: "We certainly need a keeper and we are making progress. We would like it to happen a bit quicker but we are moving forward."

[darren woolley]

I agree with McLeish he has to work hard and give his all to us if the move don't happen.

[Greg N'Ash]

Can't see the point in keeping a miffed player for the sake of another year. We all know he'll go next summer anyway so its not saying anything apart from some inpotent "we're not a selling club, honest!" statement. Only point keeping him would be if we knew he was here till his contract ran out and thats not gonna happen

[PeterWithe]

I agree with McLeish he has to work hard and give his all to us if the move don't happen.

I agree too, anyone else?

[CJ]

Downing will want to keep his place for the Euros next summer so if he doesn't get his move he'll have to put a shift in for us anyway.

[Eigentor]

Can't see the point in keeping a miffed player for the sake of another year. We all know he'll go next summer anyway so its not saying anything apart from some inpotent "we're not a selling club, honest!" statement. Only point keeping him would be if we knew he was here till his contract ran out and thats not gonna happen

I don't know. Friedel, Young, Downing and NRC weren't spectacular last season, but they were pretty reliable performers and pivotal in keeping us in the PL. Getting rid of them one by one and hoping that the likes of Ireland, Delph and Albrighton will replace them adequately in no time seems naive. Even if the club manage to identify and fund a viable replacement, there is no guarantee that the replacement will not need time to adapt or won't be a flop alltogether.

[JUAN PABLO]

Lets hope Liverpoo play the bloody money..

[QBVILLA]

When Barry's move to Liverpool failed to materialise he still gave us a top season and i don't see it being any different for Downing.That said, I think Liverpool will stump up the cash and he'll be off.

[Chris Smith]

Can't see the point in keeping a miffed player for the sake of another year. We all know he'll go next summer anyway so its not saying anything apart from some inpotent "we're not a selling club, honest!" statement. Only point keeping him would be if we knew he was here till his contract ran out and thats not gonna happen

We keep him because we have a value for him which has yet to be met. Are you suggesting we just roll over and let him go for whatever Liverpool offer?

[Mazrim]

When Barry's move to Liverpool failed to materialise he still gave us a top season

No he didn't, he was going through the motions for at least half of the season.
As captain he could and should have led us into the champions league but he was mooning off into the distance and it seemed to rub off on a few others too.

What's more he's never really recovered and been mostly anonymous since. It's sad really.

[Richie]

Theres a difference here. When Liverpool wanted Barry, we basically said you can't have him.

The comments of "if it fails to materalise" is basically saying if Liverpool or someone else doesn't cough up how much we want, he won't be going anywhere.

If he doesn't want to play for us, let's get shot of him now while we can get a decent transfer fee.

The thing that annoys me more than anything in this, is that 2 months ago Downing was doing the web chat thing on the official site (conveniently 24 hours after committing himself to the club) saying how happy he was and how he could see the bigger picture at the Villa.

Don't reckon he would do one of these chats with the fans now, do you ?

[QBVILLA]

When Barry's move to Liverpool failed to materialise he still gave us a top season

No he didn't, he was going through the motions for at least half of the season.
As captain he could and should have led us into the champions league but he was mooning off into the distance and it seemed to rub off on a few others too.

What's more he's never really recovered and been mostly anonymous since. It's sad really.

Totally disagree with that

[Mazrim]

Really? Oh well, never mind. Anybody else think Barry gave us a "top season" before he fucked off to Man City?

[sg]

Lets hope Liverpoo play the bloody money..

I agree. Over-rated.

[Jockey Randall]

I would say it was somewhere in the middle of what you two were saying. I wouldn't have said he was going through the motions, but he certainly didn't give us a top season compared to seasons past.

I would certainly agree that he hasn't been half the player in his time at Citeh though.