Mirror: How Alex McLeish is winning over the haters at Aston Villa

[Phil from the upper holte]

Tv

If nothing else this is the first time for some time we have a manager who actually wants to be here.

Of course he wants to be at VP
He was on the verge of being sacked at Small Heath and he doubled his wages at Villa.

Regardless of his status at SHA  DW's comment is very valid.
DOL did nothing but rubbish us and talk down our status as a Club. MON always gave the impression that he was much too good for us and just waiting  to grab his chance at Manue or Lpool. So it's good to see someone here who thinks that this is their "moment in life"

i disagree about mon - i think he realised and respected the villa tradition and history and i believe during his time here he was proud to manage aston villa.

I'd agree with that.

And now I'm off to scrub my face raw with disinfectant.

If nothing else this is the first time for some time we have a manager who actually wants to be here.

Of course he wants to be at VP
He was on the verge of being sacked at Small Heath and he doubled his wages at Villa.

Regardless of his status at SHA  DW's comment is very valid.
DOL did nothing but rubbish us and talk down our status as a Club. MON always gave the impression that he was much too good for us and just waiting  to grab his chance at Manue or Lpool. So it's good to see someone here who thinks that this is their "moment in life"

i disagree about mon - i think he realised and respected the villa tradition and history and i believe during his time here he was proud to manage aston villa.

I'd agree with that.

And now I'm off to scrub my face raw with disinfectant.

I think he was at first then he started using us to push himself to the next level

[GordonCowansisthegreatest]

I think he was at first then he started using us to push himself to the next level
[/quote]

He's not the first to find that it's only downhill after the Villa!!

[Dante Lavelli]

Wasn't MON famous or rather infamous for only working (and asking the team to train) for only a few hours a day. Whilst he maybe understood Villa, he hardly felt sufficiently in awe that it motivated him to work harder or invest more time in training the young players.

McLeish, I think, will do anything possible to make sure he makes the most of his chance. At least I hope so.

[Archie]

I would like to be optimistic, but I can't have any positive feeling about a manager that seriously threatens to condemn us to another season of Richard Dunne in the Starting XI, when we have Cjeran Clarke !
If what I thought it was impossible should actually happen, I think that I'd take one-year sabbatical from football, I'm afraid. There is a limit to the humiliations that one is willing to suffer, even for  a great passion like is for me AVFC. . .

[Toronto Villa]

I would like to be optimistic, but I can't have any positive feeling about a manager that seriously threatens to condemn us to another season of Richard Dunne in the Starting XI, when we have Cjeran Clarke !
If what I thought it was impossible should actually happen, I think that I'd take one-year sabbatical from football, I'm afraid. There is a limit to the humiliations that one is willing to suffer, even for  a great passion like is for me AVFC. . .

why don't you give him a chance to see if that is exactly what he wants? We've played 3 friendies and Dunne was shown up in only one of those games. In a game where the entire team looked bagged and off pace. Give McLeish a chance to look at what he's got, and make that call over the next 4 weeks.

[Archie]

Of course I'll do it, mate, hoping you're right, I have nothing against the manager as long as he doesn't make Dunne to play in the starting XI!

[brian green]

I do not know where this assumption has come from that we hate McLeish because we do not rate him as a manager.   I don't hate him.   H and V apart I am in contact with about twenty loyal Villa fans on a regular basis and none of them hate him but none of them rate him as the quality of manager we need and had hoped for.

I think he passed the three point test- Is he available? Is he healthy?  Will he do as he is told?   The foreseeable future for Villa is one of retrenchment and McLeish is well suited for that.   I see a future of the occasional memorable game but it will be mostly dull fare.

That is not winning me round or making me not hate him because I did not hate him to begin with it is a simple acceptance of the inevitable.

[Simba]

Inevitable? Let's see shall we.

After ten games we will all be in some agreement one way or the other.

[Eigentor]

Whereas GH never cared about the short-term (to the point of dragging us into a relegation battle), McLeish perhaps suspects that he won't have a long-term future at Villa if he doesn't hit the ground running. If he manages that, I can see him being a modest success, but even in that case it'll be success based on grinding out results. Sometimes I wonder if the board view McLeish is a long-term solution, or if he is someone to keep us bubbling along until Faulkner has trimmed the wage bill.

[brian green]

I think that it is inevitable that come the start of the season Alex McLeish will be Alex McLeish and the squad of players he has at his disposal will be the squad.

Nobody knows better than we loyal fans who see the games all season long what the strengths and weaknesses of the squad are and what the strengths and weaknesses of Alex McLeish are.

There will be improvements to some players - perhaps Bannon and Delph and Ireland will surge under the guidance of this manager and give us the midfield dominance we have lacked for so long but then again perhaps they will not.

There are far too many if and maybes for the future to hold anything but uncertainty.   For that reason Alex McLeish will batten down the hatches and play safety first football.

The first time we lose a home game the likes of James Nursey will have the Club In Crisis headline written before the players are off the park.   Then you will hear the sound of hatches being battened.

[Risso]

or if he is someone to keep us bubbling along until Faulkner has trimmed the wage bill.

...or Randy finds a buyer.