Mcleish - 'I Accepted the challenge'

[woody4866]

I`ve said it before that he must have balls the size of space hoppers to come across the city, however he must have taken all of 3 seconds to decide on "accepting the challenge"!

considering he was 3rd or possibly 4th choice (Benitez, Martinez and McLarren), I think the board just got desperate and wanted anyone who would take it under sh!tty budget conditions

[kippaxvilla2]

I accepted the challenge.  Jesus, it wasn't hard to accept was it.  Sitting in your apartment in Corsica, contemplating life in the Championship under possibly the worst owners since the Kumars, then an American billionaire rocks up to double your wages for a job with a Premier League side used to challenging for a top 6 place.  Let me think.

     I bet it wasn't as easy a decision as you think: An American billionaire who's not prepared to spend anything at the moment, and tells him that he'll have to "make do and mend"?
     The utter chaos following O'Neill's bailing and continuing through Houllier's reign which went on for most of the season won't have escaped his attention either and I think the last sentence should read "...a Premier League side that used to be challenging for a top 6 place."
     I agree the wages must have been some incentive, but I genuinely believe he was/is interested in the challenge. Whether he's bitten off more than he can chew is another matter, but I admire his bravery.

It's all relative though isn't it.  I mean, he knows he will be paid off even if he fails, so it isn't a risk in the slightest really.  Compare my own situation, I have taken a bigger risk by moving into a job at work managing a load of Engineers, something I haven't got the slightest clue about until I start work, but it aids my development at work - if I fail, I won't be so lucky as to expect a £1m golden handshake. 

Even accounting for the fact that we lost prized assets, in the first 11 there is still a decent side that is underperforming and has been since August 2010.

[Chris Smith]

McLeish just isn't going to be given a chance by some of you is he? Every day we see these sniping little threads. There's nothing wrong with his comments but some of you justc an't resist taking the opportunity to get a few digs in.

[kippaxvilla2]

McLeish just isn't going to be given a chance by some of you is he? Every day we see these sniping little threads. There's nothing wrong with his comments but some of you justc an't resist taking the opportunity to get a few digs in.

I will continue to dig at him until he proves to me he is the best candidate for the job of being manager of my football club. It's as if our owners actually revel in dishing out the most amount of compensation in as short a period of time as possible.

[brian green]

Bearing in mind what the Villa fans have been through since O'Neill flounced out I think McLeish is being given - by the level headed posters on here - a very decent opportunity to prove himself.

Whether or not you think he is being sniped at depends on whether you think he has plans to ease our pain (passing, attractive, occasionally winning, frequently entertaining football) or whether you think his appointment was a leap in the dark.

I am in the latter faction and as such reserve the right to mull over where it has all gone so wrong.   

[JJ-AV]

We miss Ashley Young so much. More than just his obvious quality in the final third, but we have no leader, no one putting pressure on the ball and no one demanding the ball.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

And to think we thought we might get Ancelottii or Benitez!

Did "we" really think that? I know I certainly didn't. I don't see why anyone would've expected anyone particularly better, or more high profile, than who we ended up with.

Why, at the time of searching, would a high profile manager want to manage Villa?

[Chris Smith]

McLeish just isn't going to be given a chance by some of you is he? Every day we see these sniping little threads. There's nothing wrong with his comments but some of you justc an't resist taking the opportunity to get a few digs in.

I will continue to dig at him...

Of course you will, saying the same things over and over again.

[kippaxvilla2]

McLeish just isn't going to be given a chance by some of you is he? Every day we see these sniping little threads. There's nothing wrong with his comments but some of you justc an't resist taking the opportunity to get a few digs in.

I will continue to dig at him...

Of course you will, saying the same things over and over again.

Similar to you then.

[kippaxvilla2]

I make no apology for wanting the best possible candidate to bring success to my club - it is a shame as will be proved over time and once again that Alex McLeish is not that candidate.

[john e]

i reckon 95% of managers in the footbal league would have accepted the Villa job,
 i dont agree with all this no one wanted to come, there were one or two high profile managers who didnt fancy the financial constraints, fair enough, but to say we were desperate and the only chap willing to take us on was Mcliesh is rubbish.

then there was Martinez,
 i really wanted him, he turned us down, i still dont think we know truly what happened there,
 i get the feeling that he didnt think we were so serious, he might have though we were just canvessing to interview him along with others, and maybe didnt think he would get the chance in the end, i dont know, but he is working within worse constraints at Wigan,
 either way Dave Whelan played a blinder, backed everyone into a very public corner and we didnt get the our man.
i personaly believe, that if we had met him secretly and offered Martinez the job, not just an interview for the job, he would have come to us,
 i also think he might well regret the decision he made, especially when he saw Mcliesh turning up and maybe realised he could have had the job, but i'm only summising, i have no ITK just my own imagination !

but we could have had the pick of many managers if Mcliesh was the bench mark,
 if Plymouth can get a manager in Peter Ried [now sacked] who lets face it would be on par with Mcliesh, then we would have no trouble,
 obviously the board did struggled to land a top class manager, so we panicked and went for Mcliesh, i dont think we had to, but they have made there decision now, i think they got it wrong, but i certainly dont believe he was the only one willing to take up the challenge

[Chris Smith]

I make no apology for wanting the best possible candidate to bring success to my club - it is a shame as will be proved over time and once again that Alex McLeish is not that candidate.

As I said, he isn't going to be given a chance as you've already made up your mind. So what happens is everything he says or does is criticised and twisted to turn it into something negative because you're desperate to be "proved" right.

[brian green]

I too CBBB was very sceptical about the big name managers we were linked with.   However  I did believe that Randy Lerner would use his financial muscle to prise somebody loose from an otherwise secure job.   I hoped Kenwright would be made an offer he could not refuse and we would get Moyes or Lambert or their foreign equivalent.   In this day and age every man has his price and I hoped that we were not shopping in the bargain basement.

With the compensation we paid to both Houllier and Small Heath, that sum of money applied to the problem when O'Neill went would have got us one manager of some quality to move on from the O'Neill years seamlessly.

Whichever way you cut it it is not Houllier's fault nor McLeish's it is the fault of the board being blown away by O'Neill's actions.

For me the Hanged Man card was when Lerner himself flew to Corsica to secure the deal because to me the writing was on the wall that he did not trust his executives not to go on making fools of themselves and the club.

I made the rather frivolous comparison at the time with being with your twelve year old daughter buying back to school shoes.   Eventually you say black, lace up, flat heels, size five, point to such a pair and say wrap them up.

[Chris Smith]

So the owner wanting to talk to a candidate for a senior appointment in the organisation prior to offering him the job is a bad thing. That's a unique take on things.

[nigel]

McLeish is lucky to have another job in the Premiership, especially at a club this size.

I see the excuses have already begun with AM.

A quote from an earlier post by Chris Smith:
"Losing Young and Downing isn't an excuse, it's a reason. They were our two best players and we're now having to find a way to do without them, that takes time."
I can't recall him making any excuse either since he took the job.
So what excuses are you on about?