Can we have our club back please

[Hookeysmith]

I do not want us to be Birmingham City anymore. I cannot stand opposing fans taking the piss out of how we play  "ole's" and "hoofs" are becoming all too familiar.
Fans are staying away in their droves and ambition we had is being eroded on and off the pitch and all of this was soooooo predictable

I really Like AM as a person - he is courtious and polite with fans and has an obvious understanding of the game but his mentality is set in stone and whilst it may have been seen as doing the best he could with what he had at the rags it is just not acceptable with our club - just not acceptable at any level.

If we were the rags then we would have no hopes or ambitions other than survival  - something we have derided them over for many years.
I appreciate that Randy and the purse string tightening has not helped but even so man for man we have a better team /squad of players than he had when he was at the Blues yet we are playing exactly the same way - plan to hold them and if we are lucky catch them on the break and pinch a goal - this is shit and not our way

I have tried to give him time - i even hoped that he would prove all the doubters wrong but i have to admit last night was the final straw. As many have said its not the defeat but the way we planned for defeat before we had started with the team selection
The fact that he acts tough yet we all know it will be the same old faces in the team for Sunday - if he had the balls he would drop half of them just on principle alone - if we lost with kids then at least he looked like he tried to change it - but i doubt he has the nous or the bottle to do it

I do not want my team to be a laughing stock

We had some pretty awful results with DOL / MON and GH but they were the exception

Continue to be a mirror image of the dog shit and these results will become more and more the norm and look where it got them - relegated twice    wonder who their manager was?

[ozzjim]

After Bent came we looked useful under GH, and there was a clear culture change happening at the club. It is bewildering that McLeish was then appointed by the people so keen for that culture change to happen, as it takes us 10 steps back, and last night showed why. Width offered by Heskey and Hutton who continuously lost the ball, and no central midfield, with defenders that have all failed to perform for us. The manager is a yes man for the board to reduce the wages and do as he is told.


If we are not in the bottom 3 by mid Jan I would be amazed. Totally and utterly depressing, and appears to be completely rudderless from the top.
 

[Lee]

His perseverance of the new play-maker role for Heskey is the most bizarre thing that I have seen in years. Whilst he was sometimes played for England on the left side of the forward line, it was never as provider, but as an out-ball and to gate-crash the box with late forays.

With a team with a natural goal poacher in, it's criminal that we are not trying to play players with some modicum of passing ability in those forward areas.

[austin]

3 strikers, 5 defenders, 1 midfield player who has played left back and the midfielder and captain who has played the holding role for the last 3 years.

Great team selection.

There is a pub in aston called the adventurers. Doubt Mcleish has ever heard of it.

[Dante Lavelli]

Sadly it is SO hard to disagree with the comments above and I can usually find positives in the most dire situations.

[Vanilla]

After Bent came we looked useful under GH, and there was a clear culture change happening at the club. It is bewildering that McLeish was then appointed by the people so keen for that culture change to happen, as it takes us 10 steps back, and last night showed why. Width offered by Heskey and Hutton who continuously lost the ball, and no central midfield, with defenders that have all failed to perform for us. The manager is a yes man for the board to reduce the wages and do as he is told.


If we are not in the bottom 3 by mid Jan I would be amazed. Totally and utterly depressing, and appears to be completely rudderless from the top.

I think we looked quite tasty towards the end of last season. The problem is, we sold Downing and Young and replaced them with what? Heskey and Hutton!!! That is a formula for relegation.

After RL stated he has the club at heart, with those two in those positions, I'd hate to see what the team would look like if he hated us.

[Rick_avfc]

The sad fact is that the board/RL will NOT sack Eck as they wanted him.  We are stuck with him.  Even if we all chant "mcleish out" every game, they will not listen.  They didn't listen to the fans that were there outside VP protesting against his proposed appointment nor did they take real notice of the message boards or the radio phone ins. 
They wanted a Yes man and they got him.  Why Heskey starts every game is beyond me, especially playing on the left?  WTF?  What does he offer apart from work rate. 
There are not many GH fans but I was one of them.  I'm pretty sure if he was still in charge, things would have been better.  He would have got rid of the rubbish in our squad and replaced them with a mixture of cheap foreign talent (just like Wenger does) and our youth players.  Players like Clark, Bannan and Albrighton would have developed so much better under his guidance.  Look at the likes of Steve Gerrard, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher.  they all praise GH for what he done at LFC.  After the signing of Bent, we started to look and play better football and thats something he would have continued to address over the summer in preparation for this season.  With Eck in charge, we have gone backwards and do not look like every taking the forward steps needed to challenge for a top 6 position.

[Rick_avfc]

Also, wheres the General gone??  Did he say something along the lines of "just imagine what Eck could do with the backing of his owner". Well im sorry, I havent really seen much backing at all.  Well, not enough to challenege for top 6

[Vanilla]

After the signing of Bent, we started to look and play better football and thats something he would have continued to address over the summer in preparation for this season.  With Eck in charge, we have gone backwards and do not look like every taking the forward steps needed to challenge for a top 6 position.

We all sadly know that Bent will not be with the club this time next season. Unfortunately, the rest of the team will no doubt still be all present and correct (including Heskey with a slightly smaller contract) and with an average striker.

[Cjamesk]

The sad fact is that the board/RL will NOT sack Eck as they wanted him.  We are stuck with him.  Even if we all chant "mcleish out" every game, they will not listen.  They didn't listen to the fans that were there outside VP protesting against his proposed appointment nor did they take real notice of the message boards or the radio phone ins. 
They wanted a Yes man and they got him.  Why Heskey starts every game is beyond me, especially playing on the left?  WTF?  What does he offer apart from work rate. 
There are not many GH fans but I was one of them.  I'm pretty sure if he was still in charge, things would have been better.  He would have got rid of the rubbish in our squad and replaced them with a mixture of cheap foreign talent (just like Wenger does) and our youth players.  Players like Clark, Bannan and Albrighton would have developed so much better under his guidance.  Look at the likes of Steve Gerrard, Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher.  they all praise GH for what he done at LFC.  After the signing of Bent, we started to look and play better football and thats something he would have continued to address over the summer in preparation for this season.  With Eck in charge, we have gone backwards and do not look like every taking the forward steps needed to challenge for a top 6 position.

I agree but don't panick just yet, remember in the words of the General "Just think what a manager like AM can achieve with Randys backing!"

Not even funny though really is it 

[andyh]

See, for me, the worrying thing is that McLeish does not know how to play ANY differently, and last season is a prime example.

He was manager of a club that had actually acheived something quite remarkable, for them.
By winning a cup, that particular club was at the absolute pinnacle of their achievements. With this win, and understandably, that club was on a huge, massive high.
But, between the end of February and the end of the season, he still managed to oversee a total eroding of that incredible high, and with 1, 2, 5 or 10 games to go he was still not able to motivate or tactically plan to prevent them being relegated.
To me, that says more about his (lack of) ability than anything else.
If they had struggled all season, and without the cup win, had gone down, then fair enough, shit happens, and Wigan this year will be that team, BUT with 3 months to go, after winning a cup, the first thing the club has ever won, and to STILL take them down, I find that almost criminal, and for me is particularly worrying.

I think we are in for a long bleak winter.

[Jon Crofts]

Also, wheres the General gone??  Did he say something along the lines of "just imagine what Eck could do with the backing of his owner". Well im sorry, I havent really seen much backing at all.  Well, not enough to challenege for top 6

Challenge for a top 6?  You've got to be kidding.

[PaulWinch again]

The manner of the tactics last night have really destroyed any goodwill towards Mcleish and I was very much prepared to give him a chance. We need strong leadership from the club and they need to remember at its essence the game is about entertainment. What we demonstrated last night was about as far from entertainment as possible.

[nick harper]

His perseverance of the new play-maker role for Heskey is the most bizarre thing that I have seen in years. Whilst he was sometimes played for England on the left side of the forward line, it was never as provider, but as an out-ball and to gate-crash the box with late forays.

With a team with a natural goal poacher in, it's criminal that we are not trying to play players with some modicum of passing ability in those forward areas.

Given the competition for ineptitude on the night, he certainly stood out. Given his experience, his inablity to control or pass to a team mate on the few occasions we got the ball down was nothing short of staggering.

Even the main reason for him being there, to try and flick the ball on was a complete failure.

Such a crude and archaic tactic totally out of step with modern football.

He is symbolic of the embarrassment I feel knowing what the football world would have thought of that crap.

[SoccerHQ]

Houllier had to go imo.

But I honestly didn't think Randy would fcuk up a managerial appointment for the second time in less than a year.

I'd think I'd have rather have had Martinez, the football would've been more entertaining, he'd have probably got N'zogbia playing better and we wouldn't have drawn so many games this season.