McLeish out Chants / banners / protests

[supertom]

Are a few boos going to change anything? No. Protests? No. Randy's made his decision. He'll stick by it till the bitter end. There's no way in hell Randy will fork out yet more money to fire McLeish, then hire someone else. He can't do that again. It cost enough with the ins and outs for O Neill, Houllier and Eck as it is.

Unless something drastic happens, then we're stuck with McLeish and his sod awful brand of football and clueless management. We're also stuck with Randy Lerner who knows nothing about running a football club because we're not an attractive buying proposition for anyone. In a business sense we don't make enough money to work and run, in the black, as a top 6 side. We're also not fashionable enough to be a billionaires play thing. To turn a profit we still need to trim our wage bill. In turn, with how football is, we could just about manage to maintain ourselves as a mid-table club. But obviously the right man in charge of the team can make the difference with that fine line between mid-table mediocrity, or relegation scrappers. McLeish is sucking us into the latter, whereas say O Neill if he was still here now, with this squad, would have us very comfortably between 7th-12th by the end of the season, year on year. I see us finishing anywhere between 9th-19th
Gone are our days though of overextending in the transfer market. It was only by doing that we flirted with top 4 and had 3 top 6 finishes.

[Karlos96]

I don't agree with that during a game i'd much rather get behind the team.  Having said that the fans don't seem bothered about anything anyway, it's like everyone has just accepted this is how things are going to be.

[eastie]

While mcleish must take blame for team selection and tactics he has lost his star providers and been given far less to spend having lost almost half of last seasons team in friedal, walker, reo-coker, downing and young and any manager coming in will struggle to get results without serious financial backing.

I  think however that mcleish now has a virtually impossible task and has lost the fans in too big a way to turn it around and it will inevitably end in his departure in the coming months.

[TaxDodger]

We're 10th, not 19th. Protests won't make Lerner get rid of him so it will just make us look silly.

[Chris Smith]

We're 10th, not 19th. Protests won't make Lerner get rid of him so it will just make us look silly.

It's obvious that a section of our support have lost the sense of self-awareness that should make them see that. They all want to be on SSN and part of a Facebook campaign rather than think about anything more deeply.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

There was a 'Had Enough, Houllier Out' banner

The Holte End sang "Fuck off Houllier, the Villa is ours"

The Holte End sang "Sacked in the morning, you're getting sacked in the morning"

The Holte End sang "You don't know what you're doing"

And the board still backed Houllier.

The fans outside Villa Park sang "We don't want McLeish, say we don't want McLeish"

They had banners saying "Stay the Eck away from Villa Park"

17,000 Villa fans joined a Facebook group called "Aston Villa fans we don't want Alex McLeish"

And the board still appointed McLeish.

Frankly, the board do not care what the fans think.

[not3bad]

Frankly, the board do not care what the fans think.

There's one thing the fans could do to change that but it does not entail protests or banners.  You just stop going.

[eastie]

We're 10th, not 19th. Protests won't make Lerner get rid of him so it will just make us look silly.

It's obvious that a section of our support have lost the sense of self-awareness that should make them see that. They all want to be on SSN and part of a Facebook campaign rather than think about anything more deeply.

Or maybe they care about the club they love and fear for where we are heading, i agree facebook campaigns and protests have little affect but equally i believe that fans have a right to express their fears as we head into a very worrying time , the reality is we could easily be in the bottom 4 or 5 in a fortnights time and we are in trouble no matter how people try to gloss over things.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Facebook groups and banners are symptoms of the poxy X Factor Britain we live in. Everyone's got a voice, everyone's got an opinion and if something isn't done about it there and then, it's toys out of the pram time.

Banners make Villa look cheap and the more I hear from the boors who purport to follow our club, the more I want McLeish to stay and succeed.

If you want to see yourselves on television waving your bedsheets, making twats of yourself then go ahead but as far as I'm concerned you're no better than the shower of shite down the road. You are an embarrassment to the glorious name of Aston Villa.

Get a fucking grip and support the team.

[bertlambshank]

How about a slow hand clap,haven't heard one of those down VP for years.

[Merv]

Are a few boos going to change anything? No. Protests? No. Randy's made his decision. He'll stick by it till the bitter end. There's no way in hell Randy will fork out yet more money to fire McLeish, then hire someone else. He can't do that again. It cost enough with the ins and outs for O Neill, Houllier and Eck as it is.

Unless something drastic happens, then we're stuck with McLeish and his sod awful brand of football and clueless management. We're also stuck with Randy Lerner who knows nothing about running a football club because we're not an attractive buying proposition for anyone. In a business sense we don't make enough money to work and run, in the black, as a top 6 side. We're also not fashionable enough to be a billionaires play thing. To turn a profit we still need to trim our wage bill. In turn, with how football is, we could just about manage to maintain ourselves as a mid-table club. But obviously the right man in charge of the team can make the difference with that fine line between mid-table mediocrity, or relegation scrappers. McLeish is sucking us into the latter, whereas say O Neill if he was still here now, with this squad, would have us very comfortably between 7th-12th by the end of the season, year on year. I see us finishing anywhere between 9th-19th
Gone are our days though of overextending in the transfer market. It was only by doing that we flirted with top 4 and had 3 top 6 finishes.

Great post. Exactly how I feel about the situation. I saw this coming a mile off when the appointment was made, and it's all panning out just so. The club were aware of the strength of feeling when such a bewildering, uninspiring decision was made, and they did it anyway - from their point of view, we're 10th, so they're perfectly happy. Choosing McLeish was only partly about football, and mostly about finance, in my opinion.

To those getting angered or wound up, my advice would be to accept the situation, because this is how it is for the foreseeable future. And that's a pretty sad thing to say.

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Frankly, the board do not care what the fans think.

There's one thing the fans could do to change that but it does not entail protests or banners.  You just stop going.

Everyone should have boycotted the first home game of the season against Blackburn.

McLeish's first home game - Attendance: 143

Would have been great.

[Mister E]

It will kick off soon enough. The ABAM brigade have been biding their time since the start of the season. They couldn't get him out then because a)Lerner would have looked a plonker if he'd sacked a manager before he'd had a game and b) because their argument against AM wasn't based on anything logical, but performances and results are rapidly changing that.

He's onto a loser basically. Unfairly, he'd have to finish at least the same position as last season with a crappier squad to survive longer than May. And even if he managed that, it would all start again next season as soon as we had a few bad results

If we do end up in the 15th-16th area of the league come January then Lerner will have to decide whether to try and keep him on till the summer against the fan's wishes and then quietly let him go or make a switch in January. An unpleasant decision for Lerner to make either way, but seeing its totally his own fault, i haven't much sympathy for him.

Exactly as per the article linked in my signature below: Lerner is on the horns of a dilemma of his own making.

[Mister E]

we're not an attractive buying proposition for anyone. In a business sense we don't make enough money to work and run, in the black, as a top 6 side. We're also not fashionable enough to be a billionaires play thing.

Whilst you make some good points, Tom, I disagree with the highlighted bit: Citeh were not particularly fashionable when the Thai and then the Sheik took over. The Birmingham conurbation should represent enormous potential to someone with deep enough pockets to 'go big' with the Villla. I know that we have historically struggled to consistently filll the ground but if someone were to 'do a Citeh' on us, I'm sure that we'd see the ground full.

[garyshawsknee]

Frankly, the board do not care what the fans think.

There's one thing the fans could do to change that but it does not entail protests or banners.  You just stop going.

Everyone should have boycotted the first home game of the season against Blackburn.

McLeish's first home game - Attendance: 143

Would have been great.

Blackburns away support isn't that big.