The Ultimate Choice

[dave.woodhall]

As has often been said before, we at least thought with McLeish we would have a defensively sound set up.  How wrong were we?

What I also thought we'd get with him is a spirit for fighting till the last kick, how wrong was I?

My thoughts exactly.  I wasnt happy when he became boss but I was expecting a few hard fought 1-0's at least . A bit of passion and spirt and better in defence. 

Thirded. It's as though he's got rid of the things he did right and kept the rest.

[Chico Hamilton III]

As it is, when I look at our history and see the spells of the second and third tier football in our record books I shudder; the top flight is the only place for Villa

I understand what you're saying but there are many people who consider our days of second and third division football to be amongst our finest. I don't shudder when I look back at the second division days - I loved it.

Then again, rose-tinted specs and all that

[pauliewalnuts]

As has often been said before, we at least thought with McLeish we would have a defensively sound set up.  How wrong were we?

What I also thought we'd get with him is a spirit for fighting till the last kick, how wrong was I?

On the first one, yes, I am really surprised at how that has panned out. Johnson and Dann were rock solid for him (although didn't Dann miss the run in?) but if you look at how those two players have done this season, they've both been pretty disastrous, which leads you to think maybe it was his work with them that got the absolute best out of them.

On the second one, I was never convinced of that. I remember reading a report of their last match of the season at Spurs last year which told how utterly spineless and bereft of attacking intent they'd been, despite it being a match where they could survive if they got something.

[old man villa fan]

As has often been said before, we at least thought with McLeish we would have a defensively sound set up.  How wrong were we?

What I also thought we'd get with him is a spirit for fighting till the last kick, how wrong was I?

My thoughts exactly.  I wasnt happy when he became boss but I was expecting a few hard fought 1-0's at least . A bit of passion and spirt and better in defence. 

Thirded. It's as though he's got rid of the things he did right and kept the rest.

Perhaps those things were not by design as many thought, me included

[Billy Walker]

Those comments were on a par with Houlliers sickening Anfield love fest and for that reason alone he needs to be fucked off.

 I can kind of understand Houliers love for 'The Mighty Reds YNWA' and it was cringe worthy but AMC with Manure is not acceptable.

If Fergie came in for Gary Gardner could you imagine McLeish putting up a fight and telling him the lad's not for sale under any circumstances?  Not a chance.  McLeish is a man who's mindest is very much based on football as a modern "industry".  He will look upon Man Utd as the ultimate infootball, he will look upon Villa as a stepping stone for him in his career. 

Why we have McLeish at our club is beyond me: he's not a club builder, he's not a youth developer, he has no record of loyalty whatsoever.  On every single level he is the wrong fit for the club.  If you could put together an identikit of the person we need to be managing Villa at this very moment in time the very last person you would come up with would be Mr. Alex McLeish.  If - by some miracle - he turns the club around and creates a successful side over the next couple of years, can you imagine him sticking around?  Could you imagine him showing loyalty to Villa and Lerner?  He'd be off to an "elite club" before you could could blink.  I see absolutely no positive in the appointment of McLeish.

[Boz]

The lure of competing in a proper league is actually quite appealing. If we went down, whoever would be in charge, I imagine the team would be predominantly made up by our academy graduates - a chance to see if they really can make the grade. it would also give the owner and the manager the chance to overhaul the squad and cut out the overpaid under performers.

I wouldn't choose it, but there would be benefits to going down in my opinion.

If the unthinkable happens, I would hope AM gets a well deserved kick up the arse out the door.

Assuming we could be competitive in the Championship with our Academy players plus a few experienced ones, having got rid of the current set of dead legs we have, it might be good to watch a successful side for a season, while promotion wouldn't be easy, at least with a manager who wants to play football, it would be more pleasurable being a Villa supporter.

[CJ]

I'm really torn on this one. Getting relegated is pretty unthinkable but if it was the only 100% guaranteed way of getting rid of him I'd be very tempted to take it

My eldest lad used to be a season ticket holder and still comes down to VP with me when he's back here. But he by far prefers watching lower league football now - no prima donnas, proper football, with physical tackling and less cheating etc. More grounds I've not been to before, cheaper tickets, more 3:00 Saturday kick-offs. Tempting.  And I've become increasingly disillusioned with the PL and the Sky wankfest in a competition now only winnable by clubs who spend mega bucks. 

But I wouldn't want that long term.  The risk would be if we couldn't attract a decent manager - someone who could rebuild the squad, get us out of the Championship playing decent football which would be sustainable back in the PL - we could end up like Forest, Leeds or Wednesday.

So on balance probably not. The fear is if we survive this season McLeish will still be here next season and we'll end up in the Championship anyway.

[Irish villain]

Maybe Dann and Johnson looked good last year because McLeish had three defensive midfielders in front of them?

[CJ]

Someone posted this piece from the Guardian on the Relegation Possibility thread but I thought it was pertinent to this one too

[Summers]

This line pretty much sums up my thoughts on it;

One step back to take two steps forward? It can be painful but it might just be fun. And Villa fans have not had much of that this season.

[Dave Cooper please]

It would be okay if we were guaranteed to take the two steps forward afterwards, but we ain't.

[Summers]

No, I know. That's the issue. It's a massive risk, and perfect world we stay up, Eck goes and we rebuild in the Premiership under the guidance of a capable manager.

[Greg N'Ash]

Relegation would be a disaster. We're struggling to survive on no money now, so i can't see how having an extra 30m pounds worth of debt will help matters. We certainly wouldn't be a shoe-in to get promoted, and probably just as likely to go the other way.

[itbrvilla]

As has often been said before, we at least thought with McLeish we would have a defensively sound set up.  How wrong were we?

What I also thought we'd get with him is a spirit for fighting till the last kick, how wrong was I?

My thoughts exactly.  I wasnt happy when he became boss but I was expecting a few hard fought 1-0's at least . A bit of passion and spirt and better in defence. 

Thirded. It's as though he's got rid of the things he did right and kept the rest.

was he really that defensively better at blues? I got the impression it was Foster who kept them in it most the time.

[Concrete John]

As has often been said before, we at least thought with McLeish we would have a defensively sound set up.  How wrong were we?

What I also thought we'd get with him is a spirit for fighting till the last kick, how wrong was I?

My thoughts exactly.  I wasnt happy when he became boss but I was expecting a few hard fought 1-0's at least . A bit of passion and spirt and better in defence. 

Thirded. It's as though he's got rid of the things he did right and kept the rest.

Perhaps those things were not by design as many thought, me included

I don't watch much Scottish league football, but the Blues model mentioned above is pretty much how the Scotland national side played under him aswell, so I'd go for 'design'.

But I'm at a loss to explain why it's gone so badly wrong for us this season.