Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: dave.woodhall on November 22, 2013, 06:23:10 PM
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Former Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has stated that he sees his former club as 'a work in progress' under Paul Lambert.
McLeish left the club after being sacked in the summer of 2012.
Speaking about his former club McLeish said: "I think it is still a work in progress for Paul.
"I was there a year and there is no way I could have turned things around in a year. There definitely had to be some kind of clear-out and I stated that at the end of my very last game. But it just wasn't the right fit for me and Aston Villa unfortunately.
"It would have been great to have gone forward with Villa because they are a huge club with great heritage and the fans expect them to be up in the top six or eight at least every season. Because of where Martin O'Neill got them, the expectation levels are that they should be up in that top six.
"Paul has brought a lot of young boys in and it looks like he has adhered to the money side of things that I worked under as well. There is a great improvement in terms of the quality of the strikers."
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/alex-mcleish-no-way-could-6331647
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Fair enough comments - I wish him well in his quest for a new job.
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Seems fair. I hope he finds work at a club that works for him, we were not a good fit.
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Decent man - poor manager for us, but I hope he finds a manager's job that suits him
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Wrong person, wrong place, wrong time. Shame as he comes across as a very decent person who holds us in high regard. I wish him well.
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Never had much of a problem with what TSM used to come up and say apart from a few silly post match comments trying to spin performances.
As I've always said decent bloke, woeful football philosophy.
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He came a cross as a nice enough chap and he was offered a job he would have been stupid to turn down. He just should have never been offered it in the first place.
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Decent bloke who didn't have a chance from day one, for a variety of reasons. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.
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Fair play to him. That season was heading for the bottom of the trough and he kept us up just. Unlucky to be relegated with Blues and on a damage limitation job with us. Too happy to draw 0-0 or win 1-0 for my liking but others may not have done as well as he did. McLaren would have taken us down IMO.
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Its strange how much I like the bloke, even when he was at SHA, but cannot abide the football he had us playing.
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I'm really pleased with the comments made here in this thread - we are good people and even though it was a mistake good to see people hold no grudges against him.
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I'm really pleased with the comments made here in this thread - we are good people and even though it was a mistake good to see people hold no grudges against him.
That was exactly my thoughts. He's the ex-manager I would least like to see in charge again, but the one I would most like to have a few drinks with. He'd be paying, obviously.
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I think you're right Clampy, nobody is surprised he jumped at the job, the problem was the he was offered it in the first place.
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I think even though it was a bit of a nightmare he actually has more affection for us than he has for that lot where he actually won a trophy. Not hard mind you considering the clowns that lot have in charge. I imagine he was treated with more respect the day he was fired by us then most of the days he spent with Birmingham.
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Its strange how much I like the bloke, even when he was at SHA, but cannot abide the football he had us playing.
Totally agree Ads, I would have loved it if had proved his doubters wrong
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I think even though it was a bit of a nightmare he actually has more affection for us than he has for that lot where he actually won a trophy. Not hard mind you considering the clowns that lot have in charge. I imagine he was treated with more respect the day he was fired by us then most of the days he spent with Birmingham.
Most definitely.
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I could not believe that we had appointed him.
Incredulous, gobsmacked, ashamed, embarrassed, are some of the words to describe my feelings on his appointment.
It was always going to end in tears.
Having said that, I could not slate him during the season in the way I slated ODreary.
Sad for everyone, he should never had the job and was/is a good guy set up to fail
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No problem with him coming from them.
Just thought it was doomed from the start because of his approach to playing football.
Mind you, if we'd won every game 1-0 and won the league I'd have kissed his feet in public!
UTV!
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It was a shame the abuse he suffered against Bolton and on a smaller level against Spurs but at the same time he asked for it with so many of the performances we came up with from above December onwards.
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He actually gave a shit but never been hired. No way was he going to turn down the job.
However his signings didn't work (Given aside and contract he has is ludicrous), his tactics and football from the Dark Ages and didn't seem to be able to motivate players.
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It's ridiculous to look back at a season so recent and when you scroll through the games just see so many terrible games, some which it was no exaggeration to say we barely ventured out of our own half like Spurs away and then Man. United at home.
Don't think I'm going OTT to say there were only 4 exciting games that season, first one v Blackburn (relegated), 3-2 win over Norwich, a fluke 3-1 at Chelsea (still no idea how that happened) and 3-2 away to Wolves (relegated), all the others were playing for a draw or a scrambled win/draw against fellow relegation candidates.
I've given Lambert some stick this season for the disappointing football on offer and going 4 league games without a goal wasn't good but seriously anyone comparing the football now to just two seasons ago isn't being serious imo.
We had a 4 game spell this season of dire football, we had a 40 game spell that year.
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He should never have been appointed manager, not cos of who he was manager of, but more the way he managed. There again that was not his fault.
I so wanted him to succeed as he was a decent bloke, he was brought in at a difficult time, but his negative tactics were wat did it for me. He had to go, but that said, he has always been complimentary about the club and I wish him all the best in the future
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Ex-manager Alex McLeish. Still my favourite sentence in the history of the world.
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However I wish him no ill will and would happily have a pint with him. Unlike scummers like Pubey and Mr Fickle.
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He's a very decent fella. I'll never forget the tour Aberdeen made to Devon to play Exeter, Plymouth and my local side Dawlish. They stayed here in Dawlish and the players were such a decent bunch. At the time they was a very successful outfit with players like McLeish, Willie Miller, Jim Leigton, Davie Dodds, Jim Bett to name a few and they were managed by Ian Porterfield.
They spent a lot of time in Dawlish, using our football social club, the pitch and put, bowling green and had a lot of time for everyone here. My mom used to wash the kit for Dawlish Town and offered to do Aberdeen's while they stayed. To see their red Umbro kit hanging in my garden was a real treat.
When they played Exeter City I was in the stands and me and my mom (Jean) kept hearing "Jean" being shouted out. We then realised it was Jim Bett sat in the stands shouting to her!
Another time we gave McLeish, Leighton and Bett a lift home to their hotel in our Ford Cortina. The whole team was a great credit to professional footballers, they were absolutely brilliant.
In those mid 80's Dawlish attracted quite a few decent sides in the summer from Big Ron's Sheff Wed, QPR who had some big names like Seaman, Chelsea, Steve Harrison's Watford (who was a right laugh). I served Harrison in my Villa shirt at the ice cream kiosk I worked in. He liked the shirt! QPR were great and spent a fortune at our club but out of all them Aberdeen were fantastic to have.
We also had Crewe every summer come to stay and play, with David Platt scoring 4 against Dawlish the summer before he left them for us. This was also how Seth Johnson was spotted during one of these visits. Again Dario Gradi was a real decent chap who had a lot of time for everyone down here.
Those were great days for Dawlish Town FC, now though the team does not even exist. Dawlish Town FC went tits up a few years back after a few bad years of management. I was travelling Europe at the time and was gutted it happened. I have great memories with them from a kid watching them to captaining the second team and being in the squad which won at Wembly in the Pub Cup.
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I could not believe that we had appointed him.
Incredulous, gobsmacked, ashamed, embarrassed, are some of the words to describe my feelings on his appointment.
It was always going to end in tears.
Having said that, I could not slate him during the season in the way I slated ODreary.
Sad for everyone, he should never had the job and was/is a good guy set up to fail
Embarassed? Disappointed for sure, but I don't get why you'd be embarassed.
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I could not believe that we had appointed him.
Incredulous, gobsmacked, ashamed, embarrassed, are some of the words to describe my feelings on his appointment.
It was always going to end in tears.
Having said that, I could not slate him during the season in the way I slated ODreary.
Sad for everyone, he should never had the job and was/is a good guy set up to fail
Embarassed? Disappointed for sure, but I don't get why you'd be embarassed.
I agree it was embarassing for the people who recruited him. I wasn't ashamed though as he stated.
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I can't believe he ever rocked up here, I may have mentioned it before.
Still, never heard of anyone who's met him that didn't have a high regard for him personally.
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Maybe in the light of the very decent reactions on this thread it should be titled Alex Mcleish speaks?
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Reading the OP gives me the sense that he actually felt he could do something special at the club; whcih seems a little deluded to me. Wrong manager at the wrong time at the wrong club.
He also refers to the money constraints which he and his successor shared; which does beg the question about the wages and length of contract that Charlie, Hutton and Given were awarded. I accept that TSM will not have had the final say on these issues but it does seem a little odd to compare the constraints under which each manager is / was working.
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A mate of mine was in a box for the Wolves away game where Keane scored two against them and he met McLeish afterwards. He also said he was a really nice bloke.
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Good bloke. Not a premier league level manager. His football is too outdated. It's not like Rangers where he's guaranteed a top 2 finish and could be more adventurous. I've no grudges against him at all. It's not his fault he was offered a job way over his head and inherited a squad where we'd lost our 3 most productive players over 2 summers.
I actually think had Dunne, Petrov and Bent not been out the side during that run in, we'd have finished more comfortably and he'd possibly still be here now. Which is a scary thought. But honestly, some of those tight games could have garnered more points had we had Benty there to put them away. Petrov up until Jan was playing extremely well, then he'd begun fading for reasons we now know. Dunney's presence was missed when he was out injured for a couple of months. At the end of Jan we were around mid-table, fairly comfortable. At the end of feb when we lost Dunne and Bent and we were losing Stan we were slipping but pretty safe, though importantly, Benty was in a run of form in front of goal. He's scored 4 in his last 7.
I actually think his game plan, for what it was (which was fucking ugly) was reasonably effective on the proviso you have your best players available. In that regard he's not too dissimilar to O Neill, which I guess was Randy's thinking, that the Houllier approach was too different, too soon. Had the three key spine players above lasted the whole season I think we'd have tacked on 5-10 more points to be honest and been safe as houses. As it was we only managed 9 points from the end of Feb onwards in our last 12 games.
In the end though we stayed up but not convincingly enough for him to stay on. I'm glad we have Lambert now. He's a bit more modern in his thinking.
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He stated that there needed to be big changes and a clear out at the end of a season where he had shown no desire to attempt these things. Lambert got stuck into that from day one. But agree with everyone that he is a decent bloke.
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He wasn't good enough and never would have been, but you also have to factor in the fact that straight down the spine of the team we were missing key players for lengthy periods. Bent in particular was a big loss; from Wigan onwards we had eight games out of 11 where there wasn't more than a goal in it. We could easily have got another eight points from them and finished comfortably mid-table.
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He wasn't good enough and never would have been, but you also have to factor in the fact that straight down the spine of the team we were missing key players for lengthy periods. Bent in particular was a big loss; from Wigan onwards we had eight games out of 11 where there wasn't more than a goal in it. We could easily have got another eight points from them and finished comfortably mid-table.
Petrov also was a huge loss not just as a player but captain also - we really had a lot of players out that season .
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He stated that there needed to be big changes and a clear out at the end of a season where he had shown no desire to attempt these things. Lambert got stuck into that from day one. But agree with everyone that he is a decent bloke.
That's the problem for me, and rather than sort those issues out he added to them with his three signings.
He was clearly on a hiding to nothing, so why he didn't attack the job in the way Lambert did I don't know. He really did have nothing to lose.
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He stated that there needed to be big changes and a clear out at the end of a season where he had shown no desire to attempt these things. Lambert got stuck into that from day one. But agree with everyone that he is a decent bloke.
That's the problem for me, and rather than sort those issues out he added to them with his three signings.
He was clearly on a hiding to nothing, so why he didn't attack the job in the way Lambert did I don't know. He really did have nothing to lose.
Because he doesn't gamble and always plays safe. Even at Rangers he wasn't adventurous. After finishing in the top half with Small Heath due to an on loan keeper and his defence having a fantastic season they were unlikely to repeat he needed to kick on and evolve but just tried to repeat the trick and got relegated.
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I think his main problem was that he didn't know how to use his attacking players. He used to play Cameron Jerome up front on his own for Small Heath and they were forever slagging him off for it.
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It was utterly bizarre that he signed a player like Hleb too. Quite why Hleb actually joined that mob I don't know. But he was never, ever going to be used right under McLeish. The same goes for N'Zogbia, but I feel he was simply a signing made more to attempt to appease fans having lost Downing and Young in one summer.
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This a reminder not to get too bogged down in personality when it comes to players and managers. It's great if you can get both, a likeable bloke who is also good at his job, but, given the choice, I'd take the bastard who gets results over the affable plodder every day of the week.
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This a reminder not to get too bogged down in personality when it comes to players and managers. It's great if you can get both, a likeable bloke who is also good at his job, but, given the choice, I'd take the bastard who gets results over the affable plodder every day of the week.
Without a doubt. I don't think Ron Saunders made many friends in football.
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This a reminder not to get too bogged down in personality when it comes to players and managers. It's great if you can get both, a likeable bloke who is also good at his job, but, given the choice, I'd take the bastard who gets results over the affable plodder every day of the week.
Without a doubt. I don't think Ron Saunders made many friends in football.
Years ago I remember hearing Tony Morley say that Saunders used to try and turn players against each other to try and get better performances out of them. I can imagine him not being so popular in the dressing room at the time
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Glad to see some reasonable comments on this thread rather than the bile this man can undeservedly prompt
Bad manager though.
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If he'd stayed last season, we'd have been looking for snookers in February. A disastrous appointment.
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If he'd stayed last season, we'd have been looking for snookers in February. A disastrous appointment.
Never mind us trying to desperately flog anyone on over 50k a week, a lot of players would have been actively seeking a move. The likes of Bent, Ireland, Zogbia would have been desperately looking to jump ship. Again, as showed when we didn't have our main spine in the side, results would have sunk disastrously.
The injuries to Bent and Dunne could have been seen as a blessing in disguise that season (obviously Stan excluded). Benty had netted enough times early season that we had the points (just about) to survive, but finishing on 38 points, which in another year could have sent us down, saw McLeish's position unsalvageable.
I think the signing of Holman was a sign of how he would have shaped our squad. Industry, good attitude but very little quality.
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As others have said, it still shocks that despite everything the club went ahead and appointed him. There was no logic to it and it turned out even worse than I feared it would. Settling for draws or even low scoring defeats, Heskey on the wing, fewest home wins ever, McLeish punching the air after drawing at home to Stoke. It was all wrong. I'd have loved him to have done well with us for one it would have hacked off small heath but we were lucky the season finished when it did.
I believe he lives somewhere not far from me and I've seen him around Stratford a couple of times. I never spoke to him but my partner's daughter waited on his table once in a restaurant. She said he was very polite and a generous tipper too.
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I really don't care that much for him. I can't have anything but a one-way feeling of enmity towards him. He made my team horrible towatch and he was awful.
he's not in the O'leary file which has one member.
Nor in the wankers file which has Mc and O'Neill as its lead members.
He's in his own fuck-off you shouldnt never have been here you useless shit file.
admittedly, he does speak well of us and comes across as being someone who genuinely felt honoured to be our manager. Its nice to read what he says about us.
But, I can only judge him in football terms. And, for that he can sod off.
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Because of where Martin O'Neill got them, the expectation levels are that they should be up in that top six.
It has fuck all to do with O'Neill.
It's surprising how many ex-managers I dislike more than the ex-manager who was one of the least competent.
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I think the signing of Holman was a sign of how he would have shaped our squad. Industry, good attitude but very little quality.
Agreed. You can add "and unlikely to get any better" to that list.
I think McCleish managed like you would expect an old school defender to.
Understood how to keep it tight at the back, only had a vague idea of what to do attack wise and believed players hit their peak at around 30.
To be fair to him Holman was good for us for half a season. But he was not going to develop, like all of McCleishes signings (with the exception of Enda who was a youth bet that didnt work).
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I think he looked at the squad; Warnock, Collins and Dunne, with Stan, Ireland, Bent, Gabby and thought if he could add one or two, he could see us comfortably mid-table. N'Zogbia had played well the previous season, Given is a solid keeper and he obviously thought Hutton was a good replacement for Young.
On paper, there appears the makings of an ok team. The fact only one player remains two seasons later tells you everything.
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I forgive him.
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He's in his own fuck-off you shouldnt never have been here you useless shit file.
But, I can only judge him in football terms. And, for that he can sod off.
Sorry, but I have to agree with Peter.
From the outset, my opinion was that I didn't want him at the club because of where he'd come from. The fact that some protested on Witton Lane at the very prospect for me made it a case of the club's custodian doing it to prove that he was in charge when he was finally employed. At least that's how it felt. And then we had the season that we had. Despite my feelings I tried to not act in a negative way at games, as that may (if multiplied) have been further detrimental to performances.
And I'm aware of the argument that Peter Withe and others of his type came from there (often via somewhere else) and were hugely positive, but that's how I felt.
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Of all managers we've had since I've been a fan, I don't think I've ever been as sure of what we were in store for as I was when McLeish took over. Often with a new boss there's a sense of unpredictability. It might work, it might not. We watch and see how things unfold. I think we all new from day one what sort of football we were getting, and that we'd be struggling somewhat. I felt we'd be bottom half but comfortable from relegation. As it happens the shiteness exceeded expectations and we scraped through by the skin of our teeth.
We all knew what we were going to see on the pitch. There was largely an air of inevitably about the brand of football to expect and in the end no real surprise that he struggled and lasted a year.
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He's in his own fuck-off you shouldnt never have been here you useless shit file.
But, I can only judge him in football terms. And, for that he can sod off.
Sorry, but I have to agree with Peter.
From the outset, my opinion was that I didn't want him at the club because of where he'd come from. The fact that some protested on Witton Lane at the very prospect for me made it a case of the club's custodian doing it to prove that he was in charge when he was finally employed. At least that's how it felt. And then we had the season that we had. Despite my feelings I tried to not act in a negative way at games, as that may (if multiplied) have been further detrimental to performances.
And I'm aware of the argument that Peter Withe and others of his type came from there (often via somewhere else) and were hugely positive, but that's how I felt.
His B-lose connections genuinely didn't bother me.
If he had been a hot up and coming young manager -the next big thing- I'd have been delighted to take him off their hands. If anything, it would have made it sweeter.
No, it was his dull as ditchwater football under them and the fact that he was pretty close to the sack there that made the move such a perplexing one. The £2 million plus compo we gave that rabble probably kept them in existence too.
As Peter W says, he's not as big a shit as O'Dreary and a few others. But he was quite capable of spinning yarns. Telling the media he wasn't a defensive manager because he'd picked three forwards in his starting XI (doesn't matter if you have ten men behind the ball though, does it) and coming out with some very O'Leary-esque drivel about fans expectations (no divine right to top 4 just because we've won the European Cup once).
I don't think anyone expected or demanded top 4 (or even top six) under him. We did expect a wee bit better than the worst home record in out entire history and the same points tally that seen his SHA side relegated the year previously. He can spin it all he likes, and his mates in the media can help him, but he didn't get the boot because Villa fans didn't give him a chance. He got the boot because he was pish.
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He's in his own fuck-off you shouldnt never have been here you useless shit file.
But, I can only judge him in football terms. And, for that he can sod off.
Sorry, but I have to agree with Peter.
From the outset, my opinion was that I didn't want him at the club because of where he'd come from. The fact that some protested on Witton Lane at the very prospect for me made it a case of the club's custodian doing it to prove that he was in charge when he was finally employed. At least that's how it felt. And then we had the season that we had. Despite my feelings I tried to not act in a negative way at games, as that may (if multiplied) have been further detrimental to performances.
And I'm aware of the argument that Peter Withe and others of his type came from there (often via somewhere else) and were hugely positive, but that's how I felt.
His B-lose connections genuinely didn't bother me.
If he had been a hot up and coming young manager -the next big thing- I'd have been delighted to take him off their hands. If anything, it would have made it sweeter.
No, it was his dull as ditchwater football under them and the fact that he was pretty close to the sack there that made the move such a perplexing one. The £2 million plus compo we gave that rabble probably kept them in existence too.
As Peter W says, he's not as big a shit as O'Dreary and a few others. But he was quite capable of spinning yarns. Telling the media he wasn't a defensive manager because he'd picked three forwards in his starting XI (doesn't matter if you have ten men behind the ball though, does it) and coming out with some very O'Leary-esque drivel about fans expectations (no divine right to top 4 just because we've won the European Cup once).
I don't think anyone expected or demanded top 4 (or even top six) under him. We did expect a wee bit better than the worst home record in out entire history and the same points tally that seen his SHA side relegated the year previously. He can spin it all he likes, and his mates in the media can help him, but he didn't get the boot because Villa fans didn't give him a chance. He got the boot because he was pish.
We actually got one less point than blues did the season before when they were relegated.
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I'll never forget switching on for that spuds game to be met by the bemused tones of the commentators trying to work out the formation from the starting line-up, then seeing them line up and saying that they'd never seen such a defeatist line up.
That season summed up in 1 quote.
Oh and never mind how nice a bloke he appears to be, he managed to put my son (8 at the time) off watching Villa games with me, and pretty much off football altogether.
For that he'll never get anything other than a dose of the fuckems from this side of the North Sea.
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Because of where Martin O'Neill got them, the expectation levels are that they should be up in that top six.
It has fuck all to do with O'Neill.
It's surprising how many ex-managers I dislike more than the ex-manager who was one of the least competent.
That guff about O'Neill is the bit that annoys me the most. This media-perpetuated myth that O'Neill hoisted us to some previously unknown heights. Until McLeish came along, only Sir Graham (2nd spell) and Houllier failed to crack the top six in the Premiership era. And none of the others had the budget O'Neill blew. Yet the popular press would peddle it that we should be grateful to the stroppy little git.
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That bluenose bastard should never have been signed by the Villa.
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But its something that resonates with the rank and file fan. You get into conversations about football and people still seem bewildered when I say I was happy to see O'Neill go because he was shite. he just had enough money thrown at him to hide it for a bit. They always bring up us finishing 6th for3 seasons under him and again can't understand why I'm now getting apoplectic. They all believe the media shite. Even when I point out his many flaws and how he's helped to fuck us up, they'll still disbelieve me and say I'm wrong.
He's won the media alright.
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I've no axe to grind with him, he was the wrong man and I always thought deep down he knew it. He's clearly a proud man and has maintained his dignity, like it or not he's got Aston Villa on his CV, there's many proper football people out there who'd like to be able to add that to theirs.
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Problem is, over the last 30 years or so, the one's who we've allowed to embellish their CVs haven't been anywhere near good enough.
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Terrible footablling philosophy, but he always came across as a nice bloke and, impressively, he never threw a wobbler in spite of all the vitriol that came his way (although the fans were pretty patient too, all things considered).
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So, in a nutshell. Nice bloke but a bit shit really.
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Good bloke, terrible appointment for Villa. However I reckon the "TSM" nickname should be dropped now. No hard feelings Alex.
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Very good words of wisdom from Alex. He is also very good on his occasional TV pundit stints as well.
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A charlatan that walked off with several million pounds out of us.
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Good bloke, terrible appointment for Villa. However I reckon the "TSM" nickname should be dropped now. No hard feelings Alex.
Agreed.
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Good bloke, terrible appointment for Villa. However I reckon the "TSM" nickname should be dropped now. No hard feelings Alex.
Agreed.
I think it's quite witty and it's hardly the worst insult in the world.
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He wasn't good enough and never would have been, but you also have to factor in the fact that straight down the spine of the team we were missing key players for lengthy periods. Bent in particular was a big loss; from Wigan onwards we had eight games out of 11 where there wasn't more than a goal in it. We could easily have got another eight points from them and finished comfortably mid-table.
That may well be true. However that could have been an even worse sceanrio where he was kept on, given more money, we got even worse and he would have been sacked the following October (2012) leaving us in 1986-87 scenario (maybe even with DiCanio in charge).
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It was not his fault that the owner made the most ridiculous decision since being owner at Villa .
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Arguably the most bizarre one since 1874.
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It was not his fault that the owner made the most ridiculous decision since being owner at Villa .
On a professional and even (esteem) personal level he could not have turned down the job. Let's face facts it was likely to be his only one of that stature however well he did.
The owner and CEO are clearly culpable as it was only ever likely to be a car crash and a decision made (in comparative haster) by people who didn't have a clue in how to recruit a person for the most important football role at the club.
Madness.
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They must have thought he did a decent job with Rangers and Scotland, got the noses promoted then top half finish and a trophy. Maybe unlucky with injuries when they went down. What they totally ignored was his football philosophy and tactics which have fans of his sides grumbling even when results are decent and going ballistic if results are poor.
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If TSM had a run of results like Lambert's post-Anfield run, I doubt people would have been as patient for as long.
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If TSM had a run of results like Lambert's post-Anfield run, I doubt people would have been as patient for as long.
Disagree, after beating Chelsea on NYE with still half the season to go, we won only two further games and yet the abuse only really started after losing to Bolton in late April.
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If TSM had a run of results like Lambert's post-Anfield run, I doubt people would have been as patient for as long.
Disagree, after beating Chelsea on NYE with still half the season to go, we won only two further games and yet the abuse only really started after losing to Bolton in late April.
Wigan away started the real abuse; rightly so.
TSM (sorry, not3bad / eastie) was a crap appointment - wrong guy / wrong time / wrong club.
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I think the biggest benefactor of the Mcleish appointment is Paul Lambert. Had he not followed McLeish I honestly believe the fans would have got Lambert the sack last season, most likely after the Christmas period. Personally i'm glad Lambert has been given the board's backing. As for Mcleish, always thought he was a good guy when he was at Blues but as a manager I don't rate him. The media put a large emphasis on his Blues connection as the reason he was unpopular at Villa and it's true there were fans who were anti McLeish because of this. However, had he been good at his job then I think even they would have been won over. I mean, does anyone care that Peter Withe played for Blues before us?
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If TSM had a run of results like Lambert's post-Anfield run, I doubt people would have been as patient for as long.
Disagree, after beating Chelsea on NYE with still half the season to go, we won only two further games and yet the abuse only really started after losing to Bolton in late April.
Wigan away started the real abuse; rightly so.
Wigan away was the day I knew he was a goner.
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If TSM had a run of results like Lambert's post-Anfield run, I doubt people would have been as patient for as long.
Disagree, after beating Chelsea on NYE with still half the season to go, we won only two further games and yet the abuse only really started after losing to Bolton in late April.
Blimey yes. Our last win was against Fulham when Weimann scored the only goal after 92 minutes. I always think of that goal as being the one that saved us. We still had ten games to play after that but didn't win any of them.
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The Fulham win was vital. The point we got at the Stripey Twats was crucial as well. They were itching to drop us in the relegation shit that day.
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The Fulham win was vital. The point we got at the Stripey Twats was crucial as well. They were itching to drop us in the relegation shit that day.
Yes an albion fan told me recently he regretted that they never quite managed to kick us while we were down.
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Second half of the 11-12 season the life was just sucked right out of the place. It was awful
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Yes Wigan away. I was there and probably that was the day I wanted him gone as at the time Wigan were bottom by a distance and we had about two shots on goal all game.
But at VP it only really started against Bolton, the penultimate home game of the season.
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Yes Wigan away. I was there and probably that was the day I wanted him gone as at the time Wigan were bottom by a distance and we had about two shots on goal all game.
But at VP it only really started against Bolton, the penultimate home game of the season.
Worst atmosphere at a Villa game I've ever endured.