interesting article here by nursey-
Some supporters - of both Villa and Birmingham - want McLeish to fail, so his every move is going to be scrutinised closely and poured over.
Every pre-season game, every team selection, every purchase and even his body language, demeanour and press conferences.
Many Villa fans still need to be convinced he is the right man to lead them and Birmingham supporters will probably stubbornly persist claiming they are better off without him.
Personally, now he has made his decision, I wish McLeish nothing but the best as he is a likeable individual and hope the on-going row between Villa and Brum over services can be resolved before the season starts.
I expect it will be after reporting earlier this week how the clubs were finally in dialogue over agreeing a compensation settlement .
And now McLeish must focus on improving Villa learning from some of his successes and short-comings as Birmingham boss.
McLeish left St Andrews with abuse from fans ringing in his ears after deserting the relegated club but any condemnation from the club's players has been noticeably non-existent.
Why? Because they respected him, liked him and rated him as he built a team to gain promotion back to the top-flight before coming ninth and winning the Carling Cup.
City's success was built on superb organisation, a brilliant team spirit, formidable home form and tactical acumen as McLeish brought in like-minded British individuals with a similar work ethic and values.
It was no coincidence Brum's problems, which led in part to relegation with their injury-wracked team, only arose when City tampered with the formula by signing expensive, outspoken foreign players like Alexander Hleb, who was a total disaster.
So, under McLeish, I expect Villa to go for young, hungry British players or at least stars with recent Premier League experience such as Wigan's Charles N'Zogbia.
I think Villa's new boss will mould his squad into a more unified group after a controversial season at the club plagued by bust-ups under predecessor Gerard Houllier.
McLeish's Birmingham side also crucially had an inspirational captain in the shape of Stephen Carr.
The veteran full-back was passionate, played on through injury, gave everything on the pitch and organised the players off the pitch too where they played a lot of golf.
I remember bumping into Carr once before Christmas down at Wast Hills and he had kindly bought some new golf balls with individual players' name stamped on them and was dishing them out as presents (sadly not to me though!).
Having a good team spirit is imperative at any professional football club and cannot be underestimated.
I recall Craig Gardner saying to me once in an interview, that Carr was the "heartbeat of the club".
Yet I can see no similar figure at Villa with the greatest of respect to Stiliyan Petrov, who is undoubtedly one of the nicest professional footballers around.
So I'd like to see McLeish bring in a Carr-like figure to forge the team around - someone such as West Ham player and PFA player of the year Scott Parker for example.
Villa owner Randy Lerner will also no doubt be hoping McLeish can save the club millions in the transfer market with some canny buys.
At St Andrews he made several astute purchases including Gardner, Roger Johnson, Scott Dann and Ben Foster in deals which look set to turn City a handsome profit this summer.
So it will be fascinating to see who he signs this summer to strengthen Villa following Ashley Young's exit to Manchester United (predicted in my columns earlier this year) and Stewart Downing's probable move to Liverpool.
My understanding is Shay Given, Charles N'Zogbia and Alan Hutton will all be joining Villa.
I am told McLeish did originally also want Foster and Dann to join him from City but aborted the idea due to all the flak over his own switch from Brum.
Now installed as Villa boss, I certainly expect McLeish to get on better with their hierarchy of Lerner and chief executive Paul Faulkner than he did with Birmingham officials before his fractious exit when he cited constructive dismissal.
Manager/boardroom relations is another important aspect of chemistry which can help foster success and McLeish can improve upon at his new employer.
On the pitch, McLeish was understandably criticised for his cautious tactics at Brum - particularly his penchant for playing 4-5-1.
McLeish would argue this was dictated by personnel at St Andrews as his Birmingham side consistently struggled to score.
But at Villa, his team must be more attacking to record victories to get them up the table and challenging for Europe.
With attacking players including Darren Bent, Marc Albrighton, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey surely there is enough creativity and firepower to play 4-4-2.
McLeish's camp tell me his Rangers side actually played some decent stuff en-route to the numerous trophies he won in Scotland.
So for all us regulars down Villa Park, let's hope that is the case this season for everyone's sake.
And I am also hoping McLeish can repeat his feat from St Andrews and turn Villa Park into a daunting ground once more for opposition sides.
Too many teams roll up at Villa Park eager to maximise the club's fine facilities and pitch before promptly playing the home team off it.
That has to change immediately - but not by parking the bus as Jose Mourinho would say.
Because if Villa do not play enterprising, attacking football, it will be used as a stick to beat McLeish with by his critics.
Rightly or wrongly, he has definitely been labelled as a manager whose sides are more pragmatic than entertaining.
Birmingham fans will however probably always moan about that and hold a grudge against McLeish for going to their arch-rivals.
But if he improves on the best aspects of his formula from St Andrews and modifies it a little, Villa fans could yet soon be singing about 'Alex McLeish's claret and blue army'!
Fail, and people will quickly be talking about a taxi, not a bus, for McLeish - and it will also probably head back up north to Scotland.
Read more:
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/james-nursey/James-Nursey-Aston-Villa-s-Alex-McLeish-needs-Scott-Parker-as-captain-article762498.html#ixzz1RauAjdG5 
