Who Should be Aston Villa Manager ? Now with new, revised poll

[Mazrim]

Actually, reading that facebook post again in the cold light of day, whilst it's making a case for Alex McLeish, I dont think its saying he's the first choice.

Still, I hope it's fake and that there is NO interest in McLeish.

[Gingerlad]

The more I read about this, Im getting the bloody fear!!

[PeterWithe]

If the press are to be believed we have spent approx £10m on managers in the last month and we'll still end up with McLeish at the helm.

[greta]

If we end up getting McLeish then the most disappointing thing for me is that we have spent the time since Houllier left being rebuked. There were a lot of good names available and people like Rafa actively seemed to want the job. Have we really been turned down by all of them? Can we not afford them (but we can afford 5 mill for MacLeish?).

I'm struggling to believe it.

[Mr Diggles]

From Houllier to this?

As if Houllier was any good!

Well, I liked him and the direction he was taking the club in.

[Rick_avfc]

I'm pretty sure this will not happen!  Villa have not made any OFFICIAL approach for Mcleish.  They just stated to the blues that should they speak to him, they would NOT need to pay compensation.  That has triggered the scum to say how much of the compensation a club will have to pay should they wish to speak/appoint Mcleish.  It has also been revealed that this figure will go down to £3.5m in july so clubs will wait until then to get Mcleish. 

[Brend'Watkins]

Actually, reading that facebook post again in the cold light of day, whilst it's making a case for Alex McLeish, I dont think its saying he's the first choice.

Still, I hope it's fake and that there is NO interest in McLeish.

If it's not the General then it's a very good fake.

I don't think it's saying McLeish is first choice either, I think it's saying that the even the General doesn't know who our first choice is.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

I actually can't take much more of this. I'm beginning to wish the internet had never been invented.

[jonzy85]

Just been e-mailing a friend of mine who is a big NFL fan and this is his take on Randy with the Browns..........

"Basically randy’s record with the browns is not that he doesn’t try, or have the money for that matter, but cant hire good coaches. Like the most recent guy they fired was hired 1 day after he got fired by another team and nobody else wanted to touch him. Randy was actually told by the media when coming out of the building one day that that guy was available, he turns to the media and goes….’really?’. he was hired within 2 days to the disgust of the browns fans. Since then he’s just hired a high profile president to take care of all football matters cos he realized he doesn’t know much about it"

Depressingly foreboding.

[Simon Ward]

My gut feeling that this is just a MASSIVE smokescreen and that we will be getting either David Moyes.  Mcleish will most likely go to Everton and everything will be concluded in July when the compensation for Mcleish will drop to £3.5m which everton can afford to pay.  It could be that Everton would want in the region of £4m compensation for David Moyes from us to cover this cost to the Blues.  I feel that both Everton and Villa are working together to sort this out.  Don't bank on this being concluded this month, July is when we will appoint our new manager

This is my theory as well for what it is worth.

[jonzy85]

Actually, reading that facebook post again in the cold light of day, whilst it's making a case for Alex McLeish, I dont think its saying he's the first choice.

Still, I hope it's fake and that there is NO interest in McLeish.

If it's not the General then it's a very good fake.

I don't think it's saying McLeish is first choice either, I think it's saying that the even the General doesn't know who our first choice is.

If it is legit, what the Hell is he is doing spouting off on a social network about a specific manager, when we get nothing through the recognised media channels from our chairman or the board? Mind boggingly unprofessional.

[jacketspuds]

Just been e-mailing a friend of mine who is a big NFL fan and this is his take on Randy with the Browns..........

"Basically randy’s record with the browns is not that he doesn’t try, or have the money for that matter, but cant hire good coaches. Like the most recent guy they fired was hired 1 day after he got fired by another team and nobody else wanted to touch him. Randy was actually told by the media when coming out of the building one day that that guy was available, he turns to the media and goes….’really?’. he was hired within 2 days to the disgust of the browns fans. Since then he’s just hired a high profile president to take care of all football matters cos he realized he doesn’t know much about it"

Depressingly foreboding.

It's ok though because we already have Paul Faulkner at the helm and his football knowledge is 2nd to none. :-/

[eastie]

Richard bevan of the league managers association has spoken with mcleish and says resigning by e mail is normal practice and not unusual-also mcleish filing for constructive dismissal can take a new job and any case will be held later between him and blues but by taking the job eck loses his right to compensation should he win his claim.

Villa therefore do not have to pay compensation and blues cannot stop him taking the job.
Bevan says he has spoken to mcleish several times in the last 48 hours.

[Concrete John]

Ok, trying to do this calmly and objectively.

I posted on the 'Would you have MON back thread' the other day stating that a club works best when fans, players, manager and board are all pulling in the same direction, so appointing a manager the majority of the fans hated (Martin) would be counter productive and simply not work.  Now, I wouldn't want to say anything negative about McLeish's character, but a similar effect would be created should he take the job; the majority of fans not wanting him means the first slip up and we're on his back, which can't help him when trying to shape the side as he wants it.  This can then translate to the players and effect their performance.  So in general principle it is a bad idea.

Taking the Blues connection out, what is his record like?  Well, he did well at Rangers, so similar to Martin/Celtic, but also got them to the last 16 of the CL, which is good for a Scottish side.  His time at Scotland was decent also - never going to win anything, but he did have them hard to beat and this grew his reputation.  His Blues record has often been talked about, so I won't go over that again.

Football style wise I don't watch Scottish football, so was he as defensive as we've seen in the PL?  It is understandable having a safety first approach when the teams you're facing are better than you, which was the case at Blues and when Scotland manager.  He has the added bonus of a decent forward line already in place, granted that might change with rumoured departures, so if he can tighten the defence without castrating that we'll have a good formula.

Should he come, I can see some quick transfer wins as two of the players a lot of us think we should target are Foster and N'Zogbia, who he obviously rates as he tried to sign him for Blues.  According to Wikipedia (I know!) his signings weren't well recieved at Rangers, but then they had financial issues at the time, so maybe he'll do things differently with Randy behind him.

I think had his last job been with anyone other than that shower down the road, we'd still be very unhappy and asking what Randy is playing at.  However, because it was with them there's an extra layer of venom with some, but that shouldn't distract from the basic question of 'is he could enough'?  I'm far from convinced.

Overall it's a major gamble both with his ability as a manager and with crowd feeling due to his last job.  Randy had limited options after MON walked, but no excuses this time - it's his man and he'll fly or fall with him.   

[eastie]

Good post John .