Alex McLeish confirmed as manager

[N'ZMAV]

Let's not forget that McLeish did us a huge favour already buy giving us £2.5million for Curtis Davies. ;-)

[dave.woodhall]

Maybe this is our weight.

Maybe it is. We cannot compete with the Top 6 anymore, if you assume it to be Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Tottenham & Liverpool.

Selling club with ambition of finishing in the top 10 is probably what we are now.

There was a good piece in the Guardian yesterday, which in turn attracted an excellent comment - apart from the top four and Liverpool, the rest of the aspirants are in a cycle of either challenging for Europe or midtable. That's probably the grim reality for a lot of clubs.

[Bad English]

Anyway, fuck it, I need a new mug. Hie me to the online shop. This appointment has clinched the sale.

[Jimbo]

Have a look at the hierarchy of clubs in the English Premier League. Keep going down the list until you come to the clubs that would have an endorsement from Alex Ferguson for their new manager on their official website. Chelsea? Nope. Arsenal? Don't be fucking stupid. Tottenham, then? Keep going... Erm, Everton. Fat chance. Okay, Stoke, Fulham, Wigan... wait, here's the one. Aston Villa.

What a message this sends out about our place in the pecking order. It used to be the job of everybody else to write us off as a smalltime footballing irrelevance. Now we've just confirmed it. The appointment of McLeish is one thing. But patronising crap like that from a rival manager in our own league is offensive beyond reason for any self-respecting Villa fan. It says: accept it, we're lapdogs and be grateful for that.

If we'd appointed Jose Mourinho, do you think for one second that an avuncular Fergie would come on our website and say nice things about him like the old git on the Werther's Original advert?

Christ on a penny farthing. 

[eddbutt]

what does it matter if he is ex shipyard or Grand National winning jockey ?, he is now the Honorable manager of AVFC, a new chapter in our history, lets do it!!

[Drummond]

I wonder if the comments from Ferguson are to sweeten us for the Young deal or whether we've told him he can have a sizeable discount if he said them.

As is usual with a controversial incident, there are those that see the very worst and imagine worst-case scenarios and the others who see a more positive angle.

McLeish is of course being pilloried because he's managed them lot, his record isn't as good as some others but it's not that bad either and is comparable to MON.

There aren't many managers that wouldn't have been relegated managing that lot but he did get them promoted and he won a trophy which is something that Houlllier, MON, O'Leary, Gregory, Venglos, Taylor (x2), McNeill and Turner  couldn't do for us.

I'm not sure why it means that the owner has given up.

If you look at other potential managers have on their cv, Hughes and Martinez haven't won anything, Benitez wanted loads of dosh, Ancelotti wouldn't be interested unless there was  a chance of winning the league and MacLaren, the other possible contender (who won a trophy with an unfashionable club in this country) saw a ridiculous outcry on here too.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

He's manager of the great AV now so welcome Alex.  Whatever your view on the matter, he needs to be given a fair chance.

For those who want rid of Randy, well I would do what you preach and tell us all who you've got lined up to take over, who's going to be so much better?

Better still, support the manager so that the board have no excuses that they appointed the wrong man.

When my Manc brother-in-law heard the story about Fergie he asked if Fergie told them to burn down Villa Park, would they?

I think we all know the answer to that one.

[villaparkb6]

i thought it was a shit idea, now its confirmed i still think its shit, just wait for the bad run and watch the avalanche of hate come rolling down off the holte end it cant and wont be  good for AV. I fear he will have to play football like barca and have results like fergie anything less and the rumbles will start, any sort of bad run and they will rise to a deafening crescendo resulting in doleing out more compensation

[caster troy]

Good luck Alex, I sincerely hope I am wrong about you.

As for Randy Lerner and Paul Faulkner, prepare yourself for an almighty 'we told you so' if this goes horribly wrong. Given the widespread opposition to the appointment, I'm afraid you shouldn't expect too much patience if things start badly. If it goes well, I will strongly applaud your courage.

[Small Rodent]

McLeish is one of Fergie's proteges from the old days. Of course he'll be asked for a comment.

[BILL DE VALL]

Well it's done now...
You have to say AM has a real pair of cojones-he may not get 'Glasgow style' death threats etc(I hope not-we're above that-I hope) but his next trip to the shop for a pint of milk maybe an adrenaline fuelled rush!

you may also come to the conclusion that our owners 'football knowledge' is scant at best-deadly Doug surprised us all when appointing MON as his 'transfer of ownership' manager.
MON then f*cked off and RL went and appointed a very 'left field' choice-a sick frenchman.
So we all went "Huh?" and "WTF!?" and then got behind him(in varying degrees) despite some weird selections/PR gaffes.

As Villa/football fans we think we have some influence(and it seemed to put the Kybosh on McClaren) BUT REALLY ANY OWNER CAN DO WHAT HE WANTS.
ah well
Up the Villa



come on-own up, which lucky punter staked Alex when he was @ 500-1?!

[ajmant]

All there is to say is good luck Alex and welcome!

[Rip Van We Go Again]

McLeish is one of Fergie's proteges from the old days. Of course he'll be asked for a comment.

They're good friends.
If I was asked for a reference about one of my mates for a good job that was available, i'd say
'Ohh he's great, top notch.'
Even if he wasn't.

[madirishvillain]

the more this thread goes on the more obvious it is that the hope has been sucked out of every last one of us!

from Ancellotti - Benetiz -Martinez (quite obvious he did turn us down now) - McLeish

we are a selling club now (dont give me the nonsense about every club being a selling club), who are going to be happy finishing mid table and maybe get a run in one of the cups

happy fucking birthday me

[villaparkb6]

McLeish is one of Fergie's proteges from the old days. Of course he'll be asked for a comment.

They're good friends.
If I was asked for a reference about one of my mates for a good job that was available, i'd say
'Ohh he's great, top notch.'
Even if he wasn't.

this