Alex McLeish confirmed as manager

[ROBBO]

Surely Mcleish isn't the one to be held responsible if things go tits up after all he took a job he probably thought was out of his reach, it must be the people who took the decision to appoint him.The problem the Villa board had is they hadn't got a clue who to appoint so they asked so called experts for their opinion, could you see spurs or Liverpool asking SAF his opinion, or having potential candidates in for interviews, it just shows how out of touch and inexperienced in how to run a premiership side they are. If things go badly i won't be blaming Mcleish.

[PaulWinch again]

I really hope he likes Makoun, because I think he could be an excellent player for us.

[old man villa fan]

In the lead up to the appointment I came to what I thought was an informed opinion of Alex McLeish and Alex McLeish becoming the manager of Aston Villa.  Both of those points were important to me.

Being manager of Blues, I have knowledge of his time at that club due to them being a local club, friends who are season tickets there etc.  To be honest, I had to investigate the detail of his previous experience north of the border.  I took this right back to the start of his management at Motherwell 17 years ago.

I always try to look behind a persons achievements or failures to see under what conditions they were achieved in.  In my job I look at many CV's and you have to make a judgement on what you read before coming to a short list for interview.  Obviously, a CV will always put forward the positives and so you have to dig deeper than the words.  So, in looking at AM's record in Scotland, I also considered the football landscape throughout his time there.  What were his successes built on and why did he fail at times.  Was he consistent or was it boom and bust.  What was the strength of other teams at the time and in that context, how good were the successes.

I came to the conclusion, in my opinion, that he started as a bright manager wanting to play an open game but as time went on and he moved up the ladder he became more cautious.  His successes at Rangers were no more than should be expected from a manager at Rangers, in that it was pretty even with Celtic over that period of time.  At times there was quite a bit of negative reaction from the fans.  His time with Scotland was limited and as with any other national team job, it is one game at a time with the importance of getting something out of each game.

So to Blues and I have not been able to gloss over what I believe to have been a failure.  People have been saying that they were already down when he arrived but they were not in the relegation zone and usually a new manager gives a team a lift.  People have said he has not had the support of the club but over the last two years he has had a net spend of £36m.  I have thought about the comments that some of the players were not his own but how much is true and how much speculation, I do not know.

What is fact from his time at Blues was that he went down twice, promoted once after a year, finished 9th one year and won a cup.  As ever, I looked into how each was achieved and have mentioned the first relegation above.  The promotion at the first attempt is something other clubs have not achieved but from my Blues mates, far from exciting and they were expecting them to go straight back down.  The 9th position, they believed was an over achievement but was based on him being able to bring in some new players.

On to the last season, I believe they should not have been relegated as they had better players than the results they achieved.  Credit where it is due, they are battlers but they lost the will to do that.  I believe a very good manager would have got them to perform.  Some people have commented about the injuries they had and, sure, it did affect them but that was because it was primarily to one of their main defenders and their whole game was based on defence.  If they had some form of attacking option, they may have been able to carry the loss.

I compared Blues season to our own and saw in our case, a team in turmoil with a manager that had to overcome injuries, lack of preparation and bad attitude from some players but eventually overcame that to finish 9th.  Blues on the other hand, coming off the back of a 9th position finish (although an over achievement), more players brought in and a confidence for the season ahead went downhill and the manager not being able to turn it around.

The above is what went into my consideration of Alex McLeish as a manager.  Next I went on to look at Alex McLeish as manager of Aston Villa.  It is clear that Randy Lerner does not have the financial clout now to match Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal and now, possibly, Liverpool but I am still open on this one.  Therefore, to achieve CL we need something different to what has gone before.  That has to be building a club with a good style of play that can be built on so as to challenge with predominantly home developed players.

From everything considered, I do not believe AM has the track record to build the type of club style of play that will give us a chance of challenging for CL.  Likewise, with some of the other candidates, we do not have the financial clout to support them.

Correctly, in my opinion, there has been criticism of the board for lack of football experience but I do not agree with some that have said Randy Lerner should sell out to somebody that does have that experience.  Show me an owner with the right type of football experience that does have the financial clout, they do not exist now.

Having said all of that, I want Alex McLeish to succeed with Villa as it is my club and it does not matter how much I think he is the wrong man for the job, Villa comes first.  However, I will not accept negative football to achieve a mid table finish as Villa are better than that and there are managers out there that were realistically gettable and could have at least achieved that and built something for the future.  I will not be one that has a constant dig if things do not go right by saying "I told you so" but I will give him a reasonable time to show what he can do.

Alex McLeish, please prove me wrong.

[Big Dick Edwards]

That's an interesting, considered post OMVF.

[The Laughing Policeman]

There's a piece in today's Sunday Times by David Walsh. I don't subscribe to the online version so there isn't a link.
It's Headlined "McLeish will silence critics".
Walsh first talks about McLeish being a decent man and then gets down to his management career. Some of which I will quote verbatim.
"His record in management stands up to close scrutiny. He did well at Hibernian to get his chance at Glasgow Rangers and though his arrival at Ibrox coincided with the end of the crazy spending of the Dick Advocaat era,he survived well enough, winning the Treble in his first full seasonand lifting a second Scottish championship in his third.
He managed Scotland for a short time, winning seven out of ten matches,which is not exactly the Scottish average, and though his time at Birmingham saw the club twice relegated from the Premier League, it was distinguished by an excellent Carling Cup final win over Arsenal in February."
Walsh then goes on to talk about the Villa fans reaction.
"Many Villa fans don't want McLeish simply because he managed Birmingham City, others claim not to like his style of football, forgetting or perhaps not realising that his Glasgow Rangers played very differently to Birmingham City."
He then writes about McLeish's differences with the Blues board and then goes on to talk about the job in hand. He says the first part , winning over the fans will be done with calmness and dignity.
"The second part of the job,improving Villa, will be rather more difficult and McLeish will already have a good idea why Roberto Martinez was the clubs first choice.......they believed thathe would buy decent players for relatively small amounts of money and that with his energy and enthusiasm, he would create a more professional environment around the first team squad than currently exists. This is something that certainly needs to happen.
Martinez might or might not have been able to achieve these things but it is now left to McLeish to create a better Aston Villa. The least he deserves is the opportunity."

[PeterWithe]

What does McLeish offer that Holloway didn't?

You could argue that he puts together a defence more successfully than Holloway.

He's also won more and doesn't make a twat of himself in the press every other week.

I was thinking more of the 'selection criteria' that Faulkner talked about and McLeish met, clearly not making a twat of yourself everytime there is microphone about wasn't one of the criteria or Rafa wouldn't have been considered. Being deeply unpopular and evidently undeserving of a crack at managing Villa also wasn't a criteria so I was just pondering why he wasn't in the frame, or perhaps he was?

[Mister E]

There's a piece in today's Sunday Times by David Walsh. I don't subscribe to the online version so there isn't a link.
It's Headlined "McLeish will silence critics".
Walsh first talks about McLeish being a decent man and then gets down to his management career. Some of which I will quote verbatim.
"His record in management stands up to close scrutiny. He did well at Hibernian to get his chance at Glasgow Rangers and though his arrival at Ibrox coincided with the end of the crazy spending of the Dick Advocaat era,he survived well enough, winning the Treble in his first full seasonand lifting a second Scottish championship in his third.
He managed Scotland for a short time, winning seven out of ten matches,which is not exactly the Scottish average, and though his time at Birmingham saw the club twice relegated from the Premier League, it was distinguished by an excellent Carling Cup final win over Arsenal in February."
Walsh then goes on to talk about the Villa fans reaction.
"Many Villa fans don't want McLeish simply because he managed Birmingham City, others claim not to like his style of football, forgetting or perhaps not realising that his Glasgow Rangers played very differently to Birmingham City."
He then writes about McLeish's differences with the Blues board and then goes on to talk about the job in hand. He says the first part , winning over the fans will be done with calmness and dignity.
"The second part of the job,improving Villa, will be rather more difficult and McLeish will already have a good idea why Roberto Martinez was the clubs first choice.......they believed thathe would buy decent players for relatively small amounts of money and that with his energy and enthusiasm, he would create a more professional environment around the first team squad than currently exists. This is something that certainly needs to happen.
Martinez might or might not have been able to achieve these things but it is now left to McLeish to create a better Aston Villa. The least he deserves is the opportunity."

I was going to post the very same.
I get some confidence from reading this - people who know him rate highly his commitment, ability and personal bearing.
His recent experience at the Sty doesn't bear it out tho'.

[PaulTheVillan]

Link

So Aston Villa have finally appointed a new manager, problem is he was Birmingham City’s last boss Alex McLeish. Since 1994, when Alex took his first managers job at Motherwell I have been following his career with interest. So I feel more qualified than most to let the Villa fans know just what kind of man they have now got at the helm, leading their club.

Now I have heard a lot of questions by some disgruntled ‘Villans’ on Sky Sports News, Twitter and Newspapers, I will try and answer as many of these queries as possible if I miss anything leave a question in the comments section or ask it on twitter.

But McLeish has never managed at a big club like Villa?

Ok seriously we have big teams outside of England, Big Eck managed at Rangers. They are a very big team in Scotland, the pressure managing one of Old Firm is huge and unlike any other team in Britain just ask ex Villa boss Martin O’Neill. Martin was manager of a healthier, wealthier Celtic side at the same time as McLeish was battling away with limited funds at Ibrox. But Eck had a better record over O’Neill at this time, yet no Villa fan asked ‘Has O’Neill managed a big club before?’. Plus before Man Utd Sir Alex Ferguson was managing Aberdeen, who were great at the time but not classed as a huge team. Oh and Pep Guardiola has not managed any other team than Barcelona. So for me the answer to the question is, yes McLeish has managed at a big club like Villa but the question isn’t really relevant.

McLeish plays a boring defensive style of play that Villa fans wont like?

Ok he does have that reputation but a lot of that is down to circumstances. At Rangers he was on limited funds and he was under the huge pressure of win titles.. which he did. Even with that in mind Rangers still played some good stuff especially when you consider the 2002-03 team that had Michael Mols, Ronald De Boer, Mikel Arteta, Barry Ferguson & Shota Averladze. Then he brought in Dado Prso and Nacho Novo which again brought attacking success to Ibrox.

When at Scotland where he enjoyed a 70% success rate, they played with a freshness and attacking style that the Scots national team were not used to. At Birmingham the first season was not totally down to him as took over in November. Last season he will have to hold his hands up to the relegation that Birmingham suffered but he did make purchases that were seen as fine attack minded purchases like Jean Beausejour, Alex Hleb, Nikola Zigic and loanee signings David Bentley and Obafemi Martins. These signings added to box to box man Craig Gardner, Seb Larsson and James McFadden show a creative side but the problem was no 20 goals a season striker! That won’t be a problem at Villa with Darren Bent and Gabriel Agbonlahor in the squad.

I would also say that Birmingham were not a long ball team as such, in the 2009-10 season no player in the EPL made more passes than City’s Barry Ferguson in midfield!

But if you look at McLeish’s days at Hibs, then you will see he can get exciting football played where he got the ball down on the deck and had Russell Latapy and French star Frank Sauzee. Don’t get me wrong, he might come in at Villa Park looking at strengthening his defence as Richard Dunne and James Collins may leave. Plus he will be looking at bringing in a new number one as Brad Friedel has left for Tottenham. So expect a lot of Ben Foster and Allan McGregor links in the papers till someone comes in.

Big Eck only does well with inherited sides?

Well what is wrong with that? At Rangers that showed that his man management style obviously means he gets more out of his players than other mangers. Surely what Aston Villa have been missing since O’Neill left. Yes, if Stewart Downing and Ashley Young both leave then new creative reinforcements will be needed. But I think he can get more from Fabian Delph, Barry Bannan, Marc Albrighton and maybe even Stephen Ireland.

Thing is at the end of the day, McLeish is a winner. He won everything in Scotland as a player and as a manager. He has won four league titles and six cups in two different countries. He is also not stupid, he knows Villans want him to fail and want to see attacking football, he will want to prove them wrong and do that by trying attractive football first. He will only resort to defensive tactics if his side start to struggle.

Now as an Old Firm fan I get where some Villa fans are coming from, its hard to trust a person you have learned to dislike and slag off but we have to remember their was always a bias there. In my humble opinion Alex McLeish can work well at Villa Park given some decent funds, he will get the players onside as that has never been an issue. So if the fans can get behind Big Eck they might find they have a successful manager who can get them back into the top seven of the Epl and maybe even a trophy or two.

[Pat McMahon]

I spoke to a couple of the Scottish fellas in the Blarney Stone last night, one a Morton fan and one a hun. Whilst sober, they thought it was hilarious and they just didn't grasp the logic of the board. After a few drinks they reckoned we are doomed, though the Rangers fan says he was ok for them in a grinding out results kind of way and did a good job in exactly the same manner for Scotland.

We will be hard to beat and well organised. Don't waste your money betting on the third goal scorer was their best advice...

Since when are we taking football advice from 2 Scottish drunks in a chinesevboozer seriously?

So they were the two "advisors" that landed us with him.

OK I'll come clean - I was guzzling with Fergie and Dalglish last night.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Surely Mcleish isn't the one to be held responsible if things go tits up after all he took a job he probably thought was out of his reach, it must be the people who took the decision to appoint him.

True enough.
The blame will lie with Mr Lerner Sir and his board.

[dave.woodhall]

We'll definitely get better press with McLeish than with Houllier. For a start, they like him.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We'll definitely get better press with McLeish than with Houllier. For a start, they like him.

Maybe, but I think they'll be like circling vultures, waiting for it all to wrong and leaping on the slightest dissent from supporters.

I think we're going to get an awful lot of media coverage and most of it will be even more negative than last season.

[The Situation]

They only like Big Eck because he's Scottish and played under Alex Ferguson when he was manager at Aberdeen.

Anyone can be likable with the media, I think there is someone called Martin O'Neill who is highly thought of.

[Big Dick Edwards]

How come there hasn't been an officioal press conference unveiling McLeish as our new manager?

Or have I missed it?

[VillaAlways]

How come there hasn't been an officioal press conference unveiling McLeish as our new manager?

Or have I missed it?

Tomorrow