How would you sort the Current Situation out?

[Merv]

If you can't see what I'm saying, you can't see it. That's fair enough. I also happen to think it was one of the most shambolic appointments we've ever made; McLeish wouldn't have been anywhere near my shortlist and I refused to believe he was in the running until the day he was appointed.

But I can see why the board appointed him. Because they wanted a manager prepared to accept downsizing the squad, prepared to work within a tight budget in terms of player wages, prepared to accept that he wouldn't be given even half of the transfer funds generated by player sales. There was no point bringing in someone like Benitez, who would have had ideas and plans on a grander scale and would have wanted to bring in players of a certain class.

I don't understand why we didn't go for Hughes, though presumably he would also have expected Villa to be a big job with big potential, whereas the reality now is that we're probably fishing in the same sort of pond as Fulham and therefore not the step up he'd have wanted. Perhaps he was approached and didn't like what he heard. After all, whatever happened with Roberto Martinez, he wasn't sufficiently excited to push through a departure from Wigan.

One final thing, though: I wouldn't have wanted Curbishley anywhere near Villa.

[JUAN PABLO]

I'll be interested to see the reaction after we beat QPR 4-0.

I  see nothing but swp ripping us apart and a defeat in all honesty.

Blimey times are bad If SWP is going to rip us apart  ;-(

[eastie]

on appointing mcleish the board should have backed him financially as the general implied they would-he has been hung out to dry by the board.

[JUAN PABLO]

on appointing mcleish the board should have backed him financially as the general implied they would-he has been hung out to dry by the board.

True  , and to be fair , there was some good cheap deals out there for us ..

[Rick_avfc]

You can't really sort this situation out at the moment.  The board are achieving their goal of reducing the wage bill.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

I'll be interested to see the reaction after we beat QPR 4-0.

I  see nothing but swp ripping us apart and a defeat in all honesty.

Blimey times are bad If SWP is going to rip us apart  ;-(

Mind you, the Socialist Workers Party have always been poised to strike.

[hawkeye]

I'd employ the old fashioned virtue known as patience.

I agree, getting rid of a manager after 5 games would make the situation worse. I just hope AM has learned from this.

[Risso]

I think undoubtedly Randy has to stay and rumours of him totally losing interest in Villa are, I suspect, very wide of the mark. He’s clearly a realistic who has assessed the way football is heading and decided that the best long term policy is to reign in and maintain equilibrium. Herein to me lies the root of the problem. I suspect that the actions of the club are valid and business savvy, however, the PR at Villa is nothing short of shocking.

When Randy first took over, there was a palpable sense that the club valued the fans and many things were done to make us feel that the club truly valued us. However, ever since the departure of MON, the club has been stepping backwards at a frightening pace, leaving fans bewildered and the press seeing an easy target for the tedious ‘Villa in crisis’ banner. They have got to address this sharpish and give us the fans a clear picture of the actions we are taking so that we get a sense of why we are doing what we are doing and what the long term goal is.

RL has to stay? He and his joke side-kick The General have lurched from one crisis to another since August 2010. They haven't a clue and have made a series of disastrous decisions over the last year or so. You need Football men on the Board and these two haven't any idea whatsoever. I can't believe that people on here still support a part-time regime that's rapidly sending us down to the Championship - WAKE UP!!

And who do you propose should takeover? Perhaps we ought to give Doug a call back and say all is forgiven, or perhaps give Bill Gates a tinkle and ask him if he fancies taking on a middling Premier League club who’s fans have the patience of a six year old with a bag of sweets and are prone to turn on him the moment he chooses not to spunk another 10M away on a fruitless exercise.

Why is that if Lerner sold up, the only possible owners that people can envisage are oil rich Arabs or other Forbes List top 10ers?  It would obviously need somebody with a lot of money, but a bit of business acumen also goes a long way, and when it comes to sports ownership, Lerner knows absolutely nothing, and the people around him are no better.

[eastie]

nursey and the mirror have jumped on the bandwagon-

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Aston-Villa-fans-are-already-angry-at-Alex-McLeish-after-the-ex-Birmingham-manager-s-first-loss-as-Villa-boss-article802405.html

[Rigadon]

nursey and the mirror have jumped on the bandwagon-

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Aston-Villa-fans-are-already-angry-at-Alex-McLeish-after-the-ex-Birmingham-manager-s-first-loss-as-Villa-boss-article802405.html

How unexpected.  I won't waste any precious time reading this (eastie, nowt against you posting it you understand).

[Dave]

We've had 12 months of being patient - where's the club heading? DOWN perhaps idiots like you enjoy Championship football

And if you call someone an idiot again then you'll be invited to find a new forum to post on.

[Holte L2]

If Randy has no money, then he needs to seek further investment. Even of it means relenquishing 100% control of the club.

[The Left Side]

Not a fecking clue how you change it!

[GJH]

This is the worst position we've been in since the O'dreary era.

Increasing match prices £43 against Wolves and Newcastle i believe, best players leaving and a boring defensive manager.

Talk to the blues fans and they say Hughton is a breath of fresh air compared to Mcleish.

Sad times ahead, low crowds will get lower when the results go against us. I think Mcdonald is waiting in the wings for when Mcleish gets the bullett!

[ozzjim]

Quite simply even though we are being defensive we are being over run through the middle of the park as Petrov seems to have been told to attack and Delph is not ready to hold on his own, while Petrov does not have the legs to get back with him. The formation is a mystery to me a little at the moment, there seems to be almost an schizophrenic internal struggle on the pitch between 4-4-2 and 4-5-1/ 4-3-3...

We need to sort it, accept that away from home and even at home against decent sides, that 4-5-1 is a necessary evil. Then the 3 men have to be 2 sitting and 1 foraging, interchanging when necessary to make it fluid. Jenas, Petrov, Delph, Bannan, Ireland give us enough, but of those Jenas and Petrov starting with one of the others would be my selection, probably Ireland for a run of games to finally say yay or nay, ie, you get 5-6 game run, if you are shit you go in Jan, if good then bonus.

Wide for me we should be going Gabby and NZogbia, but both need to be higher up the pitch, working the channels more (NZogbia) and making the 2nd striker when the other is in a crossing position, with the full back overlapping for the over hit ball.

Anyhow, Heskey would not feature.... and Delph playing further forward if Ireland screws up might be interesting, he is a technically gifted player with more physical strength than Bannan, who I worry about, but might be more effective sitting deep and playmaking rather than being in direct combat with the oppositions defensive midfield players when playing further forward.