Mcleish - 'I Accepted the challenge'

[kippaxvilla2]

Curbishley, Hughton, Allardyce - I now realise I've fallen for one of your spoofs. Well done, you really had me going there.

Hughton was doing a fantastic job at Newcastle with no money, you cannot judge him with what is going on down at that shower, Allardyce has a better track record in the Premier League than Alex McLeish, if that is how we are judging things and I don't see that we should base it on any other criteria.

So you judge McLeish on what happened at the Noses but not Chris '1-1 at home to Barnsley' Hughton, not very logical is it. Allardyce is a twat and would have signed El Hadji Diouf.

It's already an apples and pears argument, McLeish had the likes of Johnson, Dann, Foster, Bowyer, Ferguson, even Gardner amongst others, Hughton has both hands tied behind his back there let alone one.  To me it only adds even more weight to the argument that McLeish is poor given those players he had.

[kippaxvilla2]

Here are the references to Sanchez Flores in the summer.

Aston Villa turned down the chance to install former Valencia, Benfica and Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sanchez Flores as manager.

But the Spaniard remains ready to answer the call if a fan backlash means Villa ditch their move to land Alex McLeish.

Sanchez Flores, who resigned from Atletico at the end of the season following a major fall-out with star striker Diego Forlan, was lined up as a managerial team with Rafa Benitez's former Liverpool assistant, Pako Ayestaran.

The 46-year-old, who took Valencia to the last eight of the Champions League in 2007 and led Atletico to their 2010 Europa League Final victory over Fulham and last season's European Super Cup win over Inter Milan, was approached by intermediaries last week.

Sanchez Flores told the agents involved he would jump at the opportunity, especially if he could lean on Ayestaran's knowledge of the Premier League.

Ayestaran, who also worked alongside Benitez at Valencia, fell out with his long-term friend in 2008 when he went to Benfica, then returned to Valencia as assistant boss two years later.

Sanchez Flores, who has a decent command of English but accepts he would have to go on a crash-course if he got the Villa job, has studied the playing staff he would be inheriting from Gerard Houllier.

Despite the imminent loss of Ashley Young and the likely departure of Stewart Downing, Sanchez Flores believes he would only need to make "two or three changes" to produce a squad that would achieve a top six position in his first season in charge.

A friend said: "Quique was very optimistic about achieving his targets and felt he was extremely confident of attracting top La Liga stars to join him at Villa."

Those players could have included rejuvenated former Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes, who revelled under Sanchez Flores at both Benfica and Atletico.

Despite Sanchez Flores' interest and his reputation as a persuasive and intelligent technical coach, Villa owner Randy Lerner switched targets to McLeish, sparking a hugely negative response among the Villa supporters.

Sanchez Flores is still prepared to listen if fan power forces Villa to come calling again.

The friend added: "Quique wants the job and wants to come to England.

"He feels that he and Pako would make a really good team at a club with great potential and is not fussed about where he will have been on their initial preference list."



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Aston-Villa-news-Quique-Sanchez-Flores-who-lead-Atletico-Madrid-to-Europa-League-triumph-2010-wants-job-if-fan-anger-keeps-Alex-McLeish-out-article747872.html#ixzz1YtLfyQT2
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[Compass]

Curbishley, Hughton, Allardyce - I now realise I've fallen for one of your spoofs. Well done, you really had me going there.

Hughton was doing a fantastic job at Newcastle with no money, you cannot judge him with what is going on down at that shower, Allardyce has a better track record in the Premier League than Alex McLeish, if that is how we are judging things and I don't see that we should base it on any other criteria.

So you judge McLeish on what happened at the Noses but not Chris '1-1 at home to Barnsley' Hughton, not very logical is it. Allardyce is a twat and would have signed El Hadji Diouf.

So you would rather have McLeish who has 2 Premier League Relegations than Big Sam who at least knows how to keep clubs in the top flight? Is that what you're saying? Should be interesting to see.

[Chris Smith]

Curbishley, Hughton, Allardyce - I now realise I've fallen for one of your spoofs. Well done, you really had me going there.

Hughton was doing a fantastic job at Newcastle with no money, you cannot judge him with what is going on down at that shower, Allardyce has a better track record in the Premier League than Alex McLeish, if that is how we are judging things and I don't see that we should base it on any other criteria.

So you judge McLeish on what happened at the Noses but not Chris '1-1 at home to Barnsley' Hughton, not very logical is it. Allardyce is a twat and would have signed El Hadji Diouf.

It's already an apples and pears argument, McLeish had the likes of Johnson, Dann, Foster, Bowyer, Ferguson, even Gardner amongst others, Hughton has both hands tied behind his back there let alone one.  To me it only adds even more weight to the argument that McLeish is poor given those players he had.

Sorry, but this 'anyone but McLeish' just suggests that it's more about him having managed the Noses that you'd mention the likes of Hughton. As I said earlier, you're just not prepared to give him a chance.

[john e]

Curbishley, Hughton, Allardyce - I now realise I've fallen for one of your spoofs. Well done, you really had me going there.

Hughton was doing a fantastic job at Newcastle with no money, you cannot judge him with what is going on down at that shower, Allardyce has a better track record in the Premier League than Alex McLeish, if that is how we are judging things and I don't see that we should base it on any other criteria.

So you judge McLeish on what happened at the Noses but not Chris '1-1 at home to Barnsley' Hughton, not very logical is it. Allardyce is a twat and would have signed El Hadji Diouf.

So you would rather have McLeish who has 2 Premier League Relegations than Big Sam who at least knows how to keep clubs in the top flight? Is that what you're saying? Should be interesting to see.

i would rather have David O'leary than Big Sam

[taylorsworkrate]

I too believe that Hughton and Allardyce would have been better options than Mcleish, and I have no particular liking for either.

The style of play that Allardyce would have brought would have got criticism, but wouldn't have been any worse than Mcleish's.

Just out of interest, how do you think MON would get on if he was still manager of the Villa?

Well I believe we would have had a better season last year, and we certainly wouldn't be getting embarrassed by Bolton reserves this season.

The style of play would be similar, but we'd show more attacking intent.

[mr woo]

I don't know who was available but who appeared to be available and better than McLeish were;

Mark Hughes
Sam Allardyce
Slaven Bilic
Steve McLaren
Alan Curbishley
Chris Hughton

And, if £2.5m was the compo available I would have gone after either Ian Holloway, Simon Grayson or indeed Paul Lambert (the new MO'N).  I would however draw the line at Phil Brown.

Of course, you appear to be suggesting that Alex McLeish was available, he was in fact contracted to another club so technically wasn't.

And you could probably add Neil Warnock to that list....

... Which shows how low I rate McLeish.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I too believe that Hughton and Allardyce would have been better options than Mcleish, and I have no particular liking for either.

The style of play that Allardyce would have brought would have got criticism, but wouldn't have been any worse than Mcleish's.

Just out of interest, how do you think MON would get on if he was still manager of the Villa?

Well I believe we would have had a better season last year, and we certainly wouldn't be getting embarrassed by Bolton reserves this season.

The style of play would be similar, but we'd show more attacking intent.

Attacking intent? What do you call playing four strikers? I agree with you though, there's no great difference between the two. McLeish would probably come out on top due to his coaching staff although I've yet to see anybody slagging off Sid for the lack of ball control from some of our players, though I won't hold my breath on that one, not after reading some of the posts on here and other Villa sites.

[Brian Taylor]

Here are the references to Sanchez Flores in the summer.

Aston Villa turned down the chance to install former Valencia, Benfica and Atletico Madrid coach Quique Sanchez Flores as manager.

But the Spaniard remains ready to answer the call if a fan backlash means Villa ditch their move to land Alex McLeish.

Sanchez Flores, who resigned from Atletico at the end of the season following a major fall-out with star striker Diego Forlan, was lined up as a managerial team with Rafa Benitez's former Liverpool assistant, Pako Ayestaran.

The 46-year-old, who took Valencia to the last eight of the Champions League in 2007 and led Atletico to their 2010 Europa League Final victory over Fulham and last season's European Super Cup win over Inter Milan, was approached by intermediaries last week.

Sanchez Flores told the agents involved he would jump at the opportunity, especially if he could lean on Ayestaran's knowledge of the Premier League.

Ayestaran, who also worked alongside Benitez at Valencia, fell out with his long-term friend in 2008 when he went to Benfica, then returned to Valencia as assistant boss two years later.

Sanchez Flores, who has a decent command of English but accepts he would have to go on a crash-course if he got the Villa job, has studied the playing staff he would be inheriting from Gerard Houllier.

Despite the imminent loss of Ashley Young and the likely departure of Stewart Downing, Sanchez Flores believes he would only need to make "two or three changes" to produce a squad that would achieve a top six position in his first season in charge.

A friend said: "Quique was very optimistic about achieving his targets and felt he was extremely confident of attracting top La Liga stars to join him at Villa."

Those players could have included rejuvenated former Arsenal striker Jose Antonio Reyes, who revelled under Sanchez Flores at both Benfica and Atletico.

Despite Sanchez Flores' interest and his reputation as a persuasive and intelligent technical coach, Villa owner Randy Lerner switched targets to McLeish, sparking a hugely negative response among the Villa supporters.

Sanchez Flores is still prepared to listen if fan power forces Villa to come calling again.

The friend added: "Quique wants the job and wants to come to England.

"He feels that he and Pako would make a really good team at a club with great potential and is not fussed about where he will have been on their initial preference list."



Read more: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Aston-Villa-news-Quique-Sanchez-Flores-who-lead-Atletico-Madrid-to-Europa-League-triumph-2010-wants-job-if-fan-anger-keeps-Alex-McLeish-out-article747872.html#ixzz1YtLfyQT2
Sign up for MirrorFootball's Morning Spy newsletter Register here

Amazing if any truth in it! Doubt it will happen this season, and doubt unless Randy's fortunes pick up quickly but it does revive hopes of glory again before I expire.
The dream would be back on if it did transpire rather than the 'hide behind the sofa' mentality we have presently.

[kippaxvilla2]

Curbishley, Hughton, Allardyce - I now realise I've fallen for one of your spoofs. Well done, you really had me going there.

Hughton was doing a fantastic job at Newcastle with no money, you cannot judge him with what is going on down at that shower, Allardyce has a better track record in the Premier League than Alex McLeish, if that is how we are judging things and I don't see that we should base it on any other criteria.

So you judge McLeish on what happened at the Noses but not Chris '1-1 at home to Barnsley' Hughton, not very logical is it. Allardyce is a twat and would have signed El Hadji Diouf.

It's already an apples and pears argument, McLeish had the likes of Johnson, Dann, Foster, Bowyer, Ferguson, even Gardner amongst others, Hughton has both hands tied behind his back there let alone one.  To me it only adds even more weight to the argument that McLeish is poor given those players he had.

Sorry, but this 'anyone but McLeish' just suggests that it's more about him having managed the Noses that you'd mention the likes of Hughton. As I said earlier, you're just not prepared to give him a chance.

The sign of someone not trying to emphasise their points in an effective manner is to resort to the 'he was a blue nose' argument.   It has nothing to do with it, although clearly from a divisive perspective it certainly didn't help.  For the record I would have had McLeish ahead of;

Phil Brown
Alan Pardew
Steve Bruce
Graham Taylor Mark III
Mick McCarthy (just)
Roberto Di Matteo (just)
Graham Turner
Dave Bassett
Howard Wilkinson
Sergio Ramos
Christian Gross

One other name I forgot to mention of the availables was Martin Jol.

[woody4866]

It`s certainly a case of be careful what you wish for!

I my opinion AM is a poor manager based more on his style of football rather than what he has achieved in his managerial career

BUT the board want stability at a cut price and if we go on a cup run that will be a bonus (1 down 1 to go)

AM won`t be given much of a chance by fans because of his past and also his record (or lack of it) and as fans we always want the best for our club - even if it`s unrealistic

[Chris Smith]

Explain Hughton. Getting Newcastle promoted was a piece of piss given the players they had, a much easier job than getting Blues up.

Everyone is so one eyed about McLeish's record, yes they went down last season but they also won a cup and had their best ever PL finish the season before. He's also got decent achievements from his time in Scotland and not just with Rangers. So it's a mixed record, not the unmitigated disaster that is being suggested. He's also, seemingly, a thoroughly decent and likeable man.

He wasn't my first choice, far from it, but now he's here he's got my backing and I'm not going to undermine him and therefore the club by bitching and whinging about it every 5 minutes.

[Compass]

McLeish doesn't deserve a chance. He's gonna take us down. The writing is on the wall.

First 6 games 2010/2011 and 2011/2012:

Blues: 1 win 4 draws 1 lost (one was against a top 6 team)

Villa: 1 win 4 draws ? lost (QPR will most likely win, we've played no top 6 teams)

Right now McLeish has a win rate of below 30%. That's not good enough for top 10 and we've played no serious team yet (apart from probably Everton). It's very worrying. People may excuse because we've sold our best players, but Pardew has had it even worse and look at how well he's doing.

Now look at the football performance. Exactly the same as it was at Blues despite the fact we have better players in the squad. No excuse. Collins in every match is allowed to hoof the ball. If he wants us to improve, why does he allow Collins to do that in every match, especially when we have hardly any tall players to win the ball? That's all he knows. That's a losing tactic.

The only good point I can give him is he's good at spotting good goalkeepers. He isn't good at improving defences that much. If you look closely, it's Given who has saved us more than the defence. Our suppose good defender on form Dunne costed both goals in the Newcastle and Bolton match. McLeish hasn't improved the defenders, what he has done is change the tactics to support them and has sacrificed our possession and attacking mentality.

I would give anything to have a manager who at least has a C.V of being good in the Premier Leauge. We haven't got that with McLeish and I'll expect 99% of the fanbase to turn on him when we lose against QPR and don't pick up a victory against Wigan. That's when his win rate drops below 25% with Man City away next.

[taylorsworkrate]

I too believe that Hughton and Allardyce would have been better options than Mcleish, and I have no particular liking for either.

The style of play that Allardyce would have brought would have got criticism, but wouldn't have been any worse than Mcleish's.

Just out of interest, how do you think MON would get on if he was still manager of the Villa?

Well I believe we would have had a better season last year, and we certainly wouldn't be getting embarrassed by Bolton reserves this season.

The style of play would be similar, but we'd show more attacking intent.

Attacking intent? What do you call playing four strikers? I agree with you though, there's no great difference between the two. McLeish would probably come out on top due to his coaching staff although I've yet to see anybody slagging off Sid for the lack of ball control from some of our players, though I won't hold my breath on that one, not after reading some of the posts on here and other Villa sites.

4 strikers?  Must have missed that game.  Unless you mean when Heskey was playing as some sort of midfielder / set piece defensive specialist hybrid.

As for Mcleish coming out on top due to coaching staff, didn't he bring across two who assisted him in 2 relegations?  MON, despite many faults, is just a superior manager to Mcleish imo.

Also I don't think that players who earn obscene amounts of money should need coaching in how to control a football.

[Chris Smith]

We do try to build from the back but, believe it or not, the opposition try to stop us. Teams know we have a small side so they press us high up the pitch which means that, at times, we are forced to play it long, it's not a deliberate tactic from McLeish but a result of what happens during a game.