Mcleish - 'I Accepted the challenge'

[Mister E]

they didn't tap AM up

eh? so Villa just decided to gift Blues a couple of million.

McLeish will not fail, because the ambition has been set so low. In the chairmans eyes he is already a success, for cutting the wage bill, and playing staff.

Bang on! We have the 'reduced for quick sale' sign out!

BOGOF

[kippaxvilla2]

I make no apology for wanting the best possible candidate to bring success to my club - it is a shame as will be proved over time and once again that Alex McLeish is not that candidate.

As I said, he isn't going to be given a chance as you've already made up your mind. So what happens is everything he says or does is criticised and twisted to turn it into something negative because you're desperate to be "proved" right.

Chris that is just nonsense - if he wins us the Carling Cup or gets us into Europe I will change my mind about him as I will consider that success, I just don't think it's going to happen, I simply don't think he was the best candidate for the role.

[Chris Smith]

So, given the conditions he's been asked to work under, who would have been a better candidate? Who of the available men would achieve more with the strict financial controls now in place?

Don't say Moyes, he made it perfectly clear that he wasn't available.

At the moment talk of Europe is delusional, we're a 7th at best this season.

[taylorsworkrate]

So, given the conditions he's been asked to work under, who would have been a better candidate? Who of the available men would achieve more with the strict financial controls now in place?

Don't say Moyes, he made it perfectly clear that he wasn't available.

At the moment talk of Europe is delusional, we're a 7th at best this season.

7th even a possibility?

A pint of whatever you are drinking please Chris.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'd rather have taken a punt on a young, up and coming manager, to be honest. And before you ask why i wasn't keen on Martinez, it's because at that point, we didn't know just how tight the money would be.

Also, wasn't Europa League winning manager Sanchez Flores quoted as saying he wanted the job, despite knowing he'd have no money and need to make cuts?

[Chris Smith]

 I think we're probably a mid table side (strong defence and a top striker) and 7th is the top of mid table in my opinion. So it's a possibility.

[kippaxvilla2]

So, given the conditions he's been asked to work under, who would have been a better candidate? Who of the available men would achieve more with the strict financial controls now in place?

Don't say Moyes, he made it perfectly clear that he wasn't available.

At the moment talk of Europe is delusional, we're a 7th at best this season.

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.

[Chris Smith]

I'd rather have taken a punt on a young, up and coming manager, to be honest. And before you ask why i wasn't keen on Martinez, it's because at that point, we didn't know just how tight the money would be.

Also, wasn't Europa League winning manager Sanchez Flores quoted as saying he wanted the job, despite knowing he'd have no money and need to make cuts?

I'm not aware of those quotes but he'd have been as much of a gamble as McLeish through having no English experience, another Ramos potentially.

[Chris Smith]

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

[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.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'd rather have taken a punt on a young, up and coming manager, to be honest. And before you ask why i wasn't keen on Martinez, it's because at that point, we didn't know just how tight the money would be.

Also, wasn't Europa League winning manager Sanchez Flores quoted as saying he wanted the job, despite knowing he'd have no money and need to make cuts?

I'm not aware of those quotes but he'd have been as much of a gamble as McLeish through having no English experience, another Ramos potentially.

That's what I don't understand.

Why did we set out PL experience as such a crucial factor for our manager? Why limit ourselves like that? Why be so unimaginative? We used the same criteria last year, and look how that turned out. It's as if we learned nothing.

True, Flores may have turned out to be another Ramos, but he may not have. AM actually had a poor record in the Premier League no "might have" involved there.

They've also - like it or not, and although I personally don't give a flying one - made an appointment which was about as divisive as it gets, just when we needed someone to pull the club together and treat last season as a blip rather than the start of a downward curve. It really was the last thing we needed.

I wish the bloke luck and, despite being a bit concerned we're starting to see his Blues style of play emerging already, will be giving him far more time than he's had so far, at the very least, but I can not think of a single compelling reason they'd have given him the job beyond him being the only person willing to accept the conditions they set out.

[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.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I'd rather have taken a punt on a young, up and coming manager, to be honest. And before you ask why i wasn't keen on Martinez, it's because at that point, we didn't know just how tight the money would be.

Also, wasn't Europa League winning manager Sanchez Flores quoted as saying he wanted the job, despite knowing he'd have no money and need to make cuts?

I'm not aware of those quotes but he'd have been as much of a gamble as McLeish through having no English experience, another Ramos potentially.

It was a rumour that went around, probably his agent putting a few feelers out though the media but his timing was poor as the door was about to close. He also expected to be given money to spend, some of it on English lessons. He's still looking for a job despite his success with A Madrid and from what I remember of him during his time at Benfica, he may have to wait a bit longer.

[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.

[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?