Mcleish - 'I Accepted the challenge'

[Pete3206]

I liked McLeish and wanted him to succeed if only to shut up the dullards who protested outside Villa Park.

[Goldenballs]

Nice bloke, seems to talk well of us the few times I'd heard him speak. Shocking appointment for us though, utterly baffling.

[Ducksworthy]

I remember my dad trying to get “Alex Mcleish’s claret and blue army going” from K5 on his first game and getting told to f-off, shouting get behind the manager and receiving various iterations of not behind a bluenose - followed by an (admittedly quite funny) short rendition of “Jo Venglos’ claret and blue army” and “bosko, bosko balaban”.

If I recall it was led by some bloke who around the time had a jacket that looked like it was covered in pigeon shit. My dad was quite annoyed, I was about 17 and mortified.

Anyhow my general point is the whole come from blues issue might have been amongst a minority but it was a large one at the time.

[dave.woodhall]

I remember my dad trying to get “Alex Mcleish’s claret and blue army going” from K5 on his first game and getting told to f-off, shouting get behind the manager and receiving various iterations of not behind a bluenose - followed by an (admittedly quite funny) short rendition of “Jo Venglos’ claret and blue army” and “bosko, bosko balaban”.

If I recall it was led by some bloke who around the time had a jacket that looked like it was covered in pigeon shit. My dad was quite annoyed, I was about 17 and mortified.

Anyhow my general point is the whole come from blues issue might have been amongst a minority but it was a large one at the time.

It didn't help the denials when "Bluenose scum not welcome here" or something similar was painted outside Bodymoor.

I've always thought the reason he was appointed might have been that Lerner felt betrayed by O'Neill and Houlier so he wanted a manager he could trust. I think it was Hooky who said Lerner had been impressed by McLeish's grace in defeat the previous season.

[Ger Regan]

Lerner being impressed by a nice loser is almost poetic.

[eamonn]

The Ferguson endorsement....what a naive tool, Lerner was...

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Lerner being impressed by a nice loser is almost poetic.

I'm still convinced the share value of Bank of America was the biggest reason for Lerner's decision to focus beyond B6. If memory serves he lost about 80% of the value of the family credit card sale. Add to that an expensive divorce,  he was in Xia territory.

[tomd2103]

Quite simply the worst decision during my time supporting the club.  Still baffling to think who thought that was a good idea over a decade later.

[Rory]

Quite simply the worst decision during my time supporting the club.  Still baffling to think who thought that was a good idea over a decade later.

Not to defend the job he did with us, but he had a decent record in Scotland and he'd just won a trophy with SHA.

Five years of chronic underinvestment and a relegation later, Lerner sold us to a fraud who nearly destroyed the club.

McLeish was shite, but in managerial appointments alone, we've had at least three worse than him since.

[Percy McCarthy]

Lerner being impressed by a nice loser is almost poetic.

I'm still convinced the share value of Bank of America was the biggest reason for Lerner's decision to focus beyond B6. If memory serves he lost about 80% of the value of the family credit card sale.

Yes, agreed. Rich as he no doubt remains, losing 80% of a fortune must make you think.

[LeonW]

I’ll never forget hearing the news of his appointment; made my blood run cold.

[dave.woodhall]

Lerner being impressed by a nice loser is almost poetic.

I'm still convinced the share value of Bank of America was the biggest reason for Lerner's decision to focus beyond B6. If memory serves he lost about 80% of the value of the family credit card sale. Add to that an expensive divorce,  he was in Xia territory.

I don't think it was him that lost the money but rather the family trust, and apparently the divorce wasn't particularly expensive. There were a lot of reasons why he gave up but one of them was that his extended family weren't happy about their fortune being wasted on that soccerball team.

[Anthenagin]

Fans of other teams used to say ‘you don’t like him because he’s ex Blues’ and it wasn’t that. It was because he was an uninspiring manager with a uber-defensive style. I remember us trying to keep the ball by the corner flag at Lotus Road with ten minutes to go ffs!

[dave shelley]

I think his first game in charge other than pre-season friendlies was away to Fulham which ended scoreless, I thought then is this as good as it's going to get?  As many have said before, a nice man but poor manager.  I'd still like to meet him though as I bear him no ill will.

[nigel]

Fans of other teams used to say ‘you don’t like him because he’s ex Blues’ and it wasn’t that. It was because he was an uninspiring manager with a uber-defensive style. I remember us trying to keep the ball by the corner flag at Lotus Road with ten minutes to go ffs!

With a lot of supporters ‘ ex blues’ was the case.
He tried to win fans over by trying not to lose, rather than going out to win.