Are We Alex McLeish's Claret & Blue Army Now?

[NiiLamptey]

It has finally hit me....

I know things are bad but I for one am going to get behind the team and most importantly the manager!

Booing and protesting does not help the club and the morons doing this are not looking at the bigger picture... this is not McLeish's Fault!

He has inherited a squad that did useless last year... MINUS ITS 2 BEST PLAYERS

He has done some good deals in the transfer market to be fair... exceptions being;  Jenas, who was a gamble and Hutton, who looked very good when on loan at sunderland... the rest have or will work out i am sure (NZogbia)

(People need to stop the Hutton for L Young comments as L Young moved on for FAMILY REASONS and to be fair we had no cover as Cuellar is not a right back leaving only unproven youth players... and warnock on paper has been an international so from his perspective he joined having a left back!)

If we sack him... There is no one else that will come to villa and take the top job that isnt either unproven or useless... Looking at  Mcliesh's CV he has done well at all clubs except for the Blues, and they didnt have the best of squads and possibly the worst board of directors ever to be in the premiership! - so you can forgive him for relegating them twice (in anything we should credit him for that...)

The reality is...

He isnt a world class manager... but he is probably the best manager we could get given our club situation (both current position and future prospects including the transfer kitty)...

It isnt McLeish's fault MON left the club with an inflated wage bill and aging players, it isnt his fault all of our star players have been sold and it isnt his fault that Randy is no longer acting as the sugar daddy we had hoped!

He has shown we are good going forward and has admitted the back needs to change, which it will this summer, he hasnt had the chance or money...  And as people are starting to realise, we stop shipping goals and we are in the top half of the table.

Give him another 18 Months then judge him!

BIG ECK'S CLARET & BLUE ARMY!

[supertommykN'iba]

EDIT: In fact, let's see how this folds out.

[NiiLamptey]

I have had a season ticket for the last 24 years!

Been to wembly in 94 and 96 to see us beat Man U & leeds...  Enough of a "fan" for you?

[supertommykN'iba]

I have had a season ticket for the last 24 years!

Been to wembly in 94 and 96 to see us beat Man U & leeds...  Enough of a "fan" for you?

Having re-read your post, you may have just joined at a very coincidental time!

[NiiLamptey]

Lol no worries.. joined a while ago, but usually just read... Really embarrassed by the talk sport call ins and protests!

We are as bad as Geordies at the minute!

So felt the need to say something! (if only t air my frustrations)

[Louzie0]

With regard to protesting....

When Ellis was in charge there was a near univeral opinion that he was the route of all our problems and he was the focal point of the anger / dissapointment / negativity, the manager in place did get flak but usually Ellis bore the brunt of all the protests.

Now we have an owner who is still regarded by many as still having allot of credit in the bank so the protestors aim elsewhere. Unfortunately for McL its him.

I am no fan of the manager but I would like him to succeed because if he succeeds then we do as well. But without the proper backing from above he is always likely to struggle [and his style of play also adds to the problems] but would another manager have faired any better?

I think that the board gave him a simple guide 'Keep us up, and get rid of the deadwood' and thats exactly what he will do.

Its a very short term strategy and who knows maybe it is all part of RL's exit strategy [its what I would do] so maybe if they are going to protest how about protesting against the overal strategy and direction of the club, and stop making it only about the manager.

Perhaps its time we got behind him, and made our feelings known to the board that we want him backed not sacked.

It has finally hit me....

I know things are bad but I for one am going to get behind the team and most importantly the manager!

Booing and protesting does not help the club and the morons doing this are not looking at the bigger picture... this is not McLeish's Fault!

He has inherited a squad that did useless last year... MINUS ITS 2 BEST PLAYERS

He has done some good deals in the transfer market to be fair... exceptions being;  Jenas, who was a gamble and Hutton, who looked very good when on loan at sunderland... the rest have or will work out i am sure (NZogbia)

(People need to stop the Hutton for L Young comments as L Young moved on for FAMILY REASONS and to be fair we had no cover as Cuellar is not a right back leaving only unproven youth players... and warnock on paper has been an international so from his perspective he joined having a left back!)

If we sack him... There is no one else that will come to villa and take the top job that isnt either unproven or useless... Looking at  Mcliesh's CV he has done well at all clubs except for the Blues, and they didnt have the best of squads and possibly the worst board of directors ever to be in the premiership! - so you can forgive him for relegating them twice (in anything we should credit him for that...)

The reality is...

He isnt a world class manager... but he is probably the best manager we could get given our club situation (both current position and future prospects including the transfer kitty)...

It isnt McLeish's fault MON left the club with an inflated wage bill and aging players, it isnt his fault all of our star players have been sold and it isnt his fault that Randy is no longer acting as the sugar daddy we had hoped!

He has shown we are good going forward and has admitted the back needs to change, which it will this summer, he hasnt had the chance or money...  And as people are starting to realise, we stop shipping goals and we are in the top half of the table.

Give him another 18 Months then judge him!

BIG ECK'S CLARET & BLUE ARMY!

You know, I'm with both of you and somewhere in between as well.   I'm probably with the Army in a fetching shade of aubergine.X

[Mister E]

You know, I'm with both of you and somewhere in between as well.

Lucky them.   

[ktvillan]

I feel a bit sorry for AM these days.  He's shown he is willing to try and learn from his mistakes, such as the debacle  at Spurs with Heskey and Hutton in midfield, and being over cautious.  He's realised that the fans are more likely to be won over if the team at least has a go, shows a bit of fight, and tries to play abit of football instead of focusing on damage limitation and stopping the opposition. Which didn't work anyway. He was left trying to replace an entire crap defence and our two best players with only about 15m quid to play with and not able to increase the wage bill, which even restricted the number of loan signings.  Okay the results still leave a lot to be desired but you can see he is trying, and it's difficult to imagine many other managers doing much better under those circumstances, except maybe MON who might have got more out of the sub-standard defenders he signed.  Assuming he can keep us up, I think he desereves the chance to clear out the overpaid underperfromers in the summer and build his own squad,  especially the defence.  I wouldn't be surprised to see him try to reunite Dann and Johnson, neither of whom have set the world on fire at their new clubs.  He hasn't won me over completely, he still makes some odd decisions, but I think he's done enough to deserve a little bit of backing.

[Percy McCarthy]

You know what kt? I was thinking Dann and Johnson wouldn't be a bad idea for next season, but I was scared to say anything.

[Concrete John]

Dann yes, but I don't think Johnson is any better than what we already have.

[pauliewalnuts]

Dann yes, but I don't think Johnson is any better than what we already have.

He's better than James Collins, I reckon.

[Axl Rose]

Dann yes, but I don't think Johnson is any better than what we already have.

He's better than James Collins, I reckon.

We could just give Heskey a one year extension and see how he does at centre half........................................runs away

[Chris Smith]

Dann yes, but I don't think Johnson is any better than what we already have.

He's better than James Collins, I reckon.

Much of a muchness. Both at their best when it is backs to the wall, get your head on everything but limited otherwise.

[Concrete John]

Dann yes, but I don't think Johnson is any better than what we already have.

He's better than James Collins, I reckon.

We could just give Heskey a one year extension and see how he does at centre half........................................runs away

He'd do better than Fabian Delph there!

With the Johnson/Collins issue I think the thing is Dann is a great orgainiser, so was Johnson's brains for him.  I'd imagine the same thing with Collins, hence improving him as a player.  If you look how the Small Heath defence fell apart aftyer Dann's injury, you can clearly see who their biggest influence was.   

[N'ZMAV]

If Rovers stay up, and sell Samba, they won't want to sell Dann. Just a thought...
If they go down, I assume they'd probably have to sell both.