Email from McLeish

[old man villa fan]

Not being cynical but AM sends out an email that answers just about all of the points raised on here over the past few months in great detail and then you receive a communication from the club noting that some ST have not received the email.  Clearly the club have been monitoring this website to gauge reaction.  It looks to me as though it is a club PR job.

Of course it's a PR job, and as that's what a lot of complaints have been about, then good for them for addressing one issue at least. And if they want to gauge opinions on one site, this is the one to look at.   

You're right about this site, the most diverse in opinions but generally the most civilised in putting them over.

The problem for me with the PR stuff is that I want to hear about the future for the club which revolves around the finances and the club strategy, not the so called thoughts of the manager on the playing side when it only states the obvious that all can see for their own eyes.  If he wants to communicate about playing matters, I want to hear why we cannot defend set-pieces, why he cannot get his points over to the team, why he keeps playing Heskey etc.

To be fair no manager is going to comment on the financial matters becuase its not his mandate unless he's being given the nod by the chairman. Likewise he can't say "we're crap at set-pieces because we've got crap defenders" because he has to work with them for the rest of the season. Could have answered the Heskey question though, just to rule out blackmail or insanity

I know it is not up to him to comment on the financial matters and obviously he cannot comment on the playing matters that I mentioned because, as you rightly say, it would be management suicide.  So therefore I would rather he said nothing and just got on with managing the team and let results do the talking. 

IMO there are too many hollow words spoken in football these days just to sell TV, radio, newspapers etc.  Pehaps I am just 'old school' and want to form my own views on what I see on the pitch.

[villan1975]

Fair point and I also hope they realise that they are a small minority of idiots.
Though any PR dept would surely be concerned about a protest and how it could be perceived?

[Greg N'Ash]

Not being cynical but AM sends out an email that answers just about all of the points raised on here over the past few months in great detail and then you receive a communication from the club noting that some ST have not received the email.  Clearly the club have been monitoring this website to gauge reaction.  It looks to me as though it is a club PR job.

Of course it's a PR job, and as that's what a lot of complaints have been about, then good for them for addressing one issue at least. And if they want to gauge opinions on one site, this is the one to look at.   

You're right about this site, the most diverse in opinions but generally the most civilised in putting them over.

The problem for me with the PR stuff is that I want to hear about the future for the club which revolves around the finances and the club strategy, not the so called thoughts of the manager on the playing side when it only states the obvious that all can see for their own eyes.  If he wants to communicate about playing matters, I want to hear why we cannot defend set-pieces, why he cannot get his points over to the team, why he keeps playing Heskey etc.

To be fair no manager is going to comment on the financial matters becuase its not his mandate unless he's being given the nod by the chairman. Likewise he can't say "we're crap at set-pieces because we've got crap defenders" because he has to work with them for the rest of the season. Could have answered the Heskey question though, just to rule out blackmail or insanity

I know it is not up to him to comment on the financial matters and obviously he cannot comment on the playing matters that I mentioned because, as you rightly say, it would be management suicide.  So therefore I would rather he said nothing and just got on with managing the team and let results do the talking. 

IMO there are too many hollow words spoken in football these days just to sell TV, radio, newspapers etc.  Pehaps I am just 'old school' and want to form my own views on what I see on the pitch.

I think the club just meant it as a half-season review. A queens speech as you were - "this is what happened, I realise your not happy with all of it etc., this is what i hope to do" I don't see the problem really as it seems sincere. Now its up to him.

[paul_e]

This feels wrong to type but...

Spot on Greg, totally agree on why they've put this out, the difference is I personally don't see any value to it as there's nothing ground breaking in what he's saying and it means nothing if the performance on the pitch doesn't match up.

[old man villa fan]

Now its up to him.

It always has been and always will be.  The manager is paid to get the best out of the resources available to him.  No excuses, no platitudes, just get on with the job in hand.

[dave.woodhall]

IMO there are too many hollow words spoken in football these days just to sell TV, radio, newspapers etc.  Pehaps I am just 'old school' and want to form my own views on what I see on the pitch.

Because old school managers such as Messrs Clough, Shankly & Atkinson never said a word...

[TheSandman]

What is good about it is that, unlike the pre-season letter to season ticket holders, it is effective and well judged in the message that it is trying to get across. Hopefully, it demonstrates what he plans to do in the second half of the season and that the improved performances we saw before the Swansea match are more what we are going to see rather than a blip.

[Greg N'Ash]

This feels wrong to type but...

Spot on Greg, totally agree on why they've put this out, the difference is I personally don't see any value to it as there's nothing ground breaking in what he's saying and it means nothing if the performance on the pitch doesn't match up.

well yeah its a gesture, nothing more. He's just said he is an attack minded manager so he'll have to prove it. But at least he's claiming he is one, which is better than just ignoring the criticism surely

[Eigentor]

I personally don't see any value to it as there's nothing ground breaking in what he's saying

It's not ground breaking, but it's a good PR move as McLeish once again comes across as a decent person who has genuine respect for the club and it's fans. Even though I'm among those who doubt that he's a good enough manager for Aston Villa, I think his decency should count for something.

[Gaztonniller]

Fair play, can't see much there that would 'upset' anyone.  Seemed honest & open enough.

2nd para: 'given my previous managerial position'..... will be enough to still upset some.

[old man villa fan]

IMO there are too many hollow words spoken in football these days just to sell TV, radio, newspapers etc.  Pehaps I am just 'old school' and want to form my own views on what I see on the pitch.

Because old school managers such as Messrs Clough, Shankly & Atkinson never said a word...

I always thought the first two said what they wanted to say not what the supporters wanted to hear.  BFR less so but I would put that down to football becoming an entertainment business.

Today we have rent-a-quote managers, where everything seems stage managed.  Some people's cup of tea but not mine and I certainly would not criticise others for what they want.

[dave.woodhall]

IMO there are too many hollow words spoken in football these days just to sell TV, radio, newspapers etc.  Pehaps I am just 'old school' and want to form my own views on what I see on the pitch.

Because old school managers such as Messrs Clough, Shankly & Atkinson never said a word...

I always thought the first two said what they wanted to say not what the supporters wanted to hear.  BFR less so but I would put that down to football becoming an entertainment business.

Today we have rent-a-quote managers, where everything seems stage managed.  Some people's cup of tea but not mine and I certainly would not criticise others for what they want.

I'd say the first two said exactly what their supporters wanted to hear - Shankly certainly did. I'd say there were more showman managers years ago than there are now.

[Risso]

As I said before, you can say what you like if you have the ability and results to back it up.  McLeish's football and results in the Premier League have been mostly awful, so he should keep a dignified bit of schtum until his league record is something to shout about.

[old man villa fan]

IMO there are too many hollow words spoken in football these days just to sell TV, radio, newspapers etc.  Pehaps I am just 'old school' and want to form my own views on what I see on the pitch.

Because old school managers such as Messrs Clough, Shankly & Atkinson never said a word...

I always thought the first two said what they wanted to say not what the supporters wanted to hear.  BFR less so but I would put that down to football becoming an entertainment business.

Today we have rent-a-quote managers, where everything seems stage managed.  Some people's cup of tea but not mine and I certainly would not criticise others for what they want.

I'd say the first two said exactly what their supporters wanted to hear - Shankly certainly did. I'd say there were more showman managers years ago than there are now.

As they were both very successful I suppose what they said and what the supporters wanted to hear went hand in hand.  There were showman managers years ago but they were by and large successful.  Today, far less so.  Let's face it, would the press/radio be putting forward Neil Warnock's views 30-40 years ago and if they did, would anybody want to listen to them.  To say there were more showman managers then, I do not think so.

[Greg N'Ash]

As I said before, you can say what you like if you have the ability and results to back it up.  McLeish's football and results in the Premier League have been mostly awful, so he should keep a dignified bit of schtum until his league record is something to shout about.

         

 heh. well he's hardly bragging is he?   More like "I know we're mainly shit but it will get better" Seeing we're in a better league position than i thought we would be by now then it looks unlikely he'll get the push, so he had nothing much to gain really from this e-mail apart from a bit of good PR. And that will evaporate if we lose the next game