AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[jonc73]

there is no way on earth they're going to sack him, I'm afraid.

Do you think they'd sack AM in any circumstance? I don't think he'll go unless he resigns-which is highly unlikely. If the owner cared what the fans thought  he wouldn't have appointed him

[Ads]

How can one hundred million buy such brittle and rotten foundations? The scale of collapse since O'Neill vindictively left the club is unreal. Not even an English middle order collapse is comparable. We're left hoping we stay up for a second year in a row. The monumental lack of thought in dithering last September and then appointing Houllier, spending five million to get rid, only to be followed up by spending Christ knows what on getting Mcliesh here, defies any sort of logic.

Couple that with the awful negative and fearful football that has produced just six wins, not one at home since November and it leads me to the conclusion that three owner, board and manager are an appalling disgrace.

We'll stay up and comfortably too, but nothing will change and the squad will get smaller and weaker until it becomes a real effort staying in the league.

[Malandro]

He should be sacked. Our team doesn't have a spine, Mcleish should have spotted that in 30mins on the training ground.

Off the point but trailing Seb Larsson shows he is clueless. He had to get somebody to hold the midfield together and he totally failed to do that.
We should (apart from Warnocks mental breakdown) have been able to manage with a defence of Dunne, Collins, Cueller, Young, Clark & an attack of Agbonlahor, Bent, Delf and Wein.

I can't blame him for N'zogbia, other than strangely not picking him when he had no choice (other than Heskey)

Our squad has weaknesses in many areas but sorting the meat of midfield out, I believe, would have seen us safely around 8th in the table.

Its madness, I think he could have actually gone to a championship club and picked somebody that would have done the job this season.

[Clampy]

I truly honestly did'nt think the football was going to be this bad under him. At times, there's just nothing there at all. It's as if he picks 11 players, tells them where they're playing and leaves them to it, then if it's not working, throws on Heskey.

[Jimmy Smash]

I can see why he keeps putting Heskey on... It's to shore up our brittle, barely existent midfield. Yesterday was a prime example. However... It doesn't work! Heskey isn't a defensive midfielder. He is a prime example of a player who's only attribute (holding the ball as a forward and drawing away defenders) has left him. If he was a racehorse he would be out of the dog food factory by now and in tins in someone's kitchen cupboard.

[Moorski]

The performances are the main point,it is bad enough not getting results but the home performances in particular are dire,the team is dull and has no spirit,there are no signs of it changing either.
Why should the club waste more money on McLeish signings that will only lead to the same outcome. 

[JUAN PABLO]

The longer lerner takes to get rid , the more harm it is going to do . If he keeps the clown for another 12 mths , god help us all ,  it will take years to sort the mess out .  I just cant stomach AMC getting the summer to spend money here and relegate us next season.

[ez]

We have become a side that doesn't take the game to the opposition unless we are losing. Its not becoming of the club and it isn't working but i think its the only tactic McLeish has got.

[JUAN PABLO]

AMC will be having a champagne breakfast this morning .

His wife will say ' why the crystal darling'

'Didnt you see wifey , I got a 0-0 yesterday , time to celebrate'

[Rico]

Personally I would get rid of now! Just to lift the gloom around Villa Park. A caretaker manager surely couldn't do any worse. Even if we stay up, which I think we will by the skin of our teeth, then keeping Mcleish in charge would be a disaster from a financial point of view. Attendances have dropped significantly this season. I dread to think what they will be like next season with him in charge. Lack of revenue equals lack of spending on transfers which in the long run equals relegation. Got to go for the long term health of the club!

[Mister E]

Yesterday shocked me on a number of levels. As a Villa-watcher and fan for over 45 years I’ve  seen some shite but I am beginning to believe that this is the worst season in memory (although O’Dreary would still marginally be a close second behind McNeill, with McLeish - 3rd position – coming up fast on the rails).

So, why “shocked”? –
1)   When I saw the team sheet I was amazed at such an offensive line-up; not per se but because of the lightweight central MF of GG and BB. I’ve always worked on the basis that if a defence is struggling (as ours has been), the CMF has to be as tight as a drum; yesterday’s did not look that way at the outset. No criticism of GG and BB – they are just not ready to operate as the sole CMF.
2)   When it came to substitutions, replacing Albie was the right thing to do: the obvious replacement being Herd, to stem the flow of Wigan moves through the CMF. Bringing Emule on was mind-blowingly wrong for so many reasons.
3)   The vitriol in the crowd for McL surprised and shocked me: his single move to bring on Emule seemed to unleash a torrent of pent-up frustration and antagonism – the dam of dislike has now been broken and he cannot survive at Villa for long.
4)   The body-language of McL and his muppet-mate, Grant, says it all: they seem to wave their arms a lot, shout lots of apparent tactical instructions to the players and … nothing changes. Which says they’ve either lost the players’ confidence or they are just spouting shite; or both.

I hope that RL has some connection into the way supporters are now feeling about things – it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better and I hope he is now planning for a different future than the one we can see unravelling before us.
And for those who still think we’re not going down, it ain’t over yet despite the best efforts of the “Lancashire Three” to get relegated.

Finally, last December I wrote the piece here - http://footballspeak.com/post/2011/12/06/Are-you-City-in-disguise.aspx - which highlighted the bind that RL had got himself into. The comments are equally as applicable now, nearly 3 months on: there’s no blinding insight in the article; just what has been obvious to many people here for a long time.

The message is: McL is a nice guy who’s out of his depth in the EPL.

[Irish villain]

Great post Effdee. Well written and a good summation of how things stand.

[ez]

there is no way on earth they're going to sack him, I'm afraid.

Do you think they'd sack AM in any circumstance? I don't think he'll go unless he resigns-which is highly unlikely. If the owner cared what the fans thought  he wouldn't have appointed him

I think he could walk. He must know he's failing badly, that the job is too big for him, that he hasn't won any fans over and they don't want him, that he will get more of the same next season if he gets a rubbish start to the season.

[supertom]

I get sense that a McLeish teamtalk consists of him ambling in the dressing room like Baldrick and saying "I have a cunning plan..."
I'm fully expecting Emile Heskey, at some juncture this season, to appear on the pitch with two pencils up his nose and his underpants on top of his fucking head. Who knows though, it might help him head the ball a bit closer to goal.

[Moorski]

He wont quit he has already said that, plus he will want his compensation pay out