AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[Stu]

It's kind of funny that when you were linked with Benitez (a two time European champion) at the start of the season you were too good for him, and now you're facing possible relegation with a manager you think isn't good enough for you.

Nobody ever said that. You're making things up.

Now do one if you've just come on to take the piss.

[Dave Clark Five]

The amount of people who have said to me today 'Villa are well in the shit now with Bent injured '   I replied we were in the shit with a fit Bent as the manager does not know how to play him but they all agreed AMC is a awful manager . These ex pro's and media people saying he is a good manager and needs to get his own players in , absolutely scares me.

Just bear in mind that many ex-pros and TV pundits are speaking from a safe vantage point. They are shit scared of going into management themselves, where they would be exposed, but can roll back in their MOTD chair and spout bullshit with no fear of the sack themselves.

[VILLA MOLE]

It's kind of funny that when you were linked with Benitez (a two time European champion) at the start of the season you were too good for him, and now you're facing possible relegation with a manager you think isn't good enough for you.

Nobody ever said that. You're making things up.

Now do one if you've just come on to take the piss.

Benitez wouldnt come because there was more money at villa he hadnt pulled up any trees in the last 5 years and Mcleish had taken the blues down twice and won a cup that lets face it is a lottery. Can we really be blamed for having reservations?   

[Phil from the upper holte]

...  The only players who I reckon have any problem with him are Ireland and N'Zogbia and they have been all but frozen out.

The fact that he's spent £9m on Charlie and appears to have frozen him out is an indictment in itself. This is - after all - a player whom he courted for over 12 months.

Perhaps he read some of the book "Managing People for Dummies" MON left when he was escorted off the premises?

I know blues fans who said that mcleish said he'd never deal with nzogbia again because of his attitude. He did now look what's happened

[Lobsterboy]

I am probably in the minority (I've seen the poll) but I don't see any sense in sacking him now. We've 12 games to go and are currently 8 points clear of relegation. On that basis I don't see any need to press the panic button now.

Am I happy with the job McLeish is doing? No
Would I like to see him still in charge next season? No

I really don't believe we will be relegated and think any decision re the manager should be made in the summer when there are more credible candidates available and anyone coming in will have the chance to make some changes

There are 12 games to go and 36 points to play for; let's see where we end up and then make a decision that is in the best interest of Aston Villa Football Club

[pauliewalnuts]

It really really fucking annoys me that the media think we are fed up with Mcleish because he came from them. It's because we don't fucking win and we play horrible horrible football, that's why he needs to go. I couldn't give a fuck about it coming from them.

Well said could not agree more glad more people are finally agreeing with the fans who never ever wanted him and not just because of where he came from AM is bringing our famous club down to his level.

The difference between most of us and you is that we were prepared to give him a chance. You weren't prepared from the off, so you might want to save that sanctimonious, self congratulatory bullshit for people who want to hear it.

Which i suspect consists of you and your equally shit alter ego.

[glasses]

I agree Paulie. Surely, as a Villa fan you would get onside and want to be wrong. We all had reservations about the appointment, and no more than 5% of fans would have actually picked him to be manager. The 'I was right all along' thing is so petty

[pauliewalnuts]

I can't even begin to fathom why a Villa fan would want a Villa manager to fail.

Tell you what, if we sack McLeish - and I hope we do - I would be quite happy if we appointed Hughton. Apart from football reasons, it'd stick one right up the arses of those whose dislike of McLeish was based entirely around him coming from Small Heath.

[villadelph]

I agree Paulie. Surely, as a Villa fan you would get onside and want to be wrong. We all had reservations about the appointment, and no more than 5% of fans would have actually picked him to be manager. The 'I was right all along' thing is so petty

Petty, but come on man. Absolutely the most diabolical appointment in the last 25 years. Can anyone name a more controversial/dreadful appointment? I don't understand why Randy and Faulkner are force feeding McLeish down our throats. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Hell, if we don't beat Blackburn heads will roll. I cannot wait to hear the excuses, they're never ending.

The Board telling us to keep calm and believe in the manager, how.. seriously how? In hope of what.. an 8th place finish in 4 years. Yeah, no thanks. McLeish isn't going to be able to lure the talent to take us anywhere near the top half. Hutton and N'Zogbia blew up in his face and the Board want us to trust him with a summer transfer window?! We can't even trust him to beat Wigan with a squad more than capable to win by four.

I would take anyone, literally anyone, over Alex McLeish. The away support hates you, the home support doesn't even bother to show up, and we haven't had possession in the final third since QPR. We're a joke. Thanks Randy, thanks Paul, thanks Alex.. let's dream big and shoot for 12th next year.

[PaulWinch again]

I can't even begin to fathom why a Villa fan would want a Villa manager to fail.

Tell you what, if we sack McLeish - and I hope we do - I would be quite happy if we appointed Hughton. Apart from football reasons, it'd stick one right up the arses of those whose dislike of McLeish was based entirely around him coming from Small Heath.

Yep agreed, I never wanted Mcleish to fail as he is the Villa manager. However it has become apparent he is going to fail now, a lot of us have given him a chance but it just isn't going to happen. The blues thing is a bollocks smokescreen that means nothing.

[Clampy]

I'm hoping that the Bent injury will bring the players together and make them realise that they could well get dragged into a relegation scrap. I think we'll see a better perfomance on Saturday but if i'm honest, i think we'd have a better chance of picking up the points we need without McLeish at the helm.

[Mazrim]

Dont know if this has been posted or not but it has been doing the rounds so to speak. I think it reflects many opinions on matters Villa quite accurately and I, Mazrim, endorse it. *gong sound*



"Dear Aston Villa,

I am rarely one to consider directing a letter of complaint towards a major corporation to be a worthwhile endeavour, especially if my complaint does not relate to something that has wronged me on a personal level. For example, writing to the BBC to complain that Graham Norton is not worth the bulk of the license fee budget directed to his pocket is to my mind the written equivalent of standing by a motorway and shouting at traffic as it whizzes past. It is not only pointless, but generally the vocation of a lunatic.

But recently one is becoming more attuned to the mindset of the common lunatic, as I find it increasingly difficult to envisage anything more brain-achingly maddening than supporting this football club. So like the mad man on the hard shoulder, I am going to use this letter to vent my feelings of abject frustration towards those I feel have wronged me, content in the knowledge that they’re not paying me any attention and, in any case, have absolutely no respect for my views in the first place.

For of course, if you did have any respect for the views of your supporters, than there would be absolutely no need for this letter in the first place, as the club would not find itself in the outstandingly ridiculous situation it is in now. And bear in mind that when I refer to the supporters, I am referring to the actual real life flesh and blood oxygen breathing supporters, not the “silent majority” of invisible, brain dead or blind simpletons who exist only in the disturbing parallel universe situated entirely in Alex McLeish’s head.
It’s the confusion when one tries to comprehend it all that can send you insane. Among Aston Villa fans, there is absolutely no understanding among the supporters as to how the powers that be have decided on the present course of action. (I should point out at this juncture that by no means do I consider myself a fan spokesman, but can certainly assure you that I have never found myself sharing quite the consensus on matters relating to the club as I have done since June 2011.) Not one of us can offer the slightest explanation for the events of the summer – there are only questions, and nobody from the club itself has come remotely close to providing any answers.

The nearest to thing to an answer we seem to have gleaned from the club is that Mr McLeish is a likeable man in the eyes of the chairman, with Premier League experience and a recommendation from the Manchester United manager. For obvious reasons, I cannot believe these would be your only criteria (as none of them are particularly relevant), but equally justification for your decision outside of these reasons seems entirely non-apparent. However, one cannot undo the past so there is little point fretting over the most bizarre managerial appointment of all time. Instead, it would be more pertinent to offer some insight into how it has been for the supporters in the six months since.

The most overwhelming feeling is one of being insulted. It is an insult to our intelligence that you would cite a letter from our manager’s friend as evidence of his credentials for one of the biggest jobs in the English game. The gutless football is insulting to watch. It is insulting to ask supporters to show their support for the team by spending money on attending matches, when a large proportion of them are deemed not worth competing in by the manager himself. It is insulting to watch what should be a form of entertainment reduced to nothing other than mass restriction of the opposition, with emphasis on technique or creativity superseded by a strategy of essentially crossing our fingers and hoping that on the (extremely) rare forage into the opposition half, the opposition defend set pieces as abjectly as we do. It is insulting to have it patronisingly pointed out that Man United/Man City/Tottenham etc have different agendas to us in an attempt to convince us that making no effort to pass, shoot or score is justified. It is insulting to Darren Bent to even select him in a side that seems content with 35% of possession and 3% of time spent in the opposition third at 1-0 down (actual stats from the recent game vs Manchester City). With stats such as these, it is incredibly insulting to every fan’s intelligence to be told that is a ‘myth’ that our manager plays negative football when this is something apparent to any single person who has watched his teams in action, from five year old children to senile pensioners. It is insulting to be constantly told that the only reason we feel this way is because our manager used to be in charge of an irrelevant club nearby (if you wanted to poach Chris Hughton, you would have my blessing). It is insulting to try and convince us that Alan Hutton is a Premier League defender.


Hutton is a truly abject defender by Premier League standards.
Most of all, it would be extremely insulting to every supporter if your explanation for such woeful performances involved references to revised expectations, reduced spending power, loss of key players or being in a ‘transitional’ season. If you believe in these answers, then please make an effort to watch a Norwich City or a Swansea City match this season. You will find yourself watching a side with a smaller budget than ourselves, with very little Premier League experience (yes, even the managers!), showing significantly more ambition in taking the game to the opposition, including against the ‘big’ teams, with a significantly more advanced understanding of how a team creates goalscoring opportunities (and, in Swansea’s case at least, a better understanding of how not to concede as well). Most of all, you will see stadiums filled to capacity as fans are entertained, encouraged and heartened by their team’s approach to playing the game. Contrast this to the depressing apathy that reigns supreme at the increasingly emptying Villa Park right now, and ask yourself once again if you have made the correct call.

I understand that your default position now will be one of disappointment with the club’s current position but belief that improvement is around the corner. Sadly, our manager’s track record shows this to be incredibly optimistic at best, hopelessly unrealistic at worst. His (second) relegation at Birmingham City had nothing to do with being victim of circumstance. Instead it was a culmination of his work – the squad was his own, built over a number of years and not exactly on the cheap. Ultimately the reason for their relegation was a consistent failure to score goals or even create goalscoring opportunities (scoring 37 goals from 121 shots on targets, by far the weakest record in the league). The Aston Villa side of today has eerily similar problems creating and scoring chances, despite possessing one of the most natural finishers in the league and a number of exciting forward thinking players. It is abundantly clear that they are being stifled, and more worryingly, their development is being stunted as not one player has shown improvement in an attacking capacity this year. Incredibly, our already poor defence is also looking increasingly amateur.

There are a vast number of managers in the world game, each with their own approach and means of achieving results. Some I would describe as more progressive than others – your previous appointment, Gerard Houllier, for instance I would describe as more progressive than his predecessor as he sought to genuinely transfer onto the players a footballing philosophy, while the transfers he oversaw showed a degree of imagination. In Alex McLeish you have managed to hire one of the few managers who I would describe as truly regressive. He is damaging the club through alienation of supporters, he is halting the development of players through a total lack of tactical emphasis on positive play, and he is generally destroying the image of the club through sending the nation and the wider world to sleep.

I call upon you to end this now before any further damage is caused.

Yours,

DogFacedBoy

p.s. Feel free to write back demanding an apology should Alex turn things around through entertaining and effective football. I promise not to send a ‘told you so’ message when you finally rid the club of his presence."

[Dave Clark Five]

It really really fucking annoys me that the media think we are fed up with Mcleish because he came from them. It's because we don't fucking win and we play horrible horrible football, that's why he needs to go. I couldn't give a fuck about it coming from them.

Well said could not agree more glad more people are finally agreeing with the fans who never ever wanted him and not just because of where he came from AM is bringing our famous club down to his level.

I doubt if anyone is agreeing with you. They may have come to the same conclusion but for reasons different to your own agenda. If the end result is that McLeish is sacked, what will you have to moan about then? I have been through all your posts and that is what most of them have been: moan moan moan.

[Clampy]

It really really fucking annoys me that the media think we are fed up with Mcleish because he came from them. It's because we don't fucking win and we play horrible horrible football, that's why he needs to go. I couldn't give a fuck about it coming from them.

Well said could not agree more glad more people are finally agreeing with the fans who never ever wanted him and not just because of where he came from AM is bringing our famous club down to his level.

I did'nt want him either but i was preared to give him a chance. It's what proper supporters do.

[tricky59]

Mazrim, what a wonderful post from DogFacedBoy, if he is dog faced he more than makes up for it with his eloquence, sharp wit and being able to point out how I feel as well.