AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[steffo]

As i have posted on here before. Kevin Phillips told a group of us Villa fans that 'we were in for a long hard season' - ' He likes compact narrow football'.

He will not change his spots. If we still had Young and Downing - he would play young in the hole and draw Downing in and narrow. Would Ron Saunders have set Tony Morley out to defend?

I sometimes think he has told his wingers that the area between the 18 yard box and corner flag has been mined. We NEVER get to the byline.

[villadelph]

As i have posted on here before. Kevin Phillips told a group of us Villa fans that 'we were in for a long hard season' - ' He likes compact narrow football'.

He will not change his spots. If we still had Young and Downing - he would play young in the hole and draw Downing in and narrow. Would Ron Saunders have set Tony Morley out to defend?

I sometimes think he has told his wingers that the area between the 18 yard box and corner flag has been mined. We NEVER get to the byline.

Heskey and Ireland aren't exactly known for their driving runs towards the corner flag, but Eck puts them out on the wing anyway. You know who makes running past defenders look easy and can actually get to the byline, Charles N'Zogbia. He's about as useful as Bent right now with this airhead at the helm.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

As i have posted on here before. Kevin Phillips told a group of us Villa fans that 'we were in for a long hard season' - ' He likes compact narrow football'.

He will not change his spots. If we still had Young and Downing - he would play young in the hole and draw Downing in and narrow. Would Ron Saunders have set Tony Morley out to defend?

I sometimes think he has told his wingers that the area between the 18 yard box and corner flag has been mined. We NEVER get to the byline.

Heskey and Ireland aren't exactly known for their driving runs towards the corner flag, but Eck puts them out on the wing anyway. You know who makes running past defenders look easy and can actually get to the byline, Charles N'Zogbia. He's about as useful as Bent right now with this airhead at the helm.

I reckon Alan Hutton has been our most effective player going froward and getting to the byline. Which says it all really.

[ozzjim]

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish insists he has no intention of walking away from what he describes as his "biggest test in football".

The Scot heard some Villa fans calling for him to go during their side's 0-0 draw away at Wigan last Saturday, while the Midlands club recently announced a loss of nearly £54million for 2010-11.

McLeish knew he would have to win the majority of fans over after arriving at Villa Park from city rivals Birmingham City in the summer.

But the former Rangers boss is still determined to be a success in his current job and has asked the supporters to give him time to try and turn their fortunes around.

"Is this my biggest test in football? Yes, it probably would be," he admitted.

"I want a bit of respite and I know how hard I work here. I've not got a magic wand and I don't think there are a lot of managers who could do a lot better than the job I am doing just now."
Alex McLeish
Quotes of the week
"Rangers was a very tough challenge as well because they expect to win every single week, every single game. It was a different kind of challenge there, if you like.

"There was a spell at Rangers when we weren't winning and again it was difficult with the finances at times.

"We offloaded a lot of quality players one summer and we didn't really do the right thing replacing all of them but then, the next season, we did and it was all rosy in the garden again.

"I knew when I came to Villa that there were going to be some demanding times ahead and that changing the squad around would take time.

"But I took the challenge up and I'm certainly not going to quit it now.

"I want a bit of respite and I know how hard I work here. I've not got a magic wand and I don't think there are a lot of managers who could do a lot better than the job I am doing just now."

Pressure

In terms of coping with the pressure and the negative reaction of fans, McLeish said: "I know you wouldn't like it! Until you have walked in another man's shoes you don't know what it feels like.

"By the same token I don't know what pressure you (the media) are under so I have to respect what you guys are doing.

"I am used to this business and while no manager will say it (having the fans against you) is not a problem, of course it is. But my goal is to make the Villa fans happy."

Villa head to Blackburn this weekend and McLeish acknowledges that it is results - not performances - that matter most at this stage of the season.

"It would be a major disappointment if the fans were to affect the players. We are in the business of results and we need to get results," he added.

"We can play all the good football we want but, if we don't win, the fans will still be unhappy."


Taken from Sky Sports.....

He is digging at the fans who IMO have been amazingly patient so far and only really had a go in 1 game, which is incredible given the performance levels in many of the games. The final sentence says much though, and it also shows he is totally pig headed and won't take on board anything that the fans are actually upset about it. Not good. Clueless.

[Ian.]

This bit is worrying "We can play all the good football we want but, if we don't win, the fans will still be unhappy." We had a spell before and just after Christmas where we did try and play football but Lady Luck was not our side and we should have got more points than we deserved during this period.

Does this mean he tried it, it didn't work, now revert to type? Well I hope not because that is not working either.

I was becoming quite optimistic during that period of his managerial reign here and I thought the signs were positive. We had a few blips in halves against Wolves and QPR but that can happen while trying to adjust to a new system. We actually played Arsenal and Chelsea of the pitch so we can do it.

We need to go out and try and play football and also more importantly go out and try and win games. Then the fans might be happy.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

He's really starting to talk some shit, such as

"I want a bit of respite and I know how hard I work here. I've not got a magic wand and I don't think there are a lot of managers who could do a lot better than the job I am doing just now."

[Jimbo]

I think he's desperate to tell us "You don't know what I've been told to do here" but he's not going about it very well. Shades of O'Leary, but the old sugar bag was probably a better manager.

[Mister E]

I laughed out loud at that!

[Greg N'Ash]

To be fair i don't think anyone's listening. When your given  a minus fifteen million transfer budget to work with in the summer it should have been obvious to everyone he was gonna struggle to even come near to GH's league finish. Don't think even DOL got that sort of budget

[PaulWinch again]

He's really starting to talk some shit, such as

"I want a bit of respite and I know how hard I work here. I've not got a magic wand and I don't think there are a lot of managers who could do a lot better than the job I am doing just now."

I struggle to think of many who could do much worse. His results and football have been fucking atrocious. He's completely irrational now, so time to go.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I can think of a lot of people that could have done a better job, For one and it fucking pains me to say it, Martin O'Neill

[Phil from the upper holte]

In fact im sure me and some of my mates could do a better job than the ******

[Greg N'Ash]

well its mainly his shite buys so you would hope so. Bottom line is we're not going to get anyone much better than Mcleish. Our expections of a new guy don't match up with Lerner's shortlist, which seems to be based almost entirely on how desperate they are for a job - hell, this is the position that MartineZ went "shit, I'm not that mad" to - so a very very average manager with nowt to spent. Sound familiar?

[Eigentor]

In fact im sure me and some of my mates could do a better job than the c***

This is going too far. There are several managers who would have done an even worse job than McLeish. I agree that he's not impressive. But while we have some talented players, the squad is a hodge-podge of individuals and not easy to mould into a team. We are extremely weak in central midfield, and that works against us almost every single PL match. I'd say that only very talented manager would have taken this squad into the top eight (probably a manager that's so talented that he would not have accepted the job).

[pedro25]

Does he honestly think no other Premier League manager could get our squad higher than 15th, when we have had the likes of Bent, Gabby, Ireland, Dunne, Given, N'Zogbia, Keane, Petrov, Albrighton etc available?  He's on a different planet.