AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[pauliewalnuts]

If the club is determined to be wage neutral next year and the anticipated fall in attendances comes to fruition then McLeish’s job of working with one hand tied behind his back is just going to get that much more difficult. Even trying to emulate George Graham’s Arsenal may be a step too far and I fail to see how anyone could improve things.

That is the saddest thing of all. If we're going to have to live on what we generate, we are effectively running under the same basis we were under Doug.

That's not an "OMG! Randy is worse than Doug!" post, either, it's just an observation.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm amazed anyone expects free flowing football from us regardless of who is in charge. 18 months under BFR, 6 months under BL and i'm struggling to think of any other time where we've consistently played this football everyone thinks we should be playing.

[andyh]

I don't think anyone 'expects' free flowing football from us, but surely we should aspire to it ?

[Percy McCarthy]

A big part of it is because I've got a lot of faith in our youngsters, but I'm quietly confident we'll be happier next season.

Not delirious, but happier.

[NeilH]

I don't think anyone 'expects' free flowing football from us, but surely we should aspire to it ?

You can aspire to play free flowing football when you have both the luxury to be able to do so and the players to achieve it. We have neither and the only focus the club has right now is on cutting costs and surviving within the Premiership at all costs. We may well have the Proud History but the Bright Future has well and truly shuffled off its mortal coil. Right now we’re one of a number of teams whose sole purpose is to just get by. As fans it leaves a rotten taste in the mouth, but the only thing we can do about it is support.

[N'ZMAV]

I don't think anyone 'expects' free flowing football from us, but surely we should aspire to it ?

I don't expect free flowing, but with the players we have, and a goal scorer too, we should be doing better in terms of performances.

[Concrete John]

I really struggle to understand why people think that AM will suddenly change into a manger who plays attractive, flowing football; will sign quality players on the cheap and will make us a force in the game a game.

I don't, and never have, expected a free flowing side from him.  But I did expect one that was organised, difficult to beat and picked up a fair few 1-0 wins.  Think George Graham's Arsenal.  That's what his good spell at Blues (9th in the league & cup win) and Scotland sides were like.

I can accept a side that loses but tries to play a bit of football. I'll never accept us being sent out like we have under McLeish in a lot of matches this season to go for a draw, then on going a goal down, to keep the score down.

It's true, lots of results this season have been about the players more than the manager, but in a number of matches, tactically we were (to quote the Guardian after the Man U game) an ambiton-free disgrace, and that is the fault of the manager, not the players.

When we got him in as manager, I thought (and wrote in the fanzine at the time) that the worst thing he could do would be to send us out to play negatively and defensively like he did so often with his Blues team, and far too many times this season that's exactly what he has done.

I'm (of course) glad and incredibly relieved we got three points on Saturday, it lifts a great deal of pressure off us and lets us take a breather before we approach the next batch of games, but the real telling thing about McLeish won't be that he beat Fulham or how we gets on against Bolton next week, it'll be about how he sends us out to play against the "big" teams we still have to face.

If he sends us out to be as embarassingly negative as he had before, then he'll piss away the slight upturn in goodwill he has got / may get if we beat Bolton. You'd think he'd be hesitatnt to do that, but that's exactly what he did after we beat Chelsea and had a similar opportunity.

It's hard to argue with the sentiment of what you say - we all want Villa to play well and win, but at least try to if they can't achieve it.

Where I'm giving him some benefit of the doubt is in relation to how much is a tactical choice and how much is a relatively poor team being dominated by better side.  I still see blame to be attached to him even if the latter is the case, as he should have made us a better team by now with the players he has at his disposal, but everytime we get a negative result negative tactics are blamed, Arsenal at home aside, which I just don't think is the case.   

[KevinGage]

Now that we look to be safe - I cannot see even us losing ground to 11 points.  I think it is the perfect time to get rid of this truly awful manager.  We can put Sid in charge and starting looking for a new manager.  We can take our time and do it properly.   This would be the sensible thing to do.

I believe even Sid would find that ridiculous.

Well Sid or KM.   The point is that we have seen what AM is capabale of over the last 7 months and indeed during his previous roles to know he is NEVER going to be the right manager for us.  So now would be the right time to get rid and start looking.   But football chairmen rarely do the right thing.

Sid and KM are doing the job that McLeish put them in to do; looking after the kids and advising on their capabilities etc. Neither has got  a track record as a first team manager and may prefer to be as they are. Better the devil you know, is my view in this case. I think they are doing a good job between them and will only get better. If it had not been for the young players, we would have been in the shit but I think we would have had money to spend if that had been the case. As it happens, I think we are better off developing those that we have. If we had not played those kids, we would possibly have lost them to someone else. The value of them is immeasurable at this stage but time is on their side and they are ours. We will need to buy in the next transfer window but what a wealth of experience those lads have gained.
In summary - leave things as they are is my recommendation. I am more confident about this now than at any other point of the season.

The flipside to that DC5 is these young players whom we all value and cherish so highly are unlikely to thrive with McLeish's standard tactics.  I don't think it's any coincidence that Albrighton and Bannan - the two leading lights of the Academy- have struggled this season.  The Fonz barely features and Gardner- apart from a few moments of quality- hasn't looked at ease with first XI system either.   Wiemann scuffed a goal in on Saturday (and what a vital goal it was)  but has been largely anonymous apart from that. 

True, you won't get consistency and game changing performances from all of them.  And credit to McLeish to at least picking some of them. Occasionally. But a better pattern of play and a more progressive approach would surely utilise their talents far more. I don't just mean in the odd game here and there either -  a bright 20 minutes where we kept the ball for a bit because the opposition were either slow to start or didn't turn up. Trying to play the right way should be the norm, not the exception.

The only player out of the Academy set up that hasn't looked like a complete fish out of water is Herd - probably the least technically gifted of the bunch. 

If we had a rake of defenders, defensive midfielders  and general spoilers that had come through the set up at the same time, I'd say there would have been logic in an appointment like McLeish.

But with the players we actually have it makes the the decision even more questionable.

What we seem to all require now is a collective leap of faith - to believe that a manager who have never shown any real interest or aptitude for bringing players through or playing   with an expansive, progressive approach will suddenly have a Damascene conversion this late into his career.  For his sake (and ours)  I truly hope it happens.  That's all it is though - hope.  As nothing in his background shows it to be even a vaguely reasonable expectation.

[LeeB]

Well he didn't do Mikel Arteta any harm.

I'm unsure about his tactical approach, I can't see him bollocking people for showing attacking intent. I think some of his selections have been timid, but in others he's been quite brave with mixed results.

As others have pointed out, I think much of our problems have simply been lack of confidence and individual errors. We have talented players, but most of the senior ones are woefully inconsistent and mentally fragile, hence why they're with us and not a better side.

The manager can now relax a little as we're safe, and his focus has to be on overhauling this side on a shoestring, something I actually have far more confidence in with him than that pube-headed tossbucket O'Neill.

[Monty]

My problem with McLeish is simply that he seems too limited tactically - without ball defending, with ball attacking. In fact, holding possession is an effective defensive tactic, while pressing high up the pitch is very attacking. Everyone eulogises about the good football Swansea play, but they've scored 31 goals this season - the same as us. The point about technically good football is that it's just more effective. If you have the ball, they can't score, to paraphrase Brian Clough. Sure, you can point to plenty of games where the side who dominates ends up getting beat, but by and large, if you dominate games you'll get better results overall. Possession isn't a luxury - it is actually the safest, most effective way to play the game.

[ez]

It would be nice to hear some assurances from the club along the lines of, 'The club are doing everything possible to ensure this seasons poor form doesn't continue next season'. Well theres still time. Seasons not over yet.

[pauliewalnuts]

It would be nice to hear some assurances from the club along the lines of, 'The club are doing everything possible to ensure this seasons poor form doesn't continue next season'. Well theres still time. Seasons not over yet.

What would be the point of that, though?

People would just say (rightly) "don't tell us, show us".

Surely not being shit is a given as an aim of football clubs?

[JUAN PABLO]

What I find incredible, is that so many believe that there are managers out there that can do a better job and so few are questioning why it is, that in planning for next season we can only consider free transfers, whilst further cutting the squad down.

                   I think this is rubbish Neil , sorry mate .  McLeish still has got a good squad and should be higher up than he is .   Posters on here , keep going on how poor this league is at the moment , which makes it even worse to be honest.

[PeterWithe]

Surely not being shit is a given as an aim of football clubs?

Remember a few years ago when it was all the rage to have a company mission statement, you know you told everyone what it was you did and had always done but you threw in the latest buzz statements as well. Perhaps we could revive that 'We are Aston Villa, we'll try not to be shit'

[MonsXI]

Our "This is Anfield" sign "We are Aston Villa, we'll try not to be shit"