AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[pauliewalnuts]

We're currently a club trying to get our house in financial order and to do that a reduction in attendances is not going to help. By my calculations, it's far more cost effective to sack Alex McLeish and bring somebody else in, a simple case of comparing the values of lost season ticket sales against compensation. The club are serious about reducing the costs and I'm sure they are equally serious about the revenue, so if they do the math, I can't see how they can go on with McLeish. It really is that simple..

I see your point, Mark, but I still don't believe the board will think that way.

He's bought into McLeish big style. The fact he's letting him sign players for next season says he's going to be here.

There's not a prayer he'll be sacked.

This was my point.
They crunched the numbers and it would clearly appear that they see it as financially better for him to stay. All the evidence points to a man very secure in his position and building for next season. All the evidence points to a board prepared to accept a large drop off in attendances to enable McLeish to do just that.

I think he's secure but I'm not too sure it'll be because they've calculated the financially best option.

I think it's much more to do that Randy finds him "a good conversationalist" and he has that letter of recommendation from Ferguson. He's really that clueless.

[NeilH]

We're currently a club trying to get our house in financial order and to do that a reduction in attendances is not going to help. By my calculations, it's far more cost effective to sack Alex McLeish and bring somebody else in, a simple case of comparing the values of lost season ticket sales against compensation. The club are serious about reducing the costs and I'm sure they are equally serious about the revenue, so if they do the math, I can't see how they can go on with McLeish. It really is that simple..

I see your point, Mark, but I still don't believe the board will think that way.

He's bought into McLeish big style. The fact he's letting him sign players for next season says he's going to be here.

There's not a prayer he'll be sacked.

This was my point.
They crunched the numbers and it would clearly appear that they see it as financially better for him to stay. All the evidence points to a man very secure in his position and building for next season. All the evidence points to a board prepared to accept a large drop off in attendances to enable McLeish to do just that.

I think he's secure but I'm not too sure it'll be because they've calculated the financially best option.

I think it's much more to do that Randy finds him "a good conversationalist" and he has that letter of recommendation from Ferguson. He's really that clueless.

Paulie, I think you perhaps underestimate Faulkner. He's managed to grow our commercial revenue in a time of crisis and so is clearly a man that understands business very well indeed.

The problem is that neither he nor Lerner are football men and they have spectacularly misjudged the best course of action to stem the runaway costs ran up by MON with Lerner's half arsed quality control.

[Goldie.7]

He's not going anywhere, be it this season or the next.

7 wins in 29, 2 wins in 2012; its beyond piss poor.

1st win was from a player that isn't here no more.
2nd win came via a goalkeeping error.

It's just embarrassing now the board must know this over anything, I think he'll be gone in the next month slash 6 weeks and good riddance too.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

We're currently a club trying to get our house in financial order and to do that a reduction in attendances is not going to help. By my calculations, it's far more cost effective to sack Alex McLeish and bring somebody else in, a simple case of comparing the values of lost season ticket sales against compensation. The club are serious about reducing the costs and I'm sure they are equally serious about the revenue, so if they do the math, I can't see how they can go on with McLeish. It really is that simple..

I see your point, Mark, but I still don't believe the board will think that way.

He's bought into McLeish big style. The fact he's letting him sign players for next season says he's going to be here.

There's not a prayer he'll be sacked.

I'm not so sure. What alternatives do they have, let's just imagine they decide to financially back him and bring in not just Bosmans but a couple of decent, quality players. Will it change the mood, not to mention bums on seats? I very much doubt it. We might start winning a lot more games, you might hear good reports from those that were at the game but it still won't be enough to get the numbers back that a new manager would bring.

A lot has been said about McCleish, most of it OTT, he's not half as bad as most claim him to be but the truth is, he's also not that good and by 'good' I mean getting the best out of the players he has available. Admittedly he's had to put up with the childish backlash from some of our fans since his appointment but rather than fight back, he's just taken it on the chin. Yes, he has broad shoulders but sadly in modern football, that's just not enough. I'd much prefer him to be angry, to say the monkeys climbing the Villa Park gates are morons and to go out there and prove them wrong. Nothing would make me happier. The problem is he doesn't have the killer punches in him, he's more of a sparring partner than a potential heavyweigtht title fighter. He's not even middle weight. Strong, yes. Experienced, yes. Knows about the game, for sure but not enough to headline, even at Villa Park. Fear is his worst enemy.

With hindsight, if he'd come out fighting and punching from the first game of the season, maybe he could have maybe be line to wear the crown as Villa manager but he started off all cagey against some weak opposition, teams that we should have knocked down in the early rounds. He's now just too slow and heavy, the punches throughout the season have made him a non-contender and his days are numbered. Not even the best coaches can help him at this stage in his career, it's just a question of taking more punches on his last big pay day.

The other reason apart from the financial side that Randy should be considering is how do you properly replace your man half way through a season. The answer to that is you can't, so best move now, in the summer and give somebody else a go. As I said, Rogers would be a very popular choice and it's up to Randy Lerner to go out and convince him that Villa Park is where he'd be best suited to apply his trade. Wait until Christmas and it will be Curbishley or McClaren. Even the anti-McLeish mob delighted at his sacking, won't be queuing up to but half season tickets.

In the end, it's all about the money.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I think you perhaps underestimate Faulkner. He's managed to grow our commercial revenue in a time of crisis and so is clearly a man that understands business very well indeed.

I take your point but the growth is very subjective. I'm not doubting his achievement in doing a very decent job but let's be honest, when the benchmark is the values under Ellis, all we are doing is playing catch up. Now just imagine the commercial revenue with a decent product. Even under MON and finishing 6th every year, despite all the branding investment, the product was at best, ordinary.

[pauliewalnuts]

A lot has been said about McCleish, most of it OTT, he's not half as bad as most claim him to be but the truth is, he's also not that good and by 'good' I mean getting the best out of the players he has available. Admittedly he's had to put up with the childish backlash from some of our fans since his appointment but rather than fight back, he's just taken it on the chin. Yes, he has broad shoulders but sadly in modern football, that's just not enough. I'd much prefer him to be angry, to say the monkeys climbing the Villa Park gates are morons and to go out there and prove them wrong. Nothing would make me happier. The problem is he doesn't have the killer punches in him, he's more of a sparring partner than a potential heavyweigtht title fighter. He's not even middle weight. Strong, yes. Experienced, yes. Knows about the game, for sure but not enough to headline, even at Villa Park. Fear is his worst enemy.

The thing is, there were a handful of idiots climbing the gates, and 100 or so running around waving placards, but he didn't have to worry about those, there weren't enough of them to be too much of a problem.

There were, though, a massive number of people who were deeply unconvinced by the appointment, and afraid it would result in dour, defensive football and poor results, but at the same time happy to be proven wrong.

Sadly, he's not done anything like enough to win these people over - and these are the ones he needed to reach, rather than the placard botherers.

The most infuriating thing is that there were a few occasions where we got a glimpse of a team playing some good football - whether as a result of his instructions, I don't know, but they did it all the same.

Off the top of my head, I can think of Norwich at home, Arsenal at home (applauded off despite losing), QPR at home (applauded), and Chelsea away.

To my mind, the most crucial matches this season were the bunch which followed those four matches, those were the games where he had a chance to reach out and grab those waiting to be convinced, and win them over.

And what did he do? He resorted to type at the first possible opportunity every time. He threw it away.

It is interesting to see that, now, he is also increasingly taking the "everyone's fault except my own" approach that O'Leary loved to plunder. That is only going to make things worse for him in the long run.

Look at the nonsense he spouted after Saturday about us "expecting to win" there - really, that isn't just totally wrong, it is also border line offensive. If he can't understand or admit that the main problem isn't that we keep losing, or failing to win, it is the way he sends us out to play, then he's never going to build bridges.

Look at Man U at home, for example. When do we ever win that fixture? How many of the 40k Villa fans in the ground that day thought we really had a chance of the three points? Next to none of them, I'd think. But I reckon pretty much every single one of them would have been disgusted at the total lack of ambition we showed that day, and it was far from the only occasion we have done that this year.

Unfortunately, despite all that, I reckon he is safe as houses in his job.

[Clampy]

A lot has been said about McCleish, most of it OTT, he's not half as bad as most claim him to be but the truth is, he's also not that good and by 'good' I mean getting the best out of the players he has available. Admittedly he's had to put up with the childish backlash from some of our fans since his appointment but rather than fight back, he's just taken it on the chin. Yes, he has broad shoulders but sadly in modern football, that's just not enough. I'd much prefer him to be angry, to say the monkeys climbing the Villa Park gates are morons and to go out there and prove them wrong. Nothing would make me happier. The problem is he doesn't have the killer punches in him, he's more of a sparring partner than a potential heavyweigtht title fighter. He's not even middle weight. Strong, yes. Experienced, yes. Knows about the game, for sure but not enough to headline, even at Villa Park. Fear is his worst enemy.

The thing is, there were a handful of idiots climbing the gates, and 100 or so running around waving placards, but he didn't have to worry about those, there weren't enough of them to be too much of a problem.

There were, though, a massive number of people who were deeply unconvinced by the appointment, and afraid it would result in dour, defensive football and poor results, but at the same time happy to be proven wrong.

Sadly, he's not done anything like enough to win these people over - and these are the ones he needed to reach, rather than the placard botherers.

Absolutley spot on and pretty much what i've touched on a few times during the season.

Lerner and Faulkner saw the protest in pre-season as 'anti blues' and the unfortunate thing is that's exactly what is was.

I think the best thing that can happen is for McLeish to part company with the club. Everyone would breathe a huge sigh of relief, even those i suspect who are against the protests. Some things are for the best.

[ozzjim]

Spot on Paulie. The recent tone of his interviews are almost completely reminiscent of the final months at Blues apparently according to 2 season ticket holders from St Andrews, and the football got more and more cautious the deeper into trouble they got, and worryingly the less fight they could muster. All in all, he appears to not be able to instill that fight, desire and confidence you need to go and win games. One of the Blues fans at work said he will be blaming the injury list in the next couple of weeks on Friday. He started this morning. Deflecting anything away from the complete hash he has made of the job is his sole aim at the moment. I guess we would all try it on his wages, although you would hope the man that manages him would have noticed and given him some short term targets or face the boot. I think PF simply likes having Eck around as a mate. It is the only sane explanation I can think of.

[bertlambshank]

Spot on Clampy.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I reckon he is safe as houses in his job.

That may be the case but then it turns upside down the notion that we're trying to get our house in order. It would be a simple case of Randy cutting off his nose to spite his face by sticking with him. Even George Osbourne could see the simple economic outcome of keeping McCleish as manager.

[Clampy]

I reckon he is safe as houses in his job.

That may be the case but then it turns upside down the notion that we're trying to get our house in order. It would be a simple case of Randy cutting off his nose to spite his face by sticking with him. Even George Osbourne could see the simple economic outcome of keeping McCleish as manager.

I've had two bets with different people that he'll be gone. The Brett Holman signing made me doubt it for a while but i can't see him being here next season.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I reckon he is safe as houses in his job.

That may be the case but then it turns upside down the notion that we're trying to get our house in order. It would be a simple case of Randy cutting off his nose to spite his face by sticking with him. Even George Osbourne could see the simple economic outcome of keeping McCleish as manager.

I've had two bets with different people that he'll be gone. The Brett Holman signing made me doubt it for a while but i can't see him being here next season.

To nick Paulie's line, I think your bets are as safe as houses.

[john e]

if things continue as they have been there is just no way he can hang on,
 things arn't getting better, if anything even the AM loyal diehards are struggling to keep a positive attitude, and resort to 'we have to support the team' mantra, which is in my view laudable but not good enough to keep the fella in charge.

i think on the whole the fans at the grounds have been pretty fair with Mcliesh, but it wont last much longer if things stay the same way, because there is just no future in it for anyone concerned.

there are no signs from Randy because he's never here, so we just dont know what he's thinking, but he will know the situation is getting worse as every week goes by, and at some point will have to act, its as simple as that.

i have said before and time will tell but i just cant see him being in charge at VP next year, and will be gone by Christmas

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Fear is his worst enemy.

Oh shit.
Are VFC making a comeback?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I think PF simply likes having Eck around as a mate. It is the only sane explanation I can think of.

I think a lot of it was his attitude post 5-1 drubbing, most Managers would be grumpy and unwilling to socialise.
By all accounts McLeish was friendly and personable to Randy and Co.
Doubtless they saw it as strength of character to be like that after such an arse whipping.
'What a guy!' They must have thought.