AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[not3bad]

Can not see him being removed. This season has felt like an exercise by the club to manage expectations down.

This has certainly been well executed.

Absolutely agree.
Lerner has played hard ball with us this season, hoping that next season we are marginally better and the plebs will accept that given the football landscape at present.
We are stuck with this melon, and the only possible way we can change it is to vote with our non renewals, which is what I have done.

i cant believe your saying these things

Give that man a medal he is saying what many of us have been harping on about all season AM HAS TO GO

The problem is that it doesn't matter what "many of us" are saying, it matters what Randy Lerner is saying.  And if Randy Lerner is saying Mcleish stays, then he stays.

[Rick_avfc]

I struggle to understand why people genuinely believe that McLeish will be sacked at the end of the season.  This is a man whom the owner and CEO defied fans protests and payed compensation to our rivals to lure him to our club.  The club has spent in excess of £12m paying off previous managers so the last thing they would want to do is go down that road again - even if we got relegated.  I firmly believe that Mcleish's only objective this season was to survive by any means necessary.  If by luck we managed to get into Europe then that would have been a bonus.  We might as well get used to it that he is here for the long term. 

I for one, do not believe he is the right man for the job and wish the club would sack him but it ain't going to happen.  I believe that should the same happen next year regarding our position in the league, they will still keep him as long as we maintain premiership status.  I could be very very wrong and I really hope I am so i can go and eat humple pie but i just cant see it.
I can see them giving him money though in the summer to buy new players......players he wants so that he can stamp his authority on them. 

I have no problems with fans wanting to protest or even boycott matches and not renewing season tickets.  Hopefully that will make them open their eyes.

[JJ-AV]

I'd be amazed if he didn't get until Christmas.

If it were up to me I'd have got rid a long time ago, but I can see why they want to give him the Summer and the start of next season.

[Concrete John]

I'd be amazed if he didn't get until Christmas.

If it were up to me I'd have got rid a long time ago, but I can see why they want to give him the Summer and the start of next season.

I can't, if they plan to invest again, as that may leave a new man with a set of someone else's players on long contracts. 

[Dante Lavelli]

I think the acid test for Randy will be ST sales and as we all know these can be purchased right up to the start of the season.  The galling thing about this is that there will not be enough time to find a decent replacement by then. 

If they are even thinking about getting rid of him, I’d like to think that they’re formulating ideas of what they want now and who might be able to facilitate that as manager.

Despite my hunch that he will leave, I think they’re going to balls it up again, largely by being fair and decent people.  Damn their honesty and elastic trust!

[ktvillan]

The goal.com article made me chuckle.

"Senior officials are believed to be alarmed at the conservative style of football under McLeish, which has yielded the fourth worst goals record in the league this season, and falling attendances at Villa Park."

As if it's a major surprise,  and something that a quick look at his PL managerial record would not have warned you about.  Or 38,000 people shouting "noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo". 

[itbrvilla]

The goal.com article made me chuckle.

"Senior officials are believed to be alarmed at the conservative style of football under McLeish, which has yielded the fourth worst goals record in the league this season, and falling attendances at Villa Park."

As if it's a major surprise,  and something that a quick look at his PL managerial record would not have warned you about.  Or 38,000 people shouting "noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo". 

Look at his rangers record.  Now that is alarming!!!!

[David_Nab]

If ST sales are well down and the reason being giving when they are calling people is the manager then it might be more cost effective to sack him then keep him.You have to not just take in the loss of income from the ticket alone but loss of revenue from food ,drink etc sales on match day

I think at the moment the real fear of the drop is keeping the fans on matchday from really turning on him but should we get to a point we are safe I expect it to turn nasty.

[Dante Lavelli]

If ST sales are well down and the reason being giving when they are calling people is the manager then it might be more cost effective to sack him then keep him.You have to not just take in the loss of income from the ticket alone but loss of revenue from food ,drink etc sales on match day

I think at the moment the real fear of the drop is keeping the fans on matchday from really turning on him but should we get to a point we are safe I expect it to turn nasty.

As I inferred above, the problem here is that the board - if being fair - would probably have to wait until August to pull the trigger.  By which time any manager would reluctant to do a “MON” and drop their current club in it.  I hope that the canvasing of current ST holders was so they could justifiably sack him early in the close season.

[john e]

I struggle to understand why people genuinely believe that McLeish will be sacked at the end of the season.  This is a man whom the owner and CEO defied fans protests and payed compensation to our rivals to lure him to our club.  The club has spent in excess of £12m paying off previous managers so the last thing they would want to do is go down that road again - even if we got relegated.  I firmly believe that Mcleish's only objective this season was to survive by any means necessary.  If by luck we managed to get into Europe then that would have been a bonus.  We might as well get used to it that he is here for the long term. 

I for one, do not believe he is the right man for the job and wish the club would sack him but it ain't going to happen.  I believe that should the same happen next year regarding our position in the league, they will still keep him as long as we maintain premiership status.  I could be very very wrong and I really hope I am so i can go and eat humple pie but i just cant see it.
I can see them giving him money though in the summer to buy new players......players he wants so that he can stamp his authority on them. 

I have no problems with fans wanting to protest or even boycott matches and not renewing season tickets.  Hopefully that will make them open their eyes.

well you might be strugggling to see why people think he will be sacked,
when i cant think of one, not one reason why Randy will keep him on, he been a disaster in every area, if people think bringing the wage bill down is a sign of success i think not, he didnt do that anyway, the club do that.

there is not a single reason when you look logicaly at it that would be worth giving AM another season, i know you can say Randy wont look at it logicaly,
and yes he has made the big mistake in the original appointment, but he is not that stupid, he knows what he has to do, its as plain as the nose on his face

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I struggle to understand why people genuinely believe that McLeish will be sacked at the end of the season.  This is a man whom the owner and CEO defied fans protests and payed compensation to our rivals to lure him to our club.  The club has spent in excess of £12m paying off previous managers so the last thing they would want to do is go down that road again - even if we got relegated.  I firmly believe that Mcleish's only objective this season was to survive by any means necessary.  If by luck we managed to get into Europe then that would have been a bonus.  We might as well get used to it that he is here for the long term. 

I for one, do not believe he is the right man for the job and wish the club would sack him but it ain't going to happen.  I believe that should the same happen next year regarding our position in the league, they will still keep him as long as we maintain premiership status.  I could be very very wrong and I really hope I am so i can go and eat humple pie but i just cant see it.
I can see them giving him money though in the summer to buy new players......players he wants so that he can stamp his authority on them. 

I have no problems with fans wanting to protest or even boycott matches and not renewing season tickets.  Hopefully that will make them open their eyes.

well you might be strugggling to see why people think he will be sacked,
when i cant think of one, not one reason why Randy will keep him on, he been a disaster in every area, if people think bringing the wage bill down is a sign of success i think not, he didnt do that anyway, the club do that.

there is not a single reason when you look logicaly at it that would be worth giving AM another season, i know you can say Randy wont look at it logicaly,
and yes he has made the big mistake in the original appointment, but he is not that stupid, he knows what he has to do, its as plain as the nose on his face

I hope to God you're right.

[Monty]

Don't know if it's been posted anywhere else, but here are some quotes from Alex Hleb, now at Krylya Sovetov in Russia, talking about his time at Blues:

"At Birmingham, the team played the long-ball game, practically bypassing midfield," Hleb told Russian website RIA Novosti.

"To get into the game you had to play up front or linger at the back with the defenders to get hold of the ball, which more often than not flew right past me.

"The day before a game he would come onto the pitch and show us what to do: 'You stand here, the goalkeeper will give you the ball here, kick it as far as you can and don't pass to anyone nearby. And we all run.'"

Sounds incredibly damning to me, not to mention familiar.

[PaulWinch again]

I struggle to understand why people genuinely believe that McLeish will be sacked at the end of the season.  This is a man whom the owner and CEO defied fans protests and payed compensation to our rivals to lure him to our club.  The club has spent in excess of £12m paying off previous managers so the last thing they would want to do is go down that road again - even if we got relegated.  I firmly believe that Mcleish's only objective this season was to survive by any means necessary.  If by luck we managed to get into Europe then that would have been a bonus.  We might as well get used to it that he is here for the long term. 

I for one, do not believe he is the right man for the job and wish the club would sack him but it ain't going to happen.  I believe that should the same happen next year regarding our position in the league, they will still keep him as long as we maintain premiership status.  I could be very very wrong and I really hope I am so i can go and eat humple pie but i just cant see it.
I can see them giving him money though in the summer to buy new players......players he wants so that he can stamp his authority on them. 

I have no problems with fans wanting to protest or even boycott matches and not renewing season tickets.  Hopefully that will make them open their eyes.

well you might be strugggling to see why people think he will be sacked,
when i cant think of one, not one reason why Randy will keep him on, he been a disaster in every area, if people think bringing the wage bill down is a sign of success i think not, he didnt do that anyway, the club do that.

there is not a single reason when you look logicaly at it that would be worth giving AM another season, i know you can say Randy wont look at it logicaly,
and yes he has made the big mistake in the original appointment, but he is not that stupid, he knows what he has to do, its as plain as the nose on his face

I hope to God you're right.

So do I.

[pauliewalnuts]

Don't know if it's been posted anywhere else, but here are some quotes from Alex Hleb, now at Krylya Sovetov in Russia, talking about his time at Blues:

"At Birmingham, the team played the long-ball game, practically bypassing midfield," Hleb told Russian website RIA Novosti.

"To get into the game you had to play up front or linger at the back with the defenders to get hold of the ball, which more often than not flew right past me.

"The day before a game he would come onto the pitch and show us what to do: 'You stand here, the goalkeeper will give you the ball here, kick it as far as you can and don't pass to anyone nearby. And we all run.'"

Sounds incredibly damning to me, not to mention familiar.

It is, frankly, terrifying.

[Legion]

Hardly a tactical genius...