AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[berneboy]

"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go"

[cheltenhamlion]

Not far off a potted version of an article I have written for the next fanzine.

[Dante Lavelli]

And to give him a 3 year contract to boot. The ultimate in fuckwittedness Any normal chairman would have given him a year. Mind you any normal chairman wouldn't have employed him

What sort of long term planning is  giving a new manager one year?  I’m not justifying the selection of Mcleish but to say giving a new manger one year is normal is bonkers.

[PaulWinch again]

"Alex Trinity asked “Hi Matt, do you feel with your inside knowledge that there will be big changes come the summer.”


Mat Kendrick: Aex Trinity. I think there will be a change of manager and I think there could be several players coming and going. Hopefully it will lead to a change of fortunes on the pitch with fans able to look up rather than down the table. I don't think all of a sudden multi-millions will be made available for signings, however, because Villa are still battling to get back on a financial even keel"


Read More http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2012/05/03/aston-villa-mat-kendrick-on-how-the-clubs-fortunes-can-change-97319-30895057/?#ixzz1tp4YA0ZV

More encouraging, I hope he's bang on. We need Mcleish out of the club badly. Any post season performance review will clearly show he has done a truly dreadful job in every possible way.

[ozzjim]

And to give him a 3 year contract to boot. The ultimate in fuckwittedness Any normal chairman would have given him a year. Mind you any normal chairman wouldn't have employed him

What sort of long term planning is  giving a new manager one year?  I’m not justifying the selection of Mcleish but to say giving a new manger one year is normal is bonkers.

I think a 2 year with a 12 month extension on the clubs side is reasonable.

[nodge]

Well PF the CEO and his PR about AM and the PL can GTF!

[Dave Clark Five]

Look i want rid of AM as much as most, but like everyone else I can't just repeat that mantra constantly to myself in the hope he'll go away. All i'm doing, as a fellow fan, is passing on the information that was given to be by the same guy that I mentioned a few posts ago. He has been in PF's company again very recently (in a business environment) and was told unequivocally that AM's staying. Its got nothing to do with how much i post or don't post. That's what i  was told; obviously it could be corporate PR spin, it  wasn't a one to one conversation, others were present, and everone is going to say, 'well , he's hardly going to say otherwise is he?' but the line from VP is, and has always been,  according to my guy, that AM will be given a fair chance. It pisses me off no end, but I reealy can see him being here for the foreseeable.

When the truth needs telling, it has to be told.

[bertlambshank]

Look i want rid of AM as much as most, but like everyone else I can't just repeat that mantra constantly to myself in the hope he'll go away. All i'm doing, as a fellow fan, is passing on the information that was given to be by the same guy that I mentioned a few posts ago. He has been in PF's company again very recently (in a business environment) and was told unequivocally that AM's staying. Its got nothing to do with how much i post or don't post. That's what i  was told; obviously it could be corporate PR spin, it  wasn't a one to one conversation, others were present, and everone is going to say, 'well , he's hardly going to say otherwise is he?' but the line from VP is, and has always been,  according to my guy, that AM will be given a fair chance. It pisses me off no end, but I reealy can see him being here for the foreseeable.

When the truth needs telling, it has to be told.

The more I think about it its PF who should be getting the abuse.The man is a shit.

[VillaAlways]

What sort of long term planning is  giving a new manager one year?  I’m not justifying the selection of Mcleish but to say giving a new manger one year is normal is bonkers.

 

A one year rolling contract was what I meant

[adrenachrome]

Daily Mail


No more Mr Nice Guy if Villa want bums on seats

By Neil Moxley

Managers pass before sports reporters with increasing regularity these days.

For instance, the shelf-life of a Championship boss was, at the last time of looking, around 13 months.

As a hack, it doesn't give you much time to forge a relationship, but you try your best.

And we see all sorts pass before us.

The good, bad and ugly.

Obviously, given time, alliances are formed. Friendships, even, in many cases.

On a personal level, I have to say that I've enjoyed working with Alex McLeish.

It's over four-and-a-half years since he arrived from Scotland. During that time he has proved himself to be one of the good guys.

Ask him for a favour and it was done.

For me, that request was for McLeish to phone a friend of mine who was battling bowel cancer, to give him a gee up.

He took the number and made the call. No fuss. 'Nae bother,' as he said afterwards.
 

What's more, two months later, he even asked how my friend was getting on.

Touch of class, that.

There have been several occasions when he has demonstrated that in public.

I thought he handled the situation over Martin Taylor's tackle on Eduardo with grace in the face of severe provocation.

And, in difficult circumstances, he has tried to maintain an equilibrium this season.

McLeish has though, incredibly, united a divided football city in its' dislike for one individual. But I have to say he is a man with whom I'm sure most football supporters would happily share a pint.

However, reporters also have a responsibility to their readers who are, in many cases, football supporters too.

Having been present at Villa Park last week for the defeat against Bolton, I now think the relationship between the club and its fans has become one of total disconnect.

Much as it pains me to write, McLeish is pretty much the sole cause for that.

In 18 years of covering Villa, the only other occasion I'd known such a poisonous atmosphere at Villa Park was on the night of the Birmingham derby in March 2003.

That was for altogether darker reasons.

But the evidence of that schism between a club and its' fan-base - and it exists - will manifest itself in a drop in season-ticket sales, merchandising and a fall in sales of corporate seats.

That is what will happen this summer if nothing changes at Villa Park. The gap between the club and its supporters will widen against a continued backdrop of unrest.

Eighteen months ago, I penned a pretty vicious piece in which I suggested it was time for Gerard Houllier to be shown the door.

The disconnect then was between the manager and his players.

Eventually, it turned out okay. After the owner spent £24m - and safety was then only assured with two games of the season to go.

There is no doubt that Villa would have been in a far stickier spot had Randy Lerner not dug deep. Darren Bent's goal-return is evidence of that.

This time the disconnect is between the manager and the supporters.

They may not have grasped McLeish to their bosom. But they have given him a chance.

(I would hope that Villa fans ditch any pre-match protest against the manager for the good of the club this Sunday. By my reckoning they need one point to limp over the line. It would be nice if there was an air of positivity. Spurs are not exuding the same confidence they did back in November.)

All I would point out is that if he remains in place and if he is allowed to spend significant money in the transfer market this summer, what happens if Villa lose their opening two matches next season?

More howls from the Holte... and we would be on the way towards another 12 months of civil war. Opinions will become even more trenchant and the swathes of claret coloured seats will become more evident.

On the pitch, I cannot point towards much, if anything, that has improved over the past 12 months.

Several of the younger players have been given a chance, I suppose.

But exciting, edge-of-your seat football? Er, not at Villa Park, no. (Well, it will be edge-of-the-seat stuff for all the wrong reasons this weekend.)

The fact is, McLeish's appointment was flawed in its conception and its execution.

Despite the fact that Aston Villa seem determined to hand over as much money as possible to a succession of managers, they may need to find some more.

Because in the long-term paying that price is going to be damn sight cheaper than counting up the money and goodwill lost through the continued disaffection of the club's supporter-base.

And surely, surely, those in power can see that.

[villadelph]

Wow, Moxley going against McLeish.. I almost can't believe it. At least he manned up to that Houllier Out article he wrote.

[PeterWithe]

Good article, sums up my feeling for AM, seems a decent enough bloke but he was wrong for the club then just as he is now. Oh, apart from the bit that last Tuesday was some sort of Brummie version of a Bosch painting, it wasn't that bad, an uncomfortable five minutes for McLeish but that's all. I was probably to blame for Moxley thinking that as I bellowed down his ear from behind the press box.

[villajk]

Excellent article.

[villajk]

From Matthew Turvey of  the Express and Star.


Protest? Sadly they don’t care what we think
Friday 4th May 2012, 7:21AM BST.



Planned protests throw the spectre of an ugly game to come at the weekend.  Matthew Turvey asks if protests are productive, or merely a waste of time, energy, and anger.

With the last home game coming this weekend, much focus has turned to, and will continue to turn to, the future of Alex McLeish.

With Aston Villa offering a short and anodyne statement regarding the short term situation at the club, many people have tried reading into it to get some insight into what is going on.

Is Alex McLeish staying?  Is he going?  Is the statement meant to infer “Here’s only here till the end of the season” or “We are fully supporting the man in charge”?

The dreaded “vote of confidence” has usually pre-empted the sacking of manager who have suffered with poor form so, to that end, Villa fans looking for some belief that change is coming will be reading that.

However, that is the problem with any of these unclear statements – they get subjectively validated.  People will read what they want and be none the wiser.  The reality is that the only people who know definitively what is happening to McLeish is the board and, as we well know, they are far from communicative.

Their decision to not make a clear cut statement may come to backfire though as the Tottenham Hotspur promises, even if it doesn’t deliver, a toxic atmosphere. 

Many fans who I know personally have said they are going to leave their kids at home for the game, as they don’t want them exposed to what is being planned.

Such a statement may sound overly dramatic, but it is pretty clear that the residual tension and anger towards the former Birmingham boss has been percolating. 

Those who have sat back for the most part of the season have been quiet because they believed things would change, but the statement infers to them that McLeish may be going nowhere.  These people may well be patient, but such a statement, as subjective as their reading of it is, is acting like a straw that broke the camels back.

After all, there is a solid argument for why the team shouldn’t be disrupted at present with Villa’s confidence in a very fragile state.  However, if change doesn’t happen, many fans have serious concerns as to how the club may develop under another season of McLeish’s stewardship.

Maybe giving the man from Barrhead money will make next season better than this, if McLeish stays on, but few people want to even try that option even though, in reality, the control of our club, since it was delisted from the stock market, is very limited.

Sure, we can protest.  We can make a lot of noise and show, in no uncertain terms, that we are not happy with the manager.  We can do the same for the CEO and the owner if we like but, when it comes down to it, if a stubborn man wants to hold his nerve and is willing to live with the financial ramifications, there is nothing else that fans can do.

Yes, they can stop buying season tickets and, yes, this will have a financial impact on the revenue that Randy Lerner can realise for the club, both as its own entity or as a method of making money for the American dollar billionaire.

The reality is, as much as fans can be angry, that season ticket sales (and matchday revenue as a whole) comprises far less of a portion of revenue compared to days goneby.  In an era where corporate sponsorship is the new money maker, we’ve seen clubs like Manchester United put sponsors on their training kit.

That’s right.  Not on the shirts their players wear to play in the Premier League, but on the club’s training kit, and we are not talking about small sums either.

The same thing that made the Premier League one of the most exciting leagues in the world because of its ability to attract great players – money – is the same thing that is killing all of our collective passions. 

We have to consider that the game as we know it – the game we all own ever since our first time kicking a tin can in the street – is gone in real terms.  Sure, there are still 11 players playing against 11.  Goals still count for one point each, and there are still yellow and red cards.

In real terms, if you don’t care to look deeper, then you could fool yourself to think it is the same game you or I play on a Saturday and Sunday mornings in parks and fields up and down the country. 

You could think that the same honest, working man’s game is alive and kicking but, sadly, you’d be wrong.  It may look the same, it may well play the same (mostly), but it is a bastardised relation of that game, with money as the new God.

It isn’t the same game when massive players used to kick wingers in the air and get nothing more than a wagged finger.  It isn’t the same game where pitches resembled bogs and marshes, even at the very top level.

Some may laud the change as progress, as a stride forwards in quality and watchability, whilst others, dulled by their inability of their club to compete, have become bored with the new, castrated, non working-class sport.

But if clubs in the present climate take more notice of a corporate sponsor pulling their deal than what the fans think, can we really consider football our game any more?

Something to think about if the protests go ahead.  Shout louder if you want.  The sad reality is that Randy, in his stubbornness, probably doesn’t care what you think.  Well unless you’re the owner of Genting.

You’re not, are you?



Read more: http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/aston-villa-fc/2012/05/04/protest-sadly-they-dont-care-what-we-think/#ixzz1tsizVU66

[sid1964]

If McLeish stays then Aston Villa Football Club, will not have a penny more out of me whilst he is in charge.

I will not renew my season ticket to watch that rubbish again next season!

If there is going to be some sort of protest  then, I think that on Sunday no matter what the score...in the 81st and 82nd minutes the crowd should tell Mcleish exactly what they think of him. (81 we won the league, 82 the European Cup).
We need to keep the pressure on him! and on Lerner and Faulkner and leave them in no doubt that we want this man out of our club!