AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[maidstonevillain]

Don't worry. McAllister was making similar noises this time last year.

And he did a much better job. In fact we should have kept him./

[myf]

He also said he thinks he has fans backing him. made the excuse of injuries and having to play the kids. Intimated he has discussed targets with the owners

[PaulMcGrathsNo5Shirt]

Has he gone yet?

[PaulWinch again]

Has the fans backing? I don't think many managers have ever had less backing universally from the fans.

[Stu]

He also said he thinks he has fans backing him. made the excuse of injuries and having to play the kids. Intimated he has discussed targets with the owners

As the fans can't interact with him directly, its up to the journalists to make the point that even before the injuries, the team wasn't performing.

[ez]

Well he will know there is a job vacancy in the midlands so perhaps he will make himself available for it like he did before.

[Ad@m]

Put on post match thread that I hope he is just sending a message to RL & PF that he isn't jumping, so they're going to have to push him.

Push him?! I want them to fire him out of a cannon!

[NeilH]

I think its simple really. Once the Norwich game is over and the dust has settled, the powers that be need to grow a pair of bollocks, realise that this has been a fundamental error of judgement and do what is best for the long term future of the club and the relationship between the board and fans.

Despite all my reservations I think the Bolton game has forced their hand and the right decision will be made.

[SoccerHQ]

Mcleish still thinks he has the back of the fans?!!

The man dosen't have a clue....as soon as the final whistle went, the "fcuk off McLeish" from the Holte was loud and proud.

[curiousorange]

If McLeish has had personal backing from a number of fans I can only imagine they were struck into circumspection by being close to someone who's been on telly. I know we all want him to get gone as soon as possible, but who knows what the chumps up top will do? If McLeish gets his way and is manager this time next week, it'll confirm they don't give a flying fuck about the opinion of the fans.

[pauliewalnuts]

Purely on the basis that we have never won fewer home games than this season, not since the league began (the actual proper league, not the Premier League), he has to go.

I can not see a single positive from his season, not one.

The board need to do two things. Firstly, they need to get shot of him ASAP, because trying to sell season tickets while there is still a chance he might be here is going to be very difficult. Secondly, they need to wake up to reality. Deciiding you want to be like Ajax takes more than just playing lads of kids and hoping for the best.

One thing is certain, in my opinion, if they keep this bloke in place, they'll see sub 30k crowds next year, and we will get relegated at the end of it.

[old man villa fan]

As the saying goes, 'one swallow doesn't make a summer'.  I am not judging AM on a match by match basis but on the season to date.  There have been some games where we have played well in parts and many games where we have looked terrible.

28 games should be enough to start seeing a pattern of improvement if it was going to occur but, in my opinion, we look to have gone backwards from the latter part of last season.  It will be interesting to see how we play over the next month after we have completed our easy run of matches.  Sometimes it is not the results that matter but the way you play that can give you confidence for the future.  I am not confident.

Some people are saying that AM should be given the chance to bring in his own players before finally judging him.  I am worried that this would just be delaying the inevitable and will see us spending more money and possibly shipping out some players that should not be sold.  Other than Given, I have not been impressed with the players he has brought in and 28 games in, he has still not sorted out the defence.  McLeish did well to get Blues to 9th but then went out and spent, relatively, quite a lot of money but saw the team get worse.  The fear is that it could well happen to us.

Usually, how well you play one season is based on how well you finish the previous season.  If we do not climb 5 or 6 places, we will be starting next season still looking for stability in the first half of the season.

I posted the above 9 matches ago and also said when we were 11 points ahead of the bottom three that we would stay up although we would be far closer to the bottom three than we were then.

I never expected that we would only pick up 5 points in those next 9 games.  As I said above, I was not confident at the time as the team was going backwards.  Since then we have just got worse.

The thing that I thought McLeish did have when he came here was the ability to set up a side properly and have them well organised.  I can now see he does not have that ability and just fills the team with defenders or plays attacking players in defensive formations.  The one thing he does know, however, is that his sides always needs a top class goalkeeper and thank god for the save by Given last week and the one today, both world class.

Today, we just flooded the defence and sat so deep that we had 5 defenders sitting 10 metres beyond their most advanced player even when they had the ball on the edge of our penalty area.  This left too many of their players unmarked, even when they only had 10 players on the pitch.  On another day Spurs would have had a couple of more goals if they had been a bit more clinical.  We battled today but it was not good defending.

As I said previously, I would be worried for our future if McLeish is kept on and given money to bring in new players.

McLeish needs to go and go quickly so that any manager that would be interested in coming here does not commit themselves to their current clubs for next season.

[PaulWinch again]

Purely on the basis that we have never won fewer home games than this season, not since the league began (the actual proper league, not the Premier League), he has to go.

I can not see a single positive from his season, not one.

The board need to do two things. Firstly, they need to get shot of him ASAP, because trying to sell season tickets while there is still a chance he might be here is going to be very difficult. Secondly, they need to wake up to reality. Deciiding you want to be like Ajax takes more than just playing lads of kids and hoping for the best.

One thing is certain, in my opinion, if they keep this bloke in place, they'll see sub 30k crowds next year, and we will get relegated at the end of it.

Totally agree, it will cost them a lot more money in the long run not to sack him. On every single level of performance of a manager  he has failed miserably and must go.

[ozzjim]

If he stays, it will last about 8 weeks. He has totally lost the fans, and I reckon some of the dressing room too.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I think its simple really. Once the Norwich game is over and the dust has settled, the powers that be need to grow a pair of bollocks, realise that this has been a fundamental error of judgement and do what is best for the long term future of the club and the relationship between the board and fans.

Despite all my reservations I think the Bolton game has forced their hand and the right decision will be made.

I consider myself a reasonable man and if the powers that be have a higher opinion of McLeish than us supporters I think we can give him and them some leeway.
They can sack him now or the morning immediately after the Norwich game, I dont mind.