From The Times website
Aston Villa have parted company with Alex McLeish after his disappointing first season in charge of the club ended with the club barely avoiding relegation from the Barclays Premier League, The Times understands.
The Scot won only seven league games as the Midlands club finished sixteenth in the Barclays Premier League after they rounded off the campaign with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Norwich City at Carrow Road which he himself branded “woeful”.
The club owner, Randy Lerner, was scheduled to fly in from the United States to hold talks with McLeish following the final game of the season. It seems that the 53-year-old has paid the price for a season of underachievement.
McLeish has had to operate under extremely difficult financial conditions as the club have slashed costs since he crossed the city of Birmingham to succeed Gérard Houllier in the Villa Park hotseat last summer. Villa have cashed in on the likes of Stuart Downing, who left for Liverpool for £20 million, while the likes of Brad Friedel, John Carew and Luke Young have all departed the club.
McLeish has also been bedevilled by injury problems throughout the campaign with the likes of Darren Bent, the record signing, Richard Dunne and Stiliyan Petrov on the sidelines but he was always struggling to win over the fans having managed arch-rivals Birmingham City. He was the unpopular choice after the club failed to lure Roberto Martínez from Wigan Athletic, who have finished a place and five points above Villa
While the former Scotland, Rangers and Hibernian manager led Birmingham to the Carling Cup last season, he also presided over the slump that cost them their top-flight status and Villa have finished with 38 points, one point fewer than Birmingham achieved last year.
Despite such a season, McLeish insisted after the final-day defeat at Norwich that he was still the right man for the job and was aiming to rebuild the side. “That was an unacceptable performance in Aston Villa colours and I have to change that, and there will be change,” he said.
“I cannot accept that because I have been used to winning trophies all of my career as a player and a manager. I might not have had the riches to spend of other managers, but believe I can turn Aston Villa around by adding quality and players who are going to work their socks off.”
He added: “I am not a quitter. I can totally understand the fans frustrations and I am the man who carries the can for the performances, but it is also frustrating for me to watch that kind of stuff.
“I am the guy who is responsible for results, and am the one who is going to get hammered. I accept that, and it happens to any manager.
“It is up to me to turn the opinion around and will do my best. I have to get a team in that Villa jersey with a winning mentality and I can change the fans opinion.”
