AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[dave.woodhall]

Rob Shepherd's being as much of a prick...

Aston Villa owner keeps selling best players then blames the manager..look forward to their relegation next season

Luv,
Martin.

[Louzie0]

Who is this Rob Shepherd and was he dropped on his head by an aston villa owner at a tender age? 
What an agenda.

[not3bad]

No hard feelings towards Alex Mcleish.  Appointing him was a bizarre decision.  He gave it his best shot, he came up short.  The fact that he ended this season 1 point worse off than when he got relegated last season says it all.

[Matt C]

The Guardian: "It has never been in doubt that Lerner is willing to put his hand in his pocket for Villa. What he now needs to do, though, is recruit a decent football manager."

Amen.

[LeeB]

No hard feelings towards Alex Mcleish.  Appointing him was a bizarre decision.  He gave it his best shot, he came up short.  The fact that he ended this season 1 point worse off than when he got relegated last season says it all.

No, fuck him, he rode in knowing the gig, shit out completely and walked off with millions.

I'm sure Fred Goodwin's a lovely bloke if you know him, doesn't mean he's not a c**t.

[not3bad]

Each to his own.

[LeeB]

No hard feelings towards Alex Mcleish.  Appointing him was a bizarre decision.  He gave it his best shot, he came up short.  The fact that he ended this season 1 point worse off than when he got relegated last season says it all.

No, fuck him, he rode in knowing the gig, shit out completely and walked off with millions.

I'm sure Fred Goodwin's a lovely bloke if you know him, doesn't mean he's not a c**t.

This post has been sponsored by Magners.

[wookster]

No hard feelings towards Alex Mcleish.  Appointing him was a bizarre decision.  He gave it his best shot, he came up short.  The fact that he ended this season 1 point worse off than when he got relegated last season says it all.

In some ways I  feel that AM was a fall guy. He did RLs dirty work by losing the high wage earners and, to a certain extent, bought on some of the youngsters.

The new manager will be working off a fairly fresh canvas

[bertlambshank]

No hard feelings towards Alex Mcleish.  Appointing him was a bizarre decision.  He gave it his best shot, he came up short.  The fact that he ended this season 1 point worse off than when he got relegated last season says it all.

In some ways I  feel that AM was a fall guy. He did RLs dirty work by losing the high wage earners and, to a certain extent, bought on some of the youngsters.

The new manager will be working off a fairly fresh canvas

Who has he got rid of.Only players at the end of contracts,bloody hell I could of done that.

[eamonn]

Might have been helpful to start a new thread when the news was announced or put the post number with the thread title.

Apart from that, champion news.

[LeeB]

Feel lovely tonight. Thanks largely to the good people of Magners, and the return of a long lost friend, Mr Hope.

[ciggiesnbeer]

No hard feelings towards Alex Mcleish.  Appointing him was a bizarre decision.  He gave it his best shot, he came up short.  The fact that he ended this season 1 point worse off than when he got relegated last season says it all.

In some ways I  feel that AM was a fall guy. He did RLs dirty work by losing the high wage earners and, to a certain extent, bought on some of the youngsters.

The new manager will be working off a fairly fresh canvas

Who has he got rid of.Only players at the end of contracts,bloody hell I could of done that.

Thats a good point. For all his talk of the wage bll being the priority etc he hasnt actually shifted anyone before their contracts were up, maybe Habib Beye?

Lerners statement is pretty pointed about McLeish talking down our ambition. I had always assumed the constant talking abut costs was directions from Lerner. Now I wonder....

[brian green]

Profound sense of relief that he is going but the senior players - and I include Gabby in that - must accept a very large share of the blame for a truly awful season.   The departure of McLeish is only one of five things which must happen if the healing process between the club and the fans is to begin.

The second thing is that the board must appoint a young, progressive, dynamic, win oriented manager.   The third thing is that that manager is properly funded.  The fourth thing is that unmotivated, bolshy, its-a-Villa-get-together-let's-have-a-punch-up players are shipped out. The fifth thing is that genuine players of quality are brought in, not cast offs or past their play by date or good but weighed down with baggage or nutters (eg Joey Barton) or walking wounded in fact no shopping in football Poundstretchers.

Then we can get on the move again.

[Nev]

There is an audio clip somewhere of Rob Shepard on Talksport arguing with Alan Brazil and Ronnie Irani about depression suffered by sports stars.

It says all you need to know about Shepard that Irani had the moral high ground and made the most thoughtful and insightful points.

[Brazilian Villain]

I'd just like to say that now that he's gone, I have no ill will towards him and good luck to him in the future. I think he did genuinely respect our history, but he just wasn't up to the job at all. He should have resigned, but at the same time he probably believed he could turn it round. So from my perspective no hard feelings now that he's gone.

Agree with this.

Some friends of mine (Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool fans) were with him at the WC in South Africa. My first cousin who's a Celtic fan has dealt with in a professional sense in Brum. They were unanimous in the view that he is a decent guy and thought he'd do well at Villa. I hoped he do well as I do for every Villa manager but it didn't work out and the right decision was made today. UTV!