Who is to blame?

[KevinGage]

When he says he doesn't want to play negatively I believe him -

Ditto.

There are a number of things I am uncertain about vis a vis his decision to take the job.  Maybe he actively wanted the challenge, to step up a level and work with the best squad of players he will have had to date in his career.   Or maybe he knew he was damaged goods, unlikely to get any other top flight job and - as a pragmatic Scot (and qualified accountant to boot!) - took what was a ridiculously generous offer whilst he could.  The alternative was very likely the tin tack at St Andrews around Oct/ Nov time, should the shower of shit down the road be out of the automatic promotion spots.

Can't make up my mind either way on that one.  I don't subscribe to any notion that he had 'balls' to take the job though.  Teams generally reflect their manager, and the amount of times we have surrendered meekly this season is not indicative of having a boss overly blessed in the stones department.

I am pretty certain he'd like to be able to send out teams to play a better style of football and cause the opposition headaches though.  I'm pretty certain he'd like to be less shit.  But he is what he is.

[Clampy]

The thing is, McLeish can say "I want to play attractive football" and be telling the truth

It was possibly why the cynics amongst us were prepared to give him a chance. 'He could'nt possibly play drab football with the players we have' we thought at the time? Somehow he's managed it.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

The results of this season were entirely predictable to everybody except Lerner and Faulkner, and they should hold their hands up and say they go it badly wrong.

Fat chance.

[pauliewalnuts]

The thing is, McLeish can say "I want to play attractive football" and be telling the truth

It was possibly why the cynics amongst us were prepared to give him a chance. 'He could'nt possibly play drab football with the players we have' we thought at the time? Somehow he's managed it.

He has frequently managed to make the team look like less than the sum of its parts.

[Monty]

The thing is, McLeish can say "I want to play attractive football" and be telling the truth

It was possibly why the cynics amongst us were prepared to give him a chance. 'He could'nt possibly play drab football with the players we have' we thought at the time? Somehow he's managed it.

He has frequently managed to make the team look like less than the sum of its parts.

And the most we will ever be under him is the total sum of our parts for about 20 minutes in the odd game. Even that is largely down to the players on the pitch individually performing in spite of the tactical vacuum on the touchline. There is no way that justifies any sort of Premier League level salary for the manager.

[Dante Lavelli]

I'm not saying Faulkner is blameless, I just think he gets a lot of stick on here because of footballing issues when that isn't where his skillset is.  The major failing is the failure by the Board in general to identify that this isn't his skillset and take on an additional member to provide those skills.

I think, with a good football man on the board, Faulkner could prove to be a very valuable CEO.

The problem is, MoN has left them with the impression that the 'goodfootball man on the board' should be the manager, which is a really dangerous position to put ourselves in.

This is on the money for me.  I think it is also worth pointing out that when MON joined we were warned by various Celtic fans that he would leave a large unsustainable wage bill, so he has form for doing this.  Admittedly the board were suckers for letting it happen again but - like us - there were probably enough positive signs to let it slide for a while.  Arguably Sunderland are making the same mistake again.  I'd guess it is no coincidence that Quinn stepped down from the board shortly after MON's arrival.

I'm not necessarily a fan of faulkner - it's hard to know exactly what he does - but based purely on the parts that it is fair to assume he has control, he has slowly improved over his time at the club.  I do not think he can be blamed for the lack of football nous around the boardroom. 

[Risso]

The thing is, McLeish can say "I want to play attractive football" and be telling the truth, but there's nothing in his PL history to suggest that he knows how to.

Which, of course, makes that "must have PL experience" requirement all the more fucking annoying.

I'm not sure what strengths Lerner thinks he saw in McLeish to be honest.  His record and style of play with Blues were woeful, and I don't believe for a second that Lerner watched detailed videos of his time at Rangers or Motherwell.

The way Blues surrendered their Premier League status was absolutely abysmal.  With a few games to go they looked all but safe, but then chucked it away with some of the most lethargic, "can't be arsed" performances that I've ever seen.  The worrying thing is that we've seen similar performances from Villa this season, and another couple of losses could see us getting sucked back right down into the scrap.

[Chico Hamilton III]

I blame Alex Ferguson for sending a dodgy reference to Lerner.

We should sue him

[VillaAlways]

The thing is, McLeish can say "I want to play attractive football" and be telling the truth, but there's nothing in his PL history to suggest that he knows how to.

Which, of course, makes that "must have PL experience" requirement all the more fucking annoying.

I'm not sure what strengths Lerner thinks he saw in McLeish to be honest.  His record and style of play with Blues were woeful, and I don't believe for a second that Lerner watched detailed videos of his time at Rangers or Motherwell.

The way Blues surrendered their Premier League status was absolutely abysmal.  With a few games to go they looked all but safe, but then chucked it away with some of the most lethargic, "can't be arsed" performances that I've ever seen.  The worrying thing is that we've seen similar performances from Villa this season, and another couple of losses could see us getting sucked back right down into the scrap.

The injuries are a major worry,but will give Mcleish the perfect excuse to fall back on.Just like when he set Blues down,he bemoaned their injuries constantly rather than galvanising the squad he had left.I'm worried

[KevinGage]

The thing is, McLeish can say "I want to play attractive football" and be telling the truth, but there's nothing in his PL history to suggest that he knows how to.

Which, of course, makes that "must have PL experience" requirement all the more fucking annoying.

I'm not sure what strengths Lerner thinks he saw in McLeish to be honest.  His record and style of play with Blues were woeful, and I don't believe for a second that Lerner watched detailed videos of his time at Rangers or Motherwell.

I do, to an extent.

A manager with international experience, who has managed  one of the Old Firm in the hothouse environment of Glasgow (with all the pressure that brings) and who even snared a trophy for a two bob outfit like the B-lose looks good if you skim read wiki. 

Throw in all the complimentary things Big Eck said about the Villa when he was managing That Lot, the nice letter from Sir Beetroot Features and it's not hard to see why someone with a limited knowledge of football might be swayed. 

It was a abysmal decision though, right from the outset.  Scratch the surface and you don't have to look far to see the template that runs through most McLeish sides, shite football, limited tactics and regression from the his starting point to the departure date.  3rd with Rangers in that league.  That takes some doing.

[SX150]

I've often been told to forget McLeish' relegations at the Dog Shit and look at his spell in Scotland and agreed 3rd with Rangers takes some doing. Even with a 10 point deduction this season they will come a comfortable 2nd.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

I blame Alex Ferguson for sending a dodgy reference to Lerner.

We should sue him

We can't.

It's now completely indecipherable, due to the amount of Gentleman's relish Lerner has deposited over it.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

The thing is, McLeish can say "I want to play attractive football" and be telling the truth, but there's nothing in his PL history to suggest that he knows how to.

Which, of course, makes that "must have PL experience" requirement all the more fucking annoying.

I'm not sure what strengths Lerner thinks he saw in McLeish to be honest.  His record and style of play with Blues were woeful, and I don't believe for a second that Lerner watched detailed videos of his time at Rangers or Motherwell.

The way Blues surrendered their Premier League status was absolutely abysmal.  With a few games to go they looked all but safe, but then chucked it away with some of the most lethargic, "can't be arsed" performances that I've ever seen.  The worrying thing is that we've seen similar performances from Villa this season, and another couple of losses could see us getting sucked back right down into the scrap.

Where was that Management wages league table?

Isn't McLeish the 15th highest paid Manager in the world?

I can't remember what thread it was on.

EDIT - Joint 20th according to this

1    Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid, €10m)
 2=    Pep Guardiola (Barcelona, €7.5m)
 2=    Guus Hiddink (Anzhi Makhachkala, €7.5m)
 4    Roberto Mancini (Manchester City, €6.0m)
 5    Carlo Ancelotti (Paris St-Germain, €5.9m)
 6    Jupp Heynckes (FC Bayern, €5.0m)
 7=    Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United, €4.8m)
 7=    Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool, €4.8m)
 9=    Arsene Wenger (Arsenal, €4.7m)
 9=    Harry Redknapp (Tottenham, €4.7m)
 11=    Luiz Felipe Scolari (Palmeiras, €3.6m)
 11=    David Moyes (Everton, €3.6m)
 11=    Mark Hughes (QPR, €3.6m)
 11=    Martin O’Neill (Sunderland, €3.6m)
 15=    Diego Maradona (Al-Wasl, €3.5m)
 15=    Manuel Pellegrini (Malaga, €3.5m)
 17    Luciano Spalletti (Zenit St Petersburg, €3.0m)
 18=    Muricy Ramalho (Santos, €2.6m)
 18=    Ottmar Hitzfeld (Switzerland, €2.6m)
 20=    Alex McLeish (Aston Villa, €2.4m)
 20=    Joachim Low (Germany, €2.4m)
 22=    Vicente del Bosque (Spain, €2.1m)
 22=    Abel Braga (Fluminese, €2.1m)
 22=    Massimiliano Allegri (AC Milan, €2.1m)
 22=    Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund, €2.1m)
 26=    Dorival Junior (Internacional, €1.9m)
 26=    Tite (Corinthians, €1.9m)
 28    Claudio Ranieri (Inter, €1.8m)
 29    Mano Menezes (Brazil, €1.7m)
 30    Antonio Conte (Juventus, €1.6m)
 
(Source: Futebol Finance)

[Risso]

If only John Blackwell was around to give us the lowdown on that lot.

[Dante Lavelli]

What jumps out there is how ridiculously well paid the Premiership is.  Hughes, MON and Moyes in the top ten!
One thing that might need to be factored in is that in Europe it is far more prevalent to have more layers of management on the football side whereas in the UK (as we have found out) it is more common to trust one man to run the whole shebang.

Certainly Munich has many layers and in spain the teams have B teams in the lower leagues so some of the UK manager's typical responsibilities must be completely delegated.