McLeish:No Regrets

[cdward]

I liked his excuse at West Brom about not being able to get out of his seat because he was blocked in, at least it was original, not like blaming injuries or partizan fans.

[BILL DE VALL]

never met him(unlike mysteryman) but he struck me as a decent bloke -until the pressure got to him here-then the self delusion took hold!

As a manager he was a disaster-a Clough/Leeds type appointment that shocked and bemused me at the time -I had written the rumours off as bullshit.
"no Villa chairman would be mad enough to hire the manager that just got blues relegated as our manager" thought I.
But I had not reckoned on our chairman being a div
my mistake

[Percy McCarthy]

Div. Good word. Don't see it enough on here.

[London Villan]

No one senior at the club has taken responsibility for the decision to appoint him, at a Network Villa thing today Faulkner was still saying it could have worked but for bad luck and injuries. I sometimes wonder if they realise how close they came to a catastrophic failure, which would have crippled the club at every level on and off the pitch. Even without relegation the effects of last season will take the club a couple of years to get over.

[BILL DE VALL]

Div. Good word. Don't see it enough on here.

yeah it is good!

[BILL DE VALL]

and its catching on!
see bosman thread
"I was only joking you div.

*wink*"

[BILL DE VALL]

and its catching on!
see bosman thread
"I was only joking you div.

*wink*"

ohh you word stealer percy

[BILL DE VALL]

someone got "Craven" in earlier-i liked that as well!

[Vegas]

Why do some people get so wound up when other posters don't want Alex McLeish castrated?  He just wasn't good enough, that's all.  He never slagged the club, or the fans.  He was just shit. 

no, not directly, you're right. But in the manner of what he produced and the excuses he came up with every week he royally took the piss for the money he was on. It was all very subtle wrapped up nicely in the guise of "nice bloke"

It wasn't "all very subtle".  It was just a poor manager trying to defend himself in public when things weren't going his way.

[Vegas]

Also - and I would love to be proven wrong on this this season, not least because I have an 8 year old son I'm desperately trying to convince to be a Villa fan despite living over 100 miles from the ground - our squad is one of the worst in the division and about as bad as I can remember since 1987/8. Somewhat McLeish's fault but not totally.

[pauliewalnuts]

No one senior at the club has taken responsibility for the decision to appoint him, at a Network Villa thing today Faulkner was still saying it could have worked but for bad luck and injuries. I sometimes wonder if they realise how close they came to a catastrophic failure, which would have crippled the club at every level on and off the pitch. Even without relegation the effects of last season will take the club a couple of years to get over.

Spot on. In fact, this is the most spot on post on here for months, in my opinion.

I heard Faulkner on the radio a few weeks ago talking about the appointment, and he said "we appointed Alex on his record, which was excellent" and then went on to say "well, it's easy to say it was a bad appointment with the benefit of hindsight"

Firstly, his record in English football was piss poor.

Secondly, no hindsight needed. The entire football world (except the rotating group of MOTD industry insiders) thought it was a fucking insane appointment, and that's exactly what it turned out to be.

Absolutely bang on about how close they came to catastrophic failure, too. I don't think they quite realise just how much of the goodwill they had was pissed away last season, and just how close we came to total and utter disaster.

[pauliewalnuts]

Also - and I would love to be proven wrong on this this season, not least because I have an 8 year old son I'm desperately trying to convince to be a Villa fan despite living over 100 miles from the ground - our squad is one of the worst in the division and about as bad as I can remember since 1987/8. Somewhat McLeish's fault but not totally.

I'd agree with that, it is definitely one of the weakest in the league.

Take out Bent and Given, and there's a lot of mediocrity in between. We've become accustomed to assuming our kids are ace, but I'm not sure how true that really is.

[steffo]

When Mr Faulkner sent me a letter last August asking why I had not renewed my season ticket(s), I replied mainly because of TSM. Clearly stating that TSM would under no circumstances see out his three year contract and stating that the person (he) who appointed him should duly resign accordingly.

Oddly I got no reply - nor to my letter last May reiterating my request for his resignation.

Since Faulkner has been on the scene we have taken backward steps.

[Toronto Villa]

When Mr Faulkner sent me a letter last August asking why I had not renewed my season ticket(s), I replied mainly because of TSM. Clearly stating that TSM would under no circumstances see out his three year contract and stating that the person (he) who appointed him should duly resign accordingly.

Oddly I got no reply - nor to my letter last May reiterating my request for his resignation.

Since Faulkner has been on the scene we have taken backward steps.

Had Faulkner not shown up, MON might still be here and we'd be heading towards bankcruptcy. We'd still have sold Barry, Ash and Milner and possibly Downing. We'd have replaced them with overpriced subs and overpriced English players like er...Steven Fletcher. Faulkner isn't perfect and he's made errors but lets not carried away here and imply he is what is wrong at the club.

[ktvillan]

No one senior at the club has taken responsibility for the decision to appoint him, at a Network Villa thing today Faulkner was still saying it could have worked but for bad luck and injuries. I sometimes wonder if they realise how close they came to a catastrophic failure, which would have crippled the club at every level on and off the pitch. Even without relegation the effects of last season will take the club a couple of years to get over.

Spot on. In fact, this is the most spot on post on here for months, in my opinion.

I heard Faulkner on the radio a few weeks ago talking about the appointment, and he said "we appointed Alex on his record, which was excellent" and then went on to say "well, it's easy to say it was a bad appointment with the benefit of hindsight"

Firstly, his record in English football was piss poor.

Secondly, no hindsight needed. The entire football world (except the rotating group of MOTD industry insiders) thought it was a fucking insane appointment, and that's exactly what it turned out to be.

Absolutely bang on about how close they came to catastrophic failure, too. I don't think they quite realise just how much of the goodwill they had was pissed away last season, and just how close we came to total and utter disaster.

Absolutely agree with both posts.  Perhaps we should be very concerned that Faulkner is still running our club if he is even now describing TSM's track record as "excellent".  Really? After two relegations in three PL seasons with Blues and shockingly dull football?    I can only hope Faulkner is in denial or arse-covering mode, because if he genuinely thinks that, he's certifiable.  Injuries and bad luck might count as an excuse in isolated cases, but they won't account for two relegations and a damn near miss out of four PL seasons, boring the life put of everyone in the process.  That track record points to McLeish either being an awful manager at PL level, or the unluckiest manager ever.  Either way he shouldn't have been allowed near our club.   

And I don't care what he's like as a bloke, he could be the devil incarnate or sweet baby Jesus as long as he's nowhere near our club.