I don't understand what all the fuss is about. I understand the hatred and rivalry between Villa and Birmingham but not comments from posters saying that McLeish will relegate Villa.
For a start he is better, in my opinion than Martin O'Neil and there were no such fears when MON was appointed. I appreciate many don't rate big ecks achievements at Rangers, being a big fish in a small pond etc etc, but he achieved more than MON did at Celtic in a shorter period of time and consistently beat MON when they competed against one another. Moreover, when at Rangers the club was in financial ruin after the Advocaat era and McLeish had to compete against a wealthier bigger
spending Celtic which he consistently got the better of.
His Scotland record was sensational (highest win percentage ever for Scotland boss) and if he didn't have both France and Italy in his group which was very unlucky, that Scotland side could have qualified. Of course Walter Smith finished the campaign as big Eck left for Birmingham.
Okay Birmingham record is suspect. Although he was highly rated after last season and very highly rated after the Carling cup win. What happened after that is worrying but their squad did not have strength and depth and there was more than a little bit of bad luck with injuries. He must have still been rated though, as they didn't sack him and most of their fans seemed to want him to stay as well...
Now he's going to Villa, the Birmingham fans have completed changed their opinion on him and decided that he is rubbish. This one fan, 'the Kid' has just about posted on every post insisting that he is no good. Arsenal fans, still hurting that he has won more in the last six years than AW are also regulars on here.
I say give him a chance. At a bigger club with more resources I suspect he will shine and prove himself to be a great manager.
Big Eck
posted on 18/6/11
Well i have said over and over what McLeish was like.
Maybe he would do well with Villa.
For us he was good in every aspect apart from being to negative in the Prem, his excuse because the other players was disapointing.
They never got games.
McLeish had a team of 12 favorite players and he would not want to drop them, in order to keep them happy. Thus if he played 4,5,1 he could keep 5 midfield players happy.
His use of the Hand he was delt was poor, he moaned we never backed him.
What for a club of our size loaning Bentley and Hleb on £50K a week each was not backing, its not their fault McLeish showed with us no concept of using attacking players.
McLeish simply went for players who had graft, who would defend for the most part and not make a fuss about it.
He said our problems was we lacked quality proven goal scorer and a Striker suited to playing upfront on his own, we lacked width on the flanks and propper out and out wingers. And we could do with players who can pass the ball about!
Why did he sign Zigic, Derbyshire and Martins and hardly play them then. With them whats the excuse in not playing 4,4,2
We lacked attacking wingers with width and ability to cause defenders problems.....
Why did we sign Hleb, Bentley and Beausejour when he stuck with Larsson who lacks width and ability to run at and pass defenders, why did we play a box to box RCM at LM in Bowyer or Fahey a RCM at LM who is not Prem Quality.
I can not say how he would do for Villa but he and the media paint a picture that he was this good manager held back by our club.
Do i want him to do well.... Nope!
Not because i am Jealous he need to go as the state of football would not have got us promoted.
My only gripe is the way he left.
Imagine if you would that our owners really was gonna spend that £80M and we sacked McLeish back then, at a time when O'Neil left Villa
And O'Neil joined Blues, how would you feel.
Betrayed as it shows no respect for Blues.
Had McLeish took over Cardiff then got them to the play off finals and then the season after Villa went for him i could understand.
Had McLeish gone to Blackburn or Fulham i could understand.
Putting how disrespectfull he was to us aside.
If he changes his tactics then i think you have a good Manager.
The KiD
posted on 18/6/11
@BigDog, I 100% agree. A lot of our fans are gloom merchants who don't look at the bigger picture. I think Mcleish will do an excellent job at VP because he is ambitious,has a strong character and isn't set in his ways like Mon. At least some of us have some sense!.
posted on 18/6/11
"and isn't set in his ways like Mon"
What do you mean by that, McLeish is far far more stubborn than O'Neil he is far more set in his ways.
Maybe time will tell
The KiD
posted on 18/6/11
O'Neil constantly picked his favourites and never changed from this prehistoric, lethargic and counter-attacking 4-4-2 when it was obvious to everyone that our players at the time particularly Gabby, were suited to a fast and energetic 4-5-1 or 4-3-3
posted on 18/6/11
And McLeish constantly picked his favourites and never changed from this pre-historic, lethargic and non-attacking 4-5-1.
posted on 18/6/11
As a Celtic fan, I find it hard to say McLeish is a great manager or he is a bad one. His last season at Birmingham pretty much summed him up.
I think he could possibly do very well with a decent transfer budget. He is a good coach who can get the best out of under-performing players but his judgement in the transfer market will make or break him at Villa. I don't think you guys will have to worry about relegation but I think Europe League qualification is the best you can hope for under him, like with most managers you could realistically get.
posted on 18/6/11
I agree with the OP. I must admit I wasn't particularly pleased when we were first linked with McLeish. But hey, its happened so now I'm hoping he proves all of the doubters wrong; shakes off the negative football tag and gets Villa back up the table.
A bit off topic so sorry to hijack the thread, but it is kind of relevant as its been mentioned that the blues were relegated partly because of injuries etc... as there's Birmingham fans coming to this thread maybe they can answer me this question.
Was it McLeish, the board, or somebody else responsible for the name plates by parking spaces etc?
I know it seems trivial but the day before the final day of the season, I was watching the build up on TV. Sky Sports News had reporters at the training grounds for teams at risk of relegation etc. He stated how amazed he was to see that even though they were facing relegation all of the name plates had been replaced with 'cup winning manager' and 'cup winning chairman' etc etc. He made some sort of comment like 'Birmingham are at real risk of going down... they don't appear to be taking this seriously'.
I can't imagine it was McLeish, surely he wouldn't think of such things? If it was, I certainly hope he doesn't bring that kind of complacency to Villa.
posted on 18/6/11
Bolton in peace
What I can't understand is the fact that Lerner backed away from appointing McClaren due to fan opposition.
Yet appoints McCleish with, what I can gather anyway, even greater scorn & fan opposition.
Are you generally happier with the appointment of McCleish over McClaren?
posted on 18/6/11
Fan opposition clearly had nothing to do with the non-appointment of McClaren, that was obvious to me at the time and is screaming at us now. Don't believe what you read unflinchingly. Mr Lerner makes his own decisions (right or wrong). Banjokid - you speak alot of sense, if MON had gone over to you lot after quitting villa, well ....... very disrespectful.
I didn't want MON mkII, but he's ours now.
UTV.
posted on 19/6/11
I think the most amusing think is about it is how bitter Blues fans are about it even if they're "better off without McJudas".
Now to see if Peter Pan backs up his threat about suing.