It’s one of the silliest things I’ve heard of. I know the argument, believe me. If Villa lose, McLeish gets the sack and things get better. Except they don’t. Villa still have the same players whoever is managing them.
Never mind the fact Alex McLeish isn’t going to get the sack after a potential pre-Christmas loss to Bolton that didn’t actually happen, whatever scenario you may have drawn up in your heads. As it stands, Villa are currently ninth.
Why would an owner sack a manager whose squad has been in the top half the entire season? Because it’s not good enough? What is good enough? Top 6?
Matt had me listen to a hilarious bit of phone-in radio (It was the Goalzone with Tom Ross on BRMB – Matt) where a deluded Villa fan was maintaining, quite unconvincingly, that Villa have the talent to be in the top six.
It would be funny if it weren’t sad. The host kept asking the caller to give a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer as to whether Villa were better than Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, or Liverpool.
Have a listen.
Besides being unable to give a simple yes or no answer (hint, the correct answer was “no” all six times), the caller kept trying to change things round. It didn’t help. He was just looking for some rationalization that didn’t exist.
Ask yourself a question. Would any of those teams swap their back four for Villa’s?
No.
Their midfield?
No.
Their attack?
No.
There you have it. McLeish isn’t the reason Villa lie outside the top six. The lack of top-flight talent is what has Villa outside the top six. It really isn’t any more complicated than that. Mix and match them all you like. Stephen Ireland is the only player with the potential talent to be “world-class”. And apparently he can’t be bothered. And when he can, Villa don’t know what to do with him. Just like they didn’t know what to do with Makoun.
I know I upset some of you by seeming “arrogant” last week for “disagreeing with the 99% who want McLeish gone.”
I could say in turn the 99% are rather arrogant for daring to disagree with me, as they do every day, week in and week out, dismissing my views as naive at best. But I don’t. And if you knew me, you’d know that I’m anything but naive. But I have thick skin, and I know how these conversations go. I also know I’m taking an unpopular position in just trying to look at things dispassionately.
I don’t care whether McLeish is our manager or not. I just care whether Villa do the best with what we’ve got. And, for the record, we haven’t been. And, for the record, the players have born out my view that they’re to blame first and foremost. But that was a conspiracy, wasn’t it?
You actually think Richard “Rampaging Drunk” Dunne is going to sit down and take the blame in an interview as a PR stunt to cover for Alex McLeish? Really? The man who led the undermining of Gerard Houllier is suddenly a company lackey being told what to say? That’s far less believable than thinking maybe he was just telling the truth—which is that they’re playing like cowards, and it has nothing to do with McLeish, and is, in fact, the opposite of what he’s telling them to do.
There’s accepted wisdom, and in our case, the accepted wisdom was carved in stone before Alex McLeish’s appointment was ever officially announced: He’s crap; He doesn’t know anything about football (despite more time in the game, on the pitch, than all of us combined); He got Blues relegated; He’s negative; He hates children, dogs, cats, hamsters, Christmas, the Queen and Elton John, and wouldn’t know a quality footballer if one bit him in the ass.
So, after those lines were drawn in the sand, it’s been an ever-more contortionist exercise in proving that view right, versus just seeing what happens and then making a decision. You can always say, “I said he was crap” at any time things aren’t going well. I can always say, “I hoped he’d do better, but he didn’t.”
Villa have lost to Manchester City, Tottenham, Manchester United…and West Brom. Oh, the humanity! We lost to three vastly better teams, three teams to which our squad would be hard pressed to offer any straight-up swaps in terms of players. And we dropped a derby game to a reasonable team. Four losses in 15 games, or 11 results, four failures.
And Newcastle are now seventh. So much for the Alan Pardew miracle. Or the Owen Coyle genius. Even Steve Bruce would be better! You get my drift. None of the supposed genius/competent managers we “could’ve/should’ve had” are really doing better than Alex McLeish. Well, actually none of them are, because Alan Pardew was never on any Villan’s short list.
But the thing I’ve heard lately that really gets my goat is that some Villa fans are hoping Villa lose so they can be rid of McLeish.
The more absurd corollary, which borders on the treasonous, has been a version of “I don’t care if Villa win the title, I want McLeish gone.” Why? Because we wouldn’t have looked like Barcelona or Spain or Brazil? Or Norwich or Wigan? That’s madness. Isn’t winning what they give you points for? Isn’t winning the title the Holy Grail?
Did he shag your wife or something? I’m not saying we’re going to win anything, but I want McLeish to succeed because I want Villa to succeed. Full stop. It was the same with Houllier and O’Neill, too.
I’m not saying he will. I would just prefer that he did. But if McLeish put together a string of wins and had Villa flying, and fans still wanted him out, it would only prove one thing.
Some fans would rather be right and have Villa lose than be wrong and see Villa win. Forget the beautiful football bollocks. If you knew going to Villa Park every week you’d see a 1-0 or 2-1 win, you’d gladly take it as Villa climbed up the table. You wouldn’t give back the trophy, or a ropey 1-0 win over City or United.
Me? I’d rather be wrong every day of the week if Villa are winning. And I don’t care how Villa win.
After all….Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing. They didn’t name the NFL champion’s trophy after the man who said that for nothing.
And I’ve never called anyone on here a muppet.
*** BONUS ***
You can also hear the audio from Matt Turvey’s recent interview on Freeview HD channel Sports Tonight with Mike Parry, Perry Groves, and Gary O’Reilly by clicking here.
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