Though some of us have gotten here more grudgingly than others, we all seem to recognize the odds are good Alex McLeish doesn’t appear to be going anywhere in any great hurry. Not saying that’s a good thing, it just seems the likely thing.
And yet, perhaps we’re wrong. Perhaps McLeish has taken the tough job; perhaps he already has succeeded in keeping Aston Villa up in a season of austerity; perhaps he still has failed to earn anyone’s admiration, failed to convince that he represents a way forward. Perhaps the Bolton result is going to end up defining the man, never mind the season.
Of course, whatever Lerner might be thinking, the most pressing item is a win against Bolton, and McLeish seems to understand the score (if not scoring):
“Our record at home is rotten. It’s not something we are proud of.
“It’s something that we can’t do anything about now but we’ve got to do something about the next game. We’ve got to go all out to win it.”
I couldn’t agree more…The players need to simply go out and take this game. It will be nothing more than a battle of wills.
Say We Get Three Points?
We get three points, it’s agreed we’re likely safe. Then, whatever the thinking was before (which presumably pre-supposed staying up) probably goes forward as planned. But as I said above, maybe the way in which we’ve gotten where we are will raise second thoughts. Never mind a loss, or another draw, and however we manage to squeak through after that…Survival can feel a lot like defeat. And Aston Villa are quite literally limping across the finish line in less-than-heroic fashion.
If, as has been suggested, Villa are nothing more than a business (which I don’t necessarily disagree with in the abstract), then I don’t think a bit of a plan is beyond Lerner. Not suggesting it’s earth-shatteringly brilliant or revolutionary. Not saying it’s even pointed in the right direction.
But I would imagine that, as with most businesses, there are couple graphs and charts getting updated. I would imagine one of them compares turnover (past and anticipated) to expenses. I would think that when people talk publicly of a shared “vision” it means they understand what the self-imposed salary cap is, what they expect revenue to be. They understand what the lines are supposed to look like on the graph.They understand what the relationship between the two, over time, represents on the pitch.
And if, as I’ve heard suggested more than once but not terribly often, Lerner and O’Neill fell out, in part, over the role youth was supposed to play, one might imagine that while the finances were coming to the fore, so too was a discussion about what role the club’s internal pipeline was really supposed to play.
From the NFL, Lerner will expect “youth” and scouting to play a role. He’s seen a lot of personnel moves, and he’s seen varying approaches to getting the right mix of depth, youth and experience. (Given’s comments about needing more “old heads” puts an interesting slant on that.)
We know the revenue is expected to be among the top 20 in Europe. I would imagine investment partners have been sounded out. I would imagine various consultations have taken place.
So, I do think there’s forward thinking insofar as you can plan in a business where the future is now, and most everyone’s plans are one or two injuries away from being next to useless. Is McLeish integral or incidental to the current “plan”? We’ll soon find out.
Still A Results Business
The hard thing is that the part of the plan we care about, Villa’s competitive ambition, is the bit that’s hardest to see. We’d probably all prefer a swashbuckling figure drawing a clear line and saying, “It’s Europe or bust for us. And if I can’t make it happen, I’ll find someone who will.” But that’s not how Lerner rolls.
More to the point, we don’t know whether that’s how he feels. I could understand Lerner having second thoughts about the business of football, the changing landscape and realizing Villa just won’t have the juice. I can see him wanting the books to look right so he can find a buyer. I can see him wanting Villa to do well enough that he makes his money back. I can see him staying in it, seeing what FFP ultimately means, and trying to simply run a club that can succeed by going about things a bit differently.
But whatever anyone is thinking, everyone will be agreed about staying up. And it would be best for everyone, the way players are dropping, that we got there sooner rather than later by getting a rare three points tonight.
Then we’ll see if McLeish passed his audition. We’ll see if Lerner’s spending is in line with what we’ve been told about finances, and then we’ll speculate on what that says he’s thinking about the manager. We’ll get to see to what extent the strained relationship between supporters and the “club” continues to manifest itself, and whether it will impact Lerner’s thinking. I can’t imagine he’s enjoyed this. He’s either foolishly stubborn or bravely self-assured, but I don’t think he thought it would end up being this precarious. Does it give him a way to sack McLeish, save face and appease the fans? Does it only give him the chance to double down on his unpopular pick?
So let’s go get three points and see what it unleashes. We’ve truly arrived at the business end of the season.
The Author
