This is my first post so thanks to Matt for allowing me to write for the site, and I hope the readers enjoy reading my opinions
Aston Villa is in a poor financial state; the club’s previous mistake of overpaying players has hit us hard. Combine the board’s financial mistakes with the fact Randy Lerner is now a divorced father of four, it’s easy to see our problem, we don’t have enough money. We aren’t in a financial crisis like our neighbours but we’re not wealthy enough to bring European football back to Villa Park in the coming seasons.
This is a problem, but to come through this we need to stick together; if we’re going to try and recoup some of the money we lost, then good. I’m in favour of that, actually I’m sure most of the Villa “hardcore” fan base are too because we want our club to be financially secure. The club have asked us to “stay with them” and support this new approach and we are (we renewed season ticket’s despite a price increase), but if we’re to work together on this then the club needs to “stay with us” too.
A football club can’t be profitable with unhappy customers, so why has Alex McLeish been appointed as manager? Lerner and Faulkner’s letter at the start of the season touched on why they signed McLeish:
“We feel that in Alex McLeish we have found a very special football man to manage Villa. Being deeply conscious of the controversy that would at first come along with selecting him as manager, we still felt that his broader and career-long reputation for hard-work, leadership and professional enthusiasm, together with his willingness to work with the club, made him a worthy and in fact quite uniquely good fit for our club.”
Yes, he’s enthusiastic and, yes, he’s willing to work “with the club,” and although he has a “reputation for hard-work,” he has a much bigger reputation for something else, failure! Alex arrived with a history of two Premier League relegations in three seasons. I have regularly pleaded with fellow supporters that whilst McLeish is here he needs our support to ensure our league safety in the short term, but this doesn’t hide my opinion of his appointment. He has to be the most ridiculous managerial choice in the history of Aston Villa, and I’m finding it increasingly impossible to stomach. I can’t back McLeish anymore in front of fellow supporters and encourage them to do the same when his team fails to even show up against a side like Swansea on our own patch. Actually, we’ve seen dreadful performances in 7 different games already this season; Bolton (League Cup), Man City (A), West Brom (H), Tottenham (A), Man United (H), Liverpool (H) and now Swansea (H).
We protested to prevent McLeish’s arrival; it didn’t work. He became Villa manager and we’re now seeing three outcomes most predicted:
- Dull football
- Poor results
- A relegation fight
How does the club expect us to support their new strategy with a man in charge who we despise and can see is simply not good enough? It doesn’t make sense on so many levels. (E.g. Most of our players are under 23-years-old; Alex isn’t known for his ability to bring through youth players). We are playing McLeish’s style of football with a squad who have never played this style before. It’s baffling!
The board need to realise that the longer McLeish stays, the further they are driving the fans away. If Randy really wants “to create an enduring business model that is stable and yet has the potential to grow,” then they need to appoint a manager that we can accept and work alongside to achieve this aim. Randy and Paul seem desperate to have someone, as they say, “work with the club,” well we want a manager who can work with the fans too. We’re not asking for much. McLeish has said he will try to work with us, but the reality is he never will be able to. Aston Villa fans will never truly accept McLeish, he isn’t liked, he isn’t wanted and the sooner he is gone, the better. Even if we won the FA Cup this season, he wouldn’t be truly accepted, he never would be!
Who Should Replace McLeish?
Now I’m not suggesting that I have a manager in mind that can guarantee certain success, but I do know who stands out as the most suitable choice to be manager on a tight budget, Kevin MacDonald. He has worked at Villa for many years now. He:
- understands our current situation
- already has a good relationship with the fans
- is passionate about Aston Villa
- previously stated he wants to manage the club
- has managed most of our first team squad before in the youth/reserves
- would always have our support
He is the obvious choice. Can he get the best out of our squad? Yes! How can we be so sure? Because he’s one of the main coaches who turned exactly these youngsters into the players they are today.
MacDonald guided the club’s second string to a hat-trick of Reserve League South titles – in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 – and one national play-off success, which came against Sunderland in 2008-09. These achievements were accomplished with players such as:
- Nathan Delfouneso
- Marc Albrighton
- Barry Bannan
- Eric Lichaj
- Andreas Weimann
- Chris Herd
Not to mention he’s also helped bring other current players through in his time like Gary Gardner, Nathan Baker, Daniel Johnson, Graham Burke, Shane Lowry and Gabby Agbonlahor. He knows these players, they all have good relations from the past and our squad can’t speak highly enough of Kevin MacDonald. Take away the shock 6-0 loss at Newcastle in his brief stint as caretaker boss (a game where the players were to blame with club captain Stiliyan Petrov admitting, “We thought we were going to come over here and get an easy game.”) and you have a good set of results.
My point is if we are now at a level where we can’t spend, need to trim the wage bill, rely on the youth players coming to the fore, sticking together, and riding out the storm that the board created, then fine, we will. But the fans of Aston Villa should not be expected to have our leader in these dark times to be public enemy number one!
It should be a man that we trust, someone who is proven to be successful with our current squad, a man who can take a youth team away to an intimidating place like Rapid Vienna and come away with a result, a man who is loved by the Villa faithful and deserves his opportunity. Aston Villa would be in a better situation with unity from the stands to the dugout; Kevin MacDonald would bring this unity back to Aston Villa.
The day Kevin took charge we started out with a roar, the passion was there and we wiped the floor with West Ham. Regardless of what happened on the pitch, the fans were passionate before kick off, we had a buzz about us, we turned up to Villa Park right behind our team and raised the roof on a rainy afternoon.
I want that feeling back in the stands! The atmosphere last season was poor, but this year it has turned sour almost every game. Abuse is now being hurled at our manager before five minutes of football has been played. I’m sure he’s a great guy as a person, and I know he wants to do well but (whether he’s at fault for this season’s poor performances or not) taking McLeish out of Villa Park would lighten the mood and bring a slight smile back to our faces and relieve some pressure from the squad’s heads.
We didn’t want McLeish, we gave him some time, he’s had his chance but in 7 of the 22 games he has managed in all competitions, our players have simply not turned up. It’s not even a case of “we were poor today,” or, “we were outclassed by a better team,” after these 7 games we have all had exactly the same assessment, “we didn’t even try!”
We’re Aston Villa, we shouldn’t have to put up with this, irrespective of what situation we’re in, we shouldn’t be managed by Alex McLeish. I believe he is the reason we are so poor at home this year but from no fault of his own; our players know that as soon as they make one mistake in front of the home crowd then we will turn on the team and manager. Look at Stephen Warnock against Swansea, or Fabian Delph against Wigan. How about Richard Dunne or Charles N’Zogbia against Liverpool? There’s added pressure on our team’s heads because of the man we have in our dugout. It’s playing on the minds of individuals, which is impacting on our results, and for that I blame the board.
At Fault or Not, McLeish Needs To Go
We need a change now. In three of our last four home games the Villa players have been booed off, we even lost the game where they were applauded off the field. McLeish now faces even more added pressure; will he be the first Villa boss to lose 5 straight home games since 1963? Should we lose to Everton then, yes, he will be.
I have supported McLeish because I felt he deserved time to prove himself and I wanted him to do well, but after being at another no-show game vs Swansea, I honestly feel (whether he is to blame or not) he could relegate another side from Birmingham in back-to-back seasons, and it’s a risk I don’t want us to take. It’s time for a change and that time is now! Whether MacDonald is his replacement or not, it’s time McLeish was removed from his post. When the fans are on side, we are the 12th man; something this Aston Villa team is yet to experience fully this season at Villa Park. If McLeish goes then the 12th man will return and we will have a better chance of League safety.
Until he goes, I will support him and his team, I have to, he’s the manager of Aston Villa and I have a season ticket, but it doesn’t mean I think he deserves the position or that I like having him here. He’s an awful manager and the sooner he’s gone the better, but I’ll still go and watch the drivel he calls a “good performance” each week because I love my club.
I know McLeish’s hands are tied with many issues, I know the club’s problems run much deeper than McLeish, I know a new manager won’t take us back to the top 6 right now, but I just hope Randy sees sense before it’s too late. I’m bored of going to Villa Park with an unhappy crowd from the kick-off because I know this is one of the many reasons we won’t win.
Yes, we need to balance the books and sit back for a while, but we shouldn’t have a manager in charge that is truly hated by his own club’s fans. I want us to have some enjoyment again. Just because we’re recouping money doesn’t mean we can’t have a manager who would bring some good moments back to Villa, who we admire, respect, who’s affordable and would be given the time he needs by both the board and supporters.
So the bottom line is McLeish should go, and MacDonald should replace him. The sooner this happens, the better.
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