So with the end of the season fast approaching and even though our Premier League status isnt secured, in fact far from it, thoughts are already turning to Randy Lerner and that big elephant in the room. Or Alex McLeish as most of us know him.
With what should be an easy decision to jettison Alex off into football obscurity with a lovely payoff, get the fans back on side, and start the healing process by appointing a new manager who can build for the future, we have to remember this is Aston Villa, and simple doesnt seem to be in our dictionary.
The appointment of Alex McLeish was controversial from the offset, especially when you add in the fact we actually paid our bitter rivals millions to get ‘our’ man. From there, it took the course we all knew it would.
It was almost a self fulfilling prophecy, and this season has been little short of a disaster for us fans. The figures speak for themselves – only 4 home wins and 7 in total for the season – and the style of football witnessed has been hard to stomach. Couple this with the general attitude of the club towards the fans has been nothing short of terrible, and it is hardly a recipe for success, is it?
However, assuming we dont get relegated, has this season been such a disaster for Randy? We have massively cut the wage bill, we will have survived by investing relatively little into what was an already depleted squad, and this is whilst making a ton of money on selling players like Stewart Downing and Ashley Young.
We’ve also managed to get new commercial deals such as those we have signed with Macron and Genting, and they have been some of the best in terms of revenue in the clubs history.
All this leads me to the crux of this article – Is it so clear cut that Alex will be leaving us for sunnier climes at the end of the season?
Yes, there is a lot of chat about it very suddenly within the media, and Alex and the club seem to be neither confirming or denying the fact so adding more fuel to the fire.
However, what if this is all a ruse? What if they released the statment the other day for us fans to read into the situation like this?
What if all of the wishy washy non-confirming talk is to get us to believe he is on his way?
Already a lot of fans are talking about not protesting at the Spurs game because of the belief that the writing is on the wall for McLeish, and therefore what would be the point?
What if this is what the club want us to think? Randys thinking could be to get McLeish to the summer, at which point he will be out of the spotlight – out of sight, out of mind as the saying says – before giving him some money to buy players. The idea there being that such a plan would appease the fans, and therefore next season everything will be tickety boo.
Throw in the fact, Lerner wouldn’t have to pay any more compensation and already this has legs. If you look a little deeper, we know Randys prize possession is a letter recommending McLeish from Sir Alex Ferguson and, if that’s the case, he’ll probably only be listening to other people who back McLeish.
Sound ridiculous? Let’s face it – he hasn’t been listening to the noises fans have been making during the whole tepid affair.
I’m not saying this is all nailed on, and if we do get relegated, I think it’s goodbye Alex anyway, but I think the decision for Randy at the end of the season isnt as clear cut as most of us think. I personally wouldn’t put it past him, and his legendary stubborness to stick by McLeish for another season at least is far from unbelievable.
I, for one, will beat the Spurs game letting them know what I think regardless. It ain’t over till it’s over.
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