As people are no doubt fully aware now, Alex McLeish was appointed manager of Aston Villa on Friday 17th June. His appointment follows protests at the ground where he was considered to not be good enough for the club, either down to his former achievements, or his past post as manager of Birmingham City.
Of course, it is understandable that there is vitriol towards the man due to his past association with Birmingham, but now he is manager of Aston Villa, we need to step forwards and look at the positives that the man can bring to Villa Park.
A solid past
Looking through McLeish’s playing and managerial career, it is evident that he is a winner. With playing time under one of the all time greats of the game, Sir Alex Ferguson, Alex McLeish could hardly ask for a better mentor. In fact as a player, McLeish performed solidly as a central defender forming part of the Aberdeen team that won the Cup Winners Cup in 1983, where Ferguson described McLeish as an intelligent man who was always learning to look to learn more about the game.
Moving forward to Alex McLeish’s managerial career, he took Motherwell to second in the league in 1994, took Hibernian to third, before taking over at Rangers. During his time at Rangers, McLeish won two Premier League titles and five domestic cups performing well on a modest budget against a high spending Celtic run by Martin O’Neill.
Following on from this McLeish managed to take Birmingham to 9th during one of his seasons with the club, following up with a Carling Cup win in the next year. Of course, naysayers will say that he took Birmingham down on two occasions although there is some rationality to both relegations. The first was not solely his fault after taking over from Steve Bruce, whilst the second was the result of a series of cruel injury crises which saw City fall apart after February.
Bright future
So after looking at McLeish’s past, we need to look forward to the future of his career at Aston Villa Football Club. With solid signings in his past including a young Mikel Arteta, and the signing of players such as Mauro Zarate on loan for Birmingham, McLeish clearly has an eye for talent in association with his chief scout Paul Montgomery. Between the two of them, they could assist in the purchase of some top quality talent from abroad as well as within the UK.
McLeish has a challenge on his hand – of that there is no doubt. He will inherit a lacklustre squad packed with players who were used to playing counter attacking 4-4-2 under Martin O’Neill before a brief time where Gerard Houllier attempted to get the same workhorses playing Barcelona style football. Suffice to say that it didn’t work for the most part.
McLeish will also likely oversee the departure of Ashley Young along with the possible exit of Stewart Downing. With the integral nature of both men in the recent history of Aston Villa, it is likely McLeish will be in the market for at least one, if not two, winger(s). Past history dictates that he is interested in Charles N’Zogbia – a man who most certainly would fill Ashley Young’s shoes given the chance.
He will also need to oversee the inclusion of talented youngsters at the club including Albrighton, Bannan, Delph, Gardner, Delfouneso, Clark, Baker, Lichaj as well as others. This may be a repeat of the early 90s Manchester United moment where the kids form part of a solid side, but that would need to be bolstered by 4-5 solid signings in goal, defence, and midfield. Obviously this depends on the available funds that Alex has to spend, but one would imagine it would be a kitty of £50-60m.
So in reality, this could be the start of a bright future. If we look past the hatred towards Birmingham, see some transfers funded by Randy Lerner, and get some wins under our belt once the league kicks off, the memory of where Alex McLeish came from may soon be forgotten.
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