McLeish and Villa are done! Solskjaer heavily rumoured

Xavi6

Possible good news for Villa fans. McLeish is apparently at Villa Park today to discuss a compensation package.

Announcement expected by lunch time.

(Source: various journos)

Neil3030

http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2012/05/14/aston-villa-alex-mcleish-to-be-sacked-today-97319-30963679/

The Times Reporter: "McLeish saying his goodbyes to the #avfc players. In discussing compo. Announcement likely by lunchtime"

Seems very likely he'll be getting the chop today. This would be a very swift move by Randy, by his standards. Leads me to believe he has a replacement already lined up.

Giggsy11

Compensation package? If anything board should make sure he returns all the wages they paid him for a year.

Anyways they should sack him.

LuckyLloyd

It is worth noting that he had to deal with a horrendous injury list, and the loss of two very big producers at the start of his tenure. But their form over the past few months has been terrible, the football is not good, and if someone better is available it should be a no brainer to move him on.

JerryHandbag

7 wins in the Premier League this season, only one outcome for McLeish

Neil3030

Also heard a RUMOUR that any potential pay-off would be lower if the #AVFC finished with less than 40 points.

Tim Abraham - Villa journo.

Chucky the tree

About 10 months overdue.

Neil3030

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

It is worth noting that he had to deal with a horrendous injury list, and the loss of two very big producers at the start of his tenure. But their form over the past few months has been terrible, the football is not good, and if someone better is available it should be a no brainer to move him on.

Not just injuries, but apparently there's a rotten core in the Villa squad (Warnock, Dunne and Collins, namely) who effectively run the place. Along with McLeish, the afore mentioned absolutely must be moved on this summer aswell.

Doodee

Best day ever if true!

LuckyLloyd

Neil3030 wrote: »

Not just injuries, but apparently there's a rotten core in the Villa squad (Warnock, Dunne and Collins, namely) who effectively run the place. Along with McLeish, the afore mentioned absolutely must be moved on this summer aswell.

I'd be of the opinion that a manager needs to be able to deal with **** like that. If they are making the putting across of his ideas impossible then they should be dropped / punished / transfer listed / etc. Obviously players like that are dreadful to have around and should be offloaded - but you would hope that your next manager has the ability to deal with stuff like that if needs be...

CSF

Lambert please.

mike65

Should never have happened, pity the team that ends up under his "0-0 is a win" management approach next season.

invinciblePRSTV

YES YES YES! I Just did my happy dance.

Jax Teller

He finished 3rd with Rangers once. says it all about his managerial skills .

Whos coming in ?

Neil3030

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I'd be of the opinion that a manager needs to be able to deal with **** like that. If they are making the putting across of his ideas impossible then they should be dropped / punished / transfer listed / etc. Obviously players like that are dreadful to have around and should be offloaded - but you would hope that your next manager has the ability to deal with stuff like that if needs be...

I agree with you completely, but his hand was forced to a degree, given that all of the above played in defence and Villa wouldn't have had the players to stand in for them.

Now, I don't know exactly how true any of this actually is, but several respected ITKs stand by it.

Neil3030

Lansleytimes latest tweet

#avfc dismiss McLeish

matrim

Neil3030 wrote: »

I agree with you completely, but his hand was forced to a degree, given that all of the above played in defence and Villa wouldn't have had the players to stand in for them.

Now, I don't know exactly how true any of this actually is, but several respected ITKs stand by it.

There were also a lot of rumours about it last year too. With Dunne and Collins in particular having a bust up with some of the coaches and younger players. Whoever Villa get in now, they must be told one of their jobs is to break up this core and rebuild the defence.

Neil3030

matrim wrote: »

Whoever Villa get in now, they must be told one of their jobs is to break up this core and rebuild thea defence.

FYP

28064212

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I'd be of the opinion that a manager needs to be able to deal with **** like that. If they are making the putting across of his ideas impossible then they should be dropped / punished / transfer listed / etc. Obviously players like that are dreadful to have around and should be offloaded - but you would hope that your next manager has the ability to deal with stuff like that if needs be...

+1. Do you think Martin O'Neill was letting them away with stuff like that? Do you think Trap worries about what Dunne thinks of his set-up?

Neil3030

28064212 wrote: »

+1. Do you think Martin O'Neill was letting them away with stuff like that?

As far as I'm aware he was actually. Rumours of this clique emerged with about 6 months to go in MON's reign; this would coincide with Villa's defence falling to sh*t.

listermint

He needs to go, he was rubbish. Rumours of this supposed clique are only side lining the fact that he was not a good choice in the first place.

Bounty Hunter

A huge sense of relief came over me as I read that and after quickly checking if I hat shat myself I quickly realised that know its actually just the realisation that Lerner realised the error of his ways and did the right thing.

Tis also nice seing a are X and Y etc thread that isnt going to be a mess. We at Villa know we have been sh!t this season and now it seems Lerner is willing to do as the fans asked him from day one in order to start rectifying the situation.

matrim

Most of the talk over on Villatalk for the next manager are around Martines, Lambert or Poyet. Although AFAIK there is very little substance behind any of the talk so far and it will probably be at least a few weeks until anything is known

Raekwon

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

It is worth noting that he had to deal with a horrendous injury list, and the loss of two very big producers at the start of his tenure. But their form over the past few months has been terrible, the football is not good, and if someone better is available it should be a no brainer to move him on.

He did have a horrendous injury list but he also had two transfer windows to strengthen the squad and all he brought in was an absolutely rubbish leftback, a moody misfit, Robbie Keane for 6 games & Jermain 'f**king' Jenas. Plus he sent out Cameroon International midfielder Jean Makoun on a season long loan when we badly needed a player with his experience in the squad.

But the real factor behind our horrible season was McLeish's clueless tactics and negative attitude. In a desperate bid not to lose he would play with 6 or 7 defenders in the starting 11 even at home when the opposition where reduced to 10 men. He would then criticize individual player's for mistakes in his post-match interview to deflect the blame from himself.

The guy is a spineless weasel! The sooner he is gone the better it will be for Aston Villa football club.

matrim

Raekwon wrote: »

Robbie Keane for 6 games

That was probably about his only good move. The face we had Keane there for those 6 games is probably the difference that stopped us being relegated.

That_Guy

Hughton would be a fantastic appointment imo.

mike65

Mick Mcarthy is free!

Chucky the tree

That_Guy wrote: »

Hughton would be a fantastic appointment imo.

If you don't like Villa then he would be. But otherwise he'd be pretty poor. His ceiling is far to low for a club like Villa.

Raekwon

matrim wrote: »

That was probably about his only good move. The face we had Keane there for those 6 games is probably the difference that stopped us being relegated.

Agreed, Robbie Keane was excellent for Villa but he was only there for 6 games and cost £500k, that's nearly £85k per game, that's alot of money for a team who are constantly watching the wage bill and have tightened the purse strings. His 2 goals against Wolves probably keep us up though so overall it worked out very well.

That_Guy

Chucky the tree wrote: »

If you don't like Villa then he would be. But otherwise he'd be pretty poor. His ceiling is far to low for a club like Villa.

Who would your ideal replacement be?

Chucky the tree

That_Guy wrote: »

Who would your ideal replacement be?

Not sure. Hard to know who'd they get. Martinez, Rodgers, Lambert would all be ahead of Hughton. Bruce and McCarthy would be better as well but I don't think McCarthy would be great either. Villa should definitely be aiming higher than Hughton though. Not sure he'd go but Rafa would be an excellent manager for them.

SlickRic

Mick McCarthy is next.

there's actually not very much doubt in my mind about that.

unless Villa are going to plump for a Lee Clark, Gus Poyet, Malky Mackay, Sean Dyche or someone else from the lower divisions.

i don't think Mick would be a bad appointment.

Martinez is a decent shout, but i don't see Lambert going there. i don't know why, but i see his next job being a bigger step up (no disrespect meant).

Raekwon

SlickRic wrote: »

Martinez is a decent shout, but i don't see Lambert going there. i don't know why, but i see his next job being a bigger step up (no disrespect meant).

If you see Lambert moving to a bigger club then Villa then I'd be interested to know what club you had in mind.

Neil3030

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Not sure. Hard to know who'd they get. Martinez, Rodgers, Lambert would all be ahead of Hughton. Bruce and McCarthy would be better as well but I don't think McCarthy would be great either. Villa should definitely be aiming higher than Hughton though. Not sure he'd go but Rafa would be an excellent manager for them.

Rafa would be an incredible appointment, but I don't see it happening.

The next manager is likely to have to work on a pretty strict budget and get the most out of academy players coming through into the first team. This, in addition to clearing out the last few high earners: Dunne, Warnock, Collins.

Villa basically need a complete rebuild, and won't have a huge amount of cash to do it. Assuming they want to stay, Bent and Given are probably the best and most consistent players at the club. After that, you have Ireland and N'Zogbia who can look great, but also have the potential to be remarkably inconsistent. Then you've Gabby, who has completely lost his pace and Makoun who has a touch of class but yet to be given a decent crack.

The rest of the squad are largely youngsters, who you can classify as (a) initially looked great but yet to really get going (Bannan, Albrighton) (b) starting to look decent (Lichaj, Herd, Clark) (c) exciting prospect but too early to tell (Weimann, Gardner, Currethers, Baker (d) initially looked great but probably not up to it (Delph, Delfouneso).

So depending on how the next manager can work with the youngsters, Villa could well need another 8 players or so. And I really don't see a scenario where the new manager is given more than 20-30m to spend.

I can't see Rafa being interested, tbh.

matrim

TBH I think that any new manager will have a decent enough transfer budget but will also have a lot of work to do to rebuild the squad.

The main problem was our wage bill and with many of the bigger earners off that already and a couple that will probably be let go. Lerner has shown that he doesn't mind spending on transfer fees when needed but we needed to trim the wages before any real investment in new transfers could be made.

I would hope that any new manager will have at least £30m to spend (after selling some players like Warnock, Collins) but would need to get in at least 5 seniorish players for that money, probably with a wage cap of about between £30,000 - £40,000 per player.

meriwether

I feel sorry for Villa fans, McLeish is* truly an abomination of a manager.

*hopefully was.

SlickRic

Raekwon wrote: »

If you see Lambert moving to a bigger club then Villa then I'd be interested to know what club you had in mind.

i think he'll stay at Norwich for the time being, take them as far as he can in the next year or 2, maybe longer, who knows, then move to a club in the Champions League, or on the cusp of it.

i'm not going to make a prediction as the where yet, because managers change with the weather at many clubs, but i think it'll be Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle, Spurs end of things when he does ultimately move.

that's just my instinct, based on nothing else other than how highly i rate him.

Francie Barrett

Just looked at the form, no wins in the last 10 games and only 5 goals scored. That is only worse than Wolves! Had to go.

JPA

SlickRic wrote: »

Raekwon wrote: »

If you see Lambert moving to a bigger club then Villa then I'd be interested to know what club you had in mind.

i think he'll stay at Norwich for the time being, take them as far as he can in the next year or 2, maybe longer, who knows, then move to a club in the Champions League, or on the cusp of it.

i'm not going to make a prediction as the where yet, because managers change with the weather at many clubs, but i think it'll be Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle, Spurs end of things when he does ultimately move.

that's just my instinct, based on nothing else other than how highly i rate him.

Villa are only a good managerial appointment away from the likes of Newcastle and Everton.

invinciblePRSTV

SlickRic wrote: »

Raekwon wrote: »

If you see Lambert moving to a bigger club then Villa then I'd be interested to know what club you had in mind.

i think he'll stay at Norwich for the time being, take them as far as he can in the next year or 2, maybe longer, who knows, then move to a club in the Champions League, or on the cusp of it.

i'm not going to make a prediction as the where yet, because managers change with the weather at many clubs, but i think it'll be Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle, Spurs end of things when he does ultimately move.

that's just my instinct, based on nothing else other than how highly i rate him.

None of those clubs are a bigger job then Villa though, if Lambo comes in he'll be expected to be finishing around or above those teams. Just like Villa had been doing 'til McL*ish arrived at VP.

PeterTwo

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

None of those clubs are a bigger job then Villa though, if Lambo comes in he'll be expected to be finishing around or above those teams. Just like Villa had been doing 'til McL*ish arrived at VP.

Deluded.

kippy

How are Villas accounts now?
Wasn't their precarious financial position the reason they had to sell players like Young, Barry and Milner (amoung others)?

McLeish was a really really odd choice for manager. His brand of football is turgid and worse still not effective at all but perhaps he was the only manager approached at the time willing to work with a club under serious financial pressure.

If they are still in this predicament they may find a decent manager hard to come by, those stating that Villa are a "big club" are living in the past.

invinciblePRSTV

PeterTwo wrote: »

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

None of those clubs are a bigger job then Villa though, if Lambo comes in he'll be expected to be finishing around or above those teams. Just like Villa had been doing 'til McL*ish arrived at VP.

Deluded.

Schools out on holidays already?

Raekwon

SlickRic wrote: »

i'm not going to make a prediction as the where yet, because managers change with the weather at many clubs, but i think it'll be Everton, Liverpool, Newcastle, Spurs end of things when he does ultimately move.

Well I might be biased, but I think that Villa are just as big as the clubs that you mentioned above. Okay we have had a nightmare season but this time two seasons ago we had just missed out on a Champions League spot after our third straight top 6 finish.

We obviously need the right management in place, but as Newcastle have shown, one season can really turn the fortunes of a club around and I don't see why Villa can't flourish again under the right leadership.

PeterTwo

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

Schools out on holidays already?

If you think Villa are as big as Spurs, Pool or Newcastle then you are insane. Considering the fact that McCarthy is considered the prime candidate for the job, a manager who was in charge of and sacked from the team that finished bottom of the league, I think it's safe to say that Villa's future is not in and around the teams mentioned above.

JPA

PeterTwo wrote: »

invinciblePRSTV wrote: »

Schools out on holidays already?

If you think Villa are as big as Spurs, Pool or Newcastle then you are insane. Considering the fact that McCarthy is considered the prime candidate for the job, a manager who was in charge of and sacked from the team that finished bottom of the league, I think it's safe to say that Villa's future is not in and around the teams mentioned above.

McCarthy is not even in contention.

Feidhlim

Raekwon wrote: »

Agreed, Robbie Keane was excellent for Villa but he was only there for 6 games and cost £500k, that's nearly £85k per game, that's alot of money for a team who are constantly watching the wage bill and have tightened the purse strings. His 2 goals against Wolves probably keep us up though so overall it worked out very well.

Agreed - he was the only difference that day and we won a game which we were on the road to lose. We would be relegated without the signing of Keane.

For everything terrible McLeish did, this signing was his (and Villas) only saving grace.

I really hope whoever comes in has an established scout abroad that can pick up some players similar to Newcastle's stars.

Raekwon

PeterTwo wrote: »

If you think Villa are as big as Spurs, Pool or Newcastle then you are insane. Considering the fact that McCarthy is considered the prime candidate for the job, a manager who was in charge of and sacked from the team that finished bottom of the league, I think it's safe to say that Villa's future is not in and around the teams mentioned above.

Some people have very short memories. Newcastle were playing in The Championship a couple of seasons ago and look at them now. You cannot write Villa off after one bad season under possibly the worst manager in the clubs history.

Francie Barrett

Chris Hughton would be a great shout, big Mick would probably also be able to get the best out of the Irish boys.

PeterTwo

Raekwon wrote: »

PeterTwo wrote: »

If you think Villa are as big as Spurs, Pool or Newcastle then you are insane. Considering the fact that McCarthy is considered the prime candidate for the job, a manager who was in charge of and sacked from the team that finished bottom of the league, I think it's safe to say that Villa's future is not in and around the teams mentioned above.

Some people have very short memories. Newcastle were playing in The Championship a couple of seasons ago and look at them now. You cannot write Villa off after one bad season under possibly the worst manager in the clubs history.

But Newcastle had money, they'd sold Carroll for £35 million. I think think these kinds of circumstances, Newcastle are the exception rather than the rule.

Although I'll probably be eating humble pie this time next year, I still can't see Villa finishing higher than 9th or 10th, they have a mid-table squad.

Feidhlim

Francie Barrett wrote: »

Chris Hughton would be a great shout, big Mick would probably also be able to get the best out of the Irish boys.

They may be good coaches but I would be worried about giving them some money to rebuild....

Just as an example, ya think Mick even heard of Cisse before he signed for Newcastle?