At the time of writing this, Villa have announced they intend to interview Alex McLeish for the managers job. I think this is hilarious. In cricket, Richie Benaud said that as a captain, you always do what the opposition don’t want you to do. Villa fans don’t want McLeish, so we really should usher him to Villa Park, whilst throwing rose petals at his feet. I know some Blues fans wanted McLeish to stay and if he has to go, not to go to our rivals, but I don’t get it.
On Wed 12 Sept 2007, a significant result took place that was to affect Blues, even though we didn’t even play in it. It was France 0 Scotland 1 in a Euro 2008 qualifier. A ‘backs to the wall’ performance, with a terrific rearguard action to keep a clean sheet. A great result for Scotland, but one that seemed to enter McLeish’s psyche as a template of how to play football when you’re faced with better opposition.
When he took over and we beat Spurs 3-2, it seemed like a breath of fresh air after Steve Bruce, but we know how that season ended up. There were some good home results that season at home, when he realised Zarate was a decent player. We beat Spurs 4-1, (although they were suffering a Carling Cup hangover – sound familiar?) we beat Man City 3-1, (they later lost to Middlesboro 8-1) and Blackburn 4-1 who were in holiday mode. Ultimately that season, it was drawn home games against lower opposition that was to cost us. Reading, Fulham and even that poor Derby team all left St Andrews with a point.
The next season was a turgid affair. To me, a promotion season should be filled with lots of highs, but every result seemed to be ground out the hard way with not much in the way of entertainment. We were told it was a means to an end and promotion was achieved, so we were happy, to a degree.
The last two seasons have seen a cup win and a record unbeaten run. But once again it’s ended up in relegation, with this season dropped points at home not helping our cause. Draws at home to West Ham, Wigan, Wolves and Villa plus horror shows against Fulham, West Brom and Newcastle led to our downfall. And yet Villa could be paying us for this!
A favourite saying of McLeish is ‘every point is a prisoner’. Well that’s as maybe, but now and again 3 points is an escape route out of the prison. I sometimes thought he didn’t realise that 6 draws = 6 points, whereas 3 wins and 3 defeats = 9 points. That record run we went on involved a lot of tight 1-0 games that could’ve gone either way. Once teams had worked us out and made Barry Ferguson less effective; that style of play would never work forever.
I’m not one of the 4-4-2 brigade, but 4-5-1 only occasionally worked when we had bodies supporting the lone striker. It never seemed to change into a 4-3-3 when we went on the attack and Jerome was left isolated. With no other pace in the team, it would take us five minutes to shuffle from our box to the opposition box. Jerome has hinted on his Twitter account that he had no support or chances, but hasn’t endeared himself to many fans with chances that he has missed. Bolton away sticks in my mind, a chance to win it in the last minute, after spending all game chatting to Zat Knight, only to fluff his lines. To be outscored by Liam Ridgewell tells its own story. Plus I never trust a player that never smiles when he scores!
Blues have a history of being low scorers, but last season was ridiculous. Set pieces were our only threat, less than a goal a game and the defence under more pressure to keep clean sheets due to lack of goals at the other end. We’ve only scored 3 goals in a league game once in the last two seasons. That was Wigan away and that had two set piece goals in it.
The away games at Man Utd and Liverpool had people asking each other as they were filing out, what’s the point of setting up so defensively and getting humped 5-0? It’s not like we were asking them to play like Barcelona, playing like West Brom would’ve done!
Ask any fan if they would prefer a scrappy 1-0 win or a 3-3 draw and they’ll always say 1-0. But whenever that rhetorical question is asked, it’s always based on a one off game. What happens when the ground out 1-0 wins turn into 0-0 bore draws and then defeats? Where’s the entertainment? Too many games in recent years have been ground out, due to trying to achieve promotion or avoid relegation. Maybe I’m naïve, but I wouldn’t mind a couple of years in the Championship to totally change our style of play and play better football.
I was prepared to give McLeish another season based on the fact I thought he was a decent man with integrity. The past few days have shown that not to be the case, but I’m sure we’ll get to hear his side of events one day soon. The League Managers Association seems to be on his side. The LMA are always quick to pounce on clubs when a manager is sacked, but it doesn’t seem to mind when a manager less a club in the lurch.
The time has come for Blues to make a fresh start, appoint a young, up and coming boss who’ll change our style of play. I just hope the board have someone to help them make the choice.
We may be laughing at Villa now, but I hope we don’t end up with Dave Jones or Billy Davies. Someone like Sean O’Driscoll, Gus Poyet or Lee Clark. Take a chance on someone, not just pick an old face of the managers merry go round. That would come as a welcome relief after being ground down by Eck.
Richard Mullen
Excellent piece, sums up the last few years very well.
Can you Manage, Richard?
Excellent article and sums up exactly how I feel, ground down by Eck – and to a lesser extent, Bruce. The last few years have been dreadful from a footballing perspective and I really feel that the atmosphere and fun has left St Andrews. I’ve seen us win a cup, so I can die happy now, but now I dearly want us to get someone in to attack teams, score goals, get some fun back – and hopefully bring some supporters back too.
Again, an excellent article.
Despite me being a Bluenose, I’m forever the optimist when it comes to my team – including the board – and hope that the events of recent (and forthcoming) days bring us a manager who brings some excitement back to St Andrews. If we see a few entertaining games and goals, then it’ll make my season ticket excellent value.
It’ll be sad to see some of McLeish’s few good signings go – but as well as us getting a new manager, it’s time for us to bite our lips and let those that want to leave do just that. Hopefully it’ll bring us money in to be spent on rebuilding an entertaining side, and have people who actually want to fight for promotion.
KRO.
Excellent post and potted history on Mcleish reign.
However, McLeish might have learned how Premier football works whilst at Blues and use that experience to utilise a different style of play. Bent is something Blues didn’t have during his period and, given the McLeish way of ensuring solid defence is first priority, having someone like Bent could help him get quite a few 1-0 wins as he did with Blues when Benitez was playing alongside Jerome.
You could well be correct though, that the football will be dire even if it turns out to be successful results wise. What McLeish hasn’t yet grasped is that the supporters need to be entertained as well as getting results. There are so many entertainments now competing with football, mostly at a much cheaper cost, that if supporters don’t enjoy the football on display (even if winning) they will gradually stop attending.
McLeish will definitely join the dark side so Blues just need to leave the laywers to get on with things and set about getting a new manager in ASAP. Good shout regarding O’Driscoll, but it’s hard to see Blues; 1) being that forward thinking and knowledgeable in being aware of O’Driscoll’s skills/potential, 2) being prepared to pay compensation to another club, and/or 3) risk being accused of ‘approaching’ (formal or otherwise) a manager already employed at another club, just as we are accusing the dark side of just that behaviour.
It seems more likely that Blues will try for a ‘known’ name with ‘experience’. Hughton and Zola seem to heading the list. Just hope we don’t end up with the likes of Cotterill, Davies or Jones.
KRO
Fantastic piece, agree with absolutely every word.
Good piece. I was an ‘Eckist’, I suppose, but there’s no denying his football was stodgy. I hope the new manager tries to play an attacking gamel. I think promotion will be a difficult goal this year as a new person settles in and probably has to build a new team, but if he shows the right attitude I’d accept it.
have mentioned O’Driscoll elsewhere but i don’t discount davies because he’s got two teams re-built , got one of them promoted and the other in two play offs and he’s footy is more exciting than we’ve been watching recently.
also poyet built a team and promoted
V Good article. As a Bluenose of 25+yrs I have watched some dire football but the last 2 seasons have been as bad as any. It was more exciting watching the blues take on the likes of tranmere with John Gayle, Simon Sturridge and Co and daring to have a go at winning!! A philosophy that Eck has never quite understood. I hope we go for Hughton, he did a good job at toon but is still relatively new to management so has lots to prove. It wont be long before Eck is back north of the border overseeing some dire football trying to stop the 2 footballing teams of Glasgow. Lets hope this week is the start of a new era!! KRO
Enjoyed reading your article, it has some good observations regarding the last few seasons.
You must have read my mind! There is a great chance now for the board to pick a manager that will want to change the whole ethos of the club.A manager that will get a team together that can play football,a team with pace. A team that can grow,develop and fingers crossed, Promotion.
I was all for sacking McLeish when his abysmal tactics caused us to be relegated, which shows that the board know more than I do as now rather than having to pay compensation we should recieve some.
Like many I have also had all the pleasure of watching Blues beaten out of me over the last few seasons, even beating Chelsea was not as joyous as it should have been due to the dire style of football we played, and I would have found it difficult to stomach another year of grinding out results even if promotion had followed.
Let’s get in someone who likes forwards and tries for a a 4-3 win rather than 1-0 even if it means we lose a few on the way.
As for Villa fans, be afraid, be very afraid.
To all my fellow Blue noses – the attached articles all speak sense. Today, more than at any time in my 44 years of supporting the club, I feel a boatload of mixed emotions – anger, disappointment, injustice and even a tinge of optimism. McLeish is a difficult one – you could love him or hate him but the reality is that no club can accept 2 relegations in 3 seasons. My fear, as mentioned above by Backs Wall is that he has cut his premiership teeth on us and with the better resources available to him at the scum he will get better results. This will be painful to me every time I see it. As to our new manager – who knows who it will be – my favourite would be Gus Poyet and I do think that Billy Davies could do a decent job. Its up to this board now to prove that they mean business although I am really worried about their capability to deliver. Can you imagine if we do get up at the first attempt and he is still their manager walking into the away dugout at St. Andrews – the evening of the Carling Cup quarter final will seem like a teddy bears picnic! Anyway Alex – thanks for the cup win I will always remember that day – but as for everything else – GOOD RIDDANCE!
Great piece Richard …
The football has been dire for most of Eck’s reign. I think he’s always been good at countering the oppositions formation, but doesn’t seem to have a clue about asking questions of the opposition, finding their weaknesses and ruthlessly exploiting them. The goal count of 129 in 122 league games (the last 3 full seasons) tells its own grim tale.
Bent is used to playing the lone striker role in a 4-5-1, and he’s a 20-goal a season man (in the Premier League anyway), so I expect Eck to be successful there, but by God it will be grim to watch, especially if Young & Downing leave.
It looks like we’ll be losing the core of the team. I don’t expect Foster, Johnson, Dann, Jerome or Ridgewell to be at the club next season. To lose Craig Gardner would be a big blow … just the man to make captain and build a team around.
As for the managerial change, I agree that we don’t want the likes of Davies, Jones or Cotterill. I’d like Gus Poyet, but I don’t think he’ll jump ship after gaining promotion to the Championship. Di Matteo or Hughton would be good choices too.
KRO
Keep Relegation Optional
Great Article. It sums up most of my thoughts. I’d also like us to go with a younger manager such as O’Driscoll, Poyet or di Matteo rather than go back to Davies, Jones or Curbishley.
Great piece Richard,
Villa fan here in peace.
Its not who he has managed, its not the relegations, its just the thought of the style of football.
Hate all the talk of “football acadamies” a la West Ham, but we want to be entertained at least.
Eck at VP will be worse than the turgid footbal that John Gregory served up.
Very worrying times ahead.
Best thing I’ve read on the internet since the news of Eck’s departure broke out. The style of football was so boring that many neutrals were happy to see us relegated, here’s to a season or two in the Championship to rebuild with a more aggressive manager!
It remains to be seen how a season or two in the Championship would affect our club, our team and our owners. While I don’t believe we’ll be in administration next week, people do like to remind me that there’s no smoke without fire. If our finances were perilous in the EPL then goodness knows what they are now.
Our better players will probably wish to follow their manager to his new club, for any player to stay without the manager is rare, to stay at a relegated club without their manager while he appears in the EPL is even rarer.
Our duration out of the Premier League could be long.
Absolutely ‘ Bang On ‘ article Richard , exactly how I feel . Thank god that he’s gone , with the double bonus of him possibly taking charge at Villa Park !….
To think we’ll be able to monitor the damage he’ll surely do and the suffering that he’ll (again !) inflict , from such close range !….. it’s the first football related smile I’ve had since we tried to ‘ defend our way ‘ out of the bottom 3 on black Sunday !……
‘ Can’t wait to send my first ” Return to base Agent McLeish , mission accomplished ” text , shouldn’t take many weeks .
Excellent article Richard. Sums up the last three seasons perfectly, even when we were getting good results you felt the performance was never quite there. I have forgotten what it is like to come away from a game thinking, yep real improvement can’t wait for the next game. Most of last season I would think conceed a goal the best we can hope for is a draw. It’s ground me down so much that I took the decision not to renew my season tickets (18 years) as when I couldn’t go I found it impossible to even give them away!
I can’t see any of our better players stopping, Foster, Johnson, Dann, Gardner will go, lesser players such as Zigic, Ridgewell and possibly Beausejour will probably follow, Ferguson and McFadden will probably end up north of the border and if someone is daft enough to buy him Jerome as well! Basically, everyone that helped dump us into this position will jump ship. Take those and the two Spaniards away from our current 25 players leaves us with 13 including 4 youth players who haven’t even made their debuts yet! Whoever the new manager is he will need to sign at least 10 and possibly up to 20 players to enable us to compete in 4 competitions!
We could be in the wilderness for some time to come!
Very good article which captures what many fans believe was wrong with McLeish. I have asked myself whether the failings of McLeish were due to the quality of the players available but i sort of answered that question when he put on Derbyshire for the last 20 minutes against Spurs instead being brave and putting on either Redmond or Asante. We will never know what may have happened if he had but we all know the consequence of not doing so. If only he would have been more positive in PL games like he was forced to in the Cup games.
As for the players leaving-well it might sound a bit reckless but i dont think we should keep any player that isnt 100% committed to getting us back up. For the new manager i will be pleased if Hughton gets the nod but what about bringing back Bowen with maybe and it is only a maybe along with Lily as his assistant (who has admitted he shouldnt have left) to restore the drive and passion!