McLeish leaves Birmingham......

[Mr Angry]

...... and is expected to take over at Villa now!!!

[AthleticoSpizz]

Billy Davies to Brum then

[Friday's Legacy]

...... and is expected to take over at Villa now!!!

so villa drop their interest in mclaren because of disgrunted fans but they'll employ mcleish from relegated local rivals birmingam. they'll be delighted, especially when they're used to big names like martin o'neil. can see a few more players wanting to follow young out of the club with this appointment.

[Royal Rother]

Nothing wrong with McLeish or McClaren, both good men and decent managers.

[Thomas L'Heureux]

McClaren > McLeish.

[floyd__streete]

Nothing wrong with McLeish or McClaren, both good men and decent managers.

McLaren's managerial career can most kindly be described as 'chequered'. McLeish has managed Birmingham to two relegations and a 2nd place Championship finish ahead of a Reading side which imploded pathetically. I know a Rangers fan and he wasn't exactly overwhelmed with McLeish's tenure there. Stretching the boundaries of the phrase 'decent' there, methinks.

[Stranded]

Brum refuse to accept his resignation unless they receive compensation.

[floyd__streete]

Brum refuse to accept his resignation unless they receive compensation.

They should be laughing all the way to the bank when they get it.

[Who Moved The Goalposts?]

Brum refuse to accept his resignation unless they receive compensation.

If I was a cynic, I'd say that they are clutching at a few straws in order to get some much needed cash on the books.

[Mid Sussex Royal]

Brum refuse to accept his resignation unless they receive compensation.

They should be laughing all the way to the bank when they get it.

Agreed - very overrated manager. A very lucky league cup win masked 2 relagations in 4 years playing negative boring football. AND very uncomplementary about us when we won there the other year.

[Barry the bird boggler]

Exactly, and given that record I can see Villa fans being so apoplectic over such a dreadful appointment that they'd be crying for Houllier to come back.

[roadrunner]

Well Villa fans are up in arms about McLeish, as expected. Villa said they ended their interest in McLaren because of fans opinion, would seem a load of nonsense of they go and appoint the Brum manager.

What an utter shambles they've made of finding a new manager. It's still got Mark Hughes written all over it IMO.

[Royal Rother]

Nothing wrong with McLeish or McClaren, both good men and decent managers.

McLaren's managerial career can most kindly be described as 'chequered'. McLeish has managed Birmingham to two relegations and a 2nd place Championship finish ahead of a Reading side which imploded pathetically. I know a Rangers fan and he wasn't exactly overwhelmed with McLeish's tenure there. Stretching the boundaries of the phrase 'decent' there, methinks.

Managed Motherwell to 2nd place in the SPL = Decent

Managed Birmingham to 9th in the PL = Decent

Managed Birmingham to win the League Cup = Decent

Managed Scotland to nearly qualify for the 2008 Euro, beating France in Paris during the qualifiers = Decent

Add them (and other achievements) up and that's more than decent.

Methinks.

[Hoop Blah]

Nothing wrong with McLeish or McClaren, both good men and decent managers.

Yeah I'd agree their decent managers, not a lot more but decent.

I think it's pretty low of McLeish to resign over email whilst he was on holiday though. For someone who likes to live on a reputation of being honest and straight talking that's a pretty cheap thing to do (if true of course - it may well be twisted by our lovelly media of course).

Would he be the right man for the Villa job? Absolutely not. As people like Allardyce and Megson have found, not having the fans backing from the start means you've got a tough task on your hands getting your feet under the table.

It would be almost destined to failure, especially with a set of fans like Villa's who were very quick to get on O'Neils back at times.

[Wax Jacket]

So Villa have been turned down by the guy that took a team to 17th and now are after a guy that got another team relegated scoring less than one goal per game.

I'm not sure Villa's standing as a 'big club' holds true any more

[Mr Angry]

Villa would do a lot worse than giving the job full time to Gary McAllister; its not as if the names in the frame are so much bigger/better than him, is it?

[roadrunner]

Gareth Southgate now being discussed as a possibiLOLity to return to his former club.

[soggy biscuit]

McLeish is actually claiming constructive dismissal rather than just resigning which is why he/Villa believe there should be no compensation to Birmingham.

[Mr Angry]

McLeish is actually claiming constructive dismissal rather than just resigning which is why he/Villa believe there should be no compensation to Birmingham.

On the basis of what???

He would be laughed out of a tribunial if he tried that one, not least for the fact that they could have sacked him not once, but twice after his relegations.

[Friday's Legacy]

i'm glad they're putting their foot down but i do share a dislike for birmingham so will enjoy the result which ever way it goes, in fact i don't much like villa either. both clubs are convinced they're bigger than they are. mcleish wont take villa forward, it'd be one of those appointments where it's a matter of time before he's out of a job, 20 months tops and a player exodus.