Aston Villa striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 McLeish.
The Scotsman never really did settle in well at Aston Villa after having managed local rivals Birmingham City. He joined the club last summer and was unable to keep things running smoothly; it wasn’t too long before Aston Villa found themselves battling
relegation.
While McLeish managed to avoid relegation to the Championship, he was unable to retain his place as manager of the club. Their 16th place finish was their worst in over six years and the owner found it unacceptable to let McLeish continue on.
Randy Lerner, the Aston Villa owner, revealed he had taken the decision which he felt had been the best for the club. He expected a change to be made in the management which would result in a change in their performance next season.
While the owner put the blame entirely on McLeish, the English striker believes the players are equally to blame for the poor performance throughout the season. He revealed he believed McLeish would even be relieved after the treatment he had received from
a section of the supporters.
Bent said in an interview:
“The manager wouldn't admit it, I'm sure, but maybe it's a bit of a relief to him after the fans' reaction.
Aston Villa fans aren't used to seeing this football club in this position and you can understand why they have got frustrated.
When they see us down there in the table they will get annoyed and obviously the Birmingham thing didn't help either.”
The http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 international urged his teammates to step up and shoulder the blame, especially since McLeish had already paid the price for the bottom of the table finish. Bent believed the existing result could have been avoided if the players had worked harder,
but was happy with the fact that they had managed to avoid relegation.
He revealed:
“The players must take responsibility too, including me.
Managers always get the brunt of the criticism because they make the decisions but, collectively, we haven't done well enough over the season.”
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