Is http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 McLeish the best that Aston Villa can do with? – English Premier League (Part 2)
So was Alex McLeish the best available option for Aston Villa? The media certainly seems to think so but there was Steven McLaren who no one wants to talk about in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 after he had a disastrous tenure with the English national team in the EURO 2008 qualification stages. It would’ve been much better for Villa if they had gone with Steve McClaren but that didn’t happen so now the club is stuck with McLeish. Well it would’ve been better if McLeish was a bit good looking like Mourinho but sadly that’s not the case here.
The only thing McLeish brings to the table is a vast amount of experience with mediocre sides in the past. Seldom do we see someone rewarded for his failures but in this case Randy Lerner has set a precedent by rewarding McLeish with a http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684 at a Premier League club in shape of Aston Villa. But we might be taking a cynical view of the situation at hand. Let’s see what McLeish has done in the past to merit such an appointment at Villa Park.
McLeish started off his management career at Motherwell in the Scottish Premier League but his http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rangers-c40314 where he took up a management post in 2001. At Rangers, he won the Scottish League twice along with the Scottish Cup before taking up a management job at Birmingham City in the English Premier League in 2007. In his first season at the Saint Andrews stadium, the former Aberdeen player failed to save Birmingham City from relegation. In the 2008-2009 season, McLeish successfully guided Birmingham back into the English Premier League as they won against Reading on the last day of the Championship season.
In the 2009-2010 Premier League season, Birmingham finished 9th in the league table at the end of the season and McLeish was given a healthy amount money to spend on the squad. However despite his best efforts Birmingham produced a woeful show in the 2010-2011 season and as a result they were relegated once again from the Premier League. Birmingham City in the 2010-2011 season (Aston Villa fans should probably look away now) scores less goals than any other team in the division with just 37 matches in 38 Premier League matches.
Only Manchester City and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 have spent more money than Birmingham in a net-spending situation over the past two seasons which basically goes to show that McLeish has spent a lot of money at Birmingham City but he has failed to produce the results. Not only that, Birmingham’s style of football in the 2010-2011 season was equivalent to watching the paint dry on the wall.
It is safe to say that Villa’s fans are up in arms now but this situation does not end here. Birmingham City are not happy with the way their manager was allegedly tapped up by Aston Villa, thus the Blues’ are taking the matter into the courts. It is now going to be a long gruelling off-the-field battle between the two rivals, something that should never have had happened in the first place if only Steve McClaren had been appointed as Aston Villa’s manager.
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