Alex McLeish had 5 seasons in charge of Glasgow Rangers. He only won the SPL twice. That’s a failure.
His four-year tenure at Birmingham City may have been crowned by League Cup glory in February, but it cannot hide two relegations in four years. That’s a failure.
He nearly guided Scotland to the World Cup but, at the end of the day, that campaign ended in failure too.
It’s difficult to see what Aston Villa find so attractive in Alex McLeish. His record has its highs (League Cup victory, second in the SPL with Motherwell, a win away to France) but it has just as many, if not more lows. In all. McLeish is bang average and has never achieved sustained success.
Given the quality of manager available to Aston Villa, it beggars belief that McLeish is their man. Carlo Ancelotti was available before announcing his sabbatical. One can’t help but wonder if the chance to manage another Premiership club might have convinced him to postpose it for a while.
Rafa Benitez is desperate to get back into work, having fallen foul of the politics of Italian football and, perhaps more noticably, the outrageous success of his predecessor, Jose Mourinho. His inability to deliver immediate results saw him joining the dole queue even before the new year was in. Still, four bad months can’t hide an outstanding record at Liverpool and Valencia, particularly in Europe.
Then there is Steve McLaren, possibly the most underrated English manager courtesy of his disastrous reign over the Three Lions. Given his record with Middlebrough and FC Twente, the vast experience gained as assistant manager to Sir Alex Ferguson and the fact that he was available, he would have been another smart choice.
Instead, Nottingham Forest have been allowed to make an inspired appointment completely unopposed.
Of course, even ignoring the alternatives, appointing McLeish was always going to get under the skin of the Villa fanbase. How could they consider appointing a man that they have mocked for the past four years? A manager that they, almost to a man, dislike and do not respect. Given the names touted to replace Gerard Houlier, there is also a biting disappointment that one as unispiring as Alex McLeish appears to have been chosen.
It is in Villa’s best interests to keep the fans onside. Who can forget the sitation at Bolton a couple of seasons back when, with Gary Megson in charge, the fans were simply unable to get behind their team and manager. No matter how successful the team were, the fans simply could not bring themselves to accept Mesgon. By appointing McLeish, the Aston Villa board will alienate the supporters in the very same way, something that they can ill afford to do.
