I have no idea what is going through Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner's mind right now. Up to this point, he has been regarded as one of the best owners in football; he provides enough money to compete but not so much that the club is financially compromised, and he stays in the background.
It seems now, though, that he wants to come out and play. Signing McLeish up as the new manager has provoked a furious backlash from the Villa supporters, and their reaction is quite understandable. The man was in charge of Birmingham, he won them a cup and he got them relegated (ordinarily, that last fact would be cause for adulation in the Holte End, but not so much in this case. It would be like laughing at your hated next-door neighbour's hilarious penis operation complications, and then seeing that the incompetent surgeon responsible is scheduled to do your upcoming brain biopsy...).
This story is brilliantly encorporating various topical issues into one. There is rioting (popular in Greece) and a lack of consulation with ordinary people (popular with the Cabinet), and to top it off Birmingham are refusing to accept McLeish's resignation and are threatening to get an injunction to prevent him from taking his new job. It's a different kind of injunction to the Giggs kind, but maybe they could go down that route too. McLeish could be allowed to take the Villa job as long as he is referred to only as Mr. N.O.B whenever he visits St. Andrews?
All of this un-Lerner-like behaviour seems to have been triggered by Martin O'Neill. The man seems to be far more infuriating to work with than we thought. The appointment of General Charles Krulack as non-executive director was not enough to keep him in check (yes, Lerner appointed a freaking Marine Corps General). O'Neill seems to have driven poor old Randy from his previous sanity to madness. Although he is also the owner of the Cleveland Browns, so infer from that what you wish.
Either way, giving Gerard Houllier a job was, on the managerial appointment spectrum, somewhere between 'misguided' and 'fantastically hilarious'. Even discounting the man's health issues (side point; how shit at his job was the man who said "yeah, you'll be fine to manage again"?), he was several years removed from English football, and hardly suggested that he was particularly clued in when he was at Liverpool. This whole thing was bound to end badly, while Robert Pires randomly ambled about the midfield looking dazed.
And so the fans were a bit concerned. If Houllier was Lerner's choice, presumably from a pool of other blokes at least as good, then surely it suggested his decision was a little 'off'. And now we have men such as Martin Jol, quickly snapped up with little trouble by a reactionary Fulham, rejected in favour of a man who failed completely last season. With their biggest rivals. Seriously, the idea of immediately giving him your club to manage nstead is as bad as Inter deciding that breaking 100 years worth of traditional animosity was worth it for half a season with Leonardo. And that was bad, let me tell you.
So, again, I have to say that I have no idea what Randy Lerner is thinking. What is certain is that everyone has had to change their evaluation of him and his tenure. McLeish had better be worth it.
GM
It seems now, though, that he wants to come out and play. Signing McLeish up as the new manager has provoked a furious backlash from the Villa supporters, and their reaction is quite understandable. The man was in charge of Birmingham, he won them a cup and he got them relegated (ordinarily, that last fact would be cause for adulation in the Holte End, but not so much in this case. It would be like laughing at your hated next-door neighbour's hilarious penis operation complications, and then seeing that the incompetent surgeon responsible is scheduled to do your upcoming brain biopsy...).
This story is brilliantly encorporating various topical issues into one. There is rioting (popular in Greece) and a lack of consulation with ordinary people (popular with the Cabinet), and to top it off Birmingham are refusing to accept McLeish's resignation and are threatening to get an injunction to prevent him from taking his new job. It's a different kind of injunction to the Giggs kind, but maybe they could go down that route too. McLeish could be allowed to take the Villa job as long as he is referred to only as Mr. N.O.B whenever he visits St. Andrews?
All of this un-Lerner-like behaviour seems to have been triggered by Martin O'Neill. The man seems to be far more infuriating to work with than we thought. The appointment of General Charles Krulack as non-executive director was not enough to keep him in check (yes, Lerner appointed a freaking Marine Corps General). O'Neill seems to have driven poor old Randy from his previous sanity to madness. Although he is also the owner of the Cleveland Browns, so infer from that what you wish.
Either way, giving Gerard Houllier a job was, on the managerial appointment spectrum, somewhere between 'misguided' and 'fantastically hilarious'. Even discounting the man's health issues (side point; how shit at his job was the man who said "yeah, you'll be fine to manage again"?), he was several years removed from English football, and hardly suggested that he was particularly clued in when he was at Liverpool. This whole thing was bound to end badly, while Robert Pires randomly ambled about the midfield looking dazed.
And so the fans were a bit concerned. If Houllier was Lerner's choice, presumably from a pool of other blokes at least as good, then surely it suggested his decision was a little 'off'. And now we have men such as Martin Jol, quickly snapped up with little trouble by a reactionary Fulham, rejected in favour of a man who failed completely last season. With their biggest rivals. Seriously, the idea of immediately giving him your club to manage nstead is as bad as Inter deciding that breaking 100 years worth of traditional animosity was worth it for half a season with Leonardo. And that was bad, let me tell you.
So, again, I have to say that I have no idea what Randy Lerner is thinking. What is certain is that everyone has had to change their evaluation of him and his tenure. McLeish had better be worth it.
GM
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