View: Why making Alex McLeish Aston Villa manager was one of the worst decisions the club ever made
The move to make Birmingham City’s manager Alex McLeish the Aston Villa boss in 2011 is a decision which is still hard to fathom to this day.
After the departure of Gerard Houllier following his severely underwhelming stint in the West Midlands, Villa’s selection process for his successor was quite simply a mess.
The club invited former Manchester United assistant manager Steve McLaren to interview for the club but then rejected his CV following an angry backlash from the fanbase, before turning their eyes to Wigan manager Roberto Martinez.
After failing to lure him from Wigan Athletic, they instead landed on arch-rivals Birmingham City and a manager who had just suffered a second relegation in just three Premier League seasons to take the job.
Donning a brand of football which was dull, short of goals and had recently led to severe failure, there were very few positives, if any, to appointing the Scottish manager to the helm.
Even before McLeish crossed the second city divide to take up the role, the furious reaction from the fanbase was plain for all to see. Supporters gathered in protest outside Villa Park, while others drew up graffiti slogans such as “Bluenose scum not welcome” on the walls of the training ground facility at Bodymoor Heath.
Villa, in short, got exactly what it said on the tin by appointing McLeish.
During his single torturous season in the West Midlands, he managed to secure just seven wins and lead Villa to score just 37 goals from 38 games. By the end of the campaign, Villa scraped past relegation by the skin of their teeth – finishing two points above Bolton in 18th position.
Villa ended the season with a winless run of ten games, and to this day, it remains a mystery how the club managed to sneak over the line and secure their Premier League safety.
Within 24 hours of their abject final-day loss to Norwich City, Villa hierarchy cut McLeish loose and ended his torturous stay in the West Midlands.
The experiment was quite simply an unprecedented disaster and will go down in history as one of the worst decisions the Aston Villa football club has ever made.
In other Aston Villa news, Carla Ward must find a contingency plan in case Rachel Daly gets injured for her women’s side this season.