Villa Are Safe – But Is McLeish?

With one game of the season left, and barring Norwich and Bolton scoring at will on Sunday, Aston Villa have secured their right to play top flight football next season. But the bigger challenge for Alex McLeish may be ensuring that he is still in charge for the new campaign.

Aston Villa fans have been quite vociferous in their feelings towards McLeish and it seems that he has managed to prove them all right.

The loss of Darren Bent to injury has been a factor, failing to properly replace Ashley Young and Stewart Downing has been costly, and of course, the drive of Stiliyan Petrov has been sadly missing in recent months. However, the form and attitude of Villa this season has been exactly what many fans predicted and feared in appointing the man that relegated local rivals Birmingham City last season.

With plenty of silverware from his time in Scotland with Rangers and a League Cup triumph with Birmingham, McLeish is a decorated manager, but there is a suspicion that he is a lucky boss as opposed to actually being a good boss. With investigations regarding dual player contracts and financial irregularities progressing in Scotland, it may well be that he is stripped of his triumphs from his time at Ibrox.

This would put his managerial CV into a whole new light and Alex McLeish needs to ensure Villa put in a big performance at the end of this season. The last day trip to Norwich should provide the opportunity to get enough points for 100% mathematical safety, but the fans need some entertainment as well. Lying 2 places above the relegation zone with a better goal difference than the surrounding teams will see them safe, but mere survival is not the ambition for the majority of fans.

Randy Lerner knew the opinion of the supporters before McLeish was appointed and it may be that the American is in no mood to bow to fan pressure now. Alex McLeish could go a long way to helping the owner out by inspiring a big game from his players.