The authoritative Midlands football correspondent of the BBC has said that moving former Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish to Villa Park could cost owner Randy Lerner around £20m. This includes the cost of paying off Gérard Houllier and his backroom staff; bringing in McLeich’s own backroom staff; and compensation to the Blues (although that will probably be negotiated downwards from the £5m they are asking for).
The authoritative Midlands football correspondent of the BBC has said that moving former Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish to Villa Park could cost owner Randy Lerner around £20m. This includes the cost of paying off Gérard Houllier and his backroom staff; bringing in McLeich’s own backroom staff; and compensation to the Blues (although that will probably be negotiated downwards from the £5m they are asking for).
Villa fans are far from happy with the idea to put it mildly, not just because he managed their fierce rivals, but also because they see McLeish as a relegation specialist. This is a tad unfair and it has rebutted by Villa who have also pointed out that is the board not the fans who appoint the manager. However, it could well be the end of the affair between Villa fans and Randy Lerner.
Birmingham City have made a formal complaint to the Premier League about McLeish being ‘tapped up’ by Villa.
I always think that Villa are punching under their weight. They are the only genuinely regional club in the West Midlands which is a populous and reasonably prosperous area (although less so than it was when manufacturing was the heartbeat of the economy). Perhaps the fact that there were four Premiership clubs from the West Midlands conurbation last season has something to do with it.
Birmingham is very anxious about its ‘Second City’ status which is based on population. Despite recent remarks about Manchester being small, wet and having only two good restaurants (not the case in my view) it does have claims to rival Birmingham as a cultural centre. And in football terms it now has two top teams.