Will McLeish be that bad for Villa?

New Villa blogger Matthew Turvey takes a closer look at the controversial appointment of former Birmingham boss Alex McLeish as the club's new manager.

New Villa blogger Matthew Turvey takes a closer look at the controversial appointment of former Birmingham boss Alex McLeish as the club's new manager.

It has been a tumultuous period for Aston Villa.

A difficult season with safety only guaranteed by the end of the 37th game, player revolts, the manager's health faltering, rumours linking our best players to other clubs and all ending with the termination of Gerard Houllier's contract.

It certainly hasn't been a classic season. One to remember sure, but for all the wrong reasons. And, to top it all off now, the club have given the job for Alex McLeish. Yes, the former Birmingham manager.

On the face of it, the anger that is being displayed by fans is akin to their belief that this is the straw that broke the camel's back.

Appointing a manager who got his team relegated is one thing, but a manager who worked for Blues? Tantamount to treason.

We are already seeing signs of 'Lerner Out,' fans who are returning season tickets and slightly dramatic statements saying we are not favourites for relegation. Anyway, let's stop it there with the drama.

Let us, for a moment at least, step back from the furore that has erupted. Tear yourself from Twitter, pour yourself a nice cup of tea, sit down and breathe deeply. All done? Then I'll begin.

Imagine this for a second. A man, who has won the League cup and Scottish titles arrives at the club. What is the immediate reaction?

Anger? Joy? This is where it depends on who you are remembering.

Martin O'Neill was greeted with a crowd of joyous fans. McLeish seems more likely to be greeted by a lynch mob. Hypocrisy? Just a bit.

Now I know people will sit and argue that McLeish is a Blues man. True, he managed Birmingham City. True, they were relegated. True, he plays defensive football.

But the question Villa fans have to ask themselves is this - what exactly do you expect a Birmingham manager to do?

Play gung-ho attacking football? Perhaps Barcelona style tip-tap passing? Come on - you know that a Birmingham manager has limited options.

You're not going to be attracting Lionel Messi to Small Heath, nor are you going to play his expansive, attractive looking football.

Ian Holloway played attacking football with a below-par Blackpool side and still went down. There's not much you can do with a team that is outclassed.

So be sensible for a second. Get past the fact that McLeish managed Blues. Realise that he will have different goals set by the board to that of our associates across the city.

If McLeish plays football based on defence, we might actually learn to stop shipping goals. Last season we dropped 26 points from winning positions, so getting that sorted is a priority.

Who knows - he may even nick Blues goalkeeper Ben Foster, Scott Dann, and Roger Johnson, assuming they aren't snapped up by the likes of Arsenal, with whom they have been linked.

McLeish had Cameron Jerome at Blues. He'll have Darren Bent at Villa. So it's suffice to say that scoring will be less of an issue on our side of the city.

I appreciate for all of us, myself included, that taking on an ex-Blues manager is a bitter pill to swallow. However, our only choice is to support him.

To do anything else is just going to destroy our team morale and create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then we really would be looking at relegation. There could be dark days coming, but there may not be.

Aston Villa fans - a club is for life. For better, or for worse.