Aston Villa blogger Matthew Turvey brings you Part Two of his annual review covering the second half of 2011 – where Alex McLeish continues to divide opinion as boss.

As promised, here’s the second-half review of 2011 just in time for Christmas. Following the exit of boss Gerard Houllier due to health reasons, Villa faced their second pre-season in as many years in a state of flux.

For all of the destabilisation around B6 few would have picked, let alone predicted, the choice of Alex McLeish as the new Villa manager.

Big Eck’s tenure got off to a fiery start before he had even got through the gates at Villa Park. For the first time in my memory, there were protests about the manager before he had even got into the role.

Suffice to say that a section of the fans were far from happy at such a selection.

Ask any fan back then and, for some, even now, why they had a problem with Alex’s appointment and you will hear two fairly universal answers.

The first is that he was a former Birmingham boss and, with the rivalry in the city between City and Villa there for all to see, many took it as an insult.

The second group claimed it was because his football was so poor. Kick and rush was far too low a standard for a club like Villa, or so they said.

Either way, McLeish’s tenure has continued with something of a shadow hanging over it.

With a record that some Villa fans compared to his early time at Birmingham last season, it could be argued, in their opinion at least, that Villa were heading the way that Blues did last year.

Except that such an analysis is slightly disingenuous. Yes, Birmingham were relegated last season, but the fact remains that their collapse was due to a second half of the season striking crisis, not a first half capitulation.

After all, McLeish won Birmingham the Carling Cup, something Villa have failed to achieve since the mid-1990s.

Now before fans get on my back and call me a McLeish apologist, I too have failed to be happy with several of the performances of my team this year.

Tottenham sticks out as a particular ‘highlight’ where I thought the tactics were wrong, the play was awful, and we were lucky to escape with such a light hiding.

To Spurs’ credit though, they have been performing very well. Spurs may have been smashed by Manchester United in the early stages of the season, but the team Villa faced bore no resemblance.

What is probably the saddest thought for a Villa fan is that three or four years back, Spurs were on a par with Villa. Nowadays, it feels like both clubs have gone in opposite directions.

This year, it wasn’t just McLeish who took heat from the fans either. Club owner Randy Lerner, seen by many as a great benefactor for the club has slowly but, surely, dropped in opinion polls.

Once seen as a man to lead the club to the promised land, the appointment of two ‘poor’ managers, in the eyes of many fans, has made the Villa support question just how much the elusive American knows about the game.

For me, and I’m probably speaking against the flow of popular opinion, I don’t think Randy has enacted such a plan with malevolence.

Cost cutting, of course, is never going to be a popular choice, much as the recent austerity measures by the existing British government haven’t been widely well received.

The fact remains though that football is, like any other commercial enterprise, a business.

Whilst the likes of Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich have catered to a need for excellent football paid out of seemingly endless pockets stuffed with cash, they are an exception rather than a rule.

In fact, it is this kind of reckless spending that has fueled the fans desperation to want an oligarch in charge of their club.

Villa fans haven’t been immune either and recent internet forum rumours of a supposed Qatari takeover left many fans salivating.

The fact is though between Financial Fair Play rules, and common business sense, Villa can’t afford to adopt such a stance.

Doing so would mean risking the future of a proud football club and, potentially, leaving only records in text books or, more likely, in Wikipedia articles.

Even though it isn’t popular and it hasn’t yielded particularly favourable results in the past 19 months, for those of us who invest money in watching our club, there’s no doubting that Randy Lerner’s methods are sensible.

Villa’s recent efforts to obtain connections to the Asian market via a partnership with Genting Casinos have been an excellent first step.

It’s just a sad fact of life that such progress takes time and this often goes against the instantaneous gratification culture, that pervades both football and life in general.

Hopefully the lessons of ‘buy now, don’t pay later’ will be learned this time, although I don’t suggest holding our collective breaths.

Looking to the future, and January in the first instance, Villa are still in need of fairly significant squad surgery.

Whilst I, like many level-headed fans, will understand that all of this won’t be completed in the next month.

Recent showings on Villa’s bench haven’t displayed a simple desire to play the youngsters, more of a forced hand to be able to do nothing but.

The fact remains that Villa lack depth in several areas. Marc Albrighton and Charles N’Zogbia put up a great effort in the recent loss to Arsenal, but lack of squad depth is worrisome for numerous reasons.

The first being concerns of injury and the second being the issue with form, rotation and competition.

Hopefully, once Randy Lerner finishes his cost cutting exercise, Villa will be in a place to rebuild again like the proverbial phoenix from the flames.

However, for many, the first question will be pretty simple – do they trust Alex McLeish to spend the money? I imagine January will provide the answers on if that expenditure pays dividends.

Till then, a Merry Christmas to all Villa fans, wherever you are. Here’s to a great 2012 and some success stories along the way.