Alex McLeish is a big gamble for Aston Villa

Looking beyond the city rivalry, there’s plenty of ammunition for Villa fans to suggest that ‘Big Eck’ is not the right man for the job.

Alex McLeish has won just 26% of his games as a Premier League manager, so far no Aston Villa manager with more than five games in charge has posted such a low percentage. Of the seven permanent managers to have held the post since the introduction of the Premier League, John Gregory boasts the best win percentage (41.22%) while Graham Taylor endured the worst spell of the seven – the former England manager won just 29.41% of his PL games at Villa.

Aston Villa managers in Premier League history

Manager

Joined

Left

Games

Win%

John Gregory

Feb1998

Jan 2002

148

41.22

Martin O’Neill

Aug 2006

Aug 2010

152

40.13

Brian Little

Nov 1994

Feb 1998

130

39.23

Ron Atkinson

Jul 1991

Nov 1994

98

38.78

David O’Leary

Aug 2003

Jul 2006

114

32.46

Gerard Houllier

Sep 2010

Jun 2011

33

30.30

Graham Taylor

Feb 2002

May 2003

51

29.41

Managers with more than five Premier League games in charge

Comparing McLeish’s record with the PL career records of the two most recent Villa managers – Gerard Houllier and Martin O’Neill – again does not make for good reading for the former Rangers supremo. McLeish’s 26% win record is inferior to those of both his potential predecessors at Villa Park.

McLeish compared to Gerard Houllier and Martin O’Neill – Premier League

Alex McLeish

Team

Games

GF

GA

Win%

Birmingham City

100

108

145

26.00

Gerard Houllier

Aston Villa

33

42

50

30.30

Liverpool

228

373

226

49.12

Total

261

415

276

46.74

Martin O’Neill

Aston Villa

152

220

179

40.13

Leicester City

152

192

196

34.87

Total

304

412

375

37.50

It would be unfair to judge the Scotsman only on his Premier League record, however. McLeish successfully oversaw promotion to the top flight with the Blues and was given the difficult task of integrating them into the Premier League, something he successfully achieved in 2009/10, and despite relegation this season, he also lead Birmingham City to Carling Cup glory; their first major trophy since 1963.

Alex McLeish’s managerial career – all competitions

Team managed

Joined

Left

G

W

D

L

W%

Birmingham

Nov 2007

Jun 2011

168

62

51

55

36.90

Scotland

Jan 2007

Nov 2007

10

7

0

3

70.00

Rangers

Dec 2001

May 2006

235

155

44

36

65.96

Hibernian

Feb 1998

Dec 2001

164

77

42

45

46.95

Motherwell

Jul 1994

Feb 1998

156

48

45

63

30.77

How do you rate Alex McLeish as a manager? Do you think Villa’s owners are genuinely settling for mid-table obscurity by selling their top stars and bringing in a manager specifically to ‘maximise’ limited resources?

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