Aston Villa Football Club have announced that Alex McLeish's contract has been terminated with immediate effect. During McLeish's 11 month reign, Aston Villa only won 4 of 19 games at home and finished just above the relegation zone.
McLeish was already an unpopular appointment, having been lured from cross-city rivals, Birmingham City following their relegation at the end of the 2010-11 season. This meant he was always on the back foot from the word go.
In a surprising development, the Press Association si reporting that current Wellington Phoenix & All Whites coach, Ricki Herbert has been linked with the vacant Aston Villa manager's position along with more notable names like Rafa Benitez, Claudio Ranieri & Slaven Bilic.
Ricki Herbert did have a trial with Aston Villa following the 1982 World Cup but didn't quite manage to agree terms with the then-European champions.
Will keep you posted on this developing story shortly.
To continue this vein of surprising developments, Jose Mourinho will come in to the soon-to-be-vacant Wellington Phoenix manager's role.
ReplyDeleteBeing interviewed earlier, Mourinho was excited to be working with some of Oceania's rising stars such as Paul Ifill and Ben Sigmund. "The opportunity to work with such classy players will be a welcome change from the current league I am coaching in," Mourinho said.
He also pointed out that there were numerous personal reasons for leaving Spain, with the culture being a major one. "A major decision sealer for me regarding the move to Wellington is the culture. Such a wonderful vibrant city with a great party atmosphere. It is no secret that I love the nightlife and I love to boogie," Mourinho declared.