Villa sack manager McLeish

Alex McLeish was sacked as manager of Aston Villa yesterday, fewer than 24 hours after the end of his first season in charge. In a statement, the Premier League club said McLeish’s contract had been “terminated with immediate effect”. The Scot was an...

Alex McLeish was sacked as manager of Aston Villa yesterday, fewer than 24 hours after the end of his first season in charge.

In a statement, the Premier League club said McLeish’s contract had been “terminated with immediate effect”.

The Scot was an unpopular appointment with many Villa fans after he oversaw city rivals Birmingham’s relegation from the Premier League last term.

And he only narrowly avoided a similar fate with Villa this season, the club finishing just two points above the bottom three to stay in English football’s top flight.

Villa ended the campaign with a run of nine winless matches and for the club’s US-based owner Randy Lerner, never mind fans capable of recalling the Midlands side’s 1982 European Cup triumph, that just wasn’t good enough.

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