SOCCER:ALEX McLEISH resigned as Birmingham City manager yesterday, fuelling speculation that he is on the verge of making a controversial cross-city move by taking over at Aston Villa.
Birmingham’s acting chairman, Peter Pannu, received an email from McLeish in which the manager informed him of his desire to leave St Andrew’s with immediate effect. While the 52-year-old’s decision came as a surprise, it had been rumoured for some weeks that McLeish’s fractious relationship with the Birmingham board was close to disintegration.
“Birmingham City Football Club can confirm that Alex McLeish has resigned as manager,” read a statement on the club’s website yesterday.
“Acting chairman Peter Pannu received an email resignation from McLeish earlier today while away on business in Amsterdam. No further comment will be made at this moment in time and updates will be released in due course.”
Aston Villa would not comment and McLeish’s phone was not accepting calls. Nor was his agent returning calls. McLeish pledged his loyalty to Birmingham after their relegation from the Premier League, but he received only lukewarm support from the board 24 hours later. A statement said the Scot “was expected to lead the side back to the Premier League in the 2011-12 season”. That would have had to have been achieved under tight financial restraints and after the likely sale of key players this summer, most notably the centre-backs Scott Dann and Roger Johnson. Such conditions did not appeal to McLeish, who took over at Birmingham in November 2007.
Following relegation to the Championship at the end of that season, he took the club back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Under the former Scotland manager, Birmingham finished ninth in 2009-10 and then won the League Cup last season, beating Arsenal 2-1 in the final at Wembley in February to secure a first major trophy since 1963.
It seems inconceivable McLeish would walk out on a contract which had two years left to run, and which would have earned him close to €4.5 million, without having another job lined up. Moving to Villa would allow him an instant return to the Premier League. An appointment at Villa Park, however, would be a major surprise, given McLeish’s links to Birmingham and the fact he led the Blues to two relegations in three years. For those reasons, McLeish is hardly likely to be a popular choice among Villa supporters as the replacement for Gerard Houllier.
There is a feeling Lerner has run out of options following the departure of Houllier. His first choice, Carlo Ancelotti, decided he wanted to take a 12-month sabbatical after being sacked by Chelsea, while Lerner’s interest in Mark Hughes cooled in reaction to the nature of the Welshman’s departure from Fulham. Rafael Benitez, another target, decided he did not want the job and Roberto Martinez was interviewed for the post on Friday but decided to stay at Wigan.
Villa have also sounded out the Everton manager, David Moyes, and Bolton’s Owen Coyle, but both have stated a desire to stay where they are.
Meanwhile, Steve McClaren is expected to be named the Nottingham Forest manager today following the club’s sacking of Billy Davies yesterday.
Representatives of the former England manager have been in discussions with the Forest chairman, Nigel Doughty, over the last 24 hours and, with the bulk of personal terms agreed, a deal is expected to be concluded shortly.
Managerial Departures 2011
January 1st George Burley (Crystal Pal) Mark Stimson (Barnet) January 4th Chris Hutchings (Walsall) Phil Parkinson (Charlton)
Paul Simpson (Stockport)
January 7th Roy Keane (Ipswich)
January 8th Roy Hodgson (Liverpool)
January 10th Kevin Dillon (Aldershot)
Gary Johnson (Peterborough)
January 14th Eddie Howe (Bournemouth)
February 3rd Alan Irvine (Sheff Wed)
February 6th Roberto Di Matteo (West Brom) February 26th Peter Taylor (Bradford)
March 2nd Ian Sampson (Northampton) Danny Wilson (Swindon)
March 7th Dave Penney (Bristol Rovers)
March 14th Adrian Boothroyd (Coventry)
March 21st Jim Gannon (Port Vale)
March 22nd Ronnie Moore (Rotherham)
March 30th Alan Knill (Bury)
April 3rd Paul Ince (Notts County)
April 11th Martin Allen (Barnet)
April 28th Paul Hart (Swindon)
May 9th Sammy McIlroy (Morecambe)
May 10th Micky Adams (Sheff Utd)
May 15th Avram Grant (West Ham)
Mark Robins (Barnsley)
May 22nd Carlo Ancelotti (Chelsea)
May 30th Dave Jones (Cardiff)
May 30th Paul Buckle (Torquay)
June 1st Keith Hill (Rochdale)
Gerard Houllier (Aston Villa)
June 2nd Mark Hughes (Fulham)
June 12th Billy Davies (Nottingham Forest)
Alex McLeish (Birmingham)
