O’Leary Next For Axe?

Alain Perrin has become the first Premiership manager to face the axe this season and William Hill have already adjusted their odds to judge who will be next! The early favourites are David O’Leary at 11/4, Steve Bruce 7/2 and Mick McCarthy at 13/2.

To some it is already a mystery why ‘Deadly’ Doug hasn’t ended the tenure of current Villa boss David O’Leary. Villa lie in 15th place with only three wins this season and the fans have suffered from some dire performances resulting in a severe drop in Villa Park attendances. 38% of fans polled on this site wanted the axe to fall, 21% wanted O’Leary kept on long term, 8% said he should be given until the end of the season and the rest said it didn’t matter whilst Doug was in charge!

However with the speculation over possible takeovers, maybe Doug has his hands tied? Won’t have stopped him sharpening the axe in preparation though surely? He does however now have massive competition from Mandaric who has, already seen managers Alan Ball, Tony Pulis, Steve Claridge, Graham Rix, Harry Redknapp and now Allain Perrin ‘leave’ since 1999. Watch out Doug, you aren’t the only deadly anymore!

Looks like the League Managers’ Association chief executive John Barnwell would agree. He has told Portsmouth that they will never get success if they continue to fire managers! He said: ‘Unfortunately all of the noises coming out of this particular football club have indicated it would happen sooner rather than later. We have spoken with Alain, and Joe Jordan, several times. It certainly wasn’t about Alain being dismissed, it was about how the LMA could support him as a foreign manager coming into a different environment.’ Adding ‘Historically, those clubs who continually change their managers never, ever achieve what they want to achieve and Portsmouth is a classic case.’

You have to agree, look at the upheaval Villa have suffered over the years since Mr Ellis returned and look at what we have won! Yup, two league cups.