Podcast: Mat Kendrick on theScore’s Footy Show

As we were awaiting confirmation last night of Alex McLeish’s appointment at Villa Park, the Birmingham Mail’s Mat Kendrick spoke with theScore’s Brendan Dunlop and Kristian Jack of The Footy Show podcast to share his reaction to events over the past week or so.

It’s an interesting insight so I’ve borrowed a little under five minutes from the final 16 minutes or so of the podcast which featured the interview with the man from the Mail. The clip picks up with

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It’s official: McLeish is the new gaffer and the first game is at Fulham

Well, that’s it then, it’s official. After one of the most protracted and very public management searches ever, the club have confirmed that they have appointed ex-Birmingham City manager Alex McLeish as Gerard Houllier’s successor at Villa Park.

Frankly, it’s an astonishing move that has already upset the overwhelming majority of fans. It’s also a move, right or wrongly, that takes some extreme guts from everyone involved. If nothing else, you must have some respect for McLeish’s willingness to take this

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Anyone for long ball?

We were promised an announcement confirming Alex McLeish’s appointment by now*, but that’s about as timely as everything else connected to the search for a manager, so I thought I’d share something I was just looking at instead.

For one reason or another, it doesn’t matter why, someone put it to me on Twitter that all MON’s Villa side did was hoof it up the pitch; the old long ball. It’s not a new charge, of course, or particularly accurate

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Tapping up and the inevitable uphill struggle

It’s hard to know where to begin at the moment, any thought I try to commit to the page risks spiralling into a 5,000 word mess. I’m sure you all have dozens of competing thoughts bouncing around inside your heads too. Whatever ends up here in this post, trust me, I’ve deleted more than remains. Chances are, this post doesn’t say now what I started out trying to say.

To keep things as brief as possible though, there are two subjects

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Official statements from both Aston Villa and Birmingham City

You’ll already be aware that Aston Villa issued an official statement earlier this evening confirming the intention to interview Alex McLeish. Birmingham City have issued their own statement declaring their intention to take legal action in response.

Both statements in full:

Aston Villa Football Club
This is a message to the fans of Aston Villa.

The Club has been reluctant to elaborate publicly on our search for a new manager and, in particular, to confirm or deny our interest in specific candidates.

This is not

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