This is about pride. This is about football. This is about Aston Villa Football Club

I'm a simple person. I don't pretend to think too much but I rarely think too little and I'm not going to try and blow smoke up your arse or for a moment let you think that you are blowing smoke up mine. Actually, when someone does try to blow smoke, alarm bells tend to ring.

At the same time, I must confess that football isn't a difficult game and it certainly isn't rocket science. I'll hold my hands up though and happily accept that managing a club, in terms of actually running the entire business, isn't going to be a walk in the park. Sure, mistakes are going to be made, nobody is perfect even if they think they are, but it's how they are fixed that counts.

But I'm starting to think that someone at the club isn't big enough to admit they've made a mistake. I wrote about Randy Lerner admitting to mistakes at the turn of the year, I'm starting to think now that it is Paul Faulkner that has to take decisive action and show his boss that he can make the big decisions.

It isn't supposed to be easy

And I'm I'm not saying that managing a group of multi-millionaire players is an easy job and I suspect that Alex McLeish is a very likeable man, but what is happening at our club, is not a coincidence, he simply isn't very good at managing teams in this league and everything, absolutely everything, points to that.

Reiteration carries conviction

So, let me ask a question. Does someone somewhere think that it's because he hasn't had any money or not enough time? Does someone think, if he gets more it will get better?

Is there still someone out there that thinks he never really got a proper chance at The Clowns after relegating them twice, playing pretty much the same football that we are now getting served up week in week out?

Does someone somewhere really still think it is going to get better? I can not for a moment accept that there is but if there are some people deluding themselves that it will, they need to shake themselves out of it, because we have now gone past the point of an acceptable mistake.

Somebody could have gotten away with 'we wanted to give him a chance' at the start of the season, as there was, a very small chance that the two seasons he took them down were just fated upon a small time club with no prospects, but because they are a small time club, they have no prospects and they can only go get managers wanting an entry into the Premier League.

There is a reason why Alex McLeish ended up with them. There is a reason why he relegated them twice.

I'm baffled, I really am

I'm sorry for going over old ground, but until this manager is gone, this is what is going to happen, with the football and with the results. We will win one out of every four and we will lose one out of every four and we will draw one out of every four.

You decide what happens to the fourth game - it can go any way but the win, because this manager wins only one out of every four. The fourth is a fifty-fifty between defeat and draw. It is the Alex McLeish way.

Once again, football isn't rocket science. There is a reason why certain managers win games and silverware and while I grant you that players are involved, the manager is the biggest single influencing factor and our managers influence is based around not losing and that simply isn't good enough for Aston Villa.

John Barnes has said it. Dwight Yorke has said it. Ian Taylor has said it. Many others have said and will say it. It appears there is only one person that needs to hear it and there is only one person that can make it happen.

Alex McLeish must be removed and the owner must do it soon. Not because of protests involving forty people and not because we might get relegated (we wont, the numbers say so), but because there is no coincidence and we find ourselves exactly where we find ourselves because of the manager.

Alex McLeish must be removed to bring unity back to the club. Alex McLeish must be removed so the owner stands a chance of keeping some of the good faith he has generated over the past few years. Alex McLeish must be removed so they show they understand Aston Villa Football Club.

This is not about where he came from - that only guaranteed him less time. This is about the football. This is about pride. This is about what we stand for.

Over to you Mr Faulkner. Every one can see what needs to be done and supporters accept that Randy Lerner might not - but this is where you have to play the role of CEO and make the tough calls.

Sad news now. Eamon Deacy passed away yesterday morning. You can read a write up about him here.