Aston Villa seal £2m deal with Birmingham to grab boss McLeish

By Janine Self for The Mail on Sunday

Alex McLeish will sign a three-year contract with Aston Villa, who have agreed to a compensation deal with Birmingham - believed to be in the region of £2million.

The 52-year-old will become Villa manager six days after resigning from their city rivals with two years left on his contract. He will succeed Gerard Houllier, who left the job after less than a year because of health problems.

Uproar: Aston Villa supporters protest against McLeish on the steps outside Villa Park on Wednesday

McLeish spent most of Wednesday locked in talks with Villa owner Randy Lerner, only for lawyers to become involved after Birmingham threatened an injunction to stop their former manager taking the job.

The legal issues are thought to be close to being settled and McLeish is set to be unveiled early next week. He has also been given an immediate seal of approval from the Premier League's Godfather.

Is that the way to Villa Park? McLeish is set to be appointed as Aston Villa's new manager after holding talks with Lerner

Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted with the appointment. McLeish's mentor and friend believes that his fellow Scot will be a big success and that it is time for disgruntled Villa fans to get behind the controversial appointment.

Supporters protested at Villa Park on Wednesday night but the Manchester United manager is urging those fans to back McLeish and ignore the fact he will arrive from the club's hated neighbours.

'He will be able to assert himself and win over the fans,' said Ferguson. 'His cv is good. He managed Rangers, he managed Scotland, he won trophies and he's achieved what he has as a manager on limited resources. I think he's done a phenomenal job.

Making their point: Villa fans have taken action on Facebook to oppose the appointment of McLeish

'If you look back 40 years ago, the emotions of supporters were far different then to what they are today. They are very emotional today and they are more personal about their football club.

'You see many examples of that, particularly Aston Villa in the last few days

'As a football club you can't be swayed from the decisions you have to make. You want to say, "Look at the manager's cv and look at what he's achieved at other clubs and, for just one minute, forget about the fact he was at Birmingham".

'At the end of the day, what will count is whether he can do the job for Villa. It doesn't matter whether there are 50 against him or 500 against him or five against him because the experience and the ability he has got, believe me, he will prove that he can do the job.

'In all his jobs he's had to deal with that kind of situation, of making do with what you have and making the best of it. That's a quality.'

McLeish's first act as Villa boss could be to reassess the release of midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker, who is being chased by Bolton, Sunderland and Stoke after his contract expired in the summer.