• Pressure grows on manager before visit to West Bromwich
• 'I couldn't even begin to think about next season,' says McLeish
Alex McLeish has cast doubt on his future at Aston Villa after admitting he is not in a position to consider whether he will stay on as manager beyond the end of the season, as he focuses all his attention on avoiding relegation.
The Villa manager goes into Saturday's local derby against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns with pressure mounting on him following the vitriolic abuse he received towards the end of Tuesday night's 2-1 home defeat against Bolton, fellow strugglers, when supporters called for him to be sacked.
Randy Lerner, the Villa owner, and Paul Faulkner, the club's chief executive, released a joint statement the following day making it clear that they were looking no further than the final three games of the season. There is a sense, however, that, even if Villa survive, McLeish will move on in the summer.
McLeish said Lerner has spoken to him a couple of times this week and set him a straightforward target. "He has been supportive. He has known it would be a difficult job for anyone taking over this club in the past couple of years. I want to justify his faith in me." Asked what Lerner had said to him, McLeish replied: "Stay in the league."
The Scot refused to say whether he would walk away if Villa slip into the Championship. "I can't say, it's all hypothetical," he replied. He admitted, though, that there has been only one or two weeks since August that he could describe as "good" and he stopped well short of vowing to fight on when asked whether he could think of putting himself through it all again next season. "These decisions are not for now," McLeish said. "I couldn't even begin to think about next season until we get this season over."
McLeish, whose wife and son were in the crowd when he was subjected to personal abuse during the Bolton match, said he was hurting more than anyone after a defeat that leaves Villa only three points above the bottom three. "In terms of the abuse, there was nobody more disappointed after that game than me. I was absolutely gutted. I'm telling you, I don't care what any supporter says, there was nobody who felt as bad as I did going off that pitch."
He added: "The fans aren't seeing the top Villa side, they are seeing a lot of inexperienced kids. Sometimes there are more kids in the team than there are experienced players, so they have to take that into consideration. That would be the only thing I would ask that people understand from that point of view. Just because you wear that badge, doesn't mean to say you're European Cup quality."
McLeish spoke of his belief that he can "turn" the supporters and get them onside, pointing to his time as manager at Rangers as evidence that he has "done it before", although the reality is that most Villa fans have long made up their mind.
One piece of positive news was that Richard Dunne, James Collins and Gabby Agbonlahor will all return to the starting lineup at Albion to add some much-needed experience to a side has won only one of their last 13 league games. Read More
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