McLeish urges fans to get behind Villa

Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has urged fans to get behind his team on games days despite their misgivings about his tenure.

Villa have registered just one win from their last seven Premier League games, leaving them eight points above the drop-zone with just 12 games remaining.

Due to his past association with city rivals Birmingham, McLeish has never enjoyed the full backing from Villa supporters, but the 53-year-old insists it does not affect him, though fears the negative chants are detrimental to the players.

“It’s never stopped me, I’ve never wavered in my commitment to Aston Villa in terms of helping the club, working with the club, and the course we are taking,” McLeish said.

“Of course, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me, that it was easy to handle and there was no pressure whatever. That would be total fabrication.”

“But I believe I’m strong enough and I’ve got the experience to handle it.”

“At the moment it is a bit gloomy with the financial figures coming in and the fans showing a bit of dissent at the moment, with a few never really fancying me coming in in the first place.”

“But if the fans can leave their grievances for other situations rather than during the 90 minutes and support every player, it would be great.”

Injuries to a number of key performers have aided to Villa’s recent slump, including the news this week that star striker Darren Bent could miss the rest of the season.

But McLeish is backing his current crop of players to get the results needed to pull them up the table.

“Your hands are tied. You need your players and you need your best players,” he said.

“These are the things that are out of your control as a manager, when players get traumatic injuries such as the one Darren got last week at Wigan.”

“It is a huge blow on the back of losing Richard Dunne for a couple of months, Ciaran Clark for six weeks while Robbie Keane has ended his loan agreement.”

“But I still believe we have the quality in this club to steer us clear and get us up the table.”