In an extremely controversial move Aston Villa have gone against the wishes of many of their fans by appointing Alex McLeish as Gerard Houlliers successor at Villa Park. The Scotsman quit Birmingham City by email last Sunday sparking a plethora of rumours that he was being lined up for the Villa vacancy, much to the disgust of a large section of both Birmingham and Villa supporters. Hundreds of Villa fans staged a fiery protest at Villa Park on Wednesday, expressing their anger at the possibility of McLeish taking over. Villa Chairman Randy Lerner appeared to completely ignore the scenes of fury and now the heavy speculation surround McLieshs appointment has become a concrete reality that the Villa fans will have to adjust to.

McLeish has been handed a rather forgiving start to his reign as Villa boss, with the club beginning their campaign with an away trip to Fulham before home games against Blackburn Rovers and Midlands rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers. Their match at Craven Cottage will be the battle of the new managers, as Martin Jol also begins his first game in charge following his move to Fulham earlier in June.

However, Villa face a much sterner test in December, with matches against Premier League Champions Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea to look forward to. This could therefore be the period where things really start to get tricky for McLeish and Villa, which in hindsight makes Ladbrokes current odds of 16/1 for Villa to be relegated to the Championship look very tempting. Lets not forget that McLeish has already been relegated twice with Birmingham and if Villa fail to hold onto their star players then they could be in a whole world of trouble. Goalkeeper Brad Friedel has already departed to Tottenham and Ashely Young looks to be moving further North to Man Utd. It is now vital that McLeish does everything he can to keep the likes of Stewart Downing at the club, while drawing in a co! uple of high quality players too.

All odds courtesy of Ladbrokes