McLeish set to meet Villa owner

McLeish, who quit Birmingham by e-mail, has been linked with Aston Villa

Alex McLeish has interrupted a holiday to hold talks with Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner, BBC Sport understands.

McLeish resigned as manager of local rivals Birmingham City on Sunday.

A Villa statement said on Tuesday: "The club understands that Alex McLeish is a free agent. We therefore intend to interview him imminently."

Responding to Villa's announcement, Birmingham released their own statement, accusing their neighbours of "tapping up" McLeish.

The 52-year-old Scot resigned as manager of the Blues on Sunday 12 June, one month after narrowly missing out on securing the club's Premier League status.

• Joined Aberden in 1976


• Spent 15 years with the Dons, playing under Sir Alex Ferguson


• Won 77 caps for Scotland


• Managed Motherwell, Hibs and Rangers in Scotland


• Guided Gers to domestic treble in 2003


• Became Scotland manager in January 2007, beating France 1-0 in Paris later that year


• Joined Birmingham in November 2007, saw them relegated in 2008 but brought them back at the first attempt


• Guided Birmingham to Carling Cup triumph in February 2011, but Blues are relegated on final day of the season

Although Birmingham's board were going to retain McLeish, they added the caveat that they expected him to achieve promotion once again, but he opted to move on.

The St Andrews club are unhappy with any move to employ their former boss, with their statement claiming that Villa's announcement to proceed with an interview was "a contempt of Premier League and FA rules".

It added: "The club feel this will taint football and give the game and the footballing authorities a bad name if this is allowed to materialise. We will lodge a formal complaint as there is now not the slightest doubt remaining about this tap up attempt.

"This conduct, if condoned, will open up floodgates and set a very bad precedent. It is also an attack against the intelligence and integrity of not only the Villa fans, but most importantly our fans who are badly let down after relegation."

However, Villa, who have been without a permanent boss since the end of April when Gerard Houllier suffered ill health, believe they have taken into account fans' feelings.

"In deciding to interview McLeish, the board has taken his tenure at our local rivals and the strong emotions associated with this very seriously," the Villa statement added.

On 10 June, Wigan manager Roberto Martinez turned down the chance to manage Villa having been given permission to talk to the Midlands outfit by his club and Steve McClaren, now in charge at Nottingham Forest, and former Fulham boss Mark Hughes are two others who have been linked with the position.