Mick McCarthy? Formerly of Wolves? Surely that wouldn't go down too well either?!
Better than McLeish. You're right though, I doubt it'd go down too well.
To be fair to Mick he never got Wolves relegated. I think he is a decent manager and can get the best out of average players. On Lambert surely Norwich is a more appealing job at the moment?
Average players? Rubbish.
These are not average players we're talking about. The core of this team was consistently finishing high in the Prem under O'Neill, or even if they weren't, the players who replaced them are not THAT bad. Yes, Chris Herd is no Gareth Barry, Wilfried Bouma had a defensive solidity to him that Stephen Warnock can only dream of, and Marc Albrighton has a long way to go before he can match Ashley Young's consistent threat, but across the board the squad is not ten places worse than it was before. In some place, in fact, we've improved: Darren Bent is our most potent and lethal striker since Dwight Yorke, Gabby Agbonlahor is no longer the one-dimensional speed merchant he was before, and Shay Given's lightning reflexes are amongst the best in the Prem.
These players are not average. What they are is badly managed. A team including the likes of Bent, Agbonlahor, Given and even Stephen Ireland is good enough to challenge almost any in the Prem. Bolster them with the a group of academy fledglings who seem to be amongst the most promising in recent years and this squad has rich veins of talent to tap into. The trick is to expose it and get these players playing in a way that maximises their strengths.
Norwich could be the more appealing job, but consider this: they're a club that is nowhere near the size of Villa, with low-grade facilities and a small fanbase. This is not taking anything away from them and what they have achieved, it's the mere truth. Villa, on the other hand, have ultra-modern facilities, a big and diverse fanbase, but most importantly of all a lot of money.