Trial by Twitter is sign of times for under-fire Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish as relegation battle looms I read Pep Guardiola's comments that he's absolutely shattered. There is no doubt that this game takes a lot out of you, especially managers. Arsène Wenger once said the manager is the most important man at the club, because he's the man who gets fired if results aren't right. That's the pressure on managers. McLeish had a long chat with Gordon Strachan on Thursday. Other managers have been in touch. There's a lot of goodwill. Just as I have done with other managers under a wee bit of pressure. We support each other. The LMA do a fantastic job in their support of managers. Pressure intensifies in the era of Financial Fair Play, which demands fiscal good practice. Villa have a sensible long-term strategy of blending in home-grown prospects with more expensive and experienced recruits. Partly because of injury, McLeish started five academy graduates in the defeat to Bolton on Tuesday with six more on the bench. The balance was not right, Villa lost and McLeish was vilified. He needs senior players such as Richard Dunne back on Saturday but the club's commitment to youth remains. "I've watched our reserves many times this season and I honestly couldn't see a bad player in the team,"" continued McLeish. "Sometimes you think "he can't trap the ball, he can't see a pass, he's too soft as a centre-back" but I thought there was a really good standard throughout the team. They won the league and now play Man United in the play-off at Old Trafford. The DNA of the club is so important. I hope I am here for a long time and something that I am really determined to do is to get in young players, through the academy or bring in players, who are willing to die for this club. These kids are. They have some growing-up to do. We plan to have meetings before the season starts about their values. I watched a documentary about Clarence Seedorf. He's 36 and he was talking about his diet and not drinking alcohol. He said: "I eat and drink well because I am a professional, because I choose to look after myself. If, when I retire, I want to drink, I will. Amazing mindsets like that are what we are trying to create at this club. Villa's desire to keep spending under control is all the more important when the legacy of overspending is felt elsewhere. "Leeds are a giant club,"" said McLeish. Sheffield Wednesday. There are a few. With managers, if the chairman is willing to give you money, then it's hard to say: "No, I don't think you should be spending that type of money, chairman." But as a manager you still have to have a responsibility as a custodian of the club. But the only thing that is important to fans is that the team wins. I totally understand that fanaticism."" Further perspective has been provided by the news that Villa's popular midfielder, Stiliyan Petrov, has leukaemia. "It does put football into perspective,"" added McLeish. "I know there's the Bill Shankly saying ["football's not a matter of life and death, it's more important than that"] but this is people's lives. Stiliyan has given us all a wee wake-up call."" McLeish is determined to turn around Villa's fortunes. Times are tense but he tries to switch off occasionally. For unwinding, I like to watch TV. I've still got 16 hours of Europa League footage to see. I like documentaries like those made by Sir David Attenborough. We also followed the Titanic series. There have been some great wee plays on recently like The Syndicate with Tim Spall."" McLeish and his wife enjoy trips to theatre land in London. We haven't been to a show for a wee while but we did get a gift at Christmas from the kids to go to one of the shows. The next target is Jersey Boys. The West End can wait. West Brom beckons and McLeish needs to put on a show for Villa's anxious fans.