Fantastic Mr Fox

[Toronto Villa]

Was Fox here when we gave Lambert the ridiculous contract extension? 

he was, but then again he was new in his job. The big boss comes out and says he wants to give his mate a new deal, the new boy in the office isn't going to have a ton of pull so early on. I imagine over time though Fox was able to convince Lerner to "rethink" the decision and made easier as we slipped quietly and conveniently into the bottom 3.

It's easy to speak with hindsight, but I still think the decision to sack Lambert should have come earlier. 

I think we all wished it had. We'll never know why it didn't and as some are suggesting maybe there was a bottom 3 clause. Then again, given that he just signed a new contract on the back of 4 magnificent games, why would the club even write that in, or indeed Lambert accept having it in? My own opinion, it was a prolonged run of misery that saw us slip into the relegation zone, and that was just a step too far, even for his biggest backer.

[dave.woodhall]

Was Fox here when we gave Lambert the ridiculous contract extension? 

he was, but then again he was new in his job. The big boss comes out and says he wants to give his mate a new deal, the new boy in the office isn't going to have a ton of pull so early on. I imagine over time though Fox was able to convince Lerner to "rethink" the decision and made easier as we slipped quietly and conveniently into the bottom 3.

It's easy to speak with hindsight, but I still think the decision to sack Lambert should have come earlier. 

I think we all wished it had. We'll never know why it didn't and as some are suggesting maybe there was a bottom 3 clause. Then again, given that he just signed a new contract on the back of 4 magnificent games, why would the club even write that in, or indeed Lambert accept having it in? My own opinion, it was a prolonged run of misery that saw us slip into the relegation zone, and that was just a step too far, even for his biggest backer.

I'd go with that.

[tomd2103]

Was Fox here when we gave Lambert the ridiculous contract extension? 

he was, but then again he was new in his job. The big boss comes out and says he wants to give his mate a new deal, the new boy in the office isn't going to have a ton of pull so early on. I imagine over time though Fox was able to convince Lerner to "rethink" the decision and made easier as we slipped quietly and conveniently into the bottom 3.

It's easy to speak with hindsight, but I still think the decision to sack Lambert should have come earlier. 

I think we all wished it had. We'll never know why it didn't and as some are suggesting maybe there was a bottom 3 clause. Then again, given that he just signed a new contract on the back of 4 magnificent games, why would the club even write that in, or indeed Lambert accept having it in? My own opinion, it was a prolonged run of misery that saw us slip into the relegation zone, and that was just a step too far, even for his biggest backer.

I'd go with that.

Makes sense, though it is sobering to think that if we had been hovering around the bottom three rather than in it, then he could still be in charge now. 

[Phil from the upper holte]

Fox only sacked Lambert because I emailed and told him...fact

[Damo70]

Sacking a manager in time to leave plenty of time to turn things around is only half the job. You still have to appoint a decent replacement. It is no good sacking a manager 'early doors' in the season and then appointing Billy McNeill for example.

[fbriai]

I suspect there is an element of Fox saying to Randy something along the lines of, 'Look, you've asked me to come in and run the place and you want to take a step back. So let me get on with running it.'

Pushing the boss, who is also mates with your boss, out the door, puts down a marker. It says he's in charge now.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Thinking about it, keeping Lambert on for as long as we did ( against most fans' wishes) probably saved us from appointing Pulis. By the time Lerner saw sense, the Albion had already signed him up. More by luck than judgement, but we really dodged a bullet there

[rob_bridge]

I don't understand why did Fox came out in his only public offering with that management blurb about false narratives - hardly the average fan's language. It was a fairly emphatic and ill judged backing for Lambert. One which was reversed not all that long after.

I'm not giving him too much credit for sacking Lambert, nor it appears the contract extension. Many of us wanted Lambert sacked last summer.

I'll reserve judgement on his performance when we e.g. see the increase, comparatively speaking, in revenue streams, against our peers, sustainable increased attendances (the two aren't mutually exclusive) and less of the aforementioned management blurb.

Let's see where we are in another 2 years and see how much we can attribute progress to him.

[paul_e]

I don't understand why did Fox came out in his only public offering with that management blurb about false narratives - hardly the average fan's language. It was a fairly emphatic and ill judged backing for Lambert. One which was reversed not all that long after.

To me it's fairly clear, in hindsight, that was his 'vote of confidence' publicly back your manager, stating that a change of manager at that time wasn't necessarily going to fix everything but then be seen at games with the guy who eventually replaced him.  It was lst chance saloon and I think the players realised that and they didn't have it in them to save him.

[dave.woodhall]

Maybe - and this is just a wild guess - that after two of the previous three managers including Lambert's guru ended up taking us for serious amounts of compensation and the third didn't do too badly out of being sacked, Tom & Randy wanted to make sure that he had absolutely no unfair dismissal comebacks. 

[Toronto Villa]

Thinking about it, keeping Lambert on for as long as we did ( against most fans' wishes) probably saved us from appointing Pulis. By the time Lerner saw sense, the Albion had already signed him up. More by luck than judgement, but we really dodged a bullet there

I imagine our mate Gregory vehemently disagrees with that. Because missile dodged is right.

[kippaxvilla2]

Has Tom Fox replied to anyone's emails as yet?

[Boz]

Thinking about it, keeping Lambert on for as long as we did ( against most fans' wishes) probably saved us from appointing Pulis. By the time Lerner saw sense, the Albion had already signed him up. More by luck than judgement, but we really dodged a bullet there

There were a few on H&V who were saying just the opposite when Sherwood was appointed and how we'd missed the manager to save us 

[OCD]

Has Tom Fox replied to anyone's emails as yet?

I thought it was quite an emphatic reply when he sacked Lambert.

[Steve67]

I'm still waiting for my response. How very rude!