AVFC statement - McLeish sacked.

[Greg N'Ash]

Lambert has gone as far as he can with Norwich.  No disrespect to them but they are hardly gonna win the league or even a cup on their resources.  He'd jump at the chance of managing Villa, even if he see's it as a stepping stone to the next club.  I think he'd do a great job here too.

what resources are these then? I Don't think even Norwich had a minus 15m pound transfer budget last summer

[pauliewalnuts]

Lambert has gone as far as he can with Norwich.  No disrespect to them but they are hardly gonna win the league or even a cup on their resources.  He'd jump at the chance of managing Villa, even if he see's it as a stepping stone to the next club.  I think he'd do a great job here too.

what resources are these then? I Don't think even Norwich had a minus 15m pound transfer budget last summer

What kind of squad do you think he's got in place currently at Norwich, and what kind of squad have we got? How many Norwich players would you swap into our squad?

In fact, how many Norwich players can you actually name?

[Greg N'Ash]

You go somewhere where you have a chance to suceed and the time to do it. If Lambert took over he'd probably have about a 5m budget to replace about 5 or 6 players likely to leave this summer and with that he has to get us up the table and keep the fans onside if we're not playing like Barcelona in November. Thats not a challenge, more career suicide

How difficult is it going to be to improve a club which is floundering around 15th or so in the league, despite having a squad which suggests it should be way, way better than that?

Where else would he go - which clubs would he be likely to get a chance at?

Your reply just shows what i mean really. we're 3 points off mid-table, 6 points off Liverpool. Houllier was hammered for finishing 9th, Mcleish could finish 8th and he'd still be the wrong man. Does lambert need that and with no money to spend to solve it immediately? Personally i think he'll end up at celtic but even if he doesn't i think he'll bide his time before jumping in the deep end with us.

Eh?

What has our proximity to Liverpool got to do with it?

And Houllier was far from hammered for finishing ninth. He was hammered for having us so poor during the season. If anything, opinion on here was that ninth flattered us a bit.

Nobody on here would give McLeish a hard time for finishing eighth, either. They'll give him a hard time for playing terrible football and going 4.5 months without a home win, but I can't think of a club whose fans wouldn't get pissed off about that.

oh come on Paulie, I'm pointing out we're three points off Norwich and if we were above them now it still wouldn't be good enough. Houllier was being slagged off on here from November onwards despite some of us seeing what he was trying to do. Lambert is not a miracle worker and the fact remains anyone's gonna struggle to turn us into an entertaining team with some of the personnel and with no transfer budget to do it. If we were 'floundering' where lambert is currently with Norwich, next season people would wnt him out just like Mcleish and Houllier

[pauliewalnuts]

oh come on Paulie, I'm pointing out we're three points off Norwich and if we were above them now it still wouldn't be good enough. Houllier was being slagged off on here from November onwards despite some of us seeing what he was trying to do. Lambert is not a miracle worker and the fact remains anyone's gonna struggle to turn us into an entertaining team with some of the personnel and with no transfer budget to do it. If we were 'floundering' where lambert is currently with Norwich, next season people would wnt him out just like Mcleish and Houllier

So, being where Norwich are now with their resources is the same as being there with our resources? Hmmm. Right, ok, Greg. Not quite sure how that one works.

[Bad English]

Robert Rosario. Bastard! Scored at the Holte End when we drew 3-3 to the fucking Canaries under SGT 1.

We were there. My dad always bangs on about it "That was the day the Villa lost the title... blah, blah...!"

In fact I had forgotten that it was Cascarino's first goal for us (April 28th 1990)

[Greg N'Ash]

Lambert has gone as far as he can with Norwich.  No disrespect to them but they are hardly gonna win the league or even a cup on their resources.  He'd jump at the chance of managing Villa, even if he see's it as a stepping stone to the next club.  I think he'd do a great job here too.

what resources are these then? I Don't think even Norwich had a minus 15m pound transfer budget last summer

What kind of squad do you think he's got in place currently at Norwich, and what kind of squad have we got? How many Norwich players would you swap into our squad?

In fact, how many Norwich players can you actually name?

half the defence and midfield. as for naming them, I doubt your average Norwich fan can name half of our team - we're not exactly jammed pack full of star names you know

oh come on Paulie, I'm pointing out we're three points off Norwich and if we were above them now it still wouldn't be good enough. Houllier was being slagged off on here from November onwards despite some of us seeing what he was trying to do. Lambert is not a miracle worker and the fact remains anyone's gonna struggle to turn us into an entertaining team with some of the personnel and with no transfer budget to do it. If we were 'floundering' where lambert is currently with Norwich, next season people would wnt him out just like Mcleish and Houllier

So, being where Norwich are now with their resources is the same as being there with our resources? Hmmm. Right, ok, Greg. Not quite sure how that one works.

again, what resources are these? WE'RE SKINT

[ozzjim]

Robert Rosario. Bastard! Scored at the Holte End when we drew 3-3 to the fucking Canaries under SGT 1.

We were there. My dad always bangs on about it "That was the day the Villa lost the title... blah, blah...!"

In fact I had forgotten that it was Cascarino's first goal for us (April 28th 1990)

Was this the game with Derek lobbing our own keeper from 40 yards? The pass back rule has much to answer for taking many comedy moments like that away.

[taylorsworkrate]

Lambert has gone as far as he can with Norwich.  No disrespect to them but they are hardly gonna win the league or even a cup on their resources.  He'd jump at the chance of managing Villa, even if he see's it as a stepping stone to the next club.  I think he'd do a great job here too.

what resources are these then? I Don't think even Norwich had a minus 15m pound transfer budget last summer

What kind of squad do you think he's got in place currently at Norwich, and what kind of squad have we got? How many Norwich players would you swap into our squad?

In fact, how many Norwich players can you actually name?

half the defence and midfield. as for naming them, I doubt your average Norwich fan can name half of our team - we're not exactly jammed pack full of star names you know

oh come on Paulie, I'm pointing out we're three points off Norwich and if we were above them now it still wouldn't be good enough. Houllier was being slagged off on here from November onwards despite some of us seeing what he was trying to do. Lambert is not a miracle worker and the fact remains anyone's gonna struggle to turn us into an entertaining team with some of the personnel and with no transfer budget to do it. If we were 'floundering' where lambert is currently with Norwich, next season people would wnt him out just like Mcleish and Houllier

So, being where Norwich are now with their resources is the same as being there with our resources? Hmmm. Right, ok, Greg. Not quite sure how that one works.

again, what resources are these? WE'RE SKINT

Compare our squad and Norwich's.

I don't think anyone could say they have as good a selection of players.

[Greg N'Ash]

Lambert has gone as far as he can with Norwich.  No disrespect to them but they are hardly gonna win the league or even a cup on their resources.  He'd jump at the chance of managing Villa, even if he see's it as a stepping stone to the next club.  I think he'd do a great job here too.

what resources are these then? I Don't think even Norwich had a minus 15m pound transfer budget last summer

What kind of squad do you think he's got in place currently at Norwich, and what kind of squad have we got? How many Norwich players would you swap into our squad?

In fact, how many Norwich players can you actually name?

half the defence and midfield. as for naming them, I doubt your average Norwich fan can name half of our team - we're not exactly jammed pack full of star names you know

oh come on Paulie, I'm pointing out we're three points off Norwich and if we were above them now it still wouldn't be good enough. Houllier was being slagged off on here from November onwards despite some of us seeing what he was trying to do. Lambert is not a miracle worker and the fact remains anyone's gonna struggle to turn us into an entertaining team with some of the personnel and with no transfer budget to do it. If we were 'floundering' where lambert is currently with Norwich, next season people would wnt him out just like Mcleish and Houllier

So, being where Norwich are now with their resources is the same as being there with our resources? Hmmm. Right, ok, Greg. Not quite sure how that one works.

again, what resources are these? WE'RE SKINT

Compare our squad and Norwich's.

I don't think anyone could say they have as good a selection of players.

Strikers yes, the rest? Take away the kids everyone is pinning their hopes on and there's scarcely much difference.
Midfield has petrov who's past it, a nutcase who may come good some day and the star player stolen from everyone's annual relegation favourites.

I started a thread a while back about fans expectations and i asked where we should be in the league given our ability.. Now the majority said mid-table. Thing is if results go our way we could be as near as damm it mid-table after the next game. Will people be happy with Mcleish? I don't think so. Now some will put it down to our style of play but we were never very pretty under plenty of other managers so it makes me wonder if people were being entirely honest. Do i think lambert could get us safely into mid-table - yep. Do i think we'll suddenly start seeing brilliant football with the personell at his disposal and the budget he's likely to have - Not a chance. So again, whats in it for him apart from a lot of grief and a nice severance deal when we sack him.

[Dante Lavelli]

Greg, you're ignoring our state of the art training ground too.  I think that would be a pretty big draw to a lot of managers.  Particularly for Lambert who is considered a bit of a student of the game.  The facilities we have should allow a manager to improve players and also develop youngsters.

Ultimately Norwich have reached their ceiling level whereas Villa are well below theirs.  Given the egos of most players and therefore presumably managers I think a few would like to lord it at Villa Park and Bodymoor Heath.

[Greg N'Ash]

Well there is that - the carcass of a big club if not the innards. I mean i'm not sure people realise how much we've cut back. Even the above mentioned Norwich have more players they've actually bought than us. In other words they have actual reserves who've played league games and stuff. Take the kids out and we'd struggle to field a team but i'm sure Lambert would swap actual players for a massage table

[Dante Lavelli]

Well there is that - the carcass of a big club if not the innards. I mean i'm not sure people realise how much we've cut back. Even the above mentioned Norwich have more players they've actually bought than us. In other words they have actual reserves who've played league games and stuff. Take the kids out and we'd struggle to field a team but i'm sure Lambert would swap actual players for a massage table

Surely the fact that every few seasons we're producing two or three squad players is a good thing?  Whereas most other clubs have to spend Xm on buying journey men pros to sit on their bench.

I cannot see how that can be considered a bad aspect of the club right now.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We are deep in the mire. And the suggestion that our transfers are going to be mainly Bosmans raises the same question.

It's not a suggestion, it's official.
McLeish said we will be signing Bosmans plus a couple of players on low transfer fees.

If that doesn't get our support salivating for next season, I don't know what will.

[KevinGage]

You see some green shoots from AM every now and then like yesterday, the first half against Blackburn, signs of good passing football, the young players getting bedded in etc.   And then you see some dreadful, ambitionless, negative anti football.   The problem with AM is you always get the feeling the latter is his natural tendency, that he is battling his natural safety first urges,  and that he will always revert to type, especially against someone he thinks is better than Villa, or when the pressure is on.   And for me that is not good enough for Aston Villa.

Spot on, kt.

[Percy McCarthy]

I think we're still willing and able to pay much bigger wages than Norwich, for players and managers. That would be a plus for Lambert I presume.

On the future of AM though, my guess is that he'll still be here next season and we'll do unspectacularly 'alright' in front of not very good crowds.

But then I am someone who is 'fucking deluded' because I don't think we will be dragged into a relegation battle.