Lambert Out?

[pauliewalnuts]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

[PeterWithesShin]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

I still think the Wigan match a few weeks earlier was the start of it.

[Rigadon]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

I still think the Wigan match a few weeks earlier was the start of it.

That Stoke game was a massive turning point.   Fucking Stoke.

[silhillvilla]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

True enough, the whole Moscow saga seemed to really affect the mood around villa park.
I was shocked to the core when I heard the squad he'd taken out there.

[Risso]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

I quite agree.  That was the second major turning point after signing Heskey.  All the belief just seemed to evaporate overnight.

[Toronto Villa]

Stoke was the catalyst to a lot of things. Everything was perfect at 2-0. While Moscow was still an issue it would have been even more justified a decision had we gone on to win that game. The way that game ended was the beginning of the end. Moscow in my opinion was the first real challenge to MON from a larger percentage of the audience and the steep decline thereafter just threw more fuel on the fire. The feeling at the end of the game was just one of bewilderment and dismay. A very empty feeling.

[pauliewalnuts]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

I quite agree.  That was the second major turning point after signing Heskey.  All the belief just seemed to evaporate overnight.

Sitting here now and thinking back, I can still remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as we trudged back to the car afterwards.

Looking around, you could see that everyone else thought we'd fucked it, too.

[sendô WHU]

Hi Sendo, when WHUFC last got relegated, when did you / the majority of fans realise you were down and accept it ? Pre Xmas ? Pre Easter ? Or was it total denial until the inevitable?

Good question. I'm not sure I could point to one particular point.

Our terrible start didn't bode well. Losing our opening 4 games conceding 3 goals in each game. Not picking up our second win until the end of November. We could all see the writing was on the wall when they failed to sack uncle Avram and lure in O'Neill over Christmas. Every game was the same lack of ideas and desire, the same mundanely average players flattering to deceive. We were given hope around February time winning 3 on the bounce including playing Liverpool off the park and thumping Stoke but it was a false dawn. We didn't win again for the rest of the season.

I guess in answer to your question, you sort of know at this point of the season deep down if your team looks like relegation material, but you always want to believe they can turn it around with a few signings in January and a couple of wins. I didn't truly believe we were down until we threw away a 2 goal lead at Wigan and were finally relegated.

[ez]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

I quite agree.  That was the second major turning point after signing Heskey.  All the belief just seemed to evaporate overnight.

Sitting here now and thinking back, I can still remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as we trudged back to the car afterwards.

Looking around, you could see that everyone else thought we'd fucked it, too.

For me that was the time when i realised progress had stopped. The 'American dream' was not going to happen.

[Archie]

I like the style of playing that Lambo is trying to give the team, and I'll always back our manager,  but since the Norwich game I couldn't help but acknowledge the absolute mediocrity of our midfield.
The whole department has scored only one goal with KEA so far.
Bannan and Albrighton proved to be not good enough for the Premier League, Westwood is too inexperienced,  Kea, Delph, Zog and Herd are of championship level, Ireland is quite gifted but shows a dramatic lack of continuity and consistency.
Apart from the injuried Gardner, Holman is the best and this speaks volumes about the value of our midfield.

[silhillvilla]

Hi Sendo, when WHUFC last got relegated, when did you / the majority of fans realise you were down and accept it ? Pre Xmas ? Pre Easter ? Or was it total denial until the inevitable?

Good question. I'm not sure I could point to one particular point.

Our terrible start didn't bode well. Losing our opening 4 games conceding 3 goals in each game. Not picking up our second win until the end of November. We could all see the writing was on the wall when they failed to sack uncle Avram and lure in O'Neill over Christmas. Every game was the same lack of ideas and desire, the same mundanely average players flattering to deceive. We were given hope around February time winning 3 on the bounce including playing Liverpool off the park and thumping Stoke but it was a false dawn. We didn't win again for the rest of the season.

I guess in answer to your question, you sort of know at this point of the season deep down if your team looks like relegation material, but you always want to believe they can turn it around with a few signings in January and a couple of wins. I didn't truly believe we were down until we threw away a 2 goal lead at Wigan and were finally relegated.

Thanks Sendo, that sounds worryingly familiar.

[N'ZMAV]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

Glenn Whelans goal, it that 2-2 game was the beginning of the end.

[not3bad]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

I quite agree.  That was the second major turning point after signing Heskey.  All the belief just seemed to evaporate overnight.

Sitting here now and thinking back, I can still remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as we trudged back to the car afterwards.

Looking around, you could see that everyone else thought we'd fucked it, too.

I remember standing in the queue for the train at Witton, sending expletives into the post match thread from my phone.

[Irish villain]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

True enough, the whole Moscow saga seemed to really affect the mood around villa park.
I was shocked to the core when I heard the squad he'd taken out there.

Moscow was huge. That was the day I lost all faith in MON. It was like he took a a safety pin and pricked our bubble, deflating the whole club in the process.

I remember arguing that we lost our momentum after Moscow and that we actually harmed our chances of CL qualification by doing that. We could have been title contenders if we had kept the momentum and we had a big enough squad without having to send so many youngsters.

[eastie]

The Bolton away under GED when we lost 2-3 was another low point.
Jeez there's been too many of late.

I seriously believe our decline began in that home game with Stoke under MON.

I honestly think I felt more deflated after that than after the CC final.

True enough, the whole Moscow saga seemed to really affect the mood around villa park.
I was shocked to the core when I heard the squad he'd taken out there.

Moscow was huge. That was the day I lost all faith in MON. It was like he took a a safety pin and pricked our bubble, deflating the whole club in the process.

I remember arguing that we lost our momentum after Moscow and that we actually harmed our chances of CL qualification by doing that. We could have been title contenders if we had kept the momentum and we had a big enough squad without having to send so many youngsters.

I agree, after Moscow I could sees mons mask slipping and things never felt the same under him again - it was a big mistake , having played all those games to get that far with a much stronger side and then to leave out our best players in the knockout stage was very bad management.

I think some of the top players were upset at missing out on playing after all the hard work in getting that far.