Lambert in or out? Poll reset with majority 'in', 7th May

[PaulWinch again]

So he deserves the sack but thats not the right course of action? I'm trying to follow you paulie but what is the right course of action? Just roll over and get relegated or do you think with no money he's gonna turn us around? How can someone else do worse than being relegated?

Because I am not convinced he will get us relegated - if he gets the support he needs from the board.

If the financial support isn't there, then we're fucked, it doesn't matter who is in charge. Pep Guardiola couldn't keep this squad up as it stands today.

There's no money coming. At least not for lambert. An experienced manager could maybe get us out of the shit by organsing us to the extent where a clean sheet wasn't an impossibility. We certainly wouldn't be the worse side thats ever stayed up

If there's no money, full stop, then we are fucked, end of. It's that simple.

If he's holding back money because he doesn't trust Lambert, yet not sacking him, then he's a fucking moron.

You have got to back him, or you sack him.

Agree again Paulie. Whatever the scenario is withholding money is absolute madness.

And if we have none we're fucked anyway.

[Risso]

So he deserves the sack but thats not the right course of action? I'm trying to follow you paulie but what is the right course of action? Just roll over and get relegated or do you think with no money he's gonna turn us around? How can someone else do worse than being relegated?

Because I am not convinced he will get us relegated - if he gets the support he needs from the board.

If the financial support isn't there, then we're fucked, it doesn't matter who is in charge. Pep Guardiola couldn't keep this squad up as it stands today.

There's no money coming. At least not for lambert. An experienced manager could maybe get us out of the shit by organsing us to the extent where a clean sheet wasn't an impossibility. We certainly wouldn't be the worse side thats ever stayed up

If there's no money, full stop, then we are fucked, end of. It's that simple.

If he's holding back money because he doesn't trust Lambert, yet not sacking him, then he's a fucking moron.

You have got to back him, or you sack him.

I think a decent bit of organisation and motivation would at least allow us to compete on even terms.  Lambert isn't providing that, a new man might.

[saunders_heroes]

If we've no money we're going down. I wonder if there's anyone at the club that would actually say that to Lerner? Long time staff perhaps- or are they all just Faulkner style 'yes men'?

[pauliewalnuts]

I think a decent bit of organisation and motivation would at least allow us to compete on even terms.  Lambert isn't providing that, a new man might.

I don't.

The squad is feeble, way too weak, and confidence is disintegrating week on week.

A bit of organisation is nothing like enough. We need players in, and if we don't get them this window, then we are done for.

See, you've out-happy-clapped me. That's how grim things are.

[pauliewalnuts]

If we've no money we're going down. I wonder if there's anyone at the club that would actually say that to Lerner? Long time staff perhaps- or are they all just Faulkner style 'yes men'?

I can't believe he hasn't worked it out for himself. Really, can he be that dim?

Mind you, he probably doesn't watch the matches any more (and who can blame him), so maybe he doesn't know.

[Risso]

If we've no money we're going down. I wonder if there's anyone at the club that would actually say that to Lerner? Long time staff perhaps- or are they all just Faulkner style 'yes men'?

I can't believe he hasn't worked it out for himself. Really, can he be that dim?

Mind you, he probably doesn't watch the matches any more (and who can blame him), so maybe he doesn't know.

He's probably sat in his Hamptons restaurant trying to shake off that feeling that there's something important he's forgotten to do, before returning to perusing the private jet catalogue and the Forbes list.

[Greg N'Ash]

So he deserves the sack but thats not the right course of action? I'm trying to follow you paulie but what is the right course of action? Just roll over and get relegated or do you think with no money he's gonna turn us around? How can someone else do worse than being relegated?

Because I am not convinced he will get us relegated - if he gets the support he needs from the board.

If the financial support isn't there, then we're fucked, it doesn't matter who is in charge. Pep Guardiola couldn't keep this squad up as it stands today.

There's no money coming. At least not for lambert. An experienced manager could maybe get us out of the shit by organsing us to the extent where a clean sheet wasn't an impossibility. We certainly wouldn't be the worse side thats ever stayed up

If there's no money, full stop, then we are fucked, end of. It's that simple.

If he's holding back money because he doesn't trust Lambert, yet not sacking him, then he's a fucking moron.

You have got to back him, or you sack him.

I don't agree. On paper (yeah i know) we're not the worse team in the league or even the 3rd worst. We're playing like that because the young players have totally lost faith in Lambert and the older players never had it in the first place. Throwing money at it would be nice but its not going to happen so we need someone who's gonna come in, organise us, lift morale and convince the players they're not doomed to relegation which at the moment they seem to believe is odds on by their body language. 6m or someone who the players believe in? I'd take the latter,.

[Risso]

Completely agree Greg.

[TheSandman]

The squad is feeble, way too weak, and confidence is disintegrating week on week.

A bit of organisation is nothing like enough. We need players in, and if we don't get them this window, then we are done for.

Yep, with things as they are we are fucked. I honestly think that there isn't a team in the league who aren't good enough to beat us comfortably so sapped our players are of confidence.

[PaulWinch again]

When fit Vlaar, Bent, Ireland, N'Zog, Dunne and Warnock should all be in the team. No questions now, we need players who will do the job.

[claretandbeer]

So, with that, what's the reason for keeping him, other than saving a couple of million quid?  He might have bought some of the players, but they surely aren't performing for him.  Of the teams who have replaced their managers, Chelsea and QPR, both have improved since changing.  Maybe the same would happen to us.

The fact that he's overseen the player scouting we've done until now, and that if we have money for players, he'll be spending it based on that.

The fact that this season we have seen evidence of improvement - I know you think everything is shit, but I disagree entirely, it hasn't all been shit, far from it. Even today and at Bradford, we managed to play some decent stuff.

I can look at that team today and identify three positions we need to strengthen in. We could probably get the right people in for less than 10m combined. I firmly believe that, poor though we are, a small injection of players in the right place would improve us by an order of magnitude.

Also, Chelsea have improved, but are fortunate to have a squad of world class players to start with. QPR have improved, but from a starting point that made us look like Chelsea. I could point out loads of examples where teams have sacked their manager and it has resulted in even worse results. It is far from a guaranteed route to improvement.

Those are my opinions, I know you agree, it just fucks me off that you think there can possibly be no argument against sacking him.

So right.His signings,value wise are better than the previous 3. He has suffered injury wise and inherited a very poor squad which was on a downward spiral.Most fans wanted rid of Hutton,Dunne,Warnock and Collins and some now want those players back despite a disruptive influence amongst some of them.
Sack Lambert,I would disagree,but who would replace him ? RDM won the CL. Tony Barton won the European Cup,nice guy but not a manager.
With Lambert we could get relegated,fair chance with the lack of support from the board.Bring in someone else to avoid relegation,no names from those who suggest his sacking.Why keep creating unrest,what's so wrong with stability and belief and having a plan forward ? Aren't Lowton ,Westwood and Benteke good young players ?
For too many years, I followed Villa who were hamstrung by a penny pinching board and the time when I thought we would be back as a successful club was when we won the Youth Cup at Anfield when we were in Div 3. Still got a tight fisted and short sighted board but the management team have vision and previous pedigree.

[pestria]

Was the general air really better as we finished 15th, 19th, 16th, 16th, 21st (relegated), 16th (old div 2), 18th (old div 2), 21st (relegated to division 3)?

Forgive me, it might be nostalgia. As a young lad in those days, I got goose pimples being anywhere near Villa Park. If you blindfolded me and put me in the ground in the middle of the night, I would know where I was. There was an atmosphere and 'feel' about it that I have never forgotten.

I have a theory that some time between getting promoted in 1975 and winning the league we lost our mystique. Maybe it's because people really hadn't studied us closely before then; we were more myth than reality.

Lot of truth in that.  I'd say somewhere around 78/79 when we had a few finishes around 8th (Tommy Craig era?) before regrouping for what probably turned out to be one last hurrah for a great club.

[pestria]

Quite, so we sack Lambert, and who chooses his successor? Randy and his sidekick, the Boy Blunder.

There are two seperate issues here.

1. Does he deserve the sack?
2. Is sacking him the best course of action for us right now?

On 1., yes, if you look at recent results especially, that's a record that gets managers the sack.

On 2, no, I don't think it is. For a start, I don't trust our fuckwit of an owner to not do something totally, totally stupid, on a McLeish stupidity level. I also think that the main constricting factor currently is not the manager, and changing him is far from a guarantee that you will improve things. The chance to add to the squad and improve under Lambert seems, to me, to be the better option than to take our chances under whoever Lerner decides to appoint next.

What fucks me off is this view that if you agree with my point re point 2, you've somehow not noticed the shit results, and all the other badness referred to in the first point.

Of course we fucking have. That's what has wrecked our weekends for months. Years, in fact, by and large. We're not fucking stupid. We (a lot of us) thought McLeish was shit, too, but we're not sufficiently stupid to think "well, at least he's not McLeish" is a good reason to keep him on.

That is what gets on my tits.

I don't disagree with you.  All I'm saying is that if they are going to sack him now would be the best time to do it - as opposed to after the end of the transfer window.

That's right.  Got to back him or sack him right now for us to have any chance of surviving.  Doing nothing is not an option.

[pestria]

So he deserves the sack but thats not the right course of action? I'm trying to follow you paulie but what is the right course of action? Just roll over and get relegated or do you think with no money he's gonna turn us around? How can someone else do worse than being relegated?

Because I am not convinced he will get us relegated - if he gets the support he needs from the board.

If the financial support isn't there, then we're fucked, it doesn't matter who is in charge. Pep Guardiola couldn't keep this squad up as it stands today.

There's no money coming. At least not for lambert. An experienced manager could maybe get us out of the shit by organsing us to the extent where a clean sheet wasn't an impossibility. We certainly wouldn't be the worse side thats ever stayed up

If there's no money, full stop, then we are fucked, end of. It's that simple.

If he's holding back money because he doesn't trust Lambert, yet not sacking him, then he's a fucking moron.

You have got to back him, or you sack him.

I think a decent bit of organisation and motivation would at least allow us to compete on even terms.  Lambert isn't providing that, a new man might.

How would a manager organise this squad any differently?

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

After today,  slightly back on his side.

We shouldn't have lost and the defending leading to the penalty was nothing he could deal with. That was worse than Sunday league standards.

Not sure how we didn't score.

However, the reason he's got me back on side a little was that he stayed on the touch line throughout and showed he cared about what was happening, something I hadn't seen so much recently.