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

[pestria]

I agree with you one hundred percent VillaAlways.   Paul Lambert's stubbornness is right at the root of our problems.

I really do believe that Randy Lerner is willing to put up the funds to bring in players to save our premiership status but that willingness has to be translated into signatures on paper and bodies in Villa shirts.

All my Villa instincts tell me that Paul Lambert will not make sufficient effort or urgency to turn the owners willingness into reality of a better, less defeat prone squad because he, Lambert sees changes from his cheap, young team ethos as a personal defeat.

It will be the easiest thing for Lambert to do to an owner on the other side of the Atlantic to say he went after this player and this player and that player and that other player but it did not work out for this reason and that reason.   Lambert will defy instructions to get reinforcements in and take the hit when we go down.   He knows they will be very very reluctant to sack him whatever happens because they have such a history of managerial appointment foul ups.

In a nutshell, Lambert will play brinkmanship and he personally will win.   The club of course and the owner will lose massively.

If that's the case then Lerner should sack him and make the reasons public.

[brian green]

Sorry Greg but I genuinely think he is capable of being that cynical.   People look after their own interests.   His best career option is to follow the (lucrative) route of O'Neill and McLeish and get another good job on the strength of the excuse that Lerner did not back him.   The alternative is to stay put and reinvent himself as a pragmatic, flexible, diplomatic, communicative manager and I do not think he is capable of that.

He also knows that Lerner and Faulkner have form for not putting their side of the case so if he does pursue a deliberate policy of benign neglect in this window, no proof of it will ever emerge so the "Lerner never backed me" alibi will never be challenged.

[ozzjim]

Sorry Greg but I genuinely think he is capable of being that cynical.   People look after their own interests.   His best career option is to follow the (lucrative) route of O'Neill and McLeish and get another good job on the strength of the excuse that Lerner did not back him.   The alternative is to stay put and reinvent himself as a pragmatic, flexible, diplomatic, communicative manager and I do not think he is capable of that.

He also knows that Lerner and Faulkner have form for not putting their side of the case so if he does pursue a deliberate policy of benign neglect in this window, no proof of it will ever emerge so the "Lerner never backed me" alibi will never be challenged.

If he is doing that, then the club should be buying not him, and he should be given just the coaching side. I doubt he doing it though.

[David_Nab]

I can see Brian's point.Pl mentioned lack of funds friday by Sunday the press
have been fed information that there is cash.They would have been direction from board on spending but Lambert choose players he wanted and he picks the squad and tatics so poor performances are down to him.

My worry is his stats and Norwich fans tell a story of a manager who's teams are not the best at the back.If we cant stop conceding we have no chance of staying up.As it is it taking 40 points as safety we need 7 wins from 16 games..

[ozzjim]

I can see Brian's point.Pl mentioned lack of funds friday by Sunday the press
have been fed information that there is cash.They would have been direction from board on spending but Lambert choose players he wanted and he picks the squad and tatics so poor performances are down to him.

My worry is his stats and Norwich fans tell a story of a manager who's teams are not the best at the back.If we cant stop conceding we have no chance of staying up.As it is it taking 40 points as safety we need 7 wins from 16 games..

I think 6 will do it, but it is not going to happen is it.

[VillaAlways]

He needed to be sacked after the Southampton game to give us any chance of survival,he wasn't , we will go down. No other club in the country would have tolerated those results. None. But the clubs mantra under Randy is bury your head in the sand and hope it all goes away. They've been lucky so far as we've scraped survival by the skin of our teeth. I fear our luck has run out this season

[LeeB]

He needed to be sacked after the Southampton game to give us any chance of survival,he wasn't , we will go down. No other club in the country would have tolerated those results. None. But the clubs mantra under Randy is bury your head in the sand and hope it all goes away. They've been lucky so far as we've scraped survival by the skin of our teeth. I fear our luck has run out this season

Wigan. They wouldn't have sacked him, they've had worse results and runs and they're still here.

[VillaAlways]

He needed to be sacked after the Southampton game to give us any chance of survival,he wasn't , we will go down. No other club in the country would have tolerated those results. None. But the clubs mantra under Randy is bury your head in the sand and hope it all goes away. They've been lucky so far as we've scraped survival by the skin of our teeth. I fear our luck has run out this season

Wigan. They wouldn't have sacked him, they've had worse results and runs and they're still here.

Can't remember Wigan being battered by a 4th division side. The most humiliating result in our history

[MarkM]

I can see Brian's point.Pl mentioned lack of funds friday by Sunday the press
have been fed information that there is cash.They would have been direction from board on spending but Lambert choose players he wanted and he picks the squad and tatics so poor performances are down to him.

My worry is his stats and Norwich fans tell a story of a manager who's teams are not the best at the back.If we cant stop conceding we have no chance of staying up.As it is it taking 40 points as safety we need 7 wins from 16 games..

I think 6 will do it, but it is not going to happen is it.

We have only one six in the last 12 months, I don't see how we are now supposed to get 6+ wins in the next 4 months

[rutski]

I agree with you one hundred percent VillaAlways.   Paul Lambert's stubbornness is right at the root of our problems.

I really do believe that Randy Lerner is willing to put up the funds to bring in players to save our premiership status but that willingness has to be translated into signatures on paper and bodies in Villa shirts.

All my Villa instincts tell me that Paul Lambert will not make sufficient effort or urgency to turn the owners willingness into reality of a better, less defeat prone squad because he, Lambert sees changes from his cheap, young team ethos as a personal defeat.

It will be the easiest thing for Lambert to do to an owner on the other side of the Atlantic to say he went after this player and this player and that player and that other player but it did not work out for this reason and that reason.   Lambert will defy instructions to get reinforcements in and take the hit when we go down.   He knows they will be very very reluctant to sack him whatever happens because they have such a history of managerial appointment foul ups.

In a nutshell, Lambert will play brinkmanship and he personally will win.   The club of course and the owner will lose massively.

If that's the case then Lerner should sack him and make the reasons public.

you are assuming he isnt looking for reinforcements at the moment then? as with nearly all the transfers in the summer bar the vlaar one we held our cards very close to our chest till the very last moment, we could be like newcastle and the remy deal when we announce he is coming, get him on a plane, harry reads it and then goes and signs him. As in lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels, 'assumption is the mother of all fuck ups'!

[Meanwood Villa]

I can see Brian's point.Pl mentioned lack of funds friday by Sunday the press
have been fed information that there is cash.They would have been direction from board on spending but Lambert choose players he wanted and he picks the squad and tatics so poor performances are down to him.

My worry is his stats and Norwich fans tell a story of a manager who's teams are not the best at the back.If we cant stop conceding we have no chance of staying up.As it is it taking 40 points as safety we need 7 wins from 16 games..

I think 6 will do it, but it is not going to happen is it.

We have only one six in the last 12 months, I don't see how we are now supposed to get 6+ wins in the next 4 months

While I understand the pessimism about our chances of picking up wins we surely don't need 6+. We're on 19 points. If we need 40, which we might not, that's 21 points. So 6 wins plus 3 draws or 5 wins plus 6 draws would do it.

[Dave Clark Five]

I doubt that Lambert is so stubborn as to be holding out on buying in the hope that the combination of the current bunch plus returning injured players will save us. The problem with that is that, even if Lerner had offered funds, he wouldn't know who to go after anyway. There is no chance that he / PF would have the front to demand that this player or that player is purchased. By now, with the offer of funds having been refused, they would have become exasperated and sacked him while there was a chance. My view is that there are limited players available that a shoestring budget can buy. However, to get us out of trouble, we don't have to buy world beaters, we need the right kind of player for the job. The job of the manager and his scouting network is to find them. Someone, somewhere, is fiddling while Rome burns. It could, of course, be both Lerner and Lambert.

[eastie]

I doubt that Lambert is so stubborn as to be holding out on buying in the hope that the combination of the current bunch plus returning injured players will save us. The problem with that is that, even if Lerner had offered funds, he wouldn't know who to go after anyway. There is no chance that he / PF would have the front to demand that this player or that player is purchased. By now, with the offer of funds having been refused, they would have become exasperated and sacked him while there was a chance. My view is that there are limited players available that a shoestring budget can buy. However, to get us out of trouble, we don't have to buy world beaters, we need the right kind of player for the job. The job of the manager and his scouting network is to find them. Someone, somewhere, is fiddling while Rome burns. It could, of course, be both Lerner and Lambert.

You old sceptic jon!
 I think money is there but not much , but agree someone should have been signed by now, we are dropping points waiting.

[Greg N'Ash]

Sorry Greg but I genuinely think he is capable of being that cynical.   People look after their own interests.   His best career option is to follow the (lucrative) route of O'Neill and McLeish and get another good job on the strength of the excuse that Lerner did not back him.   The alternative is to stay put and reinvent himself as a pragmatic, flexible, diplomatic, communicative manager and I do not think he is capable of that.

He also knows that Lerner and Faulkner have form for not putting their side of the case so if he does pursue a deliberate policy of benign neglect in this window, no proof of it will ever emerge so the "Lerner never backed me" alibi will never be challenged.

I'm not so sure. There's a big difference between flirting with relegation like TSM did, or walking out after finishing 6th like MON, and taking us out of the PL on the back of horrendous performances. For a club our size and the amount of time in the premiership it is a pretty damming thing to have on your CV whatever the circumstances. I can't see Steve Kean getting a decent gig anytime soon after blackburn and Villa going down would be bigger news.

Besides, have you seen him lately? Seems to be visibly ageing by 5 years after each game. If that's him being relaxed/cynical about the situation i'd hate to see him worried.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

Sorry Greg but I genuinely think he is capable of being that cynical.   People look after their own interests.   His best career option is to follow the (lucrative) route of O'Neill and McLeish and get another good job on the strength of the excuse that Lerner did not back him.   The alternative is to stay put and reinvent himself as a pragmatic, flexible, diplomatic, communicative manager and I do not think he is capable of that.

He also knows that Lerner and Faulkner have form for not putting their side of the case so if he does pursue a deliberate policy of benign neglect in this window, no proof of it will ever emerge so the "Lerner never backed me" alibi will never be challenged.

so you think his best interest is in taking us down and having a relegation on his cv?

surely his best interest is in keeping us up and then building on it next season. This current squad have the makings of a decent premier squad - as they gain in experience and with a 3 or 4 of the right additions.

do you not think that we have been unlucky with the players that have been injured i.e. most of the experienced ones?

do you not think that by trotting out the line that the kids are fine and are good enough to keep us up, he is publicly backing them and trying to build up their confidence?

do you not think that he has been under instruction to get rid of the overpaid prima donnas who only just managed to keep us up last season and replace them with players on half of their wages or less who can do as good a job?

do you not think that he is following party lines when trotting out the message that there is no money available to sign experienced premier league players? (this may well have changed since the Southampton game anyway)

do you not think that Lambert would rather still be Villa manager next season, in the premier league, and make a success of it? This is the biggest job he has ever had and if he screws this up, he won't get a crack at another big job.

None of us know what goes on in the background so maybe you are right but personally I can't see it myself. I think his hands have been tied to what he can and can't do regarding the squad and if he can keep them up this season, then we will see more of the old guard disposed of in the summer and he might just then be able to bring in some players of higher quality and more experience that can then push us forwards.

I still have faith that he is the man for the job long term, although I will admit that the faith is being severely tested. If, as I like to believe, he is working with all the constraints that I have suggested, then I think most managers would struggle, certainly most managers that we would be capable of attracting to the villa.

Steve Mclaren anyone? no  - thought not!!!