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

[Dave Clark Five]

I imagine a phone call from McLeish to Lambert would be interesting listening.

[Nev]

Well Laughing Boy answered Kendrick's questions at the presser. Don't what he said yet though.....

Could we all stop saying "presser" like we're all seasoned newspaper hacks of 40 years.  Thank you.

I only writ that 'cos I don't know how to spell confurance.

[eastie]

I imagine a phone call from McLeish to Lambert would be interesting listening.

Having read lamberts autobiography there is no love lost between them !
Mcleish treated him like a dog .

[tomd2103]

I had to do a lot of catching up on this thread since Saturday night. A few things confuse me. Why the clamour for Gregory to return but not Brian Little? I would class Guzan as a Lambert signing but does it matter? Since when has OGS become the new Brian Clough and into the bargain a Championship side become more of an attractive proposition than a Premier League side as far as he's concerned? My opinion is that the players aren't as bad as they are looking at the moment. A total lack of confidence is the problem. How did a side that nearly went down in '89 and looked like going down early in the next season finish second? Was it totally down to SGT playing three central defenders and sticking 'stix' on the wing? I think it was down to a team going on a run and gaining a huge amount of belief and confidence. What we do need is a couple of experienced players to help us till the end of the season at least. I seem to remember when Ferguson's policy of replacing BFR's old guard with youngsters started going wrong he brought in Mal Donaghy just for some short term experience. Just as when Jim Leighton's form and confidence was going down the pan he brought in the Luton reserve keeper who was experienced/gobby/'bit of a character'. We need a couple like that and it's Lambert's job to get them. Reo-Coker would be a start.

So little needs doing but so little is being done.

It's the shoulder shrugging acceptance and perceived abdication of responsibility that has got everyone so heated.

This is what infuriates me so much. For all that we're crap, and for all the moans that this is the worst team to ever play football and Barnstonworth would beat us, there's not really much needs doing to improve them. One solid defender making one decent challenge in every game since the start of the month would have seen us five points better off, in one cup final and a non-league team away from the quarters of another.

Entirely agree, Dave, and Nev.

If the team needed really major surgery, it'd be more understandable, but it doesn't. A decent judge of players could probably go and get in the two players we need for considerably less than 10m.

We don't need any more untried youngsters, but we also don't necessarily need hugely paid internationals. It is the fact that the people running the club seemingly either can't spot this, or just don't care enough, that sticks in the craw.

I can only think it's a money issue.  Which flies in the face of what Randy did two years ago and the return of the extra PL cash next season.  I'm yet to get angry about it, but I am mightily confused!

In  which case, why not go for a couple of loans for the short term and revisit the long term plan in the summer?  Surely the money available to do that?

[Boz]

Thinking about it, I wonder if one of the reasons that Lambert is not under threat from Lerner, is because Lerner just cannot be arsed to have the hassle of looking for another manager.
We like to think that the Villa job is a privileged one, but if there is genuinely no money available, and if other managers have turned down the job because of this (even laughingly, or so we are told), then is Lambert safe because he is the only bugger prepared to work under those conditions and Lerner knows it ?
       

All the fans are doing is speculating, as we don't know what's been said in the corridors of power at B6, and the media just make up stories if they've nothing definite from the club.

Lerner made some money available in the summer and Lambert set his stall out with a young set of players and no serious experience squad members to guide and support them. This I believe was his big mistake.

My concern now, is that it seems if Lambert can't motivate his players against lower league opposition in a cup competition, so why should we expect him to be any better if we go down?   

[Drummond]

I'm bored of people saying 'he's shit, they're shit, we're down already' without being willing to accept there are any other factors and without conceding there are good points.

It's as if the world has ended.

At the moment, what our players need is support and guidance, you could see Bennett suffer against Bradford when the moans and groans started from the fans. He, amongst others need supporting rather than dismissing as being shit.

Some fans want Lambert out now and are (subconsciously or not) just coming out with that mantra regardless.

[paul_e]

Thinking about it, I wonder if one of the reasons that Lambert is not under threat from Lerner, is because Lerner just cannot be arsed to have the hassle of looking for another manager.
We like to think that the Villa job is a privileged one, but if there is genuinely no money available, and if other managers have turned down the job because of this (even laughingly, or so we are told), then is Lambert safe because he is the only bugger prepared to work under those conditions and Lerner knows it ?
       

I don't buy this 'we couldn't sell the club because of lack of funds' line - Lambert had over £20m which is a decent amount of money to virtually any manager in the game.

There may be a case that they didn't accept the low wage budget but even then I think the total budget is more than reasonable, it's just that too much of it is eaten up by overpaid dross.  The latter bit ties into how I read the 'strip it right back' comment from lambert.

Back on topic, there would be plenty of managers willing to accept those restrictions in the knowledge that IF they can sell Ireland, Hutton, Bent and Given they'd have the best part of 200k pw wages and 10-15m available straight away to spend on the squad, and probably a bit on top in terms of transfer fees.  Then in the summer there's another 100k pw freed up by Dunne and Warnock leaving.  None of which massively weakens the squad from where it is currently because the only one of them who has provided anything this season is Bent, but Weimann and Benteke offer enough goals for it to be worth cashing in on him.

[PaulWinch again]

Right if Lerner is backing Lambert then we may as well make sure we get behind him. However he needs to get active in the transfer marker, Lerner has made it fairly clear funds are there.

[danno]

I imagine a phone call from McLeish to Lambert would be interesting listening.

I don't know. Mcleish would probably hold back, and argue for the draw.

[Chris Jameson]

I imagine a phone call from McLeish to Lambert would be interesting listening.

I wouldn't want to have to transcribe it, wouldn't understand a word.

[olaftab]

Could we all stop saying "presser" like we're all seasoned newspaper hacks of 40 years.  Thank you.

Nothing wrong with that. Words make their way into common vocabulary after starting out and resting in cliques for may years.

[Risso]

I'm bored of people saying 'he's shit, they're shit, we're down already' without being willing to accept there are any other factors and without conceding there are good points.

It's as if the world has ended.

At the moment, what our players need is support and guidance, you could see Bennett suffer against Bradford when the moans and groans started from the fans. He, amongst others need supporting rather than dismissing as being shit.

Some fans want Lambert out now and are (subconsciously or not) just coming out with that mantra regardless.

I like the way you use 'regardless' as if there aren't a multitude of reasons for wanting rid of our worst and most incompetent manager in living memory.

[SoccerHQ]

I had to do a lot of catching up on this thread since Saturday night. A few things confuse me. Why the clamour for Gregory to return but not Brian Little? I would class Guzan as a Lambert signing but does it matter? Since when has OGS become the new Brian Clough and into the bargain a Championship side become more of an attractive proposition than a Premier League side as far as he's concerned? My opinion is that the players aren't as bad as they are looking at the moment. A total lack of confidence is the problem. How did a side that nearly went down in '89 and looked like going down early in the next season finish second? Was it totally down to SGT playing three central defenders and sticking 'stix' on the wing? I think it was down to a team going on a run and gaining a huge amount of belief and confidence. What we do need is a couple of experienced players to help us till the end of the season at least. I seem to remember when Ferguson's policy of replacing BFR's old guard with youngsters started going wrong he brought in Mal Donaghy just for some short term experience. Just as when Jim Leighton's form and confidence was going down the pan he brought in the Luton reserve keeper who was experienced/gobby/'bit of a character'. We need a couple like that and it's Lambert's job to get them. Reo-Coker would be a start.

So little needs doing but so little is being done.

It's the shoulder shrugging acceptance and perceived abdication of responsibility that has got everyone so heated.

This is what infuriates me so much. For all that we're crap, and for all the moans that this is the worst team to ever play football and Barnstonworth would beat us, there's not really much needs doing to improve them. One solid defender making one decent challenge in every game since the start of the month would have seen us five points better off, in one cup final and a non-league team away from the quarters of another.

Entirely agree, Dave, and Nev.

If the team needed really major surgery, it'd be more understandable, but it doesn't. A decent judge of players could probably go and get in the two players we need for considerably less than 10m.

We don't need any more untried youngsters, but we also don't necessarily need hugely paid internationals. It is the fact that the people running the club seemingly either can't spot this, or just don't care enough, that sticks in the craw.

You really think the team needs 2-3 players? Half the team's heads have gone since the 8-0.

I actually think we'll settle down defensively with Dunne-Vlaar as our combo which seems likely soon but one of them could easily get injured soon so we'd be back to square one.

Left back is the weakest position in our team imo, as said before would get Riise in on 18 month deal.

Two new central midfielders required as none of the combinations which usually contain Bannan/Delph/Holman/Ireland/Kea are good enough.

And in case you missed it but we're one of the lowest scorers in the league. I think our forwards are good enough so clearly there is a lack of creativity with N'zogbia and Ireland regularly failing to produce the goods.

That's 5 players there just to get back to mid table mediocrity.

[pauliewalnuts]

You really think the team needs 2-3 players? Half the team's heads have gone since the 8-0.

I think we need 2 or 3 players in the short term to improve the squad sufficiently to at least stay up.

That has got to be our first aim. Stay in the league.

[Chris Smith]

I'm bored of people saying 'he's shit, they're shit, we're down already' without being willing to accept there are any other factors and without conceding there are good points.

It's as if the world has ended.

At the moment, what our players need is support and guidance, you could see Bennett suffer against Bradford when the moans and groans started from the fans. He, amongst others need supporting rather than dismissing as being shit.

Some fans want Lambert out now and are (subconsciously or not) just coming out with that mantra regardless.

I like the way you use 'regardless' as if there aren't a multitude of reasons for wanting rid of our worst and most incompetent manager in living memory.

Incompetent is just your interpretation and takes no account of the circumstances he has had to deal with since his arrival. His record prior to joining us suggests he's a decent manager, so it's perfectly reasonable for a fair minded person to feel that he deserves to be given time.