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

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm confused, if they are all proper staunch fans why is no one going? Would they be going if we were 10th? Or 6th? And so on. I'm curious where the cut off point is.

[Clampy]

I'm confused, if they are all proper staunch fans why is no one going? Would they be going if we were 10th? Or 6th? And so on. I'm curious where the cut off point is.

It's not just us. You'd be surprised how many Stripeyfilth fans are in the pub by me watching a home game on a Saturday afternoon and they're the pride of the midlands don't you know.

[eastie]

I am amazed at how tolerant posters have been on here to Lambert.   As I have witnessed it, first hand, in the flesh, the only quality I have been able to observe in Paul Lambert to defend his position is that he is not Alex McLeish.   The one flash of brilliance he displayed was snapping up Benteke but that is now diminished by his openly talking about that player moving on.   To all intents and purposes Benteke has been a loan signing with a fee involved and we would probably make a profit but that it the hole in the bottom of our boat - we do not keep our best players.

I think the root cause of our catastrophic decline has been due to cronyism.   The owner appointed a crony as CEO and the manager has a team of cronies who have failed singularly to assemble or discipline a squad capable of basic defending.

The game against Man City next Monday will be the first home league game for as many years as I can remember with no member of my wider family in the crowd.   Not me, or my sons or my daughter or my brothers or my nephews or my great nephews.   That would be about twenty Villa fans in total, proper staunch fans, none of whom travel less than a hundred miles to a game and if I asked them "who would you sooner have to get us out of the shit we are in and keep us in the Premiership, Lambert or McLeish? every one would reply "McLeish".   That is the state we are in in the eyes of a large proportion of the fans, myself included.

Spot on as always brian!

[Malandro]

I'm confused, if they are all proper staunch fans why is no one going? Would they be going if we were 10th? Or 6th? And so on. I'm curious where the cut off point is.

I can understand why some are staying away. You have to have a certain sick sense of humour to enjoy watching us at the moment.

[eastie]

 
Many fans will feel they are not getting value for money these days and i can understand fans picking and choosing their games.

Certainly anyone who witnessed some of our dreadful displays at home in recent months has every right to stay away if they wish -im sure if results were better people would be more likely to return.

[supertom]

I'm confused, if they are all proper staunch fans why is no one going? Would they be going if we were 10th? Or 6th? And so on. I'm curious where the cut off point is.

I can understand why some are staying away. You have to have a certain sick sense of humour to enjoy watching us at the moment.

I think spending most of the last three seasons in the bottom 6 has something to do with it, with things getting progressively worse.

[JUAN PABLO]

ooppss

[JUAN PABLO]

I wanted lambert as manager but i certainly never expected things to be as bad this season as this .

same here . I mean I wasn't cracking open the champagne when we got him but where we were at the time after the dire season we had .
 I honestly thought he would be good and was mildly happy but I did not expect him to be tatically awful and alienate one of the best goal scorers we have had in recent times . Its ok not playing a goalscorer If its working PL . but when you are going down . it looks plain stupid..

To be fair, Benteke and Weimann have been two of the best players this season.

completely agree , even thou I would have rested Weimann at times for his own good , but I really like him.   But you should be able to play Benteke , Weimann and Bent rotationally  , even with charlie , and charlie has been injured a lot . I think gabby has been lucky to get the games he has had to be fair . 

I think not playing Bent , when we could not score in that spell earlier and not buying an experienced CB might cost us in
the end.   Lets hope not .

[Chris Smith]

I am amazed at how tolerant posters have been on here to Lambert.   As I have witnessed it, first hand, in the flesh, the only quality I have been able to observe in Paul Lambert to defend his position is that he is not Alex McLeish.   The one flash of brilliance he displayed was snapping up Benteke but that is now diminished by his openly talking about that player moving on.   To all intents and purposes Benteke has been a loan signing with a fee involved and we would probably make a profit but that it the hole in the bottom of our boat - we do not keep our best players.

I think the root cause of our catastrophic decline has been due to cronyism.   The owner appointed a crony as CEO and the manager has a team of cronies who have failed singularly to assemble or discipline a squad capable of basic defending.

The game against Man City next Monday will be the first home league game for as many years as I can remember with no member of my wider family in the crowd.   Not me, or my sons or my daughter or my brothers or my nephews or my great nephews.   That would be about twenty Villa fans in total, proper staunch fans, none of whom travel less than a hundred miles to a game and if I asked them "who would you sooner have to get us out of the shit we are in and keep us in the Premiership, Lambert or McLeish? every one would reply "McLeish".   That is the state we are in in the eyes of a large proportion of the fans, myself included.

Spot on as always brian!

Whatever the opposite of spot on is, Brian.

Those of us who disagree with you (a small majority on this site) have seen signs that this side can play. We are able to discern that several of the new signings have shown real potential and we've also realised that the myopic policy of ditching managers each summer has only caused us to get worse season on season. At some point we have to get off the merry go round and give a manager the opportunity to establish and implement a plan and not act like spoilt kids at the first sign of trouble.

[Legion]

True, Chris. The problem is they are not consistent or reliable over the course of 90 minutes.

[Chris Smith]

Many fans will feel they are not getting value for money these days and i can understand fans picking and choosing their games.

Certainly anyone who witnessed some of our dreadful displays at home in recent months has every right to stay away if they wish -im sure if results were better people would be more likely to return.

So they're the sort of fans that other supporters sing "where were you when you were shit" at?

[Mister E]

I am amazed at how tolerant posters have been on here to Lambert.   As I have witnessed it, first hand, in the flesh, the only quality I have been able to observe in Paul Lambert to defend his position is that he is not Alex McLeish.   The one flash of brilliance he displayed was snapping up Benteke but that is now diminished by his openly talking about that player moving on.   To all intents and purposes Benteke has been a loan signing with a fee involved and we would probably make a profit but that it the hole in the bottom of our boat - we do not keep our best players.

I think the root cause of our catastrophic decline has been due to cronyism.   The owner appointed a crony as CEO and the manager has a team of cronies who have failed singularly to assemble or discipline a squad capable of basic defending.

The game against Man City next Monday will be the first home league game for as many years as I can remember with no member of my wider family in the crowd.   Not me, or my sons or my daughter or my brothers or my nephews or my great nephews.   That would be about twenty Villa fans in total, proper staunch fans, none of whom travel less than a hundred miles to a game and if I asked them "who would you sooner have to get us out of the shit we are in and keep us in the Premiership, Lambert or McLeish? every one would reply "McLeish".   That is the state we are in in the eyes of a large proportion of the fans, myself included.

Brian, the point I take from your post is not about Lambert but about the broader club management (your para 2), with which I agree: RL has not put in place properly qualified executives to run the club effectively.
Re Lambert, I don't think he's covered himself in glory but I believe that there is a good manager in there somewhere and that he is assembling a squad that will compete in the top flight next season. They just need to ensure their survival and then prove it.

Re Benteke, I think your analogy of it being a 'loan' is way wide of the mark; mainly because if he goes it'll be for 3-4 times the price we paid. This is a return that is irresistible to most in many businesses. It also reflects the  dominant theme of football in 2013: money talks and those with the most will buy their way to the top almost regardless of any other club. We have to find a way of competing in this imbalanced operating environment.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

At some point we have to get off the merry go round and give a manager the opportunity to establish and implement a plan and not act like spoilt kids at the first sign of trouble.

In other words, Keep Billy McLambert, even if he sends us down.

In fact, keep him even if we do a Wolves.

Rewarding failure is unacceptable.

[eastie]

Many fans will feel they are not getting value for money these days and i can understand fans picking and choosing their games.

Certainly anyone who witnessed some of our dreadful displays at home in recent months has every right to stay away if they wish -im sure if results were better people would be more likely to return.

So they're the sort of fans that other supporters sing "where were you when you were shit" at?

No , they pay their hard earned money and if they are not happy with what they are getting for their money they may decide there are better things to spend it on.
It is not about being fickle - but if people do not think they are getting value for money that is their right, i respect those who go regardless of perfomance but i equally respect the right of those  who stay away because they are unhappy with whats going on at their club.

[Chris Smith]

At some point we have to get off the merry go round and give a manager the opportunity to establish and implement a plan and not act like spoilt kids at the first sign of trouble.

Rewarding failure is unacceptable.

A slightly hackneyed argument. I'm talking about taking a longer term view rather than just follow the urge to punish someone.