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

[LeeS]

Being better than TSM is no accolade that means you're worthy of being Villa manager.

We've had our worst ever result under him.

He was totally negligent to the club in January.

He should be sacked for Bradford alone.

He mumbles a lot.

Did I miss any?

I heard he eats kittens

[danlanza]

Being better than TSM is no accolade that means you're worthy of being Villa manager.

We've had our worst ever result under him.

He was totally negligent to the club in January.

He should be sacked for Bradford alone.

He mumbles a lot.

Did I miss any?

I heard he eats kittens

Does that mean he should be on the Saville thread, if he eats young pussy ?

[ozzjim]

Being better than TSM is no accolade that means you're worthy of being Villa manager.

We've had our worst ever result under him.

He was totally negligent to the club in January.

He should be sacked for Bradford alone.

He mumbles a lot.

Did I miss any?

I heard he eats kittens

Biggest home win for 17 years

Got us to a cup semi final

Re-built a squad of young players that can grow over time

Doubled or more the net worth of the squad while also reducing the wage bill

Got a striker to score more league goals in a season than anyone since the premier league began

Bought Sylla in Jan who has helped us shore up the midfield and thus be more solid as a team

Convinced Guzan to come back when he was released by TSM

Players clearly support him

[JUAN PABLO]

Being better than TSM is no accolade that means you're worthy of being Villa manager.

We've had our worst ever result under him.

He was totally negligent to the club in January.

He should be sacked for Bradford alone.

He mumbles a lot.

Did I miss any?

I heard he eats kittens

Biggest home win for 17 years

Got us to a cup semi final

Re-built a squad of young players that can grow over time

Doubled or more the net worth of the squad while also reducing the wage bill

Got a striker to score more league goals in a season than anyone since the premier league began

Bought Sylla in Jan who has helped us shore up the midfield and thus be more solid as a team

Convinced Guzan to come back when he was released by TSM

Players clearly support him

didnt we beat Derby 6-0

[paul_e]

Being better than TSM is no accolade that means you're worthy of being Villa manager.

We've had our worst ever result under him.

He was totally negligent to the club in January.

He should be sacked for Bradford alone.

He mumbles a lot.

Did I miss any?

I heard he eats kittens

Biggest home win for 17 years

Got us to a cup semi final

Re-built a squad of young players that can grow over time

Doubled or more the net worth of the squad while also reducing the wage bill

Got a striker to score more league goals in a season than anyone since the premier league began

Bought Sylla in Jan who has helped us shore up the midfield and thus be more solid as a team

Convinced Guzan to come back when he was released by TSM

Players clearly support him

didnt we beat Derby 6-0

That was away.

[PeterWithesShin]

Biggest home win for 18 years, Feb 95 when we stuck 7 past Wimbledon.

[sonlyme]

Everytime I see 'poll reset' I die a little inside.

Why?

It's a good way of keeping track of the fluctuating support (although gratifying that at no single point has there been a majority for sacking him), otherwise it'd be a pointless indication of what people thought x months ago.

I think last night we all saw what Lambert is about and what he is trying to achieve.  It is a tricky business promoting young untested players.  It is a business that is not helped by fan negativity.  Even if many of those negative fans don't bother going to games very much.  It is about a vibe that surrounds a club.  The media like to pick up on those vibes and fan any flames that may be smouldering.  Without a care whether such fire-starting is of benefit or detriment to the club in question.

I'll give you an example.

Go to Google - click news - search randy lerner - have a browse at the media coverage - especially the images of Randy they use.

Now go back to Google - click images - search randy lerner - and look at all the pictures of randy.  Notice how the vast majority of them show a happy smiling friendly looking man.  Now compare them with the ones the media choose to use.  They tend to be bad photos - photos of randy between normal expressions - sucking a tooth - biting a lip - photos of him looking moody or grumpy or worried.

They do this because they are trying to create a narrative - they want Villa fans shouting and protesting and blaming because then they can then fill their empty media channels with that stuff.  The media machine is never sated - it just keeps eating and eating - everyday a blank page has to be filled - another 5 minutes have to be recorded.  The media like discord because it makes their jobs easier.

Polls like this feed into that.  Journos trawl and troll forums like this looking for angles.  They want there to be a story - and if there isn't one - they will try to whip one up.

Like this.



http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-column-randy-lerner-1861217

Villa have just played some of the best football to be seen at Villa Park in years - yet this chinless cnut from the Mirror chooses to go with a anxiety angle that suggests Lerner would destroy the very thing he has worked so hard to create because he is tight and miserly.   It is bullshit.   

Lerner is being confused with Glazier because a: he is American, and b; because journalists are lazy wnakers and will peddle untruths if they look like a story.

What is true here is that Lerner did indeed change tack at Villa.  He tried buying success as recommended by Martin O'Neill.  It cost far too much and didn't work.  So now he is trying to build success with Paul Lambert.  Young hungry players they said.  Youth would be the key to accomplishing the mighty task of moving Villa forward and upward.  And it was a risk.  It took balls.  Lerner's actions in regard to Aston Villa have been nothing but honourable if occasionally misguided.  But Lerner learned his lesson.  Our kids have learned theirs.   Have we as fans learned ours?

The task of making Villa great again is hard.  Polls like this only create doubt and feed the negative media.  And when you are trying to accomplish any hard task - doubt and fear are your enemies not your friends.

Villa have undergone a transition - with a wounded owner learning a lesson.  A talented young coach backing his judgement.  And a promising youthful squad getting better and better.

This poll is not pointless.  It was an attempt by disaffected non-believers to whip up support and try to evict yet another manager.  It is the virtual analogue of the painted bedsheet hung from the Upper Holte.  It was created on the back of defeat and re-launched with every loss.  It is a symptom of its creator's blame laying mindset -  it is not - in any way - helpful. 

Thankfully - as recent performances have indicated - this brave young Villa team are on an upward curve - and all credit to the owner - and to the manager - for making hard decisions and sticking by what they believe.

I look forward to this poll drying up and blowing away as another great chapter gets written in the glorious book of Aston Villa Football Club 1874.

The future is bright.

And poll free.

[Chris Smith]

Interesting post, Sonlyme, but if anything the poll serves to dispel the impression that Villa fans are in anyway against Lambert. Less than 7% have voted to get shot of him, that's notable for a team who have been hovering just above the relegation places for most of the season. It counters the impression you might get from just reading the threads where a small number of prolific posters have been calling for him to be removed.

[Hoppo]

The article is worth a read and in my opinion says what most supporters think. If its true Bill Weimann and Benteke are on a combined 35k doubling or even trebling their wages has to be the first job when were safe.

[eastie]

The article is worth a read and in my opinion says what most supporters think. If its true Bill Weimann and Benteke are on a combined 35k doubling or even trebling their wages has to be the first job when were safe.

I thought the article was a decent enough read and matt law is usually pretty fair to us.

[pauliewalnuts]

I fail to see the role of polls like this in whipping up anything - every single one we have had, every one, has shown a majority support for the manager. I don't really see that being spun or fed into any article.

if your angle is that they take things from forums - ie supporter anger - and spin this into stories, then short of closing this place down, or not saying what we think, I don't see how that's going to be stopped.

Incidentally, the author of that Mirror article, Matt Law, is a Villa fan. I follow him on Twitter, and he makes his allegiances very clear.

There's not really much to disagree with there, either. He's saying something we've said on here thousands of times - the manager needs to be backed over the summer by the chairman.

I also suspect the choice of photo for the chairman is more likely to be governed by the range of photos they've already bought the rights to use.

[Dave Cooper please]

Being better than TSM is no accolade that means you're worthy of being Villa manager.

We've had our worst ever result under him.

He was totally negligent to the club in January.

He should be sacked for Bradford alone.

He mumbles a lot.

Did I miss any?

Honestly, if anyone can't see what Lambert is trying to build here then I despair.
I honestly believe that as long as we stay up this season we will be the envy of all but the glory-hunters in two or three seasons. We'll have a young, hungry, exciting, attacking team made up of players we can identify with. And we will win things.

[Ad@m]

If its true Bill Weimann and Benteke are on a combined 35k doubling or even trebling their wages has to be the first job when were safe.

I'm sorry but no.  Treble their wages to £105k a week and you've got two players on over £50k a week putting us right back to square one.

We're Aston Villa and we need to use that a bit more.  Yes Birmingham might not be as attractive to foreign players as London is but we're not fucking Bolton, needing to throw silly money at players to get them to come here.  Our wages got out of hand under MON because he was lazy and that was the easy way of signing players.  Footballers always measure their own worth by reference to what their peers are earning (helped along by their agents) so very quickly our wage base got way out of hand.  Lerner (along with TSM and Lambert) have gone a huge way towards rebasing our wages and we don't want to stuff all that hard work by breaking it for a couple of individuals.

If players want to be part of what we're doing then great, but there's more to life at Aston Villa than the pay cheque.  No one player is bigger than the club and hopefully the steps we've seen over the past few years is the start of a bit more commerciality by those in charge.

[JUAN PABLO]

Golden times for Aston Villa

Adrian Durham Talk sport  30/04/2013

[Hoppo]

If you think Benteke will stay for 40k a week your having a laugh.He mixes with Kompany and Hazard and the like. I don't believe the problem is just the wage. The problem Villa had/have are the type of bums who get big wages.