Lerner backs Villa boss Lambert

[paul_e]

Also if he's saying there is money why is Lambert saying there isn't?

Thats what i'm wondering.

Because Lambert has never said there's no money, he's said there a little bit but not enough to sign Bent and Makoun, so effectively we have some amount of money between nothing and about 25m (probably a lot nearer the former) if you check back on everything Lambert has said.  Papers and fans have twisted that to there being no money but there have never been quotes to say we have no money, just "we don't have that sort of money".

What may have changed is how much Lerner was willing to add to the wages, but anything relating to the wage bill is guess work because the fans don't even know what the wages are currently, all we have to go on are figures that are well out of date now.

[Phil from the upper holte]

We can all speculate and argue as that's what we do, we've got 3 days of the window left and come the end we'll actually see who's right and who's wrong but I'm not holding my breath

[Phil from the upper holte]

What's he said Drummond? Fuck all, we still aint had any re-assurances about anything just a hash that looks pretty much like everything lambert has been saying for weeks

What reassurance do you want? Everything is rosy, we're going to be fine, we're sacking the manager, getting Mourinho in and signing Messi and Ronaldo?

Get real. He's said he supports the manager, the strategy is to back him, manage the money and try and sign players. And he's confirmed that in essence we've spunked a load of cash and won fuck all over the past few years. He ain't wrong.

Only he hasn't really backed him, he's had a moderate amount of money vs the amount of players he's had to buy and were still a small squad

That's just not true, we're actually one of the few clubs who registered a full squad of 25 in the summer.  The problem is to do with the amount of those players who are 22-23 and have only played a handful (or less) of premier league games in their career.

If you don't believe me - click here

But look at us, look at the subs bench, most of the the time It's weak, midfield in particular is chronic

[Fergal]

I think he's just saying what everyone else has for a while. We've spent a shedload of cash to get precisely nowhere. We're probably at the bottom of  a value for money table.

Especially this season.  £23m to be much worse than McLeish, jesus h christ.

Riss, you don't think much of Lambert do you?  I just wish you would get off the fence and just once in one of your posts just tell us what you really think of him.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Also Hutton, warnock, Dunne, not even featured

[Fergal]

I'm sorry, it doesn't even come across as if it was written by someone who is supposed to be a fan. No passion or emotion in it. The final paragraph starts with 'On a personal note...' but what exactly was personal about it? It sounded as formal as the rest of the statement. It sounds no different to a statement that would be released by someone like McDonalds if they were found guilty of food poisoning. It is just a damage limitation exercise with Lerner knowing that a loss against Newcastle will mean the he will permenantly lose the vast majority of fans. This is just an attempt to nip some of this unrest in the bud. Well Mr Lerner, you may subdue some with this hollow statement, but you don't fool me!

What do you want - an ending of SOTC? Of course it's formal; it's a professional business statement. It's not a Facebook status.

It wouldn't have done any harm In all seriousness though, after waiting so long to even hear from the owner of the club, I expected more then the usual vote of confidence guff. Firsty, I expected an admission of just how bad the current situation is. Then I expected a clear plan outlined as to how we can turn it around. What did we learn from the statement? We are keeping the same clueless manager who has presided over the worst 5 weeks in a generation (if not in our entire history!) and he may be backed with a couple of deadline day signings which will be too little, too late. Lerner is just playing Russian Roulette with our top-flight status and that is quite simply unacceptable. A little honesty wouldn't go amiss either. 'Players have been discussed but nothing has materialised.' Do they expect us to swallow that whole? Lambert may be useless but he knows his way around the market. I don't believe for a second he wouldn't have been able to pull at least one deal off by now if he had money. I think we have gone back to the sell-to-buy policy (remember Vlaar being messed around until we had sold Collins?) and they expected Bent to have gone by now. Some people seem to be suggesting that we should be grateful that he has released this statement. But our gripe is he doesn't communicate enough. This one-off statement doesn't change that.

You wanted them to say things are as bad as you think they are, then sack the manager and sign new players? Then because this didn't happen they're telling fibs. Still, as you said earlier and while we're quoting eighties musical icons, there ain't no fooling you.

Dave, I can't work out if you are pro or anti Lerner or pro or anti the manager, which is it?

[russon]

That it should come to this, our chairman deigns to issue the hoi polloi one of his annual statements and we're all stood here with our tongues hanging out, lapping it up. Nice of him to get in touch and all that but it's an absolute insult that he has the nerve to send a letter from America while we're living and breathing this fiasco day after day at the sharp end. Be a man, get over here, speak to the media, let us hear your voice and see the whites of your eyes. If I want to feed off scraps from a table I'll go down the Harvester on a Sunday lunchtime. I'm sick of this.

[dave.woodhall]

Is it not possible to comment on each situation as and when it occurs?

[paul_e]

But Phil, what you're saying there is that the quality of the squad is the problem, as evidenced in the link, the quantity is there.

This is the point I was trying to make, the numbers are there but the experienced guys on the list are either shit, out of form or injured, meaning we're relying on the ones who should've been playing the odd game here and there, not starting regularly.

It comes back to the same mistakes being made repeatedly.  Every experienced player we've signed since Milner has been a disappointment in the long run, be it due to injuries, loss of form or general shitness; that's a spectacular run of poor choices and bad luck.  Most of those senior players have ended up hanging around taking wages out of the club whilst offering very little back, no club could sustain it and it's only because of Lerner paying our running costs that we've coped to the extent we have.

[Fergal]

Is it not possible to comment on each situation as and when it occurs?

It is but that's not what I asked.

[SoccerHQ]

Well for better or probably worse at least we know where things stand now.

Get behind the team and pray for the miracle us actually winning a league game again one day.

Actually that's a good heartbreaking bet, anyone know the odds on us not winning another game all season?

[Legion]

Dead-cert?

[eastie]

Well for better or probably worse at least we know where things stand now.

Get behind the team and pray for the miracle us actually winning a league game again one day.

Actually that's a good heartbreaking bet, anyone know the odds on us not winning another game all season?

Thats all we can do now, i wanted lambert fired but it aint gonna happen so just have to back him and hope he turns it around.

[LeeB]

Also Hutton, warnock, Dunne, not even featured

Every cloud has a silver lining.

[spaf]

Lambo should learn some new pick ourselves up lines.