The Paul Lambert thread - poll reset after our capitulation to Hull

[pauliewalnuts]

Your second point however, on transfers, is open to question. I'm assuming it's not Lerner that has decided to buy every "young and hungry" player out there. It's Lambert who chooses how to spend he money and 20m a season is more than most in the league get to spend.

True, but the point you are missing there is that, whilst Lambert might be the one to decide where to spend his money, he will have to work within certain constraints of the wage bill. If the wage bill is very tight, then it doesn't matter if you can afford the fee when you can't afford the wages.

That is the problem. Look at the cash he has spent, it isn't a huge amount but it also is not tiny. And it has all been spent on lower wage players.

I am sure the likes of Westwood, Weimann, Lowton got a pay rise, but these are players who will be on significantly less than our highly paid players used to be. Benteke probably got a bigger rise, but even that will have been done in the knowledge that if he had a decent season he'd be off at the end of it, for a very significant whack.

Everything they have said in recent years, and everything they have done, points at the wage bill being the major issue - everything. The manager has even spoken about not being able to do the wages when trying to sign players. I am amazed anyone still doubts this is the issue.

It's like being given 2k to do your weekly shop but then being told you have to spend it all at Lidl.

You spent all the money but you still wind up with 1,000 packs of non-brand biscuits, or 700 bottles of low quality wine.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

'Football apart he's good' would suffice to describe Lerner as a chairman.

It's also the perfect description for our manager.

Yet you still share his name.

Mark fronted-up. To change back like all those who sheepishly dropped the N'Zoggy prefix from their usernames would be the act of a cheeky chimp.

Bollocks to that. I want to go back to The Sound of Villadelphia!

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Just about to be on SSN talking about this week. From what he said a few minutes ago, I heard, 'no comment' re the terrible two and that he had made the decision to promote Sid and Shay 'very quickly' .

I don't think I've ever watched SSN on a weekday afternoon before!

And if anybody else just watched that interview, I don't think he's going to be with us for a lot longer.

' Have you got the support of the owner?'
'Football apart he's good to talk to...but everybody knows what football is like.'

They normally put the Thursday press conference up on AVTV so it might be worth a watch.

Didn't realise, thanks.
We may be feeling more positive following the coach cull (and so might the players) but I have to say that PL came over as a man who was struggling for words, at times. I know he's not the most sparkly of performers but I was a bit taken aback at the rather depressive tone of his responses to the questions.  Didn't even hear, 'We go again.' Perhaps he said it later.

Strikes me as the kind of person who can't hide his true feelings.
Going back to last season I said to a mate that watching Lambert do interviews through that really bad period frightened me a bit - looked like he was ready to do himself in or run away down the street screaming "I can't take it anymore!"
Once we started to get some of those good results his mood improved markedly - positive, even perky, but not quite eloquent!
Stating the obvious somewhat, but he's definitely showing the signs of being under pressure.

[JUAN PABLO]

I see the Soton manager is one of the faves for Spurzzz now

You can see that one happening

[Monty]

I see the Soton manager is one of the faves for Spurzzz now

You can see that one happening

Definitely. There have been problems over there with that CEO (was it a CEO?) buggering off, possibly over the transfer budget.

If he and Lambert both go, I suggest our recruitment policy should be to go for whoever they go for. They seem to know how to appoint the right manager at the right time.

[JUAN PABLO]

I see the Soton manager is one of the faves for Spurzzz now

You can see that one happening

Definitely. There have been problems over there with that CEO (was it a CEO?) buggering off, possibly over the transfer budget.

If he and Lambert both go, I suggest our recruitment policy should be to go for whoever they go for. They seem to know how to appoint the right manager at the right time.

wouldnt take a einstein to get rid of that Solardo ( what ever his name is ) replace with Rodigrez and bring in Lallana , I quite like  Schneiderlin too .  Id be pretty jealous If they got him and added those three for a start .

Obviously Shaw is too much money for Spurzzz

[Monty]

The Southampton production line would just replace them anyway. What are they doing over there? That academy's unbelievable.

[Chris Smith]

I see the Soton manager is one of the faves for Spurzzz now

You can see that one happening

Definitely. There have been problems over there with that CEO (was it a CEO?) buggering off, possibly over the transfer budget.

If he and Lambert both go, I suggest our recruitment policy should be to go for whoever they go for. They seem to know how to appoint the right manager at the right time.

I think the big problem is that they are in massive debt, seems like a similar situation to us at the end of MON's time. It appears that they have been living beyond their means; a loss of £7m, £27m in outstanding transfer fees plus a £30m bill for the training ground according to the BBC, so something will have to give.

[Monty]

I see the Soton manager is one of the faves for Spurzzz now

You can see that one happening

Definitely. There have been problems over there with that CEO (was it a CEO?) buggering off, possibly over the transfer budget.

If he and Lambert both go, I suggest our recruitment policy should be to go for whoever they go for. They seem to know how to appoint the right manager at the right time.

I think the big problem is that they are in massive debt, seems like a similar situation to us at the end of MON's time. It appears that they have been living beyond their means; a loss of £7m, £27m in outstanding transfer fees plus a £30m bill for the training ground according to the BBC, so something will have to give.

Agreed. Their profits have boomed though, so they can probably settle somewhere back in the middle. However, Pocchettino may be a really good coach but their bigger signings have seriously flopped - Wanyama's alright but not worth the money, and the less said about Osvaldo the better. They didn't really need to 'push on' like that - they should have trusted their academy and persisted with what they were doing right.

[JUAN PABLO]

I thought Spurzz are going to build a new ground soon , then the spending will definitely be on hold.   

but they probably have enough to get rid and replace with a few Soton players   .

[Monty]

I believe PFF excludes spending on stadia and youth facilities, which would allow Spurs to carry on spending.

[JUAN PABLO]

I believe PFF excludes spending on stadia and youth facilities, which would allow Spurs to carry on spending.

ok Monty  , so why did Arse not spend much with their excuse of the new ground ?

[PeterWithesShin]

I believe PFF excludes spending on stadia and youth facilities, which would allow Spurs to carry on spending.

I'd have thought the approx £400m the new stadium will cost will seriously hamper their spending though.

[Monty]

I believe PFF excludes spending on stadia and youth facilities, which would allow Spurs to carry on spending.

ok Monty  , so why did Arse not spend much with their excuse of the new ground ?

Oh they'll spend less, but they won't be completely stopped. Even Arsenal didn't stop spending completely - they just slowed down a lot.

[Quiet Lion]

I believe PFF excludes spending on stadia and youth facilities, which would allow Spurs to carry on spending.

ok Monty  , so why did Arse not spend much with their excuse of the new ground ?

The £390m it cost to build the stadium cleaned out the savings I would imagine.