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

[JUAN PABLO]

I don't necessarily disagree, but the "Doug wouldn't have done this way" stuff pisses me off.

Doug was an utter arse that used this club for his own ends, and he's responsible more than any one person for the sea of mediocraty I've witnessed as a supporter since 1985.

Why does it piss you off? I've no doubt Ellis would have sacked Lambert long before now and I'm convinced he would have sacked him after the 8-0 humiliation at Chelsea, and rightly so as well.
And I wouldn't mind some of that Ellis mediocrity right now. I don't ever remember losing 19 home matches in less than 2 seasons under Ellis.

He deserves the sack for THIS !!!!!

[dekko]

A lot of this season I've been having a debate with myself as to whether we have an ok manager held back by crap players, or ok players being held back by a crap manager and coaching staff, and I think yesterday decided it for me - its the latter.

Now the problem we have is this:

Does the manager deserve to be sacked - Yes
Are there managers out there that are available and could do a better job - Almost certainly

Does anybody think the board is remotely capable of identifying and employing one of these new managers? 

[LeeB]

I don't necessarily disagree, but the "Doug wouldn't have done this way" stuff pisses me off.

Doug was an utter arse that used this club for his own ends, and he's responsible more than any one person for the sea of mediocraty I've witnessed as a supporter since 1985.

Why does it piss you off? I've no doubt Ellis would have sacked Lambert long before now and I'm convinced he would have sacked him after the 8-0 humiliation at Chelsea, and rightly so as well.
And I wouldn't mind some of that Ellis mediocrity right now. I don't ever remember losing 19 home matches in less than 2 seasons under Ellis.

I do remember getting relegated 5 years after we were the best team in Europe though. Surprised you forgot that.

[JUAN PABLO]

I'm inclined to let him stay till Summer but no longer. I know we will not attract a top manager but I refuse to believe we cannot get someone who can get more out of these players. I don't wish Lambert ill and fully recognise the brief he has had to reduce the wage bill but I do believe he is out of his depth Eddy Howe worth a punt?  At least his teams seem to play football.  Somehow I don't think Van Gaal fancying the Villa

Soton did not have a problem getting someone .

Sometimes you need the right people at the club to make the right decisions , which we do not have.

[ozzjim]

In fairness to them, Houllier you could understand the gamble, and Lambert was the fans favourite for the job.

Only the unmentionable was a truly awful appointment. So yeah, I think they could get it right.

[Ron Manager]

I don't necessarily disagree, but the "Doug wouldn't have done this way" stuff pisses me off.

Doug was an utter arse that used this club for his own ends, and he's responsible more than any one person for the sea of mediocraty I've witnessed as a supporter since 1985.

Well I've been going down Villa Park since March 1957. Doug Ellis and Pat Matthews dragged us sceaming into the modern world and for that I remain eternally grateful.

[LeeB]

I don't necessarily disagree, but the "Doug wouldn't have done this way" stuff pisses me off.

Doug was an utter arse that used this club for his own ends, and he's responsible more than any one person for the sea of mediocraty I've witnessed as a supporter since 1985.

Well I've been going down Villa Park since March 1957. Doug Ellis and Pat Matthews dragged us sceaming into the modern world and for that I remain eternally grateful.

Fair enough Ron, before my time but as I understand Ellis mark one deserves a lot of credit. It's when he took full control the problems started.

[JUAN PABLO]

Lambert has gone some way to fulfilling his remit of balancing the books. He hasn't had the chance to move us on yet due to financial restrictions.

That's his only defence to me.

Against him, I would say this; the squad is good enough given the right tactics and instructions to not be repeatedly knocked out of cup competitions by lower league teams, and to have had 3 or 4 less defeats at home leaving us feeling more comfortable with the run in.

I can't see how keeping him would change this much. He may be able to buy "better" players in the summer, but footballers tend to do what they are told. These "better" players may save games occasionally by acts of individuality and put us in the next round or in a safer league position, but would this be despite the overall managerial game plan?

I thought this , until he played the like of Sheffield  Utd at home . A club who spent no money , have far inferior players and he gets out played tactically by their manager . Just like he did against West ham , Palace , Stoke  and Fulham and could go on.

The Bowery sub summed him up for me . Clueless . Yes I have seen the odd good game from him but all teams have these games , look at Palace v Chelsea and Hull v Liverpool , would I have pullis or Bruce ?  probably not and he fluked some of those wins too.

Should have gone after the Sheffield game for me .

[ez]

Could Lambert have been granted immunity from the sack or am i being stupid? It would explain why he hasn't gone yet.

[JUAN PABLO]

In fairness to them, Houllier you could understand the gamble, and Lambert was the fans favourite for the job.

Only the unmentionable was a truly awful appointment. So yeah, I think they could get it right.

I wanted lambert too , as I thought he was the best out there at the time   but we just look at the people we all know.

I mean I had never heard of this manager at Soton for one .   

There has to be people out there . To be fair to Lambert I had not heard of Benteke , we was all mentioning names we knew but I had not heard of Luna neither   

I would love to get that ex Soton CEO in but just a dream .

[Keeno]

Can Randy and Paul just nip over to France and prevent Bielsa from joining Marseille please? They're almost as shit as us this season!

[Clampy]

It's the inconsistency that's killing us. We're not capable of going on a 5 or 6 game unbeaten run. If we lose to Palace next weekend, it'll be the second time this season we'll have lost 4 in a row and that's obviously not good enough.

[not3bad]

If he does go should Faulkner go as well?

It should be noted that Faulkner tried to recruit Martinez before he turned to Lambert even though most of the fans wanted the latter.

[JUAN PABLO]

we cant have Palace doing the double too . Expect a freakish 3-1 Villa win .

[Ron Manager]

I don't necessarily disagree, but the "Doug wouldn't have done this way" stuff pisses me off.

Doug was an utter arse that used this club for his own ends, and he's responsible more than any one person for the sea of mediocraty I've witnessed as a supporter since 1985.

Well I've been going down Villa Park since March 1957. Doug Ellis and Pat Matthews dragged us sceaming into the modern world and for that I remain eternally grateful.

Fair enough Ron, before my time but as I understand Ellis mark one deserves a lot of credit. It's when he took full control the problems started.

He took full control more or less straight away and was progressive in his thinking and his actions. There isnt a single chairman in the league who hasn't greatly upset the home fans at some time or other.Doug did a great job in the seventies but not ,I agree, when you started going down.Randy too did a magnificent job when he took over but now unless he can afford to put a substantial ammount of cash into this club or at least let the fans know what his intentions are in the future I would like to see him sell to somebody decent...like he is.