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

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

I agree. It's the sort of thing you'd expect from a focus group determined not to upset anyone. However, they underestimate the power of football fans to see through all the flim flam and come up with their own conclusions.

Maybe they should've said: we're sure it will get better but we're not sure how and in the meantime please don't be nasty.

[aj2k77]

I can't see us spending much in the summer. They were probably hoping to sell Benteke for £25m.

Maybe we'll spend £10m, and it'll be more of the same next season.

I can't see any reason why summer 2014 will see half the spending of the last two summers before it?

Did we spend £20m last summer?

From the top of my head:-
Kozak - £7m
Okore - £4m
Bacuna - £2.5m
Tonev - £2.75m
Luna - £1m
Helenius - £1m
Steer -

That's roughly £20m.  May have got some of the prices wrong and missed a signing somewhere, but we're certainly talking in the region of a £20m outlay.

Hindsight is great, but we would have been much better off spending the combined fees of Tonev, Luna and Helenius on one good attacking player and then getting in a couple of quality players on season long loan signings. 

Should have spent the Tonev, Luna, Helenius fees as you say and the Kozak fee on a proper midfielder to screen the defence, the amount of goals we've conceded from no one picking up midfield runners is a joke. We are also very physically weak and small.

[pauliewalnuts]

I agree. It's the sort of thing you'd expect from a focus group determined not to upset anyone. However, they underestimate the power of football fans to see through all the flim flam and come up with their own conclusions.

Maybe they should've said: we're sure it will get better but we're not sure how and in the meantime please don't be nasty.

I think probably they should have just said nothing.

Remember when we were after a new manager before McLeish came, and they released that press release saying "We appreciate how important it is to have a manager. We are looking for a manager" or words to that effect? That was a cracker, that.

[KevinGage]

If anything, it was prob harder to sack McLeish.

-One year into a three year deal
-Laurel and Hardy had gone out on a limb to hire him, despite fan disapproval
-McLeish was more malleable, and happy to tell them what they wanted to hear because of this
-Alex Ferguson (who knew something about football, unlike them) rated him

There were plenty of posts on here after the Bolton game and even after the Norwich match saying McLeish is going nowhere. We know what happened then.

Lambert only has one year of his deal left, was a popular choice with the support, so they could go the route of 'OK, we got it wrong, but so did you,' this time.

And there might (if they have learned anything over the past few years) be a clause in his contract whereby they can get rid of him for a nominal amount, should he deliver less than x amount of points. Admittedly this last part is more in hope than expectation.

[not3bad]

There are still 5 games to go yet and many variables to consider, such as the how the final 5 games will go and the relationship between the coaching staff and the players. Obviously we only hear rumours about the deterioration of that relationship, but if Lambert's lost the dressing room as well as the fans (we'll see how bad the situation is with the fans on Saturday), I don't see how his position is in any way tenable.

[Pete3206]

I don't really need a Pravda pep talk to tell me how important Saturday is. If Lambert can't pick and organise 11 players to give Southamption a game, then he should step aside.

No more excuses.

[kippaxvilla2]

Can I just go on record and say I wanted him at the club and was quite excited by the prospect.  I still cannot believe how he has gone so spectacularly wrong at our club especially on the quality of the football which was good at Norwich.

But it hasn't worked out, it is that simple, he is out of his depth and there is that old, horrible staleness about the club that often comes when it is time to move to a new management era. 

Just never employ a Scotsman again not racist, just they all (with the exception of our founder) just don't work out.

[Toronto Villa]

I think they believed in Lambert. They believed he'd be able to provide some level of progress while the financial reconstruction took place. That on the back of how last season ended this would have been better. But it is threatening to be anything but that, and the board are going to say what it needs to get us to the end of the season before firing the manager.

[not3bad]

Matt Kendrick's report from Crystal Palace.  He doesn't pull any punches.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/crystal-palace-1-aston-villa-6984043

[Holte L2]

FWIW I don't think they will sack him, either. I think there's pretty much no chance of that happening.

Disagree.

Whether RL 'cares' or not is a different thing.   The amount of time he has spent away from the club certainly gives credence to the notion that he has lost interest.

I honestly think they believe in Lambert, whereas they didn't in McLeish, hence the difference.

I genuinely think that when they go on about young and hungry etc etc, they actually believe they're doing something innovative. I also believe they think that if they just want something to happen enough, then it will happen. They're really that naive.

I don't think, for example, that it has much occurred to them that there are actually plenty of teams that have tried to bob along cheaply, and they almost always go down eventually.

Really, I think they are that delusional, and that clueless. I think they are good intentioned, I think Randy is a good person who wants the best for the club, but I think they are utterly clueless in what they are doing.

And when I think back to how much I used to support Lerner and co, how pro-them I was on here, and look at the way my trust and confidence in them has totally collapsed, I find it more than a bit depressing.

What also terrifies me, is what decent Manager is going to want to come here working under the current board?

From the outside looking in, surely it looks like we've taken a young up and coming guy from Norwich, and ruined him.

[kippaxvilla2]

I agree. It's the sort of thing you'd expect from a focus group determined not to upset anyone. However, they underestimate the power of football fans to see through all the flim flam and come up with their own conclusions.

Maybe they should've said: we're sure it will get better but we're not sure how and in the meantime please don't be nasty.

I think probably they should have just said nothing.

Remember when we were after a new manager before McLeish came, and they released that press release saying "We appreciate how important it is to have a manager. We are looking for a manager" or words to that effect? That was a cracker, that.

There was this one.

http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2776912,00.html

[Pete3206]

Can you imagine who would be linked with us next season, should Lambert leave.  Owen Coyle?  Eddie Howe? Neil Warnock? That bloke at Burnley whose name escapes me?

[not3bad]

Can you imagine who would be linked with us next season, should Lambert leave.  Owen Coyle?  Eddie Howe? Neil Warnock? That bloke at Burnley whose name escapes me?

Yep.  Looking on Paddy Power will be a humdinger.

[Stu]

What also terrifies me, is what decent Manager is going to want to come here working under the current board?

From the outside looking in, surely it looks like we've taken a young up and coming guy from Norwich, and ruined him.

I know what you mean. We're a graveyard for managers.

[Witton Warrior]

I can't get over the brass neck of Faulkner telling me that I should back the team on Saturday - wtf do you think I was doing since before you were born! Then he says we do it every week anyway - so what is the point of saying it you patronising twat!