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

[VillaAlways]

are you Paul Lambert?

Ha, brilliant.

I'm just a realist, looking at the facts as far as we know them. If we find out anything else I might see things differently but at the moment everything is pointing to Lerner wanting to keep him.

I remember everything pointing to McLeish being kept on too! People on here ( including me) were convinced of it right up until the morning of his sacking. Scrape to safety below 40 points playing the crap football we have been , coupled with increasing fan discontent and poor uptake of season tickets and he will be out the door . Finish well and he'll get another season. Make or break time for Lambert.

[JUAN PABLO]

the buck does stop with Lambert


So Culverhouse sorts out all the training all week and then Lambert steps in and sorts formations , tactics and subs etc on match day which he is useless at to be honest,

How long has Culverhouse etc been acting like a knob down Villa , the way we have been playing sounds like straight after the away game at Chelsea

[LeeB]

I have to say I didn't think that at all, McLeish's number was up after Bolton.

[Chris Smith]

are you Paul Lambert?

Ha, brilliant.

I'm just a realist, looking at the facts as far as we know them. If we find out anything else I might see things differently but at the moment everything is pointing to Lerner wanting to keep him.

I remember everything pointing to McLeish being kept on too! People on here ( including me) were convinced of it right up until the morning of his sacking. Scrape to safety below 40 points playing the crap football we have been , coupled with increasing fan discontent and poor uptake of season tickets and he will be out the door . Finish well and he'll get another season. Make or break time for Lambert.

We will see, I think it will take a lot for Lerner to want to go through it all again and unless the replacement is a big name (which seems unlikely) I don't see it having much impact on season ticket sales.

[not3bad]

Pure speculation of course but I wonder if Lerner will be getting seperate feedback from Gordon Cowans as to how things are looking with morale/leadership as the season ends.

[ROBBO]

By all accounts Villa have been a disorganised rabble for weeks if not months who do we blame? take your pick all i know is that a business is led from the top.

[Jimbo]

I wonder which word Sir Graham Taylor Mk1 would use to describe it if he were to arrive at VP now. Would "shambles" be strong enough?

[Simon Ward]

I wonder which word Sir Graham Taylor Mk1 would use to describe it if he were to arrive at VP now. Would "shambles" be strong enough?

I think "omnishambles" has already been used on this thread and others!

[olaftab]

its the one thing that you cant deny about Pulis, nobody wants to play (or watch) his teams. With hindsight he would have been perfect for the last 3 years at our club.

I'd rather have a shit competitive team than a shit calamitous one

However results show that most teams who played them since they have been in the Premier League beat them so I am not sure about your opinion?

[pauliewalnuts]

Pulis might have done well since arriving at Palace, but let us not forget, this is the same manager who inflicted on this country the most eye-bleedingly horrible, cynical, offensive style of football the top flight has seen in decades.

I would hate for us to cop for someone like that as our manager. 

Also, baseball caps for a man of that age are totally, totally unacceptable.

[Monty]

Pulis is doing well because it's his organisation with Holloway's players. This means that they actually have players who can play, as well as being solid defensively. Well done him, but we'll see how it goes when he gets his own players in.

[PaulWinch again]

the buck does stop with Lambert


So Culverhouse sorts out all the training all week and then Lambert steps in and sorts formations , tactics and subs etc on match day which he is useless at to be honest,

How long has Culverhouse etc been acting like a knob down Villa , the way we have been playing sounds like straight after the away game at Chelsea

It will have been a lot longer than the Chelsea game I imagine.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

My guess is that if by Christmas things have not improved then his position will be very precarious and he could be out. However, if we are nudging the top 10 he will be ok. 

Assuming the worst and I think based on the last two seasons that's the logical option, if by Christmas we're looking to replace Lambert, who having a few months previously had signed a new extended contract, brought in on three year deals his new coaching team, it's going to be a very expensive Christmas for Randy Lerner and Christmas every day for Lambert.

Then we have the problem of finding a replacement. I'd hope we'd look beyond those unemployed/unemployable managers scratching a living as TV and local radio pundits. Anybody worth inviting will either be blocked from speaking to us by their respective club or we'll end up paying out more millions in compensation.

Assuming then we have a new manager, his main job will be to keep us up as the only reason he got the job was because we were struggling. How low we'll have to be before Lerner calls time on Lambert, I can only guess but I'd imagine it would have to be with us in the bottom two with a single digit points total. Anything above that and Randy will give him time. Hardly the best environment to bring in a new manager.

If we are to replace Lambert it should be this summer for a host of reasons: financially, as Lambert will only have one season left on his contract, not three; wider recruitment selection both for a manager and players; a summer transfer window and budget for the new man; time to bed in his (hopefully) new ideas; a clean slate for the current squad and time for new players to adjust.. the advantages just go on and on.

The clearest and most obvious question we should be asking ourselves today is, based on the previous two years, what has Paul Lambert done to deserve the right to continue as manager of Aston Villa?

[Monty]

I've been thinking about our low expectations for the board's next appointment should Lambert get chucked at the end of the season. These are, of course, the people who hired McLeish so they appear to have no limits on their potential for inexplicably inept decisions. However, their shortlist last time was Roberto Martinez, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Paul Lambert - which, at the time, looked like a hell of a list, and much more consistent than their queasy lurchings the previous summer (who goes from Martinez to McLeish? How does that make sense?). At the time Lambert had played mad exciting football at Norwich, was saying all the right things about the home form and seemed as viable an option as the other two. Should Lambert go, I'd have more hope that the board would follow up that shortlist, finally go one better and appoint someone good.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

It will be a first, Monty and long overdue.