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

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I'm actually really fucked off with this now; we couldn't have handled any of this more ineptly

Eh? He said he'd make a statement at the end of the season, which makes sense, and then he did by telling the world he wants to sell. How is that inept?

[supertom]

The midfield is absolutely paramount. Better ball players are needed and we need a player who can offer physical presence and another to offer guile. Do that and a great deal of our problems will be rectified. It'll help both the defence and the attack hopefully.

We've got to approach the season without any expectation of new ownership. It may not happen this year. Until it does we've got to carry on as normal, and that has to include rectifying squad weakness and coaching deficiencies.

[aj2k77]

I'm sure all the players will be pleased to see Culverhouse make a re-appearance.

Who do I apply to for Karsas job of being a prick around the club and no one knowing what I'm actually there for?

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't have any problem with not selling the club within a week of being put up for sale

But I do think being up for sale and what that means in terms of summer investment (more of the same strategy I assume, at best) and the  manager staying, and our attractiveness to new and existing players we want to sign contracts . . . Well, I don't think it looks good

I'd agree with that. It risks putting us in a state of limbo which makes it hard for us to do very much.

However, it's still May, the league only finished a week ago, let's give it time yet.

[not3bad]

I'm actually really fucked off with this now; we couldn't have handled any of this more ineptly

It's been 7 days since Randy made his statement, 7 days. Have a little patience.

One benefit for us is that its a World Cup Summer which does tend to get in the way of business tillits done and dusted with.

Personaly, i'll start to really worry on July 1st if there nothing seemingly in the pipeline.

If nothing's sorted by 12th June then I don't think we'll hear anything until after 13th July (world cup final day).

[mr underhill]

 My point was that without definite news, Randy's statement only served to fuel an orgy of speculation and uncertainty. He would have been better off saying nothing until definite news was available .  Having announced its for sale and I just want to be with my own kind as quickly as possible , I think its impossible for the club to carry on as normal - by definition, it isn't as it's for sale, and I just can't see Lerner putting in any more money than is necessary to keep it going day to day.

[LeeB]

My point was that without definite news, Randy's statement only served to fuel an orgy of speculation and uncertainty. He would have been better off saying nothing until definite news was available .  Having announced its for sale and I just want to be with my own kind as quickly as possible , I think its impossible for the club to carry on as normal - by definition, it isn't as it's for sale, and I just can't see Lerner putting in any more money than is necessary to keep it going day to day.

Yeah, but it's an orgy of speculation on a couple of websites between a couple of hundred people. I don't think there will be questions in parliament about it.

[Dante Lavelli]

Its clear now that the manager will have funds and that the squad can be improved. The mistakes of last summer cannot be repeated; we need two or three quality midielders and a couple of quality defenders.

I'm clutching at silver lined straws made of clouds here but the uncertainty might actually improve Lambert's transfer targets.  Rather than buying players for the future his primary focus now will be to get players that will instantly improve the squad.  Therefore signings and loans such as Barry and Lescott may be more attractive as he will not be around to manage/worry about the burden of their wages.

[PeterWithesShin]

It was definite news, we are up for sale. Which is what loads of people wanted him to clarify, whether we were or not. So he did, the day after the season ended. A few days later he had a meeting with his CEO and club manager. Hardly massively inept or amateurish imo.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

My point was that without definite news, Randy's statement only served to fuel an orgy of speculation and uncertainty. He would have been better off saying nothing until definite news was available .  Having announced its for sale and I just want to be with my own kind as quickly as possible , I think its impossible for the club to carry on as normal - by definition, it isn't as it's for sale, and I just can't see Lerner putting in any more money than is necessary to keep it going day to day.

Can you imagine what it would be like if he hadn't said anything?
The Samaritans are on double shifts as it is.

[supertom]

Its clear now that the manager will have funds and that the squad can be improved. The mistakes of last summer cannot be repeated; we need two or three quality midielders and a couple of quality defenders.

I'm clutching at silver lined straws made of clouds here but the uncertainty might actually improve Lambert's transfer targets.  Rather than buying players for the future his primary focus now will be to get players that will instantly improve the squad.  Therefore signings and loans such as Barry and Lescott may be more attractive as he will not be around to manage/worry about the burden of their wages.

There could be something to that. I would guess he'll still have to work with a wage structure, but it's likely we'll see some deal to get Hutton and Bent off. That frees up a little more. 3-4 of the cheap punts may well be sold off on the cheap which would free enough wage space for one decent player.

If for example we tried to get Holtby in the Jan window but were priced out. At this point we may be able to get him, with 4-5 players likely to be gone (Alby and Fonz for starters which accounts for about 30-40k a week).

[amfy]

Maybe he'd have kept quiet until he found a buyer if we hadn't started calling for him to go so loudly.

So basically he says 'alright, I'm going, but I do need someone to buy, and I'm going to make an effort not to sell to the kind of dickheads our neighbours seem to specialise in - this might take a little longer than you'd like'

Following on from this, Lambert isn't going anywhere either, because theres no point in paying him off when any new manager who is daft enough to approach us at the moment, probably won't be any better. Call me crazy, but I think they might also like a contract - so why end up paying another 2 managers off within a space of a few months. If the new owners are mega billionaires they probably won't mind, but it's probably best not to make ourselves look any less attractive at the moment tbh!

So - we are left with an owner and manager who we might not be delighted with, but who, as things stand, are trying to make the best of a difficult situation. We should probably do the same. Shouting for anyone's head at the moment really is pissing in the wind.

[pauliewalnuts]

My point was that without definite news, Randy's statement only served to fuel an orgy of speculation and uncertainty. He would have been better off saying nothing until definite news was available .  Having announced its for sale and I just want to be with my own kind as quickly as possible , I think its impossible for the club to carry on as normal - by definition, it isn't as it's for sale, and I just can't see Lerner putting in any more money than is necessary to keep it going day to day.

Yeah, but it's an orgy of speculation on a couple of websites between a couple of hundred people. I don't think there will be questions in parliament about it.

Totally agree with this. I think we sometimes forget we're such a tiny group of communities in the wider scheme of things.

[paul_e]

My point was that without definite news, Randy's statement only served to fuel an orgy of speculation and uncertainty. He would have been better off saying nothing until definite news was available .  Having announced its for sale and I just want to be with my own kind as quickly as possible , I think its impossible for the club to carry on as normal - by definition, it isn't as it's for sale, and I just can't see Lerner putting in any more money than is necessary to keep it going day to day.

We've just been given £73m by sky, we've got £19m of sponsorship (ish) and we'll make a decent amount on season ticket sales, etc.  We can spend 15-20m without Lerner putting a penny of his own money in to the club this summer.  Cash isn't the problem, the problem is whether a manager who is on very thin ice is the right person to spend it.  If he starts spending it we can assume the takeover isn't likely to go ahead until after the start of the season, if all we see are kids and maybe a loan or 2 then it's a totally different matter.

As for not saying anything, it just doesn't work like that.  If, after all the takeover speculation, nothing had come out of the club people would be demanding a statement, so they made one, but it's not what people wanted so they're pissed off.  It's the catch 22 that clubs all face with anything like this, the only statement fans want to hear is that the club is going to spend big to try to win the league, and even then a fair percentage will say 'show me don't tell me', but if they say nothing they're unprofessional and ignoring the fans.

We have one of the most open boards in the league, there are regular meetings with supporters groups, often with the CEO present and answering questions, there are regular statements about the off-field affairs of the club as well, but because they don't give out a list of players we want to sign it's all judged as meaningless fluff.

Football fans, in general, have serious entitlement issues when it comes to stuff like this, all clubs are the same, with fans demanding statements about everything and them complaining about the contents of said statements when they arrive.

[Clampy]

My point was that without definite news, Randy's statement only served to fuel an orgy of speculation and uncertainty. He would have been better off saying nothing until definite news was available .  Having announced its for sale and I just want to be with my own kind as quickly as possible , I think its impossible for the club to carry on as normal - by definition, it isn't as it's for sale, and I just can't see Lerner putting in any more money than is necessary to keep it going day to day.

If he hadn't said anything as you've suggested, we'd all be sitting here wondering why he hadn't sacked Lambert. Besides, he gets stick when he doesn't communicate enough and when he does he's still getting stick.

The season finished just over a week ago. You really need to be a bit more patient. He's selling a multi million pound business, not a cd on ebay.