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

[OCD]

If I was some Billionaire looking to buy a football club, I would rather buy one which is stable, shows signs of long-term planning and progress. Which sure beats buying a football club only to have it quickly turn to shit and getting the blame for it.

[Gregorys Boy]

If I was some Billionaire looking to buy a football club, I would rather buy one which is stable, shows signs of long-term planning and progress. Which sure beats buying a football club only to have it quickly turn to shit and getting the blame for it.

That seems like common sense, but that is assuming that those business men or women pay much attention to what they are buying which by the way they behave once they have signed up is debateable at best.

Whatever the case in terms of fan base, history, ground etc.. then I don't think many would see Villa as being too bad a buy.

[villasjf]

Bradford, Sheff Utd, Millwall, Orient, Chelsea 8-0, Worst Home record in AVFC's history,Worst premier league points haul, Worst goals against record in our Premier league record. 28% win ratio, 2 relegation fights, football as dull as dishwater.

Sit down Mr. Lambert , I want to give you a nice 4 year extension for all the success you have brought to Aston Villa football club.

Add to that most of his signings (prior to this season) who have now been sold or are out on loan or out of the team.

[ozzjim]

Bradford, Sheff Utd, Millwall, Orient, Chelsea 8-0, Worst Home record in AVFC's history,Worst premier league points haul, Worst goals against record in our Premier league record. 28% win ratio, 2 relegation fights, football as dull as dishwater.

Sit down Mr. Lambert , I want to give you a nice 4 year extension for all the success you have brought to Aston Villa football club.

Add to that most of his signings (prior to this season) who have now been sold or are out on loan or out of the team.

But do most of his signings not come with a massive caveat of costing very little. The indeputable fact that Lambert could sell Benteke and cover pretty much his entire outlay since being appointed makes criticism of his buys pretty futile. Westwood, Guzan - who was only signed because Lambert had scouted him at Norwich and brought him back, Vlaar, Benteke have all been a real success. Okore and Kozak we don't know because of injury. Cissokho, Senderos, Richardson look like good players.

Significantly, the rubbish ones he has shipped out again with ease, unlike previous managers.

[Mister E]

No question in my mind that
(i) the deal will have break clauses
(ii) there is a strong element of projecting stability in the decision to sign him up
(iii) this is as much about getting the key players signed up to new contracts as it is for Lambert.

Lambert, like any other manager, will get the bullet if the owner / CEO believes that they're not getting value and quality, and that there are better options out there; regardless of contracts.

[Ian.]

These signings keep being brought up. He spent very little on these players, these players who were from lower leagues were a gamble but at little cost. They also kept us ticking over, just about, we survived! The ones good enough are still here, the others are not costing us money and we will have made money on them. He has cut the wage bill dramatically and brought us Benteke, Westwood, Vlaar. The signings over the summer look good.
In a sense of keeping this club afloat, on track financially he has done well. Unfortunately the football has suffered but I really believe we have turned the corner and I'm very glad Randy is having faith in him. Not many chairman do any more and its sad to see. Fair play I say and after a few years of doom I am actually looking forward to the season.

[eamonn]

I just worry that Randy is too nice and gullible with managers and the clauses are all loaded in favour of Lambert. Maybe this Fox is tougher at business, I hope so.

Didn't know about Lambert scouting Guzan, was this when he was still at Villa or Chivas?

[supertom]

I think the signings Lambert made during the youth/low cost experiment have had a good success rate to be fair. Obviously there's been a lot of duffers, but when you shop in the bargain bins you have to have a deal of luck. If 2/5 prove good, you've done okay.
Benteke is the major success of course. 25-30million value now.
Re-signing Guzan was a great move. 10 million. That's probably the going rate for a very solid keeper.
Westwood is the lower league success story we've had. He could actually conceivably fetch 8-10 million in this market.
Bacuna would fetch about 3-5 mill. A significant increase.
Okore has a lot of promise and Kozak did well last season before his injury.

For how we approached buying players and what we were trying to do, I think that's good going. The others might have proved duff, and some players were way out of their depth, but that's the gamble.

Now we've broadened our horizons with signings and are more open to experience. So far the likes of Richardson, Senderos and Cissokho have proved astute, and you'd hope and expect Sanchez and Cleverley to do the business. The only one, thus far I'm not confident in is Joe Cole.

[dave.woodhall]

I just worry that Randy is too nice and gullible with managers and the clauses are all loaded in favour of Lambert. Maybe this Fox is tougher at business, I hope so.

Didn't know about Lambert scouting Guzan, was this when he was still at Villa or Chivas?

Probably when he didn't have a club.

[Chico Hamilton III]

These signings keep being brought up. He spent very little on these players, these players who were from lower leagues were a gamble but at little cost

We were told by Lambert that this was a strategy, not a gamble. "Young and hungry" and all that rubbish. Now that he has effectively admitted that he was totally wrong and has shored up the squad with some experience, we might be able to strive for Premier League safety a lot sooner than we have in the last 2 disatrous seasons. And maybe Keane can teach Lambert some tactics at the same time as putting a bit of spine into the side

[OCD]

All managers will sign a duff player from time to time. It comes with the territory so its a biased view to use as a stick with which to beat him. However, its a good trait that he's moved the one's that weren't good enough on rather than being stubborn and giving them more time just so that he might be proven right.

[DrGonzo]

  Fox's "We have a long-term vision for Villa and Paul is completely integrated into our plan to manage the club carefully and ambitiously back to a position in the Barclays Premier League appropriate to our history and collective expectations." would seem to suggest that Lerner is in for the long haul, or that Fox has joined at a prospective owner's behest with instructions to tidy up the club before a sale goes through.  Not too upset by this, stability would do the club some good after the last 5 years.  If we could tie up Delph/Vlaar/Grealish I'd be feeling cautiously optimistic...

[fbriai]

I get the feeling that Lerner has asked Fox to take pretty much complete control of things, so that he doesn't have to worry about it. If a buyer comes along, fine. If not, then someone else is handling it anyway. As long as it's not costing him a fortune, which it seemingly isn't anymore, from what they've been saying of late, he doesn't have to worry about it.

[ClaretAndBlueBlood]

These signings keep being brought up. He spent very little on these players, these players who were from lower leagues were a gamble but at little cost

We were told by Lambert that this was a strategy, not a gamble. "Young and hungry" and all that rubbish. Now that he has effectively admitted that he was totally wrong and has shored up the squad with some experience, we might be able to strive for Premier League safety a lot sooner than we have in the last 2 disatrous seasons. And maybe Keane can teach Lambert some tactics at the same time as putting a bit of spine into the side

do you expect him to come out and say they were a gamble?

yea we've signed this lad from Crewe, tidy footballer, may be good enough to keep us in the prem and could develop into something good. Oh and we've bought this player from the French second division, probably wont be good enough but may do a job when we are desperate.........

no manager in recent times has had to work within the constraints that Lambert has, been difficult to stomach at times, mistakes have been made but he has done what Randy has asked of him.

seems like the shackles have been loosened a bit, may or may not coincide with Faulkner leaving. A bit too early to say we have turned the corner yet but at least it would appear that we have turned the ignition on

[eamonn]

The "constraints" Lambert had to work with (which I imagine most professional managers in England would have jumped at the chance to battle) has been a nice ol' free pass for him for the last two years.
No excuses now that the squad isn't top-heavy with lower-level young lads.