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

[silhillvilla]

Sorry your last paragraph makes no sense.
Common thinking is the purse had been shut for MON so that wasn't possible.

[KevinGage]

Seeing as he left at the start of August and the transfer window didn't shut for a further month, it's quite possible that he would have been able to ditch a few of the big earners -at least on loan.   Shorey went out at the end of August. With O'Neill in charge, at least one or two others could have gone out as well.

Maybe not enough to bring in the players he really wanted, but enough to sign some more Habib Beye-types on ludicrous long term deals, or perhaps a £10-15 million Championship forward.  Afterall, we were being told back then that money for fees wasn't the problem, just the wages.

Why not rinse the club completely, and then depart in September?

[Clampy]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

[silhillvilla]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't buy this notion of him as some sort of Machiavellian genius, quietly plotting and waiting for the opportune moment to cause maximum damage. If we're going that route, why not wait until September 1st?

Surely the difference, time-wise, between when he did actually flounce out and September 1st is so small as to be pretty irrelevant in the wider scheme of things?

FWIW I don't think he planned specifically to leave on the day he did, but I do think that he knew he didn't fancy having to face up to the reality of selling some players rather than just buying them - a reasonable expectation for a football manager - and when deciding when to leave, he didn't really give a second thought as to the havoc it would cause.

I think you're right about Liverpool.

I think he really wanted that job (as confirmed by Barry Bannan, I seem to remember), didn't get it, and from there it was all downhill.

Interesting to note, though, that although things have certainly changed financially since then, a few months after MON left, we were breaking our transfer record, so it wasn't as if there was no question of extra money.

[pauliewalnuts]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

It isn't just about MON, though, it is also about the way the chairman's attitude changed to the club, from one generally seen as amongst the very best in the game, to an absentee landlord who looks more and more like he doesn't give a shit any more.

His "I'm selling up" statement made it pretty clear he couldn't face it any more (that bit about problems day after day).

The pivotal point, the point at which things started to change was clearly the breakdown of his relationship with MON.

If you look at it in terms of "MON is partly to blame for where we are now" then, in one sense - as in actual results on the pitch - that is clearly untrue, but in the wider sense of how we became the limp, going-nowhere husk of a club which we are now, MON's departure is of huge importance.

[Clampy]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

Can we still be totally blaming him after all this time though?

[john e]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

U
Can we still be totally blaming him after all this time though?

I blame thatcher from the grassy knoll

[pauliewalnuts]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

Can we still be totally blaming him after all this time though?

"Totally blaming"? I don't think anyone is, really.

[KevinGage]

I don't buy this notion of him as some sort of Machiavellian genius, quietly plotting and waiting for the opportune moment to cause maximum damage. If we're going that route, why not wait until September 1st?

Surely the difference, time-wise, between when he did actually flounce out and September 1st is so small as to be pretty irrelevant in the wider scheme of things?

FWIW I don't think he planned specifically to leave on the day he did, but I do think that he knew he didn't fancy having to face up to the reality of selling some players rather than just buying them - a reasonable expectation for a football manager - and when deciding when to leave, he didn't really give a second thought as to the havoc it would cause.

That I would agree with.  Or possibly he did have an inkling of the havoc it would cause, but that wasn't reason enough for him to stick it out.

We're prob splitting hairs. The end result is the same:  Him leaving at the time he did did phuck us over.

 I just doubt it was part of some dastardly scheme that was months in the planning.

[Clampy]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

Can we still be totally blaming him after all this time though?

"Totally blaming"? I don't think anyone is, really.

Ok, partly blaming but like I said, over 4 years on and he's still being discussed. It feels wrong. A club of our size should have moved on by now.

[Legion]

Not totally, but what he did to was definitely the catalyst. *Spits in his general direction*

[pauliewalnuts]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

Can we still be totally blaming him after all this time though?

"Totally blaming"? I don't think anyone is, really.

Ok, partly blaming but like I said, over 4 years on and he's still being discussed. It feels wrong. A club of our size should have moved on by now.

But the MON situation had a massive impact on the bloke who owns us, and that in turn has reduced us to a situation where we consider not getting relegated the extent of our ambition.

It is the single biggest thing to have happened to us in the last several years. Every club would be talking about it still had it happened to them.

That's the thing, it isn't just about a manager leaving, it is about that happening and the knock-on effect of it on the chairman.

In all this, what upsets me the most is the degeneration of Randy, one who was a great owner to the current one, sitting there watching the club fall to pieces.

If you'd told me in 2006 we'd wind up with four years like the last four years we've had, I'd never have believed it.

[silhillvilla]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

Can we still be totally blaming him after all this time though?

"Totally"? Who said that ?
The wind direction changed thanks to MON and his exit and the ramifications .

[Clampy]

I'll be honest, I can't believe he's still being discussed four and and a half years after he left.

I can as we still haven't recovered .

Can we still be totally blaming him after all this time though?

"Totally blaming"? I don't think anyone is, really.

Ok, partly blaming but like I said, over 4 years on and he's still being discussed. It feels wrong. A club of our size should have moved on by now.

But the MON situation had a massive impact on the bloke who owns us, and that in turn has reduced us to a situation where we consider not getting relegated the extent of our ambition.

It is the single biggest thing to have happened to us in the last several years. Every club would be talking about it still had it happened to them.

That's the thing, it isn't just about a manager leaving, it is about that happening and the knock-on effect of it on the chairman.

In all this, what upsets me the most is the degeneration of Randy, one who was a great owner to the current one, sitting there watching the club fall to pieces.

If you'd told me in 2006 we'd wind up with four years like the last four years we've had, I'd never have believed it.

Yeah I get all that and to an extent I agree, but how long do we keep using it as an excuse? We've had three managers since he left. I'm not suggesting MON is blameless, but sooner or later surely we'll have to change the record?