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

[Gregorys Boy]

Time will tell but I would much prefer him to take the club off the market and stay. I can live with a tight club budget, what I cannot live with is uncertainty and drift.

But if his heart isn't in it anymore I just don't see the point.  All we can hope for is that things get sorted out one way or the other by next season.

[Malandro]

No problem with the language Mal, it's the thinking what grates.

Just kidding, another berk

[cheltenhamlion]

You can take the appointment of Fox as evidence of his medium term commitment even if the club is not taken off the market.

[brian green]

I really don't care where his heart is so long as there is a budget he will fund and we can make a plan for the medium term, let alone the long term, that will be a massive improvement.   It is the not knowing what the future holds that is killing us.   I don't want him to love us, I don't care whether he watches us or not so long as he steps up and blows away the apathy which has engulfed us.  Are we going to stay on the market?   Answer please.  Are you going to keep us?  Answer please.   If you are not going to keep us, how long is it going to be before we are given some sort of account of what is going on?   Answer please.

[Legion]

I really don't care where his heart is so long as there is a budget he will fund and we can make a plan for the medium term, let alone the long term, that will be a massive improvement.   It is the not knowing what the future holds that is killing us.   I don't want him to love us, I don't care whether he watches us or not so long as he steps up and blows away the apathy which has engulfed us.  Are we going to stay on the market?   Answer please.  Are you going to keep us?  Answer please.   If you are not going to keep us, how long is it going to be before we are given some sort of account of what is going on?   Answer please.

Agreed.

[Villa in Denmark]

Villa in Denmark, do you really think JJ will read that post?

Probably not, but I feel better for getting it off my chest.

I don't mind debating the pros and cons of something, but when your opening gambit could just have as easily been "the moon is made of cheese" I can't help but have a (not so little) rant.

Online pyschotherapy, it could catch on.

[Malandro]

Bent is having a pop at Lambert in The Express, also mentions he was axed previously at Lerners request.

[Ian.]

Bent is having a pop at Lambert in The Express, also mentions he was axed previously at Lerners request.

Highly likely then that the bomb squad was Learners idea?

[Ian.]

Villa in Denmark, do you really think JJ will read that post?

Probably not, but I feel better for getting it off my chest.

I don't mind debating the pros and cons of something, but when your opening gambit could just have as easily been "the moon is made of cheese" I can't help but have a (not so little) rant.

Online pyschotherapy, it could catch on.

Nothing like a hefty rant once in a while, I just guess the intended target will be reading that for a very long while, if attempted to that is.

I enjoyed it anyway.

[Gareth]

5 Live's football daily podcast (about 40 mins in) played an interview betw Lambert & Pat Murphy, go Pat...wasn't exactly fawning over Lamberts record :-) guess they'll play that interview before the game tomorrow - bit of credit to Lambert for landing a little blow of his own...in response to Pat saying he was bored to tears on NYD Lambert slapped him back with 'like when I listen to your commentary' - good sparring!

Apparently we're an attacking team :-)

[Gregorys Boy]

Re-The Bent claim I can't see Randy as the sort who would get involved in team selection.

[Comrade Blitz]

Let's all be glad that Randy hasn't been as involved in team selection as John DuPont was with the USA wrestlers in the film Foxcatcher.....

[tomd2103]

Is it strange that I am oddly comforted that pretty much the whole media has come round to describing us as the most boring team? Makes me feel less guilty about my total apathy for the club.

This season has been a huge effort to keep going to VP week in week out, I have never felt like this before & to hear the 'excellent' comments every week has reached the stage of contempt, I either laugh or want to punch something when I hear that utter ass covering drivel!

I do genuinely fear relegation this season, Lambert seems to think there's a switch that will be flicked & we'll be banging in goals for fun, scary delusion!  I worry that in 20 odd days we are stuck with the players we have and with him in charge we could very well be sleepwalking towards the championship...this club needs a boost, needs something fresh - two things Lambert cannot do.

Apart from a couple of decent patches of form, the last four seasons have been awful and I think this season is the point where some people have decided they've had enough.  Recent crowds reflect that and I'm not just talking 'fairweather' fans, I'm talking about people I know who have been season ticket holders for years and in some cases, decades.  I'm also concerned on the impact it is having on our younger generation of fans.     

[brian green]

That is my point tomd. Fox may sit in his office and Lerner sit in his and they can write amounts of money on sheets of paper and go through all the motions of making plans to stabilize expenditure and secure the owner's investment in the Premiership but every bit of that strategy comes tumbling down if the fans continue to walk away from the club. The big lie is that television money matters more than fans. The tv money follows the fans. A club with an eroded fan base is seen by tv as less desirable and they will ultimately dump it. Sky would throw money at ping pong if they thought it would sell beer and cars and gambling. Lose your fan base and you are finished.
For four and a half seasons Villa has treated the fans like thick children never allowed to know more than is good for them and what they do get is spun by a secretive owner and now a manager who changes direction more often than he changes his socks.
The loyal fans, myself included, will continue to desert the club and only one thing will reverse the exodus. Randy Lerner needs to sit down with Tom Fox and answer the question they have been dodging since O'Neill stropped off and that question is "when?".

[mr underhill]

now!