Kendrick Says It's Time To Ask Questions

[rob_bridge]

A bare minimum would be to offer a 25% dioscount to every season ticket holder from this season for the next 2 seasons.

If we get relegated then it should be 50%

The utter shite endured over 4 calendar years at home has been a disgrace.

[Witton Warrior]

[
Funnily enough - we were already exchanging emails around the idea of providing a 'fans voice' on this issue this week. Then this article appears and potentially provides a bit of momentum!

Have tried to PM you amfy but not sure it has got through?

[amfy]

[
Funnily enough - we were already exchanging emails around the idea of providing a 'fans voice' on this issue this week. Then this article appears and potentially provides a bit of momentum!

Have tried to PM you amfy but not sure it has got through?

Yes - I picked it up in my email and just came back to reply to you!

[Des Little]

They wouldn't dare increase prices next season, that's for sure.

[ChicagoLion]

Some observations, we have improved our points tally and our defence, in many aspects we have got worse, considerably worse than the last 10 games of last season.

Regardless of motive, I am glad Kendrick has raised the debate.

Will it make any difference? I doubt it, except that the gas has been turned up on the next fixture. The media scrutiny will be a lot more intense.

The problem as Kendrick points out is apathy and I do not see any Voice of the Fans emerging, which is a shame.

[amfy]

Amfy like you i am not a Lambert has to go at all costs follower but i do think supporters are being treated very badly in all this. To think that 36000 still turn up at home games is nothing short of astounding considering the entertainment being offered up.
I am concerned that Lambert is showing all the outward signs of someone who has overeached and can't find a way out, the last interview i saw was painful to watch i actually felt sorry for him, when i see how much money he has spent however you can't be too sympathetic as he has had a lot more than most premiership managers with little or no improvement.
I would love us to go on a run like last season and see another new horizon but i can't see it, Benteke was our saviour then but he is a pale imitation of that player now and i can't see another player in the squad that is capable of giving us the spark that's needed.

I'm certainly not enjoying it. I saw more of a spark in the 8-0 at Chelsea last year than I have in recent weeks. (I quite liked their bizarre naive 'come on lads - we only need 9!' type approach)

On the other hand, I'm a little bit 'no wait! There have been moments of light recently, they just haven't come to much '2nd half Arsenal, LIverpool, even the 2nd half at Cardiff, & the first at the weekend - they didn't come to anything - but there was something maybe?......and then maybe if he gets £20-£25 million again, but this time buys 3 x £7-8 million players instead of 20 'prospects', maybe that'll be take us up a level next year, & we'll have rebuilt from the bottom, & it'll be really satisfying & make me feel really proud (which was where I REALLY felt we were going last year)
....& then I think - no - I'm delusional, we are actually shit, on a number of levels.

That's the problem I think with canvassing opinion. I don't think it's a 'Lambert out yes or no?' type question. Watching the overall views on this site, and sometimes even on wider social media - I think there's a hell of a lot of us, that aren't really sure what to think - we just know we're worried....and quite bored.

[Dave Clark Five]

It doesn't need anyone to tell the club that the supporters are concerned. They have their own marketing people and will find out soon enough. What we don't want to be doing is putting forward a feeling that we are all quiet and patient. There has been enough of that. The crowd will put the voice of the fans across on Sunday, whichever way the game works out.

[old man villa fan]

Think back to the quality of Petrov, Milner, Downing and Young and then look at KEA, Sylla and maybe Westwood.

We got what, the guts of£60m quid for Downing, Young and Milner. We made healthy profits on them all, and Barry the year before that. We spunked half of that on further bad buys after MON left and probably put the rest to paying the high earners. The cost has been a staggering decline in the quality we have on the actual pitch.

Same could be said of our defence. Going from the likes of Laursen, Mellberg, Collins, Cueller, Luke Young and Dunne to what we have now is again a decline. Is Vlaar as good as Laursen, Mellberg, Collins and Dunne were in their prime? I don't think so while we have thrown Baker and Clark into the heat of two relegation struggles at the formative time of their careers.

We have gambled an awful lot to reduce the wage bill. Surely there was a better way? I think we could have got more out of our existing resources and used our transfer kitty and academy graduates much more effectively than we have. We have pursued a scorched earth policy with the first team squad, paying the wages of the bombers but not playing them, and watching as what line sup in Claret & Blue just declines in quality. Is it worth risking the financial disaster that would be relegation? I am just struggling to make sense of why we have gone about things the way we have. Surely there was a better way to square those circles.

Exactly right about the watering down of the quality.  Add to this lengthy injuries to/retirement of players (Dunne, N'Zogbia, Petrov, Okore, Kozak and even young players like Gardner) and you can see why we have such a weak squad.

People go on about how much we have spent in the last 5 years but that period is mostly irrelevant as that accounts for the back end of MON and then the sale of the likes of Barry and Young to finance the purchase of Bent as an example.  It is the last 2 years or the last 5 transfer windows that is the key.  Yes, we have spent money but most of it has been to replace players who have faded to almost nothing.

Somebody raised it earlier, you have to invest in the team i.e. add to it, just to stand still, otherwise you go backwards and that is exactly what has happened.  It is more so today than it has ever been in football.

I really thought that when Lerner came in we were on to something but it was a couple of years too late.  Immediately after came the money into West Ham and Man City Mk 1, followed by Man City Mk 2 and the rest is history.  Managers since have all made mistakes in the transfer market.  MON with his thinking about today and sod the future, Houllier being forced into buying big to save us from relegation, McLeish in leaving an expensive legacy from his buys and Lambert not investing more in strength and quality in midfield.  I do believe that Lambert has been dealt a rough hand (perhaps this is why OGS turned the job down) and possibly a bit of a fool to put is growing reputation on the line by taking the job.

Lerner has got to take action now.  He either has to plan a reasonable injection of cash into the team over the next two years or sell up and cut his losses.  Otherwise we are going to sink.

A local reporter writing an article that even I could have done following a few visits on here is just a side show.  It was hardly cutting edge opinion, a fact-based exclusive or insightful analysis.  To think that some believe that there might be a conspiracy theory in it, rather than a normal football manager under pressure after poor results.  Cheltenhamlion called it right on what the article is.

[old man villa fan]

I don't believe it's any conspiracy from the club nor is it a particularly great piece of journalism from Kendrick. It justs states the obvious.

But I do think Lambert has turned, he looks a tired frustrated man. He's hamstrung by the restrictions placed on him by the club (which I've no doubt he was aware of), his own limitations & the fact that several key players have gone backwards. You have to ask who is responsible when the club is in the position where an injury to Westwood means that the only available midfield option is Sylla, a player plucked from some 2nd Divsion French club?

Assuming we stay up, the end of the season is the point where the club have to either back him or hang him out to dry. To back him & motivate supporters going into a new season the club will need to provide far greater funds than has been available for the last 3-4 years. I, for one, will take some convincing & the club must know that this is the case for many supporters. Some supporters will be bought by the club simply sacking Lambert & starting the whole process again but I suspect this time most will not.

The conundrum for the club is do they trust Lambert?

This is the big question. Do we trust him ? If we open the transfer budget flood gates what can we expect ?
Quality, fighting for a top 6 finish, or lower league , cheap wages and just about surviving ?
I am bloody bored of seeing my club go through this ' Transition " period tbh.
Has everybody who works for our club forgotten our history ? Do they know the names of the lads who won the European Cup, Super Cup, FA Cup Finals, League Cup Finals.?
It is all well and good to plaster the players tunnel with our history, winning teams, trophies, etc. Maybe they should instead put up the photo's of pissed off, life long season ticket holders and there sons, daughters, grand children, who have had enough of being an also ran club.
We want and demand our history back. And we want it pretty bloody sharpish Mr Lerner, Faulkener and Lambert.
If you cannot do it then step aside, let someone who can take charge. We will not be selling our soul at all, we will be regaining our place in the top flight of English and European football.
Just my very pissed off view. No offence intended to anybody at all. I just think that we all deserve better than we are getting.
UTV Always.

Reading your comments it is clear that you are upset but to think that any time soon we can be again challenging the top 6 is not realistic.  Unless we get Man City type investment it is going to take many years to get back to anywhere near the top and then with good fortune along the way.

[Witton Warrior]

Part of the "apathy" jibe seems to come from the McLeish season when the media were waiting to jump on us if we said anything negative about him. It took the 87th minute of the Bolton match for the emotion to be unleashed.

I made allusion in another thread to the groaning being caused by the pain of seeing the first misplaced pass or blunder as the scar tissue of disappointment is prodded over and over. We have been beaten down by this crap and I now drink at matches in an attempt to nullify the pain to come. It helps, but not much.

I would love to have a positive involvement with my club again, just don't let it become a Blackburn-like farce!

[not3bad]

If it helps at all the Supporter's Trust replied to my tweet and said they agreed with Mr Kendrick's article, and further:

"We are relaunching to be your voice!"

[Mister E]

I'm certainly not enjoying it. I saw more of a spark in the 8-0 at Chelsea last year than I have in recent weeks. (I quite liked their bizarre naive 'come on lads - we only need 9!' type approach)

On the other hand, I'm a little bit 'no wait! There have been moments of light recently, they just haven't come to much '2nd half Arsenal, LIverpool, even the 2nd half at Cardiff, & the first at the weekend - they didn't come to anything - but there was something maybe?......and then maybe if he gets £20-£25 million again, but this time buys 3 x £7-8 million players instead of 20 'prospects', maybe that'll be take us up a level next year, & we'll have rebuilt from the bottom, & it'll be really satisfying & make me feel really proud (which was where I REALLY felt we were going last year)
....& then I think - no - I'm delusional, we are actually shit, on a number of levels.

That's the problem I think with canvassing opinion. I don't think it's a 'Lambert out yes or no?' type question. Watching the overall views on this site, and sometimes even on wider social media - I think there's a hell of a lot of us, that aren't really sure what to think - we just know we're worried....and quite bored.

I don't think it's a canvassing issue, Amfy. At the moment, I'm thinking that the AVST ought perhaps to try for meeting with PF and others at the club to formally express concern on the fans' behalf at the extended transition period that we've endured since 2010, and the apparent lack of traction that Lambert has presided over.
At least this would indicate a level of concern, prior to taking any other action (such as we saw in the early 2000's against Doug).

[ChicagoLion]

If it helps at all the Supporter's Trust replied to my tweet and said they agreed with Mr Kendrick's article, and further:

"We are relaunching to be your voice!"

I bet Lambert Faulkner and Lerner are quaking in their boots.

[Mister E]

If it helps at all the Supporter's Trust replied to my tweet and said they agreed with Mr Kendrick's article, and further:

"We are relaunching to be your voice!"

Oops, just seen this ...

[Des Little]

If the club feel it necessary to canvas fans opinions on what is clearly a heap of shit, we really have got problems.