Culverhouse and Karsa suspended (Now both sacked: Reply #876)

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Ian Bogie on the Leyton Orient Express.

[silhillvilla]

Dean Saunders Foot

[LeeB]

Ian Bogie on the Leyton Orient Express.

Chris Herd-er on the Leyton Orient express

[CJ]

Has anyone said Nathan Baker Street yet?

[The Laughing Policeman]

Ron Saundersfoot. Chico Hamilton.
Can't wait to see Nursey's next Villa Exclusive. Telling the world about our encyclopaedic knowledge of football related railway stations.

[brian green]

Both Andy Grays. If the papers are to be believed this morning and Lambert is planning to dispose of Sid and Shay once they have healed the wounds inflicted on his watch and get in some more abrasive mates all of this exercise in cleaning up the shit of Lamberts tenure will be to no avail. Lambert also has to be held to account.

[Trinitymiddle]

This has been posted on 'The Secret Footballer' website. The guy has had 2 books out and has a regular column in 'The Guardian'. Widely believed to be Dave Kitson from Stoke City.Make of it what you will...

Backroom harmony at Villa turns sour

To many commentators on the outside looking in, the events at Aston Villa this week have had all the hallmarks of a training ground bust-up or a pre-match coming together.

Where I was concerned, the suspensions this week of assistant manager Ian Culverhouse and head of football operations Gary Karsa looked as if a decent column was only 1,000 words away.

Unfortunately, the reality wasn’t anywhere near juicy enough.

“It’s been a gradual erosion of staff working relationships, mate,” my source at Villa Park said. He is a man who, it’s worth noting, is as close to Aston Villa FC as it is possible to get without actually slipping on a shirt each week.

My own team-mate did it once and was duly fined two weeks’ wages

“Randy [Lerner, the club chairman] has been very supportive of Paul [Lambert, the manager] and the latter actually supported the decision. And keep in mind that those outed have been at four different clubs with Paul.”

I put the various rumours to him that there had been a coming together before the Crystal Palace game on Saturday, which Villa lost 1-0 at Selhurst Park, and that one of the players went home after the game by train.

It has been known; my own team-mate did it once and was duly fined two weeks’ wages.

“There has been plenty of hearsay, mate,” my friend said. “All of which is wrong. This week, I’ve had four different newspapers ring me asking about those same rumours.

“All of them are bollocks [he actually said that] and were dreamt up somewhere on the internet. The one about the player taking the train home was the worst. He was actually on the team bus with everyone else.”

There’s always a little more to it than that, though. The bottom line is that Lerner has stood by Lambert, as my friend rightly said, but only because Lambert has agreed, somewhere along the line, to never mention the fact that he has no real money to spend.

Lambert is an extension of Lerner’s business model for Villa, which is to stay in the Premier League using a mixture of cheap foreign imports and home-grown youth.

Lambert is an extension of Lerner’s business model for Villa
Take Lerner’s quotes yesterday as the example. Here is a man who is notoriously reclusive, rarely makes any statement and, yet, his first public offering of the year is a ringing endorsement of his manger’s abilities.

“Our manager has been faced with some unexpected issues,” Lerner said. “In watching him handle matters, I’ve seen total loyalty and commitment to Aston Villa.”

Keep in mind that Villa are 14th in the Premier League and just four points off the relegation places.

But my friend is adamant. “This is a genuine case of ‘wanting to do something’ before the end of the season in order to get a reaction from the players,” he said. “In our last game, the fans were calling for Paul’s head, so the club felt it needed to do something.”

The new recruits were already in the building. Development coach Gordan Cowans is a “god” at Villa and has no doubt been promoted to give the managerial side of things a more likeable face.

The lads at Villa love Given; everybody, for that matter, loves Given
“But Shay Given [the goalkeeper] was perhaps an odd choice,” my friend added, “especially given that Paul has largely frozen him out.”

It isn’t strange to me. Needs must where the bigger picture is concerned. The lads at Villa love Given; everybody, for that matter, loves Given.

One thing that I did think was a little odd, though, was the fact that Villa had suspended Culverhouse and Karsa rather than mutually agreeing to terminate their deals.

“Randy won’t pay for something if he doesn’t have to,” my friend said.


Read more at http://www.thesecretfootballer.com/articles/the-secret-footballer/16584/backroom-harmony-at-villa-turns-sour/#R4gaH3aqVj0RQePX.99

[German James]

If the papers are to be believed this morning and Lambert is planning to dispose of Sid and Shay...

Where's this, please?

[brian green]

Nursey page 80 Daily Mirror "Lambo makes Stark choice" Says and I quote "Lambert has temporarily promoted.....Gordon Cowans...and Shay Given".

[German James]

Nursey page 80 Daily Mirror "Lambo makes Stark choice" Says and I quote "Lambert has temporarily promoted.....Gordon Cowans...and Shay Given".

Thanks!

[damon loves JT]

Of all the things to hate about that 'Secret Footballer' schtick, the two worst for me are:

1. The veneer of ordinary-blokiness, hovering half way between Steve Claridge and Graeme le Saux
2. The absence of anything attributable to anyone. If it happens to be wrong or - ha ha - completely made up, nobody can challenge it.

[DrGonzo]

Nursey page 80 Daily Mirror "Lambo makes Stark choice" Says and I quote "Lambert has temporarily promoted.....Gordon Cowans...and Shay Given".

  Well that's bleeding obvious, isn't it?  He can't permanently replace Karsehole and C***verhouse while they are only suspended, or else they would have had their contracts terminated rather than being the subject of an HR investigation.  Pending the result of the internal inquiry and the replacement/reinstatement (can't see that happening!) any appointment must be temporary or the cocks could push for constructive dismissal and a pay off, something it would appear that Uncle Randy is trying to avoid.

[brian green]

Claridge will not stop using the word "of" instead of "have" in pursuit of his blokeiness.  Luckily most of his attempts at what he regards as Punditspeak do not get transmitted as far as Perpignan. 

[brian green]

The point I was making is how can Lambert be lining up Billy Stark? If he cant replace C and K for legal reasons he has no option but to accept Sid and Shay for however long it takes.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

We might need Tony Stark, a real iron man on the coaching staff...