Roy Keane has left

[Ron Manager]

Senior pros like Hutton and Bent spoke well about Keane which says something. I cant imagine N'Zogbia would have welcomed his arrival however. We move on.

[Malandro]

I believe the bit about N'zogbia, lazy useless fucker

[pbavfckuwait]

May not be a 100% correct, but has more than a smell of the truth, to many players at Villa think turning up gives them a right to pick up their wages, how many times have we said players like Gabby just going through the motions, Nzog another prime example. But to me the worse part of this whole episode and for whatever reason he left, was Lambert's judgement to employ him in the first place. His two mates sacked for bullying and now Keane, one constant Lambert.

[Dante Lavelli]

I'm not too worried by that to be honest, I think a relative frequent turnover of coaches is a healthy thing (see Ferguson for an example), obviously not at this rate, but I only ever saw Keane as a stop-gap any way so not surprised that it never lasted.

[pbavfckuwait]

Yeah Dante, but Ferguson's coaches go, when Ferguson wanted them to go, so he could freshen up things, Lambert has a very poor record of seemingly  managing his appointments and also allowing things to develop to the detriment of results.

[adrenachrome]

Mirror

Roy Keane Aston Villa exit reports "bizarre, shocking nonsense" blasts Paul Lambert

Manager insists his No2 stepped down because he wanted to focus on his job with Ireland and that alleged bust-ups with senior players did not happen

Fuming Paul Lambert has lashed out at claims that Roy Keane’s departure from Aston Villa was because he had fallen out with the club’s players.

Villa manager Lambert spoke out after a report claimed Keane had bust-ups with Gabby Agbonlahor and Fabian Delph and that a number of members of the squad took exception to the way he had spoken to them - leading to a “poisonous” atmosphere at the Midlands club.

But Lambert is adamant that Keane’s departure was simply down to the fact that he couldn’t combine his role at Villa with his other job as the Republic of Ireland national team's assistant manager.

Lambert, speaking after his side’s 1-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, said: “I find it bizarre. They guy was great for me and great for everyone at the football club.

“So for me this is all absolute nonsense what has been written about him, absolute nonsense.

“There wasn’t even any bad words on anything and that is the disappointing thing. To use the word 'poisonous' as a headline is shocking.

“You can ask any member of staff what they thought of him. He has got a lot of commitments following the Irish national team so I have got nothing but thanks to Roy for coming in.

“The guy is run off his feet with Irish commitments. I respected that. There were no issues whatsoever and I have already gone on record to say that.

"I spoke to Roy this morning and had a chat and I spoke to him last night and had a chat.”

[placeforparks]

"I spoke to Roy this morning and had a chat and I spoke to him last night and had a chat.”

"How did you sleep, Roy?"

[supertom]

The Mails article, including quotes (from who exactly?) is undoubtedly pure invention, but at the same time you'd imagine that the truth of the matter would be similar. Whether it was specifically about the players mentioned, and their quotes, who knows. But Keane is a poisonous personality.

As it is, some of our squad really need an almighty kick up the arse. But they need it for someone who isn't a total sociopath who'd only really come to flog his bloody book. Zogbia and Gabby are both a fucking disgrace this season to be honest.

I'd sack most of the squad if I was in charge. We'd have about 8 players left (if that). Which is why it's a good thing I'm not. But still some of our playing squad have been pathetic this season and need to take a long hard look at themselves. Gabby had apparently fallen fowl of Houllier. He shouldn't be undroppable, he shouldn't be skipper. The Mail have invented most of that, as you'd expect them to, but do I think Gabby probably pissed Keane off no end? Yes I do. N'Zogbia must be a coaches nightmare. He's certainly a fans nightmare. Total waste of space.

[aj2k77]

Gabby as captain is laughable, about as inspirational as a kipper in a sock and in what way does he lead by example. If we had any kind of leader he'd be nowhere near the position. We have Gabby and Lambert rousing the team for games, no wonder we are so lethargic and fucking crap in the second half of almost every game we play.

Nzogbia is a classic case of playing the transfer fee, he's been shit here and we put him on a 5 YEAR contract. His best position is in the bomb squad. Joke player, with a heart as small as a peanut.

[old man villa fan]

May not be a 100% correct, but has more than a smell of the truth, to many players at Villa think turning up gives them a right to pick up their wages, how many times have we said players like Gabby just going through the motions, Nzog another prime example. But to me the worse part of this whole episode and for whatever reason he left, was Lambert's judgement to employ him in the first place. His two mates sacked for bullying and now Keane, one constant Lambert.

Or looking at it the other way, one constant - the players, as you pointed out in your first sentence.

[Ian.]

May not be a 100% correct, but has more than a smell of the truth, to many players at Villa think turning up gives them a right to pick up their wages, how many times have we said players like Gabby just going through the motions, Nzog another prime example. But to me the worse part of this whole episode and for whatever reason he left, was Lambert's judgement to employ him in the first place. His two mates sacked for bullying and now Keane, one constant Lambert.

Or looking at it the other way, one constant - the players, as you pointed out in your first sentence.

I've had a few home brew ciders but have I got thus right? The players are bullying the coaches? Did the players scare off The Legend that is Keane?

[OCD]

I was speaking to someone who spoke to Jack Grealish's uncle this morning. As many won't be surprised by, Keane has been trying to pressure Jack into choosing to play for Ireland and it all came to a head with Keane giving abuse to some of Jack's family. Jack doesn't want to select Ireland and then go onto have the sort of career where he would have been an England player and regularly going to tournaments. So he's hedging his bets until he gets an idea of where his career might take him. Nobody will be shocked here that Jack's uncle said what a nasty bloke Keane is either.

[Toronto Villa]

given that the European Championships qualification now is so watered down he'd better off choose Ireland. The competition for places is a lot more intense trying to get into the England set up that he would really have to perform at first team level for a while to get noticed. With Ireland the road to international football is significantly shorter.

[placeforparks]

May not be a 100% correct, but has more than a smell of the truth, to many players at Villa think turning up gives them a right to pick up their wages, how many times have we said players like Gabby just going through the motions, Nzog another prime example. But to me the worse part of this whole episode and for whatever reason he left, was Lambert's judgement to employ him in the first place. His two mates sacked for bullying and now Keane, one constant Lambert.

Or looking at it the other way, one constant - the players, as you pointed out in your first sentence.

I've had a few home brew ciders but have I got thus right? The players are bullying the coaches? Did the players scare off The Legend that is Keane?

i read it as lambert being too weak to manage the players or his coaching staff.

[pauliewalnuts]

I do wonder whether Lambert is doing his job properly in terms of what goes on at BMH.

Culverhouse and Karsa with the alleged bullying, with the training in long ball tacts, either he knew about that and let it continue (which reflects badly on him) or he didn't know about it (which reflects badly on him, too).

Then there is these stories about the atmosphere around Keane. If there were truth in those, again, it suggests he either doesn't know what is going on at his own training ground, or he can't, or won't, do anything to change it.

I appreciate there are things there which we don't know for sure, but some things we do know - his assistants did something bad enough to get themselves sacked, in an industry where nobody really gets "sacked" any more, and their replacement has just left because he, apparently, is finding it hard to reconcile the two jobs, despite Ireland having two matches in the next ten months.

It doesn't inspire confidence.