"that had shown outstanding loyalty, the like of which he'd never seen before"...what type of loyalty did Lambert need to show? The type the rejects the advances of Blackburn Rovers and other Championship bottom-feeders?
I can't remember the (publicly known) details of Faulkner's departure. Was he happy to get out?
I think the Lambert loyalty thing was some b/s in the aftermath of the Karsa / Culverhouse bullying saga. (i.e. he was happy to stick the boot into his mates to keep the job he wanted to be sacked from)
I'm not sure Faulkner was happy to go. It looked like something that had been there in the background for a short while and was suddenly announced about 24 hours after he'd done that charity abseil off the roof of The Holte.
The Faulkner thing is purely my unsubstantiated theory. The Lambert quote may not be verbatim, but it's close and definitely that level of protectionism.