I said a good while back that I’d leave my judgement of Paul Lambert until after the transfer window.
My logic at the time was that he’s somewhat inexperienced in the Prem, had signed a load of cheap kids that wouldn’t be able to cut it when things got tough in the winter and would make corrections to make up for the mistakes he’d made.
A pretty sensible approach, I thought and one that I think still seems reasonable, even in hindsight.
But it didn’t happen, did it?
I’ve purposely kept my council on here of late, because I didn’t want to engage in the somewhat kneejerk reactions that I’ve been reading, even though I tend to agree with most. I was waiting for the end of the window, remember.
And then yesterday (or maybe the day before), I read that Lambert had a massive £3 million pounds to play with.
£3 million? That must have hit Lambert like a kick in the proverbials.
What on earth is any manager in the Prem supposed to do with that?
There was a rumour that Randy Lerner had promised money a few weeks back, but then pulled it.
I now totally believe that rumour was true. Which begs the question “why?”.
Just the same as all of you, I don’t have a clue.
Not that we’re going to hear from Mr Lerner, as he doesn’t say anything does he?
I’ve heard all sorts of views, including Jonathan’s excellent reply on here, that blames the state of the global economy and an economist’s outlook of where we might be in a few year’s time, when everyone else goes boobs up and we come out smelling of roses.
And we’re pandering to the FFP rules (even though any european footy is light years away, as it stands and we have no chance of being punished).
But I don’t buy any of it.
I don’t believe Lerner can see that far, even with his team of advisors.
He certainly can’t when it comes to a football club, in my opinion.
And even if you think he can, I still think the supposed policy of continually halving the wage bill that has been suggested, is totally flawed, in that it fails to take into account relegation.
Aah, the “R” word.
This for me, is now an absolute certainty.
With my sad hat on, we lack quality throughout the side.
The top priority for me was the defence. A central defender (Curtis Davies for pennies?) and a left back (I won’t mention the fact that we had one).
The midfield argument has been done to death, so I won’t go into that either.
Which brings me back to Paul Lambert, the manager.
I can’t believe for one minute (even given his sometimes shocking choices in tactics and subs) that he doesn’t know our weaknesses and wouldn’t have wanted to improve things.
I personally don’t rate him, but given the lack of room for manoeuvre, he’s now absolved from blame, in my eyes.
A Ligue 2 Defensive Midfielder and a bloke that’s apparently been on Spur’s books for years, but has never kicked a ball for them, can only be seen as an absolute insult.
One that I totally fail to understand.
Even though I wish them all the best, they’re coming into a doomed side and if they actually get started against Everton, I’d have to question who is making the decisions when it comes to who is actually playing. Talk about a hiding to nothing!
After having thought about it, all of this has to stem from higher than Lambert, who I still believe does know at least something about footy, which means Paul Faulkner or Lerner himself.
I personally think most of what’s gone on is down to the former.
Either way, Lerner has to go, as he’s at least ill-advised or just plain stupid.
Bang on, forget about lerner trust conspiracies that i have read and even eluded to at times. randy Lerner has thrown £200m at Villa and yet we are still in an awful state. A lot of what we are doing is based on Ashley Young, How much we got him for and how much we sold him for even with a year on his contract,
One thing i think we should do is bring in a Top quality Youth Coach from Germany, I dont buy into the Spanish model and i will carefully say i find the lack of fatigue in the Spanish at major tournaments alarming and suspicious at best.
Lerner is a greedy fool who is absolute in the paths he chooses, it looks like he has no compromise and this is what will come back and bite his arse. Aston villa have been riding by the seat of our pants for a while now and i cant see it working.
I must add the effort at the newcastle game did give me a glimmer of hope if only at small one at that.
If we get relegated i will find out where the trust is held and how it invests and these companies will be avoided
*alluded
beer is flowing tonight
My only conclusion is that Lambert isn’t really calling the shots.
well Morgan and I have had this discussion and I Think everything ios being micromanaged by Faulkner, huge pay offs keep managers sweet.
Morgan RAL US is held in Delaware I would presume the trust is as well, I understand for a small price you can find out details
I’ve made my own way into thinking it’s Faulkner Ian
I generally don’t read autobiographies but MON’s, GH, AM and Paul Lambert will be.
If we boycott Villa then Villa will suffer there has to be another way we can hit him.
A song the whole ground sings,banners,sit ins,
Lol I figured that one when the young and hungry policy arrived.Lamberts other teams have had a mixture of ages.
Hay lads am i right in thinking that Randy Lerner only bought 60% of the club so who owns the other 40% would that be the Ellis family.So my thinking is if this to be true does he really have the final say,and as for selling up if he does only control 60% then may be it would make it harder if not near impossible for him to sell as nobody would pay the price he valuates 60% share holding as prospective buyers would only pay say one hundred and twenty million for 100% share holding.
Terry, he bought an initial 60%, but then took the rest at a total cost of £63 mill.
He’s the total owner, however you look at it and I’m sure he owns 96%+, purely because the rest of the share owners couldn’t be found/sadly had died.
Jusr get over it..its done FFS…move on…support!
Yep, keep supporting while we plummet.
Question nothing and blindly support.
That’s the answer.
We aren’t going down, at all.
Get over it, we’re fine, just fine (mumble, mumble).
Yeah, right.
That said, I’m still Villa, whatever happens.
“I’m still Villa, whatever happens”. Ain’t that the truth!!
Anon.. Yes its shit, noone is disputing that, but all the moaning and bitching will do sweet fuckall. We are stuck with what we have…the window is closed, Randy has given up caring(if he ever did)… But, we still have a great club…and must not let the politics deter our support in any way at least until we get to may. All we can do is support. Everytime this club has been knocked down we have come back stronger and better. This will be no exception. I refuse to let a yank sway me from my affection..not now, not ever. Randy may have the money, but he clearly does not have, or could never have, the same love, loyalty and support of us fans..the battle is lost, but the war has only just started and we will be victorious..of that I have NO doubt.
Stand up and be counted! Fuck off Lerner ‘the Villa is ours’ and will ALWAYS remain so!
VTID
Love it mate.
So much, that I’m going to post it as a new article.
what is prize money in div1 plus tv. wage bill will be still fairly heavy faulkner will have a lot of work to balance books
Amen brother (davidG).
It’s in the blood.
Whatever happens, they’ll never take that away from me.
And I’m trying to stay neutral when I post stuff
I don’t think I’ve ever read one positive post on here. Try getting behind the team to help avoid relegation. PL was welcomed with open arms when he came, but now he’s the enemy. Who would replace him and Lerner? Lerner has done heaps for this club. I believe he is looking at the long term future of the club. Get over yourselves and support the club!!!!
Blah blah smell the coffee boy, PL is not the enemy here, he is just not doing a very good job,
The back up and support of the board headed by RL is what is killing us. Don’t be fooled by a pub and bit’s of glitz here and there mate, it is always the team investment you will judged on. RL liked the idea at the start, and is no stripping us bare, which is exactly what he had done at the Cleveland Browns then pulled the plug. We were warned by some and chose to ignore it.
Supporting Villa is unconditional.
Having my say on our club being dragged into the mire is not.
Support the boys yes, but the days of throwing hard earned wages at it? that too has changed, staying away is the only way I will be heard and have a chance to force change.
LLTV