Daweii

I don't think we'll be bitter as we aren't deluded into thinking he's going to be with us 10 years.. He'll be here for 3 maybe 4 years and then leave and I'm ok with that. What gets me is Norwich fans are super bitter about him leaving yet they know how quick he can leave a club as he did it to Colchester when he joined them.

He may not be able to lose in the eyes of the board or the fans after McLeish but he has high standards. This is a guy that had a near 50% win ratio at Norwich which considering every season was in a harder league than the last is impressive. He probably won't be happy with himself if he doesn't get at least a 40% win ratio with the players we have..

Lerner has never had an issue with transfer fee's he could give us £100 million if he thought it was necessary, he won't of course because it isn't. It's the wages that were always the issue and that is now under control and will get easier and easier to manage as the likes of Gabby, Warnock and Collins are shipped out.

If I was to be realistic I think it'll be £25-£30 million with possibly a bit more on offer if Lambert can convince the board that the player he wants that takes him over budget is worth it. McLeish got £20 million last summer right? So I'd expect Lambert to get that much if not more in a summer of rebuilding.

Well that would be a lot. To be honest I think Lambert could do it on £20m-£30m but £40m-£50m would be very interesting. Lambert's never had much money to spend so I wonder if he'll go for some foreign players? I would hope he looks further afield as he could get better for less. I understand though that my prediction is very extreme and the chances of that amount being offered is slim. I just think the optimism of Lambert coming and Richard getting all excited has gone to my head a bit.

I'm taking a prediction that Lambert will be getting £40-50 million.. I have looked at how much potentially needs doing and I think that is about the amount he'll need. Some may go with £30-40 million + Player sales, I think Lerner will just pocket the money from sales and just flat out give him £40-50 million with the strict understanding that this kind of money won't happen every summer.

I think there is plenty of time to be progressive just not yet. We are still a club in turmoil that needs rebuilding and set back on that path for glory, if we win a few cups in the next 3-4 years and get into Europe then we are in a better position if Lambert leaves to start looking at AVB and Benitez, but right now we need someone that is 80-90% guaranteed to do well here and Lambert is that.

He did it so he could learn the ropes at lower pressure clubs.. - He started at Livingston and after 1 season had a win % of 15.63. - He then went to Wycombe and 2-3 seasons later left having gotten knocked out of League 2 play-off's with a win % of 40.74. - Then he went to Colchester where after a season he flirted around the play-off's with a win % of 44.19. - He then went to Norwich where as we know in his first season he promoted them to the Championship, in his second promoted them to the Premier League and in his third got them 12th place with a win % of 49.30. The man has been smart he started at a level that is ideal for starting managers and slowly he has learned his trade, he is now at the point where provided he doesn't lose the dressing room he could work wonders with our side. If he gets a 40-50% win ratio with us next season we'll be flirting with the top 4..

You look at his stats at Norwich given that every season he was at the club he was in a harder league than the last he had a 49.30% win percentage. 70W 37L 35D. He's a good manager.

yeh, he played over 300 games for them, was in the team that beat Inter I think in the 90s... So not a given he'll move. That should actually be a genuine concern. There was talk at one stage about us going the Director of Football/ Technical Director route, with a young coach working under them. From what I understand, PL (like MON and GH) effectively IS the DoF, he leaves the training and such like to others and oversees the whole operation. Culverhouse doesn't just lay out the cones, he is crucial re coaching, tactics, defensive set up and so forth. We struggled when GH didn't get his first or second choice coaches, and if Culverhouse feels a greater sense of loyalty to Norwich than he does to PL (or if he's offered the top job) that could be a problem for us. I think Culverhouse will come with Lambert. I mean there is no way he can guarantee that whoever Norwich bring in will keep him.. These days managers have teams and unless they have a falling out they travel to every club together. With Houllier it was different as he had been out of management for a while so he had no team as they had all moved on, he was essentially building from scratch.. Lambert won't have to and I am sure Culverhouse will understand that joining Villa with him is the next logical path in his career.

Mark Hughes quit to put himself at the head of the line not because his boss wasn't letting him hear what we were proposing, he just up and left which showed a lack of loyalty. What Paul Lambert has shown over the last 3 weeks is that he was 100% committed to Norwich because no offer had come in, from the sounds of things today that offer did come in and his boss told him flat out that he could not speak to us so he resigned.. Norwich if this is true have now lost a manager that may have turned us down anyway, just because the man at the top wouldn't let him just hear us out.

did you not see norwich defend last season? Only the relegated teams were worse and norwich were the most shambolic team to play at villa park last season. Try and take this on board.. 4 of their players last season had played in League 1 and every other player in their side was Championship quality. Of course their defending wasn't up to Premier League standard..

When they win the League Cup 5 times, the FA Cup 7 times, the League 7 times, the Community Shield and the Champions League then they can say they are our equals.. Until then they will never be better than us. I don't care if most of our silverware was achieved before the 90's it was still achieved and we can achieve that again..

I am really hoping that they have seen what Liverpool have done and taken that as an excuse to one up them big time and employ a name like AVB who I am sure Liverpool looked at and failed to entice.

Those saying "so and so isn't going to like being second in line" really need to stop. No one is second in line as no one has been offered a job. We talked to OGS but didn't offer him anything, we don't even know if we talked to Martinez and we certainly didn't offer him anything.. Lambert is getting approached just like we may have approached AVB or Benitez.. Everyone is getting a chance to be heard before we decide and no one is second in line, if a manager thinks that and gets all agitated they don't belong at this club simple as that..

You're jumping to multiple conclusions there. Exactly.. Martinez probably wanted it but we never came in for him. I think our targets are Lambert, Benitez and AVB.

Liverpool will find out very quickly that Rodgers success at Swansea was because of the work Martinez put in before him, his tenure at Reading proves that he's not the manager Swansea made him look like.

If we are in for Benitez then I don't think Lambert has a chance..

I really hope that if it is Lambert he doesn't bring Holt with him.. We only just got rid of Heskey we don't need another player that is going to retire in a season or two coming here. If Holt comes then it shows me that Lambert knows **** all about quality players given we already have Bent..

That is my concern as well.. I am tired of buying British. We are pretty much the most British team in the Premier League and yet the England team shows us year on year that most English players aren't great compared to the rest of Europe and the World.. I would love this coming transfer window to be filled with players with names I can barely pronounce.

From what I heard before he went to talk to Liverpool is he has always wanted to come to us more. Have you ever thought he talked to Liverpool out of respect? I mean if they are interested enough to approach him the least he can do is hear them out and see if their plans match what he wants. It doesn't mean he wanted them more, it just means he's smart and isn't going to commit the next 5 years of his life without talking to other options first.

I think Lerner has realised that to get anywhere in this league you have to spend big.. Now I'm not saying you have to spend £100 million ever summer like Man City do, but £40-£50 million spent wisely can get you Top 4, once you are there Champions League and Sky Sports money helps with the rest..

1. One of the best training facilities in Europe.. 2. Darren Bent.. One of the best strikers in the Premier League right now and one of the highest scorers. He's 3rd or 4th behind players like Rooney and Drogba*. 3. We have great finances and sure while we are trying to lower wage bills don't take that as meaning we lack the funds to spend serious money if we need to. 4. Samir Carruthers.. By far our brightest youth player and he plays like Nasri. The kid could be the next big thing and he's shown it every minute he's played for us so far. 5. Youth set up.. Carruthers isn't the only bright spark in our extended squad. We have players like Gardner, Johnson, Herd and Clark who in their own right could become some of the leagues best. We may even see them show that more often next season. Personally those 5 reasons ignoring the obvious salary you get and the freedom the chairman gives you to do what you like are reasons enough to join the club. Yes we have some flaws that need fixing, but we also have lots of things to excite potential managers. *When I say highest scorer I mean of players currently playing not the likes of Henry..

I could get behind that one. I have a bet on that guy so I'm definately behind it.

To be honest I may sound like I lack ambition in saying this but I will take anyone at this stage. I am coming to the conclusion that every manager is a risk and not every manager is going to work at our club, this can be said for anyone. We could sign Mourinho and have him not succeed but on the other end of the spectrum we could sign Di Matteo and win the league, in the end we do not know what the future holds for us.. Benitez could get us into the Champions League but he could very easily not, so I am just going to sit back now and whether it's Benitez, KMac, Poyet, Lambert, Martinez, Hoddle or AVB I no longer care as all of them could fail as easily as they could succeed.