sharkyvilla

I got accused of cheating on Countdown the other day but it was just their word against mine

If the £7m was built upon say £4m up front with performance related clauses then I'd be up for it. I think he has a spark about him that would make it a gamble worth taking. I'm pretty sure Lambert will have watched a lot of him so if he did go for him then it would be a pretty safe bet.

Pietersen really is a massive arsehole. Don't necessarily disagree with him on this tbh, I'd want to go and earn a bomb if I could, but he's so focussed on himself in tests it's infuriating. Knight's criticism was very fair and he couldn't take it. Not fulfilled his potential at all due to him thinking he'd better than he is. I remember we were getting battered by Aussies once and he ran round celebrating a century like we'd just won.

I think KP's scored 3 Ashes hundreds and at the time he scored them we weren't being battered in any of them. We did go on to lose the Adelaide test in 06/07 but that was due to a collective brainfart from the whole team on the last day. He won't be able to play any more IPL than he currently does as we don't play ODIs when it's on, he'll do his stint then come back for our home Test series. He'll only be losing money from his central contract being downgraded, so I don't see how money comes into it.

Oh and Nick Knight is an awful commentator. I don't think KP had an issue with criticism, just that Knight is dull and can't make his mind up on anything.

Must have been hijacked by West Ham fans who don't want him down there. What really depresses me is the comment 'with Heskey and Carew gone we need a big man up front', like **** we do. This be the 21st century.

I cannot see in a million years Lerner agreeing a 3 year deal for someone like Holt (after all that's why he's supposed to have put in a transfer request) after the cost-cutting exercise we've had to go through. It would be totally counterintuitive.

I think Randy had some very tough calls these last couple of seasons, especially on controlling the wage bill and the knock on effects. Hopefully now we can rebuild under Lambert.

I don't see the logic in him not being able to play Tests and T20s. He's not going to be around for the next 50 over world cup so what's the point in making him play up to 14 ODIs this summer merely to make himself eligible to play the T20 world cup, especially when we have such an important Test series coming up to decide who is number 1 in the world. Strauss has been able to pick and choose what cricket he plays.

He is the kind of shit signing O'Neill would have made. I really hope we look a bit further afield than 30-something year old players from his old club

I hope he has decent connections in Germany and Europe from his Dortmund days to build upon. I find it kind of weird that a Champions League winner managed clubs like Wycombe and Colchester before making his way up. He should have a good, varied approach to the game and he has had nothing given to him on a plate. He must be relishing a project like this at a club like ours. Really looking forward to it. I just hope our expectations aren't too high to begin with and it's up to us to make Villa Park a positive place for him and the players next season.

Jan Aage Fjortoft‏@JanAageFjortoft

I thought Solskjær would have taken the Villa-job if asked. My source had good knowledge:He said Lambert was frontrunner all the time #avfc

Fab spot Matt.

Kind of brings it all together and it makes sense.

It would certainly seem that way Julie.

Funnily enough Dean Scoggins of the Sun was adamant before OGS saga blew up that Lerner was after Lambert as his No 1 candidate.

Interestingly enough....when it looked like OGS was coming to Villa....he said publically via tweets...... that he got the feeling that the whole OGS pursuit was more a way of pushing the Lambert & Norwich situation forward.

I think we can safely say that none of the media had any idea what Lerner was doing, and credit to him for that. It may be the odd journo got it right but more by luck than judgement. I don't think there was any smoke and mirrors with OGS, it's just that he was the only one we knew for certain had been interviewed because of thetrees's being particularly observant, nothing more than that.

It's clearly a done deal. Sweeeeeeeeeet!

A young, enthusiastic manager who has gone through all the leagues with success, who is also a Champions League winner, hopefully with a half-decent pot of cash to work with. Get in.

I've met Martinez before, had quigte a long chat with him. He's a top guy who lives for football. If we did approach him and he chose to stay at Wigan though, it does make you question his ambition...again, that is a big IF!

I met him too when Swansea played my local side Horsham in the second round of the FA Cup, he is a total gentleman and showed total respect to the club (unlike the likes of AFC Wimbledon whilst making their way up the divisions, but that's a different story). Whatever happened, Whelan is a gobshite who must make things incredibly hard for Martinez. I hope RM continues to exceed expectations playing good football and keeping them in the division.

As for Lambert I am delighted and is just the right type of manager for us all to get behind. Just get the contract signed plz.

When I was over there I worked in a call-centre in Sydney selling Westpac credit cards, it was one of the worst two weeks of my life before I jacked it in and spent the rest of my time on Bondi beach. I doubt that would count for getting signed off if ski work doesn't. I'd suggest asking people who run hostels, they'd probably give the best advice.

I think we can expect things to accelerate a bit more now the Liverpool situation is cleared up. I'd be a bit narked if Poyet went to Swansea and we ended up with someone shit, but I have a feeling we won't be disappointed with whoever it is. There are certainly enough decent candidates.

For crissake ! why is it taking so long to appoint a new manager ?

It"s not like we are Walsall or Oxford or something.We are a team in thr premiership and we have a good fan base. FFS what is going on ?

Well it's only been two weeks today since he got sacked and West Brom and Liverpool haven't got a manager either, but it could be:

a) they are still interviewing

they have chosen someone out of work who has agreed but is on holiday, waiting for him to come back before calling press conference

c) they have approached someone already at a club who has other job offers e.g. Martinez

d) they are waiting to see if Chelsea keep Di Matteo

e) they are after someone who is managing at the Euros

f) they have got someone who has another job and are ironing out the financial details with their club

g) they have no clue whatsoever to go for

Either way Lerner always does his work in total privacy where possible so we and the press haven't the foggiest clue who it is. The Ole thing only came out through here and a bit of detective work from an airport staff member. We have absolutely no idea what is going on and people should chill a bit.

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.

Me too. They've all got their pros and cons but at least they aren't our previous manager. Just wish they'd announce it fairly sharpish.

I think the OGS/family thing is a load of balls. I assume his kids were born in England and have only lived back in Norway for about a year and a bit. I'm sure Molde gave him the old emotional blackmail plus a renegotiated contract meaning he withdrew his application, that's all.

I thought the first half was encouraging how we kept the ball, at least until Gerrard got it as he then tried Hollywood pass after Hollywood pass and failed more often than not. Lampard would be better in this system I think. Second half was a farce as usual.

Given by miles

I'm really amazed at the negative opinions of Di Matteo. I thought he handled himself brilliantly, showed variety in his tactics and best of all won. Apart from a 12 game period his managerial career has been almost total success, he's only 41 and hungry. I can see why peope may prefer other candidates, in fact I do too, but he would not be a bad appointment at all. Managers need to have had a bad spell in order to learn and get things right in the long term, which is possibly why he succeeded where AVB didn't. It was hard for AVB to turn things round at Chelsea because he had never experienced anything other than glory. He will be a much better manager now because of it I feel, and I hope we can convince him to come here. If not then Di Matteo would be high up on my shortlist.

He would have made a great defensive midfielder, why he always played as a striker I will never no. He made an art form out of missing sitters...

If someone tried to make him a defensive midfielder he'd probably take it upon himself to go upfield and score a hattrick every game

Seeing as things are quiet, maybe it's time to suggest a possible explanation for events over the last 10 days, which will a) be food for discussion and annoy briny_ear (mwahahahaaa).

- The club get in contact with OGS, having done a bit of homework on him.

- Initial discussions are good, and he tentatively agrees to become the Villa manager, but doesn't want to drop Molde in it.

- RL flies him to Brum for further talks but there's a leak and Molde's financial backer finds out.

- There is a surge of support from Villa fans for the idea of OGS as manager.

- The proverbial tomato hits the fan in Norway and Rokke threatens to withdraw his support. OGS is not happy with Rokke

Now the next bit is a combination of wishful thinking and wishfully-reading-between-the-lines:

- OGS realises if he ups sticks Molde will be left without financial support, but he still wants to manage Villa.

- OGS and Villa have further talks where a cunning plan is hatched.

- OGS and Rokke sign a new contract, whereby Rokke commits his finances to Molde in return for a change in OGS's contract.

- The change in OGS's contract improves the terms for Molde, but not to a price that Villa aren't willing to pay.

- OGS resigns himself to managing Molde for an unspecified number of additional games (until the 1st of June, say).

- Villa bide their time before putting in an offer for OGS.

- Molde accept the offer, since they are assured of Rokke's backing and are getting a nice payout from Villa.

Well?

-

Not that far-fetched but I can't see Ole going back on his word having made a very public statement, he just doesn't seem like that kind of person to me. I think it's more likely that we have a first-choice and Ole was impressive but not enough to usurp him. Why it is taking so long is anyone's guess.

You know Warnock wasn't always that bad. In fact I sometimes wonder why everyone has it in for him, Dunne and Collins, wasn't so long ago they were an incredibly impressive defensive unit under MON. While Warnock clearly is no longer the same player, I actually still rate Dunne and Collins as above average Premier League CBs.

True, we needed a left-back and he had been excellent for Blackburn and on the fringe of the England squad, in his mid-20s. £8m was a fair price at the time. It's more the wages and length of contract that were a disaster, added to the multitude of other disasters O'Neill saddled us with.

Aye I think it's time Randy said screw it and got in Poyet

God that picture of Lennon makes me feel ill. The thought of him at our club. I would actually prefer McLeish back