Ghost_of_Pongo_Waring

I'm surprised that so many people think Fulhams last game will be easy because it's Palace. It's a local derby and Palace will have the chance to relegate Fulham. I can't see them being 'on the beach' for that one. Hopefully it'll all be academic after we win on Saturday.

It's not a lap of honour, it's a lap of appreciation. It's the players thanking the fans for their support not the other way around. Whether it's a good thing for them to do on Saturday, I'm not sure.

If the players Lambert brought could play at their best consistently they would not be here because we wouldn't have been able to afford their fees or wages. Lambert hasn't done a great job, and has made plenty of mistakes, but rebuilding the whole squad, on an average £2million per player, while keeping us in the Prem has not been an easy task. Agree with the second line, but the first, not really, but I take your point. Again it's hard, but when he bought them, if they'd turned out to be capable of it, then they'd still be on the same wages, and we'd have bought them. He couldn't know, of course, and it wouldn't be likely that they all would work out like that, but fewer than we'd like have. He's bought too many young 'uns, perhaps because that's al lhe could get, but the lack of experience ot cajole and marshall them has been telling, IMO. What I meant Blandy was that if they were capable of playing at their best consistently in the top flight then they'd have already been flagged as an exciting prospect, as Delph was, and the fees and wages would be in keeping with that. Even when you've got a prospect like Delph it takes time for them to settle and adapt. There were plenty who had written Delph off, even before his injury problems, which of course disrupted his progress. Consistency is the hardest thing to achieve, well being consistently certainly good is.

He's recently started light training. There's no way he'll be anywhere near match fit before the end of the season.

If the players Lambert brought could play at their best consistently they would not be here because we wouldn't have been able to afford their fees or wages. Lambert hasn't done a great job, and has made plenty of mistakes, but rebuilding the whole squad, on an average £2million per player, while keeping us in the Prem has not been an easy task.

Didn't we tick that one off last season? Without any sort of standard definition of what a season 'start' comprises that stat is largely meaningless. It's used by media to pad out reports/articles and some were even using the worst start since ... (insert year here).... rubbish nearly half way through the season.

It's not just Helenius though is it? He has spent 'little' amounts on quite a few players who are now surplus to requirements. When tallied up, such money could've gone to much better use. Simply not true. Martinez averaged a spend of around £12m per season during his time there and that's not even taking net-spend into account which links to the fact that they lost their best players every year. Martinez was building on the squad that was already there. Lambert has had to replace a squad.

In your opinion. It's a fair point, it doesn't reflect well on Lambert, he has hardly distinguished himself here. I'd be very surprised if the new owners didn't remove him and bring someone else in. Its been done to death though hasn't it. You can't state he's a bad manager when working under the contraints he has, he's got faults but who hasn't? Its just sad that people can't recognise anything he's done for the club. Replacing McLeish and looking doomed. Having to ship out players and rescue the wage bill yet still keep us in the league is in my opinion a very good achievement. You have to spend at least £30 mil a season just to stand still in the prem. Many other clubs fans recognise the job he's done yet our own fans would rather knock him. Then why don't the Lambert lovers recognize the job McLeish did for us? Because they have basically achieved exact the same, exept Lambert got another year and haven't progressed. Except they haven't achieved the same at all. McLeish had an expensive and highly paid squad to work with. Lambert had to replace the expensive, highly paid squad and replace them with lower paid players whose average cost is about two million pound per player. All that while remaining in the Prem.

That's rather a bizarre comment. Where has anyone said that?

It's not just sample size though, in my opinion (before anyone else takes umbrage), If such a poll was taken at a game, for example, it'd be much more representative, and have a larger cross section of Villa support, than that which relies purely on the minute section of our support that post on message boards.

I'm fully aware of why you posted the link. If you think that can be considered 'evidence' of the feelings of all Villa fans then you're perfectly entitled that opinion. Nowhere have I said, or implied, that you aren't allowed that opinion or that you shouldn't express it. However I'm entitled to disagree, which I do, and I stated, quite reasonably, why I disagreed.

To appease me? Where have I made any demands? I don't think a poll that takes such a narrow slice of Villa support can be considered to represent the fan base. Am I not allowed to post that opinion then?

It's a real shame you ruined a potentially solid and well-reasoned argument with the childish bolded words. I'd also contest your statement that the majority of fans want Lambert out. Where is your evidence for this? This is certainly not my experience. http://www.heroesandvillains.info/forumv3/index.php?topic=51442.4710 Graph at top of page. We should do a poll here as well. The vast majority of Villa fans do not post on message boards so any poll can hardly be considered to represent the fan base. That poll has 363 votes. If you had a poll on here and on TBAR and added them to the H&V poll you'd still be looking at less than a 1,000 people.

Who knows. I've seen this posted a few times and i still am not able to read it even when i zoom in. Anyone a better copy? I wouldn't bother it's obviously fake anyway.

I would have agreed, well somewhat, however the actual accounts point to the fact the wage bill has increased, not been reduced. The accounts show the first year, not the picture now. It's obvious that originally there would be some increase in wages while the high earners, that we're trying to offload, and the cheaper replacements were pretty much all on the books together. Now with a number of them off the books, and hopefully the remainder to follow, our wage bill should be far healthier.

Perhaps the financial constraints are worse than he was lead to believe? If he buys cheap players he's at fault, if he trys to buy more expensive players he's at fault?

He gave an interview where he claimed that the reported costs of his signings were rubbish. The accounts reveal that they were actually pretty well spot on. He was asked in an interview about the cost of a couple of his signings and he said the fees were lower than reported. It is quite possible for the total amount spent to be right AND Lambert to be correct on the players he mentioned. Still, lets not let that get in the way of childish & cowardly abuse.

There's nothing to say we are going to sign Holt or are even considering signing Holt. It's not "a sign of how low we've sunk" because somebody makes up some scenario in their head.

I haven't seen this linked here. Apologies if it's already posted http://financialfootball.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/aston-villa-the-three-year-plan-analysed/

Because he is injured? You want an injured player to train, and to play ? Just like dunne was? Lambert is a liar. Don't trust a word he says. Yes, just like Dunne was. Dunne was injured and if you you don't believe that please explain why Dunne himself says he was injured and had no problem with Lambert. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2459753/Richard-Dunne-interview-QPR-defender-return-fitness-Harry-Redknapps-side.html I believe he was injured but i dont believe Lambert saying that was the reason he was being left out. Regardless he would have been back in the squad in April when he was training again.. but he said it himself he was training with the kids. This is exactly what Nzogbia will get when he returns. Yes he was back training in April but he'd obviously not be anywhere near match fit after being out all season. He'd already had one breakdown, when on the verge of coming back, and there had been a possibility that his career could have been over. Lambert not throwing him straight into the middle of a relegation dog fight at that time, with a handful of games left, was correct in my opinion. Remember after weeks of training and building himself up he still only managed 25 minutes in a friendly. It would have been just to risky to Dunnes fitness to play him as soon as he was back training. You think then that if Dunne hadn't been injured he'd have been part of the 'bomb squad'? You may be right but there's no way of knowing it and it's hardly a reason to call Lambert a liar. It's just baseless speculation.

N'Zogbia did not say he's fit, he didn't even hint that he's fit. He simply asked a rhetorical question, of which the answer was obviously no. Whether thats because he'd be in the 'bomb squad' if fit, or the straight forward fact that they wouldn't let him train because he's injured, to leap to the conclusion that he's fit now but the club are pretending he's not is baffling. As has been said before, and not countered by anyone, 1. Why would the club do that. It makes no sense in any way. 2 Why would CNZ go along with it, it wouldn't benefit him at all. If he's got no future at the club, which if the ridiculous speculation was true would be the case, what has he got to lose by coming out and actually, clearly, declaring himself fit. 3. Why has only CNZ been granted this paid holiday approach. Why wasn't this done to Bent, when he was injured, or any other of the 'bomb squad'.

Well there is no evidence to suggest anything else.

And Nick Mashiter's: Shame that the local media is full of kooky conspiracy theorists also... Where do they say he's not injured. Where does anyone say he's not injured. Whether he'd be part of the 'bomb squad' if fit is just pure speculation as CNZ is injured. He's not fit, unable to train ......... as he's injured.

Because he is injured? You want an injured player to train, and to play ? Just like dunne was? Lambert is a liar. Don't trust a word he says. Yes, just like Dunne was. Dunne was injured and if you you don't believe that please explain why Dunne himself says he was injured and had no problem with Lambert. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2459753/Richard-Dunne-interview-QPR-defender-return-fitness-Harry-Redknapps-side.html

However the most obvious and logical reason he's not on the bench is because he's still injured. What would be the reason behind pretending he's still injured if he's not. The rest of the, self named, 'bomb squad' were instructed to train away from the first team squad but CNZ is instead allowed to have an extended holiday? Why would the club do that? This theory is just crazy.