HanoiVillan

It depends on how the summer goes. It's certainly not as simple as takeover = we stay up, no take over = we go down. True. There could be a takeover and we still go down like Fulham did. And there could be no takeover yet we could still stay up and do ok. It's quite unlikely though, IMO. We're likely to have a very weak team to start the season, and our best player by far misses most of the first half of the season and might not come back as good again. I expect us to be at or near the bottom of the table when Benteke does come back, and then it's a long hard battle to safety.

absolutely spot on. I'm tying to say we settle too easily for second best and don't search for a Diego Simone of our own like we did with Saunders and Barton. Sorry TRO totally disagree. I cannot see how you can claim we settle "for second best" Martinez turned us down and Lambert was the fans choice. As regards the distant past; as much as I respect Tony Barton's memory, it is ludicrous to use him as an example, he inherited Saunders team. He will always be a legend but few will claim he was an exceptional manager. As for Saunders. He was a relatively unknown quantity. At the time of his appointment, most fans were unimpressed and he was not perceived as "the best". Sorry but your argument doesn't make sense. Sorry Mike but your response doesn't make sense to me either ...... I'm not explaining myself very well or you havn't got the gist of my point. Firstly the "second best" I am referring to is the current performance of our team, not the initial appointment,some seem to think some kind of divine intervention is going to happen and it will all come good under this manager. It didn't take the Man U fans long to say " no more mr Moyes"......we the fans are still pontificating whether we have got a good one or not as for the second point the reason Ron Saunders and Tony Barton was mentioned in Tandem was the very fact that they were unknowns which was my very point and Tony Barton was instrumental in spotting ALL the talent that Ron Saunders and Roy Mclaren so aptly Managed.....Ron won the League and Tony won the Euro cup, so inspite of the competition at that time I think it is a fair comparison.... and no they wasn't world class and neither necessarily is Simone. When I said " We settle for second best"" I meant the club staff and whilst we are on the subject does it take the fans to select a manager? I guess the fans never chose Arsene Wenger or Ron Saunders for that matter. so just in case I have still failed to get my point over......Unknowns can be a big success as Jose Mourinho was at Porto all those years ago. ps albeit,a bit of research, good interviewing techniques and a good offer is very helpful. Moyes spent north of £55 million on players, and took over a team that won the PL at a canter the previous season. It's not a very realistic comparison. Every club wants to find a manager who can get a team to consistently finish higher than their outlay would suggest, but we can't all have them. Simeone came out of nowhere - sometimes the rare manager who actually makes a difference by their own skill does appear. If you're lucky enough to land one, great. We haven't. But the relevant question isn't 'is Paul Lambert one of the best managers in the world'? or 'could somebody do better than Lambert?', it's 'would sacking the manager in the midst of a summer of complete turmoil be obviously counterproductive?'. The answer to that question is yes, sadly.

I don't hate QPR, never have and probably never will. It's Harry I hate.

Except he played 11 games for Fulham and he only joined them in January, he was excellent at villa park, he ran the game, I think he's an superb player It's a shame that we couldn't get him in January He only played eleven times because he was dropped towards the end of the season. Maybe he's amazing, but he certainly hasn't shown that in English football yet. Why would you sell Delph for a punt? If Levy were offering this move, it would be because he thinks Delph is far better. I concur. People get so smitten with youngsters with big reputations that they can't see how average they are. Remember how many people were gutted we didn't get Guidetti? Where are they now?

Yes, it's a difficult decision to make - our player of the season, or a guy who couldn't get into the Fulham team when they were bottom of the table? Hmm, what to do, what to do . . .

Well, I'm happy for him. Can't lie, think it's a sign of the problems we have, ie. he doesn't really deserve it on merit, but I'm sure he's a good guy so congratulations. If we actually want to make it work he needs to spend a season on loan somewhere.

I can't lie, the same thoughts had occurred to me as well. We could struggle to keep both him and Vlaar this summer, unless this contract business is sorted out quickly. I read in the paper that there's no current bidder for the team, so why do we have a ban on contract extensions?

Measured statistically, Tony Pulis is one of the most effective managers in PL history, and if you measure by finishes compared to wage bill, which seems the best way of measuring achievement, he's really in an elite group with Ferguson, Wenger, and Moyes over the last 20 years. The knock on him is pretty much never underachievement (last year at Stoke aside), it's always style of play. Bottom line is he's in a different league to Lambert. In hindsight, we'd probably have done better sacking Lambert and appointing Pulis last summer, but it would hardly have been a popular appointment.

I think it will be more than a change of manager that Kendrick needs. Whether he should have written what he did or not, we shouldn't be turning ourselves into the Democratic People's Republic of Newcastle United Mark II. Clubs that freeze out the local press are lame, and it never works in the long run.

Our new mobile forward line-up pictured in training:

You'd have to assume they'd score double figures.

I wish I could share your optimism. I just don't think N'Zogbia will ever be the player he was after that injury, and that's my fear for Okore and Benteke too. Even if they all came back without any obvious effects from these horrendous injuries, it'd still be a very weak team. Hutton hasn't played a competitive game for more than 6 months, it'll be nearly a year by the time the season starts. He will be very rusty I'm afraid. It's possible we might sign some players who are improvements, but I don't hold out much hope given the mess the club is in. I do admire your optimism, though, and I mean that sincerely, even if I think it's misplaced.

Actually 5 months, and before that he was injured, but who's splitting hairs here . . . On the broader point, nobody is saying that Lambert has suddenly rediscovered a love for Bent and Hutton, and it's clear they won't get offered new contracts when they expire. However, I think it is safe to say that Lambert has been told there's no money for replacements and that he needs to use all that's currently available first. Albrighton proves that the club are more than happy to use people frequently all the way up to their contract expiries and then just let them go, I expect to see the same for Bent and Hutton.

It's a hopeless squad. I know this, because it's in fact the same squad that nearly got relegated this year, but a little bit worse. In 2 of the key positions, you have players who have been out for at least half a season with very serious injuries. You have a RB who hasn't played competitive football for over a year and a LB who's really a CB and could never contribute anything going forwards, ever. None of the attacking players scored more than 5 goals this season, despite having more than 70 games between them. We have to get involved with bringing in players on a Bosman if we truly can't spend money, because there's nowhere enough quality in that team to avoid a relegation battle.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-transfers-everton-lining-7074755

An absolute embarrassment, I guess it's been coming for weeks. Let's take stock of our wide men shall we? This shouldn't take long. Tonev? Lambert won't play him, even after he looked decent at Man U he didn't get another look in. Erm . . . anybody else? Oh no wait, we don't actually have any other wingers at all, except under-18's who aren't ready to play. I wish him the best - he deserves better than to sink on this leaky ship anyway. He'll do well for Leicester, and he deserves it. We don't know how to treat our players properly.

No worries, we all make mistakes, we're none of us professional researchers! And apologies for misstating your position. I have considered that he was playing for his future, but I don't really find that a good reason not to offer him a contract. A 2 or 3 year deal instead of 4, for sure, but players who are capable of playing well when motivated are worth keeping. WhoScored has him with the 8th highest match rating in the squad, 2 under-18's with 6 minutes of PL experience between them, one of whom plays on the opposite flank, aren't going to adequately cover that next season. 35k is expensive, but obviously to replace him we'll need to pay for a player, pay a contract signing bonus, and pay a significant wage anyway, so if this is being done for money-saving reasons, I'm pretty sure it's a false economy.

Graham does right, though would love to see Grealish given a run as the No10. Think he'd thrive on it. Honestly think Lambert doesn't have much choice but hope one of these kids really does offer us something. Grealish has played, what, 6 minutes of Prem football, on the other wing? Graham - has he ever appeared for the first team? It's going to take them more than a year of gradual easing in to even be close to ready, at best. Meanwhile our most potent attacking threat - note again, this is a statistical fact - is leaving for free without us picking up a fee. Our most potent attacking threat, do me a sodding favour, he got one assist. Grealish and Graham for me have more ability than Marc Albrighton at the age he came through. Marc is now 25 and people are still waiting for him to come good, he played a few games well, but for me he's never hit those levels he shown against West Ham when he first broke through. I have done you a sodding favour, and recalled that he in fact got 4 assists (in the Chelsea, Fulham, Swansea and Hull games, though I accept that the latter doesn't really count). Look back two pages and note that he makes more key passes, more passes into the final third, etc etc blah blah blah. It's all irrelevant, obviously, because compared to your feeling that he's s***, no amount of data could possibly be persuasive. I have no idea how you can make that assertion about Grealish and Graham, especially about the latter. Simply stating that youngsters are ready to start doesn't make it so.

Graham does right, though would love to see Grealish given a run as the No10. Think he'd thrive on it. Honestly think Lambert doesn't have much choice but hope one of these kids really does offer us something. Grealish has played, what, 6 minutes of Prem football, on the other wing? Graham - has he ever appeared for the first team? It's going to take them more than a year of gradual easing in to even be close to ready, at best. Meanwhile our most potent attacking threat - note again, this is a statistical fact - is leaving for free without us picking up a fee.

£35 per week for a one trick pony with no pace and the crossing ability of a blind chimpanzee with a wooden leg. My god Leicester must be out of their minds pmsl Give your head a wobble. I suppose Roberto Martinez is interested in him for the lolz? You can lead a fan to stats but you can't make them think.

Good god, is that the big announcement? *insert anticlimax gif here* It's OK, he's apparently going to roll up his sleeves and prepare for the battle ahead. Zzzzzzzzzz Finally got round to trimming his forearm hairs has he?

Good god, is that the big announcement? *insert anticlimax gif here*

Don't think he'll be sold, suspect he'll be released on a free. Not ITK, but seems like that's a sensible interpretation of "not relying on him for next season", ie. we're gonna get rid no matter what.

I know this was brought up only a couple of pages back, but he was given the number 9 shirt less than twelve months ago . . . we are an absolute mess as a football club. I say that not just because of the way this signing has worked out - or hasn't - but to be honest it's a pretty damning indicator.

He owns my Seahawks. Do you have to rent them back when you want to go fishing?