DelboyVilla

And since when did Hutton start driving a bus? Was this before or after the bomb squad? I've seen the adverts on the back of the local buses £348 per week? He shouldn't be taking drugs at the same time though?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/aston-villa-outcast-alan-hutton-4066220?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter That is why I believe it wasn't down to Lambert. And you'd be right. How to explain these quotes then, defending his transfer policy in the summer of 2012?: "Paul Lambert has strongly defended his decision to sign younger players from the lower leagues this summer and also said he has no concerns about Aston Villa becoming embroiled in another relegation battle, despite their poor start to the season and concerns about the lack of experience within his squad." [. . . ] "Villa have racked up huge financial losses in the last couple of years and have been keen to reduce their wage bill as a result but Lambert said at his press conference ahead of Sunday's game at Newcastle United that his recruitment policy had not been influenced in any way by existing salary levels. He also claimed that he had no complaints about the financial backing that he has received from Randy Lerner, the club's owner, who sanctioned about £25m of spending this summer. "Randy has been great. I've not had a problem. None whatsoever," said Lambert." "The Villa manager made it clear that the strategy to sign younger players from outside of the Premier League was purely his decision and nothing to do with Lerner. "The football decisions are mine. I'll take responsibility for that," Lambert said. "I need to be comfortable in myself and I'm comfortable with what I'm trying to do." ""Every player you bring in, you are hoping they will do it for you. But I know from experience if you don't have the hunger as a footballer, there's no point playing the game. You need that enthusiasm, so we will see how it goes. I know from experience, when you get really hungry players they can take you a long way, that's what we will try to do. I have a great belief that the young lads can do it. I have no trepidation that they won't do it. None whatsoever." ""How do you know that they are not good enough? You won't know until you give them that opportunity. I like to do that. It gives me great satisfaction knowing people can do well for themselves and the team." When it was put to Lambert that there is a theory that if you keep signing players from below the Premier League, the team will end up not being in the Premier League, he replied: "I had exactly the same question last year and the Norwich lads surpassed everything."" I'm expecting some pushback along the lines of 'signing younger players' doesn't equal 'making a decision to create the bomb squad', but I don't think that'll stand up. After all, it's not like Hutton started the season, was under-performing and then got dropped for Lowton, Lowton played the entire time. That had to have been planned. There may be other pushback saying 'well, of course he's got to say that in the press, hasn't he?', and fine, maybe he was just outright lying to the media. But as a fan, you can only really go on what people say, and he's not equivocating in those quotes. "The football decisions are mine. I'll take responsibility for that." There's certainly a lot of contradiction between quotes and who decided to do what and it gives excuses for all sides to defend or critise certain actions taken over the past few years?

Didnt impress me much at Fulham. The funny thing with him at Fulham was that he was the only player actually fighting and caring. He got frustrated and showed much more caring for the club then the players in it did. Of course he didn't look good when more then half of the Fulham club had given up hope for survival. He did lift the quality in their midfield though no doubt. Holtby has been excellent in Spuds pre-season matches and the majority of the Tottenham fans want him to stay at the club! I would be amazed if Lerner has given the funds for Lambert to sign the likes of Holtby or Deeney?

Maybe it was more about who signed them? I can't beleive how Lambert allowed Lerner to have this much influence over who he was allowed to pick out of the squad available? What else was he doing picking the side every Saturday? Lerner is truly an awful Chairman!

they were trying to say the same on Soccer Saturday or Goals on Sunday as that was reason that Holland went to 3 at teh back in World CUp becauise the defence was slow The reason they play is because it is LVG preferred formation. Manure are being played the exact same way. Therefore they need 3 CB, Rojo would be one if he joins and would play on the left hand side. What worries me is that Vlaar has obviously played in this formation successfully for LVG before. However I wonder if Vlaar is a 'big' enough superstar for their board and precious fanbase? Hopefully not and he stays with us!

Major!? sounds like kids playground stuff to me? I'd like to see Richardson pinch Tekker's spot? (I imagine Tekkers drives a Sherman tank)

Whatever the age or experience of a player if they are out injured for over twelve months they will not be at full speed on their first competitive game!

Great! Let's hope it's a player+money deal involving Memphis Depay, Georginio Wijnaldum or possibly Adam Maher Great and while we are at it we should offer Real Madrid Gabby in a player + money deal for Ronaldo, Bale or James? U really feel Kea+ let's say £6-7m for Maher is such a impossible deal? With our current finances unfortunately yes I do!

Maybe because he is a midfielder and not a left back?

Great! Let's hope it's a player+money deal involving Memphis Depay, Georginio Wijnaldum or possibly Adam Maher Great and while we are at it we should offer Real Madrid Gabby in a player + money deal for Ronaldo, Bale or James?

Never! Not in a million years!

He's been linked to Spuds for £15m so a little out of our price range maybe?

Well because of the over inflated prices paid for Rhodes and McCormack I think Deeney will be very poor value for any Prem team.

Yeah I thought that. Certainly seems to imply that Lambert didn't have a choice. Which would also explain Lambert's sudden "turnaround" in transfers and his use of the bomb squad. it probably isn't a turn around by him, it's just that he's being allowed to use everyone. Very strange situation if that's really how it is Can't understand why any manager would work under such interferance from a Chairman? That was never going to be a successful working relationship?

This is where Lerner needs to step up to the plate and as he said himself concentrate on things for the new season. Signing up Vlaar, Delph and Grealish would give the side as much of a boost as signing Sanchez IMO. As usual he just seems to hide away in the States?

Apparently there are more pressing things to be done first? Read Trent's post at the top of the page which gives his take on things and Trent has been spot on with most of his information recently.

Sounds a bit like a strong mouthwash?

A striker on loan would make sense as I worry about rushing Tekkers and Kosak back too soon. It would be nice to be able to let them come off the bench rather than needing them to hit the ground running day 1, I would look at someone like Hernandez but not Grant Holt please! In midfield I know Sinclair and Moses have been mentioned but don't think either have the right attitude and would rather see Townsend or Lennon. All these rely on wages and fees being available obviously.

I think that's expecting way too much from him. It may take time for him to get the measure of the premier league and we need to be patient to see if he can settle in. And according to some reports on this thread he has not been training with Elche so he won't necessarily be fit, let alone match-ready. I'm really glad we have signed him but I do hope people will be patient and give him time to get up to speed. I think that he missed training for a couple of days when the news of the interest broke but as he was in the QF of the World Cup I imagine he only recently returned similar to the Vlaar situation. He will however need time to settle and get used to the Prem which is very different to the French and Spainish leagues. Our players also need to get used to a new system probably and hopefully our other midfielders will be able to get closer to the strikers without leaving our defense horribly exposed.

I see no reason why Lambert cannot confirm or deny that we have made Vlaar an offer or not. He doesn't have to give details but the club are driving fans away at the moment and situations like this are not helping.

Yeah, what a bunch of bastards using his managerial record as evidence of his managerial ability! The only reason it was brought up was to point out that while he isn't eligible to clean Pulis' boots, he has in fact matched his best result with a fraction of his budget. He did it once with another club, hardly Mr Consistant is he?

Seems to be a decent signing and I am glad we have some midfield bite at last.

If it was purely down to begineer's (begging engineers presumably) luck then why do you want an old goat like Pulis? If a manager you consider not fit to clean his boots was able to match his best league finish with a fraction of the time and a tiny fraction of the spending only for this reason then surely you'd be in favour of picking a randomer out the crowd to manage us to best capture some pure, extra virgin begineer's luck? Maybe Lambert's 7th season in management after back to back promotions wasn't entirely beginner's luck. I actually think that Lambert is a good manager for a Championship or League 1 side just not us! As I said he is a Megson or McLeish type who can get a team up but struggles over a season in the Prem.

How is it then that despite all of the millions of pounds that Pulis spent over his 5 years in the PL with stoke Lambert was able to equal his record premier league points total in his first season in the league with a tinpot club like Norwich that were in League One two seasons earlier? Begineers luck??

We all know what was promised to Pulis when he joined, a multi million pound bonus if he kept them up. He done the job, took the money and left them in the lurch a few days before the season started. A words removed trick. He also signed Martin Kelly the day he resigned, messing with a young lads career. A words removed trick. Also you are seriously saying you would take Pulis over Lambert? He plays the worst football ever seen in this league, worse than Megson, worse than Fat Sam, worse than Joe Kinnear. His record in the transfer market is worse than O'Neills, £12m on Crouch, £7m on Jones, Palcious £6m, Kitson £5m, Pennant, Jerome, Tuncay. He never pushed Stoke on, he never developed their play, cheque book manager at best. Pulis over Lambert. Laughable. In my opinion Lambert isn't worthy of cleaning Pulis boots. Lambert as a manager is about equal with Gary Megson or McLeish! When Pulis has 11 years of age on Lambert. We will see if over the next 11 years Lambert can match Pulis' trophy cabinet. EDIT : Tony Pulis as manager, do you actually watch football? No being a Villa fan for the last few seasons I have not had the pleasure of seeing much football being played by my club only rubbish turgid hoofball!