villabromsgrove Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 The traditional "lap of honour" after tomorrows' game should be interesting. Even if we win I'm guessing it could be quite enlightening for RL/PF/PL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MessiWillSignForVilla Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) I thought it had been posted and confirmed elsewhere that the wage bill has actually gone up? Can someone confirm this once and for all. Look at the new accounts thread started today on the front page. Only a small rise from £70m to £72m but not really the great cutbacks that have 'hampered' Lambert's progress? They are from 2013 and we have got rid of Dunne, Bent and Ireland since but given raises to Benteke, Weimann, Westwood, Lowton and signed a few others in the summer. I would be surprised if there is much difference in the 2014 accounts with regard to wages. Bit of a myth this reduction in wages me thinks? That's the point though. In Lambert's 2 years in charge, the wage bill has increased by £2m, or £40k p/w. During that time 9 first team players have left and 17 have joined, leaving us with 8 more players (if you include Bertrand and Holt, it's 10 more) in our squad, for only £40k p/w added on to our wage bill. In other words, we've only been able to offer a whopping £5k p/w for any additions to the squad/budget, which doesn't get you much in the Premier League. How many clubs in this league buy 8 players, on top of their current squad, and only have their wage bill increase by £40k p/w? I don't think any do. That's where the budget constraints come from. Plus don't forget we still technically have Bent on our books, as is Given and I wouldn't be surprised if we were still paying Ireland something too until the end of June. In this modern era of football, by having our wages effectively stand still, or at least have such a small increase, the wage bill has been reduced as we can't offer competitive wages to add to our squad. Edited May 2, 2014 by MessiWillSignForVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 My apologies to villa - revolution if I offended you with my deleted post . I never saw your deleted post dounavilla but even if I did I would not have felt offended by it. Every body is entitled to an opinion. That's the beauty of VT. We all love the Villa & that's the bottom line. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 I am up to here (neck) with PL but people are so one sided in their views. As with everything there is a balance between the differing opinions on here. Trent for once :-) has it spot on. Exactly. Even people that aren't happy with Lambert at all are getting accused of being "Lambert lovers" purely because they're not 100% negative with their views on him. It's a symptom of the black and white approach that seems to pervade certain discussions about Villa. Forgetting of course the black and white approach when we were mid table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Maybe there should be a 'Lambert out' thread where some familiar names can just spew bile in a self-congratulatory positive feedback loop, and leave this thread for a more nuanced discussion. Yea and another thread for the pompous high horsers who are better than everyone ele. Well that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 This whole "blaming the fans" thing has been massively overstated IMO. Most of the time it's just people pointing out that a negative atmosphere at VP isn't going to help matters, which is ultimately what people are negative about in the first place. Of course, due to the black and white nature on here this is taken by some to mean "blaming the fans". Anyone who points this out also tends to get accused of absolving the manager and the team of blame for poor performances and results. As I keep saying, there's hardly any middle ground. Jesus wept, do you get royalties every time you mention black and white? Both sides are passionate so may overstate their views to compensate for the over-reactions; on both sides. You've hardly been the semblance of balance in your support of Lambert in the past. I haven't even tried to hide that I bring it up a lot. I bring it up so much because it's such a big barrier to proper discussion on here. You can be passionate without going to extremes. How so? I've been quite pro-Lambert most of the time but I've never tried to make out that he's perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 This thread proves that there are still many fans who back Paul Lambert. It is fair to deduce from this that he hasn't lost the fans. Plus, Lambo doesn't need to worry about some of his detractors on this forum anyway because apparently they never wanted him here in the first place. (Allegedly) Lambert in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Lambert hasn't lost the fans, the fan's have lost it. But thankfully not all of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Lambert hasn't lost the fans, the fan's have lost it. But thankfully not all of them. The only thing I have lost is my patience with an inept manager and his followers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Biro Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Maybe there should be a 'Lambert out' thread where some familiar names can just spew bile in a self-congratulatory positive feedback loop, and leave this thread for a more nuanced discussion. Yea and another thread for the pompous high horsers who are better than everyone ele. Well that helps About as much as the original post did, yea i agree with you there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Lambert hasn't lost the fans, the fan's have lost it. But thankfully not all of them. The only thing I have lost is my patience with an inept manager and his followers. That's because you still haven't booked your appointment for therapy with Paul Lambert. I could have sworn you joined the queue earlier in this thread. You really do need to see him urgently. I'll book you in for 3pm this Saturday versus Hull. Who knows you may even get to take a corner kick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 This thread proves that there are still many fans who back Paul Lambert. It is fair to deduce from this that he hasn't lost the fans. Plus, Lambo doesn't need to worry about some of his detractors on this forum anyway because apparently they never wanted him here in the first place. (Allegedly) Lambert in. There is no point in debating with them any more. As they clearly don't understand football correctly. You and I have a degree in football studies from Bedfordshire. If anybody's wondering, it wasn't a university but just a local who gave lectures in his basement. Therefore, we are far more qualified to judge Lambert's ability than others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Lambert hasn't lost the fans, the fan's have lost it. But thankfully not all of them. The only thing I have lost is my patience with an inept manager and his followers. That's because you still haven't booked your appointment for therapy with Paul Lambert. I could have sworn you joined the queue earlier in this thread. You really do need to see him urgently. I'll book you in for 3pm this Saturday versus Hull. Who knows you may even get to take a corner kick. No thanks. Chucked my season tickets at the end of last season and apart from a couple of games earlier this season I won't step into Villa Park again to watch the rubbish served up by Paul Lambert and his bunch of cheap low grade players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Lions_Roar Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 He bought Bennett, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped and so then he bought Luna who turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped and so he then loaned Bertrand. He bought Lowton, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped so he moved a midfielder into his position. He bought Tonev, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Sylla, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Hellenius, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Bowery, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. Apologies if I have missed anyone of any relevance. Looking at those, lowton was close to being player of the season last season. Sylla did a job when he came in last season. Tonev you can't really say he was dropped, I don't see how anyone could have made a decision on him yet. Bennett is decent back up and has at least looked decent at times. Helanius again is one that can't be judged yet and not sure how you get dropped when starting just a couple of games. So Bowery, Luna and sylla should be moved on, the rest kept as squad players and those 3 probably cost us £5 mil in total. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 He bought Bennett, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped and so then he bought Luna who turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped and so he then loaned Bertrand. He bought Lowton, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped so he moved a midfielder into his position. He bought Tonev, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Sylla, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Hellenius, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Bowery, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. Apologies if I have missed anyone of any relevance. Looking at those, lowton was close to being player of the season last season. Sylla did a job when he came in last season. Tonev you can't really say he was dropped, I don't see how anyone could have made a decision on him yet. Bennett is decent back up and has at least looked decent at times. Helanius again is one that can't be judged yet and not sure how you get dropped when starting just a couple of games. So Bowery, Luna and sylla should be moved on, the rest kept as squad players and those 3 probably cost us £5 mil in total. Good God, that's naive! You are looking at made-up positives instead of looking at the ice-cold facts. Lambert tried to build a better team and squad, he is not trying to buy covers and semi-professionals that might or might not cut it in the Premier League. Most of these players have been failures and they are in fact not good enough to play in the Premier League. One thing is one or two players not hacking it, which happens at every club, but most of the players haven't been good enough to get into any squad in the Premier League IMO. On top of that, a few of the ones that are playing in our team should barely make the bench in my opinion. KEA, Westwood, Kozak, Lowton and Bacuna are all players that I want to replace with better players, which means there is space for them on the bench. Not that I don't like Westwood, I think he is a tidy player and he has some potential, but there are numerous players out there with much higher ability and that goes for almost all of his signings. We got Benteke, which was great, but that's about it. Even Sam Allardyce manages to pick a gem in the market once in a while. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 He bought Bennett, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped and so then he bought Luna who turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped and so he then loaned Bertrand. He bought Lowton, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped so he moved a midfielder into his position. He bought Tonev, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Sylla, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Hellenius, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. He bought Bowery, he turned out to be not good enough so he got dropped. Apologies if I have missed anyone of any relevance. Looking at those, lowton was close to being player of the season last season. Sylla did a job when he came in last season. Tonev you can't really say he was dropped, I don't see how anyone could have made a decision on him yet (the manager clearly has). Bennett is decent back up and has at least looked decent at times. Helanius again is one that can't be judged yet and not sure how you get dropped when starting just a couple of games (the manager clearly has). So Bowery, Luna and sylla should be moved on, the rest kept as squad players and those 3 probably cost us £5 mil in total. You have pretty much described why Lambert has screwed up with these purchases (with my bits added in brackets to emphasise the point). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Vlaar, Westwood and Bacuna weren't exactly bad signings either and we could be saying the same about Okore were it not for that injury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Vlaar, Westwood and Bacuna weren't exactly bad signings either and we could be saying the same about Okore were it not for that injury. Hence why I didn't mention them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliffy Biro Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Given the funds he's had to buy players and given that signings are hit and miss anyway its one of the few areas lambert has done just about ok in imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaw_nuff Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) Good God, that's naive! You are looking at made-up positives instead of looking at the ice-cold facts. Lambert tried to build a better team and squad, he is not trying to buy covers and semi-professionals that might or might not cut it in the Premier League. Most of these players have been failures and they are in fact not good enough to play in the Premier League. One thing is one or two players not hacking it, which happens at every club, but most of the players haven't been good enough to get into any squad in the Premier League IMO. On top of that, a few of the ones that are playing in our team should barely make the bench in my opinion. KEA, Westwood, Kozak, Lowton and Bacuna are all players that I want to replace with better players, which means there is space for them on the bench. Not that I don't like Westwood, I think he is a tidy player and he has some potential, but there are numerous players out there with much higher ability and that goes for almost all of his signings. We got Benteke, which was great, but that's about it. Even Sam Allardyce manages to pick a gem in the market once in a while. Completely agree but I'd go further with Benteke. Lambert obviously likes a certain type of striker but with Benteke he got the complete package by accident who turned out (providing he can recover fully) to be the new Drogba. With back or front to goal, in the air or on the floor, strength and skill, he is the complete forward. He surprised the shit out of us and Lambert I suspect. We have to give Lambert credit for this, accident or not. It may be that some of the other signings aren't as bad as they seem at the moment it's just that Benteke is SO good that he can play in any system, no matter how progressive or regressive the tactics. Edited May 2, 2014 by Shaw_nuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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