Paul Lambert

[Dante_Lockhart]

Happy with this. Glad of the stability if nothing else.

 

For too long we've been on a manger merry go-round, and people wondered why we were inconsistent. Keeping PL here with the pieces he's put in place will be good for the club.

[ozvillafan]

Trying to keep the quotes down, so excuse my editing of your original:

 

With the club still in limbo, ask yourself what calibre of manager would we be able to attract if PL was allowed simply to walk away?

 

 

You are making the assumption that he could find a comparable job easily elsewhere. I'm not convinced that is the case.

 

 

I've said it before, but for those that still attribute the 'bomb squad' to Lambert, I've personally spoken to Alan Hutton who lays no blame for his exile at the manager's feet. The fact that he has extended his deal to play under Paul Lambert, rather than leave on the free soon backs up my point.

 

 

There is no doubt that Randy asked Lambert to sell the players on the bomb squad. I find it hard to believe that he forced Lambert to not use them at all. "I don't want to pay them, Paul - can you just not play them in the first team so they have no chance of being transferred and I can then.... continue... to pay them?".

 

And if Lambert *did* decide to not use these players he now feels he needs.....

 

... would he tell them that? Or would he point the finger elsewhere to avoid a difficult situation?

 

 

Finally, we ARE showing signs of improvement. Whether you think the first four results are a fluke or not, we've shown that we're more experienced, organised and have greater quality - certainly at the back and in the middle of the park - all achieved on a comparative shoestring.

 

 

If the season was 4 games long I'd agree.

 

I've seen this "improvement" before under Lambert. I'll happily label it that way when a season of good performances happens (not just results - it is possible to improve and still lose games).

[SikhInTrinity]

Deserves it? Stop this planet I want to get off.

We have played 4 games and he gets a new contract when at the end of last season a huge percentage of fans wanted and thought he should be sacked.

We have played Stoke, Newcastle and Hull who are all poor teams let's be honest. We've managed to learn how to defend during these first few games but going forward we still utterly useless.

The contracts that needed sorting were top quality players in Delph, Vlaar and Grealish. Not mediocre lower table players who would struggle to get another Premiership move in Hutton, Gabby and you can include the manager in that.

Madness to give him another contract, I presume this means a takeover is miles away from happening. Depressing.

 

Why would those players commit not knowing who the manager will be next summer?

[bannedfromHandV]

Trying to keep the quotes down, so excuse my editing of your original:

 

With the club still in limbo, ask yourself what calibre of manager would we be able to attract if PL was allowed simply to walk away?

 

You are making the assumption that he could find a comparable job easily elsewhere. I'm not convinced that is the case.

 

 

I've said it before, but for those that still attribute the 'bomb squad' to Lambert, I've personally spoken to Alan Hutton who lays no blame for his exile at the manager's feet. The fact that he has extended his deal to play under Paul Lambert, rather than leave on the free soon backs up my point.

 

There is no doubt that Randy asked Lambert to sell the players on the bomb squad. I find it hard to believe that he forced Lambert to not use them at all. "I don't want to pay them, Paul - can you just not play them in the first team so they have no chance of being transferred and I can then.... continue... to pay them?".

 

And if Lambert *did* decide to not use these players he now feels he needs.....

 

... would he tell them that? Or would he point the finger elsewhere to avoid a difficult situation?

 

 

Finally, we ARE showing signs of improvement. Whether you think the first four results are a fluke or not, we've shown that we're more experienced, organised and have greater quality - certainly at the back and in the middle of the park - all achieved on a comparative shoestring.

 

If the season was 4 games long I'd agree.

 

I've seen this "improvement" before under Lambert. I'll happily label it that way when a season of good performances happens (not just results - it is possible to improve and still lose games).

Been said before I know but we really should have a 'dislike' button next to the 'like' one

[StanBalaban]

@OzVillafan

 

No worries on the edit mate.

 

The point about whether Villa or Lambert could find better options is supposition on both our parts. Personally, I think we would find it harder to attract a better manager to work within the constraints of the role if we're still up for sale. For me, it's prudent to eliminate the risk of losing a manager whilst in a state of transition. 

 

The bomb squad was a poorly conceived and executed concept, hopefully consigned to the bin. Whatever the origin, I know from one player that he is still happy to play for the manager. We also have to factor-in players like Benteke seem to want to play for Lambert too. Retaining his services can only assist with negotiation on Delph's new contact.

 

It's early days on the improvement side for sure, but it's possible that the manager is getting better with each passing day in the job. The quality improvements are there to see though. Westwood, Cleverly, Delph and Richardson are young (maybe not so much for Kieran) (sorry Donnie), dynamic, English midfield and a clear improvement on having KEA and Sylla in there.

 

Same with Senderos and Vlaar as a CB pairing and we still have our 2 main strikers to return.

 

A clear path of continuity, especially in uncertain ownership times, can only we a good thing for Villa IMO. Leave the circus to Newcastle, Palace and QPR.

[NeilS]

This does seem strange, that a manager who has done poorly gets a new deal on the back of a decent start in the league. I guess it is more than that though. There was talk that Randy was going to sort a new deal with Lambert last season, just before we hit our nose dive right at the end. I guess this would mean that Randy has been happy that Lambert has managed to get us through the extreme pruning of the wages bill with our PL status in tact, albeit by the skin of our teeth on both occasions.

 

Maybe Randy is thinking that even though he is looking to sell the club, there are no guarantees that he will find a buyer in the next twelve months. This leaves him in a dilema because if nobody steps up to buy the club, he can't risk his manager being out of contract and walking at the end of the season. This would leave Randy scrambling to find a half decent manager who would want the job with an owner looking to sell up. I know a lot of people think Lambert has done a terrible job, and nobody would want him so we could easily leave it later in the season to see how things are going before signing him up. That in itself would be a risk, because if we somehow manage to keep up this decent start to the season, Lamberts stock will suddenly rise, and lots of clubs then would be sniffing around looking to poach him from us. Then he would be a lot less likely to sign a new deal.

 

I am fairly happy with this deal, as I believe that we need some stability at this club after many years of turmoil, and I am struggling to see many better options available to us in our current situation. The only options I see are Moyes (Unlikely to come), Pulis (No Thanks), or an up and coming manager who may be good, or could be putting us back to point 1 again.

 

Everyone makes mistakes, and I hope that Lambert is learning from his. If he is, and with more time and funds available to him it could work out well. He has finally done the thing that I would expect from a new manager and that is sorting out the defence, making us harder to beat. Now it is a case of adding bells and whistles, making us more potent up front and pleasing on the eye.

[SikhInTrinity]

Done poorly in whose eyes? He has achieved his objectives of keeping us in the league. Yes the fans want exciting brand of football, be higher up the table but it has been clear for me that Randy main objective for two seasons has been to stay up and reduce costs.

[NeilS]

Poorly mainly in the eyes of the fans and observers from outside.I have no idea what Lerner and the management think about Lamberts reign as they don't share their thoughts with us, which is quite correct. I clarified the cost cutting in the remainder of that paragraph, and was speculating as to differnt peoples perspectives of the job he has done. It would appear from this action, that they are quite pleased with his job to date.

 

Me personally, I find myself having mixed views on him. Mainly, that he has left it too long to make us a solid defensive unit. Also, he has annoyed me with the exits to lower league teams. I can accept one or two upsets happen over the course of a few seasons but we have had it happen 4 or 5 times now in just over two seasons.

 

However, I am happy with our business this summer, as a lot of the problems seem to have been addressed. It is early days this season though so I am not getting my hopes up that we have finally cracked it as I have seen many false dawns over the years. That is why I would have left it another month or so, but as I also said above I can see why they offered him a new deal now. Hopefully we can start to look higher up the table now, and build from there.

[Panto_Villan]

I think the contract has been given out too early and is probably a year too long. Let's hope Lambert repays the faith that's been put in him.

[B94villa]

I think it's more a case of Lerner rewarding faith Lambert has shown in him, to be honest.

[romavillan]

Done poorly in whose eyes? He has achieved his objectives of keeping us in the league. Yes the fans want exciting brand of football, be higher up the table but it has been clear for me that Randy main objective for two seasons has been to stay up and reduce costs.

 

Totally, he's been a success in what he was asked to do. We're still in the league and now we don't have a squad that is crippling us in terms of wages, which has a better and younger core with very good resale value on our best assets. 

 

I'd say he's certainly done everything asked of him by the board and has got his rewards after our best start to the season since 1998. Those of you who think he's been terrible because we have suffered these past two seasons to get to where we are now (who would argue it's the best the squad has looked on paper for a few years) are harsh IMO. I don't think many managers would have kept us up, I don't think ANY managers would have had us in teh top half playing attractive football, not with what he's had to work with resources wise these last couple of years. 

[ArteSuave]

While I'm happy it's been sorted, I'm pretty surprised it's a 4 year deal.

 

That makes me feel like we're not even for sale any more.

[DelboyVilla]

Happy with this. Glad of the stability if nothing else.

 

For too long we've been on a manger merry go-round, and people wondered why we were inconsistent. Keeping PL here with the pieces he's put in place will be good for the club.

 

 

Yeah Great!!

 

Consistantly crap football here we come!!!

 

It's great having a manager who now knows that it doesn't matter how poorly he performs there's always a new contract waiting around the corner!!

[claretman]

Why is everybody flaming anyone who's voiced the opinion that they're not happy with the contract?

 

I for one think it is a bit odd that a manager who has just presided over the worst home record in our history has been rewarded with a new contract.

[sharkyvilla]

Why is everybody flaming anyone who's voiced the opinion that they're not happy with the contract?

 

I for one think it is a bit odd that a manager who has just presided over the worst home record in our history has been rewarded with a new contract.

Because they aren't really the statistics that Lerner is interested in. He's interested in are we still in the Premier League and are we in the black three years after spunking away tens of million a season in losses. Has he signed good players for a pittance this summer, has he sorted out the off-field problems, has he stared the season well? They are the things Randy will be assessing. There's also the problem in that if he leaves it too long and we are still say top 6 at Christmas, other teams will come sniffing.

[TrentVilla]

I have no idea what Lerner and the management think about Lamberts reign as they don't share their thoughts with us, which is quite correct.

 

 

Well his statement in the summer and the new contract are fairly large clues.

[TrentVilla]

You are making the assumption that he could find a comparable job easily elsewhere. I'm not convinced that is the case.

 

I've very good reason to believe he could and far easier people think.

[praisedmambo]

Anyone who thinks he's getting the contract just because of the last four games is having a laugh. I can tell the 'negative' types are never going to change their minds, to appreciate that Lambert has had one of the toughest jobs in the league for the last few years - if not the toughest. There is so much evidence out there that Lambert's job so far has included the tasks of fixing our dangerous financial state and totally overhauling the squad.

Buying cheap young players, no matter what's happened to a proportion of them, was part of that process. Young players on low wages - like Sylla or Luna are night and day, problem-wise, to players like Given and Bent. Out of all of Lambert's signings about the only true duds (as in they have made barely any contribution to our survival on a shoestring) have been Helenius and Tonev. Everyone else has played a part.

Bomb squad wise - don't forget that it was a success to some degree that it moved on the likes of Warnock and Ireland. As far as most people are concerned Hutton is the only one who has been brought back into the team that has actually made a difference, although I do think N'Zogbia has a role to play too - anyway he was injured.

The more negative are never going to give Lambert any credit. Even if we do well this season you'll all put it down to Keane or something. You'll never put it down to stability, and that's a huge shame. You'll never accept that Lambert's job really has been practically epic in difficulty.

The proof is in the pudding. Even forgetting the league position just see the quality of our squad now compared to when Lambert arrived. Also, consider that he has taken us from losing 50 mil a year to being on a sound footing (extra Tv money helps, of course). We are in a vastly improved position now. If you factor in the financial constraints, and we're talking money available for wages as much as transfer fees, Lambert has done an exceptional job. Lambert did all of that.

Who knows where we'd be if the Lambert out brigade had had their way? Maybe we'd have Pulis...lol, if there was any idea more ridiculous...we'd have all kicked off if Pulis had joined us from Stoke, but a good run with Palace - who had bought far more players than us in a comparable time, by the way - and suddenly he was people's saviour.

Anyway, I don't want to tempt fate or anything, so I'm going to shut up now.

A new contract for Lambert is great news. I'm glad Lerner doesn't make knee jerk reactions. Indeed, since Lerner knew more than us about Lambert's financial limitations, then maybe he too appreciated that Lambert was doing well in turning the club around - however slow that might have been.

[Texas_Mike]

I don't want to say I am in the know but .... We are not for sale anymore. The search was pulled out of a month ago. Not to say someone couldn't approach Lerner but there is no one out there looking for buyers. My only hesitation in saying what I was told is that I would have expected some news hound to have said this before now.... I am 95% certain my info is correct.

[DCJonah]

The more negative are never going to give Lambert any credit. Even if we do well this season you'll all put it down to Keane or something. You'll never put it down to stability, and that's a huge shame. You'll never accept that Lambert's job really has been practically epic in difficulty.

And it sounds like you'll never accept opinions of others.

I'm not against the contract and I'm warming to Lambert and what we might do in the future but your post is a proper self righteous rant against a group you've created.

The more negative are never going to give Lambert any credit. Even if we do well this season you'll all put it down to Keane or something. You'll never put it down to stability, and that's a huge shame. You'll never accept that Lambert's job really has been practically epic in difficulty.

And it sounds like you'll never accept opinions of others.

I'm not against the contract and I'm warming to Lambert and what we might do in the future but your post is a proper self righteous rant against a group you've created.