Manager Paul Lambert

[Harry]

I'm with Morpheus on this. Irrespective of the mistakes that the Board has clearly made, I still give them more credit than to operate a transfer policy in this way. There is no reason to believe that the memebrs of the Board consider themselves to have the requisite footballing knowledge to make decisions in the way you suggest. It's likely that Lambert did hand a list of players to the Board but to assume that as signings are made the Board "take it upon themselves" to decide the implications for the remaining targets seems pretty far-fetched. Anything other than a frequent dialogue between Lambert and Faulkner etc would be very odd indeed.

I'm pretty sure that Lambert was consulted on all signings over the summer and anticipated that the players he signed would be good enough to see us through to January when he could then reassess. He couldn't have anticpated the injury problems or the performances of some of the more senior players (whether he could have done more about the poor performances is for another debate). Hairyhands suggested that Lambert wanted to sign (at least) two players this Januaray but the Board won't sanction their purchase. He suggested Lambert will not be able to sign players that cost £5m. It is plausable that after the summer the Board made it clear to Lambert that no more players could be signed unless more of the higher earners (Hutton, Warnock, Dunne, Bent, Ireland, Gabby, Makoun) are sold. In which case, he must have been hoping that the desperate league situation might encourage the club to reconsider this policy. If hairyhands is right, then it begs a number of questions:

1) Why isn't more being done to shift the higher earners? Where does the responsibility lie - with Lambert of the Board?

It's understandable why it would be difficult to ship out Hutton and Warnock - Lambert's taken the decision not to put them in the shop window (presumably for team moral / because they're shit) - and also Dunne (injured). It's perhaps more questionable why he played (and cup-tied) Bent in the FA Cup, but perhaps being cup-tied for the FA Cup isn't a massive deal for potential buyers - alternatively there is also Julie's theory... Maybe he wants to hold on to Ireland and Gabby (and Makoun is on loan anyway). I just hope the Board are doing everything possible to get players off the books.

2) Just how much more does the wage budget need to be trimmed?

I can't be bothered to go over the 'ins' and 'outs' from the club, but surely after Beye, Cueller, Collins, Heskey etc left the wage bill is looking a lot healthier? You would have thought we can afford to bring in a few more players - particularaly with the anticipation of Warnock's contract expiring and so on...but I'm not privy to the books or to what Lerner considers to be a balanced set of books.

3) Would the Board really be willing to risk our premiership survival by refusing to sanction players that are desperately needed?

No, I don't think so. Having thought through this, I think that the most likely scenario is that Hairyhands' information is half correct. Lambert has quite possibly lined up a couple of £5m players (and maybe a couple more beyond this) but the club are waiting to see if they can shift some of the players that are surpluss to requirements (in particular Bent, Hutton, Warnock and Ireland) before they bring them in. Without shifting players the Board faces the risk that Lambert brings players in and we still get relegated - this would make the financial implications of relegation even greater. It's a much easier decision to maintain the status quo with a 'one in, one out' policy than have to take the decision to increase the wage bill with the threat of relegation still looming. They've probably gambled that they could get through the League Cup semi's and the Southampton game without making any signings - although the first-leg result is making this gamble look all the more risky - and one would hope they are doing whatever they can behind the scenes to shift players. If they're not able to shift players going in to the last week of January, they can then take the decision on whether they sanction more signings.

I think I agree with pretty much most of what you have said. I cannot seriously believe that RL would gamble relegation and the finacial impact of that for the sake of some relatively cheap strengthening of the squad. Parachute payments do not cover the lost income, we would get no share of the increased income and I think the anger and frustration of fans, including the dedicated, would shred attendances and pretty much every other income line.

I can buy into the principle that we do not repeat the mistakes of the MON era on fees and wages and clearly that is what Lambert is doing but there is a very clear distinction between buying an experienced CB for day £4m and putting him on say £40k a week to buying someone for twice that on £60k. If the club are not letting him do the former we have a major problem.

Ever since MON left the club has tried to reduce the wage bill and I agree that the total bill has to be lower than it was given the departures. Added to that some of it is self solving in that for example Dunne and Warnock's contracts being up at the end of the season probably knock £5m off the wage bill. Surely we could spend some of that addressing the issues we have now as its a guaranteed future saving. Added to that if wages are such a big issue why are we not actively 'marketing' Bent and Ireland. Both are on high wages and we would get something for them as well.

As for what 'Hairy Hands' says I have to say I am inherently sceptical of those claiming to be ITK. I don't know how he has 'proved' himself to Trent and but I am happy to accept he may be in a position to hear or see things. That said I would doubt very much he is in a position to know precisely what is going on. All the previous ITKs on this forum have got things spectacularly right and spectacularly wrong. MM on Bent and McLeish being the best example. Added to that I agree that there is probably also an element of intepretation of events by someone who is not actually party to all discussions and correspondence.

As for Lambert if he has had the rug pulled from underneath him he has my sympathy as that says volumes about where this club is going and where it will end up.

[danceoftheshamen]

If we don't sign anyone in this window, I'm 100% sure we're gonna get relegated.

Seconded!

[Jarpie]

Seconded!

And I don't think it needs much, three quality signings would make a huge difference. Physical midfielder, central defender and maybe left back would go for long way, attacking midfielder would be a bonus.

[AshVilla]

I think were relegated now anyway

We had a window of opportunity to bring players in before the six pointer at Southampton tomorrow to give us a fighting chance of winning the game

But typical Villa as if "Prepared" is our motto laughable

[jacketspuds]

I think were relegated now anyway

We had a window of opportunity to bring players in before the six pointer at Southampton tomorrow to give us a fighting chance of winning the game

But typical Villa as if "Prepared" is our motto laughable

I won't let myself believe that we are 100% buggered until the window closes and we can assess the signings (if any) that Lambert makes.

There's no doubting that, at present, we are probably most people's favourites to drop into the relegation zone in the coming weeks.

Sad times.

[danceoftheshamen]

"Prepared" should surely now be replaced with "Peppered"

[VillaForever1970]

According to one guy on twitter who I think is known on here, Faulkner thinks that we have a big squad to choose from?? So any one who thinks that the fat ginger prick has no influence on the footballing side may need to think again!

Brilliant, a bloke on twitter says something that you agree with, means its fact and an excuse to have a go.

I saw a bloke on twitter who said we're going to spend a 100mill, awesome.

Kicking off at Lambert makes no sense to me really, he is working with limited resources. Yet Villa fans seem to think we should just be playing well.

Its like he could pick 11 VT members none of whom can play football and what could he do with them? Not a lot, they would try hard etc but at the end of the day not good enough, its the same thing thats happening here. Unless he is telling them to go out and defend like shit?

[PussEKatt]

Kicking off at Lambert makes no sense to me really, he is working with limited resources. Yet Villa fans seem to think we should just be playing well.

After the Ipswich game PL said that there was no need to worry yet cause there are still 17 games to go.BUT what he did not mention was that out of those 17 games we will definately lose at least 7 of them,I am refering to the games against, Man U,Man C,Chelsea,Liverpool,Spurs,Arsenal and Everton.That means that to stay up we have to get a good result against teams like Stoke,Newcastle,WBA.

What I mean really is that to stay up this season we have to get a good result from 10 of our remaining games.

Surely PL should be able to figure this out ?!

[Woodytom]

Kicking off at Lambert makes no sense to me really, he is working with limited resources. Yet Villa fans seem to think we should just be playing well.

After the Ipswich game PL said that there was no need to worry yet cause there are still 17 games to go.BUT what he did not mention was that out of those 17 games we will definately lose at least 7 of them,I am refering to the games against, Man U,Man C,Chelsea,Liverpool,Spurs,Arsenal and Everton.That means that to stay up we have to get a good result against teams like Stoke,Newcastle,WBA.

What I mean really is that to stay up this season we have to get a good result from 10 of our remaining games.

Surely PL should be able to figure this out ?!

I take it that beating Liverpool and drawing with Arsenal were part of my imagination and that its insane to think we could be able to do it again?

[PussEKatt]

I take it that beating Liverpool and drawing with Arsenal were part of my imagination and that its insane to think we could be able to do it again?

No, those results are not part of your imagination, they really did happen, the same as losing 1-3 to Wigan,1-3 to Bradford and drawing with QPR all happened as well.

[Willy_Evergo]

No, those results are not part of your imagination, they really did happen, the same as losing 1-3 to Wigan,1-3 to Bradford and drawing with QPR all happened as well.

Even worse, we lost 0-3 to Wigan.

[PussEKatt]

Even worse, we lost 0-3 to Wigan.

That makes it worse still.

[VillaCas]

You forgot the right manager which was also stated in my post. I also didn't say that no else had thought of a better defensive coach so stop putting words in my mouth!

So the excuse is now that we're a promoted team with less experienced players than teams around us.

Who allowed Cuellar and Collins to go while replacing those players with one centreback who had no Premiership experience.? Who then alienated our most experienced striker while then spending 7m on another striker when that money could have been spent on the experienced DM we so desperately needed? Who then spent the majority of our budget on lower league and other players without Premiership experience?

It could be argued then could it not that the lack of experience you talk about was self inflicted.

Either you really don't get it or you are pretending not to

- PL was easily the best choice available to us

- Cuellar, Collins, Warnock, Hutton all had to go - not PLs choice

- He had to bring in 8 players with only £18m - that doesn't buy experience or Premiership quality, it buys potential

- PL either knew Bent was due to be sold OR he realised that Bent's style was not suited to build a team around (if he could he signed a Milner, Young, Downing and Barry I'm sure he might have thought differently)

- Senior players have badly let him down Ireland, Delph, Zog, Bent - I know for a fact that he expected much more and was shocked by their attitude

- Our youngsters are not good enough

- Do you think PL and his team are so thick that they don't realise that he needs a stronger defence or a better midfield

- PL has made his requests to RL - unless he is backed substantially we are in real trouble

PL is a very decent manager as he showed with Norwich. He is easily good enough to manage a mid-table team and potentially better than that. He is one of the few managers who has a chance to do something with Villa with the obviously limited budget he has to work with. PL will be furious at the moment (a fact the body language experts on the forum may be missing) and knows exactly what is required - My biggest concern is if PL were to walk, that's the nightmare scenario for me

The intelligent thing to do is to understand the full extent of the problems facing PL and get behind him. If you wish to pretend that PL is a shit manager, who has no idea about tactics and players and that this could all be simply fixed with "a better defensive coach" that's up to you.

[VillaCas]

I dont beleive he has such contraints I really dont. I think he has just made some very bad selection calls and tactics. Also the fact we have not made any signings yet I put at Faulkner, Lerner and Lamberts door.

He has been given a lot of money already and I think has been given more. Frankly his halo has slipped in my eyes. I am beginning to think we made a mangerial mistake.. again. It absolutley sucks to say this because I have been behind him, but the past few weeks have just been appalling. It sucks to even think that, but the results and performances are just getting harder and harder to forgive

You're mental if you really think he is not operating under severe constraints

£18m for 8 players is peanuts (he has also lost Heskey, Cuellar, Collins, Makoun, Warnock, Hutton, Delfounesco and sadly for different reasons Petrov from the squad that finished 16th last year = £40m worth of "talent")

According to this site MON was a bad manager (eventually), Houllier was a mistake, McLeish was a mistake (even I agree with this) and now Lambert is a mistake. Either there a lots and lots of bad managers out there or something else is going on - beleive whichever suits you

[VillaCas]

As for what 'Hairy Hands' says I have to say I am inherently sceptical of those claiming to be ITK. I don't know how he has 'proved' himself to Trent and but I am happy to accept he may be in a position to hear or see things. That said I would doubt very much he is in a position to know precisely what is going on. All the previous ITKs on this forum have got things spectacularly right and spectacularly wrong. MM on Bent and McLeish being the best example. Added to that I agree that there is probably also an element of intepretation of events by someone who is not actually party to all discussions and correspondence.

As for Lambert if he has had the rug pulled from underneath him he has my sympathy as that says volumes about where this club is going and where it will end up.

I don't claim to be ITK but through different channels, I've heard very similar stories to those that HH has been posting - personally I believe all of it

It's not surprising that ITK's are sometimes wrong - things change quickly. If we beat Southampton (haha!) Lerner will have one viewpoint, if we lose spectacularly, he will have a different viewpoint

Does anyone really think that PL wouldn't like to have a couple of new faces to bring in at the weekend FFS. Vlaar is being rushed back when he is not really fit - if he breaks down that will be PL's fault too I expect. The bloke can't win

[VillaCas]

Kicking off at Lambert makes no sense to me really, he is working with limited resources. Yet Villa fans seem to think we should just be playing well.

After the Ipswich game PL said that there was no need to worry yet cause there are still 17 games to go.BUT what he did not mention was that out of those 17 games we will definately lose at least 7 of them,I am refering to the games against, Man U,Man C,Chelsea,Liverpool,Spurs,Arsenal and Everton.That means that to stay up we have to get a good result against teams like Stoke,Newcastle,WBA.

What I mean really is that to stay up this season we have to get a good result from 10 of our remaining games.

Surely PL should be able to figure this out ?!

What an odd post? Are you for or against Lambert?

What is he supposed to say - "we've got 17 games left but we are so shit that we've got no chance in 7 of them"?

[mykeyb]

3) Would the Board really be willing to risk our premiership survival by refusing to sanction players that are desperately needed?

No, I don't think so. Having thought through this, I think that the most likely scenario is that Hairyhands' information is half correct. Lambert has quite possibly lined up a couple of £5m players (and maybe a couple more beyond this) but the club are waiting to see if they can shift some of the players that are surpluss to requirements (in particular Bent, Hutton, Warnock and Ireland) before they bring them in. Without shifting players the Board faces the risk that Lambert brings players in and we still get relegated - this would make the financial implications of relegation even greater. It's a much easier decision to maintain the status quo with a 'one in, one out' policy than have to take the decision to increase the wage bill with the threat of relegation still looming. They've probably gambled that they could get through the League Cup semi's and the Southampton game without making any signings - although the first-leg result is making this gamble look all the more risky - and one would hope they are doing whatever they can behind the scenes to shift players. If they're not able to shift players going in to the last week of January, they can then take the decision on whether they sanction more signings.

I hope that you are right but I have the feeling that Hairyhands is pretty much spot on with his posts. We have very little to spend and we are trying to get two players in when at the moment with what we have to spend and what we are being asked to pay means we cannot buy both.

[sne]

What an odd post? Are you for or against Lambert?

What is he supposed to say - "we've got 17 games left but we are so shit that we've got no chance in 7 of them"?

Maybe he sees it a bit more complex than just black or white? I know that's frowned upon by many who prefer the George W Bush aproach of "you're either with us or against us"

[Villarocker]

Am I the only one who thinks that we should be keeping Darren Bent? We were in a shocking position a couple of years back and his goals kept us up. OK, we had better service into him back then but with us having the worst goal tally in the league surely we should be looking to keep him until the summer at least. If we sell him and go without a replacement until the end of the season, we will have to pray that neither Benteke or Weimann get injured because Gabby is totally out of goals and that Bowery kid is simply not up to this level at the moment.

[pacbuddies]

You're mental if you really think he is not operating under severe constraints

£18m for 8 players is peanuts (he has also lost Heskey, Cuellar, Collins, Makoun, Warnock, Hutton, Delfounesco and sadly for different reasons Petrov from the squad that finished 16th last year = £40m worth of "talent")

According to this site MON was a bad manager (eventually), Houllier was a mistake, McLeish was a mistake (even I agree with this) and now Lambert is a mistake. Either there a lots and lots of bad managers out there or something else is going on - beleive whichever suits you

You lost it for me when you mentioned 'Heskey' and 'Talent' in the same sentence.