Manager Paul Lambert

[Ron Burgundy]

Paul lambert = rasclart

[andym]

If you are not just arguing for the sake of it and accept that ultimately here it is all a matter of opinion, however informed, what do you think "obviously limited" means? Do you think he could sign a player on 40,50,60k and if so where is the evidence?

he is probably unable to sign a player on that amount, and for that lerner takes blame for messing up finances so bad. the days of looking towards the top 6 with players on those wages are gone.

however, other clubs and managers in the league have limited finances, and yet seem to be able to not limit themselves to kids from the lower leagues who are clearly not ready in terms of ability or mental strength to cope with a relegation battle in the premier league.

i thought lambert was meant to be a good planner for the future. i now think hes the complete opposite. we know warnock and hutton are poor. however, if you have limited finances and other areas that need filling more, why do you freeze them out, then replace them with kids who are no better. it was clear no one was going to take them, so we will only be able to get them off the wagebill next summer when they are out of contract. surely a good planner would have seen this, got through this season with them and spent the money on more priority areas. with a stronger central midfield and central defence you could limit the impact of their ineptitude. then you replace them the following summer.

as it is, we still have them on the wage bill, spent transfer fees and wages on their replacements who are no better, and have the worst defence in the league anyway because we have nothing in centre midfield or centre back.

same with benteke and bowery. we already had bent, gabby, weimann and delfouneso. striker was not a priority area. yes benteke will be an excellent player, but its going to be pointless spending a third of the summer budget on him if we get relegated

im convinced that if lambert had used his budget in the summer more wisely and properly strengthened centre mid we would not be in this mess. it is the position that makes the whole team tick - protects the defence and supports the attack. lamberts centre mid signings were a player who makes barry bannan look strong, and a kid who is talented but was never going to make a huge impact to start as he was having to make a huge step up.

[markavfc40]

Things are not good, what an understatement, but they don't get better by throwing another change and inconsistency into the mix. He is the right man with the right ideas, what he needs is backing to make them happen.

Richard I agree with much of your post and you have pretty much summed it up with your last paragraph.

I certainly agree that changing manager again will do no good and most definitely wouldn't help things with the current crop of players we have. For this season I'd certainly stick with Lambert and hope that if he is backed substantially he can use that backing and bring in the players we desperately need to keep us up.

My one reservation in the above and in you saying he is the right man with the right ideas is that I am not sure if he does have the right ideas. If his ideas are to continue to sign players with potential from the lower leagues and combine these with a few foreign signings who have not done it in this league then I don't think that will get us anywhere.

I have no problem with signing young lads with potential from the lower leagues. I have no problem with signing players from abroad with no experience of playing in the Premier League and I certainly have no problem with seeing a few of our young lads that have come through the ranks being given a chance. What all these players need alongside them though are a few experienced heads. Players that have proved that they can perform to a high standard in this league. Players with a bit of nous and know how about them that can help the younger lads along whilst they strive to realise their potential, help the foreign lads along whilst they try to find their feet in a new league/country and generally just show a bit of leadership.

You need a mixture of signings with in a club. Go too far one way of signing too many players past their sell by date looking for one last big pay day you end up like QPR. Go too far the other and sign too many players unproven in this league/at this level and you will struggle like us.

My hope now is that Lambert will be backed both in terms of fees and wages and with that backing he will sign the 2 or 3 players who have proven themselves at this level who can come in, hit the ground running and make an instant impact. It would certainly provide a massive boost to the younger lads I am sure and be a weight off their shoulders if they had some players alongside them who know their way around at this level and can offer up some leadership.

Having said all that I am really not hopeful that Lerner will back Lambert and if he doesn't regardless of who the manager is we will not stay up this season.

Edited January 12, 2013 by markavfc40

[Richard]

Richard I have to admit that after my gut reaction to the Bradford result calling for PL to go on reflection I accept much of what you say about chopping and changing. However I still do not understand your blind faith and would take issue in part with some of your comments:

"That and just buying quick fix stop gap players here as their last big pay check."

When a club is facing the devastation of relegation sometimes "quick fix stop gap players" are necessary - in some ways Bent was just that - without him we could have gone down. Isn't it less to do with quick fix and more to with Lerner/Faulkner's quest to dramatically reduce our wage bill to make up for Lerners previous financial gamble?

mike I just think that has to change or else we will always be doing just that. It's a vicious circle mike which has to be broken

[Richard]

Mark, much to agree with as you would expect there, slight disagreements on minor points but overall we are simpatico.

Your last line for me is spot on by the way

[peterms]

I see this type of comment a lot "how can you still think lambert is the right man, that's just blind faith"

Isn't faith and hope the currency of a football fan? Lets face it there's jock all else to have any faith or hope in at the club, if not the manager then to be honest just may as well give up.

Whether a manager has been at a club 6 years or 6 months there is still faith that results will continue/improve/turn around. Admittedly if someone hasn't been at the club too long to demonstrate a record or get loyalty then that faith is a little more "blind" , for want of a better phrase, than it would be if he had been there and won loads of games or got the team he wants playing the way he wants , but it is still faith none the less.

For me I think getting rid of this bloke 6 months into his job when he has only just started to try and turn around what has happened here in the last 3 years would be utter madness. Lack of consistency, stop start , changing ,manager , changing strategy are basically the reasons we are in this mess. That and just buying quick fix stop gap players here as their last big pay check.

For me he is still the right man, he has a good record in his career to date of building something for the future. He is a young manager who sees the merit of not buying stop gap quick fix players. The type who will add no value to the club, just take away from the value of the club. He sees benefit in buying those players who will improve and develop, as the club does and may stay with he club or if they don't then their value will help he club when they leave. Like it or not but this is the market we are in right now and given that then for me there is no better manager.

I wanted him here as my number one granted and I totally accept that my current state of mind of not being as suicidal as most at our state may have something to do with me actually wanting him here but there was a reason why I wanted him here and that reason is still the same, I knew it would be a bumpy ride as the club has basically been an oil tanker heading this way and like an oil tanker it is hard to turn around. I won't let 5 months change that feeling.

Things are not good, what an understatement, but they don't get better by throwing another change and inconsistency into the mix. He is the right man with the right ideas, what he needs is backing to make them happen.

I agree with many parts of that, though I have a different take on some aspects of it.

I had no view on Lambert when he was appointed. I didn't feel I had any first hand knowledge of what he'd done, but I noted that many people had favourable views and that he had a good reputation, and I found that reassuring. I never felt that I had any personal or emotional investment in him, in that he wasn't my choice though I was in no way opposed to him.

I was pretty happy with his first round of transfer dealings. He was moving on (or trying to move on) some players who seemed to need to go. He got a good number of players for not too much money. His purchases showed evidence of some insight into lower leagues and foreign leagues. Some of his purchases were a quick win, others a longer term investment, others dubious. The proportion of each seemed no worse and probably better than most managers achieve.

The style of play improved. I watched games until the end because I wanted to, not because I thought it was in some way what I should do even if it wasn't any fun. I liked some aspects of his approach, and was puzzled by things like sticking with three at the back when it wasn't working.

We've now had the most appalling run of results ever, causing real and justified concern about relegation, a crisis of confidence, and embarrassment all round.

I'm concerned that he was brought in to do a long-term job on certain assumptions, but is instead having to do a fire-fighting job with different, and inadequate, resources. That is hard for him, hard for us, almost certainly interferes with the longer term, and is demoralising for all concerned.

I think it would be utter insanity to replace him, and massively counterproductive. But I am extremely concerned that there's a lack of strategic direction and management coming from the club's ownership. We hear stories of players who he thought were within budget guidelines being rejected because they are too expensive. People are critical of Lambert because they aren't hearing reassurance and a convincing story - instead we hear comments clearly designed to limit damage, praise the players, not blame the board, express determination as though sheer force of will can put things right. It's unconvincing, and even as someone who's not a doomsday merchant I find it less than credible.

It feels like we need more leadership than we are getting. That needs to come from board, manager, and players. Since Stan is sidelined and other established players are either not vocal enough, or not committed enough, or on their way out if another big pay cheque can be screwed, it's not coming from them, or at least not enough. Since the owner is apparently pathologically shy and his gofers don't say much either, it's not coming from them. So we end up with too much placed on the manager.

I don't know whether Lambert is the right long-term appointment or not. I'd like to think he is. Obviously we must form that view over a longer time. In the meantime, we urgently need more support, more acceptance of responsibility, from the owner and the beneficiaries of his wealth, the players. I don't think either are actually living up to their responsibilities at the moment, and too much is falling on Lambert.

It's simple and convenient to blame the manager for things going wrong. In my view he's made some mistakes, but the level of blame I see being chucked at him both here and elsewhere is misplaced, out of proportion, and does us no favours.

[villianusa]

Wonder where Lambert is tonight? I hear 'Arry is out in France checking out M'Vila. Probably working on new excuses for when we lose our next game.

I dislike 'Arry with a passion but he will do whatever it takes to save QPR. When I see Lambert on the sidelines he looks clueless and no fight.

[Richard]

There is not much if anything I would find objection to there

[villianusa]

@Richard,

You say right manager with right ideas. Which of his ideas do you say have worked and which ones are going to save us?

[ryanvilla_1994]

Hard to disagree with any of that peterms.

[SquaddieVilla]

Wonder where Lambert is tonight? I hear 'Arry is out in France checking out M'Vila. Probably working on new excuses for when we lose our next game.

I dislike 'Arry with a passion but he will do whatever it takes to save QPR. When I see Lambert on the sidelines he looks clueless and no fight.

Harry would have kept us up because he has the experience and know how, Blambert is a clueless idiot

[MikeMcKenna]

mike I just think that has to change or else we will always be doing just that. It's a vicious circle mike which has to be broken

I agree that things have to change, I just think the pace of that change is too fast.

Would you be be so accepting if the "viscious circle" could only be broken at the price of relegation?

Edited January 12, 2013 by MikeMcKenna

[Hanky]

Lambert has done a poor job at the moment IMO. McLeish would have got an absolute roasting if he'd have got the team playing this badly along with these results. The squad clearly isn't good enough, but there isn't an ounce of organisation (which even poor teams can have) which comes from the manager.

Been seriously unimpressed with Lambert. Do I think he should be sacked? Honestly not sure. If he takes us down, most certainly. Starting to think at the minute that we might as well get someone else in to at least try something else. The problem in that would be the money.

Am pretty convinced we won't sign anybody, and if we don't we are down.

[Richard]

I agree that things have to change, I just think the pace of that change is too fast.

Would you be be so accepting if the "viscious circle" could only be broken at the price of relegation?

let me start by saying I don't want that at all, but maybe that's what it will take

[romavillan]

have to agree with richard, the rot had gone to the core and our only plus point as a club was promising youth when he came in. the more experienced playing staff were and in some cases still are leeching huge sums of cash off us and offering no value.

6 months is nothing in the scale of 140 years of history and we have to take a long view here. i could be wrong but i believe PL is the right man to sort this shit out. talk of replacing him now (whilst i understand the frustration completely) is premature. he has never said anything about quick fixes he has maintained quite rightly that he is workign on a long term project. i think the ideas he has are right and were voiced by many people on here, that we shoudl try and maximise what we have produced from an excellent academy and build a young team that can play together for a lot of years together and become something great.

i appreciate that right now we look a million miles from that, but i want someone at the helm who believes in that and tries to set about acheiving it.

[Hanky]

Relegation would be absolutely disastrous for the club. We are more likely to do a Coventry with this team than we are to do a Newcastle.

[snowychap]

... instead we hear comments clearly designed to limit damage, praise the players, not blame the board, express determination as though sheer force of will can put things right.

And that's where we are and where we have been since O'Neill left and probably before.

[MikeMcKenna]

let me start by saying I don't want that at all, but maybe that's what it will take

Well maybe that sums up why I perceive you are less stressed than many? If you are prepared mentally to accept relegation for a long term plan I can see why you still so avidly back PL. Personally, in light of my being no spring chicken, i wouldn't relish the idea of spending years in the Championship as Lambert/Lerners attempt to break the mould from a position of weakness.

[Richard]

Wouldn't say I am mentally prepared to accept relegation mike but given i expected this season to be a battle I guess I am mentally prepared to accept that relegation is a possibility.

If people expected this season to be a struggle then surely one consequence of that is that we would be battling against relegation, or else why would it be a struggle, we would be safe all year!

[dukes]

Again, and its quite a theme of the season, no pressure on the ball, minimal effort from the team, no players showing for the ball, no width, comical defending. As shit as we've been for the last 2 seasons, this year surpasses it all. He hasn't improved us.

and I think if you are going to make a big deal about signing young, hungry players these are the bare minimum requirements, and expectations. The petulence of youth making up for the lack of experience.

Regardless of the wage structure (and every club has one of those), the buying policy is the managers, and he is to blame for this seasons on the pitch performances.