Quite frankly, my head’s in a spin, as I was really convinced that the club would not sack Paul Lambert under any circumstances during this season.
But now that Lambert has been sacked, I want to be amongst the first to offer him my commiseration.
Not for anything he’s done for the club, you understand, but more for the way he must have suffered in the last few months.
My opinion says he must have gone through a world of hurt with the criticism that has come his way for a long time. No manager wants to keep reading about how poor his team, tactics and results are, but I think the pressure piled on him this season has been somewhat unprecedented: even worse than the vitriol Big Feck faced, I’d suggest.
It’s been mentioned by more than one commenter on here that Lambert has looked ill recently and it’s a point I’d agree with.
I really wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Hopefully, he’ll take some time out and get himself sorted, before he starts at another club.
And that’s where my sympathy ends.
The brutal truth is that he’s been handsomely rewarded for doing an awful job.
I’m sure I don’t need to mention all the bad records that have been broken, but where else can you get paid so well for doing so poorly?
It’s just shocking really, but anyway, Lambert’s reign is over, so I’m going to leave it there.
So, where do we go from here?
This is the interesting or more likely, worrying part.
The big question is have the club planned for this eventuality?
Why do I have this nagging worry that it’s only down to a concerted effort from the fans yesterday, combined with the Evening Mail actually having the balls to call it as it is and the stupidly monster new $ky deal, that made the club change it’s mind?
Whatever, I was talking to an Albion fan who was insisting that we won’t go down.
A Stokey friend of mine also had a similar view, in that there are three teams worse than us.
My reply to both was “Who? We’d be better with no manager at all and surely even I couldn’t be worse!”.
So what’s my point?
Well, even if the club haven’t got anyone lined up (and it really wouldn’t surprise me if we haven’t), things could hardly be any worse.
Given the improved performances from other teams who have got rid of their manager recently, I’m now interested to see if any of our player’s performances immediately improve.
Regardless, Lambert’s removal can only be good and we should be happy, even if it’s too late.
Possibly the increase in the tv revenue was the deciding factor for LERNER even though I’m chuffed as a few have mentioned is it too late??in recent years Lerner has spent a lot on compensating managers for what ever reasons,the next manager will have to learn to run a team on a shoestring so that might rule out a few so far named managers.
Agree can’t see us getting anyone better than a Lennon ffs
Will we attract an ambitious manager???don’t you need an ambitious chairman for that??
I can’t see any decent candidates out there that warrant a permanent appointment. Whilst Lambert had to go, it should have happened a long time ago. It may well be that the club has to appoint someone to the end of the season, and bring in a new guy in the summer. I guess it will be dictated by Lerner’s ambition (and budget), and what division we are in.
I expect us to be relegated even with the sacking of Lambert. i just hope that maybe there will be a pleasant surprise soon. Doubt it though.
Problem is if a caretaker manager kept us up lerner will hire him for next year. Forget ex villa legends like cowans etc look what happened with Shearer and Newcastle plus Giggs did fuck all at utd after moyes
Totally agree. I can see a remit of “keep us up and the job’s yours”. Lerner and Fox have boxed themselves into this position by leaving the sacking this late in the season. I don’t see a manager jumping ship from another club at this stage. That leaves the usual pool of unemployed managers (not very inspiring) or a temporary appointment from backroom staff or wherever. A temp will probably not get the desired performance from the players as they will know he is likely to go at the end of the season.
I just see another f@@k up looming.
Who’s going to want to come to the Villa with that scumbag of an owner who doesn’t spend properly.If I was a manager in the state Villas in looking at the way Mcleish & now Lambert have been treated I would pass no thankyou.The next manager will go the same way as Mcleish & Lambert.Low funding buys substandard players.Merson says poor transfer funding was part of Lamberts demise.
Poor transfer funding has nothing to do with the fact that we have only scored 12 goals and only managed 2 wins in 21 games. Both those factors are down to Lambert being totally useless.
Agreed Merson blaming money complete bollox
I didn’t say Lambert wasn’t failing the stats don’t lie he wasn’t sacked for nothing
And the fact that Man C win a lot and have exciting play week in week out is down to the fact that they have Pellegrini as a manager??. You think that if he came to the Villa with the current squad, he fair any better?? The issue lies at Lerner’s door.
I agree DS first & foremost is PL survival possibly bring in a short term fix,but as we know if the short term fix does achieve PL survival this will then become our long term fix.
Did u write that article Badger? Or nick it from somewhere else? 😉
I agree about the shock though. I thought we were stuck with him too. The behaviour of the club has been irrational to say the least.
I still think we’ll go down. I can’t see any backroom staff who could give the club a short term boost. Lerner deserves relegation. We don’t.
This is all down to sky money. Also too many fans and pundits were putting pressure on and a threatened boycott of Stoke game plus a petition
The roof finally fell in. TV money, results, performances, losing the dressing room, no funding, the media…it all ended in a perfect storm.
Aston Villa managerial latest
Posted at 10:04
“The new Aston Villa manager will be recommended by the chief executive Tom Fox, with the owner Randy Lerner prepared to rubberstamp his decision. Lerner will not be part of the interview process.
“Lerner operates out of New York and is hardly ever in Birmingham, as he comes to rely more and more on the advice of his fellow-American whom he appointed as CEO last September. It was Fox who recommended Lambert should be sacked after Tuesday night’s defeat at Hull.
“Fox will take soundings from Villa’s director of recruitment Paddy Reilly and an inner circle of trusted colleagues before moving in on a target. Coaching expertise will be essential – Villa were short in that area during Lambert’s tenure – and they won’t be put off if their preferred candidate is with another club.
“Although time is on Villa’s side in that their next Premier League game is not until a week on Saturday when they are at home to Stoke City, Fox will want a swift appointment.
Interesting piece from Pat Murphy on BBC…i prefer that process and Fox making the decisions – far more in tne with what is needed for the day to day growth of this club
Will be another dour puppet. Probably get fergie to pick our new manager maybe cleverly as manager if fergie has anything to do with it.
Reading between the lines it appears there was little love between Fox and Lambert, Lambert thanks Fatty for his” unstinting integrity and constant dignity” then the statement above says with regards to finding his replacement “Coaching expertise will be essential – Villa were short in that area during Lambert’s tenure”. (Ouch!)
Yes I wrote it Bum Bum 🙂
I’m still a bit dazed, tbh and not really sure what to think.
Lambert has released a statement through the LMA – is it a dig at Tom Fox?
http://www.leaguemanagers.com/news/news-7508.html
Well Jaymo83 I like the bit ,you never stop learning in the game? Problem was, he never did, it was to be expected that Fox could see that Lambert was on a crash course to disaster, for the sake of his own job Lambert had to go, should have been earlier I’ve heard Klinsman is also in the running that wouldn’t be a bad shout.
It looks like a dig at Tom Fox Jaymo, which is a good thing, it shows he thought he was a shit manager, and lets hope Fox picks someone who he thinks can make us proud to be fans again
To put Faulkner in the list of people he thanked and omit Fox looks like that. It’s easy for Lambert to blame his sacking on Fox, as it relieves him of some of the responsibility. Fact is, if results and performances had been up to scratch he would still be in a job. Fox has done the right thing, just a bit late.
I dot know why but I har a lot faith in this Tom fox. Let’s get the big fat waiter in please
App Foxy requested Lambert to be sacked.
Well at least we can thank him for that.
Tom fox will be picking the next manager to..utv
I think having Klinsmann at 2nd Fav is telling us that the bookies have no clue yet, and I guess Fox is hoping his mailbag brings a CV or two from managers currently in employment.
I do not subscribe to the idea no ambitious manager will want the job, they will if the money is good enough, and failure is not the end. Lambert will be well compensated unless there is clause in his contract about being in the bottom 3.
Some club traditions were maintained with the CEO giving Lambert a “Vote of Confidence” 2 weeks before giving him the tin-tack. A vote of confidence in a football manager is the same as a Final Written Warning in other forms of employment, 1 step before dismissal.
I have no sympathy for Lambert, he was a rotten coach at Villa. The FA cup each year pitches Premiership teams against other teams who are not at that standard. But you can see lesser teams playing with spirit and all players trying their best, even though you know defeat is their likely fate. That wasn’t what Lambert’s teams have offered – we got resignation and can’t be bothered displays. The same players who gave a lazy and ineffective display in one game, appeared again in the next. The middle of winter seemed to bring on mind-numbing lethargy in every season McLeish and Lambert have been in charge. For that reason I don’t relish the first team coach Marshall, getting the temporary reins. Anybody with that job title at VP should face the firing squad also.
OLL – completely agree with you about the back-room staff: as ex-players and pundits have repeated, there seems to have been little or no ‘modern’ coaching going on at Bodymoor whatsoever, so I’d have fired Marshall at the same time as Lambert.
I also think you’re correct that the willingness of any would-be manager is basically going to depend on how much £’s Fox/Lerner are willing to guarantee for the summer, and of course just how big a salary figure they dangle in front of their Chosen One!
We may be able to get someone like Christophe Galtier at St-Etienne. I know they’re doing well and could make champions league but it’s that jump from Ligue 1 to Premiership and the bumper pay rise that could count.
I see in Lamberts statement no mention of I needed more time to turn things around,he knew he was failing big time.we haven’t the strongest squad but I’m sure under the right manager we’d be higher up the league some may disagree.
Lambert did say ‘he thought the experience of managing Villa would be hugely beneficial to his future management career.’ That’s for certain, if he observed how to reverse a burger bar onto the pavement in Trinity Rd, when coming in on match-days.
So the club has done the only thing they could do which was take Lambert out of the misery,mire he was to deep in.I don’t think they really wanted to sack him hence the Fox phone call he couldn’t face Lambert but I still think they did the right thing.Lambert was failing miserably and putting to much pressure on himself and the club.What I wonder is who had a hand in the about face & the changing of the way Lambert had the team set up from having no possession to all of it?.Whoever is next to command the on the pitch side of things they need to be quick in motivating the players as they look lost.13 games and counting which division will we be in?
Rumour has it Fox and Sherwood are close so I wouldn’t be surprised if a deals already been done.
The Mail says Lambert was sacked over the phone. Bit shabby if true IMO. Have the nuts to do it face to face.
BWS I would be surprised if Fox and Sherwood were mates given Fox being at Arsenal. I’m really not sure about Sherwood. He doesn’t look like a yes man so it could end in tears pretty quickly if he was appointed. Give the way he comes across I can’t really see him taking the job without a cast iron commitment to a decent transfer budget in the summer. Doesn’t look like Lerner’s style to me. If he is going to defer to Fox well that may make a difference.
Sherwood’s not top of my list either DS, David Moyes would be but the bookies ain’t usually wrong – they have Sherwood at 1/3.
He does look the likeliest candidate. It’s Lerner/Fox problem for waiting so long to fire him. Can’t see Moyes being interested having taken the Sociedad job. He looks to be getting them out of trouble, and seems to be enjoying life in Spain.
I think, given the lack of a good choice of free managers, and the short term vs long term requirement we would maybe be better off leaving this until the summer. Assuming of course we do stay up. I still have serious doubts that we will, but at least I feel there is now a glimmer of hope.
How’s about Curbishley? West Ham looked certs for the drop in 2006, he saved their bacon and led them to seven wins out of their last nine games so he’s got form when it comes to relegation scrapes.
Curbishley looked a decent manager at one point. Been out of the game for a while but did play decent football. Maybe worth a shot.
We don’t need another grey dull manager. How about someone with a bit of charisma for once
I’m not completely sure about Sherwood either, but –
[a] he seemed to have done a pretty decent job at Spurs while he was there, albeit he probably had a better squad to start with;
and
[b] if the stories about him demanding all sorts of cast-iron promises from owners before taking a job are true, then maybe he would drag a firm commitment out of Lerner to fund the improvements that will be needed in the summer and afterwards?
Your point (b) – Randy might not be happy but it’d be no bad thing.
If Fox is really in charge of the interviews and appointing in which Lerner will rubberstamp who Fox chooses is correct, then Fox would send Sherwood on his way.
Andrew – not sure I follow you..
If Fox is appointing the manager, which I’d agree is what’s supposed to happen, at least according to what Pat Murphy’s put out – what’s Fox’s objection to Sherwood going to be?
Are you saying it’s ‘personal’ or is it that Fox will stickto his existing budget and so rule-out any prospect who demands extra funding {Sherwood included}?
Can anyone on this site make a case for Sherwood as I can’t see why we would want him. Or is it just me
He would play the players in the correct spot and he has an all or nothing approach which could see us get out of relegation trouble. That is about the only positive thing I could say about the guy though. He’d be awful, he’s like a terrible mix of di Canio and ‘arry.
Fair enough hardly wets the appetite
I have some sympathy for Lambert but in the end he was his own worst enemy. One of his biggest mistakes was failing to appoint an experienced long term (full time) replacement following the Culverhouse debacle. He comes over as a stubborn and obdurate man with, perhaps, too much self belief!
At last we see Fox acting as a CEO should. The owner has the money but it’s Fox and the Board that run the business and the owner should be acting on their recommendations not the other way around.
The bookies may have Sherwood as front runner but just lately he seems to be their favourite every time a vacancy arises. I would have no problem with a ‘heavy weight’ highly incentivised short term appointment to get us out of this mess. Benitez?
I don’t H60 I feel it’s a blessing in disguise for the bloke, he looked shell shocked, mentally f**ked, I think the parting of the ways was best for all concerned.
Benitez would be nice but didn’t he allegedly ask Randy for £50M? With that in mind I can’t see him making the short list.
Would cost an arm and a leg to get him away from Napoli. Although in the summer he’s a free man. Still his idea that he doesn’t need to play youth players annoys the hell out of me. Serie A teams get these big benches that most teams have 3-4 youth players on plus most if not all their playing staff still, and Benitez decides to have a smaller bench full of just first team players, giving no one but Luperto for injury reasons a place on the bench. We need someone who can notice we have youth players and be willing to give them a go.
Agree there BWS. I would imagine Lambert felt some relief for the axe to fall. It’s not nice to be failing in such a high profile way, and he did look mentally and physically wiped out. It will do him good in the long run, and maybe in hindsight he will see where he went wrong and learn from it.
Benitez = no chance
Thinks you’re all quite right. The man looked near-enough to cracking; it’s what happens when you keep banging your head against a wall hoping for some different outcome each time. Too stubborn to recognise that he didn’t have the answer, no matter how much effort he put into it.
BWS my sympathy for the guy equates with your view – in that he looked a broken man. I’ve been there in business management and it’s not nice.
Agree that I feel some sympathy, I think he tried but it just wasn’t enough. I put up a couple of video links some days ago of PL now and 2 years ago. It looked like he’d aged ten years.
By bet is that not only we are relieved at Lambert’s going but he’ll probably have the best weekend he’s had for quite a while.
Would love Benitez would make us very difficult to beat
Would love Benitez sherwood is crap imo can’t see the point of him