Forget all about that scenario. Lambert is here to try to keep us up. We are miles away from competing for promotion.
Well this is misguided. 42.4% win ratio at Wolves on 33 games is a good effort. 36.4% win ratio at Blackburn, on 33 games again ironically with a club in turmoil is a good record. Stoke - sure, poor, however they'd become a shower already and it's a league above - so has zero to do with matters here. I must confess still to being not HUGELY keen re this appointment. His Norwich past doesn't bother me, however will a good %%% of our lot. We know this. Royle suffered with this at times despite playing liquid football. Still, ITFC isn't about me and my feelings - which I WILL let known if the manager is doing things I don't agree with like Hurst. Who couldn't help himself..... Fortunately, Lambert has managed at this level and higher - so shouldn't have the amateurishness of slating players left right and centre. I do NOT see any good of leaking things to the media re players that a few simpletons will lap up. Keep things internal and keep the players onside to me = a far higher chance of success. Welcome aboard.
Well that's a story for another day. If he keeps us up and that happens further down the line, so be it. He's on a three year deal so we'd get a good amount of compensation. On the flip side, of course if this were to go wrong he'd get a big payout. Lets hope everything goes well. COYB.
We are not exactly spoilt for options / prepared to pay proper wages so in that sense I can see why we have gone for this appointment. There are a lot of top managers like Pardew, Bruce who are not in contention because they would demand a healthy salary and transfer budget. But Gus Poyet is out of work so the Poyet / Taricco combitination could be a serious contender in that they may be interested in the project with its constraints if Evans bends a little and loosens his purse strings. Steve Evans would be top of the shopping list, if he could be persuaded to jump ship. I always liked the Cowleys so they are near the top of my list. Butcher / Burley with Dyer coaching I would have gone for well ahead of Lambert. I think Evans needs to abandon his financial policy though because Hurst did OK in the transfer window but those top class players like Reach that we are really lacking you just can’t buy for £1m or £2m but the pay back is the Premier League. We need to have a mix players coming through with proper signings and abandon our reliance on the loan system. Evans should have the confidence that with proper planning it’s not a financial risk to invest money. What is a risk is to half-heartedly spend some transfer fees for players who keep us afloat but are not top attacking players who can mount a challenge. Frankly, I think Lambert’s appointment is a disaster.
He wouldn't have been my choice but beggars can't be choosers, and without a transfer budget there can't reallistically be any credible forward planning, that's why none of the available big names would even consider coming here. I 'll back Lambert until proven not to be up to the job but make no mistake he's got his work cut out here.
Agreed fieldmarshall. I’m not even sure if this is a better option than preservering with the last incumbent but the appointment’s been made now so we just have to see how it plays out. Task number one has surely got to be to bring in one or two free agent strikers. Bent / Agbonlahor would help us IMO.
Well we’ve certainly got a interesting ride since the dull ‘where are we going with this’ McCarthy years. That is still the big question for me, regardless of the manager. Where are we going as a football club and what is the plan to achieve that? Just clinging on is not an option but seems our MO. Pardew is a car crash. Bruce would have been preferential to lambert for me; much more proven record. Maybe that priced him out of our hopelessly unambitious market... Butcher/Burley Dyer. It’s the dream ticket but like keegan at Newcastle the magic rarely works twice after a chasm of time in between. So lambert it is. He has no Norwich roots, so I’m fine with it. I was envious of them under him and wished it was us with a top level ex pro delivering a stylish upwardly mobile squad an excellent run of progress. Success is down to so much more than just the manager. The whole club needs to be pulling in the same direction and Blackburn and stoke clearly we’re not despite his efforts on the pitch. The trouble is we have a really crap set of players and a previous manager who has done nothing to identify how they can play to their collective, and limited, strengths. So our season starts here with Xmas bearing down on us already. Fortunately it’s tight at the bottom. I have a lot more confidence in what we’ll get now we have lambert. Hurst was a ‘let’s tske a punt and see’ option. I just hope it’s enough and I’ll fully support the man in what is a big, big task ahead.
I would have offered it (if he wanted it) to Klug on a permanent basis. He knows the club - especially the young players and which of them are good enough for the 1st team. I know he hasn’t got managerial experience but he has got passion for the club and the best interests for the club
Good shout royston. I have just been watching Football Focus with Guardiola talking about falling in love with the game under the influence of Cruyff, that he couldn't coach another team in England because of his love for the City of Manchester and Manchester City and then Richard Ashcroft talking about George Best having Manchester United in his DNA and spirit. Nobody embodies this more for Ipswich Town than dear Kevin Beattie and this for me sums up the problem with appointing Lambert. Klug would have been the right option but the deal is done now and we are stuck with the guy for either three years or presumably when we are relegated. Marcus Evans has no values, no vision, no passion and for that reason we are never going to have any success whilst he's at the club.
Sorry I just can’t see this. We’ve all got passion and the best interests of itfc at heart but there’s a lot more to getting a bunch of young blokes winning professional football matches. I agree Klug is important to our club but not the hot seat. If/when we don’t win what then? He’s out. Or there’s a u turn and he goes back to his old role with a bad experience and the club worse off. No. Ring fence him from the vagaries of first team management and keep him under the bonnet and in the club fir the long term where he can be most effective fir us.
How has that worked out for us over the last 20 years Alhare? I wouldn't see any issue with him going back to his old role if it didn't work out and we have seen with Gareth Southgate what can happen when you promote somebody from this type of role, who already knows the players and the set up inside out. It's all hypothetical 'cos it ain't happening - and he clearly doesn't ever want the job - but it could have been our Get Out of Jail Free card.
Sorry but I can't agree with persevering with Hurst, to continue with something which demonstrably doesn't work is ludicrous in any situation, whilst I agree that there are no guarantees that Lambert will be any better we have to try instead of quietly strolling to relegation.
We were in a very, very similar situation with Roy Keane at this point, bottom, and he did manage to turn it around - any decision is just a roll of the dice. Hopefully Evans has rolled a double six.
Culverhouse got sacked at Villa for undisclosed allegations of bullying and has not worked at League level since. He successfully managed Kings Lynn last year and has now moved on to Grantham. Lambert is a professional Manager who does his best for his employer without getting close to the Club, the players or the fans. He walked out on Livingstone when the Wycombe job was available, did the same to Wycombe to join Colchester, dumped them to join us, dumped us to join Villa and dumped Blackburn to join Wolves. He has probably got a termination clause in his contract with you. As I say, however, he will give the job 100% and if your players think that they are in for an easy ride then they had better forget it. He demands and gets very hard work as a minimum requirement and has no hesitation in dropping an underperforming senior player and replacing him with a keen youngster. I have no doubt that he will keep you up with an improved style of football but don't hold your breath for a spell of badge thumping, I love this Club affection.
Interesting perspective 1950. I think we're all clear that he has been recruited to get us out of the **** and probably no more than that. If he can bring some discipline and common sense then marvellous, I just worry about motivation because it will be very easy for Lambert to not put that hard work in and shrug his shoulders.
