If the question is whether DM has made any "mistakes", you might focus on (1) what was or wasn't said to Holty about an extension to his contract, and (2) what happened when, a couple of weeks ago Villa were refused permission to talk to PL and PL invoked the clause he insisted on having in the improved contract he signed last year. As regards (1), it seems to me unlikely that DM would literally say to Holty "you're too old". He would be more likely to point out that the club have a policy of not extending playing contracts beyond, say, 33 years of age. The idea of Holty being "hurt" by something said strikes me as somewhat ridiculous; it sounds far more like a face-saving exercise. As regards (2), PL has said that he was angered by DM refusing to honour the clause in PL's contract on the basis of "a technicality". This will be central to the tribunal hearing. The outcome should give a clue as to the rights and wrongs of it, but either way I doubt that DM can be said to have "made a mistake". He will have had the benefit of legal advice at the time the contract was drawn up, and possibly more recently. Contract disputes are common; it's a case of whether the lawyers have got it right or not.
Supers, do you think it was more important to keep Lambert last year than this, hence allowing the clauses in Lamberts contract?
yes i do. crucial in fact! difficult to say what clauses were in the contract though. there is no doubt that lambert's contract always favoured him. plus, because it was only ever 1-year long, it gave him flexibility. when we first hired him it favoured us as well remember - in league one and skint, it meant if things went wrong it wasn't going to cripple us. i think the club tried to tie him down to a longer deal on promotion to the premier league but nothing happened other than lambert getting a pay rise. as far as i'm concerned, the club knew it was only ever a matter of time before lambert attracted a job he fancied - hence they already had a short list - and that the club would receive minimal compensation (or none in this particular case as it stands!). the club have mentioned this 'wobble' - which i believe, and i'm just guessing here, was to do with west ham united last summer. i think lambert, despite denying it, has always been frustrated by the limitations in terms of paying wages and he probably knew that it was to continue being a pain to him long term, a situation he wouldn't have suffered at west ham. i genuinely believe lambert loved being norwich manager but that he desired a fresh challenge where he was less restricted in the type of player he had to go for.
Pretty much sums up how I feel is the reason why he left. With our current wage structure (which IMO is correct until we find ourselves on a much more stable footing financially), a lot of players wouldn't want to come to Carrow Road and I'm sure PL felt hampered by this and so decided to go and seek his fame and fortune elsewhere. I'm not sure he'll find it at Villa, but I'm sure he only sees Villa as a means to enhance his reputation and so his ambition to manage a 'big club'!!! Disclaimer - I do NOT consider Villa a big club!! A BIGGER club, yes and with more potential, but I would be surprised if they're in the top half of the EPL in May 2013.
Pure speculation but I wonder to what degree PL's keeping us up and the much vaunted 7 year plan caused the bust up. PL looking for increased funding because we are so far ahead of schedule with DM arguing that despite being ahead of schedule in terms of league position we were not that far ahead of schedule in sorting out the club's finances.
i get the impression that lambert always intended leaving once the season had finished. he had big ambitions in his sights and considered us a stepping stone towards those ambitions. we, as fans, always knew that he would move on to bigger things in the fullness of time, but it is the way he did it that riles. we gave him three years of hero worship only to get stabbed in the back.
excellent point. i agree that our speedy rise through the divisions probably led to more bickering over the finances - the club on the field was moving quicker than the club behind the scenes could cope with - lambert, although i'm sure he understood, felt he required more than the club could offer, and again, this will be about wages rather than transfer funds - we've basically got the same to spend as villa but they trounce us in terms of wages. nobody is in the wrong with regards this situation - the board are strict (and quite rightly so) about the running of the club and that they stick to the plan - lambert felt he needed more to move the team forward and try and improve. its easy to see why there were going to be disagreements...
Ambition no doubt but there has to be a financial side to this also. We were led to believe that Lambert loved the situation because it was real management finding players from lower leagues and maturing them into team players capable of moving the club forward. Now we are told his ambitions outstripped our capabilities and policy. He wants to be at a bigger club. He can restore Villa somewhat but it will be extremely difficult considering the owners attitude. And they were always a top 6 club. Now they will find it extremely tough to break into that position. He must have realised this. If we know it then so does he. I can only assume that, yes, Villa have the potential to improve and yes they are a bigger not better club than Norwich and yes they are prepared to pay him more money.
i think at first lambert did love the 'real management' side of it. after last season though, it was always likely we would be levelling-off so to speak - this year will be about maintaining where we are rather than improving. not too sure lambert took to that so fanatically! he's certainly gone to villa as a stepping-stone. there is no way they will get champions league football the way they are run, which actually is very well now! randy lerner inevitably is getting stick for tightening the purse strings but shouldn't that be what all good owners are doing if they are overspending? they went cash-crazy for a few years, found out it wasn't sustainable and now they are attempting to run the club more responsibly. i applaud that - it won't keep lambert happy though. forget this notion that he's gone to villa cos they have more history blah blah blah - as i say, he's gone there for the fact they spend more on wages, therefore he has more flexibility than us in the transfer market, even though in all likelihood they have less money to spend on transfer fees
It must be tempting for him but is he capable of dealing not only with the ability but with the ego and personality of the players who will be what he is expected to look at now?
clearly Lambert doesn't have high loyalty to any club, if you look at us, Col Who, Wycombe. Villa is a step up in terms of the footballing ladder for him. i wouldn't be surprised if, say he was doing a good job there and his stock continued to rise, and the Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, AN other big club job came up in the near future, he would move again. he's very ambitious
if you want to manage at the top, you have to deal with the egos and all that go with it. he's played at the highest level so i'm sure he'll know how to do it
There comes a time in every managers career when he moves from club to club that he gets it wrong. I hope for Lamberts sake that he does get it right and becomes a top manager but won't shed any tears if he does not succeed at any appointment.
