ok, apologies then. that was pure conjecture - i was guessing. none of us knew whether lambert would want to go to villa or not. i suggested the o'neill connection may work in our favour - he fought a long and hard court battle with randy lerner - it didn't. paul lambert is his own man and they are a bigger club than us, and by taking a few steps back and seeing things more clearly after the event, i can see why he jumped at the chance to go to villa park. i think many of us, and certainly myself, were slightly clouding the issue because of just how bad villa performed last season and their financial position which is actually pretty weak.
I've got no opinion of Villa fans either way but as per my original thread, the silence is deafening on their part, on the appointment of PL (unless they don't post on not606). True to form though, that if they lose 2 or 3 games in a row, this will definitely change. MoN got absolutely slagged towards the end of his tenure and he finished in the top 6 twice!!
My only beef with PL is that he hadn't quite seen the job through here at Norwich. Yes, he left us in a far better place than when he took over, but still one year short of completely wiping off the debt and being able to start building in earnest. Hopefully, under our new manager, by this time next year we will still have reached the same good place, but the fact remains that PL wasn't prepared to stay aboard to see it achieved. He said on several occasions that he was particularly pleased by the astonishing transformation in the club's fortunes because of what it meant for the club's owners. To me, his leaving at this point gives that a slightly hollow ring. Regarding Villa, in the four years under Martin O'Neill, they were 11th, 6th, 6th, 6th. They should certainly be matching the likes of Everton, Newcastle and Liverpool. I think it's a good move for PL, and it will be interesting to see how the Lambert/Rodgers "rivalry" progresses. I know who my money is on!
Hearing Lambert on the radio with a bit of his press conference, suddenly remembering he isn't our manager, was like seeing a long term x-girlfriend. Felt Horrible. Good luck to him with his future, he helped save our club. Bit hurt by how quick he left after getting angry with gossip and saying he was staying, and we have heard no reason why. He'll do fine, but he'l never get the love and the backing of the yellow army elsewhere.
I have absolutely no reason to think that he won´t be a success wherever he goes, he certainly gets the best out of all his players, and he showed while he was here that he is quite capable of adapting to whichever league he finds himself in. Good luck to him, I say, no hard feelings on my part, let´s all just move on.
I differ in that I think Lambert is more likely to struggle on the long term aspect at Villa. I feel certain he'll have a great first season, but as soon as European football starts getting mentioned and the money isn't there to get them there, he'll either get itchy feet or the fans will turn. I recall quite a few tetchy exchanges between Villa fans and O'Neil as he was approaching the end. Put it this way, I don't think he'll be there in 3 years time, 3 years is a very long tenure for a manager. Good luck to him though, he deserves it.
Pretty much sums up how I feel and I'm sure he won't ever get the adoration he enjoyed during his tenure at Carrow Road!!!
If anyone's interested in reading some online Villa opinions, this is quite detailed: http://www.avillafan.com/forum/index.php?showforum=9 "cautiously optimistic" is the quote I read most often. Lambert's going to have a hard job of getting them behind him, but he's not going to have the same level of abuse as McLeish
I expect Lambert will do a steady job next year, nothing special. Villa is a bit of a mess right now. He'll steady the ship and build it up over 2-3 seasons, then he'll be gone.
He doesn't want our love. He's a man who doesn't attract affection and doesn't invite it. He is cold and ruthless, which is why he is so talented. And I don't believe this stuff about conflicts we don't know about. He wanted out and he made sure he got out, simple as that.
