I think if we carry on the way we are playing at the moment then we are going to have a rough ride in League One. We really need to improve and get some momentum going over the last few months of the season or we need to make a change in the summer. We are also likely to lose players in the summer, I wouldn't imagine we will be in a position to strengthen considerably. fieldmarshall was telling us this at the beginning of the season, but I wasn't particularly worried because I didn't realise then just how bad our football could get.
That is all very true, then we need a miracle worker as a manager then? When George Burley took over he did very little in his first season to reverse our slide out of the premier league which also included our worst ever defeat as the damage had been done. It took him years to rebuild what ended up being a great team. We're not a club which sacks managers easily, it may well take alot of time to rebuild this club in a similar vein to how Burely did. Lambert did it with Norwich taking them from 7-1 defeat against Col Utd to finishing 12th in the Premier League in 3 seasons. 14 games is no time to judge when he's come in to an absolute shambles. Whoever took over from Mick had a tough task and as I said I felt at the time it needed someone with a big personality to do it, Hurst made it 10 times worse and now Lambert is trying to firefight with a poor squad of which he can only add players who have been getting no or very little playing time at their clubs (if they actually had a club). He needs to be given time like Burley was to rebuild. If we stay up this season that is a massive bonus.
Hurst was sacked and replaced with Lambert to avoid relegation. I appreciate there may have been behind the scenes issues too. But it's a shifting of the goalposts to suddenly say Lambert was brought in to help us bounce back at first go. Aside from that I do think sticking with Lambert feels a sensible strategy. Relegation would be disruptive enough anyway and I'm not sure there would be many other options on the card.
I think we need to ask questions about why Tony Mowbray has never put his hat in the ring. He is perhaps the one man who really knows what we need to do.
Completely agree re the soul - Everything Lambert has done off the pitch has been superb. While I liked Mick results wise, he certainly did not unite everyone and was incredibly devisive!
To be fair it wasn't just Mick, nearly every manager has done it since ME has come in, with Mick it was worse because he was here longer and the style of football. To be honest alot of that I believe is because we don't have a figurehead at the club. Which is why when Mick left I felt we needed someone with broad shoulders and a bit of character to come in. Lambert seems to have united fans but not only that stood up somewhat to ME. With all the managers under ME it's felt like they have been answerable to him not the fans, whereas Lambert has changed that dynamic. Under Mick and particularly Keane it felt like we were Roy Keanes Ipswich or Mick McCarthys Ipswich not Ipswich managed by Roy Keane or Mick McCarthy as it should be. Lambert seems to have given a sense of ownership back to the club: https://www.greenun24.co.uk/ipswich-town/at-least-we-have-paul-lambert-says-northstander-1-5858831
If Lambert has stood up to Evans why have we signed more crap or crocked players, journeymen and loans? If he has stood up to him why haven’t we had a sensible transfer budget? Answer: it’s business as usual.
That would be a fair point ..... if we're weren't 10 points clear at the bottom of the championship!!! I'm wouldn't be overly impressed with his signings in a normal transfer window however I'm actually quite impressed that he's managed to get so many players in. Particularly Collins and Judge who must have had other offers or in Judges case willing to stay at Brentford.
I don’t care where we are in the league. Town are still a big club in the scheme of things and if we had a vision then good players would want to come and be a part of the project. It’s not ‘standing up’ to Evans. We’ve signed four complete wastes of space. You can’t have it both ways, either Lambert is going to be able to change the club and attract players to turn things around or he isn’t.
No, we are not. Five seasons in Premier League history in almost three decades does not constitute a big club.
Well yes, we’ll be one of the bigger clubs in division three. But division three is division three. Going back to your previous point, I can’t imagine many top players pleading to their agents to sort a move out to us in our current position, let alone if we get relegated to League One!
We are not talking about top players. We are talking about good, solid players and yes perhaps pulling off one or two coups. If Lambert ‘stood up to Evans’ in any sense that’s what would and should be happening. Money and lack of vision is the problem, not stature
How about Ivan Toney? He's only 22. David Nugent, out of contract in the summer and down the pecking order. A couple of Middlesbrough players were named and Lambert said forget it because of the money they're on. Clubs where there's been a change of manager and a proven player just doesn't fit in the new manager's style. Scouting the smaller European leagues for talent. Getting players down from Scotland or over from Ireland. Hard to name names, because to land a quality player you need to be making lots of phone calls to see which players might be open to a move. But January should be a good time to pick up good players out of favour whose contracts are up in the summer. The club will sanction a move because otherwise they'll move on a free and the player wants to be playing first team football at a good club rather than rotting in the reserves. And also signing young talent from the smaller clubs. I haven't been following Colchester but there must be some talented players in their squad who would fancy moving to the big brother club up the road. Hurst didn't have it entirely wrong signing lower league talent, he just had too many players making the step up at the same time and didn't balance it with signing some proven / experienced players. And I don't think he signed the best, he probably didn't look or work hard enough or have the funds to sign the best players available to us. If Lambert was 'standing up to Evans' then this is the type of business the club should be doing.
No chance on Ivan Toney - never heard of him but looking at him on wiki - 22 years old, 17 goals in all competitions this season - at Posh,,,,,,,,,,, and Barry Fry gets BIGGGGGG $$$$ for any of their players leaving. Shrewd shrewd man. We're not a big club, we're essentially lucky with the Bobby Robson era otherwise we're just not. Nugent's on a fortune and will go to a club who will offer more than us. I think Lambert's done alright with his transfer dealings to be fair all in all - a damn site better than the rubbish Hurst brought in en mass.
Sorry Westy, but Quaner, Keane, Elder and Dawkins are an absolute joke. We all know the problem with signing these types of player that we have had for years but PTC said that Lambert has stood up to Evans and it's just not true at all.
I'm not a fan of Dawkins it must be said, think the new Toure / Graham......... I'd much prefer Quaner + Keane to Harrison + Jackson at this moment in time I must say. Elder looked good vs Accrington, but seems to have cost us x 2 for Blackburn it must be said. Not sure on him yet.... Very pleased with Judge / Collins IF they can stay fit.....
In comparison to other managers it is true, particularly on things like contracts and loans. Those players you mention given our wage structure would be out of reach. Saying January is a good time to get players in is simply not true unless you're disagreeing with the majority of the footballing world in which case you are truly an enigma Hamps (which I'm sure the majority of this board can understand)
