That's right according to the bbc website. Gulp! "We want someone to bring some vibrancy back to Villa. That's what we need and that's what we're going to get. A disaster would have been getting relegated but this was too close for comfort." Intermediaries for Villa spoke with Martinez at the end of last week, while contact has also been made with representatives of Lambert. We will know soon enough if he is interested.
double gulp. seriously though, if rodgers gets liverpool, if i were lambert i'd have my eye on something better than villa...
as we know all too well ourselves, making contact with representatives of lambert is not official contact. this is what WE got in trouble for when we took him from colchester. it's down to the club to give him permission to talk, not his representative. either way, no harm in seeing what villa are offering, but i feel it would take one heck of an offer to tempt him over there, especially after what happened with o'neill
PLEASE FOR OUR SANITY 1) Rodgers accept Liverpool 2) Martinez accept Villa 3) Lambert sign a new player, as a sign that you will be staying Thank you!
^This However, it won't be the end of the world although it might seem like it at first. As a Premier League side we should be able to attract a pretty good replacement, obviously I'd rather PL stayed.
Yeap and the fact that Villa approached Solskjaer first means Lambert is sloppy seconds. Wonder how he'll feel about that... If he has any sense and I'm not just saying this because I'm a Norwich fan, Lambert will stay well clear. Villa look like a disaster zone at the minute...
agree villa looks a disaster waiting to happen, hence why i said it would take something special to tempt him. i just can't see them being able to offer him 'something special' at this time. no harm in finding out what they do offer though, hence his representatives meeting villa means nothing at all. i do not believe they have approached the club because they will tell them to get stuffed, or words to that effect. the only way they'll get official permission is if lambert indicates to the club he is interested, otherwise nothing will happen
For all we know, the conversation could have gone: Villa Board "Our next agenda is candidate 08, a Mr Paul Lambert..." Villa Representative "We are interested in your client becoming our next manager here at Aston Villa" Agent "Firsly, how much would we be talking about?...just a moment, let me ask Paul" Lambert "Tell them **** off...I'm perfectly happy here!" Agent "Paul politely declines your kind offer, perhaps in a few years instead?" Villa Board "Another rejection, deja-vu, onto our next agenda, candidate no.9, a Mr Royston Keane..."
i'm sure its true that they have spoken to his representatives - to be honest, if they haven't gone for lambert they are idiots! still don't think they can offer him what he will want though - it's too risky. he'll stay put for now
Vague article, doesn't say when "contact was made" it could well have been weeks ago around the time the club issues their hands off statement. I really don't think this is anything we didn't already know. Also doesn't say lambert is interested at all, before the approach the club they need to know that Lambo would at least have a discussion about the job.
If Villa can't offer enough to tempt OGS who currently manages in Norway where I suspect the pay is somewhat less than in the EPL I doubt that they will be offering PL a big enough package to tempt him, particularly given the squad he would inherit and the lack of funds available to rebuild it. Of course if Villa offer to break the bank and give him a huge war chest then he will look seriously at it but seriously why would you leave Norwich for Villa given the clubs current relative strengths and expectations? It would really have to be a big pile of cash to risk your career and potentially throwing away the chance to manage somewhere massive in a few years time. If PL took Villa down or even failed to improve them it would look bad - not capable of keeping up a big club or improving on the hated McCleish. If we go down we won't exactly be dancing in the street and chanting his name but at least there won't be lynching parties and he will have a job and no real black mark on his career. I think what I am rambling on about can be summed up as "He won't go to Villa unless they offer him a huge pile of cash and and even bigger one to spend on the squad. this isn't going to happen ergo I reckon he won't go there".
Some people are saying that he's on his way! As much as he's done for us, if he was to go there then his head can't be as screwed on as much as I first thought!
if the worst should happen, and i for one do not believe that it will, then there should be an agreement with him that he can not sign any of our players for at least one, maybe two, years. this safeguards us to a certain extent. as this will probably be legally unenforceable, it will have to be a gentlemans agreement.
If it happens (which I seriously doubt for the reasons stated above) there will be no Gentlemans' agreement he would try to take the players he wanted without a second thought. Any professional manager would.
