The grass is not always greener Nor sometimes even as green, For those bosses who are great dreamers Even if success they have seen, And for some of those who have tasted It regularly on their plate, Irrespective of how long it´s lasted They want more of it but can´t wait, And many get tempted far too soon By the lure of big cash that´s in place, And instead of making the fans swoon End up finding egg on their face, And naming no names at this time One perhaps is taking that path, Where what he hoped would be so fine Is earning him unwanted wrath, Now I´m not here trying to chide Just stating how often it´s true, That the grass on the other side Doesn´t always have a greener hue, And much of the same can be said Of players who only have eyes, For what´s in their wages, instead Of going there where they will thrive, So right now I´d say we are blessed At our club when compared to some, With a boss who´s standing the test And players who´re happy to come, I´ve thought of this often of late And though no-one can diagnose, A club or a manager´s fate Our way is the one I would choose, And yesterday evening again Reinforced my feeling once more, That few will remember back when The flavour of the month was yours. OTBC
nicely put RBF... sometimes I think we have an advantage at Norwich. At least we know no one's here for a big pay cheque and a ride! Player or manager, you come to Norwich for a chance to show what you're made of. Should be in the contract.
It's interesting to me that we now have a manager who often says that he came here regularly as a player when our club was doing so well in the top flight, and how he remembers it as a really difficult place to come to as an opposition team. So we have with Hughton someone who genuinely believes that City has a right to be in the top flight, even if that is now, in the current uneven financial climate, so much more difficult. That mixture of belief in the club and an understanding of how hard we must work, is just what we need and deserve in our manager.
I'm sure you're all enjoying Lambert's demise but I'm fairly certain you would've been relegated this season under him and Hughton's appointment have you a big shot in the arm. If he doesn't get fired at Villa, keeps them up (and he still has a big chance of reaching the League Cup final) then it's been a good move for him.
I think, as gg pointed out yesterday on another thread, most of us no longer have any interest in how PL is doing now! He came to us when we were in a bad place and was "brewyint" at giving the lads a hand! He's gone now, we have a different manager who is working his own magic on the squad and PL is just a manager of another club! I hope he turns it round at Villa, but I won't lose any sleep if he doesn't! My team is Norwich City, that's where my interest is focused
well i for one am taking no glee from this. he was a great manager for us but we've got hughton now and though i don't agree we'd have gone down, i'm of the opinion that we're doing better now than we would have had lambert stayed, simply because he's addressed the areas of the side which lambert hadn't. aston villa are a club in decline and that decline was not caused by lambert, only inherited. still, i'm staggered by how badly things are going down at villa park under his tenure, but i still think they'll get through the tie and stay up. whether he's still in charge to oversee it is another question...
What tempted me to write this was not the apparent continued decline of Villa, nor the fact that a certain P. Lambert is in charge, but the fact that managers continue to fall into the trap of thinking that, even when they´re onto a really good thing, with years of acclaimed success, that they can do better somewhere else. We also had it with Bond and Walker who despite having success here, were dazzled by the prospect of Man C and Everton, both failed miserably and were soon out of work. Now I´m not suggesting that the same thing will happen to Lambert, but I wonder, if he could put back the clock 7 months or so, whether he would make the same decision again. Incidentally, I don´t miss him, this is not a `bring back Lambert ´plea, it´s ´Onward Hughtons´ soldiers´ as far as I´m concerned.
I think the reason why Lambert was so successful here was because he was able to build, and then maintain, some serious momentum, with us being a big club in League One at the time. He hasn't been able to do that at Villa. The Premier League, even if it's weaker now than it was ten years ago, is such a strong division that it's impossible for a side like Villa, in its current state, to rebuild (unlike us) the confidence it once had, and provide itself with some momentum to help it progress up the league. Every time Villa win one game they lose two, so the players are no happier than they were at the end of last season. I hope that makes sense...
Absolutely, he was awful at Brum. He had superstars at Newcastle in the Championship and I expected you to be rock bottom this season. Then I thought you looked like challengers for a European spot and you started losing every week. I think my crystal ball must be on the blink.
"he was awful at brum" he's done a great job at both clubs he's previously been at! newcastle may have had some good players but they were in total disarray. i know plenty of people up there who felt they'd drop through the divisions, a la leeds united. everything pardew achieved last season was built on hughton's foundations. likewise, at birmingham, he took a team who had lost all its best players (following relegation), signed a few freebies as he had no money at all, led a club through a europa league campaign where they missed out on qualifying for the 2nd phase on goal difference, got them to 4th in the championship and the quarter finals of the fa cup, narrowly missing out on a return to the top flight to a very good blackpool side. yeah, shocking! how biased do you want to sound?
Hi RBF bor, I'm thinking a certain manager wishes the grass was as green in the Midlands as it is in Norfolk. Saw on Midlands TV today the Villa's fans reaction to their thumping at Bradford. We took two heavy defeats to Man City last season but our fans never got on his back. As my old mum would say, you make your bed now learn to lie on it !!! The King of Denmark still woofing. LOL.
A somewhat pale brown colour I think now, thanks to Lambert R. (and a touch of genorousity from the ref)
