Whatever you make of Lambert's departure the last three years have been fantastic for all Norwich supporters. Due to my young age I have only been a Norwich fan for just over 12 years. I don't have memories of fighting for the inaugural Premier League title with Manchester United and Aston Villa. I don't remember that amazing night in Munich despite having watched these moments on tape. But I have witnessed first hand the defeat to Birmingham at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, the promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in ten years followed by our disappointing relegation back down. I continued cheering the team through the hard times that led us down to League 1 for the first time in fifty years. It is fair to say that in those seven years alone I have seen some joy and quite a bit of misery at Carrow Road. Things looked incredibly bad going into the League 1 season with the very real threat of administration and losing heavily on the first day of the season. I still remember those two men running from the snakepit and throwing their season tickets at the Norwich bench. When Lambert was hired I, like many others, didn't know much about him other than the fact he had humiliated our team in our own backyard. But what a season it turned out to be! The turning point being our 5-2 win over Wycombe. The signs of what were to come were already, although we didn't already know it. The scoreline showing that the best form of defence is attack. Lambert was not afraid to change the formation to 4-2-3-1 with Lappin playing superbly out of position, in my opinion his best game in a Norwich shirt. We managed to overturn an 11 point plus gap behind Leeds into an eight point gap ahead of them winning the title and getting revenge over Colchester on the way! Holt scoring 30 and C Martin scoring 23. The next season was even better. Lambert maintained his record of no team having done the double over us as well as avoiding back-to-back defeats. Norwich surprised everyone by gaining automatic promotion for the second successive season, the first team to do this since Manchester City eleven years previously. The return to the Premier League was even better with Norwich ending 12th well clear of the relegation zone which many had tipped Norwich to be in at the end of the season. Lambert continued superbly with his policy of signing young and hungry players and avoiding the 'over-rated, past-it and over-rated' of the Premier League. The players proved they had the quality to compete with the best and although teams started doing the double over Norwich and the team lost back-to-back games Lambert never shied away from his all out attack style. Many thought Holt could not do it in the Premier League, that he was not good enough and some even suggested he was 'too fat,' but he proved everyone wrong by ending the season with 15 Premier League goals making him the second highest English Premier League goalscorer, resulting in many calls for him to go to Poland and Ukraine. These three years have been incredible and are now an important part of our history. Lambert will forever be considered a hero at this club and it will never be forgotten how he saved the club and got Norwich to their highest position in 20 years. He has introduced a fantastic philosphy to the club with his signings and style of play on the pitch which fans fully appreciate. Lambert, for me, will be considered one of Norwich City's greatest ever managers and he is certainly a manager that I really appreciate. Forget Walker and Stringer. For me it has to be Lambert.
I think it could come down to legacy whether Lambert is judged as the best. I just feel he had one more year of a job to do and I would say that Stringer edges it for the players he brought in and the systems created that left Walker with the chance he had.
I probably agree with that for the following reason.Due to the influx of money and foreign players the standard required is now much higher.Finishing twelth is a brilliant result and there is no reason for doom,gloom or despondency add to that the rosy financial position and things really are tickety-boo.
Let's forget about who was better than whoever else, Lambert has performed miracles in the last three years! Of course it's disappointing that he's moved on, but we all knew this day would come! He's an ambitious man and when what he considers to be the right move presents itself, he has to be ready, he can't say, look, ask me again in twelve months time, because the chance will be gone! He's not Norfolk born and bred, he was here as an employee, he is now employed by someone else, sad but true, but let's give the man credit for what he has done for our club! Thank you Paul, we wish you well, except when you play us!
Agreed Dave! We really were in trouble when he took over and he's taken us up to divisions. Something Stringer and Walker were at Norwich. Also I don't remember those two as I was too young.
