Dodds

5Live are saying it will be announced today.

Twenty odd years ago you finished third behind Man United and The Villa. It was another twenty years until you had a decent fknish in the top flight. Beyond all the gnashing of teeth, that is why Lambert is leaving.

I think with Lambert as boss, some of the quality in the squad such as Bent et al and with the investment to come we will be top eight. Maybe better with momentum ala Newcastle. I think you guys will do well to respond after losing your figure head and having your momentum come to a halt. Same goes for Swansea. Time will tell.

Lerner has never give a single television or radio interview. He speaks to the written press once a season. Shoot his mouth off? The leaks do not come from the Villa end.

We''re the fourth most successful club in English football. If so many have failed at Villa Park then god knows what that says for the other 88 clubs.

I cannot see Holt coming, not at his age.

Almost forty years since the League Cup final too.

Bubble? Players and managers have always been leaving smaller clubs for bigger ones, who are invariably richer, since the football league began.

Rumours are that both are following Lambert.

The rumours at the moment are that Lerner is willing to provide a typical O''Neill level of summer spending. If this is the case, and its coming from those who tend to be in tbe know, then we''re talking at somewhere between 30-40 million pounds. Its always been the wages that are the issue and not fees.

Afternoon folks. I thought I would put my two-penith in from a Villa point of view about the job (that unfortunately is not yet vacant). I personally think Lambert would make a good appointment. Mind you, it is difficult to imagine how anybody could possibly do worse than the current incumbent. After O’Neill let we were plunged into total chaos and this has been compounded by two woeful managerial appointments, the later being just as poor as Billy McNeill was. I think the job though would be attractive, as regardless of the past season, we are still a big club and the chance to make us competitive within the top half of the table once again would be an appealing one. Managers are all about their ego’s so I don’t see why somebody like Lambert would think that an impossible task. To draw comparisons, it’s similar to the Everton job when Moyes took over there; a big club that needs putting back on its feet. There will be money for a new manager to spend as the financial issues have largely surrounded wages. Players like Emile Heskey on £63,000 a week, Steven Warnock on £45,000, Habib Beye on £50,0000 and so on; kamikaze stuff and fortunately a lot of those time wasters will be gone. It would be a fresh opportunity for a new boss with £20 -25 million to spend on overhauling the squad. There is now a £40,000 cap, with an exception for a Bent like signing who is worth every penny. Finally and brace yourself for this, Alex McLeish is the 20th highest paid manager in world football. Of all the shocking statistics and facts from this season, that is one of the most mind boggling. That said, a new manager is likely to be very handsomely remunerated and that is always an attractive proposition as money talks. There has been a lot of nonsense sprouted in the media from barely literate buffoons, such as Shearer on Match of the Day last night, who repeat the same false premise that the Villa fans have been against McLeish because he came from Small Heath. This is not the case, the fans if anything have been incredibly patient after putting up with months of the awful, negative, cowardly dirge he claims as football. The fan base is no more fickle or whinging than any other in the country and the only surprising factor is that it took until April for the crowd to actually turn on the cretin. As to Lambert, I think Lerner would look to somebody like him, as he is very O’Neill like, with perhaps more of a thinking man’s approach to the game. Whether he gets asked to come is another matter. If he was asked, I think he would come.