Burnley ask to speak to Lambert

[Hunter106 0]

Now Im not saying I have any inside information, this has just come from me running this whole situation through my head all day and I am more than likely wrong, but I think a few of Lamberts decisions perhaps suggest that he knew a move like this was going to come about.

 

The first is his decsion about Hoolahan, starting him, leaving him on the bench the next etc. Now I think almost every Norwich fan would agree that he is one of our most influentual players and one of the top technically in the whole league. So what I fail to see is why would he be left on the bench, especially after games such as Ipswich where he came on and played outstanding. I cant remember any reasons really being branded about other than he was tired, but im sure Wes is capable of playing week in week out so I dont really buy this excuse.

 

The second is the tactics he decided to employ against Sheffield United, and to some extent Middlesborough. Against United I was dumfounded at the team he put out, OK we got the result in the end, but we played some terrible football at times which is unlike the Norwich we have come to expect to see. In the Middlesborough game we seemed to be playing for the draw, which especially in an away game is something you never see from a Lambert side. It was slightly strange to see OTJ playing as well.

 

Finally the signing of Wilbraham is the total opposite of what Lambert wants and what I had expected from this tranfer window (although to be fair there is still a long way to go). We all know that we need a back up to Holt, but Lambert always expresses how he wants young hungry players, and by what he said about ''going for it'' I thought we would be spending a bit of money to give it a final push.

 

All of this suggests that perhaps Lambert has kown about a move and has been trying to unsettle our position subtly. I am probably totally wrong so please dont shoot me down,I just wanted to point out some things that seemed a bit strange at the time, we blamed it on other reasons, but could well link back to this.

[Syteanric 1]

[quote user="cityangel"]

[quote user="Duffman"]''Paul Lambert has nothing to add to club statement and is concentrating on FA Cup game''[/quote]

Thats good news then isn''t it?

[/quote]yes it is.. business as usual i say!

[CaptnCanary 0]

The other positive thing, if Lambert were to move to Burnley, is that they ought to end up in far more trouble than we did and you would think we would be due a far higher compensation payment than Col U got. You would think a points deduction would be likely for Burnley wouldn''t you?

[Ian James 0]

Point 1. Why didnt Paul Lambert simply say "I am going nowhere" at this mornings press conference. That would have been better than saying nothing to a city fan.

Point 2. Why dont Burnley appoint Roy Keane and leave our man alone?. Everyones a winner !!!

[cannycanary 0]

Burnley have not done anything wrong (that we know of) If he walks then we will get compensation, but no way points will be deducted.Its strange that managers are ruled by totally different employment terms than players, a player cannot simply resign and join another club but a manager can, if players were allowed to do that we would have no game left!

[ricardo 7,395]

[quote user="Harry"][quote user="......and Smith must score."]For what it''s worth I don''t think Paul Lambert will be the Clarets next manager.Despite what some are saying on here Burnley are not '' tin pot '' . They may not be doing as well as Norwich this season but they are a famous club with many years in the top flight and a far richer history than us. That said I really can''t see what advantage our manager would gain by going there right now.Paul Lambert will leave Norwich sooner rather than later but I suspect it will be to a bigger club than Burnley. Football can be a dirty business, both on and off the field, with loyalty in pretty short supply. The manner in which we acquired our manager in the first place left a sour taste so don''t be too surprised if we see Lambert spirited away in similar fashion in the not too distant future. Paul Lambert knows he''s good, he has no long term loyalty to any English club and he''s ambitious. That''s just the way it is.It''s been well documented that the Lamberts current family arrangements are far from ideal - he''s down here, the others are in Scotland - so a move further North would seem to be a good compromise. But not just yet.

[/quote]Burnley may have a good history but the way things stand in 2011 they are now a "Tin Pot" Club, their ground is awful, their traing facilities are awful, their support is awful and the whole Town is grim.His family arrangements have bugger all to do with it, he can drive to Norwich Airport and fly to Scotland quicker and easier than he could drive to Manchester and fly to Scotland from Burnley.[/quote]They have a decent history for a small town club but most of it is way in the past. Their best period being between 1955 and 65. I remember they had players like Conolly and Lockhead being top players around that time. Since then however they have spent 20 odd years at div 3 or lower standard so probably a worse modern record than their close rivals, PNE.Their biggest claim to fame in the modern era is that they are the smallest town ever to achieve Premiership status.

[Norfolk Mustard 94]

It''s easy to start looking for clues that substantiate a certain way of thinking; try doing a ''+'' list and then a ''-'' list and they would probably come out fairly equal at the moment!

With the attention of Burnley, PL is certainly now in a more powerful position to negotiate with the Norwich board during this transfer window. ''Back me or else'' hardly needs to be said does it?

My hunch is that PL will get even more assurance - including an increase in transfer fund availability - and we will go on to secure the players he has targetted.

In the meantime, Manager uncertainty is likely to unsettle any proposed transfer targets - so the whole thing needs clearing up rapidly if we are to progress!...

 

[alysha 0]

"The first is his decsion about Hoolahan, starting him, leaving him on the bench the next etc. Now I think almost every Norwich fan would agree that he is one of our most influentual players and one of the top technically in the whole league. So what I fail to see is why would he be left on the bench, especially after games such as Ipswich where he came on and played outstanding. I cant remember any reasons really being branded about other than he was tired, but im sure Wes is capable of playing week in week out so I dont really buy this excuse."

I think the game after Ipswich was Derby, and he did play in that game but on the left of the diamond and it wasn''t a great game for him so I think he was then put on the bench then given a run out, but had to come off at coventary through injury. I suppose because he got injured it was no surprise he was sub for Sheffield United, but then came on and changed the game and therefore he got his start against QPR. He didn''t play against Middlesbrough as he had a groin injury, so I think nothing suspicious with regards to Hoolahan.

"The second is the tactics he decided to employ against Sheffield United, and to some extent Middlesborough. Against United I was dumfounded at the team he put out, OK we got the result in the end, but we played some terrible football at times which is unlike the Norwich we have come to expect to see. "

This game did see some wierd tactics but we had so many players injured, and a suspension the line up was different so I suppose the tactics would have to be different to suit the players strength, and when it wasn''t working he was quick to change tactics.

Finally the signing of Wilbraham is the total opposite of what Lambert wants and what I had expected from this tranfer window (although to be fair there is still a long way to go). We all know that we need a back up to Holt, but Lambert always expresses how he wants young hungry players, and by what he said about ''going for it'' I thought we would be spending a bit of money to give it a final push.

In the Middlesborough game we seemed to be playing for the draw, which especially in an away game is something you never see from a Lambert side. It was slightly strange to see OTJ playing as well.

This game surprised me the most, bizzare line up and like you said seemed to be playing for a draw which was unlike Lambert, I thougt Macnamme could of got a run out. However, maybe we didn''t just have a strong enough team on the day to win, but we didn''t want to risk losing the game. 

Finally the signing of Wilbraham is the total opposite of what Lambert wants and what I had expected from this tranfer window (although to be fair there is still a long way to go). We all know that we need a back up to Holt, but Lambert always expresses how he wants young hungry players, and by what he said about ''going for it'' I thought we would be spending a bit of money to give it a final push.

This is what I thought. Maybe the whole Burnley saga is Lamberts'' way of getting more money out of the board.All of this suggests that perhaps Lambert has kown about a move and has been trying to unsettle our position subtly. I am probably totally wrong so please dont shoot me down,I just wanted to point out some things that seemed a bit strange at the time, we blamed it on other reasons, but could well link back to this.

Maybe, but if he has it has certainly back fired, as lately we are on our best run which has pushed us joint second in the league

[ricardo 7,395]

Some laughable conspiracy theorists on here today.

[Hunter106 0]

[quote user="ron obvious"]

There was just one detail that concerned me last time I saw him interviewed, & that was when he got a wee bit flustered when asked about players coming in. There was no longer talk about players lined up, but about difficulties, & how the club didn''t have much money & the fans would have to be realistic.

I really, really hope he hasn''t been told porkies ......


[/quote]

 

Perhaps he could just be playing this situation to his advantage. He realises his worth to the club, and he feels that we need to bring in the players on the shortlist to complete promotion, so he has somehow drummed up interest as a way of saying ''I am a wanted man, and heres the proof, now what are you going to do to make me stay?'' This may indicate the meeting with McNally this morning, and his fairly vauge response in the press meeting is perhaps a smoke cloud for him agreeing new contract terms or signing a big new player, something that would be a more powerful statement that him simply saying ''I am going nowhere''

[Nuff Said 5,140]

[quote user="ricardo"]Some laughable conspiracy theorists on here today.[/quote]It''s the Pink Un! What do you expect? [:D]

[Fiery Zac 1,066]

I always thought Lambert had a good relationship with the board and if so why would they risk annoying him by releasing a statement such as this without discussing it first. If it has been discussed with Lambert, then either:1)He wants to leave and i dont think the club would bother releasing the statement as i think he would be allowed to leave, or2)He''s said he wants to stay and McNally/Lambert have agreed a simple statement to the press that tell it as it is but doesnt overdo it and give it more coverage than it deserves.

[norfolkchance1 0]

Hunter106 thats alarmingly what crossed my mind but I didn''t dare post. Hope not though.

[ricardo 7,395]

[quote user="Nuff Said"][quote user="ricardo"]Some laughable conspiracy theorists on here today.[/quote]It''s the Pink Un! What do you expect? [:D]

[/quote]I expect laughable conspiracy theories Nuff?Tried to start one with my spotting of Chris Sutton in the City this morning but couldn''t think of a way to make it believable. I should have said he was having a coffee with Delia but it was obviously his missus and kids.Never mind, I''m sure we will have a few more before the day is out..

[Jim Smith 2,317]

I don''t buy any consipracy theories about him deliberately chopping and changing the team to unsettle us. After all it sjhould be remembered that he changed the Shef Utd formation (which was brought about by injuries anyway) when it wasn''t working and we went on to win. If he wanted us to drop points he would have stuck with Askou and Nelson at the back against QPR - that would have done the trick. We have been on a great run so any such theories simply don''t stack up.

There may well be something in him trying to make a point with the Middlesbrough team selection/post match interview in the same way Worthington did when he played Jarvis and Henderson up fron v Northampton in the Carling Cup a few years ago to show how down to the bare bones we are.

It may well therefore transpire that this is all about ambition and transfer funds and he is trying to force the board''s hand to get the players he wants in this window by using the threat of the Burnley job as leverage. To me that is much more pallatable than the thought he sees Burnley as a genuinely better option than us! Being an optimist I will therefore choose to run with that view for the time being!

 

[HazzaJet 252]

I can''t see how our board would let Lambert go. Although I certainly want him to stay I might possibly let them speak to him if Burnley were offering to give us £500trillion, as although his departure would have a huge effect on us and the players, the money should pay off our debts. However, this would put Burnley into huge debts and they would probably lose their best players, go down at the end of the season, and look the most ridiculous club in the world.

[foxruels 1]

There is plenty of logic in him moving away from Norwich I''m afraid - he will have more money for players at Burnley and be able to use it during the January transfer window, we simply can''t offer him that. Just hope he doesn''t nick any of our team. Track record not good, ask any Colchester fan

[canarynotsonew77 0]

This morning I expected to wake up, after a far from settled nights sleep, to read that either Paul Lambert hadn''t attended the press conference due to talks with Burnley, or he would come out and say ''I''m staying at Norwich''. He did neither of these things, as we all know.

I don''t think he is using this as a bargaining tool, I think he is genuinely under pressure from family to move nearer them.

If this family issue is going to follow PL throughout his career then why did he accept the job at Norwich in the first place? Not that I care about Colchester, but why did he go there too? Why not aim for a club up north in the first place?

I''ve just seen Lambert on SSN and he didn''t give anything away. He could have said ''I''m staying'', but he didn''t. He could have killed all the speculation with two simple words, but instead, he stoked it up.

As far as I''m concerned, by this time next week, he won''t be manager of Norwich City Football Club.

All I can say is that at least we have McNally finding us a new boss, and not Doncaster.

[Hunter106 0]

I cant understand why we would reject the offer from Burnley unless we were 99% certain he was staying. If he really wants to go the only thing he can do now is walk, and that way we will get barely any money at all if any (unless there was talk between lambert and burnley illegally), and money is the least we would want for such a promising manager. What he said this morning isnt actually that negative or hinting he is on his way. He said he is happy with the statement, to me that sounds as though he feels the statement says it all, and he is ok with the position he is in. as usual he just wants to focus on the game in hand, because had all this not come about this morning press conference would all have been about tomorrows game.

 

At the end of the day he is still here, which is more that I had hoped when I first heard the news yesterday. If he wants to leave nothing will persuade him otherwise, Norwich will be on this earth a lot longer than he will, so being concerned about our long term future, yes he has done a wonderful job, but if he doesnt want to bleed yellow and green for the cause then he can get on his bike. There are plently more managers out there who, if given the chance, would take us where we need to be.