Making Plans 936 Posted May 14, 2012 Lambert won’tgo to Villa and here’s why.Firstly, despite finishing 12th & securing PL football for another season, his job here isnot done. He knows we could go further – look what has achieved thus far withbasically a squad made up of mostly League One players. What could be achievedwith just another 2 or 3 of his astute signings. Probably not Champions League but certainly animprovement on this year – top 8 wouldn’t be a pipe dream.And then there’s Howson & Ryan Bennett – only bought inJanuary but already showing signs that they could become great players. Add tothat the fact that the likes of Elliot Bennett, Pilkington, Ruddy, Morison,Fox, Surman, have all shown that they have further improvement to come and we could easily have an exciting squad for next season.Then there’s the relationship with McNally & the Board –Lambert knows where he stands, what he can do and what he can’t do. Mutualunderstanding, respect and trust. And so to Villa.Firstly there would need to be a big clear out as obviouslya lot of their current squad is either past it, not up to it or both. So thefirst job would be to secure sufficient money to assemble a squad that could(a) play decent football and (b) avoid the threat of relegation again nextseason.That in itself wouldn’tcome cheap & basically it would only get Villa to where NCFC are already. To go that one stage further, like challenging for aChampions League place or pushing for a top 6 finish would cost Villa hundreds of millions – witnessthe amount that Man City have had to spend to become a member of the elite PLClubs. And hundreds of millions is probably a lot more than Mr Lerner is prepared to spend, even ifhe’s got it.The risk of going to Villa is that it''s going into theunknown – a Club in disarray that is lacking in ambition, direction &leadership and have an owner who lives thousands of miles away whobasically has no real interest in football. Villa have become a selling Club - Young, Milner & Downing - & that won''t fit in with Lambert''s ambitions. Mutual understanding, respect andtrust, I doubt it.Sure, in the very long term, Villa probably do have morepotential than City but whether or not this potential can ever be realised,with or without Lambert, is highly debateable. It wasn’t realised with O’Neil sothere would need to be a major shift in funds & attitude to attract aManager who undoubtably has bigger fish to fry 2 or 3 years down the line. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thirsty Lizard 3,155 Posted May 14, 2012 Interesting stuff about Randy Lerner on Five Live tonight.They said that basically he''s an invisible man at Villa - doesn''t go to the games, is never interviewed, doesn''t go to the AGM''s etc, etc. Compare that with Delia here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Suffolk exile 0 Posted May 14, 2012 There is no reason why in 3 years time Lambert turns villa into something akin to Everton at worst. Lets face it lambert wants champions league with one of the big 4 and a club like villa is clearly the next stepping stone for him. I wish him well and be keen not to become bitter like col u fans. We were a massive basket case so I doubt the current problems at villa will put him off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CambridgeCanary 0 Posted May 14, 2012 Totally agree with you Plans. Nothing is for ever but it really seems a strange time for Lambert to leave his project. No doubt there are other projects which would be irresistible but what Villa would offer that is so attractive is impossible to understand. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites