[jackf1337]

Are people really this gullible?

[hogso]

They could well be. Gabby has said he thinks it will be Poyet, Bent has said Lambert, and Gardner has said Grayson. Basically, no know knows what the **** is going on I was expecting it to be sorted at the start of this week, either yesterday or today, but doesnt seem that way, as it could have coincided with the last day for ST renewels (thursday).

Apparently the ST renewel levels are about the same as they were last season, which isn't too promising, but then they havent changed the prices much (mine has gone up £5), so I guess they're hoping for an influx when an appointment is made. You would have thought it likely to be done before the Euro's really...we'll see. I don't expect a marque signing though, rather, I am fully expected 70% of Villa fans to go 'Oh. Oh right'. The other 30% will be split saying he's **** or he's great.

[boumavilla]

Oh. Oh right.

[hogso]

See. I am ITK after all.

[Phalanges]

Paul Lambert? Paul Lambert? Paul Lambert!

If only I'd said "Lambert will be going to Villa Park" rather than "I hope Lambert comes to Villa Park" all those times I could have linked those posts and pretended to be in the know now too!

[Colbert]

Really hoping the Lambert deal doesn't fall through.

How much would he bid for Holt? Anything less than £5million would be a great purchase despite his age.

[WdA04]

I'm slightly annoyed at Lambert leaving Norwich (Norwich fan here) but the way which Norwich are handling it is terrible. They should just let him go and not leave on a sour note.
He has done wonders for our club, and to ruin it all by doing this is not right.

Good luck to Lambert at Villa, though I feel we're now heading for championship

[Phalanges]

(Original post by WdA04)
I'm slightly annoyed at Lambert leaving Norwich (Norwich fan here) but the way which Norwich are handling it is terrible. They should just let him go and not leave on a sour note.
He has done wonders for our club, and to ruin it all by doing this is not right.

Good luck to Lambert at Villa, though I feel we're now heading for championship

I'm sorry you've lost your manager, we've been on the receiving end of poachings enough times over the last few years and it never feels pleasant. I really hope you get a good replacement and stay up next season.

[WdA04]

(Original post by Phalanges)
I'm sorry you've lost your manager, we've been on the receiving end of poachings enough times over the last few years and it never feels pleasant. I really hope you get a good replacement and stay up next season.

Haha cheers. Eventhough you're on the other end, I'm sure you think Norwich are handling it pretty stupidly. Just trying to get some money out of you.
We should be thankful he came to us and helped us get out of financial problems and into a much higher tier of football lol

[NorwichtoBristol]

(Original post by WdA04)
I'm slightly annoyed at Lambert leaving Norwich (Norwich fan here) but the way which Norwich are handling it is terrible. They should just let him go and not leave on a sour note.
He has done wonders for our club, and to ruin it all by doing this is not right.

Good luck to Lambert at Villa, though I feel we're now heading for championship

The board want the compensation for Lambert, simple as that. I'm annoyed at this too, but I feel that for all Lambert has done for us we shouldn't just let him go for nothing and quite rightly McNally hasn't let him walk.

Really hope we can get Malky Mackay now as he's former Norwich and has done a good job at Cardiff considering the circumstances. If not him, the Hughton.

[Cll_ws]

(Original post by NorwichtoBristol)
The board want the compensation for Lambert, simple as that. I'm annoyed at this too, but I feel that for all Lambert has done for us we shouldn't just let him go for nothing and quite rightly McNally hasn't let him walk.

The way Norwich went about signing Lambert from Colchester in the first place wasn't all that great in the first place was it? Weren't Norwich fined?

I can totally understand you guys not wanting to just let him walk though.



I'd be happy with Lambert. I was pushing for a young, foreign manager, but Lambert was always my first choice if we were going to go British.

[Alpharius]

Paul Lambert will go eventually to Villa. Norwich cannot keep a manager that doesn't want to be there. Norwich are holding out for compensation, but they can't justify getting much due to it being a rolling contract.

Good choich by Villa, a very good manager, if he's backed he'll do a great job. I'm not convinced he'll be backed sufficiently to get you lot into the top 6, the owner has been trying to cut the wage-bill, not add to it. He'll improve on the last season, not too difficult.

[jackf1337]

Genuinely have a lot of sympathy for Norwich fans at the moment. It's never nice when managers walk and players get poached. Villa have been on the receiving end of such events far too many times in the past few seasons. Best of luck to Norwich in finding a new manager and maintaining PL status for another season.

Fairly pleased with the (pending) appointment of Lambert. I think the circumstances are putting a bit of a dampener on it for me, but that's football.
Regarding the wage bill, we've just released 3 players on a combined wage of over £120k p/w so it's already been reduced significantly. Lambert will hopefully be backed and should take full advantage of chopping and changing the squad in time for the new season.

[Cll_ws]

(Original post by Alpharius)
Good choich by Villa, a very good manager, if he's backed he'll do a great job. I'm not convinced he'll be backed sufficiently to get you lot into the top 6, the owner has been trying to cut the wage-bill, not add to it. He'll improve on the last season, not too difficult.

The cutting's been done I feel. It does sometimes make me wonder whether that's the sole reason Mcleish was brought in!

But our wage bill is massively lower than it was this time last year, and even more so than the year before that. The players we've released this summer, mainly Heskey, Cuellar and Guzan, frees up £100k+ alone, add that to what was already done with Ash and Downing leaving last summer.

I honestly think this will be a clean slate, Lambert will be given money and time to build his own team and push on. I think the board realise that they can't afford to mess up again, or it'll them the fans are calling on to leave next.

[boumavilla]

(Original post by WdA04)
I'm slightly annoyed at Lambert leaving Norwich (Norwich fan here) but the way which Norwich are handling it is terrible. They should just let him go and not leave on a sour note.
He has done wonders for our club, and to ruin it all by doing this is not right.

Good luck to Lambert at Villa, though I feel we're now heading for championship

I'll wait until you have another manager before I say for definite but I have to say that I agree that Norwich might be heading back down! Sorry! He's very good at getting teams to punch above their weight.
This will be the second coming of Martin O'Neill!!!

What gets me is why are Norwich hanging on for a couple of million?? (I know it's a lot but not in the Premier League)

[boumavilla]

(Original post by Alpharius)
Paul Lambert will go eventually to Villa. Norwich cannot keep a manager that doesn't want to be there. Norwich are holding out for compensation, but they can't justify getting much due to it being a rolling contract.

Good choich by Villa, a very good manager, if he's backed he'll do a great job. I'm not convinced he'll be backed sufficiently to get you lot into the top 6, the owner has been trying to cut the wage-bill, not add to it. He'll improve on the last season, not too difficult.

We have replaced a lot of the high-wage players with youth players mostly so the wage bill will be lower!
Heskey was on £60000 a week, added to Cuellar and Guzan, then there's the likes of Makoun (who I hope stays), Hutton, Warnock and N'Zogbia who could be leaving.
Also, Shorey, Luke Young, Ash Young, Downing, Milner amongst other squad players we have sold in the past couple of years have also helped lower the wage bill further.
We have money!!

[Alpharius]

(Original post by Cll_ws)
The cutting's been done I feel. It does sometimes make me wonder whether that's the sole reason Mcleish was brought in!

But our wage bill is massively lower than it was this time last year, and even more so than the year before that. The players we've released this summer, mainly Heskey, Cuellar and Guzan, frees up £100k+ alone, add that to what was already done with Ash and Downing leaving last summer.

I honestly think this will be a clean slate, Lambert will be given money and time to build his own team and push on. I think the board realise that they can't afford to mess up again, or it'll them the fans are calling on to leave next.

(Original post by boumavilla)
We have replaced a lot of the high-wage players with youth players mostly so the wage bill will be lower!
Heskey was on £60000 a week, added to Cuellar and Guzan, then there's the likes of Makoun (who I hope stays), Hutton, Warnock and N'Zogbia who could be leaving.
Also, Shorey, Luke Young, Ash Young, Downing, Milner amongst other squad players we have sold in the past couple of years have also helped lower the wage bill further.
We have money!!

I hope so, would be nice to see a club with real history doing well.

I would say to not get your hopes up too high for this season. A successful season would be comfortable mid-table, with an eye to push for Europe the season after. A top 10 finish would be a good start (and roughly where your team should be).

Don't even think about top 4, there are 6-7 teams in for that already, so if you get Europa League, that would be a great achievement from where you are now.

[boumavilla]

(Original post by Alpharius)
I hope so, would be nice to see a club with real history doing well.

I would say to not get your hopes up too high for this season. A successful season would be comfortable mid-table, with an eye to push for Europe the season after. A top 10 finish would be a good start (and roughly where your team should be).

Don't even think about top 4, there are 6-7 teams in for that already, so if you get Europa League, that would be a great achievement from where you are now.

We realise where we are as a club now, so Europe again would be a great feeling!

[Cll_ws]

(Original post by Alpharius)
I hope so, would be nice to see a club with real history doing well.

I would say to not get your hopes up too high for this season. A successful season would be comfortable mid-table, with an eye to push for Europe the season after. A top 10 finish would be a good start (and roughly where your team should be).

Don't even think about top 4, there are 6-7 teams in for that already, so if you get Europa League, that would be a great achievement from where you are now.

Oh yeah, we can't expect too much straight away. He needs to be given at least 2-3 years to rebuild and change things around before we can even begin to expect to challenge the top teams. I'm sure both the board and fans will give him time, right now the best thing for us would be to have a permanent, long-term manager who with the right tools could turn things around. Lambert seems that kind of guy.

Right now, i'd see top-half as a successful season. Anything better than last season will be improvement, so we just need to give the guy time. As long as he plays decent football and looks to be going out to win games then he'll have the fans on his side.

[iwantcurlyhairtoo]

After his release from Aston Villa, Emile Heskey has gone on a shooting rampage in Birmingham city centre. No one was hurt.