It’s safe to say Paul Lambert is under immense pressure at Aston Villa football club, and it is most certainly deserved. For many years now Villa have been very poorly run in all aspects of management, from the board to the side-line. Since Martin O’Neill abandoned ship in 2010, the club has gone significantly downhill.
In 2010 we reached the semi final of the FA cup, and the final of the Carling Cup. It was a great achievement for the whole of Aston Villa. The talk of Champions League football was huge, and almost looked achievable. Fans often believed the good times were back and ready to stay. Then proceedings took a turn for the worse. Owner, Randy Lerner sold James Milner, an individual who was vital to the teams success between 2008-2010. Disgusted by the board’s actions, O’Neill subsequently walked just before the start of the 2010/11 season.
Martin O’Neill’s departure brought great turmoil to the club. Gerard Houllier came in and looked completely out of sorts. The Frenchmen later left halfway through the season due to ill health. Darren Bent was signed for a record £18m and Jean Makoun was also brought in for a fee of around £6m. Despite managerial problems things looked to be picking up, ever so slightly.
Come 2011/12 Houllier did not return. Fans quickly turned on Lerner and the board as they became ‘unable’ to agree a sufficient deal with Roberto Martinez. This issue then escalated when the news came out that Alex McLeish would be appointed as the new manager of Aston Villa. The mission statement was clear for McLeish. Cut costs by pulling the plug on big wages and big transfer deals, this was something Lerner executed perfectly with the help of Paul Faulkner. It ruined the club. McLeish was soon dismissed after an abysmal season.
Paul Lambert. The fans choice! The man every fan wanted. He started off okay, any significant progress was still been hindered by the financial restrictions put in place by the board. After an average start to the season the Villa faithful appeared to be split in their support for the new man in charge. The month of December started rather positively with two draws against QPR and Stoke and a great victory over Lambert’s ex-club, Norwich. We were into the semi finals of the League Cup and unbeaten in six. Then all optimism was severely tarnished. We suffered a hideous 8-0 defeat to Chelsea, followed by a 4-0 loss to Spurs. An awful 3-0 defeat to Wigan saw us stoop to 17th place in the league. To add to the misery of December, dreams of a Wembley final were also shattered by an embarrassing loss to Bradford, who looked the better side in both legs. This appalling run of performances resulted in the fans calling for Lambert’s head, and they had an argument.
The winter of 2014/15 is no different. The periods are almost identical in fact. Admittedly the more recent results are nowhere near as bad as the ones suffered two years ago, but the performances are, if not worse. This year looked to be the turning point for the club, we signed some promising talent (Cissokho, Sanchez and Cleverley) and also some experienced heads in Senderos and Cole. The ousted Alan Hutton was also back and on form. Faulkner left and was replaced with the ambitious American, Tom Fox. Roy Keane was also appointed assistant manager earlier in July. We remained in the top six after 2 months, things were moving nicely. October was very reminiscent of December 2012 however, a horrific period of time for the club both on and off the field. Three consecutive defeats took place to the hands of Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton. Anti-Lambert feeling was more prominent than it had ever been. The despair of the fans had finally reached boiling point when Roy Keane departed the club on incredibly confused terms.
Since then home attendances have plummeted massively, the fans feelings are becomingly increasingly evident. One positive can be taken from the latter stages of 2014 however, the manager realised his long-ball tactics were not working. Possession has now become the main objective and long balls seem a thing of the past. Still there is no end product, though.
The failure of Paul Lambert as a manager was a big issue 2 years ago, nothing was resolved by the club. Now in 2015, the situation is even worse. It’s time the directors of the club realise what the fans have been preaching for years. It’s clear Lambert is struggling, both tactically and mentally. He lacks the passion and fight this football club needs in order to thrive. Lambert is the problem. If the problem isn’t addressed soon, I fear relegation is most definitely on the cards.
