[Archived] Official: Paul Lambert Appointed Blackburn Rovers Manager

[47er]

I think too many people are giving PL an easy ride so far, for many reasons some of which are valid. I would say though that I would expect a new manager to get better performances out of the players he inherited and to date he just hasn't done that. I am not saying he is a rubbish manager or that we should sack him but I am saying that you can't hire a manager in November and give him a free pass for the rest of the season. I hope he does get money to spend but hope more that there is some control put on this. The club doesn't seem to have any kind of cohesive structure and I fear that if £10M is chucked in it will be another feeding frenzy with noone being able to stop the money heamoraging out of the club.

Who knows what will happen, least of all our owners.

"I am not saying he is a rubbish manager or that we should sack him"!!!!!!!!

He'a terrific manager and we shouldn't sack him because we will only get someone worse--remember?

That is, if anyone is interested in applying, which they won't be because I read it on here so many times when Bowyer was manager!

[47er]

A contract can be written, verbal or implied. Consult your lawyer.

No, you consult your lawyer and pay the fees. I think you will find that Venkys can afford more law than Lambert could and he is hardly likely to spend the rest of his life (and money)trying to prove Venkys promised him more transfer money than they delivered.

Easier to walk away to a club where he could better trust the owners wouldn't it? And there would be plenty of them.

How did we ever descend to debates of such idiocy?

[garnersfags]

An attack on a fellow poster?Are you for real?How dare I question why he only posts something negative never anything positive.Please explain why you think my post is an attack?Your welcome to pm me

I'm happy to withdraw the word 'attack' but your whole post's tone was of personal criticism of Rev rather than responding to his actual post(s):

'I never read anything positive from you,first to post when we lose...not seen for days when we win'.

As I said earlier, there is no need to defend the indefensible (such as our away performances under PL).

Some posters will question some of the decicions or short-term performance of the owners or management, without necessarily denouncing the long-term strategy or vision. This is not disloyal or particularly deserving of personal criticism.

I obviously thought that your post was overly critical but I don't want to get into a defence of individual posters who can defend themselves (ok, yes, I know, I've a funny way of showing it...)

[islander200]

I'm happy to withdraw the word 'attack' but your whole post's tone was of personal criticism of Rev rather than responding to his actual post(s):

'I never read anything positive from you,first to post when we lose...not seen for days when we win'.

As I said earlier, there is no need to defend the indefensible (such as our away performances under PL).

Some posters will question some of the decicions or short-term performance of the owners or management, without necessarily denouncing the long-term strategy or vision. This is not disloyal or particularly deserving of personal criticism.

I obviously thought that your post was overly critical but I don't want to get into a defence of individual posters who can defend themselves (ok, yes, I know, I've a funny way of showing it...)

I didn't write anything that wasn't true.Every time we have a defeat Rev is on to criticize,yet when we win I haven't read one post from him.

As for Your opinion of our away performances I commented on your post the other day after the Brentford match when you claimed we hadn't performed well in any of our away games,I mentioned the Boro match And the preston match.You know like the rest of us that the team needs new players,you expect us to go and play attacking football away from home.Rome wasn't built in a day,I'm happy enough with Lambert seeming to get our home form on track,we have looked a lot better in the last 6 weeks.

[JHRover]

He can sue Venkys for assurances given about transfer policy? Ridiculous claim.

I said if they have made promises as part of the agreement/contract to bring him here which they have subsequently changed their minds on then Lambert would be able to claim against them/the club if he felt he had no choice but to walk away. If they've promised him something and he asked for it in writing which they then don't deliver on he'd have a case. Keegan did it with Newcastle and won because the situation he faced 6 months down the line was very different to the one he was brought in to work under, and Curbishley did the same with West Ham and won a lot of money for it.

I'm not saying this is what has happened or will happen, I don't know, only that if Lambert was given assurances as part of the negotiation process which might have found their way into writing then he would have a case if they didn't materialise.

It's all speculation and hopefully they will back him well in the job, but the best managers in this league find ways to grind out results even under the tightest of budgets - Dyche, Hughton, McCarthy etc.

[JHRover]

No, you consult your lawyer and pay the fees. I think you will find that Venkys can afford more law than Lambert could and he is hardly likely to spend the rest of his life (and money)trying to prove Venkys promised him more transfer money than they delivered.

Easier to walk away to a club where he could better trust the owners wouldn't it? And there would be plenty of them.

How did we ever descend to debates of such idiocy?

IF Lambert has agreed to join this club on the understanding that certain conditions will be met by the owners, one being that he will be supported to a certain level financially in the transfer market, and then six months down the line the owners refuse to allow him to spend any money whilst expecting him to achieve the same targets, then that wouldn't be fair.

Lambert COULD reach the conclusion that it made his job impossible as it isn't the same situation as he was led to believe when taking the job. I'm sure as a member of the LMA he would have their support as all managers do and would be able to receive advice from their lawyers as to whether or not he would have a case. I'm sure Venkys having more money than him wouldn't be a problem, just as it isn't for countless staff/players who enter tribunals with their employers/clubs for all sorts of issues.

I'm sure walking away from a multi-million pound contract wouldn't be easy, nor would finding another club willing to sign him up at short notice.

All depends on what he was led to believe/promised when he took the job and then what actually materializes in the summer. Of course it is quite possible that no amount was specified/promised to him and that he's taken the job on some vague hope that they will spend. In which case if they don't then Lambert cannot complain as he should have sought more cast iron promises when taking the job, rather than jumping in with his eyes closed.

[Norbert Rassragr]

Look at it this way, not even Jesus could make a squad that has Delfeuso, Brown, Henley, Taylor, Akpan and Steele as possible starters into anything better than we're seeing now. It'll take a massive overhaul of the squad to change this crap situation.

[Neal]

People dont seem to realise but had Lambert been appointed in the summer we would likely be in and around the playoffs by now.

[philipl]

I fully expect that the press will increasingly be full of questions about whether Lambeth has any money.

In fact a staged "row" or two might not go amiss.

The more skint we look, the further the funds will go.

[Athlete]

Naïve in the extreme. Anyone who thinks Lambert, Irvine and Kelly have come/returned here without guarantees must be living in cloud cuckoo land!

We all know Venky's guarantees mean absolutely nothing..

So it's a case of wait and see even if the soundbites from PL's interviews aren't getting us over hopefull...

PL has worked for some bizarre owners but he hasn't worked for any as bizarre as Venky's and that's a guaranteed fact

[47er]

IF Lambert has agreed to join this club on the understanding that certain conditions will be met by the owners, one being that he will be supported to a certain level financially in the transfer market, and then six months down the line the owners refuse to allow him to spend any money whilst expecting him to achieve the same targets, then that wouldn't be fair.

Lambert COULD reach the conclusion that it made his job impossible as it isn't the same situation as he was led to believe when taking the job. I'm sure as a member of the LMA he would have their support as all managers do and would be able to receive advice from their lawyers as to whether or not he would have a case. I'm sure Venkys having more money than him wouldn't be a problem, just as it isn't for countless staff/players who enter tribunals with their employers/clubs for all sorts of issues.

I'm sure walking away from a multi-million pound contract wouldn't be easy, nor would finding another club willing to sign him up at short notice.

All depends on what he was led to believe/promised when he took the job and then what actually materializes in the summer. Of course it is quite possible that no amount was specified/promised to him and that he's taken the job on some vague hope that they will spend. In which case if they don't then Lambert cannot complain as he should have sought more cast iron promises when taking the job, rather than jumping in with his eyes closed.

I do not understand why you talk as if this is a private matter between Lambert and the owners.

Who will suffer if Venkys don't back their manager? Venkys? No chance---they wil just carry on being Venkys----unaccountable, erratic and non-communicating.

Lambert? No, he's only been here five minutes, he will walk and have no difficulty getting another job.

We, who love Rovers will be the ones who suffer. Not only will our hopes for a successful pre-season be dashed, we will lose the best management team we have had in years. Most likely we won't get a manager of that calibre and we will be looking at relegation not the promotion-seeking season we were hoping for.

[arbitro]

Having listened to Lamberts recent interviews I think he could have been promised a certain amount but after assessing the squad he feels he needs more money given some of the dross he inherited. I think he will have made tentative enquiries for players and knows how much it will take to get us up to the top echelons of the Championship.

It is simple for me - the Indians either back him or run the risk of losing him and take us another couple of steps to oblivion.

[DE.]

I agree that Lambert has shown positive signs of being able to take us to the next level and I agree he is a significantly better manager than GB.

It is a sign of the size of his task that, imo, we will finish exactly where we would have finished if GB had remained in charge.

Under GB we would have been either right outside or in the relegation zone right now imo. The players had lost confidence and belief, neither of which GB was capable of changing. 3 wins in 16, being beaten 3-0 by the likes of the MK Dons and no indication of where the next win was coming from. None of us know how GB would have used the Jan transfer window, assuming Venky's would have paid the £3m to get us out of the embargo with GB in charge, but with the budget still restricted to loans and freebies I can't see that we'd have progressed very far with the summer's embarrassing transfer business taken into account.

People dont seem to realise but had Lambert been appointed in the summer we would likely be in and around the playoffs by now.

I very much doubt it, unless the embargo had been lifted in the summer itself and Lambert given significant funds to strengthen the squad. This group of players are not playoff or promotion material, and we need investment to get there. Of course we can point to the likes of Ipswich getting into the playoffs last season, but my goodness they are an awful footballing side and Norwich breezed past them when it came to the playoff semis. The gulf in class was very obvious and we'll need to bridge that gap before we harbour any serious aspirations of returning to the top flight.

[mhead]

Until we see a better style away from home, with more measured passing and taking the initiative away from the Home side, then the view of Lambert must be 'work in progress'.

He has energised us at home but the away style(right from the off ) needed Gestede not Rhodes. If it were to continue next season we would not get into the play-offs.

[JHRover]

Its also interesting to compare Lambert's start here to other managers who joined Championship rivals at a similar time to he did (October/November/December 2015).

Lambert took over on 15th November, and has been in charge for 22 league games, winning 8, drawing 5 and losing 9 - win percentage of 36% . He has collected 29 points from a possible 66 available.

Lamberts' predecessor, Gary Bowyer, managed 16 league games, winning 3, drawing 8 and losing 5 - win percentage of 18%, collecting 17 points from 45 available.

Wagner at Huddersfield took over the previous week, and has managed 22 games, winning 9, drawing 3 and losing 10 - win percentage of 40% - 30 points from a possible 66.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink took over at QPR on 4th December, and has since managed 19 league games, winning 5, drawing 10 and losing 4 - win percentage of 26% - picking up 25 points from a possible 57 available.

Dean Smith took over at Brentford on 30th November, since managed 19 games, winning 5, drawing 3 and losing 11 - win percentage of 26% - 18 points from a possible 57.

Slavisa Jokanovic started at Fulham on 27th December, since managed 15 games, winning 2, drawing 5 and losing 8 - win percentage of 13% - 11 points from a possible 45.

Brian McDermott started at Reading on 17th December, has managed 16 games, winning 4, drawing 6 and losing 6 - win percentage of 25% - 18 points from a possible 48.

So the only one who has a better win record over that period has been Wagner at Huddersfield, although he's actually picked up only 1 point more than Lambert has here. All the rest have worse win records and points tallies over that period, yet I would argue that certainly Reading and QPR had stronger squads, arguably Fulham too.

Its obviously a work in progress but there can be no argument that Rovers results have improved under Lambert when compared to Bowyer this season and that when compared to almost all the other managers appointed at rivals around the same period of time Lambert is ahead of most, despite inheriting a poor squad.

[VinjayV4]

Just an update on the meeting with Venkys. I asked Nixon and he said its not happened yet. So if anyone was wondering presumably it will be this upcoming week. Hopefully we will hear something positive from PL about it.

[tomphil]

It'll probably just end up our finance director going over to Pune or Zurich again like last summer. Last time not long after he came back Cairney was sacrificed, I wait with very baited breath to see what'll happen this time.

[gumboots]

I've tried hard not to do this but this is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen it wrongly spelt in the last few days. It's bated breath not baited

[yoda]

I've tried hard not to do this but this is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen it wrongly spelt in the last few days. It's bated breath not baited

Maybe they were trying to provoke a response !

[blondie]

Maybe they were trying to provoke a response !

Dangling the bate,perhaps,

[tomphil]

I've tried hard not to do this but this is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen it wrongly spelt in the last few days. It's bated breath not baited

Are you fishing for a response ?

[Al]

Are you fishing for a response ?

I don't think so. Repeated wrong spellings can be irritating. My pet hate is "of" instead of "have".

[Give 'Em the Axe]

But the pedantry is so consistent on these boards, I've never seen anything like it. It's an internet forum not a journal of record. Almost every day there's an instance of somebody pulling someone up on their spelling (or maths!). If the meaning isn't obscured, why give a rat's rear end about it?

[Mike E]

I don't think so. Repeated wrong spellings can be irritating. My pet hate is "of" instead of "have".

While I agree, I believe it was just a pun

[Give 'Em the Axe]

You left out the period, Ellison. My day is ruined!