Paul McGrath (GOD) Speaks (with added stories from other ex players and Pundits)

Paul McGrath offers scathing assessment of Aston Villa's plight

Aston Villa legend Paul McGrath has pulled no punches in his assessment of the club and the direction he fears they are heading.

Paul McGrath spent seven years on the books at Aston Villa during his distinguished playing career, so is well placed to pass judgement on goings on in the Midlands.

He has taken to Twitter to do just that, and has pulled no punches in a scathing assessment.

It is the opinion of the legendary centre-half that Villa have become a ‘disgrace’, with mismanagement off the field costing them dear.

He claims funds have been required for some time, with a current slump predicted by many.

Randy Lerner has been looking for a buyer, but has continued to bankroll the club while still at the helm.

McGrath, it appears, feels more could be done, with Villa making just two additions – Carles Gil and Scott Sinclair – during the winter transfer window.

Both figured in the club’s latest outing, but that failed to see the tide turn as they were crushed 5-0 away at Arsenal.

Hate to see the club I love in the state it's in at the moment , needed investment four years ago , Villa now in panic mode . Disgrace UTV.

— Paul McGrath (@Paulmcgrath5) February 3, 2015
Is McGrath right?

Villa certainly appear to be in ‘panic mode’, and have every right to be feeling the strain.

A lack of firepower has held them back throughout Paul Lambert’s reign as manager and has never really been addressed.

Fingers can be pointed in various directions - playing staff, coaching team, boardroom – but the excuses have to stop.

Villa are in serious danger of losing their standing among the Premier League elite, with the club only heading one way if mistakes continue to be made and goals remain in short supply.

There is, however, only so much they can do when working under a want-away owner and it may be that the club remains stuck in a rut until Lerner and/or Lambert head through the exits.

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/02/03/paul-mcgrath-offers-scathing-assessment-of-aston-villas-plight/?

Are all you Lambert supporting clowns going to disagree with GOD?!

Bosnich speaks.

Exclusive - Time coming for Lambert to call it quits at Aston Villa, says former star

Mark Bosnich believes the time is fast approaching for Paul Lambert to 'do the right thing' and call it quits at Aston Villa.

Villa, thrashed 5-0 by Arsenal on Sunday, are without a win in eight Premier League games and have failed to find the net in more than 10 hours of football.

Bosnich insists Lambert must shoulder the responsibility for the woeful run of form, which has left the Midlands club sitting just three points above the relegation zone.

And he says the Scot must soon decide whether it is time to step aside and let someone else take charge.

Speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, the ex-Villa goalkeeper said: “It is coming to a head.

“I have said time and time again that nobody is too good to go down. They can only flirt with relegation so many times before they go down.

“I said at the start of the season that if you put Aston Villa’s starting eleven against Southampton’s starting eleven it would have been a toss-up [over which eleven is stronger] and maybe you would have just leaned towards Aston Villa. Ronald Koeman has shown exactly what can be done

"Whichever job you are in, there comes a time when you being there is not the right thing. You have got to do the right thing and actually turn around and say, ‘listen, maybe somebody can come in and do better’. I think it is approaching that moment for Paul.

“Ever since he was given a contract extension at the beginning of the season it has gone from bad to worse. He has got to change his footballing philosophy completely.

“He has got to change. If he fails to adapt or change, somebody is going to pull the trigger for him.  If they keep going like they are going, they will go down.”

http://talksport.com/football/exclusive-time-coming-lambert-call-it-quits-aston-villa-says-former-star-150202134779?

Carragher speaks.

Jamie Carragher asks key questions of Aston Villa’s future ambitions

Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has told Sky Sports that Aston Villa will never be a top-four club in the Premier League.

The former England international defender made the comments following the Villans’ 5-0 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday.

It was one of Villa’s worst performances of the season and increased threats of suffering relegation to the Championship at the end of the campaign.

Paul Lambert’s side are currently 16th in the Premier League table with 22 points from 23 matches, just three points above the bottom three.

Carragher was far from impressed with Villa’s performance and asked some key questions of the ambition of the club.

“Today the players haven’t produced,” the 37-year-old told Sky Sports on Sunday. “You could talk about the manager’s tactics, the way he's set his team up and how they’ve done this season – is he positive enough? Is there enough quality on the pitch in terms of the goals they’ve got? Obviously not.

"But it comes back to the top and what’s going on at the club. Is the ambition there to try and get Aston Villa back to where it should be and belongs, which is a top-six, top-eight club?

"I know they had aspirations of breaking into the Champions League under Martin O’Neill, but they were always short. I was playing at the time and they were never quite at the top-four level.

"Will they ever get there, who knows? I don’t think so, but they need to get back to being a team who fight for European qualification year-in, year-out.”

Just a few years ago Villa were fighting for top-six finishes in the Premier League, but now they are struggling to even retain their top-flight status.

Perhaps Villa are not ambitious anymore, perhaps they are happy just to be part of the world’s most popular football league.

There have been investments in the Villa team in years gone by, but they have not been enough to make them a top-four contender.

It is not easy to break into the top four of the Premier League, though. Tottenham Hotspur, who have more resources than Villa, have failed to do so for years.

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/02/03/jamie-carragher-asks-key-questions-of-aston-villas-future-ambiti/page/1/

Everybody but the people that matter at Aston Villa can see where Aston Villa are heading... absolute madness!

I wonder if its that maybe Randy is too trusting, Lamberts said to him they've been down this road before and he has proved he has what it takes to make them survive and Lerners a naive plonker who has bought it. Unfortunately this year, unlike the previous 4 or 5, we don't have a player that either wants to or is capable of stepping up to the plate to almost single handedly dig us out the shit this pair of idiots has landed us squarely in. If this club does not go down this season, then Lambert need to pick me my lottery numbers because he literally will be the luckiest guy on the planet

We would have no divine right to come straight back up either , i would class us a s similar club as Leeds or Sheff W , we could be in the wilderness for years !

VillaBill wrote:We would have no divine right to come straight back up either , i would class us a s similar club as Leeds or Sheff W , we could be in the wilderness for years !

This is the thing. If you could guarantee me that going down would be like pressing the refresh button on Aston Villa, then I'd probably love a season in the Championship, watching us win home and away for most of our games that season and flying straight back up into somewhere around where Aston Villa are traditionally seen in the top flight for the next year, with our dynamic new owner and manager restoring the pride of this wonderful football club.

But, we can't guarantee that, and with Lerner and Lambert at the helm, I'd say there is just as much chance of us sliding even further as there is of us coming back up.

As for all the comments - it's nothing new, but it is disturbing that pundits can see it, Villa fans can see it, even fans of other clubs ask me how on earth Lambert is surviving.

It's genuinely terrifying that everyone can see it apart from the people that can affect it.

The ominous thing about relegation to the Championship (let's call it the second division shall we!) is that Lambert has a case for saying to RL/TF .... "Leave it to me guys, I know exactly what it takes to get out of this division" because he's done it before. Even relegation wouldn't endanger his job!

villabromsgrove wrote:The ominous thing about relegation to the Championship (let's call it the second division shall we!) is that Lambert has a case for saying to RL/TF .... "Leave it to me guys, I know exactly what it takes to get out of this division" because he's done it before. Even relegation wouldn't endanger his job!

Sadly, I completely agree.

Can we raise enough for a sniper?*



*Legal disclaimer - I am joking...Probably.

The thing that riles me and Fox has riled me with his False Narrative BS. Surely the same false narrative applied to McLeish? Yet he was sacked anyway, as he didn't bring the results or football that a club of our stature deserves and expects (or words to that effect) So what's the difference? Apart from the cynic in me saying its blatantly PR Guff. The real narrative tells it's own tale in the form of results, performances, broken records (all bad) and terrible statistics. Its a terrible narrative, but not false.
I do really want to like T Fox, but I can't help but think he's full of it, just in a more savvy way than Faulkner was. Off the pitch, he undoubtedly has a great CV and pedigree, but he's admitted to not knowing an awful lot regarding on field matters, him and the owner are naive (being kind) and trusting all their eggs in Paul Lambert's badly woven basket. I sense this is the year for us. That performance Sunday had relegation etched all over it...

I wrote to Tom late Sunday night (or Monday, I forget now) I asked him if he could shed any light on what he and RL sees in all the 'facts' that we, ex players, pundits, other clubs fans and the media don't see. I've not had a reply as of writing.