The Birmingham Mail Villa podcast: Mat Kendrick, Jonny Gould and Howard Hodgson on new takeover talk and new Sherwood regime

Lambert's Champions League, oh well!

What do you know, a hint of stability seems about to break between the clouds hovering above Aston Villa - and the dreaded T word emerges!

Will Randy Lerner finally relinquish control of the club this summer?

In this latest episode, Mat, Jonny and Howard also talk about the players Tim Sherwood has improved immediately like Cleverely, N'Zogbia, Gaby and Benteke and the home game with Swansea this Saturday.

listen to ‘@birminghammail #podcast: @matkendrick @jonnygould and @HodgsonHoward on #takeover #FACup and #relegation fight’ on audioBoom

Birmingham Mail Special: Mat Kendrick joins Howard and Jonny's Villa podcast

Mat Kendrick

Welcome to Villa Park, Tim!

There are few better informed on the ins and outs of Aston Villa than the Birmingham Mail's Villa reporter, Mat Kendrick.

Howard and I are delighted Mat could join us for our latest edition of this Special.

And what a time to come on as Tim Sherwood assembles his management team to keep Aston Villa in the Premier League and ahead of another huge game, at home to Stoke City as the countdown to survival continues!

listen to ‘@MatKendrick, @hodgsonhoward and @jonnygould with the latest from #avfc’ on audioBoom

Paul Lambert's dignified farewell to Aston Villa

I've read many a departure statement via the manager's union. Some are thinly-veiled parting shots at the chairman, others squeak at harshness in dismissal and over-defensive pride in results achieved.

Paul Lambert can rebuild his management career

But these are dignified words from a departing boss.

There's a hint Paul Lambert felt compromised from the get-go but he can have no issue with Randy Lerner, accepting the job walking into Villa Park with eyes wide-open to the cost-cutting task.

Lambert believed he could mould young players into a Premier League force - but Villa got murdered regularly! Then when that didn't work, the older guys did little better. In twenty years, I'll struggle to remember Joe Cole played for Villa just as I squint at Peter Schmeichel's record with us today!

Whatever you think of Lambert's part in Aston Villa's current plight, it wasn't his fault he took charge this season. Neither was it his fault he was offered a four-year contract for securing the princely sum of ten points from the team's opening four games. 

Instead it's the man at the very top whose indecision and vacuum of leadership has led Lambert's replacement to contest "thirteen Cup Finals" to avoid relegation.

I'm told Paul bode farewell to each of his players after the final game of last season at Tottenham. If, like me you were at that 3-0 thrashing, you'll know to be grateful it had nothing riding on it.

Hull was the end of the line

So let's wish Paul the best at a club with less expectation and history than Villa - and support CEO Tom Fox, new manager, Tim Sherwood and his players to contest every one of the 39 points left to win this season.

LMA STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF PAUL LAMBERT

I am extremely proud to have managed Aston Villa, a founder member of the Football League, and this sentiment will always remain with me.

My initial remit was to conduct a massive overhaul of the playing squad, lower the overall wage structure of the playing staff and achieve this whilst keeping the club in the Barclays Premier League. 

There was also a concerted effort to purchase and develop younger players who would provide a solid footing for the football club to move forward and enhance the value of the playing squad in the future.

When I came on board the club's owner, Randy Lerner, warned me that I was embarking on the toughest challenge of my working life and he was not wrong.

But I have never stepped away from hard work and I put my heart and soul into the job from my first day until my last.

There are many people throughout my time at Aston Villa to whom I owe a great debt of gratitude.

Firstly, I'd like to thank Randy Lerner for not only providing me with the opportunity to manage one of the most illustrious clubs in world football but also for the support and friendship he offered me throughout my time at the club.

I'd also like to place on record my appreciation to Paul Faulkner who conducted affairs at the club with unstinting integrity and constant dignity during his tenure as Chief Executive.

I leave behind some wonderful people at both Bodymoor Heath and Villa Park and express my gratitude for their dedication and loyalty. A special mention must also go to my coaching staff for their commitment.

To the players, my sincere thanks to each and every one of them. They are a fantastic group of players and I wish them every success for the rest of their playing careers. I hope to see many of them achieve great things in the game.

Finally, I pay tribute to the supporters who are among the most passionate I have ever encountered. They rightly hold huge expectations for their beloved football club and I sincerely hope they are rewarded with the success they deserve.

I completely understand their frustrations and always shared their view that the football club is too big not to be competing at the top end of the table. I hope that can happen.

You never stop learning in football management and I certainly believe the invaluable experience from my time as Villa manager will prove hugely beneficial in the next stage of my managerial career.

ENDS

AUDIO EXCLUSIVE with Andy Gray: Aston Villa, relegation threat, leadership, takeovers and management

Follow Jonny on Twitter.

‘Andy Gray talks to @jonnygould: The alarm bells are ringing for the Claret & Blue: relegation threat, leadership, takeovers and management’

Andy Gray gave me over half-an-hour of his valuable time this morning - on the phone from Qatar, where he now lives working for beINsports with Richard Keys.

Andy's clear and direct views on Aston Villa are underscored by his constant use of "we" and "us" when talking about the club.

He loves Villa where he played in two spells and assisted Big Ron when Villa denied Manchester United a domestic treble when winning the League Cup at Wembley.

He's distressed at their current plight.

The iconic, joyous celebrations live long in the memory

He discusses new signing, Carles Gil, the future of Randy Lerner and Paul Lambert, the new CEO Tom Fox and rumours of a Director of Football aiding Lambert.

Andy also pays tribute at the end of the interview to Sir Jack Hayward, Mr. Wolverhampton Wanderers, who passed away, aged 91.

Listen and feedback to me!

Lambert needs results to buy time at Villa

I've had my say on Twitter recently. I'm a Paul Lambert man and have been from day one, but his FA Cup comments ahead of the Sheffield United defeat proved costly. What better way to heal those wounds than with a home win over Arsenal on Monday night!

So Kevin Hatchard of Sportsmedia's taking my place. Here's his thoughts on what's wrong with Lambert and how his fortunes could change:

The Villa boss is dividing opinion among fans

It occurs to me that there is currently a noticeable spilt among Aston Villa fans when it comes to the thorny issue of Paul Lambert’s tenure as manager. There are some who argue that he’s taking the club forward, bringing through youngsters and delivering an exciting brand of fast-paced, counter-attacking football. Some say his hands have been tied by the financial strictures placed upon him by Villa owner Randy Lerner, and that he hasn’t been given the same funds that were made available to previous managers.

However, there are some who accuse Lambert of failing to drag the club out of mediocrity, of maintaining a dreadful home record, and of making a clutch of errors in the transfer market. His critics have been handed further ammunition by the club’s limp FA Cup exit at home to League One Sheffield United, a competition he naively admitted he could do without. It’s one thing to prioritize the Premier League over cup competitions, but to state it so plainly was an error, and an insult to paying fans.

It’s worth examining Lambert’s Premier League record compared to his immediate predecessors. If we consider points per game records in the top flight (win percentage can often be misleading), we see that Lambert has overseen 58 PL games as Villa boss, which have yielded an average of 1.1 points. That isn’t a whole lot better than his much-maligned predecessor Alex McLeish, who collected an average of one point per game. Gerard Houllier was an odd choice by Villa, and never convinced the fans he was the right man for the job, but his PPG record is still better than Lambert’s (1.18).

Lambert underestimated Villa's desire for Cup success 

Lambert’s counter-attacking style can produce some thrilling results on the road (last season’s victory at Liverpool and this term’s win at Arsenal are shining examples), but he has failed to find the right formula at home. Under his guidance, Villa have won just seven of their 29 league games at Villa Park. Last season, only the three relegated clubs had worse home records, and this term only the bottom club Sunderland have collected fewer points at home. This is a chronic issue, and frankly it shows tactical inflexibility. When Villa don’t have space to counter, they lack the ingenuity to open teams up. All too often at home, Villa resort to direct tactics, pumping the ball long and looking for flick-ons. That’s all very well if it works, but if it doesn’t it merely hands possession to Villa’s opponents. Villa have an average possession of 42%, and their pass success rate is an unimpressive 74%.

Lambert does deserve huge credit for recognising the talent of Christian Benteke, and the big Belgian flourished last season, scoring 19 goals in 34 league games. However, after seeing a potential summer move to Spurs fall through, his form has tailed off dramatically this term. He has scored just four goals in 15 league appearances, and looks a yard short. Lambert also gets a tick for bringing Ron Vlaar to the club, as “Concrete Ron” has been solid when he’s stayed clear of injuries. Lambert has been desperately unlucky in losing summer signings Jores Okore and Libor Kozak to long-term injuries, but some of his acquisitions don’t hold up to scrutiny.

Ashley Westwood is a tidy young midfielder, but although he keeps the ball moving, he just doesn’t affect matches enough. His stunning long-range effort against West Brom is his only Premier League goal in 47 appearances, and although he has seven assists, just one of those came this season. Karim El Ahmadi has plenty of energy but little in the way of end product – he has managed three goals and just one assist in 37 Premier League games. Left-back Joe Bennett appears to have been discarded after failing to adapt to the demands of the top flight, but his replacement Antonio Luna hasn’t fared much better. Bulgarian winger Aleksandar Tonev looked to be an exciting acquisition from CSKA Sofia, but he has been handed just six league starts, and in 14 PL appearances he hasn’t managed a single goal or assist.

At his previous club Norwich, Lambert successfully employed a policy of signing hungry young players with very little top-flight experience. While that’s a laudable idea, Lambert has implemented it at Villa in a way that has seen the club’s experienced players sidelined. The club’s record signing Darren Bent was completely frozen out, and while his performances certainly didn’t justify a regular place in Lambert’s team, no attempt was made to adjust the team’s tactics in a way that would play to his strengths. Shay Given, Stephen Ireland and Alan Hutton were summarily discarded, and while Lambert could easily justify those decisions, that’s a lot of experience and financial resource going to waste. Perhaps more subtle and flexible man-management could’ve got a bit more out of those players.

The much maligned ex-Blues boss.

Lambert’s commitment to giving young players a chance is to be commended, but I would question whether he has managed to improve any of the raw talents at his disposal. Defenders Nathan Baker and Ciaran Clark are still making the same naive mistakes they were making when Lambert arrived, Andreas Weimann has scored just one goal in 19 Premier League games this term, while the once-vaunted Marc Albrighton, Nathan Delfouneso and Barry Bannan made no impact under Lambert. Can Lambert loyalists really say his young guns are taking the club forward?

You can’t appraise Lambert’s time in charge without referencing last season’s semi-final debacle in the Capital One Cup. Villa were overcome by Bradford City, a team from the fourth tier of English football. This wasn’t just a one-off defeat – Villa were undone across two embarrassing matches. This can be seen as nothing else but a gigantic black mark on Lambert’s record – a miserable coaching failure.

Whenever I’ve spoken to Lambert I’ve found him to be a passionate and honest coach, who has total belief in his methods, and desperately wants to be the man to take Villa back into the limelight. He has been unlucky with injuries, and hamstrung by the need to reduce the wage bill, but results show that Lambert’s methods aren’t yielding progress. Villa are a healthy-looking six points clear of the dropzone, but three of their next four games are against clubs in the top five, and a rough run of results may tip the balance of opinion in favour of Lambert’s detractors. The Scot says wants time to rebuild the club from top to bottom, but only improved results will grant him that respite.

Villa act swiftly to appoint a manager this time

A Special One before the Special One

Aston Villa's board have acted decisively in appointing Paul Lambert as their new manager. After a brief flirtation with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the Norwich boss was identified as the man to replace Alex McLeish, putting to an end any repeat show of the problems this time last year.

Back then, indecision, rejection and fudge proved costly as the board were forced to appoint Alex McLeish. Flipping Eck, who crossed the city to Villa was fifth-choice. After weeks of rumour and fruitless negotiation, hundreds of angry fans protested at Villa Park as the man who'd relegated Blues twice was unveiled.

Gerard Houllier quit before the season's end citing more heart problems, leaving Gary McAllister to caretake. Villa finished 2010-11 with a flourish: a 2-1 win at Arsenal was followed by a final day 1-nil win over Liverpool. Window signing Darren Bent's goals helped secure a ninth placed finish after a springtime dalliance with the wrong end of the league. Randy splashed £24m on the Sunderland striker to insure against the unthinkable.

So there was cause for low-level optimism: after all, McLeish was inheriting a better squad than he had at St. Andrews, he could call upon on an enlarged squad crop made possible by Houllier's faith in youth - and he had won Blues some silverware (so ruining Villa fans "one hundred years and won f*** all" Blues tribute song).

Lambert takes over from Alex McLeish at Villa Park

Instead the footballing fair all season was lamentable. McLeish had a reputation for setting up defensive teams and he took his confidence-sapping pub-team mentality and placed it upon the shoulders of a good team built by Martin O'Neill.

I deliberately took a seat next to the bench for Villa's home game with Wigan, so I could see how McLeish managed during game time. While clapping the flicks and tricks of Barry Bannan, he seemed to exchange a negative comment immediately afterwards with his coaches. I'd heard talk from another reporter that he didn't think the youth were good enough; a real kick in the face for the likes of Albrighton, Clark, Herd and Delph, who'd figured largely in Houllier's plans.

McLeish never looked assured in the job.

But it could've been all so different if Villa had appointed a boss with less panic and conjecture. No less than five names were in the frame in advance of the surprise link to the Birmingham City manager.

David Moyes was the early rumour. I had it on authority from a former Villa player now connected in the world of agents that the Everton boss had had two meetings with a representative from Villa's board. To the disappointment of many (including me), that's as far as it went; whatever issues Moyes had at Goodison were settled without the story emerging from the shadows.

Then suddenly and without any advance warning, Mark Hughes quit Fulham. The Welshman had just completed an eighth-placed finish at Craven Cottage, a place, a point and a seventeen goal better goal difference than Villa. The betting exchanges took this as a definitive job offer from Villa Park. How wrong that proved: in fact, owner Randy Lerner was said to have been spooked by Sparky's Cottage walkout.

Matters then got a little out of hand: Villa set their sights on Champions League winner, Rafa Benitez. But he gave short shrift to the Villa opportunity and swiftly rejected Randy's overtures.

Former England manager and umbrella model, Steve McClaren was called for interview - within 24 hours, he was told by Paul Faulkner not to bother turning up. No explanation was given and the disappointed McClaren, who wanted a return to England after disappointment at Wolfsburg, had a short-lived spell at Forest.

The spotlight then fell on Wigan's Roberto Martinez: a last day Premier League survivor with a win at Stoke. The Spaniard had cultivated a reputation for playing good football at both Swansea and the DW Stadium. But his special relationship with Dave Whelan put paid to Villa's chances.

Meanwhile, the close-season clock was ticking: other clubs had completed their summer signings, pre-season preparations were well underway. Still, no one was at the helm.

When Alex McLeish's name started circulating on Twitter, I originally thought it was a joke. Birmingham City had already mailed out Season Ticket renewal cards with his picture, autograph and spiel to get behind a promotion push.

Two days and £2million pounds in compensation later, the Blues boss was wearing a claret and blue tie, aiming to placate angry fans and win them over! Frankly, it was a terrible way to kick-off a new regime.

The only relieved people must've been Messrs. Lerner and Faulkner, but even they must have hoped beyond hope to a bit of good fortune: McLeish's arrival was nothing like they'd chosen.

This time, the board acted quickly, decisively and boldly: hiring a man who the fans are behind and with a fighting chance in the transfer market, with both time and available finance.

Lambert speaks of energy, vigour and ambition: he's reawakened Norwich City with commitment and organisation. Villa represents a step up.

He believes in Villa's potential and arrives from a place where he couldn't have fulfilled those dreams previously.