Manager Sack Race

[Cripps_orig]

Apparently Lambert has quit as Norwich boss

PAUL LAMBERT quit as Norwich boss last night.

The Scot resigned following a furious bust-up after the club refused to give Aston Villa permission to talk to him.

Lambert will walk into the vacant Villa job, with owner Randy Lerner and chief executive Paul Faulkner identifying him as their No 1 choice yesterday.

The raging boss wanted out once it became clear the Canaries were digging their heels in, adamant they would not even let him hear what Villa had to offer.

It resulted in a bitter end to Lambo’s three-year love affair with the Carrow Road club, who he took from League One obscurity to 12th place in the Premier League following successive promotions.

It is the second time in 18 months that Norwich, backed by TV cook Delia Smith, have refused to give their manager permission to speak to a rival club.

In January 2011, they turned down Burnley’s request to approach Lambert following the dismissal of Brian Laws.

A Canaries statement at the time said: “The club will fight tooth and nail to retain the services of Paul Lambert and his team during this critical period of the season and whilst they remain employed under a long-term contract.”

They tried the same tactic yesterday but it blew up in their face — days after Lambert, 42, declared he was going nowhere.

That clears the way for him to succeed Alex McLeish, who Lambo played under at Motherwell.

SunSport can reveal Villa identified the former Borussia Dortmund midfielder as the steely character required to shake up the Midlanders before Roberto Martinez declared he was staying at Wigan.

Lerner feels Lambert is the young, aggressive and ambitious boss Villa need after two miserable years.

Norwich now face a summer sweat to bring in a new manager.

Former Canaries skipper Malky Mackay will be a contender.

He took Cardiff to the Carling Cup final, where they lost to Liverpool on penalties, as well as the Championship play-offs last season.

Chris Hughton is also in the frame.

West Brom are not keen to cough up around £2.5million for the Birmingham man’s services.

But that figure would not worry Norwich who expect to receive some compensation from Villa when Lambert is officially installed as boss.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...Villa-job.html

[Master Splinter]

Norwich and Swansea will probably get relegated this season.

[McNamara That Ghost...]

SSN say Lambert's representatives will meet with Villa today. Villa are on a Scottish fix - McAllister, McLeish, Lambert.

[Shaqiri Is Boss]

Lambert offers his resignation, but Norwich turn it down.


Seems to be nailed on for Villa...

[She Wore A Yellow Ribbon]

why the heck would you leave norwich, a team on the up, to take over a shite team on its way down?

they've been drained of all their good players over the years and have an owner who seems disinterested. id rather stay at norwich til a much bigger team comes calling because it'll inevitably happen.

[Coney]

Good for Lambert. Trying to force a manager or player to stay against their will - refusing to let them speak to anyone else - is just stupid. Nazi mentality. You want people who want to stay, not pressed slaves. If Norwich now have trouble getting a decent manager and go down, then it will be no less than they deserve.

[Coney]

why the heck would you leave norwich, a team on the up, to take over a shite team on its way down?

they've been drained of all their good players over the years and have an owner who seems disinterested. id rather stay at norwich til a much bigger team comes calling because it'll inevitably happen.

Maybe he thinks he will get better backing longer term to get players he wants. In any case, no harm in looking to see what their plans are - you can always turn them down if it is not what you want.

[Marc Overmars]

why the heck would you leave norwich, a team on the up, to take over a shite team on its way down?

they've been drained of all their good players over the years and have an owner who seems disinterested. id rather stay at norwich til a much bigger team comes calling because it'll inevitably happen.

Despite their recent woes Villa are still traditionally one of the bigger clubs here. I'm sure a lot of managers would like a shot a club like that.

Also, Lambert has fallen out with the Norwich board and seemingly wants out anyway.

[Ollie the Optimist]

Good for Lambert. Trying to force a manager or player to stay against their will - refusing to let them speak to anyone else - is just stupid. Nazi mentality. You want people who want to stay, not pressed slaves. If Norwich now have trouble getting a decent manager and go down, then it will be no less than they deserve.

its a bit of taste your own medicine for norwich because its what lambert did to colchester to join them but its still a ****ish thing to do. i mean resigning means your club lose out on money for you. when you compare how swansea and rogers dealt with this situation and compare to norwich there is a sour taste in the mouth about hte norwich situation but still. its football. nowadays everyones a money grabbing **** and a select few arent. should be the other way round

[Flavs]

Randy Lerner has apparently promised him his choice of staff and a £25mil transfer budget. Villa are fundamentally a good side, very very good youth academy and some cracking young players, they are just a bit thin but considering the amount of Bosman's out there it shouldnt hard to fill em up.