It wasn’t about our club’s ambition. Paul Lambert did not stomp away from Norwich City in a strop over the cap imposed on transfers and wages next season.
You’ll have to trust me on that. I could blather on about “sources” or bury you in coded cliches, but instead I assert baldy that I know for an absolute fact that Lambert understood and accepted the need for Norwich to keep the spending brakes on for two more seasons.
That is not to say there was no tension between him and those who run the club.
Like every manager in the land, he wanted to have a bigger pot than he was told is available. He wanted a larger fund for signings and he wanted to ease the salary limit upwards. He wanted to attract the sort of players we’d all like to see wearing the new kit.
But, eventually, he accepted that next season’s budget – £10 million up on last season – is reasonable and had agreed to work within it without complaint.
He knew the seriously precarious position when he arrived and shared the view that that the great club in the Fine City must never again teeter on the brink of insolvency.
So he understood, applauded even, the stated policy of paying off all outside debts (everything owed to everyone other than directors) within the next two seasons.
And let’s be clear about this.
When our current board convened for the very first time, in the week following that 7-1 home humiliation by Lambert’s Colchester, the overriding imperative was to reduce those debts hurriedly.
David McNally went with majority share-holders Delia Smith and Michael Wynn Jones to London on the Monday following the Colchester game to address the “Capital Canaries” and I lost count quickly of how many times our new chief executive stressed the dangerously urgent need to get the debts down.
The room wanted to know what would happen to Bryan Gunn and the team, but McNally had seen the books and knew that, while it was right to debate City’s future, his principal concern was whether there would be a future.
And when, at the height of the first banking crisis, new chairman Alan Bowkett went to the worried institutions and renegotiated City’s repayment schedules, he had to promise that, if the club reached the Premier League, the sudden flood of money would be directed their way.
That was not a return to the old, derided “ambition with prudence” maxim. It was an essential element of a surival plan. Without that plan and the promise it necessitated, the banks (whose prime responsibility is to their shareholders) would not have let our club put off the repayments.
It was the pledge that “You’ll get your dosh if we get to the Prem…” that kept Norwich City alive. Without it, Lambert would not have been able to work his miracles, because the club would have been in administration.
So, although there were debates among board members and with Lambert about exactly how much could be spent on the playing budget, these were quibbles at the margin. Everyone understood the fundamental truths.
There can be no gamble on a £10 million striker. He might score the goals which would ensure more seasons in the big money Premier League. But then again he might get crocked at Colney.
There has to be more of the same: recruiting hungry young men from lower divisions for whom playing for Norwich represents an opportunity to prove a point.
That model was devised before Lambert was appointed and will continue now he has gone. But Lambert understood, admired and accepted this vital strategy.
No, it wasn’t about Norwich City’s ambition.
It was about his.
When I sat down for a long interview with him in Yellows early last season, Lambert said he wanted to win things. They all say that, of course, but for Lambert it was not a glib comment. It was an explanation of his core credo.
He wanted silverware in his hands when campaigns concluded, to have tangible proof that he had done his job well. The desire – need even – for trophies was what drove him as a player and what impels him as a manager.
My heart sank as he spoke animatedly about how much he had enjoyed getting his mitts on the League One champions’ trophy and the promotion pot a year later, and about how much he wanted to win more medals and cups.
I knew then that Lambert would not hang around at Carrow Road for the long term.
He would not be content with stabilising City in the Premier League and
launching sorties in the FA Cup and League Cup. He would not be sated even by leading Norwich into Europe.
To me, being able to harbour those dreams after all those dismal, literally hopeless seasons before Lambert seemed a marvel. To him, it was not enough.
As Martin O’Neill will have told him, Aston Villa will not take Lambert where he wants to be. But they can take him a big step closer.
American owner Randy Lerner will set a careful budget, but a Europa League place is not beyond a Villa team drilled by Lambert. Then he would be a credible target for a really top club, in this country or in Europe.
So when, inexplicably, Liverpool did not consider Lambert this summer, and West Brom shopped abroad for their manager, Villa became the only available step up for Lambert.
I know – take my word again, please – that Lambert regards Delia, Michael W J and Michael Foulger as good people and the very best sort of folk to work for.
I don’t doubt that, for all the talk about discussions being professional,
Lambert had a major falling out with McNally, and perhaps with Bowkett, over the refusal to let him talk to Villa while still employed by Norwich.
But the City men were doing their job.
So Lambert will manage Aston Villa. And when a club higher up the football food chain gobble him up in a year or two, we’ll feel then as Colchester fans feel now…
This is all getting silly now, just move on and get someone in. I’m with the board all the way, and he’s not worth worrying about. Besides, he was 4th choice at a Villa team that are £114m in debt with a repeatedly lying owner. Good luck to the man as he’ll need it.
please please if you have the ear of the bosses tell them to go get hughton fast!
Excellent article Mick. Managers and players will come and go, but the health of the club comes first and always should do.
Thanks Mick, episodes like this demonstrate how few journalists actually know what they are talking about and genuinely know something worth knowing, you are one of the few we can trust on all things Norwich City.
I understand Lambert’s ambition and he was never going to stay forever but I don’t see how Villa will help him get there. Not because they have bigger crowds, bigger budgets but because their owners aren’t up to the job. I don’t see Villa ever hitting any higher than 6th and Liverpool is no different.
If Lambert wants the really big job, he needs to look at the only mid-ranked club manager who is ever linked with Top 4 jobs – David Moyes. Keeping us in the Prem for the next 5 years would of been a more eye catching achievement than taking Villa up a couple of places. I can’t help thinking that Lambert has made the biggest mistake of his career.
The past season has been viewed by many of the pundits as a triumph for Norwich but I can’t help feeling that Norwich under performed. A top ten finish was perfectly possible, and so was a semi final place in the FA cup. I think Lambert knows this and in part it is the reason why he wants out.
Paul Lambert will probably be away from Villa in 3 years time, he is a very ambitious man and success is all he craves for.
I just hope he gets the money to spend on good players who will help him get the success. Martin @Neill had the same ideas, but left suddenly after contact with the owner did not go the way he wanted.
It is not always the promised land, as John Bond and Mike Walker found out when they left our club.
Our club will survive and lets hope they are the first club to visit Carrow Road next season. I am sure Paul Lambert will get a warm welcome from the best fans in the premiership. So chin up Canaries, Grant Holt is going as well, so onwards and upwards for the club we will survive lads and lasses.
Interesting insight Mick. The one taking the biggest gamble here is undoubtedly Paul Lambert. Fail at Villa and he’s back to Scotland – to Celtic maybe where he’s guaranteed to win the silverware he craves.
For whatever reason he has overachieved here and to take the club from 12th just into the top 10 would have needed many millions of pounds.
The board make no secret of the fact that they are happy to finish 17th and collect the money and that will/should deter any similarly ambitious manager. We could then find ourselves in an Ipswich position with a board settling for mediocrity and a manager to match. Dangerous path to tread – ask the Indian Chicken people.
Fascinating stuff – i feel flat at the moment but in time i know will feel better – onwards and upwards, its the team we pay to watch not the manager!
Good to have some of the bits and pieces confirmed, Mick. Seeing Brendan Rogers appointed at Anfield must rankle, especially given PL engineered two defeats over his team last season. It’s interesting how ambition drivers people differently. Norwich are a club that require patience to be part of a manager’s ambition capacity, to see what you can achieve not in one season (and it would seem that with PL’s rolling contracts he was never looking ahead more than one), but in 3-4. His family never moved, so he was never ‘settled’. I see Villa are talking of a 3 year contract, that’s already different.
its refreshing take on developments mick I applaud the boards determination to steer our club well away from the rocks.
As always, thoughtful and astute, Mick.
The focus now has to be on the replacement. McNally is nothing if not astute, and he must get Lambert’s replacement in place as soon as possible, so that the new manager can pick up the baton , and to hit the ground running.
Hopefully the replacement will want to build on what the team has achieved, so it is not unreasonable that he, and McNally will be looking to pursue the existing transfer targets. The worry is that Norwich may miss the boat, whilst bogged down in the managerial recruitment process, especially as it is probable that Lambert will seek to sign those targets to his new team. I refer to Jordan Rhodes and Chris Gunter, to name but 2.
Should Norwich allow Grant Holt to follow his boss to Villa?
To the emotional fans, a resounding “NO!”
But….Holt is rising 32…..he has one, at the most 2 Premiership seasons in him.
He is looking for a big payday…..so good business dictates…”if the price is right”???
I worry that both Norwich and Swansea, will now be much more prone to the dreaded 2nd season syndrome, than would have been the case, before this merry-go-round.
Mr McNally is certainly going to have to prove just how good he is now.
I’d be amazed if he did the obvious!
I do fear for PL too, one hell of a gamble he’s taking, good luck to the guy, we only owe him thanks and gratitude for what he’s done for our club. He deserves to suceed at Villa but wether he will or not is a different story, I can see him having similar differences of opinion with the owners as Martin O Neil did, both are similar styles after all.
Things wont be the same without Lambert of course, he was the 2nd best signing NCFC have ever made, the best was the appointment of David Mc Nally who signed Lambert, the day he took over things changed, the club took a new direction and hasn’t looked back since. If Mc Nally walked out, then I would be worried…
New manager, how about Ian Holloway, how would he go down with the Canary faithfull….??
Brilliant article, makes perfect sense. It’s sad, but that’s how life is in reality; NCFC & Lambert both “used” each other to further their own ends, so there’s no point in getting emotional over it. Darren Huckerbies are an increasingly rare breed.
I do think Paul is taking a massive gamble though. I suspect he’s one of those souls who’ll never be very happy for very long.
I, too, feel that Paul Lambert may be making a mistake. I believed that he saw Norwich as a project, and that he would be around for another couple of years, but I was (very evidently) wrong. Fans at the moment feel like the jilted bride, with the groom riding off into the sunset with one of the bridesmaids (although the thought of Grant Holt in a bridesmaids dress is the stuff of nightmares). They’ll get over it eventually and remember what a thrilling three years PL gave us all, as did Holty.
So, wishing Paul (and GH?) all the very best, the only item on our agenda is the next manager. No point in even thinking about future signings until the new boss is in place to endorse them: who will it be? 1) Ollie would be great fun – it’s never boring when he’s around, and his brand of football is certainly close to the sort of game to which our club would aspire. But is he heavyweight enough, and, more importantly, would McNally even come close to understanding him? However, there wouldn’t be a boring moment. Gus Poyet would be an interesting one: again – right style of football, right profile as a manager (aside from his apparent support of Suarez in the ‘negrito’ incident), but might be expensive in terms of compensation. Has to be said – it would be a logical move for him to consider. Hughton has done an amazing job at Birmingham – but is his brand of football a little too pragmatic for NCFC? Malky is lauded loudly, and as a former Canary, the emotional side for fans would be most satisfying: but that would make it three clubs in three years, so he’s still kind of untried.
Whoever they choose please board – put them on a proper contract, at least once they’ve shown that they can do the job. We loose managers on these rolling one year contracts: anyone remember Mike Walker? he would have stayed if RC had given him a dent contract. Let’s learn from these mistakes.
From my position of extreme ignorance (just covering myself, because whatever I forecast will NOT happen!)I’d go for Poyet, with Ollie as my ‘joker’.
OTBC
Dear JimBob,
Aston Villa are not in debt, the £114m you speak of is out of RL own pocket, and as for being 4th choice? Nonsense. OGS was only interviewed and was never offered the job, Roberto Martinez was only interviewed and never offered the job, either, and my understanding when he did not get the Liverpool job he said he would take ours instead and was turned down my the board. Paul Lambert is the only person that the Villa board have offered the job too.
Dear, Dear me,
Get over it Mick Dennis, what’s happened is he has moved to a bigger club with more ambition.
Ok, so if he moves on to another so called bigger club in a few years time, he will then have done a good job with us, getting us in a better position in the league otherwise a ” bigger ” club will not come calling will they.
So I for one will not be bitter like you NCfc fans because we will most likely be in a healthy position in the league & I dare say we will attract another quality manager because of our standing in the league. We as Villa fans are quite use to our stars moving on to, be it, Man Utd or Man City, that is the way of modern football I’m afraid.
Ok, Yes we’ve had a very poor season but I do feel that the appointment of Lambert will now bring back the feel good factor again to our club and the fans will come back again to make our club united again.
So I look forward to a good season with a top manager with lots of petencial.
Dont see how it’s a gamble he has joined a bigger club with cash 2 spend great training facilities and a great youth academy !
Really good & informative piece Mick. I think we’re all feeling a bit flat at the moment, afterall we have lost a great manager, but Lambert’s ambition was there for all to see. He always talked with his head not heart. I thought we might get one more season at best, but I think ultimately the manager vacancies conspired against us. I can’t remember there being 4 premier league manager positions all available at once as has been the case over the last few weeks, enough to go round for all the ‘up & coming’ managers. It gives some comfort that he will just be ‘passing through’ at villa also because as good as he is they will also struggle to match his desire to win trophies. He said recently he wanted to manage a champions league team & if villa fans are deluded enough to think that will be them then I feel sorry for them, as soon enough they’ll be feeling like us too. We need a new manager with ambition but also someone who sees the longer term potential at Carrow Rd. If we are to expand the stadium if we stay up a second season, as has been suggested, the new man will have the opportunity to create a legacy. I hoped that would be Paul Lambert, but a new era and chapter on our history begins.
I would imagine that Davfc hasn’t seen our training facilities or academy set up. As for bigger club, that’s a matter of opinion. Read ‘bigger’ as established in the premier league and that’s about all. The last time villa competed at the top of the table, a certain Norwich City were competing with them. He’s just passing through mate, enjoy……
Football is firstly a business. At the moment it is ridiculously over inflated. Transfer fees and wages are not sustainable at today’s levels. Clubs are becoming increasingly indebted. One only has to look at the balance sheets of the majority of premiership clubs to realise this. As with the south sea bubble or more recently the sub-prime/ Spanish property speculation inevitably the good times come to an end. Until this happens no-one sees it coming. After the event everyone is wise.
The absolute strategic priority for the club has to be to reduce/ eliminate debt. Everything else is secondary. When the meltdown does come we will then be in a healthy state to reap the rewards. There will be alot of clubs facing meltdown and the overseas investors will slip away with dire consequences. They are only around whilst football remains profitable and in vogue.
with this in mind take a step back and consider whether the departure of Lambert or Holt really is such a big deal. We are lucky that McNally sees and understands the bigger picture – it would be too easy to seek popularity with the supporter by throwing a few more grand at wages or millions in transfer fees. Taking the difficult decision is the correct thing to do. We will all thank him and the club for it in the long run. He and the baord set the strategic direction – the new manager can dictate the tacticaL minutae. In addition the new incumbent will be made well aware of the criteria he’s working too and will have no room to gripe. In the shot to medium term this should even be beneficial to the club in that there can be no disagreement/ dissenting voices.