Sacked? He Should Have Walked!

I`m sure all of us are delighted with the news that Paul Lambert has been sacked. However, my opinion is that he should have had the decency to walk. A long time ago.

Tonight`s news isn`t so much about jumping for joy at the loss of the poorest manager we`ve had in the Premier League era, but more a statement of how deep the financial ticks are dug into the beautiful game. Is Lambert really so daft as to believe he could turn our sinking ship around? He`s clearly not so daft as to forfeit the compensation he will now gratefully accept after being given the chop. Yet this is where we are in football today; a grand payoff for a reasonably decorated ex-player and (until 2012) a promising young manager. The plight of a club, its fans and its players means little when you will be owed millions of pounds if you are dismissed. Crazy logic. It is one of the only positions in the world when individuals are rewarded for failing, inadvertently or otherwise.

The truth is that Paul Lambert shouldn`t have been bothered about the money at all. In an industry where only those in the truly lower leagues make losses, Lambert could have forfeited his right to a payoff (I know, many of us wouldn`t, but Paul Lambert isn`t many of us) and done the decent thing; he could have resigned, admitted that his position was untenable and that he wasn`t the right man for the job. By doing this he would have also learned a valuable lesson in humility and how to navigate a rock and a hard place, as well as perhaps clawing back a modicum of respect from the fans. Instead, we have been railroaded and bombarded with clichés and platitudes designed to smooth over the cracks of the most unstable management in our recent history. Such is the power of the almighty buck.

A brief aside, and this isn`t to bring a sour note to proceedings, but we will now have to endure the speculation, rumours and nonsense of yet another managerial appointment. Given the chairman`s track history, I can`t see the future being any brighter than next season. We still have the problem of an aloof owner who doesn`t communicate and doesn`t seem to know much about our game. We don`t know if he`s still interested or not (aside from knowledge that relegation would cost him even more money). Make no mistake, we are still a club in danger of relegation until Randy Lerner appoints the RIGHT man. The right man is not a manager with little to no Premier League or big club experience, the right man is not someone who can`t manage his backroom staff, the right man is not someone who is tactically inept and without ideas at the first sign of trouble. We are a big club and historically we are a winning club. We need to be led by a winner who will teach our players to be winners. Of course, the identity of this manager is yet to be confirmed.

In conclusion, Paul Lambert should have walked respectfully instead of being sacked shamefully. He`ll survive. He`ll find another job, be paid handsomely and may even get the chance to rebuild his career the way Alex McLeish is attempting to at Genk. Aston Villa may still be relegated thanks to his contribution over the last few seasons, but he won`t care once his settlement cheque has been cashed.

Let`s just hope that the team plays with a bit more freedom and courage to keep us up now that the curse has been lifted. In the meantime, Mr Lerner will be playing his favourite board game with us: Guess Who.

We go again.