When Paul Lambert moved to Aston Villa from Norwich for the start of the 2012-13 Premier League season many felt it to be a crazy decision- a step side-wards rather than forwards. Pointless.
After years of spending big, the tenure of Randy Lerner as Chairman and lavish fundraiser had come to an end. Austere years had beset Villa Park. Lambert knew all of this before he undertook the biggest challenge of his career so far. It was agreed between boardroom and manager that recruitment would be for the future using a minimal amount of coffers from the American chief.
Meanwhile, Norwich had just had an impressive first season in the Premier League, comfortably clear of the relegation zone where every pundit believed they would be at the start of the season. Lambert’s final season at Norwich really did cap an altitudinous journey for Norwich in a very short space of time. Two successive promotions had turned Norwich from the laughing stock of League One to a team with an immense amount of Premier League pride. Ironically, Lambert had inflicted a huge 7-1 defeat on the Carrow Road faithful with his Colchester side just days before receiving the SOS call to be manager in East Anglia.
Lambert had achieved success at Norwich broadly keeping and sticking with a core group of players from the League One days. He expertly managed to unlock their potential achieving a feat not seen since Manchester City in 2000. There were no lavish names in Lambert’s army, no huge transfer deals- just a good honest manager getting the best out of good honest players who clearly knew how to play effectively as a team.
The former Scottish international had always had ambition to go beyond the stage of mid-table mediocrity and felt that Aston Villa offered him the best chance of achieving that. Struggle after struggle beset them last season but interview after interview, press conference after pres conference Lambert would exclaim to the media that he was convinced they would stay up.
His transfer dealings had raised eyebrows among many- generally recruiting young and extremely inexperienced players from Football League clubs. People also wondered what an unknown striker from Belgium would be able to do to change the tide of instability at Villa. Christian Benteke went on to be the signing of the season. Week after week Villa are still reaping the benefits of having this potentially world class striker available to them. They will also reap the benefits of Lambert’s initial wisdom. Providing a paradox to the Premier League culture of instant success was a stroke of genius from Lambert and one that the fans have now bought into. The club looks set to benefit immensely from investment with a view to the long term rather than keeping the media out of the picture with a couple of experienced players who may do the job for a season, but won’t possess the ability to push the club onto greater heights.
Similarities can be made with the earlier stages of Sir Alex Ferguson’s career. He managed to concoct a title winning side in a league infamous for the dominance of the old firm clubs-Celtic and Rangers. He managed to do this with stellar young home grown talent like Alex McLeish. He went on to do the same in his time at Manchester United. Alan Hansen infamously said ‘you can’t win anything with kids’. Ferguson proved him wrong with United’s golden generation of stars who won the treble in 1999. All this came about because of the same wisdom Lambert is displaying now. Whilst it is easy to compare the two due to them having the same nationality- it is clear that the football comparisons are striking.
Lambert probably faces an even bigger challenge in the current era overcoming both the critics and the solid foundation of dominance the ‘bigger’ clubs have imposed on the Premier League. However, Aston Villa’s opening two games of the season have hinted a shrewder Villa side under Lambert this season. He has instilled a lack of fear in players who are probably better for their often traumatic experiences in the last campaign.
Aston Villa will be nearer to the top than the bottom this season and a huge amount of this is down to Lambert. Beyond that who knows. Lambert may have sights set higher or he may feel Villa’s youngsters are good enough to have a crack at winning the league. Strange things happen in football. In any circumstance, it is true to say that Paul Lambert is taking the Sir Alex Ferguson route to the very top of football.
Do you agree that Paul Lambert is the new Sir Alex?
