Hottest ticket in management lurches in the wrong direction

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Right now our former captain, Paul Lambert, is one of the hottest tickets in football management so it’s no surprised that Norwich City have been unable to hold onto him.  Inside three years he transformed the club from one that lost 1-7 to Colchester United (then managed by Paul) to one of the most improved teams in Europe, earning two consecutive promotions and a mid-table finish in the FA Premier League.

If Lambert ended up at Liverpool, or even Chelsea, you would not have been surprised.  Instead, he’s set to go to Aston Villa.  During their Martin O’Neill era Villa splurged cash they ultimately realised they couldn’t afford.  Martin walked out days before the start of the season in August 2010.  Since then they pitched Gerard Houllier at the job before poaching Alex McLeish from relegated city rivals Birmingham.

In short, Villa looks like a club without the vision to build stable progress.  Unlike Norwich, who seem to know exactly what they are doing.  They even coped with the loss of Neil Doncaster, who left the club a few months before the arrival of Lambert.

Norwich City is the better job.

I’m on Radio Scotland with Jim Spence around 16:15 today, talking about social media and football, square sliced, the price of milk and lawn care.

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831 Comments

  1. I asked the same qustion of my two car pool members on Friday(huns)

     

    whilst pointing out we won the coronation cup in 1953.

     

     

    “who did you beat to win that” replied one of them

     

     

    Which sounded like a requst to me so i obliged

     

    ” Celtic beat Arsenal and Manchester too etc”

     

    at the top of my voice along the M8.

     

     

    He wished he hadn’t asked :>)

     

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

     

    Parkheadcumsalford

     

    14:27 said:

     

     

     

    Like most Celtic supporters, I imagine, I would see myself as a republican. But I do enjoy history. So, a wee question. Why are the Jubliee celebrations this year, when the Coronation was the 2nd June 1953? (And I am aware that the title passed from father to daughter in 1952.)

  2. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice will always prevail on

    Ernie …..remember the days when their drums were covered in blood , due to their morbid enthusiasm ……. Now that’s fanatical hatred…!!!

  3. Richie on 3 June, 2012 at 12:35 said:

     

    >>>

     

    What a craven appeaser Mathieson is. To use EHRC as a cover to pander to the o.o. is hypocrisy of the lowest order.

     

    The idea that the o.o. would ever reciprocate in the application of human rights would be laughable,were it not such a cynical ploy on their part to play this card with the full connivance of the council.

     

    They are fully aware of the malign intent of the o.o.’s sectarian & bigoted ideology,and though some see them as ‘laughable’,it is their intention to make all aware of their jackboot mentality.

     

    I hope someone is going to take the council to task on the legality of this pernicious shift in policy.

  4. theglasgowcelticway on

    Parkheadsumsalford

     

    I assume,probably incorrectly,it’s because she became Queen in 1952 when her father died.I myself have no real problems with the monarchy.Yes they’re an anachronism,don’t represent modern Britain,unelected,unaccountable and live in a strange(wealthy) world.However,there is a growing movement,mainly Secularist,Humanists and Atheists that want a republic for different reasons.They wish to separate church/state and see the Queen as the figurehead of both.My big problem with these people(like Evan Harris) are faith schools are very mush on their hit list too.

  5. All this jubillee stuff down in London looks rather like something from “Its a Knockout” just waiting to hear Stewart Halls manic laughter to complete the farce,It all reminds me of a BBC costume drama without Keith Michell or Glenda Jackson next up is Eddie Waring and the team Captain to play his joker

  6. My missus is attending a community fair/event today in Poole Park here in Dorset today…it is Council backed & funded…she just phoned to tell me that it’s Jubilee-free,plenty of bunting,not a single union jack in sight. Plenty of people,and a lovely atmosphere. Great music,all sorts of interesting stalls etc.,.

     

    And this is Ingerland…not all anglos are jingoistic or fevered about this royal brainwashing event.

     

    Obviously I know plenty of English people,and every last one of them is friendly towards me. And,I can wear Celtic stuff and no one ever gives me grief.

     

    Yes,I know my history,and I know it well,and I have run across the worst that England has to offer,but they are a minority.

  7. Just listening to the commentary about the pagent and the guy giving the order to ‘toss oars’ . I wasn’t listening properly and thought they meant the huns.

  8. I am an ‘internationalist’. Self-determination for all with mutual respect.

     

    Fraternal greetings from an unfashionable mindset.

     

    “To each,according to his needs;from each,according to his abilities.”

  9. miki67 on 3 June, 2012 at 14:41 said:

     

     

    The fact that he received ‘warm applause’ from over 100 of the OO says enough for me. He is clearly hinting that any reviews will end in more leeway for the scumbuckets.

  10. Gene's a Bhoys name on

    The OO can march as much as they want around ipox next season – well there won’t be any matches there.

  11. This is Salmond’s cabinet.

     

     

    Which one of them is a Catholic?

     

     

    Alex Salmond – first minister

     

     

    Nicola Sturgeon – deputy first minister and health

     

     

    John Swinney – finance

     

     

    Kenny MacAskill – justice

     

     

    Mike Russell – education

     

     

    Richard Lochhead – environment

     

     

    Alex Neil – infrastructure and capital investment

     

     

    Bruce Crawford – parliamentary business and government strategy

     

     

    Fiona Hyslop – culture and external affairs

  12. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice will always prevail on

    miki67 on 3 June, 2012 at 14:51 said:

     

     

    I could not agree with you more……

     

     

    I have worked with English people for over 40 years and haven’t once met an anti-Catholic / Irish / Celtic comment ….. Up here, it is rife, and so pathetic, as to be funny……

     

     

    I was at a party not long ago when a guy I thought was very sensible / amiable suddenly asked me.

     

     

    “do you know where the Billy Bhoys song originated from ……everyone at the table looked bemused, and Imintimatednthat I didn’t really ‘give two monkeys’ where it originated from. He said it wasn’t sectarian, but came from the name of a Glasgow gang……… “and I don’t suppose they were bigoted or sectarian in any way”…….?

     

     

    He hummed and haw for a minute and the conversation ended when I asked him wher ‘bouncy, bouncy’ came from ………

     

     

    A little later someone else asked me where it came from ………”NAW”…?

  13. 67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice will always prevail on 3 June, 2012 at 15:07 said:

     

     

    I believe there were Catholics in Billy Fulleron’s original street gang, probably more an accident of geography than anything else (most gangs are territorial in origin).

     

     

    The bouncy did not originate with the huns, other club’s fans were doing it before them. I’m aware of the association with the murder of Robert Hammil, but that is not where it originated.

  14. •-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on

    I was brought up a catholic in england, went to a catholic school in an area with a high number of irish immigrants and therefore a higher than average % of catholics. There used to be fights between schools, but probably just for being different schools as much as for being catholic/protestant although there were the usual childish taunts and songs. I didn’t give it much thought. When I went off to university I was bemused by some of the reactions “So you’re one of those Hail Mary types?” – though it was said with curiosity rather than hostility.

     

     

    Then I came to Glasgow. I admit the only time I’ve been personally on the end of abuse is when walking home after a game wearing a celtic scarf. But shortly after I arrived, there was a story in the news about a public figure (don’t remember now if a politician, policeman, judge or what) but he’d attended the funeral of a catholic associate of his and there was a huge amount of coverage in the press – on the front page of the herald – about the controversy stirred up by his having attended a “papish mass”. Papish mass. I felt like I’d been dropped into mediaeval times and the phrase sticks in my head even now.

     

     

    This would have been late 80s / early 90s.

  15. Michael Matheson isn’t in the Cabinet – he is Minister for Public Health, effectively number 2 in the Health Department. I met with him not so long ago and was impressed by his knowledge of his brief. Didn’t discuss politics though.

  16. Monaghan1900 on

    theweegreenman on 3 June, 2012 at 11:56 said:

     

    Can anyone point me to a source that states a court appointed administrator is there to look out for the interests of the creditors rather than trying to save the company?

     

    —————–

     

    If your still arguing, here is the relevant part of Schedule B1, paragraph 3 to the Insolvency Act 1986:

     

    “Purpose of administration

     

    3(1)The administrator of a company must perform his functions with the objective of—

     

    (a)rescuing the company as a going concern, or

     

    (b)achieving a better result for the company’s creditors as a whole than would be likely if the company were wound up (without first being in administration), or

     

    (c)realising property in order to make a distribution to one or more secured or preferential creditors.

     

    (2)Subject to sub-paragraph (4), the administrator of a company must perform his functions in the interests of the company’s creditors as a whole.

     

    (3)The administrator must perform his functions with the objective specified in sub-paragraph (1)(a) unless he thinks either—

     

    (a)that it is not reasonably practicable to achieve that objective, or

     

    (b)that the objective specified in sub-paragraph (1)(b) would achieve a better result for the company’s creditors as a whole.

     

    (4)The administrator may perform his functions with the objective specified in sub-paragraph (1)(c) only if—

     

    (a)he thinks that it is not reasonably practicable to achieve either of the objectives specified in sub-paragraph (1)(a) and (b), and

     

    (b)he does not unnecessarily harm the interests of the creditors of the company as a whole.

     

    4The administrator of a company must perform his functions as quickly and efficiently as is reasonably practicable.”

     

     

    Sub-paragraph (2) makes is pretty plain.

  17. All of the English football supporters that I know…we have truly friendly banter about our respective teams…in fact,my nephew,by marriage,said that his wee boy could have a Celtic top from me to wear…he said it’s the only other footie strip he’d let him wear. And everyone here knows of my allegiances and sympathises that we have to tolerate rfcia.

     

    And most English know that their national team is s***e, the same way we know ours is,in Scotland.

     

    But for a lot of us,given our history and genealogy we are fortunate in being able to give our support to Eire,too.

     

    Now,that’s internationalism for you.

     

    HH!

  18. Monaghan1900 on

    •-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on 3 June, 2012 at 15:19 said:

     

     

    Lord Mackay of Clashfern

  19. •-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on

    Monaghan1900 on 3 June, 2012 at 15:25 said:

     

     

    Thanks, you’re right – I jsut googled it. 89 was my first year in glasgow. Couldn’t believe what I was reading.

  20. Monaghan1900 on

    •-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on 3 June, 2012 at 15:31 said:

     

    Monaghan1900 on 3 June, 2012 at 15:25 said:

     

     

    Thanks, you’re right – I jsut googled it. 89 was my first year in glasgow. Couldn’t believe what I was reading.

     

    ——————-

     

    You’ve probably read this – pretty pathetic:

     

    “From humble beginnings – his father was a Highland railway worker – the young

     

    James Mackay earned a reputation for intellectual brilliance firstly in mathematics,

     

    and then – having retrained in Scots law – as one of the most effective advocates of

     

    his generation. Margaret Thatcher appointed him firstly Lord Advocate (the senior

     

    Scottish law officer) in 1979, and then in 1987 as Lord Chancellor. This

     

    unprecedented appointment of a “foreign” lawyer as head of the English judiciary

     

    and legal system was a singular honour for Lord Mackay, and a mark of the respect

     

    in which he was held. His ten years on the Woolsack were turbulent and

     

    controversial as he pushed through fundamental reforms to the English legal

     

    profession. The most controversial incident of his term of office, had nothing to do

     

    with law or politics, but concerned Lord Mackay’s high-profile expulsion from the tiny

     

    and strictly Calvinist Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, of which he had been a

     

    lifelong member for attending the Requiem masses of two Roman Catholic

     

    colleagues. “

  21. There was a discussion on the Sunday programme on Radio 4 this morning about the Queen and her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The chap defending her role claimed that it ensured that Faith still had its place recognised in the country (it obviously escaped his notice that she has to attend Presbyterian services while in Scotland, where she is most certainly NOT the supreme governor). Personally, I just think it is utterly anomalous that someone is made Head of State by dint of birth. Faith, or at least the practice of it, seems far more lively in the USA than here and there has been the strict separation of both since it’s foundation.

  22. theglasgowcelticway on

    sparkleghirl

     

    Was it 89?I thought it was earlier.I must be getting old!

  23. -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on 3 June, 2012 at 15:19

     

     

    That was Lord Mackay of Clashfern attending, I think, Lord Wheatley’s funeral.

     

     

    To be fair, that incident was of a truly religious character without any social/political/economic aspect to it so in that sense is very different to the mainstream bigotry/sectarianism of the OO.

  24. 67Heaven ... I am Neil Lennon..!!..Truth and Justice will always prevail on

    Ernie,

     

     

    Having said that, the ‘Cumbie’ were the Tim gang, and we’re always fighting with the billy boys ……when you think back, it was all rather amusing..LOL

  25. Monaghan1900 on 3 June, 2012 at 15:33 said:

     

    >>>

     

    O.o. only in Scotland….how pathetic..he wasn’t even bigoted ENOUGH!….?

  26. •-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on

    ernie lynch on 3 June, 2012 at 15:36 said:

     

    To be fair, that incident was of a truly religious character without any social/political/economic aspect to it so in that sense is very different to the mainstream bigotry/sectarianism of the OO.

     

     

     

    That’s true, but it was a shock to me that there could be so much fuss made about it. A supposedly ‘christian’ church displaying so much hate and intolerance. OK so I’d seen Rev Paisley on the news but never imagined that kind of feeling to exist so widely outside of NI

  27. •-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on

    Sorry, when I say ‘widely’ I mean in their church as a whole rather than in one crackpot individual.

  28. Ernie

     

     

    There were no Catholics in Fullerton’s gang, demographics had nothing to do with his group.

  29. •-:¦:-•** -:¦:- sparkleghirl :¦:-.•**• -:¦:-• on 3 June, 2012 at 15:40 said:

     

     

    Don’t confuse the wee frees with the Paisleyites.

     

     

    I don’t associate the wee frees with hatred. They remind me more of the Amish than anything else.