Report: Lambert to stay at Villa, may have money for summer

A report in the Mirror suggests that Paul Lambert will be staying on as Aston Villa's manager, despite–or perhaps because of–the fact that Randy Lerner still has not found a buyer for the club. After meeting with Lerner and CEO Paul Faulkner in New York City late last week, Lambert has apparently returned to the United Kingdom to begin work on summer business at the club. The news comes after rumours had been swirling all weekend that Lambert would be resigning over the lack of transfer funds made available to him by Lerner. 

There are also rumours that there will be some sort of announcement later this morning. It may have something to do with this. Until I hear official word, I will remain a bit dubious that Lambert is staying on, but I'm starting to believe it a bit more. 

While many fans will be disappointed to see Lambert stay, given what we have heard lately, his presence would be a positive sign that Lerner is ready to make some funds available for doing business this summer. The Mirror report corroborates that idea:

With no firm buyer lined up, Lambert wants guarantees for spending this summer after a second successive relegation battle. The Scot returned to the UK over the weekend and is now expected to remain in charge after the productive talks with Lerner.

There is still a lot of uncertainty here, but if that's true it means that perhaps our collective sense of panic shouldn't be quite as bad as it has been lately. So even if you hate him, Lambert sticking around may be a sign of a bigger blessing.