/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47026940/GettyImages-463131636.0.jpg)
Sky Sports asked Paul Lambert what he thought about Aston Villa's profligate summer in the transfer market. Let's just get right to it here:
"It makes me a laugh a little bit in the change in the policy but that's the way it is and good luck to Tim and Aston Villa in the future, whatever they want to do."
There's just one bit here that really irritates me. "The change in policy." What change in policy? The board haven't given Tim Sherwood more money than they gave you. Randy Lerner hasn't opened his wallet more for Tim than he did for you. You generally had a net spend somewhere between £10 and £20 million per season. Sherwood has had a net spend of something in the £10 million range this summer. That's the same policy!
You see Paul, the problem was that you didn't have players to sell who could net you a profit of £40+ million. Sherwood hasn't tapped into some magical well of new money, he's just used the money gotten by outgoing transfers to bolster his small war chest satchel.
The problem that you ran into wasn't that you weren't given money. It's that you didn't use that money wisely. Or rather, you did use it wisely and then you didn't know how to use what you had bought. It's as if you had found a great bargain on LEGOs and then wondered why they were so bad at helping you play cricket. You used your toys poorly Paul, and that was your downfall.
So stop talking stupidly and just go away. You were not a good fit for Aston Villa. It doesn't make you a bad person, and it doesn't (necessarily) make you a bad manager. But just go away.