Ex-Aston Villa boss admits he was ‘f***ing delighted’ after being given the sack
Former Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has confessed he was overjoyed when the club gave him the boot in 2015.
Lambert’s tenure at Villa Park spanned from 2012 to 2015, during the final stages of Randy Lerner’s ownership of the club. Throughout his stint with Villa, Lambert claims he was operating on a shoestring budget as Lerner was seeking to offload the club.
After securing Villa’s Premier League status with two 15th place finishes in consecutive seasons, the former Norwich City boss was shown the door and replaced by Tim Sherwood following a 2-0 defeat to Hull City. While most managers are disheartened when they’re sacked, Lambert confessed he was relieved, the Birmingham Mail report.
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While appearing on the Under the Cosh podcast, Lambert recalled: “It’s funny, I remember talking to Walter Smith (ex-Everton and Rangers manager).
“I’ve met him at St. George’s Park and I had been sacked by Aston Villa. He said: ‘Paul, have you got a minute’ and I said ‘aye’. He said: ‘How did you feel when you got sacked by Aston Villa?’ I went: ‘Well I was f***ing delighted. F***ing over the moon’.”
Lambert rocked up at Villa in the summer of 2012, fresh from a successful three-year stint with Norwich City. The former Champions League winner spilled the beans on how he was strapped for cash when it came to signing new talent.
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(Image: Getty Images)
He said: “I knew the owner was going to sell the club and I was like: ‘S***, Jesus, he’s going to sell it’. I tried to get players to the club. I spoke to Romelu Lukaku when we first went in there. We agreed a deal with Chelsea on loan. He was only a kid at the time, he was only 19 years old.
“I spoke to him and he was like: ‘Great, no problem, I’ll come’ and then we couldn’t do it. I thought: ‘Why couldn’t Aston Villa do this deal? It’s a big club’.
“And then, all of a sudden, the line is that the owner is going to sell it, so we had to cut the wage bill and we had to let players go, all those sorts of things. I was thinking: ‘This is not what I want to do here’.
(Image: Getty Images)
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“But, you hang in there and think you’re going to change it. Deep down, I knew it was borrowed time. I didn’t think it was going to be f***ing as long as that.”
After Lambert got the boot, Sherwood swooped in to save Villa’s Premier League skin and even bagged a spot in the FA Cup final. But his glory was short-lived a few months later, he was given the chop with Villa stuck in 19th place.
Next up was Remi Garde, who hopped into the hot seat only to bail after 147 days, having won a measly two out of 20 Premier League matches.
