[Archived] Official: Paul Lambert Appointed Blackburn Rovers Manager

[Ewooduknow]

So nice to see this forum talking about the football again. Long may it continue.

Carry on.

[Cherry Blue]

Can't see Duffy as a leader, too many errors in his game. If it's not Hanley can see PL bringing in his own man. But Duffy has height and should develop his attacking headers. We've already seen his long ball. A pot on goal from distance could be an assist.

So far it's good but as previous Rome wasn't built in a day but Paul Lambert does have PL in his name.

[47er]

It's amazing the feelgood factor amongst the fans. Not a game played yet and there's a real sense of optimism.

This must be how Bruce Wayne felt when he finally climbed out of that big hole.

It will be a terrible let-down now if we don't win! Expectations have gone through the roof.

Realistically, Lamberts's first job is still to save us from the threat of relegation. Do the now unthinkable and lose at Deepdale and we are right in the relegation mire.

I think some people above are getting carried away. I see the rest of the season as a chance to move us up the table to safety and to see how close to the playoff places we can get. There Is an outside chance only of us making the play-offs.

I would hate to see the new manager judged this season on whether or not we made the play-offs.That would be ridiculous.

Compare this squad to the early 90's squad which finished sixth. Sorry to be a damp squid and all that.

[Mattyblue]

Compare this squad to the early 90's squad which finished sixth. Sorry to be a damp squid and all that.

Or if you want to be a soaking wet squid, just think of the 2001 promotion team.

[JAL]

Edit

[47er]

Or if you want to be a soaking wet squid, just think of the 2001 promotion team.

Good point and we were so close to being relegated and going straight back down. If this lot ever got promoted someone would have to spend a fortune to keep us there!

I don't want to be accused of killing Christmas though so I won't say anymore on the subject!

[RevidgeBlue]

It will be a terrible let-down now if we don't win! Expectations have gone through the roof.

Realistically, Lamberts's first job is still to save us from the threat of relegation. Do the now unthinkable and lose at Deepdale and we are right in the relegation mire.

I think some people above are getting carried away. I see the rest of the season as a chance to move us up the table to safety and to see how close to the playoff places we can get. There Is an outside chance only of us making the play-offs.

I would hate to see the new manager judged this season on whether or not we made the play-offs.That would be ridiculous.

Compare this squad to the early 90's squad which finished sixth. Sorry to be a damp squid and all that.

I see it as a bit like the difference between Souness and Hughes. Souness's aim was 40 points. Hughes' aim was 40 points "as soon as possible".

Likewise Lambert has to put together a run of results which will banish any lingering relegation fears "as soon as possible".

Anything else is a bonus. I don't think anyone will judge PL on whether we get into the play offs or not as long as we see some improvement in performances and developing the team's style of play and identity etc.

I also hate comparisons to past teams. Completely irrelevant. All that matters is whether this squad is good enough to obtain results off the other teams in the division in the here and now.

I think with proper direction and one or two new ideas it is.

[tonygreenbank]

Its one thing wanting something, its another expecting it. When was the last time we won 5 on the bounce? I'd be fascinated to know, could be years, could be decades. Expecting what almost amounts to a miracle can be very counter-productive if fans are going to become negative when it doesn't happen.

2 points per game is always enough for automatic promotion in the Championship. But given the season we've had so far, I think 10 points from those 6 games would represent a very good return.

Hi Steve K H

I can answer your question!

I have kept my own diary extracts for the last 50 years including Rovers scores! I must be an anorak!

It was our promotion season 2000-1 when we won 6 games on the bounce from 18th October till 8th of November beating such luminaries as Wimbledon, Grimsby, Tranmere, Huddersfield, Stockport and Barnsley.

In fact there were so many wins that season we took 60 points from the last 28 games to finish with 91 points.

So it can be done!

[Claytons Left Boot]

Compare this squad to the early 90's squad which finished sixth. Sorry to be a damp squid and all that.

Great point. I was just about to post along the same lines regarding the current squad and that of the 1990-1992 seasons.

We firstly bought Steve Livingstone and Tony Dobson from top flight Coventry City and then over several months added players like Kevin Moran, Chris Price, Mike Newell, Duncan Shearer, Alan Wright, Steve Agnew, Gordon Cowans and David Speedie.

That side only made the playoffs courtesy of a last day win at Plymouth. We are left with 'the willy we can wee with' and will only be allowed to add to the current squad if we can somehow wriggle out of the embargo in January.

I realise that us fans are extremely excited at the moment but feel expectations should be tempered somewhat. Slow, steady progress should be the aim this season with one or two additions if possible in January. Further additions as necessary in the summer, hit the ground running with automatic promotion thereafter.

[J*B]

Hi Steve K H

I can answer your question!

I have kept my own diary extracts for the last 50 years including Rovers scores! I must be an anorak!

It was our promotion season 2000-1 when we won 6 games on the bounce from 18th October till 8th of November beating such luminaries as Wimbledon, Grimsby, Tranmere, Huddersfield, Stockport and Barnsley.

In fact there were so many wins that season we took 60 points from the last 28 games to finish with 91 points.

So it can be done!

Congratulations Tony Green Bank on being the new BRFCS stat man!

Following on - which manager has got the best points record in their first 5 games?

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

This is where good managers come into their own.

Marshall, Conway, Lawrence should all be capable of 8 / season. Henley and Olsson should be chipping in with a couple each and Hanley and Duffy should score far more than they do given their aerial ability. Central midfield, even allowing for who we have, should be netting half a dozen between them per season. So that's 40 to go with Rhodes' 30.

I know it's easier said than done but much of it is about belief and confidence and the team being set-up and encouraged to get on the front foot. I am confident Lambert, Irvine and Kelly are going to deliver big time this season - positivity goes a long way.

Yeah - positivity goes a long way but ability will always go further.

[onlyonejackwalker]

Well that was my point, you said expect. I agree in this league you should try to win every game, but 5 wins in a row is a tough ask. Just hope if it doesn't happen (which in all likelihood it won't), fans don't start getting on Lambert's back. This squad has spent 2 seasons getting gradually worse, it won't be easy to immediately reverse that. Rome wasn't built in a day and look at Steve Evans' start at Leeds as an example of how little one game means.

Agreed. Five in a row sounds lively when we have only one three all year! Have we signed a star striker as well?

Try and make Ewood a strong-hold again. Be very competitive away and see what we can pinch. Happy to give Lambert a chance as I am sure the players will try for him.

It will be a terrible let-down now if we don't win! Expectations have gone through the roof.

Realistically, Lamberts's first job is still to save us from the threat of relegation. Do the now unthinkable and lose at Deepdale and we are right in the relegation mire.

I think some people above are getting carried away. I see the rest of the season as a chance to move us up the table to safety and to see how close to the playoff places we can get. There Is an outside chance only of us making the play-offs.

I would hate to see the new manager judged this season on whether or not we made the play-offs.That would be ridiculous.

Compare this squad to the early 90's squad which finished sixth. Sorry to be a damp squid and all that.

Sensible stuff.

[Baz]

Great point. I was just about to post along the same lines regarding the current squad and that of the 1990-1992 seasons.

We firstly bought Steve Livingstone and Tony Dobson from top flight Coventry City and then over several months added players like Kevin Moran, Chris Price, Mike Newell, Duncan Shearer, Alan Wright, Steve Agnew, Gordon Cowans and David Speedie.

That side only made the playoffs courtesy of a last day win at Plymouth. We are left with 'the willy we can wee with' and will only be allowed to add to the current squad if we can somehow wriggle out of the embargo in January.

I realise that us fans are extremely excited at the moment but feel expectations should be tempered somewhat. Slow, steady progress should be the aim this season with one or two additions if possible in January. Further additions as necessary in the summer, hit the ground running with automatic promotion thereafter.

The squad we had in the first promotion season was great, as it was under Souness, however I honestly think that the quality of the opposition teams is far worse now too, so you have to offset some of that too. Don't get me wrong, theres a lot of weaknesses in the squad, but there's a run of winnable games coming up before we head into a transfer window. Get up to mid-table going into that window, and you may persuade a couple of good players to drop down a division.

[4000Holes]

Talk about winning 6 on the bounce makes me shudder. Remember these players have won 3 this season. The team is desperately short of pace and there is no natural right back which ensures the centre backs are pulled out of position.

Granted Paul Lambert and the new coaching staff will give the players a new perspective but they are still the same players.

Give Paul Lambert some space and as fans we need to be patient.

This is the first proper manager we have had for some time. Please let us give him a chance to organise or re-organise and sort out the weaknesses. Rome was not built in a day!

[K-Hod]

I think it will be all about consolidation and avoiding relegation this season. Next season I expect we'll do a lot better.

[Amo]

To be fair, it's only Merce talking about six on the bounce, and we all know he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

[roverzee]

New broom. New Captain. Someone who can lead by example on and off the pitch. Someone the other players can take instruction from without thinking "Who the hell are you to tell me that?"

Crazy logic. Any new manager needs to build up the respect and trust of all the players especially the senior ones. By definition the captain is one of the senior players. In Hanley's case been here for 8 years (has any player / staff been here longer now Bowyer's gone?), and 19 international caps for the new manager's native country! It would be extraordinary if Lambert took the armband off Hanley and immediately cause disruption in the dressing room. Given he won't be able to sign anything better in January then barring injury it will be Hanley for the rest of the season I should think.

[47er]

One prospect has me optimistic. It occurs to me that Lambert taking over could give us a very exciting FA Cup run! Much more likely than promotion.

[RevidgeBlue]

Everyone's suddenly turning into GB. We didn't bring Lambert and his team in to bumble along at slightly better than a point a game like GB. As everyone says, let PL get on with it, have some faith in him and his backroom team and lets see where it takes us.

Let's not expect too much as a matter of right but let's not rule anything out either.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Hi Steve K H

I can answer your question!

I have kept my own diary extracts for the last 50 years including Rovers scores! I must be an anorak!

It was our promotion season 2000-1 when we won 6 games on the bounce from 18th October till 8th of November beating such luminaries as Wimbledon, Grimsby, Tranmere, Huddersfield, Stockport and Barnsley.

In fact there were so many wins that season we took 60 points from the last 28 games to finish with 91 points.

So it can be done!

Wow that was brilliant! What an awesome fan you are!!

[RevidgeBlue]

To be fair, it's only Merce talking about six on the bounce, and we all know he's cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

I can't cope with the new positive Mercer. I'm sure his son has hijacked the laptop or something. Does this mean he won't be telling us Rhodes to Sheffield Wednesday is a done deal this window?

Lol. Keep it up MM.

[G Somerset Rover]

I can't cope with the new positive Mercer. I'm sure his son has hijacked the laptop or something. Does this mean he won't be telling us Rhodes to Sheffield Wednesday is a done deal this window?

Lol. Keep it up MM.

To be fair, Merce is always up and down like Katie Price's knickers. In and amongst the doom and gloom, he'd quite consistently proclaim to everyone after a half decent result that we'd smash the next opposition, with comments such as: '4/5 to nil, somebody will take a hammering off us soon and I have a hunch it will be today'.

No idea why he kept doing it when we struggled to even score a goal a game, but he did.

[Claytons Left Boot]

The squad we had in the first promotion season was great, as it was under Souness, however I honestly think that the quality of the opposition teams is far worse now too, so you have to offset some of that too.

I quite agree Baz. For a few seasons after Souness got us back up, I wondered how we would fare should we ever get relegated again. Since then, however, standards have dropped and it's not such an alarming proposition as it once was.

We also had Bobby Mimms in that pre promotion team. Already at the club were players like Scott Sellars and Simon Garner. The much derided by some (wrongly in my opinion) box to box midfielder Mark Atkins who was also there was far better than any of our current midfield players. Many of the above and those in my previous post weren't stop gaps either, they went on to establish themselves as Premier League players.

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

Everyone's suddenly turning into GB. We didn't bring Lambert and his team in to bumble along at slightly better than a point a game like GB. As everyone says, let PL get on with it, have some faith in him and his backroom team and lets see where it takes us.

Let's not expect too much as a matter of right but let's not rule anything out either.

Saying we need years of stabilising to mount an even halfway realistic play-off attempt (as GB and his supporters seemed to insist on) and saying Lambert can't reasonably be expected to win almost all of his first 6 games in charge aren't exactly comparable. Not saying Lambert should be judged by the endlessly patient, excuse-laden barometer bestowed on GB by an, even at the end, sizeable percentage of fans (not generally on this board but more so elsewhere). But nor should he be judged as though the promotion is an expected target now.

As others have said, its still the same squad, which has been slowly depleted by 3 years of dwindling resources/club attraction and FFP. Where does it rank now in the Championship in terms of quality? Taking off the blue and white tinted specs and I'd say it just edges into the top half. Rhodes is our standout player but is just one of 5-6 strikers with similar ability in the division. How many of the others are top 6 Championship players? I'm really struggling after Conway.

Lambert is down Gestede, Cairney and King on the squad Bowyer finished 9th with last season. As well as starting with an 11 point handicap over 6th placed Birmingham. Lets absolutely be optimistic but lets not revert back to the entitled, unrealistically demanding attitude that was so prevalent in the Big Sam era.

[chaddyrovers]

This is where good managers come into their own.

Marshall, Conway, Lawrence should all be capable of 8 / season. Henley and Olsson should be chipping in with a couple each and Hanley and Duffy should score far more than they do given their aerial ability. Central midfield, even allowing for who we have, should be netting half a dozen between them per season. So that's 40 to go with Rhodes' 30.

I know it's easier said than done but much of it is about belief and confidence and the team being set-up and encouraged to get on the front foot. I am confident Lambert, Irvine and Kelly are going to deliver big time this season - positivity goes a long way.

I have to agree there. Hanley and Duffy should be at least getting 5 goals each per season.

Marshall, Lawrence, Conway should be all getting between them around 25 goals per season.

Will Lambert make Delfouneso and Koita better players? And get them scoring and getting 10 goals each

Rhodes should be getting 25/30 goals a season.