Aston Villa fans cranked up the pressure on Paul Lambert as they turned on their manager for the second game in a row, chanting for his head. “We want Lambert out” and “We want our Villa back”, the travelling support demanded after Villa slipped back to within two points of the relegation zone by drawing yet another blank in a 1-0 defeat at Leicester City.
As their Midlands rivals continued to keep alive their chances of survival thanks to Paul Konchesky’s goal in first-half stoppage time,Villa made it nearly 12 hours since they last scored in the Premier League. With just two league wins from 17, their fans publicised a petition urging for Lambert’s dismissal.
Villa have now picked up four red cards in a run of six league games without a win in which they have scored just one goal after Ciaran Clark and Matty James, the Leicester midfielder, were sent off in stoppage time to spark a 19-man brawl that continued down the tunnel. Clark, receiving his second yellow card for his reaction to James’s reckless tackle on Jores Okore, had to be restrained by stewards as he attempted to take further retribution on the Leicester player.
Lambert’s position will come under further scrutiny as fans previously supportive during his two-and-a-half-year tenure at the club vented their frustration at the King Power Stadium and towards the end of last Sunday’s 1-0 win over Blackpool in the FA Cup.
Lambert, however, faced up to the howling criticism. “The fans pay a lot of money to come and watch,” he said. “I don’t want Aston Villa to keep doing what they are doing. It’s a great club with a great fan base. We just have to take it, we have to come through it. There are only two ways you can go: you either sink or you swim. But the more important thing is the game, that’s more important than people’s feelings towards myself. We’ve just got to work hard and we need a bit more creativity in the final third.”
Dan Lawrie, a Villa fan from Birmingham, has started a petition requesting to “remove Paul Lambert”. The petition states: “We as fans of the club have endured three years of shame under Paul Lambert ... We as fans believe that things will never change under Lambert, and are therefore calling for action.” Randy Lerner, the chairman, put the club up for sale last summer but no serious interest has been forthcoming leaving Villa in limbo.
