Germany, Switzerland and beyond: A guide to Paul Lambert's contacts.

Norwich City manager Paul Lambert has enlisted the help of his former team mates at Borussia Dortmund to find new recruits for the Canaries.

He recently told the Pink’un: “I’ve spoken to a few people that I played with abroad who are at football clubs at the minute,” he said. “It’s good to have people that I can phone up and ask them.

He continued: “The club that I played with over there is absolutely massive and I have a good relationship with people there and the lads that I played with are at certain teams and I can pick up the phone to.”

His former team mates are based in Germany and Switzerland doing a variety of jobs, giving him the perfect opportunity to scour the continent for bargains. Some might be ideal for the Championship run-in; others would be more suited to the Premiership. 

Lambert wants players that are young, hungry and have a point to prove. Not those who want to come to the club for the sake of it. Conveniently, a lot of the people Lambert says he’s contacted  are involved with youth teams.

So, who could Lambert have contacted, and who could they be recommending?

Former Rangers ‘keeper played in the 1997 UEFA Champions League Final and now lives in Switzerland. Lambert’s manager at Dortmund is now the current head coach of Switzerland, Ottmar Hitzfield.

Defender Scott Sutter, who plays for BSC Young Boys, would make an ideal target. He is 24 years old and plays at right back. He has recently been capped by Hitzfeld. Considering Russell Martin is Lambert’s only right back, and he is keen to bring in back up, Sutter could be an option. Sutter also comes from Potters Bar and was part of the team that played Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League earlier this season.

Former Swiss International Stéphane Chapuisat is scouting for BSC Young Boys; his knowledge of the Super and Challenge leagues, their versions of the Premiership and Championship respectively, would be useful for Lambert.

Two of Lambert’s Dortmund team mates are still at the club. Wolfgang De Beer is currently the Goalkeeping Coach and Michael Zorc is the General Manager. The club has had considerable success with young players recently with Nuri Sahin, Mats Hummels, Mario Gotze and Kevin Grosskreutz regularly playing for the first team. They’ve propelled the team to the top of the Bundesliga.

The chances of these players coming to Norwich are non-existent, but Lambert could be keeping an eye on the next best thing playing in Dortmund’s youth team. If Norwich get promoted to the Premiership, Lambert will stand a better chance of getting a hot prospect on loan.

His contacts stretch beyond the Ruhr. Former Ghana striker Ibrahim Tanko is on the coaching staff at FC Koln; one of his former midfield partners René Tretschok is the Under 19s coach at Hertha Berlin. Andreas Moller is at Kickers Offenbach, not far from Frankfurt. Over in the USA, striker Jovan Kirovski is a team mate of David Beckham at LA Galaxy.

 

He even has contacts at the top of German football. Matthias Sammer is currently the German Football Association’s Technical Director; he is responsible for the national youth teams and focusing on the development of young players. Considering the German’s reputation for producing excellent footballers, the chances of Lambert speaking to Sammer are high. He has probably given Lambert a list of names.

There is plenty of scope for speculation, but going through a list of potential targets would be pointless. It is likely that Lambert will have considered dozens of players suggested to him by his foreign contacts. 

Considering how closely guarded transfer speculation is at Carrow Road, Lambert will no doubt spring a surprise.

Leaving Norwich would be a bad move for Paul Lambert

Over the last few weeks, a certain topic has started to crop up in conversations among Norwich City fans. It is not one that we wish to discuss, but considering the form of Norwich City over the last eighteen months, it was inevitable that someone would ask the following question eventually: “How long can we keep hold of Paul Lambert?”

Some fans are hesitant to discuss the possible departure of our prized manager; this is hardly surprising, but it is an issue that the club could face between now and the end of the season. A league title and promotion winning season, as well as a promising start to life back in the Championship, will not go unnoticed.

Lambert recently picked up the League Managers’ Association’s Performance of the Week award for the Canaries' 2-1 win at Derby County. The performance at Pride Park, along with other results such as the 4-1 win over Ipswich Town, have kept Norwich in contention for a place in the Championship play-offs. It is notable performances like these that will link managers with other clubs.

Oddly enough, Paul Lambert has not been linked with another job this season - and long may that continue. However, how long will it be until someone starts sniffing around?

Blackburn Rovers have parted company with Sam Allardyce and West Ham look likely to sack Avram Grant before the January transfer window opens. Would Lambert appear on their radars? Quite possibly. Would Norwich let him go? Probably not, particularly as the latter could well be playing in the same league as Norwich next season. Plus, the new Blackburn Rovers board is quickly developing a reputation of being the latest wannabes who think they can play a real life game of Championship Manager.

The lure of the Premiership could appeal to Lambert, but he would struggle to find a job as good as the one he has got. There are doubts in Lancashire that Blackburn Rovers can sustain themselves in the Premiership long term; the West Ham board’s public outbursts make Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf look like Max Clifford.  

Are these suitable destinations for a manager like Lambert? No, he is far too good for them. Wigan Athletic and Wolves should also take note; the latter look destined to join West Ham in the Championship, the former have over-achieved for years. How about Everton if David Moyes get sacked? I’ll pretend I did not write that…

A move to the Scottish Premier League – or any of the Scottish leagues – also appears unlikely. In an interview earlier this year, Lambert commented that the Scottish leagues are like a “goldfish bowl” and that he has no intention to return to Celtic. He sees his future in England and, I think, possibly Germany. Lambert is one of a select group of foreigners to have been given dispensation by the German FA to do his coaching badges there. His exploits at Carrow Road have not gone unnoticed at Borrusia Dortmund, where he won the Champions League in 1997. He would be a popular choice as a future manager.  

I would not begrudge Lambert a return to Dortmund, but the chances of him heading back there at the moment are non-existent; Borussia are currently eleven points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.

If Lambert did leave, he would struggle to find a club with the size of support that Norwich City has and the board backing he currently receives. The Norwich City board recently outlined a seven year plan to establish the club in the Premiership; ideally, Lambert should be here to see it through. The club does not have a policy of signing so-called flash mercenaries with the aim of delivering instant success; it has stability and a long-term plan, something that Lambert would not get with a knee-jerk move to a Premiership club.

He is better off staying in Norfolk - and he probably knows that too. 

Solving Roy Keane's new pet dilemma

Roy Keane is doing an excellent job. He has just lost an important local derby match 4-1; his team has lost six (or however many games it is) in succession, and the Ipswich Town board have just given him a vote of confidence. Life at Portman Road is wonderful, but all is not well in the Keane camp: he needs a new pet.

It is a well-known fact that, until recently, Keane had a dog. A great lover of man’s best friend, it is hard to imagine Keane not taking his dog for a walk. Its absence has probably left a big hole in his life and he probably wants a replacement. Considering the man has a busy life and should not be distracted from his great work, he needs something that will fit in with his lifestyle and suit his needs. 

As dogs like considerable exercise every day, and Keane is busy instructing his players on how to secure relegation to League One, he needs something that is low maintenance. 

How about a cat? They are cute, fluffy, nice to cuddle and do not need to be taken for a walk. Sounds ideal for a man as important as Keane doesn't it?

Well...

Considering the old adage “dogs have masters and cats have servants”, it is very unlikely that Keane would get himself some feline company. Cats, loveable creatures that they are, are quite highly strung. They sit around with a pretentious look on their faces; they twitch their whiskers in the very presence of someone deemed unworthy or inferior. Frankly, the body language of a feline would not suit someone with Keane’s personality. After all, it is hard to see him bowing to the demands of a fluffy moggy demanding more food, so sadly that will not work. 

How about a goldfish? They swim around all day, do not require much food, but have a short memory. They probably forget who their owner is, which, in this case, would benefit the goldfish. 

Or, how about a rabbit? They hop around and have more mobility than Tamas Priskin. However, they need to have their hutches cleaned out on a daily basis, so that will be too demanding for busy Roy. 

How about a hamster? They are small, cuddly, oh, and easy to pack away when moving to a new club. 

Sorted!

Give them three years and not three months?

A letter in the December edition of When Saturday Comes suggested that, in an ideal world, it should be enshrined in the FA rulebook that Football managers should be given three year contracts and not be sacked in that period, except in exceptional circumstances. It is an interesting idea but sadly it is fundamentally flawed.

It is an idea that sounds like a policy worthy of a place on a Liberal Democrat election manifesto. And just like a few other things that appeared on Nick Clegg’s list of ideas and promises in May 2010, it has a similar chance of success. 

It ignores the fact that an appointment does not guarantee success, or that the manager will deliver improvement. A perfect example of how the idea would not work is evidenced by the fortunes of the club I support. In the last three years, Norwich City have appointed three managers – all on long term contracts – that were all sacked or resigned within 18 months of their appointment. Peter Grant resigned twelve months after being appointed with the club stuck at the bottom of the Championship; at an AGM a few months later, the then Norwich City Chairman remarked that Grant had set the club back by three years. At the time, Norwich looked destined for relegation to League One – which happened less than 18 months later, and arguably it was the responsibility of the person who replaced Grant, Glenn Roeder.

Such examples are rife in Football, and highlight that having to stick with a manager for three years, and not being able to sack him, could be disastrous. However, the reputation of a Football manager is often well-known, so this system could lead to Chairmen taking more care to recruit managers. It would also reduce the number of managers who get sacked every season. However, whilst clubs might change their recruitment process, they would probably be less willing to appoint a young manager taking on their first job. Paul Lambert, who got his first management job at Livingston in 2005, was sacked in February 2006 after winning only two games. 

There will always be a market for a manager with a reputation of producing long term success. Under such a system, the value of managers such as Martin O’Neill, David Moyes and Dave Jones would increase, yet young managers such as Eddie Howe at AFC Bournemouth, who is in his first managerial job, would struggle to find work. However, a club could also appoint a manager with a proven track record and he could fail. 

The concept of a manager “losing the dressing room” would not disappear. Managers will always fall out with players; there are managers with notable track records of “losing the dressing room”, and usually sacking the manager is the solution. Gary Megson is an example; he allegedly fell out with his players at Bolton last season. His replacement, Owen Coyle, is currently having a successful season with the players he inherited.  

Further, suggesting that "players would have to put up or shut up and might actually find that what they’re told works if they do it properly" is absurd. Has anyone forgotten the quality of Phil Neale’s coaching?


Football management and the process of selecting a manager will always be littered with ifs and buts, but one thing people agree on is that managers should be given a chance to do their job. Chris Hughton had his cruelly taken away from him at Newcastle, despite the fact he had recently led the club back into the Premiership, and restored dignity and stability to St James Park. He was not given the chance that he had earned to consolidate Newcastle's position in the Premiership. 


There are a number of baffling and unjust sackings every season, but is it worth sticking with someone when it is painfully obvious that they are failing at their job? No, and clubs should be free from interference to make the decision to remove their managers. 


Idealism will never stand in the way of the harsh reality of being a Football manager, no matter how good a manager is.