Paul Lambert has questioned whether John Terry would be the right appointment for Aston Villa following a fresh twist in the club’s manager search.
Speaking on Sky Sports Debate programme (38:50) on Tuesday night, the former Villa manager pointed out that the Premier League legend has no managerial experience and there is no proof he would succeed where so many have failed.
Lambert made the point about the difficulties of the post in a round-table discussion alongside Stuart Pearce and Steve Sidwell about the Villa manager situation after host Geoff Shreeves reported Terry is now the favourite following Thierry Henry’s decision to think about his options.
“No matter how many caps you’ve got or what you’ve won nothing prepares you to go into that hot seat,” Lambert told Sky Sports. “Confrontation finds you as a manager, you don’t go out looking for it every morning. It comes to your door. You get sick of the sight of some players.
“It will start off fresh, then things happen, then the next day, then the next day. You think, ‘this isn’t quite as easy as everyone thinks it is’.
“No matter what you’ve done in your playing career, you have to get results. Villa is a big club with a big expectancy level.”
OPINION
Lambert’s three seasons at the helm were fairly forgettable as far as many Villa fans are concerned. With ex-owner Randy Lerner reigning in the spending, the Scot had his hands tied in terms of recruitment and the result was bottom-of-the-table mediocrity and tepid football. Nevertheless, Lambert kept the Midlands giants in the top flight, something beyond his successors and history paints him in a better light than many of the club’s bosses of recent years. Lambert certainly knows the pressures of the job and points out, without any malice, why there is no guarantee that Terry would succeed. His playing record was outstanding, including last season in a Villa shirt, and he has a high profile and the respect already of the dressing room. But does he have the man-management and coaching skills to get the best out of one of the best squads in the Championship. That is the great unknown.