Source:
https://scmp.com/sport/soccer/article/1712256/home-and-away-its-not-fans-who-got-paul-lambert-sacked-business-usual Football
Home and Away: It's not fans who got Paul Lambert sacked but business, as usual
Supporters and media may feel empowered but Aston Villa's owners were mostly stirred by the potential loss of their Premier League cash pool
Paul Lambert oversaw a dismal run of form that eventually got him the sack. Photo: AFP
Aston Villa fans might be patting themselves on the back for finally ousting hapless manager Paul Lambert.
Neutrals too have been applauding the claret and blue ranks for their persistence, which led to the wealthy American owners axing the man who brought about the longest goal drought in the club's 140-year history and oversaw a rapid descent into the relegation zone.
But to unashamedly copy the words of Villa's rather conceited and now humbled CEO Tom Fox, this story of fan power is a "false narrative".
Fox is the front man for, and compatriot of, Villa's American and mainly silent owner, Randy Lerner.
Just three weeks ago Fox was adamant that acting on the fans' call to sack Lambert would be like "flipping a coin".
With the team in free fall, crowds declining and anger mounting on and off the terraces at the turgid, goalless football, Fox retorted: "When things aren't going well, fans bay for that type of blood.
"That's not the way that I or the owner are going to make a decision. It's a false narrative."
Then the storyline appeared to take an inevitable twist on Tuesday night after the 2-0 away defeat to Hull saw Villa land with a thump in the bottom three.
The vociferous travelling fans unfurled a "Lambert Out" banner and within hours Fox and his boss were - with the discontent and blunt advice ringing in their ears - frantically shifting gears in a panic-stricken U-turn.
So far, so good in this romantic David and Goliath tale of fat cat suits forced to listen and act upon the demands of the long suffering hoi polloi.
But this plot works only for the naive. Fox and Lerner were neither listening to the supporters nor taking notice of the local media campaign to oust Lambert in a bid to save this noble club - one of the founders of football - from the humiliation and likely financial ruin that would follow if relegated from the top flight.
What ultimately forced them into action was the loud dings of cash registers that sounded earlier on Tuesday when the EPL announced the new mega-money TV rights deal.
Greed and fear are the two powerful emotions that drive the 21st-century super rich and Lerner could not afford to risk missing out on the millions with relegation to the Championship.
Each EPL club is expected to receive over £10 million per game after the rights to screen matches sold for a ridiculous £5.3 billion.
Fox and Lerner were neither listening to the supporters nor taking notice of the local media campaign to oust Lambert in a bid to save this noble club
The horror of dropping out of the EPL and losing more of his £300 million investment suddenly loomed large on Lerner's radar.
Poor results, appalling stats and noisy, demanding fans have been par for the course since he bought the club in 2006. Yet season after season Villa always escaped the drop.
But this campaign is very different. Villa are playing dreadful football and have gone 10 league matches without a win and scoring twice.
The vibrant counterattacking that marked Lambert's early endeavours has been replaced by the downright appalling.Eviction from the most lucrative sports league in the world looks more a certainty than a threat.
It is common knowledge that Lerner wants out of Villa but he knows that any hopes of selling the club are remote in the event of relegation.
He and Fox claimed to have liked Lambert, but friendship in football does not guarantee loyalty for long - especially when the chips are down and rolling towards the pan. 
Not that Villa's predicament is entirely the fault of the manager. Those who champion Lambert's cause would argue that keeping Villa in the division to date is success in itself.
Aston Villa supporters staged a highly visible campaign to have Lambert sacked. Photo: AFP
With little in the war chest from his boss, he was thrifty with his signings, with the £7 million for Christian Benteke his most expensive spend.
Contrast that with previous managers like Gerard Houllier who spent £24 million on Darren Bent while Martin O'Neill was afforded "an embarrassment of riches" to break the EPL glass ceiling and enter the Champions League, and failed.
Injuries also blighted Lambert's latter tenure. Benteke, once a redoubtable figure, has lumbered though games since returning from a ruptured Achilles injury suffered last spring.
What ultimately forced them into action was the loud dings of cash registers that sounded earlier on Tuesday when the EPL announced the new mega-money TV rights deal
Nor was this season's fixture list kind with Villa's unbeaten, assured start halted by Arsenal, and confidence then ebbing way over subsequent defeats in their next two matches against Chelsea and Manchester City, never to return.
Former Tottenham head coach Tim Sherwood, and Jurgen Klinsmann, a former Spurs player now coach of the United States, are the bookies' favourites to replace Lambert.
For Villa fans, a question of truth has become one about credibility: just who can be trusted to save Villa from the unthinkable and write a "how to survive" narrative based on cold, hard facts?