New Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has already identified several new faces he would like to bring to Villa Park, but is adamant that Norwich striker Grant Holt is not one of them.
Striker Holt was an integral part of Lambert's hugely successful three-year spell at Carrow Road, but the 31-year-old has been left disappointed by the club's refusal to offer him a new three-year contract and had a transfer request turned down last month.
But, while Lambert was fulsome in his praise for the centre-forward, he insisted he has not thought about signing Holt, and said: "I haven't even thought about that at all. Grant Holt was brilliant for me. In the three years I was there (at Norwich) he was a huge part of what happened at the club. He is a terrific guy and I have a lot of time for him."
He went on: "He was brilliant for me as a footballer and a captain but things move on and I need to know about Aston Villa Football Club before I do anything else.
"I will look at things here first and foremost. We will try to bring some guys in but I swear to God I haven't thought about that.
"I am really excited to be here but I haven't thought about anything like that."
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Its all very messey who do you beleive i cant see Culverhouse staying at Norwich nor compensation being paid to Norwich i think Mcnally has slipped up both in the handling of Lambert and Holt.
ADAM JOHNSON!!! and see if we can get aaron lennon also.UTV
You have to feel for Grant Holt, he's been an excellent player and yet the Norwich board once again shows it's obstinancy by not offering him a new contract or accepting his transfer request, for what it's worth as well, I don't see Holt as being mercinary about this either, I'm sure if Norwich offer him a renewal of his contract he'd probably accept.
I don't understand how the yahoo baords work. Sometimes you can post for days and nothing appears. Other times you get a good few posts and some interesting opinions going from all sides and the next thing you know all the posts have disappeared. I'm probably wasting my time but I wanted to make the point that Lambert will be measured by his ability to get players like Gabby and Albrighton believing in themselves again. Whether he is given money for new players or not, he really has to put confidence in a side that has none at all left.
Why are so many bitter Norwich fans on this page, let it go for god sake you have a new manager know, why not get behind him instead of moaning about Lambert, telling us who he will sign and continually commenting on our financial position, which you don't have a clue about, as for Villa been a small club, really please check Villa's history and the fact we are still one of only 5 English teams to lift the European Cup, i think all you sad little Norwich fans should look at your own club who have forced the best manager you have had in years out, and is doing the same to your start striker.
you villa fans have no clue lambert will go for snodgrass leeds and pilkinton norwich
I certainly wouldn't say no to a new striker, but I'm wondering how much Lerner is willing to spend.We're spending all our money on buying managers out of their contracts. I agree with mouse about Bent. We bought an old fashioned number 9 and then sold all the players who could put the ball on his head. I assume that's what N'Zogbia was supposed to sort out, but he has failed to do that in a spectacular way. What I'm really hoping from Lambert is that he can give Gabby and Albrighton the confidence which McLeish took away from them. That's worth as much as a new striker.
Not sure about that, mouse. We have a 20 goal a season striker who scored 9 last season because he spent most of it injured. Since when did any club need only one striker? He should get Holt in, without question. A proven goalscorer who won't break the bank (even when we pay him far more than he's used to at that HUGE club Norwich City). So everybody's happy!
Regarding comments 6 and 9: what?
Regarding comment 6, I agree Villa is a small team with small matters
we do not need grant holt, we have a 20 goal a season striker. we need players who can feed him. # 19. villa 'til i die.
I hope Chris Hughton will see sense and treat Grant with more respect than McNally has done. Grant has only done what he has done as a last resort. Rememeber he has not been earning megabucks for the last ten years like Didier Drogba, who cannot possible live in China on £150k/week (is this 10,000 times their average wage?). Grant has his future to consider and Norwich should give him a contract which allows some security, maybe a years coaching or whatever. There IS room for sentiment and loyalty in football and if anyone deserves it, Grant does.
small team , small matters who cares
Paul lambert :- you know you will go and try to sign grant holt for villa. Just admit it to the supporters
hes a good player but not good anuf for villa josh age 11
when a manager leaves a club it should be at least a year before they can go back to there old club for a player. its a merry go round and its about time it stopped
In translation that means you want to sign him. We know now he means the opposite of what he says. First signings will be Ian Culverhouse and Gary Karsa. Why we still have him on our team page is beyond me. Yahoo he has gone can we concentrate on our club please :-)
Same old rhetoric
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