Gabriel Agbonlahor defends unpopular ex-Aston Villa man, claims he pitied him

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Paul Lambert spent two-and-a-half years as Aston Villa manager, but it now with Ipswich Town.

The former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor has defended Paul Lambert’s spell as manager of the club – even though it coincided with his own decline.

Lambert spent two-and-a-half years as Aston Villa boss between 2012 and 2015 – a period bookended by the short reigns of Alex McLeish and Tim Sherwood.

But the Scot, who is now in charge of the League One outfit, Ipswich Town, could only achieve back-to-back 15th-placed finishes and was sacked after the Villans dropped into the bottom three.

As a result, he is far from fondly remembered in Aston Villa territory.

But, discussing the end of his playing career on Talksport earlier (Thursday), Agbonlahor leapt to Lambert’s defence.

“You’ve got to remember that Villa team wasn’t the same Villa team as the Villa team under Martin O’Neill,” explained the former Villa and England striker. “Paul Lambert came in and it was an impossible job for him really, I actually felt sorry for him.

“He was basically told by the owner (then Randy Lerner) that anyone who’s on good money had got to go. Even if they’re one of the better players, they’re going – no matter what they’ve got on the pitch.

“He was bringing in players from League Two, some players, League One, and it’s the Premier League – you’re playing against superstars.

“I think that’s what let Villa down, especially that season and seasons on from that, the squad was basically not good enough.”

Gareth Barry, Ashley Young, Stewart Downing and James Milner were all sold by Aston Villa for eight-figure fees in the few years prior to Lambert’s arrival.

And Agbonlahor added: “No offence to the players that Paul Lambert was bringing in. (We might have had) £10 million to spend in the summer and then we’d make a £2m signing from the French second division as a gamble and (those players) weren’t working.

“I remember there was a striker, (Nicklas) Helenius, he came and he was nowhere near it. All these players we were signing like basically gambles.

“I do rate Paul Lambert for the job he did because any other manager would have probably walked.”

After Lambert’s departure, Agbonlahor remained at Aston Villa, his boyhood club, throughout the tenures of Sherwood, Remi Garde, Roberto di Matteo and Steve Bruce, before retiring at the end of his contract last summer, with Dean Smith then in charge, though he failed to feature as often.