Paul Lambert May Not Be an Attractive Name for Stoke but his CV Suggests Survival

Paul Lambert on the touchline as Wolverhampton Wanderers manager in January 2017. (AFP)
Paul Lambert on the touchline as Wolverhampton Wanderers manager in January 2017. (AFP)
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Paul Lambert May Not Be an Attractive Name for Stoke but his CV Suggests Survival

Paul Lambert on the touchline as Wolverhampton Wanderers manager in January 2017. (AFP)
Paul Lambert on the touchline as Wolverhampton Wanderers manager in January 2017. (AFP)

There were many replies under the tweet announcing Paul Lambert’s arrival as Stoke City manager. Quite a few contained the cry-laughing emoji, more than one offered season tickets for sale at a knockdown price and a single definitive statement declared “that literally might be the worst managerial appointment I’ve ever seen”. There were other examples, but you get the general gist.

Social media being what it is, the Stoke hierarchy are unlikely to have to turned to Twitter expecting bouquets and acclaim. But Lambert’s appointment as successor to Mark Hughes has certainly not been met with universal praise. This is not least because the Scot was at best fourth in the club’s list of preferred candidates, Stoke having been previously unsuccessful in approaches to Gary Rowett, Martin O’Neill and Quique Sánchez Flores.

Also in the debit column for the Glaswegian is a win record of 26.6 percent as a Premier League manager, the discord his style of play created among supporters during the latter stages of his tenure at Aston Villa and, perhaps a degree less importantly, the perception that he is dour in his post-match press conferences. That he “greatly impressed” the Stoke board during the interview process, meanwhile, does not appear to have cut much ice.

January, it seems, is as difficult a time to recruit managers as it is players. But not everything about the Lambert appointment – with the 48-year-old signing a two-and-a-half year contract – rings alarm bells. The former Scotland, Celtic and Borussia Dortmund midfielder has never been relegated from the Premier League after all. That win percentage may be underwhelming but it was achieved over four seasons with clubs in straitened circumstances.

Lambert was last in the top flight with Villa, sacked halfway through his third season with the club in dire form. He had, however, suffered the misfortune to take the hotseat at a big club after the party had come to a stop. Randy Lerner’s largesse while Martin O’Neill was in charge had ended. The stars of that side – from Ashley Young to James Milner to Stewart Downing – had departed and replacements were drawn from the lower divisions and less celebrated foreign leagues. Lambert’s recruitment was undoubtedly patchy – for every Christian Benteke there was a Libor Kozak (or maybe two) – but risk is higher when transfer budgets are smaller.

What ended up as attritional hoofball at Villa did not begin that way. During Lambert’s first season in Birmingham the attacking trio of Benteke, Andreas Weimann and Gabby Agbonlahor often thrilled. Come January of his second term Villa had cracked the top 10, only to fall away to a final 15th.

That January of 2014 was a source of frustration for Lambert having failed to complete the signing of his former charge Wes Hoolahan from Norwich City. The Irishman had been a revelation during Lambert’s time at Carrow Road, the undoubted highpoint of his managerial career to date. Hoolahan, alongside long-time lower league journeyman Grant Holt, had been the stars as Norwich won back-to-back promotions to reach the top flight. They did so with a style of aggressive, buccaneering play very different from that later adopted at Villa. For a time Lambert was the coming man of management and while Villa fans may not remember him fondly, he remains a legend in certain parts of East Anglia.

Lambert has managed five other clubs and only one spell was a failure. He left his first job at Livingston after winning only two matches but then took Wycombe Wanderers to the semi-finals of the League Cup. He needed less than a year to make Colchester League One promotion candidates before he was then poached by Norwich. More recently he kept a distressed Blackburn Rovers in the Championship and steadied a rocky Wolves in the same division, knocking Liverpool out of the FA Cup in the process. He departed Molineux in the summer after the club’s new owners opted to embrace fully the Jorge Mendes method.

In other words Lambert’s track record is not as bad as the response to his appointment at Stoke might suggest. He is also a manager with something to prove and someone used to having to get the best out of the resources at his disposal. Skepticism, even a spot of mockery, has been a common response to the appointment of experienced British managers in struggling Premier League jobs this season. David Moyes and Roy Hodgson got that treatment, yet their respective clubs are currently stationed in mid-table. It is not beyond possibility that Lambert might do the same for Stoke City.

The Guardian Sport



Verbeek and Siniakova Win Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Title

10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
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Verbeek and Siniakova Win Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Title

10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa
10 July 2025, United Kingdom, London: Dutch tennis player Sem Verbeek (L) and Czech Katerina Siniakova celebrate with their trophies after defeating British Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani during their Mixed Doubles Final match on day eleven of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA Wire/dpa

Czech Katerina Siniakova and Sem Verbeek of the Netherlands claimed the Wimbledon mixed doubles title on Thursday, defeating Britain's Joe Salisbury and Brazilian Luisa Stefani 7-6(3) 7-6(3).

Facing home favorite Salisbury and Stefani on Centre Court, the Czech-Dutch duo held their nerve, while Stefani appeared to be hampered by a leg issue in the second set.

As Siniakova sealed victory with an overhead smash, the duo celebrated their first title together, Siniakova’s maiden mixed doubles Grand Slam and Verbeek’s first Grand Slam triumph of any kind.

"It’s very special, I mean it means a lot -- we had a lot of fun on the court and I really enjoyed it, it was a really amazing time here," Siniakova said after lifting the trophy.

For the 29-year-old Siniakova, the win added to her 10 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, including the Australian Open crown with American Taylor Townsend in January.

"Katerina, thank you so much, it’s been an honor to compete next to such a great doubles legend, one of the best to ever do it and thank you for making this a Thursday I will remember for the rest of my life," Reuters quoted the 31-year-old Verbeek as saying.

Salisbury, who faced the disappointment of home fans hoping to see a British champion, said margins did not fall in his and Stefani’s favor.

"It's always tough to lose a final but they played amazing so congratulations. They were too good in the tie-breaks today," Salisbury said.