Hugely critical of former manager Geraint Williams for offering some players long-term contracts, now Paul Lambert has done exactly that.
Lambert, who has said that Chris Coyne, Phil Ifil and other now-fringe players at Colchester should not have received such lavish deals, recently handed lengthy deals to young midfield signings, Ashley Vincent and David Fox.
Both are on three-year deals having signed at the end of the season, so isn`t this a stark change in policy from the Scotsman?
Lambert told the BBC on Friday: “It`s their age,” he explained. Vincent, signed from Cheltenham for an undisclosed fee, is 24 and Fox, the former Blackpool player is a year older. “They`re at an age now where, if they do well we will get the best out of them.
“It`s like anybody in modern-day football. If a club comes in with a lump sum of money, you can`t stop them from going,” he added looking into the future.
Safe to say, after he added that the priority of his recruitment policy is to bring in young and hungry players, that Swedish international Henrik Larsson won`t be joining the club. He is however said to be a target of Premier League Aston Villa and Everton.
Colchester we linked sensationally with the former Celtic and Manchester United striker at the start of the summer.
“The lads might move on, they might now, in the future. At least the club will get a bit of money for them,” concluded Lambert on Fox and Vincent.
Was Lambert right to give these players three-year contracs, having been so critical before of ex-boss Williams?
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Still not sure about these long contracts. Surely Ifil is young and was right to be given a three-and-a-half-year deal?
It is just about who Lambo can trust and he seems a bit of a hard-nosed manager. Maybury isn’t going to set the world on fire but Lambert already talked about “owing” him for last season….