Paul Merson insists Paul Lambert was not given sufficient money to spend during his time at Aston Villa.
Villa’s 2-0 defeat to Hull City extended the club's run of games without a Premier League victory to 10 games, and they slipped into the relegation zone for the first time this season.
Lambert paid with his job on Wednesday night.
First-team coach Scott Marshall and goalkeeping coach Andy Marshall have been put in temporary charge of the team.
Former Villa midfielder Merson says that if his old side stay in the top flight this season, the new boss has to make a lot of changes to the squad this summer and should be given the full backing of the board.
“If you look at Aston Villa – they don’t really know where they’re going, they never look like they’re going to score a goal… Aston Villa don’t look like scoring in a month of Sundays,” Merson said on Gillette Soccer Special.
“You’ve got to spend money and if you spend money you’ve got a chance.
“If they get £10m they buy four or five players at a million-and-a-half each, £2m each – that’s not enough. This league is very, very difficult and you just can’t get by.
“I don’t think Paul Lambert is a bad manager, I just think the players at the moment are struggling.
“I think he’s (Lambert) bang out of luck. People haven’t scored goals for him – that’s been the reason. But now they need someone in who is going to do something very, very quickly because (the remaining) 13 games go very quickly.”
Villa finished in 15th place under Lambert's two seasons in charge. This season, Villa have won just two of their last 21 games.
Charlie Nicholas told Sky Sports that the practice of buying lower league players must stop if the club is going to be competitive in the Premier League.
He also suggested that selling the club could be a solution.
“I always felt they were going to be fighting for survival: it’s a team that doesn’t spend much cash and when they get a bit of cash it’s kind of piled onto two or three positions, and they think that’s the problem solved – and of course it’s not,” Nicholas said.
“This has been going on for too long for Aston Villa.
“The current owner has to identify that something new has to start and get this club rebuilt again because if it was me, I’d be going after Glenn Hoddle.
“But if I’m Glenn Hoddle, I’d think I was crazy (to go to Villa).”
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