John Giles says he has sympathy for Paul Lambert after the Scotsman was sacked as Aston Villa manager.
The club have struggled to score goals all season and have slipped into the bottom three in the Premier League.
But tonight, John told Off The Ball that the lack of investment from owner Randy Lerner made Lambert's job close to impossible, although he feels the parting of ways was inevitable.
"I don't think God could have rescued it. I think the conditions that Lambert has worked under for the last three years, he's done extraordinarily well. I can understand the supporters wanting him out. They haven't played well, they haven't scored goals," said John, who feels the finger of blame should be pointed squarely at owner Randy Lerner.
"But if you look at the conditions he's had to work under, it's been absolutely dreadful. Lerner has the club up for sale for a start. He was trying to do the job with two hands tied behind his back. He had no chance. I like Lambert and I think he's done a reasonably good job at Villa with the resources he's had to do it."
John also gave his take on Liverpool, with a look at Emre Can and Mario Balotelli in particular, and the youthful age profile of most of the squad.
"What Rodgers has is the courage to free players to attack in numbers and to press. But I think there's things that's missing with Liverpool - defensive coaching or a stability at the back," said John, who believes Brendan Rodgers is "too positive" in his pronouncements.
John also believes that clubs like Southampton would not be damaged by playing in the Europa League next season, and that they would benefit in many ways.
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