Aston Villa fires manager Paul Lambert

So, about that contract extension ...

Aston Villa announced Wednesday that the club has parted ways with much-maligned manager Paul Lambert - a move that will surely please many supporters who have been clamoring for his departure for quite some time now.

First-team coach Scott Marshall and goalkeeper coach Andy Marshall will oversee preparations for the club's FA Cup match with Leicester City, set for this coming Sunday.

The news comes with Villa in the midst of an utterly miserable season, sitting in the relegation zone with a measly 22 points from 25 matches - to go along with the much-discussed Premier League goal drought that lasted over 10 hours before recently being ended against Chelsea.

Lambert, 45, had been with the club since 2012, arriving from Norwich and leading the Villans to consecutive 15th place finishes in his first two season.

After a completely unsustainable start to the campaign that saw the club go undefeated in its first four matches (with three victories), Lambert was, incredibly, rewarded with a new contract that ran through the 2018 season.

This, despite the fact that Lambert's team won those ten points by firing only six shots on target in the four matches combined - scoring four goals.

As their otherworldly scoring percentage began regressing to the mean, things went south. Quickly.