Early Doors - Your morning briefing blog

Wotte's going on?

Fri Jul 10 08:37AM

Three hours is a long time in football. Just ask ex-Southampton manager Mark Wotte.

If you thought Southampton's takeover by a Swiss billionaire would put an end to the chaos at the club, think again.

The Southern Daily Echo's excellent coverage has seen new stories published on its website almost hourly.

Yet not even in the high-octane and wildly fictional universe of Kiefer Sutherland vehicle 24 would Wotte's circumstances have changed as quickly as they did yesterday.

On Wednesday, when Markus Liebherr completed his takeover of the club, Wotte described himself as: "Delighted and very relieved," adding that there was "no indication" the new owners were going to change the manager. 

Then, on Thursday morning, Wotte told the Echo that Liebherr was: "exactly what we need for the long term."

"(The club) are not going to take quick, overnight, decisions," he noted.

It turns out he was right. The club did not wait that long, and yesterday afternoon Wotte had been sacked. Small wonder, then, that Wotte said he was "speechless" at getting the push.

You can hardly blame the new ownership for wanting to bring in their own manager, especially as Saints went down to League One during Wotte's tenure, but the Dutchman has been treated particularly shabbily.

Just last week he was given a new contract, and he had been a vocal supporter of the Liebherr takeover.

The least somebody could have done was to cancel his Thursday press conference in order to stop him looking like a prize chump.

But then, if Southampton were a well-run club, they probably wouldn't have spent the early part of the summer flirting with extinction.

One man who will not be dispensed with so easily is goalkeeper Kelvin Davis, who has turned down an offer from West Ham to stay at St Mary's and play in League One.

On a day when Rafa Benitez accused players of being motivated by money, it was encouraging to see a player show some loyalty.

Rather than pick up a whacking great cheque from the Hammers for carrying Rob Green's spare gloves, Davis said he felt "as responsible as anyone for the club's position" and wanted to continue playing first-team football.

Judging by Wotte's experience, however, that is not to say Davis won't be sacked next week.

- - -

Real Madrid's incessant parading of megabucks signings at the Bernabeu is clearly getting to Barcelona, whose president Joan Laporta was at his haughty best yesterday.

Following the arrivals of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo at Real, Laporta harrumphed: "We make Ballon d'Or winners, others have to buy them."

As it happens, the Catalans' only Ballon d'Or winner this decade is Ronaldinho, who was not so much made by Barcelona as bought for around £20 million.

And while this year's likely winner, Leo Messi, has been at the club since he was 13, he was hardly plucked from the back streets around Las Ramblas either.

In any case, Laporta's pomposity was punctured by his admission that Samuel Eto'o has imposed his own brand of radio silence, and is presently uncontactable.

Laporta said: "I have called him a couple of times but he hasn't answered his mobile. I don't know if he has changed his number or whether he's lost it, but I would like to speak to him."

This means one of two things. Either he has made a daring submarine incursion into North Korean waters and has gone quiet to avoid detection.

Or he is working out just how big a set of alloys he will be able to afford if he accepts Manchester City's offer of £250,000-a-week after tax.

In any case, he doesn't want to speak to Laporta, who might want to consider affixing the Cameroonian's mugshot to milk cartons across Catalonia in an attempt to find his missing striker.

- - - 

Maybe Eto'o is just concerned about having his calls hacked by the News of the World.

Answer phone messages from Sir Alex Ferguson and Alan Shearer are believed to be among the calls taken from PFA chief Gordon Taylor's mobile, according to this morning's Guardian.

While this explosive issue threatens to blow up in the Sunday tabloid's face, ED is struck by the futility of raiding somebody's voicemail.

What did they expect to find? Was Fergie going to dramatically admit that he has the body of a mermaid? Or would Shearer break down and tearfully wail 'I should have gone to United!'?

Of course not. You know why? Because they were answer phone messages, the most awkward and uninformative mode of communication this side of Twitter.

Far from leaving any juicy revelations on Taylor's phone, Ferguson's message probably sounded like every other answer phone message ever left, that is to say, this:

"(Indistinct rustling sound) ... Er, Gordon, it's Alex. Just retuning your call from earlier, not sure if we can ... oh look, never mind. If you get this, call me back. Or else I'll give you another bell later ... Speak soon then ... It's Alex. Sir Alex. Fergie ... (more rustling and beeping, before line eventually goes dead)."

So probably not worth the £700,000 the Screws paid Taylor out of court.

- - -

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "We did go back again for Barry, but as I said. it is all about money, money, money. It is as simple as that." Rafa Benitez reveals it was Manchester City's extensive collection of Abba CDs that saw Gareth Barry choose Eastlands over Anfield.

FOREIGN VIEW: It has been a dismal summer for Serie A, but Internazionale are about to go on a splurge, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. They are set to bring in Ricardo Carvalho, Lucio, Wesley Sneijder and Marek Hamsik. So there you go.

COMING UP: After an untimely reminder that Australia are quite good at cricket, England will attempt to stop the Mongrels building a match-winning total in the first Ashes Test at Cardiff. It's live from 11:00 UK time.

And if that were not enough, the Tour de France goes to Andorra and there are free practice frolics from Formula One's German GP.

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