Rovers revolt
Wed Aug 06 08:53AM
Football management these days is a sophisticated business. Where once it was all flying tea-cups, emotional bullying and expletive-strewn team talks, now it's ProZone analysis, individually tailored dietary plans and Sun Tzu's the Art of War.
Shame nobody told Paul Ince.
Having been in the Blackburn Rovers hot seat for all of five minutes, reports emanating from Ewood Park suggest the club's playing staff are less than enamoured with his ‘old-fashioned' methods.
According to a story in yesterday's Daily Mail, the former England hard man is in danger of losing the dressing room before the season has even begun because of "the way he has tried to impose his personality on the club".
"Some players have been less than enthusiastic about Ince's approach to training, which is said to vary drastically from [Mark] Hughes's meticulous, scientific method, while others have complained that the former Manchester United midfielder is too egotistical," the newspaper reports.
David Bentley is said to have stormed out of training after being ordered to do 20 press-ups "as punishment for having his arms folded" - a posture he had no doubt adopted as a sign of protest at no longer being the most high profile big-gobbed Cockney at the club.
Ince was widely praised for ‘doing things the hard way' by beginning his managerial career with League Two strugglers Macclesfield Town before moving on to MK Dons.
Ince's former United team-mate Roy Keane, by contrast, began his coaching career at Championship side Sunderland and was a Premier League manager less than a year after taking over at the Stadium of Light.
With the benefit of hindsight, it would therefore appear that serving your coaching apprenticeship in the lower leagues turns you into a Life on Mars-style 1970s throwback replete with trademark machismo and an Amish-like disdain for all things modern.
Coaches who jump straight in at the deep end, on the other hand, can look forward to a speedy transition from coaching novice to suit-clad, chin-stroking, tactically astute modern manager in the blink of an eye, which rather suggests that Ince's three-year stint in League Two was actually a complete waste of time.
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If ED believed in karmic justice it would be quick to assert that Rangers's humiliating Champions League exit at the hands of FBK Kaunas last night was fitting punishment for having shamelessly defended their way to last season's UEFA Cup final before a sizeable minority of their fans took out their frustrations at having lost said final by tearing lumps out of Manchester city centre.
But ED doesn't believe in karmic justice, so it'll keep quiet.
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You know when Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is feeling relaxed in a press conference because he leans back in his chair, puts his hands behind his head, and smiles.
Just like the over-excited toddler persona he adopts on big Champions League nights, the lean/hands/smile combo is a Ferguson trademark, and is customarily followed by an incomprehensible joke that has the assembled hacks braying with sycophantic mirth.
Fergie assumed the pose yesterday when he reacted to the news that Real Madrid had sealed the signing of Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart by confidently announcing the end of the Cristiano Ronaldo transfer saga.
It is in his press conferences that Ferguson always exudes the greatest sense of authority, for here he is free from opposition managers, meddling agents and perceived disciplinary injustices, and can set the world to rights without anyone daring to interfere.
But when Real have come calling to United in the past they have never failed to get their man (David Beckham, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Gabriel Heinze), and ED won't believe the saga is genuinely over until Ronaldo has strutted out of the Old Trafford tunnel to a chorus of pathetically relieved applause and his normal service of toe-poked free-kicks and pointless leg wiggling has been resumed.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "I will fight for a place in the team, but Madrid has many stars and if I end up on the bench that won't be a problem." Rafael van der Vaart at his Real Madrid unveiling, expressing a wholehearted enthusiasm for squad rotation that would make even Winston Bogarde wince.
FOREIGN VIEW: Internazionale have been ordered to pay a Napoli fan 1,500 euros (£1,187) for "existential damage" caused by banners calling Naples the "sewer of Italy" displayed at the Giuseppe Meazza last October. The unnamed fan's lawyer, Raffaele Di Monda, said the banners made his client feel "indignant and deeply hurt".
Bad news for Inter, but potentially much worse news for Juventus, whose fans displayed a banner reading "15.04.89. Sheffield. God exists" in reference to the Hillsborough disaster when they played Liverpool in the Champions League in April 2005.
TALKING POINT: Yesterday we asked you for your thoughts on the best and worst football kits of all time, and there was a veritable glut of nominations.
Best: Fiorentina purple home (raulpeeves), Manchester United early-1990s blue away (danieljbull77), Feyenoord red and white halves home (marcus7aurelio), Real Madrid all-white home (knoxx_06), Vasco da Gama black sash home (johnhennessey7).
Worst: Manchester United mid-1990s grey away (ima_fat_tw), Coventry City late-1970s brown away (khsnowball), Leeds United 1970s yellow away (bingo85uk), Chelsea mid-1990s ‘graphite and tangerine' away (jamieasims), Hull City early-1990s Tiger-print home (noli_nakis).
In the battle of the Sky Sports News belles, meanwhile, Georgie Thompson earned comfortably more votes than Natalie Sawyer (much to ED's delight), despite ijmoza's heartfelt contention that the latter is an "absolute goddess".
Today - Who is the worst manager in Premier League history?
COMING UP: Transfer Talk, another insightful guide to this season's Yahoo! Fantasy Football game, live scoring of the opening matches in the Olympic women's football competition from 10:00 BST and more Olympic build-up than you can shake a massive nandrolone-filled syringe at.
surely Paul Jewell.
His decision to go to Derby ranks as one of the most stupid ever made... His judgement has further been called into question in an arena off-pitch too.
From g_hine on Wed Aug 06 08:58AMDespite the fact that Rafa Benitez may have won the Champion's League, he is still complete rubbish. He has an absolutely solid side, but his chaos theory related rotation has absolutely killed Liverpool in the League every year he has been at anfield. And this year they will finish 5th in the League, and I know my fellow Americans will be ready to sack the Spaniard after that...
From mrsims150 on Wed Aug 06 09:01AMGood old Christian Gross!!
From craig.washington on Wed Aug 06 09:07AMPoor John Deehan presided over our darkest hour... seemingly safe during mid-season only to lose comprehensively to Leeds on the last day of the season and take the final relegation spot
From g_hine on Wed Aug 06 09:13AMI don't know whether Avram Grant was the most rubbish manager or most spectacular spectator last season....He obviously did NOTHING at Chelsea, but somehow his presence helped them go further than they ever did with Murinho.
From drrarebell on Wed Aug 06 09:17AMi'll have a go at derby: paul jewell. YAY!!
From united4lifebaby on Wed Aug 06 09:18AMLook no further than Peter Reid.
From iansanderson197 on Wed Aug 06 09:19AMI thought sara green had mike smith???
From g_hine on Wed Aug 06 09:24AMshe must be really greedy
From g_hine on Wed Aug 06 09:25AMRangers Suck!!
From kevin1985kane on Wed Aug 06 09:27AMno way!! peter reid did a gr8 job with sunderland, bruce rioch and christian gross have to be the worst for me.
From jay8my on Wed Aug 06 09:28AMpaul jewell had a gud crack with wigan and bradford. the worst manager in premier league history has to be iain dowie. he was terrible and he is damn ugly 2!!!
From bigdikky5 on Wed Aug 06 09:29AMRoy Evans, worst Premier League Manager!!
From kevin1985kane on Wed Aug 06 09:34AMbruce rioch was pretty average for us too.
Not as poor as Megson though
From g_hine on Wed Aug 06 09:34AMMike Walker at Everton in the 90s. I was on a work night out and we went to a Portuguese restaurant for some nosh, and who is there at the bar but Mike Walker and a sidekick. I went up and did the obligatory autograph request, and as Everton were in their then-usual relegation battle, I said "I hope we stay up Mike". He said "Yeh, so do I" in such an unconvincing way that I thought were were doomed. Thanksfully the club binned him off not too much later and we survived. He made Avram Grant look charismatic!
From andywalker269 on Wed Aug 06 09:35AMI just don't like monday
From sabbathcode on Wed Aug 06 09:35AM#2, benitez has won the league cup, fa cup and champions league while at liverpool. he won two la liga titles with valencia (they hadn't won in almost 30 years) as well as the uefa cup. i can't defend every action he's made as manager, but if you think managerial quality has been the difference the last four campaigns, i think you are mistaken. chelsea and manchester united rotate their players all the time, they simply have bigger budgets, and therefore better players to rotate in. he's proven with valencia he can overcome that, but the team is just starting to be full of "benitez" players, and even with that, his results have never been poor, just not over-achieving, that's hardly the basis for such a harsh indictment of his skills.
From jcpotvin on Wed Aug 06 09:37AMI find it funny that people say Avram grant did nothing. Whay is it he done nothing but all other managers do something. Idiots!
Oh wait its cause he was a Chelsea manager and folk cant handle Chelsea being good.
Im sure there was a Spurs manager not too many seasons ago that was terrible, cant even remember his name. never seen him since but.
On the topics of strips, got home, looked at the paper and Partick Thistle had sum pink monstrosity on the back page. worst ever
From sav46e on Wed Aug 06 09:39AMah, but Andy, it was Everton that turned Walker from a good manager to utter tosh. When we had him back off you (an ill-advised decision by the board), he'd lost all ability. I blame Daniel Amokachi
From g_hine on Wed Aug 06 09:40AMoh and ha ha rangers!
From sav46e on Wed Aug 06 09:40AMI remember times when ED was lucky to have 50 comments on a day.. if nothing else, at least you knew those few posts would always be on topic, unlike these days where ED will have 300 comments, and about 15 on topic
From mrsims150 on Wed Aug 06 09:41AMI think Les Reed who picked up the reins after Dowie, was the worst Premiership Manager. Luckily he only lasted a month..
Also, I think it's fair comment to say Real Madrid 'have never failed to get their man' only because United wanted to sell. Ruud and Beckham were shipped out for being disruptive, and Heinze was allowed to go there as anywhere was better than to Liverpool. Ronaldo's different as they don't want him sold.
From matt_drewry on Wed Aug 06 09:41AMeh to jcpotvin, whos fault is it that Chelsea and Man U have better players? Liverpool spend millions every season. they had biggest squad in league with(this is what I read) 60 players in there 1st team squad. 60! If not all them are good enough to get a game and you haven't seen them then you only have the manager to blame. I think he's bought another 8 or something already this season. keeps buyin terrible players. simple!
From sav46e on Wed Aug 06 09:45AMHas to be JOHN BOND who knew as much about football management as my a**e knows about snipe-shooting. Ask anyone at Turf Moor.
From peterhughes1930 on Wed Aug 06 09:47AMKevin Keegan...
From jjury on Wed Aug 06 09:56AMso #26, where would that comment fall, the 300 or the 15?
osvaldo ardiles, former argentina international who has guided no less than 14 clubs in 20 seasons, starting with a few years at swindon town, then running the managerial gauntlet of newcastle, west brom and hotspur in consecutive one season terms. other famous destinations: cerro porteño, beitar jerusalem and al-Ittihad. biggest honor: an emperor's cup with Tokyo Verdy 1969 in 04/05. at least he was a hell of a player.
From jcpotvin on Wed Aug 06 09:59AMI agree that some of the other managers put forward for this prestigious award have been a tad below par...but the supreme champion "worst" top flight manager of all time tilte must surely go to:
Alan "squeeky" Ball (RIP)...it doesnt matter which of the clubs you choose..he was aweful (particularly at Man City)
From asxtc on Wed Aug 06 10:01AMBased on reputation/hype and then final results/humiliation it's got to be Jaques Santini of Spurs surely?!?
From jamieasims on Wed Aug 06 10:04AMjaques santini. who? that's also the answer of many spurs fans
From li4mr3ynolds on Wed Aug 06 10:07AMhahahahahahahahahahahaha
come on ED, u should of dedicated todays post on rangers glorious failure.
that was the sweetest thing iv seen for years!! couldnt of happened to a nicer club! its called karma u cheating scum!!
rangers truly are scotlands shame
From marcgrant7 on Wed Aug 06 10:13AM
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