Wee man for West Ham?
Mon Sep 08 09:04AM
We may not see a week as downright barmy as the last one for a long time, but there is still plenty of scope for fun to be had. The simple equation of international week + two managerial vacancies = plenty of speculation and conjecture to get stuck into.
It might not quite be a power-crazed oil magnate bursting onto the scene and throwing his money around like Michael Jackson's shopping trip with Martin Bashir, but the prospect of Gianfranco Zola becoming the next West Ham manager is still guaranteed to rock the house.
The loveable horseface has emerged as the top candidate on the Hammers' shortlist, which also includes fellow Italian Roberto Donadoni and former Getafe boss Michael Laudrup.
Croatia boss Slaven Bilic has ruled himself out of the running, declaring himself too busy planning Wednesday's 2-1 defeat of England to go for an interview.
The tingle of excitement ED gets every time it imagines Zola returning to these shores is, however, tempered with trepidation. The pocket magician would be merely the latest in a long line of ex-players putting their god-like status in jeopardy by moving into management.
As much as the current Italy Under-21 boss was dazzling on the pitch, can he instil the discipline needed to manage a group of filthy-rich young players? Being on the end of a Zola rollocking would probably be more hand-dryer than hairdryer.
Or, much like Glenn Hoddle, the wee Sardinian would become frustrated all too easily with his players because he would still be more talented than most of them. Unless he has a penchant for faith healers or criticising the disabled, however, that's where the similarity ends.
The same could be said for Laudrup, a player so good he won La Liga with both Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Dane should consult his brother, Brian, before moving to London, as his brother had a less than successful spell in the capital with Chelsea.
As for the other man in the frame, having already managed another team that have won the World Cup but is now over-reliant on a top goalkeeper and a big striker, Roberto Donadoni could fit right in at Upton Park.
Meanwhile, the Newcastle hierarchy are unlikely to see the same glut of candidates ready to take up the St James' hot seat, with even former owner Freddie Shepherd highlighting the ridiculous pressure heaped on every Magpies boss. He should know, he's canned a few in his time.
Toon executive director Dennis "Cutty" Wise isn't really the sort of guy many top class coaches want to work under, especially following the news that, when Kevin Keegan asked him "Who or what is a Xisco?", Wise told him to go look up his new signing on Youtube to get better acquainted with him.
Wise has proven his ability to cast a long shadow for such a short man. Toon owner Mike Ashley should just dispense with the executive director role - pioneered in this country by the likes of Ron Atkinson - and give Wisey the job. After things didn't work out with the Messiah, they may as well try the anti-Christ.
- - -
The Premier League may have been turned on it's head over the past seven days, but little has changed on the England side of things, as Our Boys laboured to a 2-0 win over Andorra, Fabio Capello's first competitive match in charge.
To be fair, even the best teams would find it hard to break through 11 men behind the ball from the word go, had the knives already been Capello a la McClaren then that match could well have been the last straw.
As there were no highlights shown anywhere, we'll have to pool our collective memories of the match at the Olympic Stadium from the one look we had at it. Ed remembers (in no particular order):
* John Terry's foul throw (a great achievement, seeing as nobody ever seems to be called up for in the professional game, no matter how bad it is)
* Andorra defender Lima's ball-juggling and clearance from his own corner flag when being pressured by Theo Walcott, which instantly became the greatest moment in Andorran football history
* The crowd chanting "We hate S*****a" before the first boos began to ring out around the half-hour mark
And, er, that's it.
- - -
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND - "I can tell Mr Capello, he can try coaching Andorra and I will try coaching England - and I am sure that we will beat Andorra by more than 2-0!" - Andorra boss David Rodrigo still manages to bullishly goad England despite their defeat in Barcelona.
TALKING POINT - ED's suspicions that asking people to donate money to charity for their comments being published has led directly to a drop in comment quality is summed up well by samuelbanks: "ED this idea of paying money to charity to have their comments read out is all well and good but spare a thought for the peole who are penniless and work in tescos. how about you also mention a comment from one other non charitable soul. Otherwise people are going to put even less effort into their contibutions to the posts." Come on guys, you can all do better.
Today - What did you make of the home nation's results at the weekend? And, with directors of football, over-controlling boards and crazy Arabs on spending sprees, is the role of the humble manager becoming redundant?
COMING UP - The Three Lions juggernaut rolled out of Andorra at roughly the same time as the riders of the Vuelta a Espana. Follow the riders on Stage Nine today from 11:30 BST here.
And, believe it or not, but Andy Murray is in the US Open final. He's already beaten the best player in the world, now can he beat the best of all time to claim his first Grand Slam? Find out here tonight from 22:00 BST.
Keep asking the big questions SB
From arttidesco on Mon Sep 08 12:52PManother imposter...
its such a shame these imposters dont have the guts or balls to say things under their own identity, really - such a lack of inspiration, personality and individuality
its not even slightly amusing
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 12:55PMits not samuel artti its another stupid imposter
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 12:55PMIMPOSTER ALERT. Samuelbanks is being impersonated by Sameulbanks who is pasting extracts from posts made at the weekend. NikYates get a life you pathetic individual.
From james_ssmith on Mon Sep 08 12:55PMSorry to hear about your heating imbalance roxy can't they get a very nice man in to come and fix it ?
My life just got tres complicated by Final Cut Pro Express can't imagine what unix would do to me
From arttidesco on Mon Sep 08 12:57PMthe days of chivalry are long gone artti
its hard enough to get a fella to open the door for you nowadays, let alone fix heating issues
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:02PMim back at my nice heat/cool balanced office again arti, pc, etc etc, i was hoping the imposter problem had gone, probably as much chance as spurs winning the champions league
From roxydgurl on Mon Sep 08 01:04PMWho would ever want to impersonate Samuel! It's probably Samuel himself baskin in his own glory!
From kevin1985kane on Mon Sep 08 01:05PMmade me giggle - i like it roxy!
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:05PMsamuel is actually a nice guy kevin and wouldnt do that I can assure you
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:06PMsam - I'll take your word for it!
From kevin1985kane on Mon Sep 08 01:11PMTrust me, I'm Irish!
(well at least today I am .... ;) )
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:12PMyou are one sad @#$% havent you brought your life yet
From sidatmo on Mon Sep 08 01:15PMit'd make me giggle too sam but for the fact it's depressing, makes me want to cry in my own sothern comfort neat with a sliver of ice, i dont do beer, used to think bud was ok til i learned otherwise
From roxydgurl on Mon Sep 08 01:16PMhi sidatmo - how are you today mate?
cheerful and friendly as always I see
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:19PMroxy: im sure the ballerina outfit will be off soon
and it cant be anymore depressing than scraping through the CL on penalties and never being 100% convincing... ;) you know what I mean? ;)Im likin the fact you're a southern comfort girl though and that you dont water it down with coke ;) nice...!
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:21PMOooh I got a new snake on saturday and by Sunday morning it had escaped... found it down behind my other snakes tank! Little @#$%!!!
From claire881 on Mon Sep 08 01:25PMoooooooh cool - new serpent! slippery little suckers, arent they? ;)
what did you call him in the end Claire? Did your bf win the naming game?
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:26PMkantong_wokster do you really enjoy it on here tell me what the buzz is about
From sidatmo on Mon Sep 08 01:27PMOh i see its take the piss out of samuelbanks day then . First off ED, if you want to post one of my comments you ask permission first. Especially if its simply devised to take the piss. Then i get an imposter who is so sad he has to take extracts from a conversation i had with kantong yesterday. Do you think im stupid, i know other people read those conversations. Nik yates, you are so predictable and it is you who is in need of help. How many ID's is that now?
From samuelbanks on Mon Sep 08 01:27PMsam - Looks like there will be no El Nino & Stevie G for Saturday, whats our chances?
From kevin1985kane on Mon Sep 08 01:28PMsidatmo: I dont know, you tell me - you seem to be on here quite a bit too; not contributing to anything, but just telling people to get a life, stop coming on and posting, calling people names etc: so you tell me - whats all the buzz about?
in the end it comes down to a choice between work or talking football for me
what would you choose?
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:29PMhey samuel
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:31PMi cant stand anything in my sothern comfort besides 1 piece of ice
oh i nearly forgot, i had a dream about a long 2 headed snake on saturday night, woke me up in a cold sweat, i've never handled snakes before claireFrom roxydgurl on Mon Sep 08 01:31PMSHUT IT NIKYATES
From samuelbanks on Mon Sep 08 01:33PMkevin: zero, nil, nilch
but im still hopeful ;)
we do always play better under pressure ;) admitedly there is more pressure there than a deep sea scuba diving outfit, but hey - I'll not miss that game for the world
My bf is a skummer, and we have another bet going on this game
cant say what it is, lets just say it involves nudity, a club flag and a megaphone...hence, I'm still hopeful...
From kantong_wokster on Mon Sep 08 01:34PMSamuel - What happened Northern Ireland? I don't think they will be ahead of us in the Fifa world rankings for much longer!
From kevin1985kane on Mon Sep 08 01:34PMkantong_wokster - am not on it like you 24/7 their must be a good buzz for you
for me am at work and that the only time i am on it and the reason is that reading comments from people like you
and plus i like to tell people to suck on itFrom sidatmo on Mon Sep 08 01:39PMSam - I think we need Danny Murphy back, bring back the good old days when we actually beat them in the league! I think he should suprise us all and give Babel a run out up front, he would tear Flat Foot Ferdinand apart!
Your bet sounds like fun though!From kevin1985kane on Mon Sep 08 01:39PMENGLAND R S**T, AND DESERVED TO BE BOOED OFF! UNFORTUNATLY WE WERE BAD TOO AND COULD ONLY SCRAPE VICTORY BY A SINGLE GOAL AGAINST GEORGIA! THINGS ARE LOOKING BAD AS A WHOLE FOR OUR AREA OF THE WORLD!
From mcsweeneystephen on Mon Sep 08 01:40PM
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