Comment On Latest Tottenham And Premier League News
By Alan Hill
Summer Diary 5
AVB a Target for PSG [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]Manchester City have announced the purchase of Jesus Navas, no doubt looking for divine inspiration as they try to buy the Premiership title again. It’s obscene, or should I say “offensive”? (See below). That’s £50 million spent this summer already. Over to you Roman…….
Wed 12 June The Sun reports Paris San Germaincity’s (geddit?) serious interest in Andre Villas-Boas. Apparently he has a £10m buyout clause in his contract with Spurs. If he goes they’ll get him on the cheap then. Don’t want to lose him but if he goes I’d try and tempt Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Failing that, Michael Laudrup. I’d have Glenn Hoddle back in a flash, just as I would for England if Hodgson left but I get the feeling they have burnt their bridges on that possibility.
Sat 15 June. Its on MSN internet headline page that Man Utd, despite being £307 million in debt, are close to spending another £85 million on either Ronaldo or Bale. They aren’t the first to suggest it but their language seems more definite than others.
Managerial Merry-go-round update:
Pellegrin
Owen Coyle has been chosen by Wigan, apparently in preference to Steve McLaren. Manchester City confirmed the signing of Pellegrini, in what must be the worst kept secret of the past two months. It might just be a significant moment, a parting of the (mineral) waters for them. If only I could remember where I’ve come across that name before…
He is quoted as saying they will play offensive football. I agree it all seems pretty offensive to me. City’s ugly use of their resources means that they currently have 3 midfields. The use of the word “offensive” by managers and commentators when they mean “attacking” is right up there on the “nails down a blackboard” scale as the usual suspects; “Big Ask”, “Good watch”, “difficult watch” and “mistake” when you mean “crime” as I have mentioned in previous blogs. Just because “offensive” is the direct opposite of “defensive”, it does not mean it is right to use it to describe an attacking style of football. The context is all wrong.
Want To Be A Football Manager?
The Sun has a two page spread on “who would be a football manager?” It points out that the job lasts less than two years for most of them. The answer of course, is “we all would”. I have a track record of 32 years of successfully managing up to 120 people at a time in real jobs with real problems and challenging targets for below average wages. Sometimes concentrated on 1 or 2 sites, sometimes spread over 15 sites across two counties. The work directly affected the lives of thousands of people every day and carried a lot of real responsibility. I did all that, consistently exceeding targets for a total salary across my whole career that comes to less than these guys get for 1 year’s work. There are thousands more like me. Offer any of us the chance to manage a football team for £500,000 for 6 months, spend £50 million on players and still get my contract paid up after failing to win a match and I’d bite your hand off, thank you very much. So no more sob stories for those who get away with it, please. In fact I’m thinking of sending my CV to Blackburn. I like chicken and they seem to have a forward looking (or is that finger licking) approach…I think I could curry favour (flavour?) with them.
The Football Manager Game
I also have the seeds of an idea for a betting game or a board game, or perhaps even a card game about football management. It would involve having a set of managers and a corresponding number of clubs commonly in the bottom half of the Premier League or challenging for promotion from the Championship. It would look something like; Wigan, Bolton, Sunderland, Hull, Blackpool, Middlesborough, Blackburn, Stoke (sorry Dad), Wolves, Crystal Palace, Q.P.R. The managers list would include Mark Hughes, Dave Jones, Owen Coyle, Ian Holloway, Nigel Adkins, Steve Bruce, Alex McCleish. You could do a betting game a bit like the Sun Super Six, where you have to predict the scores of 6 selected league games, only it would be a long term bet, a bit like betting at the start of the season on who will win the trophies at the end. You could select six managers from the list and predict which of the listed teams they will be managing in a year’s time, or if they will be between clubs. The most accurate prediction wins a prize. A darker version would be to predict which manager would be the next to have a heart procedure, heart attack, a stroke or be prescribed blood pressure tablets.
Is That a wise move?
About 5 years ago, Steve Bruce signed Maynor Figueroa for Wigan. After Bruce left Wigan, they were known for attractive football but have had one of the leakiest defences ever which eventually got them relegated. Bruce has now signed out of contract Figueroa again for Hull. Go figure, oh, ah. Hmm. Could this be up there with Harry’s signing of Samba for Q.P.R? Watch this space…
Harry Redknapp
That reminds me. I have not been averse to saying “I told you so” when I have been right, predicting outcomes well in advance of them coming true, such as Harry Redknapp becoming Q.P.R. manager and Arsenal pipping us for a Champions League place yet again. Well, I got it wrong big time when I said Harry Redknapp would keep Q.P.R. up. Mark Hughes said he was unlucky at Q.P.R. Harry certainly was. I have never seen such a calamitous run of player errors, from silly sending offs, missed penalties and comic cuts defending by players who should know better. But whichever way you cut it, Harry failed and that will have hurt his pride. He doesn’t need the hassle but I hope he sticks this season out and puts that blot on his record right. You don’t become a bad manager overnight and he hasn’t.