Bilic Going Nowhere Until 2010.....So Who Will Take Charge of The Hammers?

Croatia manager Slavan Bilic has shattered roomers that he will be the next man in charge at Upton Park. Immediately after the announcement that Alan Curbishley had resigned, the man expected to take over the job was Mr Bilic and despite this announcement he remains one of the favourites to take the post.


Croatia FA President Vlatko Markovic says that West Ham United face ‘mission impossible’ to capture the Croatia manager. – Daily Express
Slavan Bilic has commented to a Croatian newspaper, Sportske Novosti, "I always said West Ham will be my choice when I return to England. However, my contract with the Croatian FA expires in 2010 and I am intending to lead Croatia in this period."


Croatia, who face Kazakhstan tomorrow and then a huge match against England in midweek, will be delighted at the news. Bilic has had no management experience prior to taking the Croatia job has done a superb job with the national side, leading them to the quarter finals of Euro 2008.


So who else is in the running?


Well, Portsmouth manager and West Ham legend Harry Redknapp has already ruled himself out of the running, which is not surprising considering the current happy state of affairs at Portsmouth.


Current favourite according to SkyBET is Roberto Mancini. Roberto Mancini, who was sacked as manager of Inter earlier this year, was the most successful Inter coach of the past 30 years, winning Serie A on three consecutive occasions and the Italian Cup on two occasions. He was not able to repeat his domestic success on the European stage which was the reason for his downfall.


Other managers considered to be in the running are former Chelsea superstar Gianfranco Zola, and former Italy manger Roberto Donadoni. In addition, former West Ham player Paulo Di Canio has declared his interest in the job, according to his agent.

Kevin Keegan Quits

King Kev has finally made a decision on his future and It’s sad news for the majority of Geordie fans. The former Newcastle manager was in talks with the board for much of today trying to find a way forward but no such agreement could be reached. 

This news has brought an end to the ongoing saga of his future that has lasted three days. It was on Monday and Tuesday that whispers of Kevin Keegan being sacked were leaking from St James Park, but Newcastle then denied the sacking and it appears that Kevin and Newcastle have been locked in talks since. The news today finally ends the rollercoaster ride and puts an end to Keegan’s eight month reign at Tyneside.  

Keegan released a statement today through the LMA and he cited the lack of control he had over club affairs as the reason he decided to leave his post.

The statement read:

"I've been working desperately hard to find a way forward with the directors, but sadly that has not proved possible,"
"It's my opinion that a manager must have the right to manage and that clubs should not impose upon any manager any player that he does not want.”
"It remains my fervent wish to see Newcastle United do well in the future and I feel incredibly sorry for the players, staff and most importantly the supporters.” 
"I have been left with no choice other than to leave."
This will reproduce the speculation surrounding the next manager of Newcastle United with the previous favourites retaining their status with the bookies.

The following odds have been taken from SkyBet:

G Poyet 5/2
D Wise 9/2
A Shearer 11/2
D Deschamps 8/1
D Moyes 8/1

RESPECT – How is it faring?

The Football Association rolled out their long awaited Respect campaign just before the Community Shield tie between Portsmouth and Manchester United on 10th August. The aim of the campaign is to improve the behaviour of players and coaches at all levels of the game. So, nearly one month on, how is it looking?

Sky Sports News has reported that Keith Hackett, Head of the PGMO (Professional Game Match Officials), thinks that it has been a huge success so far.

Hackett is happy that players seem to be adhering to basic codes of conduct, with captains and managers also taking on more responsibility.

Hackett has been given positive feedback by the referees he has spoken to and hopes the good work continues.
"I thank the executives for their support," Hackett, general manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Board, told Sky Sports News. 
"It was their idea, they have signed a charter and committed their managers to it.
"And the managers have committed their captains and players to it.
"I was with the referees yesterday and they were all reporting extremely favourably in terms of how they themselves were being received in the dressing rooms, and how calling the captain across is working.

"We want that to continue, so it has been very positive."

From SkySports.com

From my personal experience, I can see that there has been a improvement which can only be seen as a success. However, lets not forget that there have been many a campaign from FIFA or The FA that have come and gone over the years.....who can remember World Cup 1998 where every tackle from behind was a red card! And yet now, we have gone back to the norm where you might get a yellow for it if you are unlucky!

Time will tell what happens with the respect campaign, but I hope for the sake of the image of the game that the referees continue to be given the backing by The FA and the media to continue to ensure that the image of the game is protected from those who wish to destroy it.

Next stop on the road to protecting the image of the game, stop the cheats who dive to deliberately deceive the referee. But that is another mountain altogether. Let’s just hope this Respect campaign can stay the course. 

A Glance Ahead to Andorra V England (6/9/08)

England will start their campaign with a trip to Andorra. Andorra have already played their first game in the group where they were beaten comfortably by Kazakhstan 3-0. This was a game in which Andorra were outplayed and you would think that if Kazakhstan can outplay them, England should be able to as well. Andorra, who are ranked 186 in the world, have played 31 games at home and lost 26 of them. Another interesting stat is that Andorra have played 5 games at home in the past year, and lost all of them.

The last time these two sides met was in the European Championship Qualifiers in March 2007 where England won 3-0 in Andorra. For those that can remember the side were booed off the field at half time with the score still 0-0. It was Steven Gerrard, who will miss this tie through injury, who finally broke the deadlock and then slotted home another 15 minutes later. It wasn’t until the last minute that someone else got on the score sheet and it was David Nugent, who is not included in the squad. 

The previous meeting between the two sides was an ill-tempered affair with 7 bookings (4 for Andorra and 3 for England). In addition to this Andorra picked up no less than 5 yellow cards against Kazakhstan. This would suggest that Andorra will attempt to kick England off the park on Saturday and surely if they can keep their heads, unlike last time, they can come away with a comfortable three points and look forward to the Croatia game midweek.

Andorra have a useful set piece taker in Marc Pujol and he nearly scored for them with a set piece against Kazakhstan. They have little other quality in the side and certainly nothing that should trouble England.

Nobody is really sure what Capello plans to do. I think he plans to go 4-4-2 with the following players.

GK – David James
DEF – Wes Brown , John Terry (c) , Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole
MID – David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Joe Cole
ATT – Wayne Rooney, Jermain Defoe
Hopefully this will be enough for an England win!

Lack of Loyalty in Club Football

A great article has been written by Caught Offside that really does say what  everone is thinking! 

The sad thing is that this is never going to change. The beautiful game has turned into the beautiful business and loyal fans are becoming restless as players who claim to be loyal disappear to their nearest rivals for an extra £10 a week! Dimitar Berbatov was quite happy to kiss the Spurs shirt........how long before he kisses the Manchester United one?

Dear All Premier League Footballers,
Fans don’t like people who are disloyal, but they can put up with them. It’s those who kiss the badge, talk the talk and then run off to another club they hate.