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BBC Sport - Ruud Gullit sacked as Terek Grozny manager
Hope this means he's back as a UCL pundit for sky
Hope this means he's back as a UCL pundit for sky
Good way to ignore the rest of the interview lol.
Me? Or the article?
If i was Brum, i would be happy, they have lost a manager who has got them relegated without having to pay him Compo
.That's what I was thinking, and with a net spend of something in the region of 25M. Should be pleased IMO.
On the contrary, they HIM to pay THEM compo. Besides, they wanted him to stay; he'd won them the League Cup, after all.
not bad to win the league cup, in a season where you end up collapsing in bigger style then Arsenal and end up getting relegated.
Only thing I would say, surely staying in the prem is "worth" more than winning the league cup on the financial front.
To be fair to them, they had quite a bit of bad luck as well. I feel a bit sorry for Birmingham, they did so well in their first season back up everyone expected more of the same. Weak areas of the squad were never quite addressed (and indeed some were weakened further still) and maybe fighting on two fronts finally pushed them over the edge.
Frankly, if you're going to sack a manager who got you relegated, why not sack Holloway?
---------- Post added at 10:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:57 PM ----------
But not in pride and historical terms. There's a lot to be said for that...
Agree with u in parts GC, tbh Alex McCleish could have done much better considering the squad he had in the PLM while Holloway had a pretty poor squad so you cant really blame him as Blackpool squad really gave it their best shot and were close to surviving in the top flight
I see where you coming from in terms of squad depth, but any squad able to sign Zigic, Martins, Hleb and foster, must be strong enough for this league.
I tend to find you Holloway question, Interesting. as you know as well as i do, that him and Big Eck had different jobs, Big Eck took the club over when they where in the EPL. and had been for a few years under Brucie.
Whilst holloway took over a team that looked like getting relegated from the championship and turned them into a EPL side, who will start as one of the favourites to go up.
Because he brought so much joy to us football fans!
See, this is what I mean. Their squad wasn't THAT good, everyone just assumed it was because they did so well the year before with Hart, Dann and Johnson in astounding form and Benitez constantly harrying and probing. This season gone, Benitez had gone, Hart had gone (albeit replaced with another accomplished keeper in Foster) and Dann got injured. Signings like Martins flopped (his cup winning goal notwithstanding) and Cameron Jerome had a miserable season as a one-dimensional speed merchant with nobody to act as his foil like Benitez had.
still they had a much better squad than the likes of Wolves and Wigan who managed to stay up and considering the squad he had did have the ability to easily survive the drop, no excuses really except they should have survived the drop ahead of other clubs and they did'nt
Martins and Hleb were rubbish, and Zigic had iffy form.
Thing is though, are Blackpool in a better state to go up than Birmingham? It's questionable. Blackpool have a good Championship side, but a terrible Prem one, especially now that Vaughan and Adam will be leaving. They took some of their major scalps in the first half of the season just through sheer buccaneering, surprising, attack. As people realised their rather predictable play (win ball, pass to Vaughan, find Adam, long crossfield ball, get it into the box and try to shoot), they began to lose games. Birmingham on the other hand have a spine of quality players, and though they will lose quite a few, a few will remain and their pockets will be swelled from the sale of the others. That isn't the debate though, of course, I'm going rather off-track...
Your point is sound.
Pfft, not this football fan. Whining ****...
---------- Post added at 11:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 PM ----------
Really? You sure? A defence shorn of Dann for much of the season, with an ageing right back and an iffy left-back? A midfield consisting of two ageing players and Craig Gardner? An attack so goal-shy that they ended the season with a midfielder, Craig Gardner, their top-scorer? Contrast that to Wolves, who offered threat from midfield in Milijas, excellent wide players in Jarvis and Hunt, a brilliant striker in Doyle and a capable backup to the latter in Fletcher? That last point is especially sound: Wolves had squad depth. Birmingham just didn't, and when their first team got injured or lost form they had nobody to bring in. Hence my comments about their bad luck.
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