UK Football

photo: Mark Freeman

Salomon Kalou’s goal celebrations from Wednesday’s match are being investigated by the FA, for what the Football Association calls a ‘handcuff’ gesture by Kalou.  Supposedly this is a shout out to recently freed activist Antoine Tiemoko, and the FA apparently disagrees with such a thing.  My point, who cares?  If Salomon Kalou want’s to call attention to some political issue he thinks is relevant, in a goal celebration, let him, I can’t be bothered to be offended by such a trivial thing.

Worthy of note is Kalou’s dismissal of the accusations, stating that the ‘handcuff’ gesture was in actuality a reference to his own strength for having scored both goals in Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough.

Manchester City have failed once again in their attempt to sign Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn, despite tabling a very respectable £18million+ offer, Blackburn are apparently smart enough to not throw away their greatest talent.  That or they believe Santa Cruz to be in the £30million transfer level, and Allardyce has them holding out for more cash.  Either way, looks like Santa Cruz is stuck at Blackburn at least until the end of this season.

Speaking of Blackburn Rovers, El-Hadji Diouf is reportedly close to signing for the club.  Which is a move again that I don’t understand, for Blackburn it’s brilliant, they get a good player who failed to peak at Sunderland and who will be a worthy attacking replacement for when Santa Cruz does inevitably leave.  But why are Sunderland again in the habit of selling their big names.  I understand they had a few disciplinary issues with Chimbonda, but that doesn’t seem like enough reason to have sold him.

And I think the same thing of Diouf, yes he’s failed to score at Sunderland, but that doesn’t mean he won’t.  Sometimes it takes a player a long time to get settled at a new club, but that’s no reason for Sunderland to sell one of their best talents.  But I guess Ricky Sbragia has a plan, and he’s carrying it out to the fullest.

Finally, Bolton sold Kevin Nolan to Newcastle, a good pick up for Kinnear, but Newcastle shouldn’t be spending too much money at the moment, especially considering Shay Given has just officially handed in a written transfer request to depart from the club.  It’s not going to be cheap buying another keeper of Given’s quality.

For the richest club in the world Manchester City sure are pinching pennies in their attempts to land major players. Seriously, a £12million bid for Roque Santa Cruz? That’s all? Did City really think Blackburn would budge on their best player for that? I know the global economy isn’t doing so well, but it’s going take at least £20 before a team even thinks about parting with one of their brightest stars. Especially a club like Blackburn, that’s dropped into the relegation zone.

I also have to wonder what a club like Manchester City with practically infinite riches is doing targeting so low as Craig Bellamy of West Ham. I understand Bellamy is a great player, but it’s a fact that City shouldn’t get him for two reasons. One, Bellamy isn’t the class of player City need to make their dreams of challenging for the top four reality. And two, West Ham aren’t going to sell their best striker with Dean Ashton likely out for the season.

Aim higher, if you want a great club Mark Hughes. Or maybe that’s the problem, Mark Hughes. Already he’s running the richest club into the ground, is Abu Dhabi United Group really going to let him waste their first transfer window opportunities?

photo: Oldelpaso

Well, big Sam Allardyce started Blackburn’s holiday off perfectly with a well deserved 3-0 victory against Stoke. And I have to say, I know Stoke aren’t the best club in the world, but Blackburn looked completely differently, and would not be denied. I have to say, Ince looked depressed on the sidelines every time Blackburn took the pitch, which is understandable considering their poor run of form under Ince. But if Allardyce has done one thing right, it’s about the same thing Harry Redknapp did to turn Tottenham around, and that’s let your players know how talented they are, and inspire them.

Ince just looked too depressed to inspire anything, standing on the sideline looking like his girlfriend just broke up with him, Ince didn’t know how to get the players going again. But clearly in the span of a week, Allardyce has inspired his men to become a club that isn’t going to be threatened by relegation come next year.

The physical presence I predicted Blackburn would have under Allardyce’s tutelage was completely evident, as Blackburn really only needed three sniffs of goal and they scored each time, all in the first half. Sure they started things off in the ninth minute with a McCarthy penalty, but that still counts. And any injection of life at this point is exactly what Blackburn needed, and what Ince didn’t have the experience to provide.

Photo: Tal Ofer

Blackburn Rovers make a great decision, after having made a horrible one, with their appointment of Sam Allardyce as the new manager. Paul Ince was a mistake, and a mistake that needs to be forgotten immediately, and what better way to do that than the man that made an awful Newcastle club halfway decent last season.

What Allardyce brings is a much needed physical presence in his style of play, something that a club like Blackburn, who are absolutely spoiled for talent, desperately need to hang with the Premiership’s finest. And well, to avoid relegation, because let’s face it, Paul Ince has placed Rovers into chopping block trouble that will take months of hard work to escape. The club that finished seventh has been reduced to the quality of a Championship side that’s been promoted into more than it can handle, like West Brom, and Blackburn takes their finest step forward into new club hopes today.

Allardyce has been given a three year deal at the club, and hopefully for Blackburn’s sake, all three will take place in the Premier League. When asked about his feelings on Allardyce’s first coaching job since January 9^th, the new manager only said “I’m very pleased indeed, I’ll say more at the news conference on Thursday.’.

Blackburn sacks Ince, and justly so I say.  Although they will likely face a load of criticism, and I am all for giving a manager a fair chance, but 3 Premiership wins in 17 matches is an appalling record.  Paul Ince was never ready for a Premier League club, and Blackburn was wrong to appoint him so early in his managerial career, but the decision to ditch Ince is the correct decision considering the club finished seventh last season, and is deep in relegation trouble this year.

Ince needs two things, a longer break from football before becoming involved again in the sport, which is necessary for all players who want to become managers, as well as getting your coaching badges before you start in the league.  And a longer stint in the Championship, where you can afford to lose matches and still stay in a relatively good position.  Ince is the classic example of a player that was so blinded by the opportunity to return to the Premiership, that he didn’t consider his readiness for the pressures of one such position.

It’s not over for the former Manchester United man, and I don’t think that Ince should resign from his hopes in the Prem at all.  I just think he needs a lot more seasoning before attempting a comeback.

He may need to do things the Phil Brown way, completely fail, and then get a new job in the Championship and guide the team into the Premiership.  Cause that’s not hard to do.

photo: Gordon Flood

Well, Carlos Tevez scored four times as Manchester United edged out Blackburn in the Carling Cup today 5-3. But what I don’t understand is how the papers can already be looking at Tevez in an incredibly positive light. Tevez had his first successful performance of the season, but it was the Carling Cup, it’s not like a real match. Nobody takes the Carling Cup seriously, Manchester United clearly didn’t with the starting eleven they put out, and Blackburn? Clearly they didn’t care, because Ince subbed Roque Santa Cruz around the 70^th minute for Robbie Fowler.

Tevez hasn’t had a resurgence, and he remains a player that United would do well to not spend a fortune on. Wayne Rooney plays so much better off Dimitar Berbatov, where Tevez just seems to get in the way of a United match nowadays, in any competitive fixture. He can’t play beside Rooney anymore, because he just gets in Rooney’s way. And he can’t play beside Berbatov, because Tevez doesn’t play far enough up front to make himself useful for one of Berbatov’s spectacular passes, or worse when Tevez tries to run with the ball near the box, he just gets tackled and loses possession for United.

Carlos Tevez just doesn’t have what it takes to play at a Premiership elite club anymore, and hopefully United understand that before they fork over a massive amount of money for the Argentine at the end of the season.