Footblog

How not to sack your manager

Could Spurs have handled the sacking of Martin Jol any worse than they did? First, they get caught meeting Ramos in Spain, and then bizarrely claim they were only sounding him out in case Jol did a runner. Try that one with the wife the next time you're caught chatting up a young lady up at the bar: "don't worry love, I'm not leaving you, I'm just trying to pull Denise here, in case you run off with the milkman."

Having fatally undermined one of the most honest, likeable and (let's not forget) successful Spurs' managers in recent memory, they then let the situation rumble on for weeks, as (surprise, surprise) results fail to improve and players suddenly lose the will to play for a man who's only keeping the bench warm.

Then, finally, they decide to dust off the old P45 (and, boy, must they be running short of those forms in the Spurs' stationary cupboard), but do it hours before a crucial UEFA Cup tie - and then let the sacked manager take charge. In the meantime, they leak the news to the press, get caught on camera smiling and joking with one another when Getafe score, and then issue a statement claiming the sacking is "regrettable".

These boys make Milan Mandric look like a safe pair of hands.

P.S. Did anyone else notice Dimitar Berbatov swapping shirts at half-time last night? Talk about lack of heart...

Frying pans, fires and Bolton

Bolton have had an approach for Steve Bruce turned down. I'm not sure who's the most crackerdogs - Bolton or the Brum.

Given the FA's record, Bruce is probably holding out for the England job.

Neville gives Schmeichel the old chequebook and pen

I, for one, never understood how Peter Schmeichel was allowed to "retire" from Manchester United, only to come back and play for Aston Villa and arch-rivals Man City. Neither, it seems did Gary Neville, who blanks old red nose with the disdain usually reserved for serial rapists, in this classic bit of footage that I'd never laid eyes on before (titfer doffed to Who Ate All The Pies for digging it up again).

And they say Gary Neville's a horrible little bastard...

Motson: negative talking

It's hard to take the negatives from a 3-0 home victory, but the increasingly erratic John Motson managed it on the BBC commentary. Managed it in spectacular style, in fact. For Motson chose this match to issue the world's first double-negative containing the word 'negative'.

"It's hard not to be less negative than Israel," Motson quipped to a clearly bemused Mark Lawrenson, who took a good five seconds to work out exactly what Motty meant.

Someone put the sheepskin out to graze.

Peter Crouch night out goes horribly wrong

Barton's had enough of England... after one game

Try and hide your disappointment. Joey Barton says he's had enough of playing for England, after one substitute appearance.

"If England comes then so be it, but I have played for them once now, and that''ll do for me."

It'll do for me too, Basher. Although given Steve McClaren's penchant for picking players who don't want to play for their country, you're probably now the first team on the teamsheet.

Sammy and the commitments

While Big Sam does his best to talk the England manager out of a job, Little Sam's talking himself into a P45, too.

How many times after a shocking Bolton performance has Sammy Lee come out and said he's not worried because the players are giving him maximum effort? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if the players are blameless, doesn't that rather point the finger at the tactics, which are the sole responsibility of one Mr S Lee? Well, for the next couple of weeks anyway.

Big Sam's big mouth

Sam Allardyce briefing the press on the Michael Owen injury situation:

"It's up to Steve [MacLaren] whether Michael plays for England this time but I don't know that Michael playing two games in such a short space of time is advisable. I will be having a private conversation with Steve."

Quite right. Wouldn't want to be undermining the England manager in public now, would you Sam?

The fan "hits" the shit

Hipocrisy? Don't bet on it

"A friend from the United States remarks on the ubiquitous, in-yer-face advertising of gambling websites at Premier League Grounds and asks if that if something we, the English, are comfortable with," writes Matt Dickinson on The Times website. "Sport is fixated as never before by corrupting influences and yet, at the same time, it has never been more eager to take every pound in revenue from the bookmaking industry."

Good job the Times website hasn't got its own betting section or that would be really embarrassing...