Fat sam gets the chop

[Park Life 71]

The Indians have already met with the hand of god.

[Billy Castell 0]

If it was Diego, backed up by a team of world class coaches, then it might just work. If he was expected to be more than an enthusiastic figurehead, then it will be one hell of a mental ride. Like the mine cart scene from Indiana Jones, except with your trousers on fire, and a whole chorus of Canadian celebrities singing the Uncle fucker song as you pass them en route to a very big cliff.

 

I'd also like to see Diego in England Kevin.............just not really at Ewood Park.

[Kevin 1]

I'd also like to see Diego in England Kevin.............just not really at Ewood Park.

 

Fine fine point

[Park Life 71]

If it was Diego, backed up by a team of world class coaches, then it might just work. If he was expected to be more than an enthusiastic figurehead, then it will be one hell of a mental ride. Like the mine cart scene from Indiana Jones, except with your trousers on fire, and a whole chorus of Canadian celebrities singing the Uncle fucker song as you pass them en route to a very big cliff.

 

I'd also like to see Diego in England Kevin.............just not really at Ewood Park.

 

Still he'll always be able to tell the players what time it is.

[Monkeys Fist 43063]

If it was Diego, backed up by a team of world class coaches, then it might just work. If he was expected to be more than an enthusiastic figurehead, then it will be one hell of a mental ride. Like the mine cart scene from Indiana Jones, except with your trousers on fire, and a whole chorus of Canadian celebrities singing the Uncle fucker song as you pass them en route to a very big cliff.

 

I'd also like to see Diego in England Kevin.............just not really at Ewood Park.

 

Still he'll always be able to tell the players what time it is.

[Billy Castell 0]

He might just be a figurehead, and the real work with the tactics/training might be dealt with by sane people. At least I hope so. We might go for your Argie players if he did come in.

 

Christ, whoever it'llbeI'll just laugh and hope for the best. The sensible option would be Jol, or perhaps a Shearer/Hughton partnership, but I don't think we're due a sensible second half of the season. At least the transfer windows might be interesting.

 

Ladbrokes now has Souness at 10/1!, whilst Betdaq has the odds shortening on Hughes and Rjikaard, with everyone else, including the favourite Jol drifting.

 

Good thing I don't have a heart condition.

Edited December 14, 2010 by Billy Castell

[Kevin 1]

We might go for your Argie players if he did come in.

 

They're all yours

[Kitman 2207]

I'm very happy. Nothing against Blackburn but I hate Allardyce, because he's so utterly full of shit. No doubt his mates in the media will complain how unfair this is.

[Sonatine 11542]

Blackburn Rovers have long been a magnet for strong women. Margaret Thatcher became an honorary vice‑president in 1998; four years ago Condoleezza Rice gave a lecture on liberal democracy at Ewood Park and now Anuradha J Desai is the club's key decision maker.

 

The 48-year-old sari‑wearing chair of Blackburn's new owners, Venky's, Asia's biggest chicken and egg producers, was the first female president of the World Poultry Science Association and ranks as one of India's richest woman.

 

If Sam Allardyce made the mistake of underestimating her, he will now have realised his error after being summarily sacked as Blackburn's manager today.

 

While a dispute over the apparent determination of Venky's to use Kentaro – one of Europe's leading sports rights agencies which has recently branched out into the footballer management business – to recruit players proved a prime catalyst to the parting of the ways, the outgoing manager was already deploying dangerous off‑field tactics.

 

Furious at a newspaper interview Desai gave in which she appeared more than a little sniffy about Allardyce's famously pragmatic approach to winning matches, he made his displeasure abundantly, and perhaps unwisely, clear. Seemingly uninterested in the usual material trappings of success Desai already had precious little in common with the club's status symbol‑obsessed manager and such perceived disloyalty will not have impressed. Even so Kentaro's involvement appears to have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

Jerome Anderson, a long-standing football agent and important figure at Kentaro, is seen to be trusted by Venky's rather more than Allardyce. Following Thaksin Shinawatra's takeover at Manchester City, Anderson helped Sven-Goran Eriksson to sign eight foreign players including Elano, Martin Petrov, Vedran Corluka and Geovanni. Allardyce had hoped to recruit household names such as Roque Santa Cruz, John Carew and Robbie Keane. Unfortunately their wages were almost certainly beyond Venky's budget.

 

At first glance Allardyce's sacking appears almost Chris Hughton-esque in its harshness, particularly as he spent nothing last summer and Desai had never watched a football match until this autumn. The game's purist wing fully appreciates the reasoning behind it, though. "We don't just want results, we want entertainment too," said Desai last month. "We should go up in the rankings but playing well is not just about winning."

 

Maybe back home in Pune, India, she had possibly caught sight of Blackburn's 2-1 victory at Hughton's Newcastle United. No one would dispute it was an excellent away victory but Allardyce's use of an ultra-defensive 3-6-1 formation, for all its cleverness on the counterattack, was regarded by many observers as contrary to the spirit of the game.

 

Just ask Arsène Wenger or Rafael Benítez – but perhaps best not to get them started on Big Sam's sometimes extraordinary use of gamesmanship and assorted strong‑arm ploys. Blocking off, pushing and crowding were all par for the course at Allardyce‑choreographed set pieces, with goalkeepers and central defenders targeted. His advocates would point out that he was merely maximising resources. They might also emphasise that a manager who believes he should be in charge of England was responsible for the exciting development of the immensely promising 18-year-old Phil Jones.

 

Unfortunately too many minds persistently rewind to Allardyce's dismal eight months in charge of Newcastle. During that period his squad grew increasingly bored during interminable team meetings about "how to stop" opponents. One brave player once asked: "But what do you want us to do when we're on the ball?"

 

Desai may have made an overnight conversion from hard-core cricket fan to football expert but, as she recently said: "I know how many strikers we need." Note the plural; Allardyce tended to field only one.

 

 

Didn't take her long to suss Big Sham out

[Guest alex]

Only downside for me is he'll have gotten another fuck off pay out.

[Billy Castell 0]

John Williams has resigned. This is a bigger blow as he was instrumental in keeping the club going during the Walker Trust years, when we had no money to spend. It looks like we're going to be run by someone who knows anything about football, and an agent. Rovers were a very well run club, but now I think we're replacing your team as the Premier League's basket case.

[Guest alex]

Nowt against Blackburn but, putting aside my dislike of Allardyce, I think there's a very decent chance we'll finish above them now as they were all about his organisation and tactics.

[Park Life 71]

Down.

[Billy Castell 0]

As things stand, quite a few teams will finish above us. The Indians are about as popular as Ashley and Llambias at the moment.

[Mac-Toon 1]

I've never forgiven them for sending on Graeme Fenton to ruin our hopes back in '96.

 

West Ham, Wolves, Blackburn for the drop.

[Billy Castell 0]

We sent you Graeme Souness too.

 

The next EDL march/fight will probably be in Blackburn.

Edited December 14, 2010 by Billy Castell

[Tom 14013]

Would love to see Shearer tested there.

[Park Life 71]

We sent you Graeme Souness too.

 

The next EDL march/fight will probably be in Blackburn.

 

Karma has been reversed since Hale Bopp hit Jupiter.

[ChezGiven 0]

Cant see them going for Shearer, too much of a risk.

 

I saw the clip of the Venky's on SSN last night, they look like a couple of utter mugs too. Hope it doesnt go too badly for your lot Billy.

[Billy Castell 0]

We sent you Graeme Souness too.

 

The next EDL march/fight will probably be in Blackburn.

 

Karma has been reversed since Hale Bopp hit Jupiter.

 

You gave us Darren Peacock, and Keith Gillespie.

[Guest You FCB Get Out Of Our Club]

We sent you Graeme Souness too.

 

The next EDL march/fight will probably be in Blackburn.

 

Karma has been reversed since Hale Bopp hit Jupiter.

 

You gave us Darren Peacock, and Keith Gillespie.

We've done more good business with you than any club aye. Batty, Shearer, Given etc..

[Mac-Toon 1]

We sent you Graeme Souness too.

 

The next EDL march/fight will probably be in Blackburn.

 

Karma has been reversed since Hale Bopp hit Jupiter.

 

You gave us Darren Peacock, and Keith Gillespie.

We've done more good business with you than any club aye. Batty, Shearer, Given etc..

+ Khizanishvilli.

[Guest You FCB Get Out Of Our Club]

We sent you Graeme Souness too.

 

The next EDL march/fight will probably be in Blackburn.

 

Karma has been reversed since Hale Bopp hit Jupiter.

 

You gave us Darren Peacock, and Keith Gillespie.

We've done more good business with you than any club aye. Batty, Shearer, Given etc..

+ Khizanishvilli.

haha at least we could give him back. Actually he wasn't that bad to be fair. People remember Darren Peacock and Gillespie with rose tinted glasses. Peacock technically was shite and Gillespie had the same good game ratio as Shola. So we've done well with Blackburn, but something tells me we signed someone really shite off them late 70's early 80's and I can't remember who it was.

[Park Life 71]

I wouldn't write off the Indians btw Billy they are a very sharp bunch of operators and wouldn't have bought the club without strong ideas in place first. It will be part of their cross business marketing plan and branding for the chicken business, but also they are branching into pharma in Swiss and a myriad of other small growth lines in the overall picture.

 

They paid 46m (?) but your turnover is between 50 and 60m, so they have a very sound deal already. A bigger club brand would have commanded turnover x2.5 or even x3.0. Our valuation is around 240m and due to this.

 

I'd give them a year before judging anything.

[Billy Castell 0]

I just fear some sort of situation that makes the club some sort of shallow, contrived shit like X-Factor where it all geared to make Venky's and their own Simon Cowell figure (Jerome Anderson) loads of cash. One story has it that Sam fell out with the new regime because he refused to sign Boyd and Geovanni, clients of Mr. Anderson's SEM agency. If true, then Rovers will look like a SSN rent-a-mong circus act.