It’s been nearly two months since Blackburn were taken over by foreign investors, and for some reason they have chosen to relieve him of his duties now, as part of what they call “a wider plan.” He has simply been thanked for his services, handed his coat and shown the door.
But why now? After giving him your backing only a few weeks ago? Was it the 7-1 drumming by Manchester United? That could have happened to anyone. It was only in November when the Rao family gave Allardyce their backing saying:
“We want results and Sam has taken up the challenge. He deserves a chance.”
Maybe he's had his chance, since the owners have taken over Blackburn have won two (Villa and Wolves) and lost two (Manchester United and Bolton) and perhaps that isn’t good enough for them. Though it could be possible that the new owners have been courting a new manager since they took over, and have chosen now to make the change official. Chris Hughton may well be a candidate. It certainly won’t be Alan Pardew.
Ah Alan Pardew, the ninth Newcastle United manager in as many years, what a decision that was. A man who has been relegated more times than Julien Flaubert (soon to be heading to the Championship with West Ham) has been chosen to lead a newly promoted club.
I honestly don’t understand why, after the success they’ve been having with Hughton, they chose to give Alan Pardew, a manager who couldn’t cut it at Southampton, a five year deal. Mind you Harry Redknapp couldn’t hack it at Southampton and now he’s managing a Champions League outfit. Don’t get your hopes up too much Toon fans, I know he‘s had a good start but I don‘t think Champions League football will be heading North East anytime soon! Then again Sunderland aren’t doing too bad.
Elsewhere this weekend that man Carlos Tevez has handed in a transfer request over at Eastlands. Oh dear, suddenly the City fans who were quite jubilant about Wayne Rooney’s want away slip, are all sat down with their chin on their hands. Funny how things change. Welcome to Buenos Aires.
It never ceases to amaze me how Sir Alex Ferguson manages to look like a genius over his transfer policy. Alright, so he signed Eric Djemba’Djemba and David Bellion but United could have wasted thirty-odd million on the little Argentinean. Good work Fergie, Michael Owen was much better value for money after all.
Tevez has revealed that his relationship with “certain executives” has broken down beyond repair and that he wants to leave for family reasons. Or his agent, Kia Joorabchian, wants even more money out of him and has advised a transfer. Tevez strenuously denies this, saying he wanted to leave in the summer but Joorabchian insisted he stayed at Eastlands. I’m not so sure, Tevez has spent the majority of his life saying yes to Joorabchian so if he says jump Tevez will ask how high.
I always thought Fergie’s reasoning behind not signing Tevez permanently was to do with his agent. There’s something not quite right about paying an individual a transfer fee to sign a player. To be frank it feels like slavery. City say they will force Tevez to stay, which sounds even more like slavery, but I don’t see how they can. I mean, what’s the point? He won’t perform for you, just sell him and be done with it.
Who knows, there has been talk of Tevez wanting to quit football altogether saying that he is fed up of the game and fed up of people within the game. He isn’t technically owned by Joorabchian anymore, although he takes his advice very seriously, but this freedom may be behind his motives for leaving.
It’s a little bit like the Robinho situation, a big money star on a large contract wanting to leave the club, although this time it is made harder on City as Tevez is a player who actually makes a difference to their side. He’s got 10 of their 23 league goals this season, he‘s the captain (not really sure why) and he has a lot of drive going forward. On the plus side, City have the cash to replace him, so in the short term this may look bad for them but I doubt it will have many long-term implications.
On the other side of Manchester, the Chilean miners will be watching United play in the Premier League tonight for the first time since their 7-1 thumping of Big Sam’s Blackburn. I wouldn’t expect the same scoreline tonight however as it’s table-topping Arsenal who have made the journey to the Theatre of Dreams today.
Of course the mind games have been going on, but it’s been through a different Frenchman this time. Step forward, Samir Nasri, a player who for some reason this season will not shut up. Okay so you’re pretty much Arsenal's best performing player of late, but please sit down.
Nasri reckons Old Trafford has lost its ‘fear factor’ and that Arsenal will not be scared of United tonight:
“Manchester United is not the same team as before, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Tevez it was a little bit scary to play at Old Trafford. Now I don't think offensively they are the same as before.”
To be fair, I’d be scared of any team with Tevez in it, the only thing scarier than him are those bloody angels from Doctor Who!
His comments confuse me though, as Arsenal’s home form has been nothing short of disastrous this season, with losses already to West Brom, Newcastle and most notably local rivals Tottenham. United have lost a grand total of zero at home this season. So if we’re talking about the ‘fear factor’ Samir, if Manchester United are let’s say Alton Tower’s famous ride, Nemesis, then the Emirates is one of those 20p a ride machines you find outside Asda.
I wish these mind games would get a bit more interesting, I remember when they used to throw pizza at each other, them were the days.
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