[Archived] Nicko's Thread Part 3

[philipl]

What did Scolari say?

He has a high regard for Mark Hughes and will not stand between such a bright young Manager and the £6m a year 4 year contract Roman's promised him of which Big Phil only plans to work ten months and will take the rest as severance... er Brasil will win Euro 08...

Mind you I never learnt any Potuguese.

Obragado.

[Grabbi Graeme]

It's the same story going round in circles.

What is the Italian for 'total crap'?

Grabbi.

Oh thanks a lot

[nono91291]

What did Scolari say?

Received no offer, the Portugese FA have received no offer and he would decide his future after the Euros.

Apparently Carlo Ancellotti has called a press conference for monday, got this second hand so could be a load of @#/?.

[Tom 1]

or someone obscure like Ashley Young or Nicky Shorey

Couldn't picture it being Ashley.

Biggest scandal since his been with us was when he was ###### off to the girl on webcam. Weird really, as she looked like Agbonlahor in drag.

[Torgeir]

Could it be ...Mr. David Bentley?

Nope. If it was he would've signed a new contract months ago

[Eddie]

Here's the thing I have to say:

Hughes' strength was the transfer market, but that relies upon agents and scouts, so as long as any new man (potentially) is smart enough to keep the same system he should have the same level of success.

For the past two seasons Hughes has not managed to maximise the potential of his squad, which means any new manager would not have to overachieve in order to match what Hughes has managed.

What this means is Hughes can be replaced. It won't be easy as we have a big summer ahead of us in the transfer market, a summer which will decide a lot for the club, but it can be done and there will be suitable candidates out there if the position becomes available (at the moment my gut still says Chelsea will go for someone else, although my wallet is singing a different tune).

[Baggio]

Woodgate had a gambling problem when he was in Madrid, could well be him.

[Baggio]

Newcastle have sold Emre to Fenerbahce.

http://www.fenerbahce.org/eng/

[EwoodGlory]

Good little player, but, big wages and the fact he won't play a lot of games means, he is exactly the type of player Newcastle need to move on.

Think the fans would have preferred if Smith or Ameobi had left first though.

[EwoodGlory]

Spurs linked with new Brazilian wonderkid

Brilliant stuff

[HATRIX]

Don't shoot the messenger but I have been told indirectly (although not as indirectly as you might think) that a close friend of Hughes has said he is "nailed on" for the Chelsea job, and the person in question has apparently backed this with a bet to the tune of £5k.

I really hope this is wrong although the source is very good/reliable. Either way as someone who doesn't normally bet I have had a small wager to cover the eventuality and to cushion the blow, although personally I would rather lose my money!

Mate i hope your wrong, but if not you can buy me a pint bud.POW POW POW!!!

[philipl]

At last, Spurs being sent up in the national press!

That said, I agree with nico and suspect that the Ramos football regime is very different from previous Spuds manifestations. From the flood of comparative financial data published recently, it is very clear that Spuds are extremely well managed off the pitch and generate up to £40m per year (pre-07/8 new media contract) which thankfully for the rest of the EPL has always been blown on a mix of spectacular but inconsisent, vanity and downright rubbish football purchases.

There are a lot of signs that this Spurs are buying very sensibly and if they get Dunne despite Pompey waving Gaydamak's wad at him, that will be another very significant step to ousting the Liverpool goons from the 4th CL spot. All the noises coming out of Anfield point to them taking their CL spot as a by rights-given reservation for red Scousers and every one of their four warring personalities is talking about winning the EPL so giving themselves the luxury of continuing their internecine battle.

Incidentally, it is not inconceivable that Gerard might have to move to Villa to join Barry playing CL football seeing as Stevie G is so worried about the two of them not mssing the chance of playing together at that level. Lerner slipping into the Villa CEO slot can only mean one thing- he is very serious about winning and Lerner's free cash is large enough for him to plug all the gaps in MoN's side and a lot more besides. Rafa contacting MoN and offering to buy Barry with used empties probably has added a bit of "personal" to Randy's desire of getting to the CL.

This morning's goss on Chelsea seems to have gone quiet.

Worth remembering that during the tightest EPL finish since Rovers won it, Abramovich was 100% in Moscow- obviously protecting his interests/sniffing chances during the Putin/Medvedev handover. The situation in Moscow is still very fluid and Chelsea will be very much second priority, perhaps third after his new flexible girl friend.

And Abramovich has the luxury of taking his time.

Recent figures show that Chelsea's wage bill in 06/7 at £132m was some 40% higher than second placed Man U's. Putting that in context, the gap between Chelsea's wage bill and Man U's is about as big as Rovers' entire turnover for a year, or, there were only four clubs in the world whose turnover was higher than Chelsea's wages.

You have got to ask what Abramovich is gaining from paying wages so far ahead of everybody else- after all how many of his stars would not be a Stamford Bridge if he paid "only" the same as Man U? Most of them I suspect- his wage bill would still be 50% more than Arsenal's. £132m in wages isn't buying him success as he sees it (EPLs and CLs) these last two seasons and for sure it's not buying "sexy football".

It does buy him time - time to do things when Abramovich wants to. If anyone thinks Chelsea is interested in him, everything else stops until Chelsea decides because the Chelsea wadge is typically 50% bigger than will be offered anywhere else.

I fear Rovers are going to be in a state of complete uncertainty (Hughes AND Bentley) until perhaps two weeks after Euro 08.

[nicko]

Chelsea will not wait that long for a new manager. They have to get one in to land the players they want, there could be a couple leaving who will also have to be replaced.

There will have to be a commitment from Scolari shortly or else...and I think we know the 'or else.'

[bob fleming]

I fear Rovers are going to be in a state of complete uncertainty (Hughes AND Bentley) until perhaps two weeks after Euro 08.

That really would be unacceptable wouldn't it? Especially with regards to the manager. Would Chelsea wait that long for a definitive answer from Big Phil? Would Hughes himself be prepared to wait until then, by which time he'll clearly be the second choice back up? Is our Chairman happy to wait until then as well before knowing how our summer is going to map out? Can he do anything about it? Probably not is the answer.

This is for Chelsea and David Bentley is possibly wanted by a couple of clubs in the 'BIG Four' and the league cup winners.

Nevermind the club who finished 7th last year, I'm sure we shall try our best to look after these other teams when they are ready.

[nicko]

For the Rangers element...

The Kenny Miller move is on, price agreed, the 'homecoming' is on for next week.

Let the Holy War begin.

[philipl]

I cannot pretend to think inside Abramovich's head.

But he has other serious fish to fry and Chelsea are now very much R&R for him- they've delivered the English profile and that's not going to be lost even if he flogged Chelsea tomorrow.

Very wealthy men know how to spend money to get what they want- as argued above, I suspect the Chelsea wage bill buys the freedom for Abramovich to do what he wants when he wants. He might be wrong but he probably reckons that all it needs is for Zihavi to put the word to virtually any player in the world and they will wait for him.

No other club is in ownership which can contemplate £200k a week with a shrug of the shoulders (and Mittal is a vanity add-on for Briatore as far as I can see at the moment but that might change- current QPR signings are not even in the Jack league of trying to get Lineker or bringing in Kenny as a Div 2 club).

[EwoodGlory]

For the Rangers element...

The Kenny Miller move is on, price agreed, the 'homecoming' is on for next week.

Let the Holy War begin.

It may cause a few problems, but it will be a good signing. It will settle down after he's netted a few.

[thenodrog]

In some ways im glad....last season was really really boring. Even if we get the wrong guy in and end up in a relegation fight, at least it will add a touch of excitment to proceedings.

I'm considering using that as my sig.

[RibbleValleyRover]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3632162,00.html

Nicko, have you heard any truth to these rumours about Steve Clarke following Ten Cate out of the club? Isn't Clarke also being touted as possibly the next Leicester manager?

Though who would want to work with Mandaric...

[thenodrog]

Maybe irrelevant in the scheme of things but it's obvious to a blind man on a galloping horse by now that Hughes is not first choice. My guess is that Hughes is metaphorically 'sitting on the bench' cos Scolari is first choice. Otherwise I'm sure that if Hughes was he'd have been signed up with all deals done and dusted by now.

Chelsea will not wait that long for a new manager. They have to get one in to land the players they want, there could be a couple leaving who will also have to be replaced.

There will have to be a commitment from Scolari shortly or else...and I think we know the 'or else.'

Crikey! I may as well just write to Andy Neild at the Lancashire Telegraph direct.......... and cut out the middle man!

[nicko]

Or you could...

Chelsea want a straight answer soon. Club officials want Hughes, Roman quite likes the Scolari idea for his sexy football dream.

Scolari has to commit - or tell them he is coming - very soon.

Hopefully very very soon or this will linger too long for anyone's good.

[tony gale's mic]

If Scolari does say no, is there no chance Roman will go for another 'name' manager with European officials regardless of what the board think?

[USABlue]

Chelsea will not wait that long for a new manager. They have to get one in to land the players they want, there could be a couple leaving who will also have to be replaced.

There will have to be a commitment from Scolari shortly or else...and I think we know the 'or else.'

Somewhat concerned about the or else. The thing I find befuddling, well at least from the view across the pond here, is that the press don't seem to be taking Hughes as a serious contender. You Nicko are convinced it is between him and big Phil however the media over there seem to be touting anyone but Hughes, at least that is how it seems from the limited news we get on the situation.

Why do you think this is nicko, can they just not get their heads around the fact that lil ol Blackburn have a top notch young manager or what?

The other thing that is concerning me is I have seen nothing out of Ewood on the speculation, from either Sparky or Williams, when the Geordie job was being bandied around there was at least comments coming out of Ewood Park, now there seems to be an eery silence, what is your take on that. or have I just missed any comments

[nicko]

If Scolari does say no, is there no chance Roman will go for another 'name' manager with European officials regardless of what the board think?

That is always possible, but because of the time factor I think they will remind Roman that they have a top-class manager ready and available.

My 'form guide' on this is that Abramovich listened to key people about sacking Grant when he didn't really want to. The same people are backing Sparky as his replacement.

[Eddie]

Or you could...

theno is your source...don't deny it...