Uilleam

I'm inclining towards Muscat. O man!

Looking again at Oddschecker, and with caveats on market volatility, etc. the bad news is that Lampard seems to be favourite, with offers from 2/1 to 11/4. Pascal Jansen is coming in, available at 4/1 (Coral and Ladbrokes) with others at 11/4, 3s and 2s. Not a lot in it, then. Kevin Muscat drifting. Philippe Clement is now showing: you can get him between 6s and 8s. Steven Davis's shortest price is 5/1.

Potentially, a major clash of egos, never mind bringing the players into it. Could sell that to Amazon, mind. There is a worrying thing about Lampard, beyond his execrable record, and everything else that has been said, and it is that some in the Club may feel that he would give the Club a high profile, in UK, and beyond, much as SG did. I think that there would much less interest in, and focus on, Lampard, now, than there was on SG, then, in his first post in management. Lampard is more yesterday's news.

The Club could name its price to Amazon.......

Not even the weemin's fitba'? (We know you are a connoisseur of gals in wet t-shirts.)

The theory with Lampard can only be that Gerrard was successful (relatively, I know) because he was a football legend, a better player than anybody on the Club's books, was possessed of a strong personality, was a leader of men, having captained a major Club, and England, did not suffer fools gladly, and the players, thus, would give him the utmost respect, listen to him, heed his instructions, and endeavour to carry them out to the best of their abilties, and that Lampard, having a similar status, can replicate this. Ah ha'e mah doobts.

Cruel.

OBITUARY Francis Lee obituary Pugilistic England and Man City striker known for scoring the most penalties in a season and for making millions from lavatory paper Tuesday October 03 2023, 12.01am, The Times Manchester City Football Club Obituaries Lee in international action against Scotland in 1971. He scored ten goals and won 27 caps playing for England ALLSPORT UK/GETTY IMAGES Flaxen-haired, barrel-chested and with a thunderous right-footed shot, Francis Lee was among the most talented of forwards in the late 1960s and 1970s. He was also one of the most pugilistic and involved in what was surely the most extraordinary punch-up seen on a football field. As this was televised and shown on Match of the Day, it gained such a level of infamy that The Observer named it as the most spectacular dismissal to occur in any sport. In November 1975 Lee, playing for Derby County against Leeds United, had a confrontation with Norman “bites yer legs” Hunter, one of the toughest defenders to have played the game. The two sides were among the best in the top division of English football at the time and relations seemingly had not improved since the antagonism that existed between their former managers, Don Revie and Brian Clough. In the first half the referee awarded a penalty for a foul by Hunter on Lee and in the second half, with the incident far from forgotten, they traded punches off the ball. Both were sent off and, as they made their way to the dressing-rooms, started fighting again. Both sets of players intervened and a Derby official had to lead Lee off the pitch. Hunter felt he won penalties through “diving” but given that Leeds were renowned for their gamesmanship and there was then less protection given to skilful players by officials, he could hardly complain for long. The BBC footage is still shown on television and appears regularly across social media, with the video receiving hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and TikTok. “A complete free for all,” John Motson exclaimed in his commentary. Lee required four stitches and received a four-week suspension from football. “It’s a good job I didn’t get in the Leeds dressing room afterwards,” Lee said. “I might have just been coming out on parole now. It wasn’t play-acting, you know. He had tapped me on the shoulder, hit me and split my lip with a gold ring.” Whether or not Lee “dived” in front of goal, he set a record for the most number of penalties scored in a season in England, 15 in 1971-72, when he scored 35 goals in all for Manchester City, an achievement that earned him the nickname “Lee Won Pen” from one of his managers, Malcolm Allison. This was as a consequence of his name appearing as “Lee 1 (pen)” in the list of goal scorers in the press the following day. Defenders such as Hunter never came to terms with this. Neither were they strangers to being admonished by referees, even in a time of more lenient refereeing than is the case today. Such controversies tended to obscure Lee’s brilliance. He scored 148 goals in 330 appearances during an eight-year spell with City, helping the club to win the first division title in 1968, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. He made an immediate impression, hailed by his manager, Joe Mercer, as “the final piece in the jigsaw”, playing at Maine Road alongside the likes of Mike Summerbee, Colin Bell and Neil Young. Lee scored the fourth goal as Manchester City secured the league title in 1968 with a 4-3 win over Newcastle United LES PALMER/MIRRORPIX/GETTY IMAGES Among his favourite moments were the decisive goal in the 4-3 victory over Newcastle United that brought about the title in his first season with City, a winning penalty in the Cup Winners’ Cup final victory over Gornik Zabrze in 1969-70 and what he felt was a “perfect” hat-trick against Manchester United in 1970. Five years later he won a league champions medal again with Derby County, having been sold against his wishes for £110,000 and feeling that he was traded “like a piece of meat”, as he put it. For Dave Mackay, his new manager, it was a shrewd signing — indeed, not the only one he made. That he was still a forward to be reckoned with was illustrated by the 12 league goals he scored in his first season at the Baseball Ground. These included one against his old club: another moment in his career which is still viewed regularly. On this occasion the commentator was Motson’s colleague Barry Davies, who proclaimed: “Interesting (as Lee shot) “very interesting” (as he scored) followed by: “Look at his face! Just look at his face!” Few footballers exhibited more delight at scoring goals than Lee. He won 27 caps for England, scoring ten goals, and played in the World Cup in Mexico in 1970 alongside great players such as Bobby Charlton and Bobby Moore, retaining his place for a while in the aftermath of England being knocked out of the tournament by West Germany. A forward in his own image and of similar ability, stature and height, Kevin Keegan, was to succeed him. In retirement from football Lee became a racehorse trainer and had a successful business career manufacturing lavatory and kitchen rolls from recycled paper, having founded an eponymous company when still a young footballer. The comedian Peter Kay was to become one of his employees. Lee followed a rigorous disciplined life each day, commencing with standing under a cold shower at 7 am and “letting all my irritations wash out of me” as he put it. After winning several trophies with Manchester City as a player, Lee later returned to the club for a less happy spell as chairman PA His work ethic served him well, for he sold his company for £8.35 million in 1984 and returned to City in 1994 as chairman and majority shareholder, although his holding was to be exceeded by others. On taking control, he promised: “This will be the happiest club in the land. The players will be the best paid and we’ll drink plenty of champagne, celebrate and sing until we’re hoarse.” However, this proved to be an unhappy four-year period. Manchester United, their great rivals, were on the rise and City did not possess anything like the financial muscle that they have today. They were far from “the noisy neighbours” that Sir Alex Ferguson was to concern himself with at Old Trafford in that they went through a series of managers, starting with Alan Ball, Lee’s former England team-mate, who led them only to relegation, and continuing with Steve Coppell, once of United, who lasted for 33 days before being unable to handle “the pressure”. Lee was not amused. “There is pressure in managing anything, but that sort of pressure doesn’t come along in three or four weeks.” In the 1996-97 season City had various managers and in 1998, with City seemingly about to be relegated again, this time to the third level of English football, Lee himself stood down. He sold his shareholding to a former prime minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, in 2007. He continued to support the club and was able to enjoy their success under Pep Guardiola. Francis Henry Lee, who became universally known as “Franny”, was born in Westhoughton, Lancashire, the son of a manager of a cotton mill, and was educated at Horwich Technical School. A keen cricketer as well as footballer, he started his career with Bolton Wanderers, breaking into their side as a 16-year-old in 1959. He scored 106 goals in 210 games over eight seasons before signing for City for a then club-record £60,000 fee, having submitted transfer requests after refusing to play for the club’s third team following demotion from the reserves. He even threatened to retire from football at the age of 23, to which Bill Ridding, his manager, said: “What can you do? You are only a labourer who will finish in the gutter.” In fact Lee was to finish as a famous footballer and a multimillionaire who liked to spend Christmas in Barbados and who ate foie gras and drank Burgundy. He frequented the best restaurants, once chewing through the flowers in a vase in San Francisco as a way of complaining about the service. In addition to his own company, he diversified into industrial property. Lee is survived by his wife, Gill, and his children, Charlotte, Jonny and Nik. The aggressive instincts he displayed on the pitch never entirely left him. In 2005 he was arrested following an argument with a police officer. A row had broken out after his wife was also arrested on suspicion of drink-driving. Lee was taken into custody but on this occasion settled for quietude rather than take on all comers. He did not require any stitches. Francis Lee CBE, footballer, was born on April 29, 1944. He died of cancer on October 2, 2023, aged 79

All those weeks studying form on Blackpool beach paid off, eh? They said you were mad....

Yeah, they are pretty volatile. I offer the info merely as a snapshot of who is being backed. When, Pedrito, Pedro became manager, I tracked his price -because nobody could believe he was a goer- which shortened and shortened and shortened, all day, until the puff of blue smoke, and the offishull statement. Sites like Oddschecker can be useful, but are not the source of all wisdom in the world today. The Frenchman, Clement, was not quoted earlier.

If there is one guy who knows a donkey when he sees it........

I've just been looking at Oddschecker, which gives us : Kevin Muscat - a best priced 2/1 (Billy Hills, and Bet UK), lengthening to 3/1 (Sky Bet), and several others at 5/2 and 11/4 Frank Lampard - best at 2/1 with BetVictor and Pari Match) lengthening to 4s (Bet 365), with the rest at 4/1 (one) and 11/4 Pascal Jansen - several price him at 2/1 (SkyBet, Paddy P, Betfair, Betfred); worst price is 4s (Joe Coral, ladbrokes) McInnes - best price 7/1 (Ladbrokes, Joe Coral, SkyBet) and lengthening to 10s (eg Bet365, Paddy P) These prices could move considerably, of course, if a couple of chunky bets were made, by a high roller (say @compo) https://www.oddschecker.com/football/football-specials/rangers/next-permanent-manager?offer_position=2&bk=OC&customer=internal

"It all started with a photograph of the private parts of a former player." Hardly Odysseus and Nausicaa, but when you call yourselves Ajax..... How Ajax went from Champions League overachievers to chaos Dutch club won neutrals’ hearts with 2019 European run but a series of events has led to poor results and fan rage boiling over Bart Vlietstra Wed 27 Sep 2023 08.00 BST https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/sep/27/how-ajax-went-from-champions-league-overachievers-to-chaos It all started with a photograph of the private parts of a former player. No, this is not a piece about dressing-room “humour”. This is the story of the demise of Ajax, who in 2019 were seconds from the Champions League final and now sit 14th in the Eredivisie after the game at home against Feyenoord on Sunday was abandoned amid crowd trouble with the team 3-0 down. The goal scored by Tottenham’s Lucas Moura in the last minute of injury time on 8 May 2019 shattered Ajax’s Champions League final dream then but there could be no doubting the Dutch club had overachieved. For a team from a league snubbed by oil sheikhs and big investors, and where TV money is a relative pittance, it was still a memorable evening and an unforgettable season. Ajax were referred to as the Champions League winners in people’s hearts. First Erik ten Hag’s squad had survived three qualifying rounds, then resisted Bayern Munich twice in spectacular fashion in the group phase, thrashed Real Madrid 4-1 at the Bernabéu and beaten Juventus in Turin. This was achieved via amazing combination football and the superb technical skills of the budding talents Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Hakim Ziyech and Donny van de Beek, while Dusan Tadic and Daley Blind were experiencing their second youth. The ideal blend had been achieved under the football director, Marc Overmars, and although the end against Spurs was bitter and brutal, people in the Netherlands were convinced it marked the start of a new era. Then came the day when Overmars – the former Ajax, Arsenal and Barcelona player – took down his pants in a toilet in an Ajax building, took a photo with his phone and sent it to a female Ajax employee. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it transpired it was not the only time Overmars had approached female colleagues in an inappropriate manner, and it led to his departure on 6 February 2022. His conduct had been the best-kept secret at Ajax, where everything normally leaks out, which perhaps says something about the masculine inner world of the Netherlands’ largest club and the blinkers they had on. Ajax thought they had become the Bayern Munich of the Netherlands, untouchable by the rest. In May 2022 they finished top for a fourth consecutive season. They had responded to the crushing Moura goal by producing more great Champions League nights against Valencia, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Sporting. Their traditional rivals PSV and especially Feyenoord appeared to be years behind. But Ajax missed the transfer acumen of Overmars, who not only discovered gems in Europe but had built an impressive network in South and Central America. Antony, Lisandro Martínez, Edson Álvarez, Ziyech, Mohammed Kudus and Kasper Dolberg were eventually sold for huge sums, as were the homegrown talents De Jong, De Ligt, Van de Beek and Sergiño Dest. Overmars had been installed at Ajax in 2012 after a reshape of the club initiated by Johan Cruyff. For the first five years Overmars had to work closely with other former players such as Dennis Bergkamp and Wim Jonk and was prevented by the board from giving players a salary of more than €1m a year. At the end of 2017 he took control of Ajax alongside Edwin van der Sar when Bergkamp was sacked together with the coach Marcel Keizer. One of his best moves was to appoint Ten Hag, the coach he had previously hired at Go Ahead Eagles. Overmars broke open the salary ceiling to bring Tadic and Blind back to the Netherlands from the Premier League, and with that the re-emergence of Ajax as a big name in Europe started. Then came the scandal of the inappropriate behaviour. Ten Hag still guided Ajax to their 36th national title but he left in the summer of 2022 for Manchester United. Ajax replaced Overmars with a few inexperienced employees and asked Van der Sar, the general director, to help out with transfer decisions. The club sold players that summer for about €200m and spent about €100m, both records, but a disastrous season followed. It featured a record 6-1 defeat in the Champions League by Napoli, the dismissal of the coach Alfred Schreuder and a third-place finish under the inexperienced interim coach John Heitinga, which meant no Champions League this season. Van der Sar retired in the summer, saying he was worn out. He had appointed a new football director, Sven Mislintat, formerly of Stuttgart, Dortmund and Arsenal, who was instructed to sell heavily (€150m) and reduce the salary structure. Without Champions League income, Ajax had to make cuts for the first time in years. Mislintat succeeded, but the criticism was he acted largely alone. He signed 12 fairly unknown talents, some of whom had never played at the highest level. He relieved Heitinga, who was popular with the fans, of his position and appointed Maurice Steijn, who was inexperienced at the top, and asked for a few months of patience. But in Amsterdam they do not do patience. Ajax have made their worst start to a season since 1964 and to add to the sense of trouble it turned out that Misintlat had brought in a player, Borna Sosa, who was represented by the German agency AKA Global, which allegedly has a stake in the data company Matchmetrics in which Mislintat owns shares. The club has launched an investigation into the transfer. Ajax said Mislintat had declared his interest in Matchmetrics when appointed but that they had not known about AKA Global’s alleged holding in the company at the time of the transfer. Mislintat, the club said, had said “he will offer his full cooperation and share all relevant documents” with the inquiry. Everything culminated last Sunday in the match against Feyenoord, the arch-rivals who had been looked down upon with malicious pleasure in Amsterdam for years but who had overtaken Ajax by a massive margin last season, nationally and in Europe. Feyenoord took a 3-0 lead. Ajax fans from the F-side ultras shouted for the board and Mislintat to go and twice threw fireworks on to the field, forcing the game to be halted. There were riots afterwards around the stadium, with hooligans forcing their way into the main entrance and confronting the police and mobile units in a manner not seen in Amsterdam for a long time. That evening, Mislintat was fired. On Wednesday the club that would never allow itself to be overtaken by a Dutch rival must try to overcome a 3-0 deficit against the champions Feyenoord in 35 minutes in an empty stadium. The future? Some fanatical fans are hoping that Overmars, who is now very successful at the Belgian double winners Antwerp, will return. Many others think that is a bridge too far. The club is hopelessly divided, which can almost entirely be traced to that moment Overmars dropped his pants and took out his phone.

I thought that tat -and track suits- were the domain of Mr Bisgrove

How spoiled we were when Steven Thompson led the line.

I'm sorry to say it, but Dessers makes Sebo seem like Harry Kane.

An emergency board meeting, directly after Kirk, today, surely?

Best use the wife's motor, then

Thought you were driving him....

With Barcelona now under investigation for bribing referees, I wonder if worrying about getting his collar felt is distracting his attention. (As well it might.)

Guardiola lost midweek, and lost today: with Barcelona now under investigation for bribing referees, I wonder if worrying about getting his collar felt is distracting his attention. (As well it might.)

Hey, @Rousseau Can we have another poll: Were you genuinely surprised at today's result? Yes No