Second Place In Sack Race For Jol

[pete 2,499]

Second Place In Sack Race For Jol

Posted 16/08/07 15:02

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The manager who has led Tottenham to fifth in two successive seasons is now second-favourite for the chop with the bookies. We look at the top five contenders in the race nobody wants to win...

 

 

SAMMY LEE (BOLTON) - 5/2

Yet to win a Premier League game, the jury is not so much out on Sammy Lee...according to the bookies, they're about to come in with a majority 'guilty' verdict. "I'm not pleased about it, don't get me wrong, and I don't think any manager worth his salt would be pleased that we have had two defeats in two games," said Lee after Wednesday's 2-1 defeat at Fulham which was characterised by some truly awful defending. It doesn't help that Abdoulaye Faye is about to exit for Newcastle, El-Hadji Diouf is getting itchy feet and it can't be long before Nicolas Anelka is looking at the exit door with Pompey and West Ham both interested. What Chairman Phil Gartside wouldn't do to have some of that dull Sam Allardyce football back at the Reebok...

 

 

MARTIN JOL (SPURS) - 4-1

The problem with spending �£40m in one summer is that you get �£40m-worth of pressure, and Thursday's Independent was already suggesting that 'showdown talks' had happened between Jol and chairman Daniel Levy just two games into the season. The implication is that there are certain Spurs board members who are none-too-enamoured with their manager, who decided to spend an awful lot of money this summer without actually buying what they so glaringly needed - a creative midfielder. They face Derby at home this Saturday and anything less than victory in that game will surely see 6-0-6 bombarded with calls from angry young men from north London. How quickly they forget...

 

 

CHRIS HUTCHINGS (WIGAN) - 5/1

He waited seven years for his second Premiership win and it came on Wednesday night against an admittedly rotten Middlesbrough side. The pressure has certainly been eased on Chris Hutchings, whose moves for Antoine Sibierski and Jason Koumas are starting to look astute, but one swallow does not make a summer and the fact that Hutchings only has a one-year contract at Wigan does not bode well. For some reason, the name of Neil Warnock keeps popping into my head, and in association with the name of Dave Whelan, that has a tendency to bring on nausea.

 

 

ALAN CURBISHLEY (WEST HAM) - 6/1I can't write anything about West Ham without someone wanting to poo in my hair, so I'll leave it to Paul Konchesky, who said: "There was, and still is, a lot of unhappy players at the club who don't like him. I know there are a lot of players who don't think he is any good." Remember, this is the club who got rid of Alan Pardew when he supposedly 'lost the dressing room'. And he didn't have a policy of buying football's most unsavoury characters on massive wages.

 

 

GARETH SOUTHGATE (MIDDLESBROUGH) - 7/1

Thursday morning brought a rare thing into the Football365 mailbox - an apology from a reader who had berated us for repeatedly suggesting that Middlesbrough would face a massive battle to survive this season. Frankly, Boro are rubbish and are only going to get worse when Yakubu moves on, as he inevitably will judging from his body language at Wigan. If you can't score against a defence marshalled by T*tf**k Bumble, you will never score, and we can't pretend that Mido is the answer. Chairman Steve Gibson is renowned for his patience, but will he be patient if they get just one or two points from their next three fixtures against Fulham, Newcastle and Birmingham?

 

 

Two games gone and the wolves are already at the door.

[juffery 0]

I think Southgate has a good chance of being first out. And what a shame that would be. Dopey looking twat!

[eightball 0]

Sammy Lee has to be the favourite after another abysmal performance by Bolton today. I was listening to the commentary and they sounded like they didn't have a clue!