West Ham chief Sullivan sets out reasons to sack manager

West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan says nine defeats on the trot would see manager Avram Grant sacked.Sullivan reckons analysing results and, in particular, the 'L' column in league tables has led him to believe nine is the magic - or tragic - number when it comes to getting rid of the boss.After Freddie Piquionne's 29th-minute headed winner ended a run of four consecutive defeats, Sully revealed: "I've always said no manager can survive nine defeats in a row."That's my theory. Alex Ferguson at United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal probably could - but if you look historically no one survives nine defeats."We were four ninths of the way there but it's a long way between four and nine."Despite our start, no doubts ever crept in. Some teams start well and die. Others start badly and come good. But, overall, we're improving. That result over Tottenham was the sweetest win but we're still in the bottom three."We won't kid ourselves. If the season finished tomorrow, we'd be relegated but this is a better team. I've been at Birmingham with relegated teams. This isn't a relegation team."I'm not kidding myself because this was a really good performance against Tottenham ."I'm pleased for the manager but he will tell you he's building something."
Football Betting Tips, Odds, Asian Handicap, Picks, Preview & Prediction

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr. Hodgson Or: How We Learned To Stop Worrying And Blame The Manager

Image
The manager has risen from club secretary to official face of the club since the creation of football teams worldwide. He has moved from the man that kept the record books to man that is larger than the football team he manages. Commentators and pundits refer to Fergusons United or Wengers beautiful, passing football. He even has books written about him. The Manager by Barney Ronay, an excellent book that discusses the rise of the manager into the modern game, unearths some of the origins of the managers image and attempts todiscuss what kind of person the manager really is. While the book wasnt ever intended to be an academic study of the merits of various tactical thoughts of managers, it does address some of the often listed character traits ofsuccessfulmanagers. When all these traits are put together, to many the manager appears to be a father figure, a scary headmaster, a politician youd like to have a beer with, or somecombination. Yet despite all this popularity, he is little mo...
Keep reading

England World Cup camps need to lose doomsday siege mentality

Image
One day last week, near the junction of Maude Street and Rivonia Road, in the Johannesburg suburb of Sandton, a line of smiling young men in shirts and shorts strolled along the pavement towards their hotel. Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Robin Van Persie, Dirk Kuyt, Mark Van Bommel and the rest of the Dutch squad waited at the lights until there was a break in the traffic and then ambled across the road. These were some of the best known players in the world, superstars of the game, walking along city streets on their way back from training and looking as though they did not have a care. There was no security with them. None to speak of, anyway. There were no photographers running in front of them and taking their picture. There were no girlfriends tottering along beside them. None of them wore headphones. They did not insulate themselves. They seemed at one with their surroundings. It was only a snapshot of the way the Dutch are living their lives at this World Cup but ...
Keep reading

How an American Influence Is Rubbing Off On Manchester City

Image
Manchester Citys match day experience is becoming more and more American with each new season. While Maine Road was what you could expect a typical British experience of what it was like to see an English football match in the 80s, the City of Manchester Stadium experience seems as American as apple pie. In previous seasons, City have tried to focus on improving the match-day experience. Theyve added buskers, i.e. public performers, around the ground to add to the atmosphere. And recently theyve adopted American entertainment methods such as turning down the house lights before kick-off and trying to get everyone excited for the big match. Theyve also been a pioneer in English football in their usage of American social media sites such as Facebook, Foursquare, Flickr and others to create a bond with supporters. And now for their first home match in the league for the 2010-11 season, against Liverpool tonight, theyre set to unveil two new features. Both of them have a uniquely American...
Keep reading