General football musings

[Johnny]

Bunter was a slavering cunt. A lorry weighing cretin

Hiya Jamie, hiya pal

[Zizou]

Swansea appoint Alan Curtis until the end of the season.

Good chance they'll go down.

The sacking of Monk looks even more ridiculous now, why not give him time to turn it around?! He's shown he can do it last season.

[Sarkozabal]

Swansea holding out for Pep?

[Charlie Kelly]

Apparently Swansea are getting the Chile boss at the end of the season.

[Herman Boyce]

Lopetegui apparently sacked by Porto.


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[shaun.lawson]

Swansea appoint Alan Curtis until the end of the season.

Good chance they'll go down.

The sacking of Monk looks even more ridiculous now, why not give him time to turn it around?! He's shown he can do it last season.

Because it wasn't going to turn around. They gave him enough time until the situation became totally untenable: as evidenced by his final MOTD interview, in which he wasn't waving, but drowning. When managers know they've reached the end, they speak in code in interviews like that. Mourinho was just the same after the Leicester game.

Had they left Monk in despite that, they'd be in an even worse position now. They've improved under Curtis because the players are with him. Trouble is, he's not very good; they've lost all edge and sharpness in their play. I agree they'll probably go down now.

Apparently Swansea are getting the Chile boss at the end of the season.

Not if they're in the Championship, they won't.

The candidates Swansea have tried to persuade are all good, bold ones, exactly in line with Huw Jenkins' vision for the club: Bielsa, Emery, Sampaoli. But none of them speak English; Swansea are, after all, only Swansea; and quality managers do not like coming into a club mid-season. Look at the gibberish on here about Klopp being "worse than Rodgers": it isn't Klopp's team, and he has a whole bunch of players who've never played remotely in the way he wants to play.

Two years ago, when Norwich couldn't decide whether to stick or twist with Chris Hughton, we had the same problem as Swansea are having now. No-one we wanted was prepared to jump ship mid-season. The resultant fudge, in which we neither backed nor sacked Hughton, relegated us. Then we turned our attention to Alex Neil that summer, immediately after Hamilton had been promoted; but at that stage, it was still too early, too much of a risk. Had to wait for him to prove himself in the SPL too, which he did.

But on Sampaoli: I'm having an incredibly hard time envisaging him leaving the South American Champions for Swansea City even if they stay up. If and when he moves to Europe, it can't be for such a low profile club. Too much of a risk for him if you ask me.

Lopetegui apparently sacked by Porto.

Yes, I saw that that was likely the other day. Seems incredibly harsh from a distance: they're 2nd in the table. But they won nothing last season, Lopetegui's had their biggest ever budget, and Porto are accustomed to Mourinho/Villas-Boas/Robson levels of dominance.

The real story in Portuguese football has been the extraordinary impact of Jorge Jesus in recent years. First he took Benfica to two consecutive Europa League Finals and ended Porto's stranglehold domestically. Then, like some latter day version of Bela Guttmann, their greatest ever manager, who reportedly placed a curse on Benfica when he left the club, Jesus unbelievably jumped ship in the summer for Sporting Lisbon. There is no precedent for that whatever in modern football: no other manager has ever gone directly to a major European club's crosstown rivals.

Sporting are now four points clear in Portugal and heading for the title. Jesus is doing for them what Robson would've done had Sporting not absurdly fired him in 1993/4; or what Mourinho would've done for Benfica had their President not made the biggest mistake of his life and fired him in 2000. As for Lopetegui: given he's now available, Swansea could do a lot worse than making a bid for him, but I guess he probably wouldn't be interested.

[Zizou]

Because it wasn't going to turn around. They gave him enough time until the situation became totally untenable: as evidenced by his final MOTD interview, in which he wasn't waving, but drowning. When managers know they've reached the end, they speak in code in interviews like that. Mourinho was just the same after the Leicester game.

Had they left Monk in despite that, they'd be in an even worse position now. They've improved under Curtis because the players are with him. Trouble is, he's not very good; they've lost all edge and sharpness in their play. I agree they'll probably go down now.

How do you know if it was going to turn around or not? You've mentioned this interview a couple of times now, give me a break if that's your proof

They were coming into a period where they were playing teams around them, results haven't been much better since he left. The truth is the board have panicked and they now find themselves in a worse position than if they had gave Monk the season to turn it around.

[shaun.lawson]

How do you know if it was going to turn around or not? You've mentioned this interview a couple of times now, give me a break if that's your proof

They were coming into a period where they were playing teams around them, results haven't been much better since he left. The truth is the board have panicked and they now find themselves in a worse position than if they had gave Monk the season to turn it around.

I think it's like this. When a manager's floundering, any board needs to look him in the eye and ask: "Can you turn this around? Will you turn this around?" If they can't answer convincingly and immediately - if their first response is to talk about the past, but not the present - fire them. Because they're the ones who have to inject the belief into their struggling players - and if they can't persuade the board, or even themselves, they've had it.

Swansea fired Monk in early December. They'd won one match since August. After Hearts had a similar run under JJ, you defended Mr Romanov's decision in getting rid of him despite him having led us to 3rd place (our highest possible finish, frankly) and Europe. Swansea's only defeats since Monk's exit have been away to Man City in the last minute and away to Man Utd when they almost equalised in the last minute; they have 5 points from the other 3 games, and have stopped the rot defensively. They've certainly improved since he left: but not enough.

And no, the board didn't "panic". The board had given Monk time and tried to back him as far as they could. Like you, they assumed Monk would turn it around. Then it became clear that he wouldn't - and the stakes in Premier League football are so high now that no club can afford to piss around, cross its fingers and hope. Where Swansea then got it wrong was, in a sense, delusions of grandeur: assuming they could persuade a big name, high calibre manager from abroad to take the job. And hey, they did get Laudrup in 2012 - but their star's waned since then, and they've overreached themselves in the options they've looked at.

But - and here's where it's especially complicated for them - in a sense, they have to do that, because of the way the entire club's been built up: only a certain kind of manager can manage them.

[Mikey]

Apparently Swansea are getting the Chile boss at the end of the season.

That would be class.

Him and Bielsa in the Premiership would make things semi interesting again.

[shaun.lawson]

Bunter was a slavering cunt. A lorry weighing cretin

Hiya Jamie, hiya pal

Ah yes, Bunter. My favourite post of his was this one:

http://www.hmfckickback.co.uk/index.php?...?p=3610233



(Not that I covered myself in glory elsewhere on that thread, right enough )

[Dexter]

Holy Moly.





Incidentally, playing for a Czech side : 



NLTF 5-1 etc etc

[PHOODLE-OUt]

His burd's nae bad too.

[Zizou]

Look how perfect he is

[Shteve]

Ah yes, Bunter. My favourite post of his was this one:

http://www.hmfckickback.co.uk/index.php?...?p=3610233



(Not that I covered myself in glory elsewhere on that thread, right enough )

I honestly think it's a crying shame this Bunter lad isn't on here, folk talk about him plenty so he must have brought something to the table.

[shaun.lawson]

I honestly think it's a crying shame this Bunter lad isn't on here, folk talk about him plenty so he must have brought something to the table.

Tell you who I wish was on here: King/Atticus. IIRC, he got banned for saying something really, really below the belt to Budgie - but he was seriously irreverent and great fun a heck of a lot of the time.

[Dexter]

What did he say?

[shaun.lawson]

What did he say?

I thought you'd know.

[Dexter]

Can't have been that bad otherwise I'd remember.

[Big Physical Acey]

Rudi is a golden god

[Christian Benorchgrevink]

Spill then Shaun. I always thought King was decent to start with but then began to get caught up in his own hype.