Official Premier League 2009/10 thread

[IAceI]

So who comes in?

Mark Hughes will surely be high up on the list you'd imagine?

And where does Zola go now?

[Blue Rosler]

Apparently Avram Grant and the Real Mallorca manager Manzano (?) are the leading candidates.

But reality says it will be whoever accepts half the wages Zola was on. They're running it like a business now, not a football club.

[IAceI]

The sad thing is, with Zola being sacked - West Ham have in fact got rid of their best player.

[Blue Rosler]

And I doubt the squad, most of who just wax lyrical about him, are hardly going to be motivated now.

[Baddar]

Does this mean Steve Clarke now gets the job he went there for in the first place, or is he gone too?

[Blue Rosler]

From the reports, he can only stay if he accepts a substancial wage decrease. He's paid more than Mike Phelan, I doubt he'll accept less.

[Baddar]

And the Mallorca boss is also rumoured to be taking over at Real, too. There's no way Pellegrini is staying on.

[stokeriño]

Zola was always going to get sacked once Gold and Sullivan came in and started acting like dicks, criticising the team and seeming to find the most unhelpful things to say just for the sake of being in the papers (e.g. talking about having to cut everybody's wages in the summer when they were still battling relegation).

Not sure what he'll would do now. I imagine he'd want to be a manager again somewhere. The question is whether he goes off to a Championship or League 1 team (like fellow Chelsea alumni Di Matteo or Poyet) or back to Italy.

[Lineker]

Former Arsenal defender Tony Adams has agreed a three-year contract to manage Azerbaijan side Qabala FC.

Hahahahahahahahaha. At least he's finally found his level.

[IAceI]

Regardless of his punditry or managerial abilities, he's still one of the best defenders the Premiership has ever seen and a good player for England, so I hope he does quite well to be honest.

[Lineker]

I don't doubt he's a good player (even had him in my bext EPL XI in another thread) - just can't stand the guy and he's managerially awful. Apparently his salary is going to be around £1m a year so good luck to him if he can last more than a few months.

[IAceI]

Gah, everytime I see the clip of Zola coming out with the tray of tea I just smile. He's such a likeable person, the game needs more people like him.

[crazybrain]

I know, I found it hilarious that he brought out a Minnie Mouse cup for the milk as well. Hope he gets another Premier League job because it would be such a shame for English football to lose such a genuinely nice guy.

[therockbox]

Gordon Brown to take over at West Ham?

[Szumi]

I almost wish West Ham was never bought out than have Sullivan in charge of the club. With each passing day and the news/rumors I see, I find myself turning more and more against what the club is doing. Fans are going to be fucking pissed if/when they sell Carlton Cole, as will I. Here was your only real striking option the whole season, and you're going to sell him right away. While Ilan scored quite a few needed goals, almost all came from a Carlton Cole assist, with the only exception being that great diving header against Everton. Plus, he has no desire to return to the club, if I remember correctly. So now you're going to lose your only two strikers.

The other thing that makes me cringe, is a Soccernet article from today. Now if of course it's actually true, the plan for West Ham is to approach Big Sam for the managerial position of Avram Grant turns it down. Now I mean this with no disrespect to Blackburn supporters, but who the fuck would want Big Sam as a manager? Anti-football kind of tactics a lot, and he just always came off like a douche to me. Not really the manager I want for the club I love. He might be able do what's necessary to avoid relegation, but he'll also be boring everyone to death in the process.

[Marcos]

I almost wish West Ham was never bought out than have Sullivan in charge of the club. With each passing day and the news/rumors I see, I find myself turning more and more against what the club is doing. Fans are going to be fucking pissed if/when they sell Carlton Cole, as will I. Here was your only real striking option the whole season, and you're going to sell him right away. While Ilan scored quite a few needed goals, almost all came from a Carlton Cole assist, with the only exception being that great diving header against Everton. Plus, he has no desire to return to the club, if I remember correctly. So now you're going to lose your only two strikers.

The other thing that makes me cringe, is a Soccernet article from today. Now if of course it's actually true, the plan for West Ham is to approach Big Sam for the managerial position of Avram Grant turns it down. Now I mean this with no disrespect to Blackburn supporters, but who the fuck would want Big Sam as a manager? Anti-football kind of tactics a lot, and he just always came off like a douche to me. Not really the manager I want for the club I love. He might be able do what's necessary to avoid relegation, but he'll also be boring everyone to death in the process.

I would take boring football and survival over silky skills and relegation any day of the week.

[9 to 5]

Given that Big Sam has saved us from relegation and given us a top half finish and a cup semi-final on a pretty shoe-string budget this season, isn't that exactly the qualities West Ham are looking for given they have put pretty much their entire squad up for sale?

[stokeriño]

To be honest, now that Zola's gone and the new owners regularly show signs of being dickheads, nearly all the sympathy I previously held for West Ham has evaporated.

With that said, selling Carlton Cole, or indeed any other player, shouldn't be seen as a hideous move given the club's financial position. Same goes for hiring Big Sam, if you view it on the basis that Premier League survival is the number one essential commodity for West Ham to obtain if they're to survive financially in the seasons ahead.

[Lineker]

They should go for Curbish..... oh.

[stokeriño]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1282288/West-Ham-United-Arsenal-East-London-pledges-David-Sullivan.html

In case you weren't already certain, David Sullivan is a fucktard.

Some highlights:

For Zola to be fired for speaking out seems ironic, given that Sullivan has not been shy of criticising the manager and his players. The co-owner even posted his fury on the club website after a 3-1 defeat at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

"I don’t think it was controversial," he insists. "That was just an awful performance. You have to tell people how you feel."

"Benni McCarthy is nearly as fat as me. I try to do aerobics in the morning but I’m 61 years old.

He’s the one West Ham player I want to go to the World Cup because he might come back fitter."

...

"Arsenal is our model. Myself, Avram, David Gold and Karen Brady would love to turn West Ham into the Arsenal of east London. The team, the club, there’s so much right there. It’s so well run."

One reason it's so well run is that the owners aren't meddling twats So, you know...good luck with that.