The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[stokeriño]

He is. And I was saying the same thing last summer. I just enjoy the word IRKED.

[IAceI]

I'd say the only word better than 'irked' is probably when you find someone or something 'irksome'. It really is a brilliant word. And to be honest, while Dalglish may be irked, this happens all the time and managers will always complain about international matches in relation to the league, and I find it all rather irksome.

[stokeriño]

Indeed, but the one right before the start of the new season does seem especially ridiculous.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

For the first time in a few years Tottenham have a decent end to the season:

Sat Mar 31 Swansea City H

Sat Apr 7 Sunderland A

Mon Apr 9 Norwich City H

Sat Apr 14 Bolton Wanderers A

Sat Apr 21 Queens Park Rangers A

Sat Apr 28 Blackburn Rovers H

Sat May 5 Aston Villa A

Sun May 13 Fulham H

Also Christmas period is pretty good:

Sat Dec 3 Bolton Wanderers H

Sat Dec 10 Stoke City A

Sat Dec 17 Sunderland H

Tue Dec 20 Chelsea H

Mon Dec 26 Norwich City A

Sat Dec 31 Swansea City A

Mon Jan 2 West Bromwich Albion H

[Crybaby Bunting]

Surely this just means that they'll be 10th or lower until the start of the run in before doing the steady climb (ala Liverpool this season). There's no such thing as an easy set of games and Spurs of all teams know how to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory

[Starvinho]

SSN reporting that Birmingham will choose between Chris Hughton and Roberto Di Matteo for their new manager.

[Summers]

I hope it's Di Matteo. Hughton would do too well for them.

[jack95]

The Guardian claim Hughton is a target, along with Billy Davies, Gianfranco Zola and, of all people, Paul Ince. I think it's clear which one of those four would be the ideal choice for Villa supporters...

[Lineker]

Zola's agent has said that he's in contention for the Inter job!

[Lineker]

A Portuguese news agency is claiming that Andre Villas-Boas is to become the new Chelsea manager.

Grain of salt, etc at the moment.

[Dan]

Villas-Boas off to chelsea!

[jack95]

Great appointment for Chelsea, if only because very few of my friends will know who he is, so I can be all smug and explain it to them. In all seriousness, what Villas-Boas has accomplished in Portugal and in Europe at such a ridiculously young age for a manager is remarkable, and I think he'll bring a lot of enthusiasm and fresh ideas to Chelsea. As a neutral I'd rather have seen him appointed than Hiddink, and I genuinely hope he does well.

[Lineker]

Any word on whether Guus will still be going as a director of football?

[stokeriño]

Nothing actually 'confirmed' on either AVB or Guus as yet, no. SSN have just said that we haven't paid his release clause as yet, but this is one of those things that can easily rumble on until an official announcement of some kind.

Seems pretty awesome if it happens. I can't fault Guus but AVB is just that much more of an exciting appointment because he's new and has just come off the back of a ridiculously successful season. The fact that he's literally only a few months older than Drogba and Lampard is kind of funny but hopefully shouldn't be a problem since they already know him from when he was here with Jose.

All evidence with Porto points to him playing attacking football (so not *completely* Mourinho V2.0 as you might otherwise expect ), being a great tactician and we already know that he was well-versed in studying the opposition (each match he prepared detailed reports for Jose at Chelsea), so we could well actually see some good tactical exploitation which was kind of missing under Ancelotti.

Plus he's young, hungry and hasn't already won everything elsewhere, which are all good things.

[stokeriño]

BBC Sport "understands" that AVB will be the new Chelsea boss, and I can't think of an occasion when BBC Sport have "understood" something without having already confirmed that it's true.

[Pesci]

That's a pretty interesting appointment. I wouldn't have gone for him myself but it makes sense I guess - a fair few Portuguese speaking players at the club, mentored by Robson and Mourinho, knows the club having been there before and he's young so there's a lot of potential for a lengthy run. And I'm glad they've gone for him because it means I get to see an exciting manager with loads of hype. Pretty shit name though.

[Summers]

Hey.. Villas-Boas is an awesome name.

[Plubby]

But not for a football team.

[Summers]

Yeah.. City, United or Town is much more original.

[Starvinho]

I played for a team called Ashton Villa I thought it was a great name.