The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[Adam]

Wigan assistant Graeme Jones is apparently the favourite.

He was assistant there under Martinez but I can't see them going for him, they'd be better going for someone like Lee Clark who - at least - has a history in management. Realistically though I expect them to go for Mackay or maybe Poyet.

Lee Clark would be a horrendous appointment. Graeme Jones and perhaps several other members of the coaching staff should be considered before him.

I hope it is Jones that gets it, Rovers legend!

How so? I wasn't particularly suggesting him, he was just the first lower league unemployed manager I thought of, but still, I doubt he'd be horrendous. Jones has no managerial experience whatsoever, he could turn out to be completely incompetent.

I don't think Lee Clark would fit a Premier League team with one of the lower end budgets. He had a huge budget at Huddersfield and failed to get them out of the play-offs twice. The decision to sack him by Dean Hoyle has proven to be an astute one, and whilst I think Clark is solid and could go on to become a top manager I think his next job needs to either be in League One or the back end of the Championship. A move now to a team like Swansea could be a disaster.

Jones of course could be a disaster too, but he knows what the Premier League is all about a lot better than Clark (from the coaching side of it) and has the same philosophy as the last few Swansea managers, of course he was Martinez's right hand man when they ripped apart L1 and then established themselves in the Championship.

When people on our forum were suggesting possible replacements for Dean Saunders and brought up Lee Clark, I was not keen on the idea. And we're a League 1 side.

[therockbox]

Apparently Rodgers won't be announced until tomorrow at the earliest, as technically Adidas are still our sponsors so anything announced today would come with their logo, rather than Warrior's, plastered all over the place.

[Summers]

Could always have just put out an official statement with "More to follow" tomorrow.

[Hobo]

Press conference I think is set for 10am from what I read on the twitters.

[Colly]

Sky confirmed that earlier, and I'm working from home so can watch the whole boring thing.

[Summers]

Villa may announce Lambo tomorrow, with a press conference in the middle of next week.

[therockbox]

Villa may announce Lambo tomorrow

Trying to steal our thunder

[Summers]

that's how we roll.

[Berober]

[Lineker]

Pain is still too raw for me to bump the CL thread, so...

Chelsea defender John Terry will miss the first two games of next season's European campaign after receiving a three-match ban from Uefa.

He has already missed the final victory over Bayern Munich following his red card in the semi-final with Barcelona.

But Uefa has now decided to add two more games to his punishment.

He is out of the Super Cup match against Europa League winners Atletico Madrid in August, as well as Chelsea's first Champions League group game.

Terry and Chelsea have three days to decide whether to appeal against the decision.

Terry, 31, was sent off for violent conduct after driving a knee into Barca's Alexis Sanchez off the ball, with Chelsea trailing 1-0 on the night.

He apologised for the red card saying he had "let his team-mates down".

The sending off did not affect the end result as Chelsea battled against the odds to reach the final with a 2-2 draw at the Nou Camp and 3-2 win on aggregate.

They then went on to win the competition for the first time, despite missing the suspended quartet of Terry, Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meireles.

[Lineker]

And also I'm not going to bump to Carling Cup thread:

The League Cup will be known as the Capital One Cup from next season after the Football League agreed a new four-year sponsorship deal.

The competition had been sponsored by brewers Molson Coors since 1998, and branded as the Carling Cup since 2003.

Football League chief commercial officer Richard Heaselgrave said: "This is terrific news for clubs and a great way to conclude the season."

The first draw for the Capital One Cup will be held on Thursday, 14 June.

The first-round ties will be held in the week beginning 13 August and will start the domestic season this year, with the league programme following over the weekend of 18 August.

All Championship clubs - bar Blackburn and Bolton - will be in the first-round draw alongside clubs from League One and League Two.

Thirteen Premier League clubs join Blackburn and Bolton in round two, to be played at the end of August, while seven top-flight sides involved in European football join the competition in round three.

The 2011-12 Carling Cup was won by Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool .

Heaselgrave added: "The Capital One Cup is in great shape having been re-invigorated in recent seasons by a number of memorable finals, some thrilling midweek cup football and a first glimpse of the stars of the future."

The first final of the Capital One Cup will take place at Wembley on Sunday, 24 February 2013.

[TCO]

It's going to be called the COC for short. Lulz

[Berober]

This feels kinda weird, I guess I'm just used to calling it the Carling Cup, but if the money is coming in better elsewhere, then why wouldn't they take it.

[Lineker]

Carling were always planning on dropping their sponsorship after this season.

[Dingle]

I thought that if the referee made a decision on the night, then you couldn't do anything later on? Not that he doesn't deserve it for doing that, but just seems weird.

[stokeriño]

The FA and UEFA operate in slightly different ways on these things...

[IAceI]

What the Terry incident? I don't get it. He got sent off and UEFA decided to add on a couple of games to his ban, I'm sure the FA do similar for red cards they deem worthy of a further ban don't they? Or have I missed something? Either way it's warranted.

And it's essentially an extra one game ban, I'm sure Terry isn't too fussed about missing the Super Cup.

[stokeriño]

I thought he was talking about the appeal process, I dunno.

I'd be fussed about missing the Super Cup! For some reason I don't lump it in with the Community Shield as a glorified friendly, even though they're pretty much the same thing...

[IAceI]

Ah, perhaps, not like there there can be a complaint at missing three matches for doing what he did of course.

The Super Cup this year probably has the potential to be a better spectacle as the quality in Chelsea and Atletico is probably a bit closer than some instances. I guess I just can't get quite into it with UEFA's blatant determination to ensure the Europa League is seen as second rate if possible. Although had Man City managed to win it, I'd have loved to have seen Chelsea v Man City in the Super Cup, if only for the fact the Europa League winners would probably be favourites

[Colly]

Isn't it just that UEFA don't use the Premier Leagues 'violent conduct = 3 match ban' rule and judge each case individually? I did think it'd be a tad quicker than this mind but suppose it doesn't matter with no games to be played. Same as the Rooney one where 'arry showed exactly how much of an English club manager he was.