So who is next?
The decision to sack Stuart Pearce may not have been surprising, but the timing probably was as it seemed that there may be some hope for him as regards a future at the club.
Less than twenty-four hours though, after a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham (the result he started his tenure with) Pearce has had his contract terminated - the club announcing the news in a brief, terse statement.
Before the dust has had time to settle on the managers chair, there is news aplenty as regards Pearce's successor - to go along with reports that the takeover is set to be completed within the next week.
When time permits over the next couple of days I'll have a more in-depth look at the Pearce reign, along with all the end of season round-up's I have planned.
But for now, who are the candidates in the frame for the hot seat?
Stories of Sam Alladyce began to resurface today, but it may be too late as as Newcastle have a press conference scheduled tomorrow - seemingly to rubber-stamp the announcement. Adding two and two together, there are suggestions that Paul Jewell's departure could pave the way for his arrival, something though that Dave Whelan was quick to dismiss and news that he wants to take a break are seemingly accurate.
So who else? Paul Simpson's name could again be in the frame, whilst former-Preston man Billy Davies is highly regarded and Chris Coleman is of course available following his sacking at Fulham.
From the foreign contingent, Ronald Koeman was reportedly interested in moving to the Premiership (albeit with Fulham) and Gerard Houillier is believed to be interested in a return but Sky Sports linked Guus Hiddink with us at odds of 6/1. News of Sven Goran Eriksson also surfaced but seemingly Claudio Ranieri is the hot favourite with the bookies.
I would be surprised (or maybe not with our board) if there wasn't someone in the wings waiting for an (official) approach, but at least making the decision early has given the board (current or new version) time to get the right man in and give them time to get to grips with the club and the squad in time for next season, one which I expect the manager to hit the ground running.
23 comments:
I'm hearing rumblings here in the USA that if caretaker national team manager Bob Bradley does badly at Copa America, Houllier is the choice to replace him. But perhaps City will grab him first.
I honestly feel sorry for SP. If anyone is looking for a defensive coach, the man is superlative, and would do us proud. Faults? Midfield misery. Nothing working - no wonder JB blew his top. Ordinarily you would have said build a team around Samaras - or Corradi. But there weren't the players to support them, and they weren't the players to do the business. Good luck SP wherever you go. I know you'll come back to haunt us!
Wigan Blue, you are making me sick with all your whining about how good Barton was an now you feel sorrt for Pearce. DO YOU LIKE OUR RESULTS AND OUR CURE FOR INSOMNIA OF A FOOTBALL CLUB? I certainly hope you don't.
Gerard Houllier to the USA? Are you crazy? He's a club team manager, a pretty good one but not an international manager. The USA will suffer a similar fate we have for promoting club managers like Keagan, Erickson and McLaren to the top national spot. I would take Houllier here though. Hope we talk to him.
This hasn't been mentioned in any reports but at around lunchtime today a pretty nice helicopter landed on the gas works next to the station which I saw as I live over the road. Aparently this contained mister thaskin and his delegation, I expect this is why pearce was despatched without any warning as thai reports sugest the club will be his within three weeks (His wife has just started standing trial for fraud and tax evasion and she needs positive publicity in Thailand at the moment which its rumoured has rushed him along in his bid)
Yet another Anonymous. Move on - get a life. You don't like SP - fine. But he will come back to haunt us. We just couldn't give him enough time. Barton? I suspect Ireland will turn out to be the better player. This is the Bitter and Blue site - if you don't like it.....
That should have been Stadium not station and if I had a choice I would go for hiddink or koeman does no one remember the dour football houllier served up at liverpool and some very dodgey signings and as has been mentioned on other sites ranieri bought corradi for 7m and tinkered far to much at chelsea
Wigan blue
If that get a life was directed at me (Anonymous who mentioned the thaskin visit) then I had a lot atime for pearce and hope he does well in the future, but enough ids enough we are the worst team for entertainment in the premiership. He should have learnt his trade in the lower leagues but we asked for him when Keegan left and the board appointed him. Also I'm postedf anonymous as I don't normally comment, but I thought the helicopter visit may have been of interest to other blues.
Sky have been reporting the Thaskin visit this evening and stated most of the directors had been at the club today.
It seems that the takeover by him is likely to be successfull and I guess completed by the end of the month?
Which, looking at the Serie A fixtures is also at the end of the Italian season - and the expiry of Claudio Ranieri's contract at Parma.
Thanks just seen the report on sky sports news. Another point, at the start of his wife and brother in laws trial the Thai military are sugesting if Thaskin returns he will face up to 12 years in jail, so all those who think he is only here for the short term may be wrong as he also purchased a large mansion outside London Last year and at least one of his children is attenting University over here so he has no plans to leave for the moment by the look of it.
Raineri, Houllier, Jewell, Erickson, Simpson all have something in common. They all have far more manegerial experience than psycho did when we elevated him after Keagan left.
We need the investment. I know this guy has been attacked by human rights groups but do we really want to let this club end up like Forest, Ipswich or QPR? It's coming if we allow the current rubbish on the board to continue the destruction of the club. Besides this bloke could not be as bad as the oligarch Abromowich at Cheski.
Danny- long time reader, first time poster. I'm thinking all of the potential investors told Wardle they would not retain Pearce and thus he was sacked now even though we won't have a new manager until the takeover bid is settled.
Kartik- I have also heard Houllier will be the US manager soon. The USSF announced they had appointed Bradley until the end of the European season because they are waiting for Lyon's season to end. Thus Houllier is off the table for City.
Claudio Reyna is still rubbish here with the local MLS outfit.
Live for City!
Thank Goodness! It's about time he was shown the ticket out of town. Hopefully the FA will sack him as well with the U-21s.
Wigan Blue.....I appreciate your spirit. I continued to support Pearce until the poor performances the past few fixtures. I however feel Pearce could have avoided this fate had he dumped Barton at the transfer window and allowed the rest of the side to become a cohesive unit. Tactically he was often outclassed but I feel the old "psycho" spirit we saw him demonstrate even late in his playing days for us and for West Ham could have worked with this group of guys if bad seeds like Barton were weeded out. I wanted Barton off the team last year. I don't care how good he looked from time to time on the pitch, I feel he was disrupting the harmony of the team all along and despite his selflessness at times as a person he often made the wrong, selfish decisions with the ball at his feet. Both SP and Barton are now looking for work.
I have never visited this site before but followed the link from the EPL Talk Community post. I'm shocked by the rhetoric of people like citeh for life and others that seem to excuse human rights violations and also find no problem with Joey Barton's thuggery. No wonder City has developed such a bad reputation the past season or two.
kartik let me get this right. You are blaming your best player for the poor season your club had and the sacking of your manager? Now I've heard it all!
Joe, alleged human rights abuses, allegedly against drug dealers, allegedly suggested by tree hugging human rights groups. Even ex PMs/City shareholders are entitled to a fair trial before they're shot. As for Barton, he had chance after chance. A good footballer but nowhere near as good as he thought he was. I won't miss his lousy corners, free kicks, penalties or general decision making.
I agree with the above comments that Barton was trouble and I believe we are in this position largely because we allowed the inmates like him run the club.
Well Houllier is in play for City as the USA have named Bob Bradley the full time manager. I guess a friendly win against Mexico was enough for him, even though we always beat Mexico!
I AGREE IN PART WITH MOST OF THE COMMENTS I WOULD HOWEVER JUST LIKE TO ASK HOW COULD A MANAGER DUMP ONE OF THE FEW PLAYERS WHO WERE PERFORMING WEEK IN WEEK OUT FOR HIM.HOW CAN WE THE FANS EXPECT SUCCESS WHEN HE HAS NO MONEY TO SPEND.I AGREE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS AT CITY WERE DOWN TO SP BUT ONLY SOME MAYBE WE NEED TO LOOK A BIT DEEPER.WHAT I CAN'T AGREE WITH IS THE PERSON WHO SAYS HE HOPES SP ALSO GETS SACKED FROM THE UNDER 21'S A MORE STUPID COMMENT I HAVE YET TO HEAR.WHATEVER YOU SAY ABOUT SP HE WANTED SUCCESS FOR THE CLUB AND I AND MANY OTHERS HOPE HE FINDS SUCCESS WHEREVER HE ENDS UP
lets get one or two things straight,SP made a "few" mistakes
(buying a Greek "rough diamond" for six million and then in the following season scrounge the market to no avail/not using the transfer window -awaiting the"saviour" Mido- whilst having 4million to spend and a chance to improve the league table position/and having a better cup run. Success at that time would have kept alot of us satisfied,probably occupied JB with more intl appearances,THE captain would have found unecessary to tell a few home truths.SP is somewhat correct with the apparent remark that he was a caretaker manager-the manager b4 and after him having 50 mill to spend.SP kept the boat afloat -just -IT WAS HIS apprenticeship on our backs.
Now for the future... HOW ABOUT A TEAM UP OF Klinsman plus Simpson.
If you look at arse/chelski/lpool they all have a ex- league player-usually from the club- next to the manager. Now that would have been an ideal position for SP 2 1/2 yrs ago.
certainly will not be dull this close season.
I do wish SP well wherever he goes. Nice bloke - honest as the day is long (although I think referees took advantage - they thought nothing of booking or red-carding our players, knowing SP would have nothing to say). I eventually came to the conclusion that he was too tactically naive other than defensively. Too many games when we played OK in the first half but were blocked out in the second by simple tactical switches by the opposition - and we never had any answer for them. 4-5-1 at home in a derby. Pathetic.
As for JB - if the whole team had put in the effort that he did I wouldn't have minded so much. Think about Blackburn. So he's a nutter - aren't we all?
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