Brief News
A proverbial mole hill may be turning into a mountain for underperforming Bolton Wanderers, as their beleaguered boss Sammy Lee comes under increasing pressure to maintain control and respect towards his position within the club. Since the resignation of Sam Allardyce many supporters have not been overenthusiastic about the credentials of the new boss, and it now appears that certain players in the club have feelings along the same lines. Gary Speed, who was appointed first-team coach at the start of the season appears to hold the greatest respect and trust with those in and around the club and this is seriously undermining Lee’s position as top dog. Bolton’s awful start to the season has done little to help this either. Speed clearly has his eyes on becoming the Bolton boss when his playing days draw to a close – of which there are not many left. And when Lee publicly called for a backing of loyalty from Speed (the senior playing representative at the club) it was followed by a less than rousing response. Then this week, following a series of arguments with Lee over new training regimes that many players, including Kevin Nolan and Ivan Campo, were not happy or impressed with, Speed quit his job as coach. Bolton now go to the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal next weekend where defeat may prove to be the final nail in the coffin for Sammy Lee. Chairman Phil Gartside is reportedly very disappointed that Lee has alienated an influential figure within the club and caused a divide. In a plea for mercy which had the feeling of one man against the world, Lee battled ‘I hear things about my methods but I’ve been with these lads for two years and I’ve been at the FA and with Liverpool. All I’m trying to do is make sure we can compete on all fronts. People are trying to undermine what we are trying to do.’ Looks like mutiny on the Bolton bounty!
As was mentioned as a possibility last week, Henk Ten Cate has indeed joined the coaching staff at Chelsea. Avram Grant, under oil-baron instruction, will aim to inject some of the flair of Europe’s more fanciful team’s like Barcelona by employing their ex-coaches. It makes you wonder though, why didn’t Mr Abramovich just go out and buy Barcelona in the first place? And be done with it. It would have saved him a lot of bother trying to impose an easy-on-the-eye style to Chelsea’s play when the culture of the club’s recent history is anything but. With Ten Cate involved there will be an evident increase in flair and creative license from the team, in terms of formations (Ten Cate favours the typically Dutch attacking 4-3-3) and skill on the ball. ‘Nearly everybody played 4-3-3 when I started out so I was pretty much raised in that offensive system and thinking. I have always played at clubs that played attractive football and did not depend on brute force.’ Ten Cate said in his arrival at Stamford Bridge. This will be great news for players such as Joe Cole and Shawn Wright-Phillips who possess a trick or two but were told to keep them for the training ground by Mourinho. It will be disappointing too for both Ten Cate and Chelsea fans that Arjen Robben was hastily sold off under a cloud in the summer as he would have surely been given the opportunity to shine at full capacity under the new management. Robben’s creativity was criminally under-used at Chelsea and he is proving now at Real Madrid, how good he really is when in full flight.
Ten Cate is bound to bring some excitement to the Premier League but ass yet he is fairly unknown entity. Despite glorious success with Barcelona as assistant to Frank Rijkaard, winning the league and Champions League in 2005, he has endured a disastrous spell since as manager of Ajax. Already slightly off the pace at the top of the Eredivisie under Ten Cate, the once formidable side of European football were knocked out of the Champions League and the booby prized UEFA Cup at the first hurdle. Chelsea will hope that Ten Cate’s best role lies with him as a number two, where he made a name for himself at Sparta Rotterdam and NAC Breda before joining Barcelona. Finally, one thing Chelsea might not know about Ten Cate is his explosive temper, Jan Luijkx fired by the Dutchman while at NAC Breda explains, ‘Ten Cate manages to kick up a row every day, and not only with me. He treats people with contempt and always blames someone else.’ After the glamour of Mourinho and ‘the special one’ it looks like Chelsea under Grant and Ten Cate has ‘the grumpy ones’.
Meanwhile, back at the Performing Arts School of Excellence for beginners, Dida the delayed reaction anti-hero, has been hit with a ban by UEFA for his involvement in the fan versus goalie clash at Hampden Park last week. The Brazilian was tapped on the chest by a fan who had invaded the pitch in a worryingly easily breach of security, however Dida became the real villain, albeit comedic and desperate, when he decided to feign a life threatening injury as a result. UEFA have given him a 2 match ban from the Champions League, stating to player and club AC Milan that, ‘member associations, clubs, as well as their players, officials and members, shall conduct themselves according to the principles of loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship.’ Dida had first attempted to chase the fan before deciding that faking injury would be the most sensible approach to diffusing the situation. Celtic, for their failure to control the crowd were handed a £25,000 fine and the supporter in question Robert McHendry has been banned by the club for life and charged by the police for a breach of the peace. Back at school Performing Arts Head Rivaldo was delighted with his pupil’s progress if not for the outcome.
Javier Mascherano, who has performed like a different being since his West Ham days, has urged Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez to sign him on a permanent deal. Currently Mascherano is on an 18 month loan at Anfield from Kia Joorabchian’s Media Sports Investments Group which runs out late next year. The loan move cost Liverpool £1.5million but if they want to sign the Argentine midfield enforcer full-time they will need to cough up in the region of £17million! Mascherano said ‘I love playing for Liverpool and if the manager wants to keep me then I’d definitely stay for a long time. I’m very happy here. I feel settled and would like to play in the new stadium when it opens.’ This season he has become the player West Ham thought they were getting in 2006, showing a tough, uncompromising aspect to compliment his South American technique. This form does much to explain why on his arrival at West Ham he was being touted as one of the most promising defensive midfielders around. Although not an imposing figure, standing at just 5 foot 8, he is ferocious in the tackle, constantly biting away to get the ball, breaking up play and playing easy short passes. He also has bags of energy which means he will chase down opponents all day for his team. Regardless of the fee, Rafa would do well to sign the player, in Mascherano Benitez even has a fellow advocate of his much-maligned rotation system, ‘In South America, rotation isn’t such a problem…he’s always used rotation. Why would he stop working that way when it has brought him so much success here and at Valencia?’ At present, surely that is reason enough alone for Rafa to get his wallet out.
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