lookupsport

So Chelsea have finally made a decision on their new manager and it will be Big Phil Scolari as predicted in this blog a few weeks ago.  It looks like it was agreed some weeks ago with Scolari insisting the announcement was held back until Portugal had reached the quarter final of Euro 2008.  Good management I think, and a chance to go out with bang.

Reaction has been mixed from Chelsea fans and predictably derisory from most other fans.  I think its a good appointment.  I should point out that I was dead against him being the England manager but that’s simply because I think that job should always be an Englishman’s job, and I’ll think that even if we go and win the World Cup under Capello.

There is a lot of misinformation about Scolari, probably the biggest error with people believing he speaks no English.  This is not true and although he might struggle initially with Press Conferences I’ve just listened to an interview with him speaking English, where he said that  he has no problem commiunicating with players and getting his message across.  With a couple of months living and breathing English I suspect he will be up to speed by the start of the season.

What we are guaranteed is some exciting football and some volatile behaviour on and off the field.  I’ve also just watched a clip of him throwing a punch at a player from an opposing team during a match.  Now I don’t condone that sort of behaviour at all, but it will give us plenty to talk and write about.  Remember the Wenger/Pardew dust up a couple of seasons ago?  If it had been Scolari/Wendger then it would have been very interesting by the looks of things.

There is also talk of him having no club/European experience.  He has won the South American version of the Champions League twice with “lesser” teams, and has experience of European football with Portugal of course.

He also has plenty of experience managing big egos and will not let them dictate to him - remember him taking off Luis Figo against England at a time when Figo was held up as some sort of demi God?  If a player is not performing he can expect to sitting on the bench.  Exactly what a team with the players Chelsea has needs.  I just wonder how well he will handle the ego of Abramovich!

The only concern I have is that he floods the team with more foreign players and the English players in the squad get sidelined or sold.  Although, both Chelsea and Manchester United have a strong contingent of foreign players, they are complimented by a spine of English or British players, something which the likes of Arsenal for example can’t claim.  Long may that continue.

Now other stuff.

Shearer has officially announced that he is not interested in the Blackburn job because he has other commitments e.g working with the BBC.  I’m sure that if he were interested then he would be able to negotiate a way out of those commitments, but as I have said before he lacks the bottle for management.  Being a pundit is much safer.  In fact he admitted that he never even put his hat in the ring - he was appraoched by Blackburn, who asked if he wanted to be considered.

And one more thing.  God Euro 2008 is dull! I tried to make it worth watching by betting on Holland to win it outright.  However, due to the way Bluesq works when you get a new debit card, I wasn’t able to place my bet before their first game when they were 12/1.  As they won that by beating Italy 2-0 the odds are now 5/1 and I have even less interest.  I will be gutted of course if they do win now.