Bishop's Park Banter

right, im back so lets do this.

Fulham suffer a defeat that leaves us fourth bottom without a win in six now after running into the buzzsaw that is Samir Nasri.

Now we all know how woeful Fulham are away from home (it’s fucking dire) but its the fact we cant win at home is the reason we are in this dire state of affair. Mark Hughes has taken us backwards. We can say the injuries are to blame, but Hughes needs to rotate the squad and try something new instead of bemoaning the loss of Bobby Zamora to injury. Try Kamara and Johnson up front, try ANYTHING OTHER THAN 4-5-fucking 1 PERHAPS?

I am extremely fustrated at how well we can play (and I believe we played very well this weekend) and not come away with the points. We matched the Gunners move for more in the first half, and it took a sublime goal from Nasri to break the deadlock, but we came back with Diomansy Kamara scoring to make it 1-1. But once again we loss composure and allow Nasri to score the winner in the 75th minute. Alas, so near, but yet so far.

I welcome the January transfer window with open arms, as we need a two or three new faces which includes a striker, otherwise I can see us fighting for our Premier League lives this season. And to go from the last two seasons to this is not good enough, and might call for a changing of the guard come summertime.

Keep the faith though, We’ve got Sunderland at home, then Liverpool away (who we have a respectable). I want at least four points from that as we go into the big game of the season so far against West Ham on Boxing Day. That is a must win, no excuses there. If we can get seven points from the next three games, we should be alright.

We also drew Peterbrough in the cup, which means former defender Gabriel Zakuani could be coming back to the Cottage. He never really got a chance at Fulham after he signed from Leyton Orient, I always thought he was a great prospect. He’s also good mates with my mate Dobz (Lauren Doble, @MissLDoble on Twitter) so he’s good by me.

Good luck to Gab, and good luck to the Superwhites.

COYW.

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Hey Fulham fans,

Sorry I went a bit AWOL, I have been snowed under with work at university, but now, I hath returned.

I will be back with a match report of the game against Arsenal next week

COYW!

Hey there Superwhites, been a rough weekend innit?

Our main talisman, the Z-Man Bobby Zamora has suffered a broken leg and will be out for well over four months. This is absolutely gutting for all those concerned as the boy was hitting the form of his life and had just signed a £10 million pound long term contract. The break was just above the ankle and there was some ligament damage so the pessamist in me says that he is pretty much a write-off for this season. But I do wish him well and wish him a speedy recovery.

Now, lets look at this from Mr. Hughes’ point of view. This now leaves us quite light up front. with Eddie Johnson and David Elm our only options as out-and-out strikers, AJ still recovering from his apparant 26-year injury (remember when he cost a lot of money from Everton and was on the cusp of the England squad, nah neither do I) and Kamara, well just being Kamara. So it appears that we’d have to play either Zoltan or Clinton up front.

Step forward Moussa Dembele.

This boy has come in from AZ Alkmaar, and has become the saviour of Craven Cottage. His performances against Blackpool last week and Wolves this week showed that he could be the bargain of the season. and his two goals got us out of a hole, the kind of player that we need, and the kind of player that Zamora has been this season and last until his injury. He runs at players and leads our attacking player superbly. And his two goals were so composed. It’s just sods law that we find two top draw forwards and ones out for the season. Ho hum.

In regards to the game against Wolves, it was a deserved 2-1 win against an incredibly rough side that looked to stop the game by just kicking half our team in the air. In my job, I have to kind of stay impartial. Thank god for a blog, ay?

I’ve never liked a Mick McCarthy side, they are always ‘kick em in’t air, win  at all costs’ sides and he is an incredibly mardy man too, although usually funny in post-match interviews. The first goal of the game was a scrappy one, with Jelle Van Damme appearing unchallenged, and a sloppy cross that should’ve been dealt with by Pantsil, met by the Belgian which once again should’ve been dealt with by John Pantsil. The Ghanaian needs to have a word with himself, or he’ll find himself on the bench.

Our midfield was decent as always. But, the game changed after Karl Henry’s challenge on Bobby. It did look innocuous at first, but the pain on Zamora’s face was hard to watch.

But, to look on the bright side. Dembele changed the game for us. Taking both goals very well. The first came to him rather unexpectedly in the box, which led to him taking a toe-punt and hitting it into the bottom-left corner. The second, came in the dying seconds of the game, where Moussa took advantage of a shocking Wolves wall and slammed it in from the 27 yards out.

Sparky’s team is still unbeaten this season, and bar a dodgy loss to Pompey in pre-season, Fulham haven’t lost a game since THAT Europa League Final (damn you Forlan) so the team and Mark should be very happy with our performance thus far. The transition from Roy to Mark has been so smooth, and any players we’ve lost have been replaced by younger, continental players as well as bleeding up young players such as Matthew Briggs in the cup competition. He has also kept the strong nucleus of the squad also (Hangeland, Murphy, Duff, Dempsey) so it has been a great start, leaving us 6th in the league at the time of press.

The next game is away at Blackburn, and that could be another strong draw or perhaps a win if Dembele can continue his form.

The team is strong, a solid unit, and Hughes has been sold on me.

C.O.Y.W

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Evening Fulham fans!

Hope this blog finds you all well. I know my blogs bunch a couple of games together but I have been like a madman going up and down, around the UK and Europe (well Ibiza and Bristol) and havent been able to give a game-by-game analysis. So I will give a little crash course on what’s been going on and take a little look at the games at Port Vale and Blackpool.

We have recently just sold Paul Konchesky, which is such a big loss for the club, as shock of all shocks, A Premier League manager goes back on his word. Woy said he wasn’t going to take any players from Fulham, so he signs Paul. Great. But, Paul is the best left back outside the top four in the prem so I’m not suprised either. We have already replaced him with a fantastic signing in Carlos Salcido from PSV Eindhoven, a great Mexican left back who proved his worth at the World Cup. So we’re not exactly damaged, but it is gutting seeing Konchesky leave. But I wish him all the best. We also signed an Algerian defender by the name of Rafik Halliche, who also reportedly had a good World Cup too. It adds competition to places at the back, which is a good thing.

Speaking of good things, we had a fantastic showing in League Cup in mid-week, demolishing Port Vale. All be it a lower league side, we showed great composure in front of goal, and played the ball on the floor excellently. Matthew Briggs, who is a product from our youth system, had a great showing by setting up a few goals. Dembele had a great full debut, scoring himself and being a constant threat and Zamora helped his England chance by netting himself in a 6-0 win. A great evening all round, and we play away in the 3rd round to Stoke City, which I’m sure will be a tougher game than this past Wednesday.

Today, was a different story. We visited Bloomfield Road, the first Premier League team ever to do so, to face newly promoted Blackpool. I was thinking it should be a tight affair, but we should get our first win of the season. It looked likely, with Zamora scoring early on, again showing that form is temporary, but class is permanent and Zamora is definately the latter. But, then the vintage Fulham collapse occured after Zamora went off with a knock. The back four looked about as sturdy as a jam bus on marmalade wheels and we had no shape whatosever.. The main offender was John Pantsil. Usually a solid force at the back, he managed to brilliantly clear the first goal into his own net and then kept debutant Luke Varney onside for Blackpool to take the lead. When your letting a former Derby second-string striker scoring in the Premier League, you know your having a mare. Then the most unlikely source came through with a sublime run and finish. My most loathed player became my hero for about twenty minutes when Dickson Etuhu broke through and scored to nick us an undeserved draw. I still think he’s toilet, mind. Our bright spot was Dembele, who threatened throughout and nearly an amazing goal, jinking through the Blackpool defence and firing just over. This doesn’t hide that Blackpool dominated us today.

Three draws from three games is decent. We haven’t lost, but we haven’t won either. Hopefully Schwarzer will get his choice over and done with and Salcido slots in nicely at left back with Briggs playing understudy and we can keep this solid start and build on to it. But todays performance was not good enough, we were lucky to battle through.

C.O.Y.W

Fulham gain a hard-fought draw against a Manchester United game that I believe, United were lucky to come out with all three points.

The first half was more of the way of Manchester United, with them carving out chances in the early going, with Fulham often pushing into the opposing half also in a fast paced opening few. The wings we’re being marshalled well by Pantsil and Konchesky, with United first real chance coming the way of a close range Berbatov overhead kick, which was matched by an outstanding save by David Stockdale.

But, alas the deadlock was broken when Scholes fired in a bullet from 30 yards out in the 11th minute, just past the hand of Stockdale.

Stockdale was again called into action following a second Berba shot, but Fulham soon found their footing in the 23rd minute with Konchesky floating in a cross for Zamora, only for it to bounce wide of Van Der Sar’s goal.

Fulham upped the urgency in the latter stages of the second half, with Etuhu forcing VDS into a great double save, as Fulham looked stronger going into the end of the first half.

Hughes must have given the team an absolute roasting in the interval as the team came out more dynamic, attacking and more of the Fulham we saw last season. The counter-attacking flair of Davies, Dempsey and the Z-man was plain for all to see, with Davies chance just deflecting over for a corner.

Then finally in the 57th minute, the attacking style of ‘The Cottagers’ paid off as Damien Duff skillfully skipped past Evra to lay the ball on for Simon Davies, who had all the time in the world to power the ball into the corner of the net.

Moussa Dembele then came on for his Premier League debut and looked threatening from the off, slotting in quite well behind Zamora and almost gaining us a penalty which we should have got, as Dembele was pulled to the ground by his shirt.

United’s second goal was unfortunate for us, as a Ryan Giggs corner bounced around the penalty area only for it to come off of Hangeland’s leg for an undeserved own goal. The bad luck continued as Duff accidentally handled the ball in the penalty area to give United a chance to make the game safe. Nani stepped up and Stockdale matched him, pulling off a great save and giving the team the belief they needed to carry on in the final few minutes.

The belief paid off as Hangeland powered a header in the dying seconds earning us a draw, which was the least we deserve.

Overall, the game showed me that Fulham can play great one-touch, flowing football and can rally back from defeat. Brede didn’t deserve to score an own goal and him cancelling that out with a goal of his own was justice, tasty justice. Dempsey, Davies and Zamora looked lively and threatening throughout, with Davies keeping his great form from last season. Dembele looked like a good player, and I beleive once he finds his feet, He’ll be a great foil for Zamora and could be the second striker we need.

David Stockdale was my man of the match yet again, pulling off world class saves and saving a penalty. He is proving that the fans can still say ‘Mark who?’ and I’d say that David is a future England number 1, with no doubt in my mind.

David Stockdale is the future, and if rumours are to be believed, that future could be now.

We’ve got Port Vale in the Carling Cup and it should be a great confidence boost and a chance for the whole team to a get a run-out and warm up for the game against Blackpool on the coming Saturday.

It looks like it’s all coming together.

C.O.Y.W

Well lets be honest, not much has happened.

I have returned from the white isle of Ibiza with nothing more than a hangover, a lot of pictures and safe in the knowledge that Fulham was involved in the dullest game of the opening weekend of the season against Bolton.

There really isn’t much to report, other than David Stockdale had a rather decent game deputizing for the unhappy and unfit Mark Schwarzer.

I genuinely havent got much to say, erm….here’s a picture of Danny Murphy looking industrious.

Lets get onto more pressing matters, like things that weren’t underwhelming in the world of Fulham Football Club. Such as the majesty of Bobby Zamora pulling on the Three Lions of England in the recent friendly against Hungary. He was very impressive for the second half of the game and got the loudest cheer of the game. I was too busy drinking in the hot sun to see the game live but I have watched the game and was so impressed with his performance and proud to see a Fulham player doing so well for England. In a situation where it appears it is hard to find a decent strike partner for Rooney (Heskey retired, Crouch is on-and-off lately, Capello appears to not fancy Defoe for some god forsaken reason) and this could be the time for Z-Man to make his name and be a regular in the England 23.

Whatever the hell he’s doing in front of Capello, god it makes you proud.

Only one signing thus-far, and it was none of the players I predicted. I am brilliant aren’t I?

Mousaa Dembele has signed on from AZ Alkmarr, and can play either up front or on the wing. He isn’t a netbuster, more of a modest goalscorer, but I am hoping he will give us a different option up front. Kamara and AJ are forgotten men really and Elm/EJ are on the fringe, so we are blessed with attacking talent, but nothing as profilic as Zamora. Hopefully the Belgian will be £5 million pounds well spent.

Now lets talk about Mr. Mark Schwarzer shall we?

He has reportedly requested a transfer away from West London after Arsenal put in a bid. I can sympathize with Mark wanting to go, I mean it’s champions league football a season of nearly winning the Europa League, seems logical step up, no? But the bid has been rejected, and so has a second one. So where does this leave Mark, Sparky and the goalkeeping slot? Does Mark not want to be there, if so why doesn’t Sparky let him go and bring in a keeper who could be on his way out himself (Hey there Shay and Manuel) or is Sparky holding out for money, if so that is such a dangerous game because we could be left with an unhappy goalkeeper in our squad and no replacement set-up.

It’s becoming another bloody saga that no one wants and I’d rather it gets resolved quickly, one way or another. I am more worried with words coming out about Paul Konchesky being linked with Liverpool.

Mark might be good, but is replaceable. It’d be hard to find a quality left back like Paul without parting with some serious cashola.

This weekend sees my favourite game of the season, us against Manchester United. We have become their bogey team as of late, so I am looking forward to it. But we’re on telly, so expect us to be roundly beaten.

Ever the optimist.

C.O.Y.W

I dont reckon we could’ve had a better end to our pre-season campaign really.

Fulham stuck FIVE past one of the leading Bundesliga sides in Werder Bremen as Mark Hughes reign as Fulham manager got off to an absolute flyer a week before our opening Premier League game away at Bolton Wanderers.

Hughes stuck with our familar starting XI, playing 4-4-2, with Bremen playing a more continental 4-3-2-1 formation (my chosen Football Manager formation actually) boasting such stars as Per Mertsacker, Hugo Almedia, Claudio Pizarro and Tim Borowski.

Fulham we’re testing from the kick off, with chances from Pizarro and Almedia testing Schwarzer in goal. They then took the lead in the seventh minute with a deep cross findind Pizarro who hit a neat volley from close range.

We were then on the back foot for most of the second half, with Panstil clearing chances for the German side and they we’re nearly 2-0 up with Almedia’s chip did not hit the upright.

Our first chance came in the 33rd minute, with Bobby Zamora finding space to shoot just wide of the far post, with Davies just missing contact himself.

Hughes took the boys in at half-time and obviously gave them the right kind of incentive for the second half as they came out with much more vigour and brightness.

Fulhams bright start paid off in the 52nd minute, with Dempsey flicking a pass through to Bobby Zamora who beat the offside trap before hitting a cool finish past Tim Weise. Zamora hopefully showing England boss Fabio Capello he is worthy of a place in his squad for the friendly againsy Hungary on Wednesday.

Hughes then subbed off full-backs Pantsil and Konchesky for Stephen Kelly and Fredrik Stoor, and then Gera put the Superwhites 2-1 with a strike straight out of the top draw, a left footed strike fizzing past the Werder Bremen keeper. Fulham we’re then 3-1 up with Zamora and Gera combining for Gera to score his second to put Fulham 3-1 up. Last seasons player of the year sealed his hat-trick in the 78th minute when Weise came out of his area to dispossess Zamora only for it to roll into the path who stroked in into an empty net from 30 yards out.

Eddie Johnson completed the rout when, yep you’ve guessed it, Zoltan Gera found EJ in plenty of space with a first touch pass for the American to find the net to make it 5-1 to Fulham.

A fantastic way to end pre-season for the Superwhites, with Zamora showing he hasn’t lost his goalscoring touch for this coming season and hopefully an England call-up tonight, and Gera showing he is in fine form, and to give the Bolton defence a few sleepless nights before we meet them at the Reebok next week.

Hughes has put himself firmly in charge of this team, and appears to be suited with the players that we have quite well, and does seem to favour Fredrik Stoor more then Woy did, which I think is a good thing, because we never really gave Stoor a fair shake last season and I believe he’d be a useful asset at the back. I reckon with a couple signings (sorry if I sound like a broken record) we should comfortably hit mid-table and stay there. And after that, who knows, maybe we can dream of silverware in the Cottage  cabinet this season.

C.O.Y.W

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(Thanks for Fulhamfc.com for the pictures)

We are one week away from the start of the Premier League season, and Fulham have officially announced Sparky as our new boss. And Al Fayed seems to be very excited, almost too excited.

The press conference got a bit weird when Al Fayed opened his mouth really, as he launched in a quite weird obviously-not-bitter-at-all rant about Roy leaving to go to Liverpool;

“We gave him [Hodgson] all the support, we believed in him and he let us down. It’s no problem because Mark [Hughes, the new Fulham manager] is much better. He’s better looking too.

“Roy disappointed the fans, he disappointed the players, he was just a bugger.

“I did everything for him, to help him. But that’s his character. He can’t help it. I forgive him, anyhow and I’m sure he’s going to take Liverpool downhill.”

He really did his best to sound like a bitter, broken hearted ex didn’t he? Weird word choice to call Roy a ‘bugger’.

We do try and forget that our chairman is mental, don’t we? But he always has to come out and let us know that he is slightly eccentric.

But, we must move on. Mark Hughes is the new manager in chief and is looking to build on Hodgson’s legacy and try and get a top-10 finish this season. There has only been one signing thus far in Phillipe Senderos, and that was in Hodgson’s tenure. We do need to get some players in, as said in a previous blog. According to reports, Ireland could be on his way to Villa so hopefully we can wrap up Sidwell and look at others, possibly on the fringes of Manchester City squad (as again said in a previous blog). But we do need to strengthen before the transfer window shuts.

Pre season has been solid so far, with a great 5-0 win away at Brentford and a draw at Bournemouth, followed by another two draws at Halmstad and Malmo. A loss to Portsmouth this past weekend wasn’t an amazing return to home soil, but we have our final friendly game this Saturday at home to Werder Bremen, so hopefully we can boost morale with a win before the season starts.

Our first game in the Premier League is away at Bolton Wanderers. It is quite a tough game to kick things off with; Owen Coyles men will not be any pushovers here, as they will be looking to impress in front of their home fans. I would be banking on a draw here, but who knows? The team is solid enough and good enough to get a win, and maybe Sparky will bring us some first game luck.

This is then followed by a home game against Manchester United, which will be certainly interesting to watch. We have been Man United’s bogey team as of late, beating them 2-0 and 3-1 in previous seasons. Maybe we will get lucky again, but as with most against against the big red deathstar, I wont hold out much hope.

This is then followed by a Carling Cup Second Round excursus, and then an away game at Blackpool. This is a game we normally lose but I can see this being a solid away win for Mark’s boys here and should kick start our season.

I will be going to as many games as I can this season (Fulham Vs Blackburn with Blackburn Sam is a must) but with working at 606 next season (ooh, get me) I will be mainly watching the games at Five Live or on Match Of The Day after a few bevvies.

Overall, I am looking forward to this season and reckon it will be comfortable one for Mark’s boys. Famous last words indeed, but I could see Fulham looking to break into the top ten, and doing well in both cup competitions.

Right, here is where I put my reputation (eh) on the line and predict Fulham’s position this season

FULHAM’S PREMIER LEAGUE POSITION WILL BE……

11TH

I reckon we will do well, but will just miss out on the top ten. This will be supplemented however by a semi-final appearance minimum in either cup competitions.

Lets hope and pray, shall we?

Good luck Sparky and the boys!

C.O.Y.W

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(I will be away on holiday for the first week of the season, I’m brilliant aren’t I? so I will be blogging a little bit later, either Thursday or Friday)

Well friends, it’s apparantly been sorted. And this is the man that will be taking the helm at Fulham.

Mr. Leslie Mark Hughes (yes his first name is actually Leslie, unbelievable what the internets can tell you) will be (hopefully) announced with the next 24 to 48 hours as the manager of Fulham Football Club as announced across the various football platforms;

(Via FourFourTwo)

‘Mark Hughes, out of a job since leaving Manchester City last December, will be named as Premier League club Fulham’s manager by the weekend, British newspapers reported on Thursday.

The former Wales and Manchester United striker, 46, would succeed Roy Hodgson, who moved to Liverpool this month.

Hughes was named as the overwhelming favourite for the job by London bookmaker William Hill.

“We are hopeful of making an announcement about our new manager in the next 24 to 48 hours,” a Fulham spokesman said.’

This is probably the best thing to happen since the whole fuckshow with Martin Jol saga. We have got in a competent replacement in, with a good record in the Premier League and even at international level. He is also apparantly bringing in his backroom staff from Manchester City so it will be a complete upheval of the status quo at Fulham and a whole new start. This is good news in my opinion as it is a good, solid backroom staff too. I rate Mark Bowen as a number two, along with messrs Niedzwiecki, Hitchcock and Hodges who are good coaches too.

It is a positive response by the Fulham board and Al Fayed himself, who didnt really cover themselves in glory with the whole Jol debarcle, and I believe this will pay off in the long term. The one problem that I could say is that they’ve not given Hughes long to make his mark into the squad, with only two more pre-season friendlies before our opening game in the Premier League up at the Reebok against Bolton. He will need to work, and work fast to hopefully prevent a shake couple of weeks.

Also, it has been said that Al Fayed will be giving Sparky some transfer fundage to put a squad together that could get that top 10 finish and cup semi-final minimum that the big boss expects from the club and the new manager. And there is a number of Manchester City fringe players that will be looking to move on and would be tempted to perhaps move to their old managers new club that could really make the team kick on from last seasons amazing exploits. Also, he could wheel and deal and get rid of some of the deadwood that doesnt really get into the starting XI.

I have been having a little think about who could be coming and going and here is my list of ins and out and my hopeful XI for this coming season;

Fulham: IN

• James (Unattached)
• Hart (Man City)
• Sidwell (Aston Villa)
• Ireland (Man City)
• De Jong (Man City)
• Bellamy (Man City)
• Aurelio (Unattached)

Fulham OUT

• Schwarzer (hopefully not)
• Stoor
• Elm
• Kamara
• A. Johnson

My hopeful Fulham XI for the 2010/2011 season:

GK: Hart/James/Schwarzer (not sure at the moment)

RB: Pantsil

CB: Hangeland

CB: Senderos

LB: Konchesky

CM: Murphy

CM: Ireland

CM: De Jong

LW: Dempsey

RW: Bellamy

CF: Zamora

(I’d play Bellamy and Clinton down the wings with Zamora as the lead striker.)

Bit of a long shot, prying that many players from Citeh, especially with the wage demands because how ridiculous the blue side of Manchester is, but there is other rumours going round (hearing of us going in for Curtis Davies, Eidur Gudjohnsen and John Carew REALLY intrests me) but I am sure the cash shall be splashed this season so that Sparky can make the team his own.

I did LOL at the reporter on Sky Sports News implying that because Hughes is at Fulham , Robinho might follow him. That’d be jizzworthy, but come on be real. That’s just putting 2 and 2 together and getting bollocks really.

I am more relieved than anything that a boss will FINALLY be put in (nothings definite yet, if this messes up i’m burning Harrods down personally) just before the season starts so we can kickstart this season with no uncertainity. And it being a decent British manager, is all good.

Just no one mention he played for Chelsea, kay?

C.O.Y.W

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Its all just a big shame really.

Martin Jol has decided to stay at Ajax, and the slanging match between them and Fulham has already begun. Fulham are saying that Ajax didn’t allow them to talk to the manager and blocked them at every turn, which is confusing because Fulham said they had reached a compensation deal just yesterday according to Sky Sports News, so that’s either poor reporting from Sky (That’d be a shock) or just some kind of positive propaganda from the Fulham PR machine.

Jol has said he couldn’t leave the club after just one season, and tie that in with the promise of Champions League football next season if he stays in Amsterdam, it seems a logical option. I can see him doing well in Europe next season especially if he can keep hold of Steklenberg, Van Der Weil and of course Luis Suarez (which seems unlikely with all the rumours flying around but you never know) . You could say that Jol might have been a bit of a pipe dream for Fulham if we’re honest, given where he is and who he potentially has for the upcoming season.

I am a bit upset in regards to not landing the man, as he is a great tactician, and wasn’t given a fair shake at Tottenham, with too many people supposedly interfering in his business. He is a good boss with a superb knowledge of European Football, and could’ve brought us some geniunely world class players and maybe, done a job to get us some of his Ajaz Faithful over to the stadium by the River Thames. I often spoke to mates of me dreaming that Jol could potentially do a job and get us Suarez in, which would be unbeleiveable scenes, and a striker we’d welcome with open arms with the speculation that AJ could be going the way of Dean Ashton, or just being offloaded to whoever wants him.

So, Fulham are back to square one and going back to the shortlist.  The shortlist appears to be this, at this time:

• Ottmar Hitzfeld
• Bob Bradley
• Sven Goran Eriksson
• Mark Hughes
• Slavan Bilic

So right there you have five managers of decent reputation and skill, but more and more managers are dissapearing. Bradley either has, or appears to be signing a contract extension with the US Soccer Team, ditto with Sven and Ivory Coast, leaving us with Sparky, Hitzfeld and Bilic, but you hear different rumours every day, a friend of mine said that Dave Jones might come over from Cardiff and become our new boss.

Whoever comes in, has a great squad to pick from, and needs to make two or three signings (Keeper, Midfield, Striker to replace AJ) and it appears that the midfield situation might be sorted with Steve Sidwell in the process of signing for us, but waiting to see who comes in as the new gaffer before making his situation clear.

It’s getting closer and closer to the new season and not having a permanent manager in, and our first choice rejecting the club is a worrying thing to happen. I mean whoever comes in clearly the second choice, the runner-up and he will need to get out the blocks quickly for the board to save face after all this.

Because if football fans hate anything, it’s when something becomes a bloody ‘saga’. And this managerial situation, is half way there.

C.O.Y.W