On the first day of January...............

[Insidious]

How do you go from Rafa to Lampard?
What a comedy show that clown oufit across the park is.

This is going to be a glorious disaster to behold.

Rafa is clearly a better Manager in terms of knowledge/tactics. He's the one I would want to be coached by.

Yet I can see (for a while at least) Lampard doing relatively okay there. He'll want to play attacking Football, which can bring a crowd into a game, plus will be relatively jokey /arm-around-shoulder with some of the players.

I'm not a professional athlete, but in terms of generational differences, a lot of younger folk these days seem more easily slighted if you disagree with them, whilst responding that bit more to being told they're brilliant, regardless of whether they are or not - validation and all that.

Lampard might be a better "fit" than Rafa in that sense, despite me not rating Frank as such.

Very counter-intuitive I know.

[Insidious]

So hands up who didn’t even know we’d brought claudio taffarel in last year as part of our goalkeeping coaching staff and basically set up a school of excellence for goalkeeping.
First I heard about it was yesterday.

I posted about that somewhere, think one or two others did too.

Taffarel is a Hero in Brazil so it will do us no harm at all.

[miller0863]

Failed at Derby, sacked by his beloved Chelsea, he’s perfect for the Bitter bastards.

[Insidious]

I’m sure if we have done plenty of scouting of the player, he can’t be as bad as he’s looked this evening. Spurs also wanted him so that again must indicate something

Messi put in a few shockers for Barcelona over the years.

[eggy81]

Not exactly (player) transfer news, but I thought this would be a good a place as any to post this.

Apparently according to the Beeb, The Shites have offered the managerial position to Lamps.

How do you go from Rafa to Lampard?
What a comedy show that clown oufit across the park is.

This is going to be a glorious disaster to behold.

Also, news is that Rooney turned down the chance to have the club talk to him as he's doesn't want to abandon Derby while they're in the midst of an administration fight for their lives.
(although, it's not a definite closed-book "No' as he could come back to manage them in the future).

Never really liked that Manc Shite, but I have to say I really respect that.

Grand old team is absolute gold at the moment. Thread after thread of gallows humour. They do that better than any fans to be fair. They’re funny when slagging their own club. That moshiri sounds like he’s totally bonkers the way they talk about him. Did you see vitor pereira called up sky sports news yesterday trying to sell himself to the fans before he’s been offered anything. Couldn’t make that shit up. Making a plea for his job before he’s even been offered it. Get yourself over there.
Fwiw I reckon they’re doomed.

[eggy81]

Rafa is clearly a better Manager in terms of knowledge/tactics. He's the one I would want to be coached by.

Yet I can see (for a while at least) Lampard doing relatively okay there. He'll want to play attacking Football, which can bring a crowd into a game, plus will be relatively jokey /arm-around-shoulder with some of the players.

I'm not a professional athlete, but in terms of generational differences, a lot of younger folk these days seem more easily slighted if you disagree with them, whilst responding that bit more to being told they're brilliant, regardless of whether they are or not - validation and all that.

Lampard might be a better "fit" than Rafa in that sense, despite me not rating Frank as such.

Very counter-intuitive I know.

That all may be true 8-10 years ago but rafas a busted flush too sid. And the whole back room has been gutted while he’s been there too. Dof gone. Head scout gone. 2 or 3 more crucial positions too. They are in a complete mess even if they do manage to stay up. It’s almost as if they’re trying to get relegated.
Edit: Replying to the first paragraph here re Rafa

Regarding Lampard. They’ll be calling him a Tory cunt after 1 loss. Toxic fan base. Probably need relegation at this stage to reset.

[Crimson Dynasty]

Rafa is clearly a better Manager in terms of knowledge/tactics. He's the one I would want to be coached by.

Yet I can see (for a while at least) Lampard doing relatively okay there. He'll want to play attacking Football, which can bring a crowd into a game, plus will be relatively jokey /arm-around-shoulder with some of the players.

I'm not a professional athlete, but in terms of generational differences, a lot of younger folk these days seem more easily slighted if you disagree with them, whilst responding that bit more to being told they're brilliant, regardless of whether they are or not - validation and all that.

Lampard might be a better "fit" than Rafa in that sense, despite me not rating Frank as such.

Very counter-intuitive I know.

I'm just going by his record at Chelsea, and that whole "I'm friendly with the players and real popular with the fans" schtick wears out really fast when those wins are not coming.

Maybe he's better able to motivate that lot to respond to his methods better because of some generational hodoo that Rafa couldn't crack, but at the end of the day, Rafa's failure there wasn't because of his aloofness and poor man-management skills (as some alluded in the aftermath).

He failed there because there's no quality in that squad and there's only so much blood you can squeeze out of a rock.

This Lampard hire has all the makings and symptoms of a "Manc Scum Board hires former club legend to be their shield against a fan revolt" stink all over it."

And we all know how that worked out.

Why else do you think they went for Rooney first, because he turned them down and they turned to Lamps (after giving another club name in Ferguson an interview).
They saw how well the whole Ole experiment worked well for deflecting blame and Oil Trafford, and they tought we might as well buy ourselves more time here by doing the same.

That actually was Rafa's (other) major problem there.
The fans were never on his side from the get-go so from the standpoint of using him as a shield against their anger, he made for terrible cover for the board.

And let's also not forget,...

Lampard DID have quality players at Chelsea.
He just didn't know how best to use them.
He's going to a club bereft of quality now, and somehow it's supposed to be better?

I don't know.
It's going to be an enjoyable watch, at least.
Especially when they inevitably turn on him.

(P.S. I think Stevie working out well enough (so far) at Villa, might also have motivated this decision)

[Crimson Dynasty]

Grand old team is absolute gold at the moment. Thread after thread of gallows humour. They do that better than any fans to be fair. They’re funny when slagging their own club. That moshiri sounds like he’s totally bonkers the way they talk about him. Did you see vitor pereira called up sky sports news yesterday trying to sell himself to the fans before he’s been offered anything. Couldn’t make that shit up. Making a plea for his job before he’s even been offered it. Get yourself over there.
Fwiw I reckon they’re doomed.

You've got to admire the hustle, at least.

And I do see some method to his madness.
A big part of Rafa's doom was the fact that he never at any point during his tenure there ever had the fans on his side.
And there was never a chance that the most vocal of that lot would ever forgive him for his "small club" comments from that derby years ago.

Maybe Pereira was just trying to get a headstart in winning them over before the inevitable losses started piling on.
After all, of their four final candidates (the other being Rooney, Ferguson and Lamps), he's the ony who would be starting with no sentimentality or former ties to the club to lean on.

[eggy81]

You've got to admire the hustle, at least.

And I do see some method to his madness.
A big part of Rafa's doom was the fact that he never at any point during his tenure there ever had the fans on his side.
And there was never a chance that the most vocal of that lot would ever forgive him for his "small club" comments from that derby years ago.

Maybe Pereira was just trying to get a headstart in winning them over before the inevitable losses started piling on.
After all, of their four final candidates (the other being Rooney, Ferguson and Lamps), he's the ony who would be starting with no sentimentality or former ties to the club to lean on.

True that but he’s supposed to be an absolute mentalist. Like Jose on speed. Would’ve made great tv at least.

[darrenpotter]

Could the bitters be heading down?