Dirty Jobs: English Football Manager

It's a tough life being a football manager especially in England where the media combined with a section of dimwit fans make this a health hazard - literally, I mean ask Glenn Roeder, Gerard Houllier, Joe Kinnear who have all suffered major health scares while at the job.

It's usually the Premier League that provides the sack stories and yes there probably will be one as the season progresses with Blackburn's Steve Kean surely going to force the first mid-season managerial change of the season with Owen Coyle, Steve Bruce, Mick McCarthy not too far behind.





Surprisingly though, it's been the 2nd tier Championship that has provided the two sack stories of the season so far. At the start of the season, two of the Midland's big clubs, Leicester and Nottingham Forest had two former England managers at the helm; Sven-Goran Eriksson had joined Leicester in the middle of last season while our favourite wally under the brolly, Steve McClaren replaced Billy Davies at the City Ground in the summer.

As of 25 October 2011, both managers are gone. McClaren resigned from his post on 2 October with the club languishing towards the wrong end of the table. It appears the same reasons that resulted in Billy Davies' departure in the summer have accounted for a manager of a higher calibre - never a good sign for a big club like Nottingham Forest.

Yesterday, Eriksson was out of a job - this one probably a bit more of a surprise even though Leicester were still mid-table and had beaten Millwall 2-0 on the weekend. The Foxes had spent large in the summer and were expecting to challenge at the top of the table. Again though, you wonder if the Thai owners understand much about football. It will be hard for them to get a manager of Eriksson's calibre as a replacement. Leicester City aren't a Premier League club yet they seem to be behaving like one.

Have McClaren, Eriksson become bad managers overnight at Nottingham Forest and Leicester after coaching at what should be the highest level of the game, i.e. the national team? The answer is the same to the question of whether Roy Hodgson became a bad manager at Liverpool last season - no, the chemistry just wasn't right.








Forest, Leicester and Liverpool at the time are/were clubs in chaos, in transition, needing direction, with crazy expectations and too much history. It doesn't bode well for any manager even as experienced as those three mentioned. At least Liverpool appear to have found a manager that fits their mould in Kenny Dalglish and Steve Cotterill may be a better fit for Forest than McClaren.

Perhaps the England managers' reputations and egos were too big for second division clubs.

So if you're thinking about becoming a football manager at the highest level, think again.

2011 - The Year of Arm Wrestles (I Mean World Cup Finals)

What is it with these tight World Championship deciders this year?

In June, there was that epic netball World Champs final in Singapore which went to extra time and had the lead change so many times before Caitlin Bassett put away the critical winner for Australia.

Last Sunday's World Cup Final was the perfect example of an arm-wrestle. Ultimately, New Zealand's defence and passion from the crowd baying for blood that won on the day.

Back to America, the 2011 World Series will almost surely go to game seven after both sides just seem to be trading punches - and who scores first. After the Rangers rallied home to win their last game in Arlington for the season, they now head to St Louis for game 6 on Thursday NZ time.

This surely has to be one of the most competitive World Series in a long time. Whether it'll be remembered for the quality remains to be seen.

Nevertheless, for baseball followers, this has been absolutely thrilling stuff. And I'm going to hedge my bets that baseball's latest world champion will be crowned at the conclusion on Game 7 on Friday afternoon New Zealand time (Thursday night for the USA). I might have to take the afternoon off - maybe I'll just download the app for $2 and try and get the radio.

So another rugby season closes

Due to the Rugby World Cup which just concluded, there will be no internationals played in November in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning another New Zealand rugby season has ended for another year.

Thankfully this one ended on a high note and will be long remembered for one game that resulted in the outcome all New Zealanders wanted.

But there was plenty to savour for New Zealand rugby fans apart from winning back Bill.

For earthquake ravaged Canterbury, rugby provided the perfect tonic during trying times with the Crusaders playing a season to be remembered - making the Super rugby final despite playing every single game outside their home base of Christchurch. It was a shame the Crusaders couldn't cap off a miracle season.

Or maybe it wasn't such a shame letting the Reds win the Super rugby title...

After all, the Reds' success meant the likes of Genia and Cooper had their tails up leading into the Tri Nations and fuelled their confidence, the Quade Cooper myth and hopes that the Wallabies might be able to win the World Cup with their young side.

Alas, all of those were comfortably extinguished by the All Blacks in that semifinal.

Back to the Cantabs, they lost the Ranfurly Shield early on to Southland but recovered enough to make the final against Waikato in Hamilton and ultimately triumph to win the ITM Cup Premier Division.

The truncated ITM Cup with its split divisions and midweek games turned out to be a surprise hit with provincial rugby fans. Whether this format stays post RWC success remains to be seen.

Another surprise this year was the rise of the Highlanders who looked good for a Super rugby playoff spot for the first time since 2002 until a very late form dip ended that dream. There's plenty to look forward to next season for Highlanders fans including myself - new stadium, a host of the Hurricanes' All Blacks like Gear, Ellison & Hore, and the fact that the jersey will stay the same rather than go to green after popular support.

Disappointments?

The Hurricanes and Chiefs despite their many All Blacks. More so, the Canes who looked like a team split between players & coach. Mark Hammett will be hoping for better results next season after a substantial clean out of the player roster in the off-season, while new Chiefs coach Dave Rennie will be hoping his Manawatu charge, Aaron Cruden can recover from that knee injury he sustained in the Final.

There may have been some disappointment in not winning the Tri Nations but then again those defeats in Port Elizabeth & Brisbane probably did more good for the All Blacks in the tournament that mattered. And at least New Zealand's other great love, the Bledisloe will be in Wellington for the 9th year running.





So a triumphant season & an exhausting one. I guess it's nice having this extra month during RWC years to take a break from rugby so I shall savor this as much as the players & look forward to a bright new chapter in New Zealand rugby.

2 Minutes - 24 October 2011

Tonight I talk about the Rugby World Cup Final, Manchester derby and pay tribute to the late Marco Simoncelli, motorsport's second fatality in less than a week.

RIP Marco Simoncelli

Motorsport has been hit by its second tragedy in less than a week with the passing of Italian MotoGP rider, Marco Simoncelli.

Here is more from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motogp/15420069.stm.

I've watched a bit of motorcycle racing and quite enjoy the slipstreaming and overtaking action. I haven't really watched it in the last few years as Sky didn't have the rights to the MotoGP for a while and there's always another sport on to watch.

Nevertheless, despite safety advances, motorcycle racing is still highly dangerous - even more so than car racing given that the bikes go at tremendous speeds and the riders are less protected than the drivers.

At Suzuka in 2003, MotoGP lost young upstart and former 125cc World Champion, Dajiro Kato as a result of an accident during the first race of the season. The race was not stopped at the time - something I'm glad officials have learnt is not the right thing to do in the circumstances. Kato died two weeks later from his injuries.

As I said with Dan Wheldon's accident, motorsport is a highly dangerous sport and the participants know of the risks involved. But as most petrolheads would know, there is such an adrenaline rush when racing these machines at high speeds. Denying someone that joy would be a bigger crime against humanity.

At least Simoncelli died doing what he loved to do: racing motorbikes on a Sunday. RIP.