'Bent' Birmingham

You would feel that if a manager had the striking talent of Kevin Phillips, Cameron Jerome, James McFadden and Marcus Bent to his disposal he would not be complaining about the lack of goals. Unfortunately, for Alex McLeish that is the case.
At recent, goals have come too far and few between as leading goal scorer Phillips is out injured. Phillips’ replacements have not be reproducing the heroics he supplies as all of them have had their fair share of criticism. McLeish have had Jerome, Bent and new signing Carlos Costly in constant rotation and it has not brought any desired response. Goals are still rare and it doesn’t look like it will get any better.
Birmingham have lost momentum in the deciding part of the season as they could be easily be over taken by Reading and Cardiff if they win all their games in hand as all of the Blues strikers have admitted that they have missed absolute sitters, especially in games of late. The defeat by 10 men Coventry was rather embarrassing regarding their promotions credentials. It may be a sign of sheer frustration kicking in.
The Blues have such a good squad and McLeish have been duly adding to that, Premiership quality is evident throughout the team and an immediate return to the Promised land must be likely if they can start scoring goals again.
Across the midfield, there is so much quality that could provide much to a fluttering attack. Seb Larsson is the best midfielder in the Championship and added to that are the likes of on-loan signing Lee Bowyer and Lee Carsley; they have a very talented team.
Everything is to play for in the last third of the season and if Birmingham are going to maintain that second spot – they have to be anything par ‘Bent’.

Birmingham's Second Hand Carr

Birmingham City have plucked a real stunning capture as they have coax Stephen Carr out of retirement to sign an initial one month deal after being on trial.
The right back had been without a club since his release from Newcastle but will now look to resurrect his career in the Championship.
Carr made 44 appearances for the Republic of Ireland and is still at a relatively young age of 32 to make a real difference.
It is surprising that no club gambled on Carr as he has plenty to offer. A wealth of Premier League experience and a winning League Cup medal as well as playing alongside many big names surely he would have been an asset to any team.
Birmingham have added a determined right back to their ranks, one that can offer good defensive cover as well as attacking options.
He is known for his long-range efforts; most notably the screamer he scored passed Manchester United will come to the mind of many.
Carr went through the ranks at Tottenham before joining Newcastle for £2 million back in 2004 signing for then, boss Sir Bobby Robson.
Kevin Keegan decided against renewing his contract at the end of last season as injuries, like many other professionals, have been Carr’s downfall but if he can get match fit and playing regularly, he would be one of the better right backs in the Championships.
Birmingham have themselves a potential gem of a player.

No Pleasure at Blackpool Beaches

Blackpool sit elegantly on the profoundly known ‘pleasure beach’, but down the road at Bloomfield Road the football team is anything but pleasurable. Inconsistency is a virtue and frankly, Blackpool have none.
A poor February has caused the Seasiders to freefall into a relegation scrap and they face the prospect of playing some very difficult teams soon.
Caretaker boss Tony Parkes can’t be happy with the current state of affairs as he tries to rebuild the team’s spirit and confidence in what will be a very difficult last third of the season.
The surprise departure of previous manager Simon Grayson to Leeds United caused results to be akin to the rollercoaster on the town’s pleasure beach.
The ups and downs of results include two wins, three draws and five defeats in their last ten games leaves a lot to the imagination. More worryingly for Blackpool, it has been three defeats in the last three games - the latter coming at home to Watford, who sits agonisingly below them.
This season results have varied from a comfortable and reinsuring 2-0 win over promotion chasing Birmingham City to a measly 1-0 defeat to Torquay United in the FA cup. Huge dips and dives.
Goals have been hard to come by as Ben Burgess have topped scored with six and the only other notable goal scorers have come in the form of Alan Gow and Gareth Taylor-Fletcher with five apiece. Hardly thrilling stuff.
The board don’t seem to be much bothered in recruiting a new manager as they have looked like they have gave Parkes the burden of keeping Blackpool in the Championship.
It must be essential to recruit a manager sooner rather than later as Parkes is hardly considered as a long-term fixture.
Obviously Blackpool are a team with limited funds and have a stadium capacity of only 9,650 (expansion and construction is pending) so it’s hardly appealing for many who are unemployed out there.
Big-time managers wouldn’t look favourably on accepting a job of this calibre, Mickey Adams and Glenn Roeder are currently unattached and would possibly be interested.
Simon Grayson did wonders and proved to be a very good young manager, perhaps Blackpool are looking for the next young spark to relight the ‘pleasure’ at Bloomfield Road.

Gimme Gimme Gimme a Man after Midnight

On the night of the transfer window Arsene Wenger must have been all wrapped up from the snow listening to his beloved Abba records. Then suddenly he heard a song that changed his mind set, his train of thought as he realised he had to sign a player to get rid of those potential shadows that have been following him in Aston Villa shirts.
Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight
Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away
Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight
Take me through the darkness to the break of the day
Wenger signed Arshavin a long way past midnight in his quest for fourth spot and their objective for the rest of the season must be just to win enough games to get that ever-challenging Champions League position.
Wenger’s persistence must be running thin, when will he realise that signing the players of the calibre of Arshavin will not symbolise success or guarantee European football.
The Arsenal manager must be hoping this season finishing pretty quickly to get ready to prepare for next season, the break of the day.
It has been plainly obvious that this season debacle was caused by not replacing Mathieu Flamini. The Arshavin purchase only replaces the void left by Alexander Hleb. Wasn’t that void replaced when Arsenal signed Samir Nasri?
The Russian has an extraordinary wealth of talent and fits the mould of player that Wenger and Arsenal fans love. He’s mobile, skilful and very good technically but the underlying problem is that protection of the back four.
Claude Makelele was brought in to Chelsea to support the wealth of attacking presence at the clubs disposal and they subsequently won trophies. Javier Mascherano has given Liverpool that protection in front of that back four to give them a realistic title challenge. Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves, alike, were brought in at Manchester United. Even Aston Villa have the talented Gareth Barry protecting their defence.
Wenger should have looked for a more commanding midfield player as his previous teams were built around such individuals. The Gilberto Silva’s, the Patrick Vieira’s, the Emmanuel Petit’s were the cornerstone of Arsenal’s success and now they are left wanting.
Arshavin was brought in to please those newly found Arsenal fans that demand success every season. Once again, Arsenal are in transition and this signing would be a welcomed success in a season that will not bring any trophies.
Arshavin maybe that player to get fourth but that won’t keep the shadows at bay for next season. A no nonsense midfielder is a must.

Coppell looking for Number Three

In a time that all current trigger-happy chairmen are stuck in a persistent routine of dismissing Managers at their peril, it remains a remarkable, even astonishing, that Steve Coppell remains the only man that has a realistic opportunity of achieving a hat trick of promotions to the Premier League.
Normally with relegation the manager, more often or not, receive their P45. It’s a testament for Reading to keep utter faith in Coppell; well the Royals would have been foolish to get rid of their most successful manager in history.
While with Crystal Palace, Coppell won promotion in 1997 steering the Eagles through the playoffs for his first promotion. He then masterminded the historic Reading record-breaking season in 2005 to give the club their first taste of top-flight football for his second. Now he has the opportunity to make history once again with his current Reading team for his third.
Obviously, being constantly in the top flight would be the much greater reward but having the audacity to rebuild and supply a team that can obtain promotion time after time is a talent in itself. Losing key players then having the knowledge to replace those players with better ones is not a task for the lighthearted.
At present, Coppell is in a select group of managers that have achieved two Premier League Promotions but unfortunately, some of these managers’ potential and reward have never materialised. Some of these men find it difficult to warrant a job and find it harder getting one, Reading kept faith in Coppell and that has paid dividends this term but for other clubs this has not been the case.
Bryan Robson won promotion twice with Middlesbrough in 94/95 and 97/98 where the directors kept much deserving faith in the ex-Manchester United Captain. Ironically, he wouldn’t have to win back promotion in 97/98 if Middlesbrough had not suffered that three-point deduction for cancelling a fixture at late notice but he suffered the fate of relegation.
But as Middlesbrough have kept their top flight status, Robson hasn’t. He could have achieved a third promotion with West Brom, but he wrecked their chances with bad buy’s and bad form, he soon left by ‘mutual consent’ after just eight games of which three he won. Robson’s ill-fate spell with Sheffield United did nothing to help his cause. He has been since chucked into managerial wilderness.
Kevin Keegan had the habit of taking big clubs back to the top and he duly delivered this with Newcastle United and Manchester City in 92/93 and 01/02 respectively as they both saw a return of top flight football. He could have easily made it a third if it was not for the public demand of the England job. He succeeded Glenn Hoddle back in 1999 and Fulham, whom he managed and built the foundations of, were promoted two seasons later under the guidance of Jean Tigana.
Peter Reid won promotion twice with his beloved Black Cats. Sunderland reached the top flight in 95/96 and 98/99 and Reid was so close to making it three in the 97/98 season for only Michael Gray’s saved penalty resulting in Charlton Athletic to win the penalty shootout to win promotion but Reid and Sunderland bounced back to win the division with a, then, record of 105 points. He was soon sacked and spells at Leeds United and Coventry City never promised much.
Alan Curbishley twice steered Charlton Athletic to the Premier League, one with that famous penalty shootout win against Reid’s Sunderland and one in 99/00. Curbishley will have to look for a Championship club if you were to make it three after leaving West Ham United as finding a job in the top division has been difficult. Surely, there are making takers in the Championship.
Gary Megson took West Brom back to the top league on more than one occasion; his first full season saw a defeat in the Semi-final stage of the playoffs to the hands off Sam Allardyce’s Bolton Wanderers but Megson bounced back and won promotion in 01/02.
After being relegated the following season, Megson and West Brom soon returned to the Premier League for the 04/05 season with the help of newly installed Jeremy Peace’s financial prudence. Megson is currently doing a good job at Bolton, after ill spell times at Nottingham Forest and Leicester City but doesn’t look like adding to his two promotions at any time soon.
Steve Bruce took Birmingham City up twice in 01/02 and 06/07. Birmingham beat his old club Norwich City on penalties in the playoff final to win promotion in 2002 and lasted until their relegation in 2006. Bruce soon took his team back up in sluggish fashion as they finished second place to Sunderland after Derby County’s defeat at Crystal Palace in 2007.
Paul Jewell remains the last body of this list. He famously won promotion with Bradford City back in 1999 before leading Wigan Athletic to the top flight for the ever first time in their history in 2005. His third attempt with Derby County did not go quite to plan as the team struggled immensely throughout this season, Jewell was eventually replaced by Nigel Clough to postpone his search of a ‘hat-trick’ of promotions.
This season Mick McCarthy (Wolves), Dave Jones (Cardiff) and Neil Warnock (Crystal Palace), all look to join this select group of men that have achieved promotion twice.
Nevertheless, it leaves Steve Coppell to become the first manager who can claim a third promotion to the Promised Land. No mean feat indeed.

Accommodating Keane

Robbie Keane exclusion from the Liverpool Squad seems bemusing for many fans and critics alike. Against Chelsea, his presence wasn’t necessarily needed and it seems that he would have taken up a valuable place on the bench.
Many fanatics, me included, thought Keane was brought in to support Fernando Torres up top but as time wore on, it became obviously recognisable that he could not fit into the Liverpool ‘offensive structure’.
Well Torres was always going to have that starting berth up-front ahead of Keane. Torres is practically irreplaceable. Keane was brought in not to replace him but to support him as one of the attacking three midfielders as he finds it difficult to lead the line. He doesn’t have the discipline or the tolerance to wait for the ball to come to him; he needs to be involved in play. He is endlessly dropping back deep to receive the ball, virtually becoming a part of the midfield. That is not necessarily a criticism, his youthful exuberance is a joy to watch but his style does not suit the lone role up-front where Torres excels.
If Steven Gerrard were to be injured, it would be expected that Keane would slot into his position as both players use similar areas to receive the ball and create space. Keane is not the player Gerrard is by any means but it seems that Keane was brought in as an overpriced spare man to play in the absence of his captain. In a 4-4-2, formation with Gerrard on the right side of midfield might ideally work for Keane but that is not getting the most out of Liverpool’s prodigal son.
Where else could Keane play?
The hard crafting Dirk Kuyt has made the right attacking midfield position his own though his sheer hard work. He is one of Rafa Benitez’s favourites and the stunning performances of newcomer Albert Riera certainly adds character to that left side, a position that was troublesome last year. Therefore, these positions are a no go.
Understandably, Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun are ahead of Keane on the subs bench for the left and right midfield positions. Benitez is more likely to substitute Kuyt or Riera so that is why Babel and Benayoun would be on the bench ahead of Keane.
The highly talented David Ngog has been given the substitute striker position on the bench where the manager believes that the young Frenchman can play the lone striker role better than Keane. It doesn’t justify Liverpool paying £20.3 million in the first place.
Keane realistically cannot play to his full capacity out on the wings and it would be difficult, almost damn near impossible to surpass Gerrard in that central role. Yes, he did replace the captain at the game at Wigan but that is very much a rarity. Benitez probably thought Liverpool would win the game early and give Gerrard a much-needed rest.
Keane will play regularly if Gerrard is ruled out for injury or suspension but no fan nor football supporter alike would like that (well expect Manchester United fans). Keane was not dropped from the squad on bad form; Benitez simply didn’t include him as it made sense. Gerrard was needed for the whole game against Chelsea and Everton, simple as that.