Have Fulham found a replacment already?

Just two days ago I wrote about Bobby Zamora singing a new contract at Fulham, but just typical of the cruel luck that is often associated with the sport, the Fulham forward suffered a horrific leg break in his very next game he played.

You can’t help but feel the pain for the likeable Zamora. You feel that this was the year in which he would push on and become a regular in the England squad; however bouncing back from this injury will take an immense amount of work and courage. Thankfully Zamora has courage and determination in abundance.

But like these take a big recovery. I fear that the reported four-month absence that is been branded around will only be the tip of the iceberg. While Zamora may be fit enough to return to training in four months, I worry that he won’t be back to match sharpness for some considerable time after.

Fortunately for Fulham fans it appears as if the loss of Zamora may be minimised with the emergence of new signing Moussa Dembele. The Belgian striker is already looking like an astute bit of business by Cottagers manger Mark Hughes.

Dembele arrived from AZ Alkmaar for a fee of around £5million earlier this summer and after scoring both goals in yesterdays 2-1 win over Wolves is already becoming a real favourite in West London.

Hughes his hopeful that the 23-year-old can help fill the void left by Zamora saying: “It was a real disappointment to lose Bobby but Moussa is an exciting player. Whenever he’s in possession you think something will happen. There aren’t many players like that in the Premier League at the moment.”

But hopefully Hughes will be able to turn to Zamora and Dembele in the not so distant future, and hopefully Zamora will bounce back from his devastating injury, because he was in superb form.

What do you think? Can Dembele replace Zamora? How much will Fulham miss their talismanic striker?

The sale of Robinho has marked the end of an era for Manchester City. The Brazilian arrived with high expectations of taking City to the next level and in a strange way he has sort lived up to the expectations.

City fans will look back fondly to the day of Robinho’s arrival. He signing was the marquee singing on that eventful day and somebody that would make the world take notice of City’s new millions.

While his on the field impact was limited scoring just 16 times during his time at Eastlands ( a cost of over £2 million a goal) the Brazilian served his purpose and was able to help City gradually bring in the better standard of players they desired.

It was at this point that Robinho began to fall out of favour with City’s management. He was no longer required to have an impact on the field mainly because his attitude didn’t fit in with either Mark Hughes or Roberto Mancini’s method.

City no longer needed Robinho and the loan move to Santos only held up the forwards investable departure from Manchester, but as I suggested before I don’t think City will look back on Robinho’s signing as a failure.

He may have come with a huge price and an astronomical wages but he has helped to put City on the map. Without the signing of Robinho on that day back in 2008 you feel that City might have found it hard to attract the likes of Carlos Tevez and Emmanuel Adebayor the following summer. From then on though Robinho had served his purpose and the fact that City managed to sell him for a reported £22milion is only a mere bonus.

But he has now set a worrying trend for the likes of Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz who look set to move on sooner rather than later. With City’s millions they will always be looking to better the squad. The worry for those players will be that if a top player becomes available, will Mancini or whoever is in charge at the time will opt to move players out once again.

In a strange yet understandable move, Hull City Chairman Adam Pearson has removed Phil Brown from his position as manager at the struggling side. It strikes me as strange as Brown has been moved on after an impressive, if limited, performance against Arsenal on Saturday. Removal after the dismal showing against Everton the week previously would have made much more sense.

Pearson, on Radio5 this evening, has claimed that the new manager will be in place and revealed to the world on Thursday morning. Though the rumours sweeping Hull tonight would point to a name to strike fear in to the heart of any fan of football but more of that later. Brown leaves after three and quarter years which have seen unqualified success for the Tigers.

Of course, the last year or so has seen them struggle to retain their Premiership status, but by reaching the top tier for the first time in Hull City’s history and then staying up last season, still ranks as Hull’s brightest moment so far. I always liked the fact that Phil Brown always, always referred to it when questioned about Hull’s current form. Today, even when departing the K.C. Stadium, he still found time to mention it. “Although I am extremely sad to be leaving Hull City, I am very proud of my achievements during my time as manager, especially having led the team into the top flight of football for the first time in the club’s 104-year history and ahead of schedule.”

So Brown leaves and the job isn’t too unattractive, regardless of the position that the Tigers find themselves in. 9 games left and with any 2 teams in the bottom 6 capable of joining the doomed Portsmouth in being relegated to the Premiership. Keep them up and the new man becomes an instant hero, as long as he doesn’t attempt a karaoke on the K.C. Stadium pitch at the end of the match. I don’t think I could stomach that again.

Despite the connotations and the misguided opinion that Hull is not a football town, Hull City is an attractive offer. A super little stadium, excellent facilities and the potential to keep growing with the right level of support and investment. So which exciting and dynamic manager are Hull being strongly linked with? Sit down, you may need a strong drink to cope with this news.

By all accounts, chairman Adam Pearson is favoring giving the job to Gary Megson. Yes, Gary Megson. Hated by every set of fans of every club he’s managed, with the exception of West Bromwich Albion, sacked from five of his last 6 jobs. I have to say, I shook my head when I heard the news. Apparently Pearson was going to give the job to Megson back in 2006, but appointed Brown instead. Can someone explain to me how Megson keeps getting work?

At his last 3 jobs, he’s managed Forest, Leicester and Bolton in 166 games and won 47 of them. An earth shattering win percentage of 28%. Quite how he keeps getting work staggers me. I can’t understand it at all. Yet in the time it took me to write this sentence he apparently can’t take the job due to the terms of his severance package from Bolton Wanderers. I could hear the sigh of relief from Hull City fans over here!

So Pearson has made his move and he will attempt to maneuver someone who can attempt to keep Hull City up. I’ll miss Phil Brown though, I always thought he was refreshing honest, though the media used that against him in some quarters. I’ll miss him turning up on Goals on Sunday wearing a pink sweater draped suggestively over his shoulders, his never diminishing tan and his sartorial elegance on the touchline.

Hull City fans will hope that Megson is unable to join them, because they’re dead in the water if he gets them. Mark Hughes would be an inspired choice if they can get him and he can try an infuse the club with the tenacity that he brought to his time as Wales and Blackburn manager. Come the next couple of days, we’ll know exactly who will be the man charged with saving Hull City. Who do you think Hull City should appoint?

With just over 15 weeks left until the 19th World Cup begins in South Africa and one player is making a real case to force his way in to the starting line up. Joe Hart could have been put out by Manchester City signing Shay Given last January, a smack in the face for his aspirations to make himself City’s number one. Thankfully for Hart, Alex McLeish rode to the rescue in the summer taking the young stopper to Birmingham City on a season long loan and what an inspired piece of business it has turned out to be.

Of course, at the beginning of the season, Hart seemed a little unsure of his surroundings and his place at St. Andrews but over the last few months, he has been head and shoulders above every other English goalkeeper in the Premiership. Week by week, Hart’s performances have left his club manager purring and now Fabio Capello has re-affirmed the praise for the shot stopper by announcing he’ll start the friendly match against Egypt next week.

Capello’s reign has been pointed in the fact that he has been careful not to build his players up too much, but saw fit to break from that tradition last week. FAbio stated that “Hart has been fantastic this season and before he made mistakes but he makes fewer now because he plays regularly and has more confidence”. That is a ringing endorsement of the likable Shropshire lad and he now has a chance to make the Number One jersey his own.

With David James embroiled in the daily hell that is Portsmouth’s season, Ben Foster unable to make it on Manchester United’s bench most weeks, though he started tonight’s match against West Ham United and Paul Robinson still seemingly out of favour, Hart has a real chance of taking his place in the starting line up. Of his other rivals for the shirt, Robert Green still shows massive inconsistency on a regular basis, Chris Kirkland’s injury problems still linger in the background and Scott Carson is still making errors in the Championship.

Since he forced his way in to Shrewsbury’s first team back in 2005, ending the season as the Second Division Goalkeeper of the year, Hart has long been expected to eventually force his way in to being an England regular. A consistent performer for England Under 21′s, who showed the strength of his nerves by saving and then scoring a penalty against Sweden in last summers Under-21 European Championships, Hart has now brought that consistency to his league form.

The majority of England’s first team picks itself, but it’s in defence where Capello will beginning to have real concerns about the strength, confidence and fitness. Ashley Cole faces a race to be fit and his wife has left him today, Glen Johnson has also suffered from injury this season, Ferdinand still seems to be struggling with his back and the less said about John Terry the better. Would it be too much to expect Joe Hart to be able to cope with such a fragile looking backline in front of him.

Of course, 15 weeks is a long time in football and all the concerns that currently hang over the English defence may have evaporated by then and Joe Hart will be walking out with the England team for the match against the U.S.A. on June 12th in Rustenberg. I for one would have no fear for the young lad representing us at the World Cup as our starting goalkeeper and I look forward to him starting against Egypt next Wednesday night.

It was the marquee signing that announced that Manchester City had money to burn and were determined to usurp the comfy old pals act at the top of the Premiership. Fans flocked to Eastlands in tea-towels to show their new Arabic allegiance and the shock that seemed to follow such a transfer.  £32.5 million had brought Robinho from Real Madrid to Manchester in a matter of hours and English football was in shock.

At first, the plaudits rained down on the little Brazilian as his pace and trickery dazzled the fans and replica kits bearing his name flew out of the club shop. Sheik Mansour had offered the highest profile player he could lay his hands on as that frenetic day came to a conclusion with City making bids all over Europe. The City fans were in raptures but every silver lining has a cloud.

For some reason, Robinho’s form began to tail off and soon it became evident that he simply didn’t perform away from Eastlands. Almost anonymous for most of the away games he appeared in, it took until April last year for the player to finally turn it on in an away game. Facing a tough trip to Goodison, he was effervescent throughout the game and showed true glimpses of his undoubted skill. 9 months later, a game at the same opponents has Robinho’s critics sharpening their knives.

I don’t think anyone can honestly understand how low a player feels when you join as a  substitute only to be then substituted. It sickens you to the stomach, unless injury has forced you off and that can still rankle as much. Similarly to being substituted at half time, the effect on the footballers psyche is deep and unremitting. To put it bluntly, it hurts like hell and everyone can see it. Pride and shame bubble up from deep inside you, you hope a giant hole will appear to swallow you up but it never arrives.

This event happening in a Sunday morning pub league is bad enough but in front of 37,728 fans and millions more watching around the world it’s almost catastrophic. The effect can be spirit crushing, especially for such a precocious and mentally delicate player as Robson De Souza clearly is. I appreciate that Mancini has to be strong and coming from Internazionale, he is used to dealing with the largest of ego’s but is Robinho egotistical or simply one of those players that constantly needs to be told how good he is? For me it’s the latter.

It’s difficult to explain why some players constantly need to be told how good they are, despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary. Everyone knows they’re good, so surely they must realise it also? It doesn’t work like that, inside your head, you don’t think like that, you don’t think you are that good, you don’t think you can do it every game. Think that’s infuriating for a fan? How do you think the player feels?

Away from home, opponents can figure out players like this, it’s easy. A bit of needle, a few choice words, a foot left in the tackle a little bit longer than it should be or a body check is all it takes to get the player questioning himself. At home, the fans can make you shake the cobwebs out of your head, clear your mind and get you focused back on your abilities and shut out the opposition and their fans baying for your blood.Away from home, it is a very different ball game. Robinho can be talked out of a match away from Eastlands.

Just because someone cost £32.5 million doesn’t make them immune to bouts of self doubt or a loss of confidence or form. Robinho is clearly a confidence player who needs an arm around the shoulder to keep him on side. Regardless of the image and the wages, it’s the battle inside your mind that makes you the player who you really are. Once Robinho can deal with his own self doubts and lack of confidence, then he will truly unlock all of his potential. Mancini needs to show patience and guide him, rather than chastise him.

In his WSJ column, Gabriele Marcotti brings up the dearth of British managers at the top of English football.  Seven of the 20 Premier League managers are foreign.  Sir Alex Ferguson is the only British manager among the so-called “Big Four.”  Manchester City dumping Mark Hughes for Roberto Mancini seems only to exacerbate this trend.

Many in England believe this indicates domestic managers aren’t given a fair chance.  As Marcotti notes, Harry Redknapp expressed this sentiment in his column for the Sun.  “If any manager lower down the football pyramid believes they will get a big club…They won’t.  They simply won’t get a look in.  No chances will be taken.”

Such a sentiment is attractive, seemingly sensible, but ultimately ludicrous.

Viewing England’s top four as fixed entities is tempting and convenient, but it’s untrue.  Alex Ferguson inherited Manchester United in the 1980s and built the team into a perennial fixture.  Arsene Wenger did the same with Arsenal in the 1990s.  These managers joined clubs with resources and potential and built them.

British managers have had similar opportunities.

Sam Allardyce accepted the job at Newcastle, a large, heavy-spending club.  He failed and was finished by January.

Manchester City gave Mark Hughes a blank check.  He spent hundreds of millions.  He either bought poorly or managed the talent at his disposal poorly, but whatever he did it was poorly.  He was fired.

Harry Redknapp, the author of the aforementioned quotation, has the opportunity this season to finish in the top four.  He has been given ample talent.  He has a favorable league position.  He needs to lead them there.

Newcastle (before relegation), Manchester City and Tottenham were big jobs, similar to Arsenal and Man U once upon a time.  The clubs are among the wealthiest in Europe.  The resources are there.  They just need to use them correctly.

The most prominent British managers, men like Hughes Redknapp and Allardyce, have had opportunities to get to the top.  They didn’t take them.

British managers are not victims of structure.  They need no subsidy.  They just need to show ambition, take the initiative and perform better.

So it’s official then, Owen Coyle will be the new manager of Bolton Wanderers and Burnley now have to find the right man to replace him as they look to continue the good work this season has produced. It is crucial that the chairman, Barry Kilby, makes the right decision in who to appoint as Coyle’s successor at Turf Moor.

Without wanting to state the obvious, it is paramount to Burnley’s continued success this season that the right man is given the job. That means the chairman has to avoid being star struck when the same old names come calling for the vacancy. Get it right and Burnley’s home form should see them stay up. Make the wrong decision and the club could spiral to the foot of the table in weeks.

Whilst Kilby should be rightly lauded for appointing Coyle in the first place, I don’t think anyone could have predicted just how much of an effect he would have on the sleeping giant. Stabilising the club by keeping them in the Championship and slowly building, improving the side year on year would have been a wonderful achievement. He surpassed all that when they won the play off final with their highest finish to a season since 1976.

Yet, you only have to look back to the mid nineties to see the age old disease that afflicts certain chairman. They get star struck and with the tenures of Adrian Heath and Chris Waddle still in the minds of Burnley fans, the last thing the club needs is a ex-footballer who thinks he can manage in the Premiership. They need someone who knows the demands of Premiership football and what the club means to the fans. It is not an easy decision for the club to make but they have to keep their eye on the prize.

It also means avoiding such arch self publicists as Graham Souness, Ruud Guillit, Bryan Robson and Gianluca Vialli. Men who’s reputations are fanned by the hero worship dished out to them as pundits on Sky Sports. Ignore their failings as managers, they’ve won countless trophies as players, men such as Tony Cottee who took over a Barnet side flying high only to completely destroy them in less than 5 months. Star struck chairman should be banned.

So I had a look on the League Managers Association Website earlier, to see who was available on their list. Oddly, Souness, Vialli and Guillit are still touting their wares, but a couple of oddities appeared. Burnley’s two previous managers before Coyle, the overrated Steve Cotterill and the universally detested Stan Ternent are still on there.  In fact most of the list reads as a who not to give the job too, with John Barnes and Tony Adams still refusing to realise their limitations and the ever popular Gary Megson available if you want to alienate your entire fan base.

Yet there are some stand out candidates, firstly Alan Curbishley is there, as is Mark Hughes and Steve Coppell. Former Scotland manager George Burley and  Paul Jewell are still available. For me, those are the 5 top options of unemployed managers that the LMA are offering. Curbishley wouldn’t probably want to move so far North and probably Coppell is wrestling with the idea of returning to Reading no doubt.

It may be too soon for Mark Hughes to return to the game so quickly after his ignomious exit from Manchester City which leaves Burley and Jewell. Burley proved at Ipswich that he could work on a tight budget, play effective and attractive football and earn promotion whilst at Ipswich. What he has against him is his failure to deal with bigger name players and keep sides in the Premiership. Jewell also has proved an ability to make a purse out of a sows ear, as his spells at Bradford City and Wigan Athletic showed.

Jewell though is still tainted by his awful spell at Derby County and Burley proved in his third Premiership season with Ipswich and during his time as Scotland manager, he just can’t handle big name players. He was also tainted with a torrid spell at Pride Park, which begs the question, what happens to managers at Derby County?? So would going after a manager currently employed be the answer?

Looking outside the Premiership though only seems to point to one candidate who could cope with the job and the pressure of Premier League football. He’s managed an international side and took a team from non league to the cusp of promotion to the Championship. He then took over another sleeping giant and took them up before almost taking them to the Premiership in 2008. That man is Gary Johnson at Bristol City and I believe he’s the only man out there for the job at Burnley.

Now, don’t laugh but I honestly feel he’d be perfect for the job and would keep Burnley up. The only downside is that potentially, Bristol City are a bigger club, with a larger fan base. This season, they’re averaging 14,553 fans a game, whilst Burnley are almost at capacity with 20,344. Promotion for Bristol City would be a massive boost for the area, and with plans to move the club to a 30,000 seater stadium by 2011, with option to increase it to 42,000, would Johnson give all that up for a crack at the Premiership? It’d be a tough ask, but if they could get him, then they should bite his hand off. Just don’t give it to one of the usual suspects, it’d be curtains for Burnley.

For every Ronaldo, there’s a Shevchenko. Sometimes, great reputations come at a great cost yet fail to deliver. Shevchenko is a great player to start with. Feared throughout Europe, his performances for Dynamo Kiev and A.C. Milan saw him become one of the most lethal strikers in the world. Once he arrived at Stamford Bridge, his reputation began to fall apart.

Yet these things happen. Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, some players cannot settle. Yet others flourish when they were expected to fail. Now we look at some of the worst signings in the last ten years and ask ourselves, did Juan Sebastian Veron really cost £43 million for English clubs alone!!

Well over the years, especially as the Premiership’s international appeal has grown, we now find ourselves in a situation were probably as case can be made for a large chunk of the best players in the world currently ply their trade in England. From Rooney to Torres, Essien to Mascherano, every team offers us a plethora of international flavour. Now let’s cast our eyes over some of my selections for the worst signings this decade in no particular order.

1. Juan Sebastian Veron £43.6 million

Now Veron’s failure to cope with the Premiership is something I still can’t get to grips with. His international pedigree was assured, he’d pulled the strings for Lazio and Parma during a 5 year spell in Italy, he was a top player. The failure of the Little Witch to adapt to the Premiership still astounds me. Manchester United paid £28.1 million for him, but off loaded him 2 years later to Chelsea, were he continued to under-perform. A return to Italy at Inter Milan never saw him recapture his form and he has now returned to Argentinian football.

2. Andrey Shevchenko £30.8 million

As I’ve mentioned earlier, a striker with one of the most feared reputations in Europe caused Chelsea to change their system and lose their way a little under Jose Mourinho. Rumours abound that the Special One never wanted him at Stamford Bridge but since he joined Chelsea, his career has taken a nose dive. Even a return to A.C. Milan couldn’t recapture his glory days and he has now returned to Kiev. It was like watching a different player when he was at Chelsea, he just couldn’t cope with the game.

3. Sergei Rebrov £11 million

Oddly, Shevchenko’s strike partner failed to adapt to the English game also, but his refusal to accept black players as team mates meant that he was always going to struggle. Perhaps a little more digging in to his personal life would have avoided an £11 million mistake for Tottenham Hotspur in 2000.  Made a return to publicity when Spurs signed Roman Pavlychenko, warning him about the amount of “Non-whites” in the Tottenham area. A thoroughly horrible man, the Premiership is better for his absence.

4. Fernando Morientes £6.5 million

Another striker with a fearsome reputation who looked as if he’d been kidnapped and replaced by a stand in when he joined Liverpool in January 2005. It was especially strange as the season before, he’d had a marvelous campaign in the Champions League with Monaco and a solid reputation forged for Real Madrid and Spain. He just never got going at Anfield and returned to Spain after just 18 months.

5. David Bentley £15 million

Bentley had forged an excellent reputation under Mark Hughes at Blackburn Rovers but his spell at Tottenham has seen him under perform constantly. That goal against Arsenal was expected to be the catalyst but Aaron Lennon’s continued excellent form has seen him become a peripheral player at his beloved Tottenham. It’s simply not worked for him and the problem is no one can work out why.

6. Jean Alain Boumsong £8.2 million

This transfer still makes me laugh, as it was a ludicrous amount of money for a centre half who struggled to cope with Scottish football during his spell at Rangers. Yet, if you want someone to pay over the odds, who better than Graeme Souness to come to your rescue. Never coped while he was at St James’ Park, he was moved on to Juventus and struggled in Serie B before joining Lyon.

7. Albert Luque £9.5 million

Another one of Souness’ signings during his awful spell as Newcastle manager, Luque came highly rated but never saw his career take off at all in the North East. He’d had three excellent seasons at Deportivo but since his two year hell at Newcastle his career has collapsed. Another dreadful Souness signing that never recovered to show his early potential.

8. Bosko Balaban £6 million

Was highly rated when John Gregory signed him for Aston Villa but in his 30 month spell he never started a game or scored a goal. The long running joke amongst Villa fans was that they’d actually signed the wrong player but he was signed as a goal getting striker. On leaving Villa he continued to score goals but will always be remembered for the goalless spell at Villa Park.

9. Steve Marlet £11.5 million

The signing that brought the end to Jean Tigana’s reign as Fulham manager and caused a legal battle with the chairman of Fulham, Marlet was an unmitigated disaster. 11 goals in 4 years says it all and he is currently without a club. Though how he was ever valued at £11.5 million after scoring just 13 goals in 2 seasons at Lyon still mystifies me.

10. Robbie Keane £20 million

Poor old Robbie Keane thought he’d gone to heaven when Spurs grudgingly accepted a hefty bid for the Liverpool supporting Irishman. Yet, unbeknown to Keane, Benitez didn’t want him and he became a pawn in an internal battle between Rick Parry and Rafa Benitez. 6 months later he was on his way back to White Hart Lane for the remainder of the fee that Liverpool owed Spurs, so effectively the Reds paid £8 million for a 6 month loan deal. Has never looked the same player since he returned either.

11. Francis Jeffers £8 million

Arsene Wengers most expensive mistake, Jeffers was supposedly the fox in the box the Gunners needed as the long term replacement for Ian Wright. Yet Jeffers’ attitude had caused him to be gladly sold by Everton and his career has seen him fall down the leagues, failing to score or stay fit for than a month a time. A shining example of wasted potential, he scored on his England debut in 2001 and it was all down hill from there. Is frighteningly still 28, currently injured at Sheffield Wednesday.

So, any thoughts on who you feel was the worst Premiership signing of the last 10 years? Please leave your comments below.

It should be plainly obvious to any football fan with half a brain that Craig Bellamy is looking at the front door.

From the moment that his fellow Welshman Mark Hughes was sacked at Manchester City, reports emerged that Bellamy was preparing to hand in a transfer request. Just days later, Bellamy and new boss Roberto Mancini reportedly clashed over Bellamy’s training regimen, which Hughes created to help Bellamy with a recurring knee problem. Mancini might plead ignorance to Bellamy’s knock and attempt to smooth things out with one of his new side’s top goal scorers, but the Italian’s reputation for being a “no-nonsense” manager would suggest that he won’t tolerate someone as combustable as Bellamy in his locker room for long — especially given Bellamy’s history of falling out with replacement managers.

This combination makes Bellamy a prime target in the January transfer window for any club looking to bolster its strike force. Despite Bellamy’s popularity at Eastlands, Man City has no shortage of attacking options and could use the cash from Bellamy’s sale to bolster its sagging defense. Perhaps the only question is where Bellamy might land.

I can immediately think of three clubs that might be interested in this player’s services.

1.) Tottenham Hotspur.

This appears to be early favorite. Harry Redknapp lost out to Hughes in his attempt to lure Bellamy away from West Ham a year ago, so it’s no surprise that this rumor has already emerged in the press. Redknapp seems keen to sell any striker at White Hart Lane that’s not named Crouch or Defoe, so he’ll need another option at forward. Bellamy’s pace and ability to play on the wings would also give Redknapp a bit more flexibility in team selection. Plus, Spurs’ European ambitions would suit Bellamy just fine, thank you.

2.) Liverpool.

Unlike his departure from Newcastle, Bellamy left Liverpool on fairly good terms and seemed to like Rafa Benitez well enough. He also remains popular with the Anfield faithful — many of whom probably wish they, too, could have a go at John Arne Riise with a 5-iron — so his return would likely be a welcome one. Liverpool remains short on options up front beyond Fernando Torres, and if Benitez could work Bellamy and his scoring into the lineup with Torres and Steven Gerrard, the Reds’ attack might instantly become more formidable than it’s been all season. That just might give the Reds a better chance of finishing 4th and retaining their Champions League status. Much like Redknapp, however, Benitez would have to sell players before he could buy Bellamy, which means if he’s interested in making this move, he would have to act quickly.

3.) Fulham.

Roy Hodgson, meanwhile, hasn’t shown any real interest in Bellamy. Perhaps he should. With Andy Johnson still injured and Fulham still looking for a proven goal scorer beyond the erratic (though currently in-form) Bobby Zamora, Bellamy might fit in quite nicely at Craven Cottage, where he could link up with Zamora, Clint Dempsey, Damien Duff and Danny Murphy to produce a more potent attack. Plus, unlike Tottenham, Fulham could offer Bellamy European football right now. The Cottagers have a date with Shakhtar Donetsk in February and a potential shot at Juventus in March. Those challenges might be appealing to Bellamy.

Of course, all three of these clubs might struggle to come up with the £10 million or more that will likely be required to pull Bellamy away from Eastlands. There’s little doubt, however, that this fiery forward wants out. He was loyal to Hughes where the club’s ownership was not, and a falling out with Mancini — which has potential to be as nasty as his falling out with Graeme Souness five years ago — seems as inevitable as a rainy English winter. Let’s just hope that in the meantime, the new manager has enough sense  to hide those golf clubs.

Press conferences in England are hardly ever tame experiences (ask Joe Kinnear), but Monday’s unveiling of Roberto Mancini as the new manager of Manchester City didn’t go particularly well for City chief executive Garry Cook.

The City chief executive, who is not a fan favorite, stepped in to answer questions from journalists about the sequence of events in previous weeks that led to the removal of Mark Hughes and the appointment of Mancini. The topic become more heated when Mancini revealed he had met with the City executives as early as the first week of December, which was earlier than City’s official announcement had indicated.

Watch the above video to see how uncomfortable Cook is as he leans forward to try to take control of the situation and then begins banging the table before he’s rescued by his publicity director  who tries to get the press conference back on topic.

What do you think? Did chief executive Garry Cook lie to the fans of Manchester City?