Several EPL coaches, officials, and footballers have recently praised the new homegrown rule that forces EPL clubs to only name 25 active footballers on their roster for the duration of the season with 8 being considered homegrown, but many fans and footballers alike have pointed out the obvious fact that the rule can be easily manipulated and that young English players are not always guaranteed a spot on the roster even with the new rule.

Take Arsenal’s recent roster announcement as proof. The Gunners have zero English players listed on their current 20 man roster including their 7 homegrown spots due to the teenage acquisition of footballers like Spanish-born Cesc Fabregas.  But Blackpool, on the other hand, does have 15 homegrown players currently on their roster with 12 of the 15 being eligible for the England national team.

And although I do agree with the concept of trying to figure out ways of involving young British-born players into the ambitious 25 man EPL rosters, I still doubt that this method is the best way of doing so. In my opinion it only will continue to motivate clubs to transfer over young international players of great promise rather than settling for young English prospects simply because they are supposed to.

The best English players will find a way onto the pitch simply because they are good enough to play. Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, are examples of English-born players that didn’t need any domestic rule to help them make their respected squads. But forcing teams to put English players on their team will not necessarily make the national team any better considering the various loopholes in order to prevent this from happening.

Teams will only recruit more young blue chip players from other countries and focus more on developing their youth system with these prospects instead. Besides as Fergie and Capello have recently pointed out is there any proof that playing in the EPL fulltime will help England’s odds of hoisting the Cup? The Premier League is trying to aid England’s national team hopes, but if they really want to do so then they will reduce the grueling 50 plus game schedule for top four clubs in the league.

Because too much time on the pitch can be a bad thing for English footballers as well. 

photo credit: zoonabar

The ongoing anti-Glazer protests by a vocal minority of Manchester United fans seems to be having an effect as Manchester United have announced that they have failed to reach their target of season ticket sales this summer,

On not reaching their goal, Man United’s chief executive David Gill tried to spin it like this:

“I’ll be clear on that. Last year our target was 54,000 season tickets, we’ve sold 51,800, which is pretty good in the current climate. We’ve sold more season tickets than the capacity of most Premier League grounds. Our executive seat sales are on track as compared with last year in a different market. I think the bare facts are that the club is in good financial shape. The ticket sales have held up. We sold out for Newcastle and West Ham but we are not complacent and we’ve got to keep working to make sure that we fill the ground for every game and we’ll do that by playing great football, attractive football, exciting football that brings fans in.”

What Gill does not mention was that as recently as two years ago Manchester United had over 24,000 people on a waiting list for season tickets. That list has now vanished.

I am sure the economy has had an impact on some Man Utd fans not renewing, or buying, season tickets, but there is no doubt that the anti-Glazer sentiment is playing a major role in fans not buying tickets.

Manchester United chief executive David Gill recently admitted that the club failed to reach their targeted season ticket number of 54,000 by only a few thousand this season. And of course the Green and Gold protest against the Glazer’s ownership of the franchise is likely the result of why the club could not reach the reasonable goal.

But considering how close the organization came to the milestone number and the fact that ticket sales for all sporting events have declined in the last few years due to a tough economic time across the globe, the near successful result still was considered to be “pretty good” by Gill’s assessment. And perhaps if the Red Devils fail to win the EPL title or at least allow the race to go down to the wire then that number of season ticket holders will continue to drop year by year, but one thing I know for sure is that Manchester United’s number of supporters at the moment grossly outweighs the Glazer’s American owned franchise of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The NFL squad will be experiencing their first ever season-long blackout of televised matches this year and that is due to the club’s inability to sellout any single game this upcoming year. The Buccaneers are not the only club in the NFL that will experience blackouts this season as the league will experience the most ever to date. But similar to their Manchester United friends, the number of season ticket holders is beginning to lessen each and every year.

But Gill still saw the positive numbers in the dwindling Old Trafford crowds and did point out that the club is still selling out plenty of upcoming matches this season and is in good financial waters at the moment:

We’ve sold more season tickets than the capacity of most Premier League grounds. Our executive seat sales are on track as compared with last year in a different market. I think the bare facts are that the club is in good financial shape. The ticket sales have held up. We sold out for Newcastle and West Ham but we are not complacent and we’ve got to keep working to make sure that we fill the ground for every game and we’ll do that by playing great football, attractive football, exciting football that brings fans in.

And Red Devils manager Alex Ferguson did stress several times this off season that the club’s supporters needed to cheer on the team instead of rooting against them due to their grudge with the thrifty ownership group. As for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers no other team in the NFL has spent fewer dollars on their current roster then last year’s third worst team in the league.

For the first time Premier League teams had to name a 25-man squad for the first half of the EPL season and there was a couple of surprises.

All 20 clubs had to submit a squad of up to 25 players containing no more than 17 players who do not qualify as homegrown. Homegrown players are classed as players who “irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday”.

U21 players (born on or after January 1 1989) do not have to count towards the 25-man squads. Changes to the squads can be made in January.

Liverpool were only able to name 21 senior players in their 25-man squad as Rafa Benitez’s Spanish invasion left Liverpool short of home-grown players. Chelsea are in a similar situation as they could only name four homegrown players in their squad and as a result they only have 19 senior players in their squad. A rash of injuries to either Liverpool or Chelsea players could mean that their title ambitions will depend on the performance of a lot of young kids.

Left out of the Spurs squad was Jonathan Woodgate as Harry Redknapp decided to omit the injury-plagued defender who has a chronic groin problem. Woodgate made only three appearances last season and has not played at all since November. Specialist surgery in both America and Australia proved unsuccessful and Redknapp believes the player is in danger of having to retire.

Another former England player Owen Hargreaves got some good news today as Manchester United included him in their squad. Hargreaves has made only one substitute appearance in the last two years as he battles tendinitis in his knees.

Official squads
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Andrey Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner, Marouane Chamakh, Gael Clichy, Denilson, Abou Diaby, Johan Djourou, Emmanuel Eboue, Lukasz Fabianski, Cesc Fabregas, Laurent Koscielny, Vito Mannone, Samir Nasri, Tomas Rosicky, Bacary Sagna, Alexandre Song, Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen, Sebastien Squillaci.

Aston Villa: Brad Friedel; Brad Guzan; James Collins; Carlos Cuellar; Curtis Davies; Habib Beye; Richard Dunne; Eric Lichaj; Stephen Warnock; Luke Young; Stewart Downing; Jonathan Hogg; Stephen Ireland; Isaiah Osbourne; Stiliyan Petrov; Nigel Reo-Coker; Moustapha Salifou; Steve Sidwell; Ashley Young; Gabriel Agbonlahor; John Carew; Emile Heskey.

Birmingham: Maik Taylor, Stephen Carr, David Murphy, Lee Bowyer, Roger Johnson, Liam Ridgewell, Sebastian Larsson, Craig Gardner, Kevin Phillips, Cameron Jerome, Garry O’Connor, Barry Ferguson, Colin Doyle, Matt Derbyshire, Scott Dann, James McFadden, Michel, Keith Fahy, Nikola Zigic, Stuart Parnaby, Alexander Hleb, Jean Beausejour, Ben Foster, Martin Jiranek, James O’Shea.

Blackburn: Paul Robinson, Martin Olsson, Chris Samba, Gael Givet, Ryan Nelsen, Brett Emerton, David Dunn, Nikola Kalinic, El-Hadji Diouf, Vince Grella, Morten Gamst Pedersen, Mark Bunn, Steven Nzonzi, Keith Andrews, Michel Salgado, Jason Brown, Frank Fielding, Pascal Chimbonda, Mame Biram Diouf, Jason Roberts, Benjani.

Blackpool: Charlie Adam, Alex John-Baptiste, Chris Basham, Stephen Crainey, Malaury Martin, Daniel Coid, Ishmael Demontagnac, Neal Eardley, Robert Edwards, Jaso Euell, Ian Evatt, Matthew Gilks, Elliot Grandin, Marlon Harewood, Dekel Keinan, Brett Ormerod, Keith Southern, Ludovic Sylvestre, Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Luke Varney, David Vaughan, DJ Campbell, David Carney.

Bolton: Robbie Blake, Adam Bogdan, Gary Cahill, Tamir Cohen, Kevin Davies, Mark Davies, Sean Davis, Johan Elmander, Ricardo Gardner, Stuart Holden, Jussi Jaaskalainen, Ivan Klasnic, Zat Knight, Chung Yong-lee, Fabrice Muamba, Andy O’Brien, Joey O’Brien, Martin Petrov, Sam Ricketts, Paul Robinson, Jlloyd Samuel, Gretar Steinsson, Matt Taylor, Al Al-Habsi.

Chelsea: Petr Cech, Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Michael Essien, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Yossi Benayoun, Didier Drogba, John Mikel Obi, Florent Malouda, Jose Bosingwa, Yury Zhirkov, Paulo Ferreira, Salomon Kalou, Ross Turnbull, John Terry, Alex, Nicolas Anelka, Henrique Hilario, Daniel Sturridge, Patrick van Aanholt, Jeffrey Bruma, Gael Kakuta, Fabio Borini, Josh McEachran.

Everton: Tim Howard, Mikel Arteta, Jan Mucha, Steven Pienaar, Iain Turner, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Tony Hibbert, Phil Neville, Seamus Coleman, Tim Cahill, Phil Jagielka, Louis Saha, Sylvain Distin, James Vaughan, John Heitinga, Victor Anichebe, Leigton Baines, Yakubu, Marouane Fellaini, Jermaine Beckford, Leon Osman.

Fulham: Mark Schwarzer, David Stockdale, John Pantsil, Fredrik Stoor, Aaron Hughes, Rafik Halliche, Chris Baird, Brede Hangeland, Carlos Salcido, Stephen Kelly, Zoltan Gera, Clinton Dempsey, Bjorn Helge Riise, Dickson Etuhu, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Danny Murphy, Jonathan Greening, Simon Davies, Damien Duff, Andrew Johnson, Diomansy Kamara, Moussa Dembele, Bobby Zamora, David Elm, Eddie Johnson.

Liverpool: Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Stephen Darby, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, Brad Jones, Paul Konchesky, Jay Spearing, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Ryan Babel, Milan Jovanovic, Dirk Kuyt, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Lucas Leiva, Raul Meireles, Christian Poulsen, Pepe Reina, Maxi Rodriguez, Martin Skrtel, Fernando Torres

Manchester City: Shay Given, Joe Hart, Stuart Taylor, Jerome Boateng, Wayne Bridge, Aleksander Kolarov, Vincent Kompany, Joleon Lescott, Shaleum Logan, Micah Richards, Kolo Toure, Pablo Zabaleta, Gareth Barry, Nigel de Jong, Adam Johnson, Michael Johnson, James Milner, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Patrick Vieira, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jo, Roque Santa Cruz, Carlos Tevez.

Manchester United: Ben Amos, Darren Fletcher, Tomasz Kuszczak, Darron Gibson, Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Wes Brown, Owen Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson, Park Ji-Sung, Jonathan Evans, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Antonio Valencia, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, John O’Shea, Javier Hernandez, Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney.

Newcastle: Sol Campbell, Steven Taylor, Shola Ameobi, Joey Barton, Danny Guthrie, Peter Lovenkrands, Jose Enrique, Alan Smith, Leon Best, Fabricio Coloccini, Jonas Gutierrez, Steve Harper, Kevin Nolan, Wayne Routledge, Danny Simpson, Ryan Taylor, Mike Williamson, Xisco, Fraser Forster, Tim Krul, James Perch, Cheik Tiote, Hatem ben Arfa.

Stoke: Asmir Begovic, Danny Collins, Rory Delap, Salif Diao, Matthew Etherington, Abdoulaye Faye, Ricardo Fuller, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Danny Higginbotham, Robert Huth, Kenwyne Jones, Carlo Nash, Jermaine Pennant, Danny Pugh, Ryan Shawcross, Thomas Sorensen, Tuncay Sanli, Ryan Shotton, Tom Soares, Michael Tonge, Jonathan Walters, Glenn Whelan, Dean Whitehead, Andy Wilkinson, Marc Wilson.

Sunderland: Marcos Angeleri, Phil Bardsley, Darren Bent, Titus Bramble, Fraizer Campbell, Trevor Carson, Lee Cattermole, Paulo Da Silva, Ahmed El Mohamady, Anton Ferdinand, Craig Gordon, Asamoah Gyan, David Healy, Steed Malbranque, George McCartney, John Mensah, Simon Mignolet, Nedum Onuoha, Andy Reid, Kieran Richardson, Crisitjan Riveros, Michael Turner, Robbie Weir, Boudewijn Zenden.

Tottenham: Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Sebastian Bassong, David Bentley, Vedran Corluka, Peter Crouch, Carlo Cudicini, Heurelho Gomes, Michael Dawson, Jermain Defoe, William Gallas, Tom Huddlestone, Alan Hutton, Jermaine Jenas, Younes Kaboul, Robbie Keane, Ledley King, Niko Kranjcar, Aaron Lennon, Luka Modric, Kyle Naughton, Jamie O’Hara, Wilson Palacios, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Stipe Pletikosa, Rafael van der Vaart.

West Brom: Giles Barnes; Roman Bednar; Chris Brunt; Scott Carson; Marek Cech; Simon Cox; Graham Dorrans; Marc-Antoine Fortune; Pablo Ibanez; Gonzalo Jara; Dean Kiely; Abdoulaye Meite; Ishmael Miller; James Morrison; Youssouf Mulumbu; Boaz Myhill; Peter Odemwingie; Jonas Olsson; Steven Reid; Paul Scharner; Nicky Shorey; Gabriel Tamas; Somen Tchoyi; Jerome Thomas; Gianni Zuiverloon.

West Ham: Ruud Boffin, Robert Green, Tal Ben Haim, Manuel da Costa, Danny Gabbidon, Herita Ilunga, Lars Jacobsen, Winston Reid, Jonathan Spector, Matthew Upson, Luis Boa Morte, Valon Behrami, Jack Collison, Kieron Dyer, Julien Faubert, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Radoslav Kovac, Mark Noble, Scott Parker, Pablo Barrera, Carlton Cole, Zavon Hines, Benni McCarthy, Victor Obinna, Frederic Piquionne.

Wigan: Chris Kirkland, Mike Pollitt, Charles N’Zogbia, Emmerson Boyce, Gary Caldwell, Ben Watson, Hendry Thomas, Ronnie Stam, Jordi Gomez, Hugo Rodallega, Mohamed Diame, Maynor Figueroa, Steve Gohouri, Daniel De Ridder, Ali Al-Habsi, Antolin Alcaraz, James McArthur, Mauro Boselli.

Wolves: Marcus Hahnemann; Wayne Hennessey; Carl Ikeme; Kevin Foley; Ronald Zubar; Richard Stearman; Jody Craddock; Christophe Berra; Steven Mouyokolo; George Elokobi; Stephen Ward; Jelle van Damme; Karl Henry; David Jones; Michael Mancienne; Dave Edwards; Greg Halford; Nenad Milijas; Adlene Guedioura; Matt Jarvis; Stephen Hunt; Kevin Doyle; Steven Fletcher; Sylvan Ebanks-Blake; Marcus Bent.

photo credit:http://www.gfdb.com/Player.6627.Owen-Hargreaves.aspx

Usain Bolt has accomplished much more then your average twenty four year old. The record breaking Jamaican sprinter is not only an Olympic gold medalists, but by many sports critics accounts he is the best athlete in the entire world.

And the physical specimen recently admitted that he would love to tryout for another sport other then track and field. And sports franchise owners all around the world are all licking their chops at the thought of landing the 6″5 burner.

Imagine if Bolt played wide receiver in the NFL. Who could cover the fastest man alive? And if Bolt learned to dribble a basketball would he not make an unstoppable point guard? And in baseball put Bolt in center field and see if anything drops in.

But Bolt has his sights set on another sport and if you are a regular reader of this website you can probably guess which one. Bolt’s dream sports job would be playing European football with Manchester United.

The world’s fastest man recently made the following statement regarding his desire to one day play in the EPL for Fergie’s squad:        

Ideally, if I was to play football, I’d sign for my favorite team — Manchester United. People say it’s not realistic but nobody has seen me play so you never know. If Alex Ferguson saw me in one of those charity matches he might think I could replace Ryan Giggs.

An interesting proclamation considering the gold medalists isn’t joking. In fact those that our close to the freakish athlete claim that the Jamaican is completely serious about one day making the transition to the EPL. And to replace Giggs is quite the stretch considering the old man is the perfect model for consistency and has played for the Red Devils since he was five years old (not actually true).

But Bolt claims he would love the chance to tryout and he believes his football skills are a bit underrated. The sprinter claims that he can forsee himself as a left defensive back and although Bolt has the size to play defense i think his speed would be better utilized out on the wing or at the striker position.

But you never do know what could happen down the road and as Isaid before any owner of any sports franchise would certainly consider the acquisition of the burner. But replacing Giggs is probably a bit of a pipe dream.

After all Giggsey still has at least twenty years left in him before he hangs up the boots.

So as the dust settles until January, three of the seven transfers that were being rumoured as the day began actually happened. Gyan, Di Santos and Hleb all making the moves they were expected to make as the day started. Once again though as predicted, the 24 hour rolling news channels were making up their own stories. If Scott Parker had left West Ham in this transfer window then the Chariman would have had to leave West Ham as well. He came out weeks ago with a statement that would have made his position unteneable if Parker had gone. Yet the television got a lot of coverage out of the nothing story that he was on his way to Spurs.

Ryan Babel was in London, one minute on his way to Spurs, then West Ham, then he was on his way back to Liverpool and remains a Liverpool player. Liverpool were rumoured to have bid for Carlton Cole but the Engladn international also stays at West Ham. The signings that did happen though will excite Sunderland and Birmingham fans. Alexander Hleb was excellent for Arsenal and knows the Premier League well. Gyan seems like the kind of player that will fit in well at Sunderland, and Bruce could get the best out of his very expensive signing from early on.

So Parker, O’Hara, Babel et al have gone nowhere, along with Shay Given and Adebayor as stated this morning. Tomorrow sees the advent of the first ever filing of the Premier Leageu 25 man squads. Maybe some of the players that may have been convinced by their managers to stay, might have different thoughts if left to sit out the next few months without competitve football as they haven’t made the 25. Other managers will be keeping an eye on those players who are not considered first team regulars by other bosses, and will try to snap them up on the cheap in January.

photo credit: timsnell

It took 1,114 minutes for it to happen, but Wayne Rooney has scored yet again.

And I must pat myself on the back considering I predicted it to happen last weekend, but then again I also predicted Wayne Rooney to have a fantastic World Cup and we all know how that ended.

And perhaps scoring a goal via the penalty kick against lowly West Ham United is hardly a newsworthy story or celebratory occasion, but in the case of a horrific cold streak for arguably the league’s best player; I’m sure the popular Englishman will gladly take what he can at the moment.

And March was a long time ago when Rooney last scored and if you had told me last January or February that such a stretch would exist I never would have believed you. In fact it was hard to find an Engishman last year that didn’t think Rooney was the best footballer in the world, but in all fairness the long series of goose eggs wasn’t all Rooney’s fault either.

Rooney had a plethora of nagging injuries last season and was simply overworked by his league manager Sir Alex Ferguson. And Sir Alex, Fabio Capello, and several other well respected football minds have pointed to the obvious fact that the EPL demands too much out of its best players and playing for a top four team means that you are required to play a grueling plus fifty match schedule reduced into 38 weeks of action.

This obvious crutch (no pun intended) created by the EPL along with the fact that the Three Lions team is nowhere near as comfortable playing together or offensively dominant as Rooney’s league side created the situation in which a cold streak was possible and presented. But now that Rooney has finally scored it could not have come at a better time.

This September the Red Devils will be tested early and often in both league play and Champions League group match-ups. Starting the month with an away match at Everton, the Red Devils then face the Rangers in Champions League play, then face Liverpool at home, then finish off of the month with an away test at La Liga side Valencia in more CL play following a winnable away match against the Bolton Wanderers.

So Rooney needs to keep up the goals this September for Manchester United to have any shot at a double or a single major trophy this season.       

photo credit: jontintinjordan

Rewind to July 2 and Asamoah Gyan scored three goals in four games in the World Cup. Winning a standing ovation in his sides match against Serbia. In the quarter final against Uruguay he then stepped up and fluffed a chance to write himself and Ghana in to record books as the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi final.

Many men would have hidden, simply sulked, felt sorry for themselves and seeked refuge in the warmth and comfort of his sides dressing room. Not Gyan he continued to battle on and took his sides first penalty in the shoot out and cooly slotted home in to the top corner to put his country a step closer to history. Obviously it didn’t happen but Gyan was making people stand up and take notice of his undoubted potential.

Today Steve Bruce signed him.

What a signing this could be. Gyan is strong, quick (very quick), two footed, brave, strong in the air, versatile and superb in front of goal. Absolutely perfect for the Premier League and a big well done has to go to Steve Bruce and Sunderland for pursuing and landing a coup.

Of course there were other major signings with the stroppy Robinho finally getting away from Eastlands and joining AC Milan in an interesting move and a triple swoop for Tony Pulis and Stoke landing Eider Gudjohnson from Monaco, Jermaine Pennant from Villareal and Portsmouth captain Marc Wilson, which show the importance of staying in the Premier league at the first time of asking.

Surely though the £13 million pound Bruce has payed for the Rennes hitman is the transfer of the day and if he can use his undoubted ability to fire Sunderland in to the Europa League then it will be a lot of money well spent.

Today is transfer deadline day in the EPL meaning that Premier League clubs have until 6pm London time to sign players before the window closes. The day is always rife with Speculation and the advent of 24 hour rolling sports news has fuelled that speculation further in recent years.

Avram Grant is on his phone down at the Boleyn Ground with rumours abound of Jamie O’Hara and Robbie Keane coming in. Scott Parker is sought after once again, and Hammers fans will be hoping that the Board do what they say and keep hold of Parker. Chairman David Sullivan issued a hands off warning a few weeks ago and said Parker was categorically going nowhere. That hasn’t stopped the rumours though.

Ghanaian World Cup star Asamoah Gyan has been pictured at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland and looks set to become a Black Cat before the end of the day. Faxes will be sent to Premier League headquarters right up to the final whistle, and it has often been the case that the paperwork goes in, but the transfers are not authorised until the next day.

There are also reports of players not moving today. Shay Given and Emmanuel Adebayor are said to be staying at Manchester City. It’s not just players in the news today, the betting has increased in the last 24 hours on David Moyes to become the next Aston Villa manager. Something is bubbling under but it would be a shock if Moyes walked away from Everton to take over at Villa Park.

Watch this space for Premier League transfer news today. The next six hours are some of the most exciting few hours of the Premier League season as fans sit and wait for new signings to come in to their club. It is often however, an anti-climax with many of the rumours touted about not coming to fruition. As it stands though here is summary of the major rumoured possible moves today.

Franco di Santo (Chelsea) to Wigan

Asamoah Gyan (Rennes) to Sunderland

Robbie Keane (Tottenham) to West Ham

Jamie O’Hara (Tottenham) to West Ham

Scott Parker (West Ham) to Tottenham

Alexander Hleb (Barcelona) to Birmingham City

Stephen Pienaar (Everton) to Tottenham

photo credit: TottenhamFan

Roberto Mancini has one of the best worst jobs in professional sports. Being the manager of a team as ambitious as Manchester City is right up there with being the head honcho of Notre Dame’s college football team or MLB’s the Chicago Cubs. In other words Mancini has been given a good product to put out on the field and the expectations are sky high this season for his Blues squad. The organization has spent the money and brought in the coveted players, so now is the time to win games for the top four hopefuls.

And in the EPL clubs change managers more often then most hippies change their underwear, so expect the Italian-born coach to become the scapegoat to the Blues problems if they don’t turn it around soon. Following three matches the Blues are not off to the hot start they expected to be and have only earned four points over the stretch. Last week’s 1-0 loss to Sunderland could be the beginning of the end for the coach that took over the reigns late last season.

And, personally, I still don’t really understand why the club decided to part ways with Mark Hughes considering he had the club in the mix for a top four berth when he was canned last season. And in Mancini’s short reign as manager he has upset several star players with his tough training tactics and many thought that the Blues might head into the year with a fresh perspective. But if Mancini doesn’t turn it around soon then he will be let go considering this season the Blues expectations are even higher then last years.

And as I said before we all know what happened to last year’s manager Mark Hughes. Sometimes coaching the team that gives you exactly what you want isn’t always as good as coaching the team that cannot provide that star player.

And Roberto Mancini (and his pretty light blue scarf) may soon learn this valuable lesson first hand.

 http://betting.betfair.com/football/Roberto-Mancini-Man-City-Scarf.jpg