What's Going On At St James's Park?

For a few years now, hardly have we seen any common sense decision come out of Newcastle United. The take over by Mike Ashley, the signing of Joey Barton, the re-appointment of Kevin Keegan, the proposed sale to a Nigerian consortium, the appointment of Alan Shearer and so on.

Talking about the appointment of Shearer, it seems to me an emotional decision rather than common sense. Shearer himself has accepted that his impact has been limited since he took over as manager.

They have a must win game at home to Middlesbrough who themselves are in deep relegation troubles but they don't look like a team that can rise to the challenge when needed especially with in house troubles caused by no other than the unrepentant Joey Barton.

It's looking dicey for Newcastle and anything other than a win on Monday will confirm they are really in big trouble.

Akin Alabi

Welcome Back, Big Sam!

Sam "Big Sam" Allardyce is back in football, this time as manager of Blackburn Rovers who has sacked their manager, Paul Ince.

There was no doubting the fact that Ince would be given the boot as their form has been poor to say the least. No victory in 11 games can only mean a slide towards regulation, and that is not a word that is palatable to the ears of football club owners theses days.

I really wished Paul would succeed. I admired him as a Manchester United and England player and I've been following his career as a football manager especially his stint at MK Dons. I saw the Don's play times without number in Milton Keynes and I was impressed with with the teams brand of attacking football. Maybe the Blackburn role came too early for him but it still was a chance to make a big leap in his career.

It's up to Big Sam to turn things around at Ewood Park which I'm sure he'll do. He did a great job at Bolton and I'm sure he will draw on his wealth of experience to make a success of this.

Akin Alabi

Why Keano? Why?

Yesterday, I was writing about West Brom's manager, Tony Mowbray and his fight against relegation. I did not have the faintest idea that just a few hours later, another struggling premiership side, this time sunderland would part with their manager.

According to Naill Quinn, both parties parted amicably. "The board has reluctantly accepted his decision and wish him and his family well for the future.'' He said.

The question is, should Keano have left the stadium of light? There is no doubt that in today's game, results matter more than ever and there is no hiding the fact Sunderland have been poor this season. I guess the last straw that broke the camel's back was Saturday's 4-1 wretched loss at home to Bolton.

I know Roy Keane to be a tough guy so I did not for once consider him leaving the club because of a few bad losses. It's not Christmas yet so we can't write them off yet.

I'm a big admirer of Roy so I wish him the best in his future endeavours. A job abroad or even a minor role at Old Trafford won't be a bad idea.

Akin Alabi

Tough Task For Mowbray!

Tony Mowbray is one of my most admired English managers. I started following his career when he took over Hibernian in the summer of 2004. He did a great job there and I was glad when he was appointed the manager of West Bromwich Albion. He led them to promotion playing some fantastic football in the process.

Life has however been tough in the premiership. A confirmation of the wide gulf between the premiership and the championship. They are at the bottom at the moment and although it's too early to write anyone off, I'm tempted to wonder where the quality they need will come from.

A forward line comprising Roman Bednar, Sherjill MacDonald and Luke Moore, all of them with about 4 goals in total do not sound exciting to me.

Maybe a couple of quality signings in January would do the magic.

Akin Alabi

A Standing Ovation For King Ronaldo!

Cristiano Ronaldo, on Tuesday, in what was not a surprise to any living soul, was crowned the best player in European football for 2008. The 23 year old Portuguese becomes the fourth Manchester United player to land the Ballon d'Or. The others were Dennis Law (1964), Bobby Charlton (1966) and George Best (1968) .

Ronaldo pulled in an amazing 446 as he left his closest "challenger", Lionel Messi with 281 points. Liverpool's Fernando Torres was third.

It's of no use going over Cristiano Ronaldo's achievements this year and like I said earlier on, no one was surprised Ronaldo won this. I'm sure even his biggest critics would agree.

There's no doubting the fact that he'll be crowned the world football of the year in a few months.

Congratulations Ronaldo.

Akin Alabi

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Ronaldo To Real Madrid? No Chance!

There has been lots of speculations surrounding Christiano Ronaldo's future in the last few days. There are rumours that he will be heading to sunny Spain to join the Spanish champions, Real Madrid.

The rumours intensified after Manchester United's champions league triumph over Chealsea in Moscow last week. Ronaldo was reported saying that he would not promise anyone as regards his future.

I strongly believe Ronaldo will be at Old Trafford next season and why not? Manchester United are the champions of Europe and arguably the best team on the planet. Why would he want to move to Real Madrid that "peed in their pants" when they faced Roma in the champions league.

Gone are the days when we believe that the only way to win laurels is by playing in Real Madrid and AC Milan. Milan won't even be playing in the UCL next season after they finish 5th in the Italian league.

Back to Ronaldo.

The only thing that can make Ronaldo leave Old Trafford this summer is if he has an out of this world tournament next month at Euro 2008 and a club comes in with 100 million pounds.

Anything apart from that, I'm certain he will remain at Sir Matt Busby way.

Manchester United fans however know that Ronaldo is not a United "lifer". He will still leave to play in another country. He'll probably play about 2 more seasons. That will take his number of years at Old Trafford to seven.

I'm not sure one can complain about the loyalty of a player (foreigner) that served for seven years.

Akin Alabi

PS: Can Man Utd win the league next season? You can get more than double your money on them if you back them here.

Bye Bye Grant!

I don't think this came as a surprise to anybody.

Avram Grant was yesterday sacked as Chelsea manager less than a week after he led Chelsea to their first ever Champions league league apearance.

Avram Grant was never a popular choice at the bridge and his tactics came under scrutiny more than once especially after the Carling cup loss to Spurs after taking a lead through David Drogba's splendid free kick (although Paul Robinson should have done better).

Avram did well in my reckoning although managers are judged according to the trophies they won, and he failed to win any. He was a penalty kick away from winning the UCL but their "strong man" John Terry bottled it.

So who's taking over?

- Guus Hiddinks
- Frank Riijkaard
- Sven Goran Ericsson
- Ten Cate
- Jose Mourinho
- Roberto Mancini

The list is endless.

I have a feeling Peter Kenyon already has a candidate in mind but he wants the UCL furore to cool off before getting back in the news.

Fingers Crossed.

Akin Alabi

PS: Can Chelsea win the league next season? You can get more than triple your money on them if you back them here.