English Premiership Black Monday

By: Bob | May 14th, 2007

Now that the final whistle has blown on the English Premier League season it is time to kick off the silly season where managers come and go, and endless transfer speculations fill the headlines. The Day After in the Premiership is always a busy one and today has been no exception.

Manchester City have taken the ax to Stuart Pearce after he guided his club to a dismal season that ended with three defeats in the final four Premiership matches. His team only scored 10 goals in 19 home league matches and did not score a home goal after New Year’s Day. That is enough to make any Manchester City fans a little psycho.

Who will take charge of City now? The immediate thought was that it would be Paul Jewell, who stepped down today as Wigan’s manager. That thought has been dampened by Wigan chairman Dave Whelan.

“If Manchester City were to go for Paul Jewell, I would be very surprised. I would say, ‘don’t waste your time’ because Paul is a man of his word.

“I asked him a straightforward question: ‘have you been tapped up by another club?’ And his answer was: ‘on my children’s lives I have not been approached by another club, and I will not be going to another club. I love it at Wigan and I am sorry to be resigning. But for my health I have got to do it.’

“I could feel it, I could see it coming since Christmas. I have seen Paul’s health deteriorate, and he needs a break.”

If the man is concerned about his health it is difficult to imagine a stint at Manchester City would do him any good.

What about Big Sam Allardyce? Could he be next in line for Manchester City? Probably not since Newcastle have called a press conference for Tuesday when they will likely name him as their new manager.

Finally, there is the West Ham saga, which we will all be able to follow this summer. The lawyers are chomping at the bit to take the Mascherano/Tevez situation to court and to have West Ham relegated. Will this actually happen? You can get 5-1 odds that the Hammers won’t be in the Premiership next season. That seems like a safer bet than Tony Blair ending up at Newcastle or Manchester City or on the transfer market.