Comings and Goings

It's been quite a week for comings and goings in the Premier League managerial hotseats.

The dismissal of Tony Adams at Portsmouth was hardly a shock- the man, despite being a great defender in his hey-day at Arsenal, has never struck me as being 'nasty' enough to be a top manager and when you couple that with being saddled with a job where you have no money to spend and are guaranteed to lose your top midfielder and striker, it doesn't take a genius to foresee the outcome. Actually the fact that the current Portsmouth owner DIDN'T have the foresight to see this inevitable outcome would make me very wary of investing in the Fratton Park outfit, if I were a wealthy foreign investor looking to buy into Premier League football.

I guess I was a little surprised by the haste at which Abramovich dispensed with Luis Scolari's services at Chelsea. Perhaps it underlines more clearly than ever how vital qualification for the Champions League is viewed by the top clubs' hierarchy these days. With Chelsea seeming to be in danger of fading out of the title race, the Russian has taken decisive action now and given temporary replacement Guus Hiddink a decent chance of keeping (at least) their Champions League qualification hopes alive. Personally, I think it would be very foolish of anyone to rule the Stamford Bridge outfit out of the title race just yet, and Hiddink certainly has an impressive CV in terms of getting the most from the players at his disposal.

Joe Kinnear must have ran over a few black cats in his time- the man has nothing but bad luck and misery as company. No sooner has he got a chance to re-establish himself in top-flight football again than it's snatched away by a 'dodgy ticker'. Given their perilous state near the foot of the table, it's unlikely that Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley will be willing to wait around for Joe to make a full recovery from his triple heart by-pass surgery to take the reins again. Much more likely is a quiet 'thanks but we can't wait' to Kinnear and another face in the hotseat at St. James' Park. The rumours that that face could belong to Bryan Robson should have every Geordie reaching for their atlas to search out routes to the likes of Barnsley and Plymouth for next season....

Meanwhile, the World and European (oh, and English) Champions face a quick return to Pride Park to face Derby County in the F.A. Cup 5th Round on Sunday afternoon, having recently overcome the same opposition in the Carling Cup semi-finals. Whilst not to be taken for granted (as they proved in the 1st leg of the Carling Cup semi-final), this Derby side are not really any better than they were last year, when they finished their Premier League campaign with a feeble 11 points. Obviously a lot will depend on the strength of side that Sir Alex puts out on the pitch, but you'd hope that ANY United side comprising of 1st team squad members would have too much for a Championship side over 90 minutes. Guess we'll soon find out!