An achievement which Ranieri failed to match when he was in charge of some of the richest clubs in world football - Juventus, Atletico Madrid, Internazionale, Valencia, Chelsea, AS Roma, Napoli and Monaco. I think Iâm correct in saying Ranieriâs title win at Leicester was his first league title in nearly 30 years of management.
Presumably in light of the exacting standards and same benchmark you seem to set for all managers (regardless of financial or other constraints), prior to taking over Leicester you would have viewed Ranieriâs 30 year managerial career as one of failure for not delivering even one league title to any of those wealthy clubs, for presiding over two of the trophy less years at under achieving AS Roma stretching back to 2008 and for getting fired as Greece manager for losing to the Faroe Islands?
Dyche is the new big Sam of the Bolton era, heâll sink the second heâs at a moderately big club. Howe does well with what he has but is awful at signing players and is the new maybe slightly better Roberto Martinez
What financial figures do you put on a shoestring budget in the context of the EPL? Relative to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Jose Mourinho at Man U, Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe are operating on shoestring budgets.
Whatâs a âbig clubâ? Itâs a term that gets used a lot here but I donât recall seeing any parameters as to what makes a club big. Are Burnley not a big club? Burnley are one of the founding 12 of the inaugural football league in 1888/89 and twice champions of England.
So what are the big clubs in modern times and what are the criteria? I constantly hear that Tottenham are not a big club. Doesnât bother me whether or not they are or are classified as such. Is it just the clubs that are currently above the level of Tottenham that are big clubs?
The term I used is âmoderately bigâ. I would use that term to mean any club in the Premier League that isnât just happy with getting to 40 points every year. The likes of Everton, Newcastle usually but not this season as they are just up and Villa if they were in the PL. Teams with fans who remember some success and wonât just settle for midtable with a terrible style of football every year. Big Sam has failed/is failing at two of these clubs and I think Dyche would be the same. Spurs were probably in a similar place to most of these teams for most of my time watching soccer but are well ahead at the moment
Big Sam has moved Everton up to 9th place (theyâll go 8th if they beat Newcastle at home tonight) from the lower reaches of the table in just over four months at the helm.
Mick Ashley gave Big Sam just half a season at Newcastle before sacking him. Newcastle were 11th when Big Sam was harshly sacked. They finished 13th the season before.
Assuming the baying mob have their way at Goodison, Big Sam will have been fired twice by two âmoderately big clubsâ within the space of a few months despite bringing about improvements at both clubs. Thatâs hardly failure.
Big day for Southampton today as they finally get a win with Huddersfield suffering a disastrous loss at home to Everton.
Huddersfield will be doing well to get any more points from their three remaining matches.
Swansea are already 1-0 down at home to Chelsea who have recovered their mojo somewhat in recent weeks.
Swansea v Southampton in the final midweek could now be MEGA.
Another fine result for Darren Moore as West Bromwich Albion kept their hopes of survival on mathematical life support by beating the in form Newcastle 1-0 at St. Jamesâs Park.
Theyâll have to give him the job full-time now before inevitably sacking him next October when theyâre only in eighth place in the Championship.
Prior to last Tuesday night in Liverpool, we already had an insight this season as to the carry on of the travelling Roma fans when they visit England. I can see why @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy has attached himself to this club. @Little_Lord_Fauntleroy already has form in refusing to condemn racial taunting of black players by Roma fans and is very selective in his condemnation of such matters.