Last night, a spritely young 43-year-old named Owen Coyle played for Burnley’s reserves as they faced Liverpool’s second string at Prenton Park. Rafa Benitez and Sammy Lee witnessed the Clarets gaffer, who was apparently forced to play up front due to injuries and international call ups. A puzzling excuse when you consider the fact that he was substituted after 72 minutes.
Coyle didn’t get on the scoresheet in his side’s 1-0 defeat, but we thought it was a jolly good excuse to show the brilliant goal he scored against Accrington Stanley last April.
Alessandro Diamanti to West Ham The Mirror believe Gianfranco Zola has flown to Italy to thrash out a deal for the Livorno striker. West Ham scouts - who are absolutely everywhere in the world at all times if the papers are to be believed - have been tracking Diamanti for a long time, and he is described as a ‘cross between Paolo Di Canio and Zola himself’.
The Spoiler truth-o-meter: The Hammers are desperate for cover in their relatively small squad, but we don’t quite understand how Zola has flown to Italy when his side have a Carling Cup punch up with Millwall tonight.
Arjen Robben to Manchester Utd
The Dutchman, who nearly signed for Utd in 2004, is a €28m target for Sir Alex, according to Marca.
Another claret-and-blue team break Sheffield United’s hearts
Sheffield United chairman Kevin McCabe laughably claimed before the Championship play-off final that they would be a top-half Premier League side now were it not for only picking up 38 points in 2006-07 Carlos Tevez.
However, Burnley were the team who showed top-flight quality at Wembley and deservedly won with a brilliant 13th minute goal by Wade Elliott. Having beaten Fulham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and West Brom this season and seen Sunderland and Hull stay up despite being dreadful, Owen Coyle should be confident that the Clarets can survive their first Premier League campaign.
Kevin Blackwell, as you would expect of a former assistant of Neil Warnock, struggled to be gracious in defeat and insinuated that Mike Dean’s performance
Former gaffer is the current favourite for the Rovers gig
Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince today became the sixth Premier League manager to leave their post this season, in the process saving what was in danger of being a chronically slow news day (front page of The Sun: Benitez’s kidney stones; back page of The Sun: Capello wants the Wembley grass shorter). Here are the leading contenders to replace the Guv’nor at Ewood Park according to chickendinner:
Graeme Souness (best price: 5/2 with Paddy Power)
Souness took the club back into the Premier League and won the League Cup during his first spell as manager between 2000 and 2004 and starts as the early favourite to regain the position after newspaper reports over the last few days linked him to the post. He walked out of the club four years ago for Newcastle after a winless start which left Rovers in the relegation zone, and at the time it was rumoured that Souness had jumped before he was pushed.
Sam Allardyce (best price: 3/1 general)
In case you haven’t read a newspaper since January, Sam Allardyce is pretty interested in finding himself a job and having previously overachieved without spending much money at Bolton, he is a strong candidate. However, Blackburn opted for Ince over more experienced candidates like Allardyce and Steve McClaren in the summer so Big Sam may bear a grudge.
Alan Curbishley (best price: 10/1 with Paddy Power)
Two years ago Curbishley took charge of a West Ham team
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