Interesting Stuff On Allardyce & Blackburn

[White Noise]

http://threeandin.com/2010/09/19/will-refs-keep-an-eye-on-blackburn/


Will refs keep an eye on Blackburn?


Posted by Last man back On September - 19 - 2010


Blackburn's goal against Fulham should not have been allowed yesterday.

As the ball came in Mark Schwarzer, eyes only on the ball, went to try and get it. El Hadj Diouf ran in, eyes only on the keeper, and barged into him so the Australian was in no-man's land when it hit Samba's head. It was as clear and deliberate a foul as you will ever see, and the second time in the game Diouf had done it.

It's hard to imagine that the referee didn't see either incident. He looked well placed to do so, especially for the goal. It was poor refereeing by any standards. And before I'm accused of anything untoward he made another serious error when Schwarzer handled the ball outside his area.

That doesn't alter the fact that Blackburn constantly, deliberately and tactically foul goalkeepers all the time. Arsene Wenger compared Stoke's treatment of Gomes to rugby, well Diouf's blocking off of Schwarzer belongs in American Football, not real football.

The incident was highlighted on Match of the Day and they were critical of the ref, rightly enough, but why not also be critical of a team who plays like that? Why not be critical of a manager who sends his team out with those kind of instructions? The same manager who reckons he's good enough to take charge of teams like Real Madrid or Man United, by the way. Let's face it, even if by some miracle that happened, the fans wouldn't take kindly to his industrial, clogging football.

It's been a poor start to the season for referees, there have been too many bad decisions and too many teams have gotten away with things that have no place on a football pitch, from bad fouls to the kind of thing Diouf was doing yesterday against Fulham.

You can only hope that lessons will be learned. From now on if there's a challenge on an opposition keeper in a Blackburn game they need to give the benefit of the doubt to the man with the gloves – and Allardyce's men will only have themselves to blame.

[White Noise]

Pity the poor foreigners if Sam Allardyce ever gets his way

By Patrick Collins

Last updated at 9:00 PM on 18th September 2010


The rise and rise of the football manager is one of the wonders of our sporting age. Once he was the modest fellow who picked the team, pacified the chairman and suffered the sack when it all went wrong. No longer. Now he struts the stage, milking the applause and delivering significant opinions.

He is a figure of substance, a man whose views are not mocked. Unless, of course, he happens to be Sam Allardyce. In which case, mockery may be the only appropriate response.

The Lancashire Krakatoa erupted not once but twice last week. It was the usual stuff; part malice, part mischief, part self-promotion, part selfdelusion. And the louder he shouted, the more we wondered: how has it come to this? Why do people hang on the words of one with so little of interest to say?

As you may have gathered, this column has no great regard for Allardyce. His manner is crude and his teams even cruder. He produced a Bolton side which was moderately successful and miserably unwatchable. He was then employed by Newcastle's Freddy Shepherd, shortly before Shepherd decided to seize the money and scamper. Newcastle had become almost as charmless as Bolton when the new chairman, Mike Ashley, sent Allardyce packing with his pride hurt and pockets full. His passing was not widely mourned on Tyneside.

He then he turned up at Blackburn, where he has produced a scowling, muscular, intimidating side, much loved by the kind of people who don't much care for football and enjoyed watching Bolton. And yet, on the back of those dubious achievements, he has grown mysteriously ambitious.

A few weeks ago, he announced that he would leave the Premier League in two or three seasons and take over a national team.
He didn't specify the fortunate nation - could Germany become more efficient? Do Brazil need more flair? Are Spain really the finished article? - but deep down we knew. Since he doesn't approve of a foreigner managing England, then there was only one job that could accommodate him.

But we may have been wrong. His thoughts are now directed at some of Europe's needy clubs. 'I'm not suited to Bolton or Blackburn, I would be more suited to Inter Milan or Real Madrid,' he declared. 'It wouldn't be a problem for me to manage those clubs because I would win the Double or the league every time.'

We imagined all those Italian and Spanish executives wailing: 'Why did we waste our time on Trapattoni, Hiddink, Capello and Del Bosque when Big Sam was there for the taking?'

Yet if a job at Inter or Real should fail to materialise, would his arrogance be dented? Not at all. 'Give me Manchester United or That Lot and I would do the same', he promised. 'It wouldn't be a problem.' As you see, he has no shortage of confidence. Ability is a rather different matter. Yet it was that misplaced confidence which led him into another clumsy assault upon his old enemy, Arsene Wenger.

The Arsenal manager holds Allardyce in the deepest contempt and finds great glee in beating Blackburn on a regular basis. For his part, Allardyce loathes Wenger.

Indeed, I suspect he doesn't much care for foreigners at large - he once argued that he would have been offered the England job had his name been 'Allardici'. But Wenger is his most regular target. And so he has lifted his blunderbuss and taken unsteady aim.

I quote: 'Arsene has most of the media in his pocket now and is almost - almost - affecting the officials so that you can't tackle an Arsenal player. That's something he's very clever at working in his favour, you can see that. He's a very clever man in terms of influencing referees, officials and everyone in football ... In terms of saying people are trying to injure players, he's trying to influence, through the media, the referees and that's something they shouldn't get sucked into.'

Extraordinary stuff. Not English but gibberish. It makes John Prescott sound like Barack Obama. And do you know what is worse? He thinks he's being smart. Not that tosh about Wenger pocketing the media - the reality is that the Frenchman barely tolerates scribblers, while few managers work harder at cultivating media chums than Allardyce himself.

No, it's the fact that he clearly believes that by drawing attention to Wenger's alleged attempts to influence referees, he will persuade those same officials to take a harder line with Arsenal.

This is known as a 'mind game', a sport for which Allardyce seems conspicuously ill-equipped.

But perhaps we should not judge him too harshly, for he is both absurdly rewarded and fatuously indulged.

Of course, the best managers firmly refuse to inhale foolish flattery. They are not our concern.

No, the real problems lie with the others, the daftly deluded, the ones who close their eyes and see themselves at San Siro or the Bernabeu, teaching the foreigners the mysteries of Route One.

Mockery is the very least they deserve.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footbal....l#ixzz0zyozyU2i

[Jimpav]

The second article nails Allardyce to a tee.

His quotes are unbelievable - he's like a cross between David Brent and Alan partridge.

[White Noise]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/sep/19/sam-allardyce-anthony-taylor-referee

Sam Allardyce to make complaint over referee Anthony Taylor

• Blackburn manager will point out 'errors' to Premier League

• Official made decisions that annoyed Rovers and Fulham


Tweet this (8)Press Association


guardian.co.uk, Sunday 19 September 2010 13.55 BST Article history




The Blackburn Rovers manager, Sam Allardyce, will complain to Premier League referees chiefs about the performance of Anthony Taylor during his side's draw with Fulham yesterday.

Allardyce claimed Blackburn should have been awarded two penalties and that Fulham's goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer, should have been sent off for handling outside the area.

Taylor, the subject of criticism from the Sunderland manager Steve Bruce earlier this season, also angered the Fulham manager Mark Hughes for allowing Christopher Samba's goal for Blackburn despite a clear push on Schwarzer by El Hadji Diouf.

Allardyce said: "The only person that made the game difficult was the referee. It was not a tough game to referee but he made both managers, both sets of players and both sets of fans angry.

"It's my job to point out those things and I will do that through the correct channels this week."

Allardyce admitted that Diouf had committed a foul but claimed that Schwarzer should have been sent off earlier for handling Morten Gamst Pedersen's chip outside the area.

"We have got away with that perhaps but we were exposing Mark Schwarzer's weaknesses and he handled outside the box blatantly," said Allardyce. "The referee's in a fantastic position to see and he should be sending him off and he doesn't."

Allardyce also insisted that Blackburn should also have been awarded two penalties for challenges on El Hadji Diouf and Mame Biram Diouf