really???
Really.
I just don't see any of those people as a step forward. Appoint them and we might avoid relegation now but the best we can ever hope for with them is lower mid-table.
I really think we have to stay with a foreign manager to really revolutionise our club like Wenger or Mourinho have done and lets be fair Houllier did for Liverpool. Jol, Van Gaal someone in that mold is what we want but we'd obviously need to wait for the end of the season for that if GH is shown the door.
Well, I wouldn't see Dowie as a step forward. And don't get me wrong, I'd rather see us with someone of the calibre of Mourinho or Wenger in the long term.
But in the short term, we need someone else. How many times do we see a manager come in and turn a club around towards the end of the season? We won't get a Mourinho character at this stage of the season will we?
Curbs and Fat Sam are both available, and have succeeded in similar situations that we are in now with West Ham & Blackburn. **** next season, all we should be worried about is doing everything possible to make sure we're not relegated.
But... for all that, I think Fat Sam and Curbs are very hard done by on here by some. Allardyce is widely recognised as a manager using modern ideas, he worked wonders at Bolton and was doing very well at Blackburn. Sure he would have done well at Newcastle given half a chance. I think at a decent club with some backing, we wouldn't see his Bolton-esque football for long. He's done well in the past by making the most of small resources, his style of play has effectively been forced upon him by his budget, and it's served him and his clubs very well. For what it's worth, I think he'd get us challenging for Europe again.
As for Curbishley... again, what black marks has he got? Did a great job for years at Charlton, then was doing a great job for West Ham before they **** him over. Much like Allardyce, I think given the resources he'd do a great job at a big club.
It's all very well saying they're mid-table managers, but the reality is that both Bolton and Charlton were a complete mess before these guys turned them around. They turned them into respectable mid-table Premier League clubs and I think that is just as worthy an achievement as, for example, Houllier coming in to Liverpool and winning just a couple of trophies in half a decade.
Although personally I'd probably plump for Moyes or Coyle.