Post by staggerstag on Apr 18, 2017 10:46:39 GMT
With Gianfranco's resignation last night comes Harry Redknapp's appointment at Birmingham for the rest of the season. It was a 0-2 home defeat to fellow strugglers Burton Albion yesterday that finished off Zola. Birmingham sit three points above the zone on 47 points but their last three games are Aston Villa away, play-off hopefuls Huddersfield at home and relegation-endangered Bristol City away.
“I got a phone call last night at 7pm from the people of Birmingham,” Redknapp told the radio on Tuesday. “I drove to London and had a 10-15 minute meeting with them and said ‘sure I’ll come and do it’. My wife said to me ‘are you mad or what?’. I get fed up sitting around doing nothing. It’s not really a risk for me. They’ve won two out of 22. I haven’t got a magic wand, I’m not going to turn them into Real Madrid."
On paper the fixtures for those sides around Birmingham are pretty much a sameness in points-potentiality so we could be in for an exciting conclusion to the Championship's lower reaches. With Rotherham already gone, it's really a bunch made up of QPR (50 pts) Bristol City and Burton (48) Brum (47) Forest (45) Blackburn (44) and Wigan (40) It's not something I'll be punting on either. The Book has Wigan to go (1/33) and next favourites Blackburn to join them at 8/13 But say Blackburn stay up? The Book is kind of scratching its head as to who will take that third drop-spot : there's not much between Birmingham (10/3) and Forest (4/1) After that you've got Burton (16/1) Bristol City (40/1) and QPR (80/1)
Zola's playing career was superb. I saw him at the Bridge on quite a few occasions and he never disappointed. Rarely booked, always lively and a gentleman to boot. But his jobs in management have been a bit up and down, haven't they? A brief spell with the Italy U21s, a good period at West Ham before they slumped to 17th in 2010 which saw his contract terminated, Watford losing a play-off Final to Palace after which he eventually resigned with Watford in 13th position, sacked after three months at Cagliari, sacked after 26 games at Al Arabi - and then the Birmingham gig. I'm pretty sure he'll be back. The marvellous job that Chris Hughton has done at Brighton can only be inspirational to others. Who knows, there's always Grays Athletic for whom his son Andreas still plays (although his last appearance was about seven years ago WTF? I think he's done a bit of loaning but not too sure what the score is right now)
You can't help but wish Zola Sr well. Perhaps a little break from it all for a while? Nice little holiday somewhere with his wife? A few weeks in Sardina to recharge the batteries?
Meanwhile, in the midlands, with just three games, Redknapp has it all to do.
“I got a phone call last night at 7pm from the people of Birmingham,” Redknapp told the radio on Tuesday. “I drove to London and had a 10-15 minute meeting with them and said ‘sure I’ll come and do it’. My wife said to me ‘are you mad or what?’. I get fed up sitting around doing nothing. It’s not really a risk for me. They’ve won two out of 22. I haven’t got a magic wand, I’m not going to turn them into Real Madrid."
On paper the fixtures for those sides around Birmingham are pretty much a sameness in points-potentiality so we could be in for an exciting conclusion to the Championship's lower reaches. With Rotherham already gone, it's really a bunch made up of QPR (50 pts) Bristol City and Burton (48) Brum (47) Forest (45) Blackburn (44) and Wigan (40) It's not something I'll be punting on either. The Book has Wigan to go (1/33) and next favourites Blackburn to join them at 8/13 But say Blackburn stay up? The Book is kind of scratching its head as to who will take that third drop-spot : there's not much between Birmingham (10/3) and Forest (4/1) After that you've got Burton (16/1) Bristol City (40/1) and QPR (80/1)
Zola's playing career was superb. I saw him at the Bridge on quite a few occasions and he never disappointed. Rarely booked, always lively and a gentleman to boot. But his jobs in management have been a bit up and down, haven't they? A brief spell with the Italy U21s, a good period at West Ham before they slumped to 17th in 2010 which saw his contract terminated, Watford losing a play-off Final to Palace after which he eventually resigned with Watford in 13th position, sacked after three months at Cagliari, sacked after 26 games at Al Arabi - and then the Birmingham gig. I'm pretty sure he'll be back. The marvellous job that Chris Hughton has done at Brighton can only be inspirational to others. Who knows, there's always Grays Athletic for whom his son Andreas still plays (although his last appearance was about seven years ago WTF? I think he's done a bit of loaning but not too sure what the score is right now)
You can't help but wish Zola Sr well. Perhaps a little break from it all for a while? Nice little holiday somewhere with his wife? A few weeks in Sardina to recharge the batteries?
Meanwhile, in the midlands, with just three games, Redknapp has it all to do.
