Ordinary Gweilo

I see that Harry Redknapp somehow managed to resist the temptation of a few months up on Tyneside followed by the inevitable departure "by mutual consent".  Makes you wonder why they were in such a hurry to sack Allardyce if they didn’t have a replacement lined up.   

Mark Hughes now seems to be the firm favourite – which makes sense if they really are looking for a British manager working in the Premiership.  By my reckoning, the other options are Steve Coppell (who certainly doesn’t want that kind of hassle), Alex Ferguson, and a bunch of managers who have been in their current jobs for only a few weeks. 

Although Alan Shearer doesn’t want the job and is not likely to be offered it, newspapers are not giving up just yet.  Harry Redknapp says that he’d give Shearer the job ("I think he’s perfect for it") though I don’t think anyone’s interested in his opinion.  Then there’s the enticing possibility of a "dream team" with Kevin Keegan (who has also "refused to rule himself out").  Well, that would be fun.

Which reminds me that Everton were once so desperate that they considered appointing ex-player and TV presenter Andy Gray as their manager, though he was wise enough to turn it down.      

Martin Kelner had more on mutual consent in The Guardian:

It seems there is more mutual consent going round the world of football than at a meeting of the Barbra Streisand Appreciation Society in a Brighton nightclub. As always, for clarification in these matters, one turns to Sky Sports News, which became your 24-hour Big Sam station (slogan: All Sam, All Day, Don’t Touch That Dial), as soon as the news broke. A clue that consent had not played a major part in the termination came from the fact that Big Sam did not realise he had given his consent until he was told he had by a Sky reporter.

The departing manager’s first interview, through the window of his car as he drove away from Newcastle, in which he said "I’m shocked, I didn’t expect it", was a further indication that Big Sam had not actually consented to anything, unless they are serving Rohypnol at board meetings up there these days.

[..]

The whole business is uncannily reminiscent of the story, possibly apocryphal, of Tommy Docherty’s departure from Derby "by mutual consent". "Now then lad," one of the directors is supposed to have said, "we don’t want any blabbing to the press. Let’s keep it all amicable," handing Tommy a cheque. The Doc studied the figures on the cheque for a moment, shook his head and said: "You’re going to have to be more amicable than that."

It is all about money, I suppose.