Managerial Changes

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'Huge honour': Former captain Arteta returns as Arsenal head coach

"New Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is confident he will have the English Premier League club challenging for top honours again after being appointed head coach on a three-and-a-half-year contract.

Arteta, who made 149 appearances for Arsenal between 2011 and 2016 before joining Manchester City's coaching staff as Pep Guardiola's assistant, replaces fellow Spaniard Unai Emery at the Emirates Stadium.
...

Arteta, who has never managed a club before, was named by British media as one of the candidates in the running to replace former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger in 2018 before the club appointed Emery."

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Previously...

"Napoli joined Liverpool in advancing from Group E with a 4-0 win over Genk but fired its manager, Carlo Ancelotti, after the match. ..."

(The Associated Press)

News:

‘The players are capable of so much’: Ancelotti’s bold words after being appointed Everton boss

"Everton appointed Carlo Ancelotti as the club’s new manager on Saturday, with the experienced Italian taking charge at Goodison Park on a four-and-a-half year deal.

Ancelotti, 60, will attend Saturday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal, but will not take charge until the Boxing Day visit of Burnley.

... his immediate task will be to guarantee survival before trying to fulfil the ambitions of Everton’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

The British-Iranian businessman has ploughed in hundreds of millions of pounds over the past three years.

However, that investment has not reaped much reward on the pitch as Everton have finished seventh, eighth and eighth in the three full seasons since Moshiri’s takeover."

(AFP)

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^ May have half a chance of getting a job

My opportunities are closing fast!

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What Everton's media department came up with:

https://twitter.com/Everton/status/1209057447635308544

Arrival:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to0cyHTrOuw

First training session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4R_qnoFYDY

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And Arsenal media:

First training session:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-XG2V7Q4AI

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West Ham sack Pellegrini as toll mounts in open season on coaches

"Manuel Pellegrini's 18-month reign as West Ham United manager ended abruptly on Saturday as the Chilean was sacked shortly after his side's 2-1 home defeat by Leicester City...

Fans made their frustrations clear on Saturday, jeering Pellegrini's substitutions of Haller and Manuel Lanzini.
...

Names in the frame for the vacancy include previous boss David Moyes, who left in 2018 after guiding West Ham to safety, and former Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton."

(Reuters)

[Jezza]

David Moyes returns to West Ham on a 18-month contract.

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Abingdon Town refuse to play on when trailing 8-0, manager quits

"Abingdon Town manager Tranell Richardson has left his job after the English 10th-tier team refused to play on having gone 8-0 down at half-time in Saturday's derby against Abingdon United.
...

Town chairman Brian Kirk told the BBC he had not heard from Richardson, who said in a tweet that he had left his position because he was unable to train his players for three months due to inadequate facilities and lack of backing from club officials."

(Reuters)

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...
Arsenal = Freddie Ljungberg (age 42) = Played for Arsenal and won 3 titles with them.
...

West Ham United = Manuel Pellegrini (age 66) = Played in Chile's top league for his whole playing career in the 1970s and 1980s.

Wolverhampton Wanderers = Nuno Espirito Santo (age 45) = Played in Portugal, Russia and Spain's top flight but his career was very modest at best.

NY Times headline:

"Only Three N.F.L. Head Coaches Are Black. ‘It’s Embarrassing.’"


EPL managers seem almost all white European!

Even the S. Americans have European-sounding names. e.g. Pochettino.

(Sky Sports reported a couple of years ago:

"Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has been named an honourary citizen of the Italian town of Virle Piemonte ahead of his first visit to the region of his ancestry.

Pochettino's great, great grandfather Michele was born in the town in 1864 ...")

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"Just four games since taking over as manager, Italian Ancelotti has already lost patience with a number of them, with Gylfi Sigurdsson among those he is expected to dump as soon as he can.

The £45m Icelandic playmaker admitted after the Liverpool loss that Toffees players were fighting for their futures.

But SunSport understands Ancelotti has already given up on the 30-year-old, who has 18 months to run on his £5m-a-year Goodison contract.

And incredibly goalkeeper and England No1 Jordan Pickford could also be replaced between the sticks, with SunSport revealing Ancelotti wants to pass the gloves on."

(The Sun)

[Jezza]

^ Ancelotti is a ruthless operator. He will only expect the best from his players.

Current Managers (Club) = Games (Appointment Date):

1. Eddie Howe (Bournemouth) = 338 Games (October 12 2012)
2. Sean Dyche (Burnley) = 329 Games (October 30 2012)
3. Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool) = 242 Games (October 8 2015)
4. Chris Wilder (Sheffield United) = 175 Games (May 12 2016)
5. Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) = 207 Games (July 1 2016)
6. Daniel Farke (Norwich City) = 126 Games (May 25 2017)
7. Nuno Esprito Santo (Wolves) = 134 Games (May 31 2017)
8. Roy Hodgson (Crystal Palace) = 105 Games (September 12 2017)
9. Dean Smith (Aston Villa) = 65 Games (October 10 2018)
10. Ralph Hasenhuttl (Southampton) = 50 Games (December 5 2018)
11. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (Manchester United) = 61 Games (December 19 2018)
12. Brendan Rodgers (Leicester City) = 37 Games (February 26 2019)
13. Graham Potter (Brighton) = 24 Games (May 20 2019)
14. Frank Lampard (Chelsea) = 31 Games (July 4 2019)
15. Steve Bruce (Newcastle United) = 23 Games (July 17 2019)
16. Jose Mourinho (Tottenham Hotspur) = 12 Games (November 20 2019)
17. Nigel Pearson (Watford) = 6 Games (December 6 2019)
18. Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) = 4 Games (December 20 2019)
19. Carlo Ancelotti (Everton) = 4 Games (December 21 2019)
20. David Moyes (West Ham United) = 2 Games (December 28 2019)

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And in La Liga...

Barca sack coach Valverde, appoint Setien

"La Liga leaders Barcelona have sacked coach Ernesto Valverde and named former Real Betis coach Quique Setien as his replacement, the club said in a statement.

Barcelona confirmed Setien, who has also coached Las Palmas, has agreed a deal until the end of the 2022 campaign.
...

Valverde, who led Barca to successive La Liga titles in 2018 and 2019, came under fire this season for the team's dip in performance levels even though they top the league standings at the halfway point of the campaign.
...

Barca are also into the last 16 of the Champions League, where they will face Napoli.

Even though he had a superb domestic record, Valverde's standing was weakened by his failure to win the Champions League, suffering shock eliminations by Roma in 2018 and Liverpool in 2019 after taking a three-goal lead in each tie.

The tide appeared to turn against the coach after a 2-2 draw at struggling Espanyol which was followed by a 3-2 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals."

(Reuters)

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In domestic Oz news, John Aloisi has had heart surgery:

"Successful surgery to repair a faulty mitral valve in his heart - a condition with no apparent root cause other than bad luck - has sharpened the 43-year-old’s appreciation for life’s adventures, and stirred a hunger from within to jump back on board the stress bus.
...

Aloisi walked away from the the Roar 10 games into last season, disenchanted with the financial constraints hampering the club...

But the desire remains undimmed, with potential vacancies at Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers at the end of the season piquing his interest."

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/aloisi- ... ry-surgery


[Note: there is an Aloisi thread, but the level of discourse there looks, at a glance, pretty low, so I chose not to use it.]