GOOD luck Marco Tardelli with his advice to Shay Given to “stay calm”. Even if Given is selected ahead of Joe Hart by Roberto Mancini at Manchester City, there has been damage done to the relationship between the Donegal man and his Italian manager.
Given has not played more than 500 club games and won over 100 Irish caps by being calm. He is generally a laid-back character but there is always something stirring beneath. It is a fiercely competitive nature.
That is all part of Given’s success, his unwillingness to yield. Should Mancini choose Hart at Tottenham today, and Given agrees to sit on the bench, then City will have a volcanic Irishman in their midst. All the best with that.
IF OldTrafford green and gold were the colours of last season, then this time it will surely be tangerine. A Blackpool diehard explained this week that there is a difference between tangerine and orange but he couldn't be exact about it. He just knows orange is an insult.
They will receive a few, not least for the state of Blackpool itself, as opposed to the football club.
But 39 years after they were last in the top flight, Blackpool deserve good wishes. Ian Holloway has done some job in the last year. He has had to sign six new players this week and the ground still isn’t ready but Blackpool are taking more than 4,000 fans to Wigan today. It’s a club worth cheering.
– Michael Walker
