Today's other stories in brief
Doyle's quick 'reward'
Good to hear Clive Clarke is recovering well from his horrible experience at half-time in last week's League Cup game at Nottingham Forest. Yesterday the player thanked all those who helped revive him after he collapsed in the dressing-room. Included in that number was Leicester fitness coach and sports scientist Damien Doyle, whom manager Martin Allen also publicly praised the following day. And the day after that? Doyle was sacked by the club following Allen's departure by "mutual consent".
Lovely.
Quotes of the week
"I told the doctor: "What chance have I got of passing anything - did you see me play?"
- Plymouth manager Ian Holloway doubting whether he has the ability to pass a troublesome kidney stone.
"It's neat, it's weird, it's Rafa's goatee beard."
- Liverpool fans hail their beloved manager's peculiar facial hair.
"We got a goal - that's big progress for us."
- American Samoa coach David Brand looks on the bright side after a 12-1 defeat by Solomon Islands in their opening 2010 World Cup qualifying game.
"There's no rift with him, we get on really well. I don't know where these stories come from, but if I thought about things like that I would end up sat in a room banging my head against a wall."
- Leicester manager Martin Allen laughing off reports of a rift with chairman Milan Mandaric.
"Leicester City this evening announced that they had parted company with manager Martin Allen by mutual consent. Differences between both parties regarding the direction of the club have led to a breakdown in the relationship."
- Two days later: official statement by Leicester City confirms a rift with chairman Milan Mandaric.
"It is good we are not playing for two weeks."
- Derby manager Billy Davies. After Saturday's 6-0 defeat at Liverpool, Derby fans would be inclined to agree.
"We are close to England, only two-and-a-half hours away from you, so we sometimes consider ourselves as semi-English."
- West Ham's Icelandic owner Bjorgolfur Gudmundsson suggesting that the residents of Reykjavik are effectively Cockneys. Which will be news to the residents of Reykjavik.
Knight's role model
It proved to be an eventful week for Zat Knight, who scored against Chelsea yesterday. The defender once sort of declared an interest in playing for Ireland before winning a couple of caps for England in 2005. Aston Villa signed him before the transfer deadline for €5.16 million from Fulham but, you probably read, he was detained in the early hours of the morning, on the day he was to be unveiled at Villa Park, at his mother's house in Birmingham after an armed drugs raid.
The news really must have made Martin O'Neill's day, but he would have been somewhat relieved to hear Knight was released on bail while his younger brother continues to help police with their inquiries.
The unveiling, then, was able to go ahead, with Knight talking fondly of his boyhood Villa favourite, Paul McGrath. O'Neill must have been impressed, until he heard Knight expressing a desire to emulate McGrath on every level.
"He was real quality. There were a lot of rumours about him that he didn't really train but he always got nine out of 10 each weekend. That is something I would like to achieve - and not train," he said.
"Paul McGrath was that good he didn't have to train," O'Neill replied, "once you get to that stage you can take weeks off."
Zat smiled. Nervously.
Edds's nerve snaps
We have no idea if this is true - it was doing the rounds on the internet last week - but we would very much like it to be. MK Dons defender and all-round hard man Gareth Edds, apparently, dropped to the floor during a recent game, screaming, "I heard a snap, I heard a snap!"
A team-mate, fearing the worst, ran to investigate, but, with a chuckle, informed Edds that it was, in fact, his shin-pad that had snapped, not his leg. At which point Edds got back to his feet, dusted himself down and resumed tackling. With blushing cheeks, one assumes.
Roy's week
"I was definitely born to play for Manchester United, but I also feel I was born to manage Sunderland. It's part of my path in life, definitely. Sometimes you think the man upstairs has great plans for me."
- True enough, in August 2006 God said, "Let there be Keano at the Stadium of Light."
"I've not necessarily gone out of my way to bring in ex-United staff and players, it's just worked out that way. There's Danny, Yorkie, Coley, Liam Miller, Kieran Richardson, Paul McShane and coaches Neil Bailey, Cleggy, Raymond - I've probably missed someone. We tried to get the busdriver but he wouldn't come."
- On his attempts to empty Old Trafford of its contents.
"I'm not expecting hugs and kisses . . . there won't be a red carpet rolled out for me."
- Presumably referring to the welcome he wasn't expecting from Carlos Queiroz on Saturday.
"I'm not expecting balloons and a cake."
- As it turned out he pretty much got hugs, kisses, balloons, cakes and a red carpet, everything except a point.
"People say you have to keep it tight for the first 20 minutes in games like this - try the first 90. It might be longer if we go by Alex Ferguson's stop-watch."
- Quality.
Gary's bad investment
Bad Timing Of The Week award goes to Gary O'Neil, the midfielder who left Portsmouth for Middlesbrough just before the transfer deadline. Middlesbrough is up in the top right corner of England while Portsmouth is way, way down on the south coast. Unfortunate, then, that O'Neil had just paid £5,000 for an annual membership fee at Wentworth Golf Club. Mind you, he probably earns that in a day.
