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Search: 'Paul Ince'

Stories

Jobs for the boys

Portsmouth part company with Tony Adams after a poor start

Tony Adams’s three month spell in charge at Portsmouth was brought to a merciful end on the same day that Phil Scolari was sacked by Chelsea. The sacking didn’t seem to shake Adams’ confidence in his ability. As he told the Sun, “I can’t wait to get back in. I’ve seen there are six jobs in Holland at the moment.” A few days later, however, David James used his Observer column to blast his former boss, and his “bizarre” approach. It seems that Portsmouth players would have perked up if he yelled at them, like his predecessor.” When we’ve lost some games in the past,” James wrote, “Harry Redknapp has come in and torn strips off everybody. He would maybe sometimes apologise the next day but you needed that."

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Da, do, Ron, Ron, Ron…

Phil Town describes the man voted as the world's best player

The Portuguese media were convinced pretty much across the board that Cristiano Ronaldo had his name on the FIFA Player of the Year award. Just for good measure though, sports daily A Bola felt a little push might help and organised an online petition, signed by 123,559 people, which was sent to each of the 207 football associations of the voting countries. “Cristiano Ronaldo in Zürich to be crowned the best in the world,” chanced the same paper on the day of the ceremony.

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Meet the president

Sion's mecurial chairman has been through 18 managers in five years – including himself. Paul Joyce examines the chaos

Christian Constantin’s two spells as president of Swiss team FC Sion have been nothing if not colourful. After taking charge of the side from the Valais region in 1992, the autocratic Constantin guided Sion to two league titles and three Swiss Cup victories in five years. Yet the 130 transfers that took place in this period left the club fatally overstretched. Constantin quit in 1997 after Sion failed to qualify for the Champions League, leaving debts of 13.4 million Swiss francs (then £5.5m). Unable to recover, Sion were demoted to the third tier in June 2003.

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The quiet life

Some retired footballers go into management, but for many lazing on the cosy pundits' sofa is irresistible. Harry Pearson observes

Back in the 1960s, commentators such as Kenneth Wolstenholme and Huw Johns effectively spent 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon talking to themselves: “Now I wonder what United can come up with in response to that?” They would probe, before replying, after a brief pause: “This boy Brown looks like he may have half an idea!”

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Letters, WSC 263

Dear WSC
The mention of the “ironic greeting” at Albion Rovers’ Cliftonhill Stadium – “Welcome to the San Siro” – reminded me of the time I popped in to see Wee Rovers, the club that supplied the Boro with Bernie Slaven, one freezing December day. We arrived at quarter to three and took our places in the only stand just in front of the PA man, who was greeting individual arrivals by name. “Hello Mr MacPherson, nice to see ye. How’s the family?” Later, as he spotted a group of Dumbarton supporters: “Hello there! You’ll find we’re a very friendly crowd here. If you could just turn to the left and shake hands with the person next to ye.” How very different from the life of our own dear Premier League.
Bob Kerr, Middlesbrough

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