Thursday's football rumour mill
Thursday, 04 Sep 2008 11:54
Slaven Bilic will make a lot of Hammers fans - and England fans, come to that - happy if he ditches Croatia
There are no surprises at the top of the prospective list of new managers for West Ham United, but further down the bookies' list are a couple of interesting candidates to look out for.
Croatia coach
Slaven Bilic seems to be the overwhelming favourite to take over and he is yet to categorically rule himself out of the running for the post at his old club.
Harry Redknapp is also being touted as a likely interviewee, but it seems unlikely he will want to trade in European football and a cushy post on the south coast at Portsmouth, especially given his comments today (
Redknapp rules himself out).
The more eyebrow-raising candidates include former Inter Milan manager
Roberto Mancini, who is out of work after being axed by the bosses at the San Siro in favour of former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho in the summer.
However, still more out of the blue is the name of charismatic (that's a polite way of saying mental) former Hammers striker
Paolo di Canio, who is apparently now a qualified coach.
In his playing days, Di Canio was about as close to crazy as you could get - shoving referees around, indulging in ill-timed fascist saultes and generally getting in a strop every week.
Don't get me wrong - absolutely first class in terms of entertainment, and he was a major hit with the fans at the Boleyn - but management material? We'll wait and see if the West Ham board agree there.
Elsewhere, the papers think
Kevin Keegan will be the next man to leave a manager's job as the Premier League sack race continues.
His 'crisis talks' at St James' Park have apparently been riddled with ultimatums, and owner Mike Ashley could be preparing to put his foot down over King Kev's demands.