WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Why was José Mourinho attending the international friendly game between Austria and Russia?

Well, obviously, he was there to watch Marko Arnautovic! How do we know? Easy, we read it in the paper, so it must be true.

It did cross our mind that he may have been there swotting up on the Russian team as he has agreed to be a pundit on a Russian TV station for the duration of the World Cup.

He could have been watching Aleksandr Golovin, a 22 year-old midfielder, who he may consider a good addition to his United team.

It also occurred to us that he may have been there, in part, to watch David Alaba, another Austrian but this one being a left back and that position being one which Mourinho is known to want to strengthen. But hey, what do we know?

Obviously the big papers know what they’re talking about. Mourinho was there to watch a player who plays in a position in which United already have ample cover.

So from that little snippet of information which, of course, hasn’t been verified by anybody at United, never mind the manager, we now know that West Ham don’t want to sell him but would certainly do so if they were to receive an offer in the region of £50 million.

All of this stems from a reporter deciding he or she knew why José Mourinho was watching an international football match! This would certainly fall into the category of fake news if Donald Trump was asked for his opinion.

Our opinion is that, unless this rumour turns out to be true, in which case it was no more than a lucky guess, then it is just another example of the gutter press inventing a story where there isn’t one.

Everton get their man…..

In other news which, this time, just happens to be true, Marco Silva has been appointed Everton manager. It is a job he wanted and it is a job Everton have wanted to give him from even before they employed Sam Allardyce.

They couldn’t get him back then, as we all know, because he was contracted to Watford at the time.

Having been refused permission to talk to Everton he then lost all interest in his job and was fired before his disinterest could do too much damage.

The previous season he had left Hull City shortly after failing to save them from relegation.

These two episodes potray a man with a high opinion of himself. A man who thought he was too good for the Championship and then a man who thought he was too good for Watford.

This can be viewed as ambition which, Everton are no doubt hoping, will be a positive force in their drive to break into the top six. Where they have to be careful is if he succeeds! Then he may attract the interest of a bigger club and history has already shown us, on two occasions, what the outcome of that little encounter will be.

Those darned contracts again…..!

Mauricio Pochettino has just signed a new five year contract at Tottenham Hotspur. A couple of weeks ago we included, in one of our articles, a piece which questioned the necessity of a contract between managers and football clubs citing the fact that they become pretty meaningless if one of the parties decides they are no longer going to honour it.

Granted, it may appear to cost the contract-breaker a few bob but it is far more likely that any compensation will be paid by another club, usually the one which is the cause of the contract being broken in the first place!

That is what may now happen between Spurs and Real Madrid because that paragon of virtue, otherwise known as Sky Sports, is reporting that the Spanish team want Pochettino to replace Zinedine Zidane.

If that is the case and if, indeed, the Argentinian does eventually replace the Frenchman then Real Madrid will have to pay a lot of money to Tottenham to, basically, buy Pochettino out of his contract.

We can’t help but feel that managers would learn far more about loyalty if they were made to pay the compensation themselves when it is, in fact, they who are breaking the contract, not the other club. This, of course, will never happen because the big clubs generally get what or who they want simply by waving some cash in the direction of the so-called “smaller” teams.

This one may run for a while yet.

And finally…..

Be worried you Chelsea fans, be very worried. Roman Abramoovich, fed up with waiting for his visa for the UK to be renewed has decided to become an Israeli. That in itself isn’t a problem as he will still be able to spend lots of time in Britain, as long as he isn’t working.

The question now is will Abramovich have the same commitment to Chelsea as he has done in the past and the answer, initially anyway, appears to be no.

The club have shelved plans for extending Stamford Bridge to accommodate 60,000 supporters which will save them around £1 billion but will cost them dearly in the long run. As of next season Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and even West Ham United will be able to boast bigger stadia then Chelsea.

The other clue as to the Russian’s possible waning ambition is the fact that Chelsea are refusing to pay the buy-out/compensation/release clause for Maurizio Sarri so they can appoint him as their new manager. This stands at around €7 million which Abramovich could probably find down the back of his sofa. So maybe he isn’t quite as enamoured as he once was!