And at an hour when Allison may have been returning home with a bottle of Dom Perignon under his arm, Mourinho can be found heading for the training ground.
But there are similarities. An outstanding coach, flamboyant, outspoken and always the centre of attention, Allison won four major trophies with Manchester City between 1967 and 1970.
It was an unmitigated disaster with Allison, squandering a British record £1.4million on Wolves' Steve Daley, lasting just 12 months. Allison should have probably followed his own instincts after his first meeting with chairman Peter Swales when he said:
"I looked at him, saw the comb-over, the England blazer and the suede shoes and knew it just wasn't going to work out."
Over the years, there would be similar stories with Howard Kendall at Everton and Kenny Dalglish at Liverpool. It's never the same the second time around.
Few Chelsea fans, though, predict anything other than a rekindling of the old magic should Mourinho take up the reins once more.
In Mourinho's favour, unlike Allison, Kendall and Dalglish on their own return to their spiritual homes, is that Chelsea still have the players.
In his nine years at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have won three titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups and the Champions League.
It would be no leap of the imagination to suggest Abramovich believes he is the man ultimately responsible for all this success.
That Roberto Di Matteo won the Champions League and Avram Grant was only a John Terry missed penalty away from also achieving the feat will only have reinforced his belief.
After the fall-out of Mourinho's departure, does Abramovich really have to re-employ him — as some sort of sop to fans he has never taken much notice of anyway?
Yes, Mourinho is the bookies favourite. And only last week it's claimed he told an associate the only options next season are Madrid or London. That it will not be Manchester or Paris.
Yet if things between Abramovich and Mourinho really had been patched up some time ago why did the Chelsea owner pursue Pep Guardiola for so long?
He turned small clubs like Villarreal and Malaga into unlikely Champions League contenders and, though he only had a year at the Bernabeu, Real Madrid amassed a then-record club points tally of 96 in finishing runners-up to Barcelona.
The Chilean does his best work on the training ground and believes in flair players. His trans-Continental knowledge also fits into Abramovich's long-term strategy of building a team around Brazilian and Spanish players.
Yet his concern is a tad hypocritical. Because Hodgson is as responsible as anyone else for the mess we find ourselves in.
At West Brom in 2011-2012, it improved as three out of eight signings were English (38 per cent). That's 10 players out of 46 averaging out at a less than flag-waving 22 per cent.
So if Hodgson wants to blame failure to qualify for Brazil 2014 on clubs bringing in cheaper foreign imports, he will know where to point the finger.
First, the ridiculous notion some Millwall fans would still be sober and compos mentis by the time their FA Cup semi-final against Wigan kicked off at 5.15pm left the game's governing body looking as daft as they are.
And now the final itself will start at the same time — despite Virgin Trains warning that many fans of Roberto Martinez's Wigan and Roberto Mancini's Manchester City will be left marooned in London as the last train back leaves at 9pm.
The FA, ever helpful, say fans should travel by National Express coaches, who happen to be their official travel provider.
I'm surprised they didn't give all the sponsors a plug by suggesting supporters could relax on the coach back by tucking into Mars bars and Walkers crisps, washed down with Carlsberg and Coca-Cola... while having a flutter on Betfred.
Had Virgin Trains rather than National Express been their 'official travel provider', it would, no doubt, have been a 3pm kick-off.
The Flying Scot, now 37, has been an inspiration not only to his own sport and the GB Olympic team but to a generation.
Cycling has been the driving force behind our Olympic success since 2004. One gold out of nine when coming fourth in the Athens medal table mushroomed to eight out of 19 and fourth at Beijing 2008.
Cycling then contributed another eight out of 29 when GB finished third at London 2012. At the centre of it all has been Hoy, the most successful Olympic cyclist of all time with six golds.
ANDY CARROLL is a big lump who throws himself about. And, yes, his collision with David De Gea at Upton Park wasn't exactly ballet.
Chasing after referee Lee Probert, Vidic kept swinging his elbow and pointing to his cheek (which didn't appear to have a mark on it).
Men like Tony Adams, Terry Butcher and Stuart Pearce used to sport their cuts and bruises with pride. Vidic is far better than this.
A TRIUMPHALIST member of the Man City website team at Wembley greeted their semi-final victory over Chelsea with the words "another day, another final".
Link: [Live Football] FC Thun - FC Basel - Swiss Super League
No comments:
Post a Comment