Snookie

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

Would that be the one that is top of the league by 7 points?

It seems a perfect appointment. A club playing possession based passing football hires a coach known for dour, long ball defensive football. That he isn't very good at it seems incidental.

Forgot that McLeish managed to get Birmingham relegated twice in three years which takes some doing.

This is the original article I read. Its even funnier/sadder... Source: Here From Bollywood to Ewood: Judan Ali in challenging new role Blackburn's new coach has had almost as much experience in the world of film as in the dugout The challenge for any new coach taking over the wreckage of Blackburn Rovers is daunting but even more so for one who only three years ago was helping run a club called Accrington Stanley Bowles in the Fifth Division of London's Sunday Sportsman's League. That man is Judan Ali, who was lined up as Rovers' potential manager by the club's Indian owners when Steve Kean was sacked in September and who will be up against it when, in what is a big moment for British Asian football, he arrives to take training today. Ali has plenty to prove, to judge by the fact that the sacked manager Henning Berg evidently struggled to convince Rovers' senior players that he had good enough credentials. At least Ali has Bollywood acting experience on his CV. That will be useful at a club whose story feels more like a comedy film script with each convulsion. Details of Ali's football credentials are sketchy, though having been brought up by Indian-born parents in London's Brick Lane he did have a role in the Arsenal youth ranks in the 1980s. When that ended, letters requesting trials at clubs as far removed as Plymouth Argyle and Carlisle United then came to nothing. Ali is said to have given up on England and spent time at Barcelona's La Masia academy. There are reports of him gaining qualifications there and of him working at Murcia. Those could not be validated last night, when Ali could not be reached. He certainly did play his part on the big screen. Ali had a role in the casting for the 2007 feature Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal – a rags-to-riches story set in west London's Asian football-playing community which was, in part, inspired by his own struggle for a breakthrough in the game. The plot has the fictional Southall United overcoming all obstacles to become top dogs in the Combined Counties League. There were positive reviews for it and moderate box office success. This brought a celebrity role in a real football team at around the same time. Ali joined actors Ross Kemp and Omid Djalili as the celebrity members of the Chelsea representative team who played in Sky 1's Premier League All Stars televised charity football tournament, broadcast live on consecutive nights for one week in September 2007. There was a 5-2 win over Bolton before quarter-final elimination to Sunderland. His role in the casting for the Bollywood movie also led him to an appreciation of the youth talent in India where his attempts to assemble an Under-15 side to compete in Arsenal's football festival this summer attracted 20,000 applicants, which he whittled down to just 16 young hopefuls. He has been deeply involved in anti-racism work at grass-roots level in London. His work in India has led him to voice hopes of managing a low-ranked national team, possibly India, through World Cup qualifiers. "I have already proved that it can be done at youth level and I am determined to do the same at international senior level, should the opportunity arise," Ali said recently. But his work in the British game itself does not seem to have reached much beyond his energetic involvement at Accrington Stanley Bowles, the self-styled "QPR internet supporters' club", whose existence pays homage to one of the club's all-time heroes. Ali would regularly communicate the club's results to the local London newspaper, which reported in 2009 an example of his managerial mind games. The opposition had cried off one week, so Ali, the assistant manager, organised a friendly without telling the players. The result was a performance just as intense as a league game, with a win for good measure. Ali will need a lot more where that came from at Blackburn. SHORT STAYS FASTEST MANAGERIAL EXITS Leroy Rosenior, Torquay United, May 2007; 1 day Returned as manager after a four-year spell but the club was being taken over and he was reportedly replaced after just 10 minutes. Bill Lambton, Sc***horpe, April 1959; 3 days Took charge for a single game, a 3-0 loss to Huddersfield. Jörg Berger, Arminia Bielefeld, May 2009; 5 days Shown the door after one game having failed to save the German club from Bundesliga relegation. Jack Crompton, Luton Town, 1962; 7 days Ex-Manchester United goalkeeper was not given any longer than a week.

Blackburn Rovers are ready to hire an unknown ex-Bollywood film star as their new manager, as Indian owners Venky’s came under further criticism for their ‘shambolic’ running of the club. Less than 24 hours after Henning Berg was sacked just 57 days after taking the job, Blackburn are ready to defy expectations and hire little-known replacement Judan Ali – whose main claim to fame is as a film star. Names such as Mark Hughes, Roberto Di Matteo and Sean O’Driscoll have all been linked with the Ewood Park job but former Arsenal trainee Ali is believed to be the front runner for the managerial role. Ali, who is already in talks with Rovers, would become English football’s first British-Asian coach but the 39-year-old appears to be very under-qualified – having never held a senior management position. His greatest achievement to date is a brief stint coaching the India Under-15 football team, while more recently he has been running a youth programme in Dagenham as well as featuring in several low-budget Bollywood movies. Ali has close connections with Blackburn’s owner Venky’s and had been brought to the club last month to monitor how Berg was coaching the side on a day-to-day basis. But following Berg’s dismissal, Ali is now in line to receive a mighty promotion – having reportedly entered advanced negotiations to form a joint-managerial coaching team with ex-Aston Villa coach Kevin MacDonald. Although many Blackburn fan groups have backed the decision of the owners to relieve Berg of his position, including Rovers Action Group secretary Mark Fish, many fans have still blamed the owners for the club’s current predicament – saying the former star should never have been appointed as Steve Kean’s successor in the first place. ‘So the Venky’s shambles that continues to embarrass our club rolls on,’ said one. ‘I wouldn’t be opposed to see Hughes back, or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer appointed. But maybe Venky’s will run a telephone voting system to choose our next manager – nothing would surprise me any more.’ Blackburn are currently 17th in the Championship following relegation from the top flight last season, which saw Kean given his marching orders. Source: Here

Agreed but the parallels with the pre-Ferguson United are even more depressing. The same deluded sense of entitlement, 'specialness' and backwards looking hero worship that characterised them in 70s and 80s have come to define a significant proportion of the Liverpool fan mindset. Its become part of the problem.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

He was recently voted one of the top six foreign players to ever play in Serie A. He was included in the 100 football league legends. He was PFA player of the year and a permanent fixture in their team of the season in the late 70s. Pretty much all examples of non-London press rating him quite highly.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

that's awful stuff

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.