Re: Alexandro Sabella - Strong Rumours, Do you fancy him?
BigJoe#1 said:
On 5 live tonight they were saying that there are exceptionally strong rumours that City are in well advanced negotiations to bring Sabella to City.
Apparently Sabella was offered the job at São Paulo last week, he suggested he needed time to consider because City had made an approach and needed to know the outcome of the talks before he could give a decision. Furthermore his agent has allegedly flown to the UK for discussion with the City money men.
He has little club management experience but was really rated as the Argentina national coach . His only European experience us as a player with Sheffield Utd and Leeds.
Interesting and a massive gamble, would it be one worth taking?
Apparently this is genuine and from very good and reliable sources.
I will try and download a link to the podcast when it's available. For Those who want to listen it is on at about 02:45, Saturday am (11/04/15) the show is called "Up All Night" ( keep it clean lol).
It was that strong I thought it worth sharing.
This is a stop gap appointment until they can get Pep.
Heard the Up all night and it backs up all the strong stories. I'd back Vickery's account as his sources are normally reliable.
Some thoughts I have on Sabella (article to appear in MCIVTA this weekend)
ALEJANDRO (‘ALEX’) SABELLA
What do we know about Alejandro Sabella? Born in Buenos Aires in 1954, he had a moderately successful playing career which started off with home town club River Plate where he played a key role in winning the regional Metropolitano Champonship in 1977. His progress was stunted by the return to the club of crowd favourite Norberto Alonso, so young Sabella decided to look for opportunities elsewhere. After 2nd Division Sheffield United decided that an eye-catching young midfielder by the name of Diego Maradona was too expensive for them, they splashed out a more modest £160,000 on Sabella instead. Alex Sabella as he is known at Bramall Lane is remembered fondly as a stylish if languid midfielder by Sheffield United fans of a certain age, and served them for 2 years (1978-80), though that period ended with the Blades being relegated to the Third Division for the first time in their history. He had one season at Leeds before returning back across the Atlantic to win back to back titles with Estudiantes. His managerial record is impressive too, even though he started management relatively late (in his fifties), winning The Copa Libertadores (The South American equivalent of the Champions League) in 2009 and the Argentine league title a year later with his old club Estudiantes.
He was due to work at Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira and was amicably excused from his contract to take up the reins of the Argentine national side . So, with their being a good relationship between Abu Dhabi and Sabella, and reliable sources reporting there has been contact, there is a strong possibility that he could be City’s next manager, even if that is just for one year.
He guided Argentina to the final of the World Cup in 2014, before carrying out his promise to resign. There he has had mixed reviews about his performance as Argentina coach, with some saying he weakened Argentina’s attack in that World Cup Final by replacing Lavezzi and Higuain and with Estaban Palacios and our own Sergio Aguero who was not fully fit, but anyone who has seen the staggering misses that Higuain is capable of, including a one-on-one in that match, might think otherwise. Diego Simeone, successful coach of Atletico Madrid being one of them. It shouldn’t be forgotten that Lionel Messi had his best World Cup under Sabella, after two where he had made no significant impression.
The main reservations about Sabella’s credentials are his lack of experience of coaching and management, especially in European club football. After years of being Daniel Passarella’s number two for many years at various clubs and the Argentine national side, he only took charge of Estudiantes in 2009. However, even if this is to be a stop gap appointment, there is some comfort in the fact that he is an intelligent, well respected man, who got the best out of Argentina in the World Cup. We need someone to get the best out of these City players.
It's a gamble but he seems like a good man manager.
