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March 2001 News

News of other stars from the 1970-71 season

29 March

It's Two Out of Two For Sven-Göran

Well done to Sven-Göran Eriksson (Karlskoga) for England's second successive victory in the World Cup European Group 9 qualifers. It wasn't the best of Enland performances over 90 minutes, but what a great result ! At 3-1 in Albania, and the knowldege that his top striker Andrew Cole laid on one goal and finally scored another, Sven-Göran must be very pleased himself. Morale in the English squad must be at a competition high.

BBC SPORT WORLD CUP 2002 Eriksson sees room for improvement reports that Sven-Göran said,

"It was a difficult game. In the first-half we played very well, but couldn't score.

"In the second half we played even better and scored three goals.

"The only bad thing was the goal that Albania scored - I didn't understand it.

Eriksson also had words of praise for Ashley Cole, who he told would make his international debut only at lunchtime.

"Ashley (Cole) did really well. He was very quick and was very calm before the game now we can say we have got two good left defenders.

"Owen's was a very important goal today, it came at just the right time."

Other Bob 70-71 players Peter Taylor (Southend) and Ray Clemence (Liverpool) were also spotted on the England bench last night.

Two Out of Two For Howard,Too

Yes, Howard Wilkinson's Under-21 team also managed a victory away to Albania, too. The score was 1-0. See TotalFootball.com - Under-21s

28 March

Swede Appears on Channel 5 After 9pm - and the Children CAN Watch !

The above picture of Sven-Göran Eriksson (Karlskoga) has been on billboards throughout the country this last week. It has been computer enhanced to show the country's favourite Swede as having had his faced painted with the red St.George's cross from the England flag. The purpose has been to advertise Channel 5's coverage of tonight's World Cup qualifier between Albania and England.

If you have Flash see http--www.channel5.co.uk-svensational-sven_frame.php

Or if you just want a print out of Sven-Göran try Sven-Göran a Stick

See Channel 5

26 March

Sven-Göran Triumphs in World Cup Qualifier

Sven-Göran's first competative match in charge as England manager, was a 2-1 victory. Played at Anfield, due to Wembly being rebuilt, things looked a bit dodgy when Finland went one up. Finland had never beaten England 9 previous encounters, and English fans were hoping history would stay on their side.

Nerves were calmed when Next Generation star, Michael Owen (See News) scored just before half time. Sven-Göran's new captain, David Beckham, took England into the lead soon into the second half and the defence just about held out out till the end of the match.

At BBC SPORT WORLD CUP 2002 Sven is reported to have said :

"It was typical they scored at a corner kick, and we didn't have good marking, but it's very good to see the ioj

England are in qualifying position in Group Nine, but are already 5 points behind leaders Germany and only 1 point above the separates England, Finland, Albania and Greece, the other 4 members of the group.

See BBC SPORT WORLD CUP 2002 Beckham completes England fightback and the picture is coming from BBC SPORT PHOTO GALLERIES England 2-1 Finland - in pictures

Under-21s Win 4-0

Howard Wilkinson's side managed a convincing 4-0 victory against Finland at Oakwell in Barnsley. It was John Terry's first match as captain..

Little Manager of the Month

Sorry, a bit late reporting this, but Hull City manager (Aston Villa) won the Division 3 Manager of the Month award. Nationwide's football site Awards reports :

Hull City manager Brian Little says his Nationwide Manager of the Month award is testament to the great spirit within the club at a time of severe adversity.

And although the club is in administration and has had it's very existence threatened, Little revealed at his Manager of the month lunch that he has turned down several job offers in order to guide the Tigers through their darkest hour.

The former Aston Villa and Leicester manager said: "I've had a couple of opportunities where I could have gone elsewhere, but I thought to myself 'that's not the right thing to do'.

"If the new people who come in to take charge of the club don't want me, I think I'll get another job - but in the middle of our problems I didn't think it was the sort of situation I should walk away from.

"I'll just keep cracking on and trying to lead from the front - I'm happy with what I've done, I think I made the right decision - and hopefully when the new people come in I'll still be the manager."

Little's loyalty was crucial to his team's emergence from their worst spell of the season - only three points from seven games - to mount a tremendous run of five straight wins which earned him February's Nationwide Manager of the Month award.

The nap-hand of victories left the Tigers just one point off the third division play-off places, a feat which surprised even Little in a topsy-turvy season where survival, rather than promotion, has of necessity become the main priority.

He said: "It's been a strange period since I arrived at the club. We have known within the club about the financial problems for a while, but when rumours started going around it became more difficult to work in those circumstances.

"But when the situation became public, the spotlight that came upon us really made us stand up to be counted - in a way it became easier to pull together and show people what we were made of.

"The rumours going around were probably part of the reason we had bad results around Christmas and into January - that run certainly coincided with those rumours.

"But we got extra desire, extra belief - we were determined to show people we weren't going to lie down. Everybody hung in there, dug deep and found a little bit extra to get some great results.

"We had a bit of luck in one or two of our February games, which is always important but it was an excellent month for us.

"I've had quite a few Manager of the Month awards during my career, but this one was a bit different and very special.

"I've tried to lead from the front, everybody at the club has worked especially hard and the supporters have been great as well.

"People are talking about reaching the play-offs, but if we don't do that it won't be a problem - it's more important that we are still here as a club and with jobs to do.

"There are still some uncertainties, but we have all been given the belief from the administrators that there is a great chance for the club to be sorted out and go on into the future.

"What we have got to do is to make sure we leave the club ready for the new people to start the process of taking Hull City onto a bright future."

16 March

Buckley Returns !

Alan Buckley (Nottingham Forest squad) was made manager of Lincoln City on the 28th of February. Alan was last seen on these pages as manager of Grimsby Town, from whom he was sacked in September last year.

Though currently 19th in the 24 team Division Three, Lincoln have only got 4 points more than bottom placed Halifax Town. However, this is a big improvement because Lincoln won their first three matches under Alan. This has probably rescued them from thier second drop into the Conference League since automatic promotion/relegation was introduced. Lincoln do have 3 games in hand over a couple of the teams below them, but will need to win a few more points to be completely safe.

Imps Online - News Alan Buckley from www.ImpsOnline.co.uk

Manager of the Month

Trevor Francis, the Birmingham City manager, was compensated for his League Cup Final defeat by winning the Division One Manager of the Month award for February.

1 March

Sven-Göran's Men Win Well

It was only a friendly, but it meant so much more to English fans, as it was also Sven-Göran Eriksson (Karlskoga) first match in charge of England. The sound 3-0 win at Villa Park against Spain, will no doubt produce far too high expectations from the press before the World Cup qualifiers, but there is no doubting it's the sort of confidence boost the team needed.

See what Sven-Göran had to say at BBC SPORT FOOTBALL Eriksson's England joy
A match break-down can be found at BBC SPORT FOOTBALL England v Spain clockwatch
See also BBC SPORT FOOTBALL Sven's England off to winning start

Rioch Sacked !

Wigan were riding high in the Division Two promtion race when the shock news came that Bruce Rioch had stepped down as their manager. The Wigan Athletic official site was decidedly quiet about it saying that things 'hadn't worked out' for Bruce, which would have sounded more convincing had the club not been in fourth place just 4 points from the automatic promotion place.

The League Manager Association have subsequently defended Bruce saying the real reason was a bust up with the owner of the club, Dave Whelan. Dave is quoted as saying, ' this club is mine,mine,mine,all mine - and Bruce is smelly', by this website who made it up.

See Wigan Athletic A.F.C. - Official Website and BBC SPORT WIGAN ATHLETIC Rioch bust-up riddle

Wilko's Under 21's Defeat

Howard Wilkinson, the coach of the England Under-21's was philosophical after their 4-0 defeat against Spain at St Andrews on Tuesday night. He described it as a 'terrific work out'. Terrifying score though, Howard.

See more March 2001 news at the following ...

Click here for further soccer headlines www.bobdunning.net