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So farewell then, Pierre Sage. Many coaches leave under a cloud, not many have their departures completely obscured by the foul, retch-inducing one emanating from another team’s managerial circus, but such was Sage’s fate. The news section of Crystal Palace’s website helpfully tells you the amount of time it might take you to read each story it through to. For example it should take four minutes or so to get through Tuesday’s “On this day: five big Crystal Palace birthdays”. “England: I love a knee slide!” will take you five. “Prize draw: be a mascot for our next [Bigger Vase] tie!” is a two-minute job. The statement informing the world of Sage’s exit? One minute. Eighty-three words. By way of illustration, the word “words” was the 84th of this paragraph. Just because the man’s French doesn’t mean his exit should be marked with a shrug.
As I have been away at a conference, giving a presentation that the MC described as ‘sobering’, I’ve missed the last few days of football, so I was very sad to read about the passing of the great Danny Kelly. Others are far better placed to give tributes to the great man, but for younger generations who can’t comprehend the football cultural significance, Baker and Kelly represented the peak of football phone-ins. Before it became people ranting and raving about wanting the manager sacked as they’ve lost a few games or wanting the club to spend another few hundred million pounds on yet more players, it was about football supporters and supporting, from fans who actually went to games. Their peak was on BBC Radio in the 1990s, and there are too many examples of their greatness, but if I had to pick one, just one to illustrate it, it would, of course, be Gordon the Dundee United supporter and his bow tie. Rest in Peace, Danny Kelly. You gave us such joy” – Noble Francis.
As they no longer seem to be ‘Dr Tottenham’, I was wondering if they had maybe passed the soubriquet on. I think the England cricket team has provided the answer (again)” – Andrew Parker.
Impressive list of kiss-off press releases (yesterday’s Football Daily) but why was Ralf Rangnick omitted from the chronological list of post-Fergie managers? Is it because Football Daily valued him as little as Manchester United fans did?” – Mike Wilner.
This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions.