Yes, I remember that.

Sometimes its the average players who become the best coaches or managers (some don't even play the game!)

Pep at Man City is a bit of an exception (and maybe Koeman at Everton if he does become a top manager)

I suspect we will be seeing more and more players who have plied their trade in the lower leagues becoming coaches because the big names won't really want to become a manager or coach having to work in the cold every day earning much less than they did as players and dealing with the pressures that come with it.

I might be wrong of course but suspect most will go down the pundit on Sky etc line.

Don't knock Craig Shakespeare! It's a shame you only caught the tail end of his career at Grimsby Town, but his previous spell under the management of Alan Buckley, the man with the biggest link between our respective clubs, was anything but disappointing. His spell at Walsall for virtually the whole of 1980s is admittedly a bit before my time as a match-going supporter, but I'm well aware of him being a bit of a club legend - he was part of both our 1984 League Cup Semi-Finalist team and our 1987/88 Division Three Play-Off winning team.

That he is one of only a few players to have been in one of the four Saddlers teams to win promotion to the second tier AND involved in easily our most successful cup run makes him a bonafide club legend in my eyes. As such, him being Claudio Ranieri's right hand man meant that I was willing on Leicester City to win the Premier League title that little bit more than most neutrals. I was really pleased to see someone with a heavy connection to my club become a league champion and by all accounts Craig is a great guy and very modest about the exceptional job he's done in making the transition between Nigel Pearson and Ranieri as seamless as possible (and then some!).

So yeah, he might have been past his best when you saw him in the mid 1990s, but he was a really consistent player for Walsall in 1980s as we reached amazing highs for a club of our size and with our resources, and it's great to see him going onto even bigger and better things with Leicester and now England. I feel that much more positive about the England team now that he is in the set-up, those in the know seem to have nothing but praise for the positive influence he has had over the Foxes and I hope that extends to his country.

Funboy, showing his real colors, a bitter pundit........ it'll be that scouse muppets turn in the morning I'll bet !

What has happened to 'Up The League'? It's not on this week again and been replaced by a repeat of 'My Sporting Life'. Someone had mentioned that the host, Geoff Peters, had been ill recently but I'm sure l heard Matt Holland indicate that he was going to discuss with Peters this weekend's football league fixtures in his introduction on his show last night.

I hope TalkSPORT haven't dropped 'Up The League' from it's schedules as it's one of the shows that deserves an extra hour, if not more!

What's happened to Up The League with Geoff Peters I've tuned in for it this morning and it's the station cat and My Sporting Life?.


EDIT: 6.57
Oops hadn't seen Peachy's post earlier.

Some players must be destined to be criticised after packing up take Carton Palmer for instance he gets publicly ridiculed regularly for his England appearances but he was an absolutely fantastic player for Sheffield Wednesday so much so they still rave about him even now he's regarded as a Wednesday hero by tens of thousands around here.

Absolutely spot on.

Can't believe they were questioning what an achievement a bronze medal is.

They are the third best human at that discipline IN THE WORLD ffs an incredible achievement.

It takes incredible discipline hour after hour of usually boring training 6 days a week,getting up at 5 am ,feeling constantly tired restrictive diets and missing nights out with friends they really have my upmost respect particularly events like swimming where the amount of training needed is particularly brutal.The sacrifices these people make are substantial.

These Olympics for me highlight the contrast between the athletes who are often real role models for what can be achieved and the money obsessed footballers of the modern game who time and time again let us down paying for their country,

They don't really believe it either you know, it just reels muppets to the phone to spend 13p a minute to ring in.

Apparently old Dungleberry was asking his millions of fans to ring in to discuss whether or not they thought the Brownlee bros were cheats because they "helped" each other during the triathlon and only competed with each other towards the end of the race??
Loony toons or what??
Don't all the other nations with more than one competitor run with each other to "help their team mates.

Methinks old Dungleberry is desperate for "shock" topics or maybe the Brownlee boys are fans of AFC.

Mick Quinbo happy as a pig in spite of the fact that his beluvved LFC have only one game played (dey'll win de leeg some day soon) seems to be softening towards ManU and giving Maureeno lots of praise.What with this and working for a Murdoch company is he ?

Special guests in the studio on Drive next week are the GB Womens 4 x 100m relay team

Correct me if l wrong, but we didn't even enter a team at London in 2012 and to win a bronze medal in Rio is a superb comeback!

l can imagine when it is the time for the Paralympics, both Dungham and Goffy will discuss if the visionary impaired runners are also cheats because they require a able-bodied runner to guide them!

I think TS are just bitter that the Euro's that they invested heavily in were an instantly forgettable disaster as far as we were concerned where as the Olympics which they barely cover have been a massive success story and really grabbed the attention of the nation.Probably not helped their listening figures/advertising revenue either.

Was listening to the Weekend Sports Breakfast Show when the horsey guy came on to talk horse racing with the all-time "second-to-none goal finisher". The racing guy supported Portsmouth and used to worship the best ever second to none goal finisher from the stands when Quinn played for them back in the day and also Michael runs his horses at the guy's track because it's nearby to where he lives .... me thinks another 'friend of the station' situation very possibly might come of this.

I think you're right. To be honest, I wouldn't go into management or coaching if I was a Premier League player, I would definitely go down the media route.


I didn't notice that you were a Walsall fan. I realise Shakespeare had been a good player for Walsall in his prime, and that's why Buckley signed him in the first place. He was just very mediocre for us, I would struggle to even identify what his assets were. He was slow, a bit fat, didn't score goals, and wasn't especially inspiring creatively. I'm pleased for him that he's doing well in his coaching career, as very few people associated with us gain much recognition in the wider game.

I think you have the reason for the pitiful, churlish bitterness of some (Murray and H&J seem exceptions) at the station, also overshadowing the start of the blessed Premier League, how dare these Olympians train hard for 4 years and get in the way of Dungham slagging off Wenger.

Slagging off Wender
Has certainly become a pastime. I am not kidding when I say that I have randomly tuned in on about three occasions in the last few days and the presenters have been doing just this. And just think at least the Olympics are getting a little coverage on the station but they finish this weekend ...

Charlie Sale reporting that Jim 'Deadline Day' White will be the Colin Murray replacement.

Maybe not a terrible replacement, we'll have to see, certainly a proper journo and not a shock-jock, or stuck-in-their-ways old pro.

Yet we know Talsport can turn people awful, look at Saggers, decent on radio5, now often a shouty mess.

Cant see Boozie liking him, Hes a dyed-in-the-wool Rangers fan !

A convicted drunk driver who was once stopped from boarding a plane because he was p1ssed.

A perfect fit.

Liverpool stuffed by Burnley but once again Talkcrap going on about Arsenal.

thought the 2 mikes had it in the bag, if not get them back on the graveyard slot

Can't be having currant buns on tS.

the moose can stay at the united states.