Newcastle boss Glenn Roeder will find a very different world to the one he left behind when he returns to West Ham today for the first time since they dismissed him nearly three years ago.
At that time, West Ham were a selling club, developing a succession of top-quality players who have since left to make their mark on grander Premiership stages and at international level.
Now the Londoners are more noted for recruiting quality players, a trend that reached its apex when Javier Mascherano and Carlos Tevez arrived in east London at the end of last month.
Now both could start a Premiership game for the first time against Newcastle, who were unable to produce any similar eye-catching deals before the transfer deadline.
Newcastle's lack of activity and two successive league defeats have prompted the bookmakers to make Roeder favourite to be the next Premiership manager to be sacked.
That has only added to the pressure on Roeder, who endured difficult times while in charge at West Ham, but the 50-year-old maintains he has nothing to prove -- and there is no question of a revenge mission for the way he was treated at the end of his stay.
However, Roeder certainly expects a mixed reception from West Ham supporters, but says: "As the opposition manager, I'd pay more attention to the reception I receive from our supporters. There will be a group of West Ham supporters that will give me a good one, and a minority who will not."
Roeder was sacked by the East London club in 2003 shortly after major surgery to remove a brain tumour. It brought the curtain down on a roller-coaster two-year reign that delivered the club's highest Premier League finish of seventh in 2002, followed by relegation 12 months later despite a points haul of 42.
"I don't feel I've anything to prove," he said. "We got relegated and I ended up losing my job the next season after two wins, a draw and a defeat. I got knocked down and got up and marched on. There's no bitterness."
Roeder feels his well-documented health problems at Upton Park have helped him to keep a sense of perspective since he took over from Graeme Souness seven months ago.
He added: "I feel lucky I had the health scare there. It reshaped the way I get on with life. Some of the little things that would have bothered me in the past I now allow to go over my head and don't worry about them."
"Life can be short and we all hang by a thread. You can kill yourself worrying because 99 percent of things you worry about don't happen," he said.
Roeder has several selection issues as Newcastle look to build on their midweek UEFA Cup victory over Levadia Tallinn.
Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano is out for three weeks with hamstring trouble, while defenders Titus Bramble (knee and ankle), and Steven Taylor (foot) are major doubts.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
RSS