Blackburn win shows how players duck out when the axe is about to fall
By Stan Collymore 22/12/2008
The Mirror
"The king is dead, long live the king" has been heard in the dressing rooms of Tottenham, Sunderland and Blackburn this season.
And the fortunes of all three clubs have improved drastically following respective downfalls of Juande Ramos, Roy Keane and Paul Ince.
But I think some players should have been lined up for the guillotine rather than simply their managers.
Blackburn's comprehensive 3-0 thumping of Stoke after 11 league games without a win makes the appointment of Sam Allardyce look a masterstroke.
But you are not telling me a man can walk into the dressing room, pat a couple of the players on the back and make that much of a difference.
Then you get the ridiculous scenario of the players all of a sudden saying the new manager has worked wonders.
No he hasn't, the players have basically absolved themselves of any blame, that is all. Players these days cannot have much professional pride if they are so bad one week and superb the next.
Blackburn's squad got ratings of fours and fives out of 10 at Wigan when they lost 3-0 and got Ince sacked.
Rovers' Roque Santa Cruz is a classic example. After scoring 23 times last term following his astute £3.8million signing from Bayern Munich, the striker has obviously had his head turned by someone and has been an absolute disgrace this season.
His smiling face sitting in the stands on Saturday after announcing his intention to leave shows how mercenary players have become.
My solution to get stars to pull their finger out would be simple but sadly unlikely.
I think if a club gets relegated, then players shouldn't be able to move straight back to the Premier League. Being forced to stay in the Championship for a season might be the wake-up call a few underperforming stars need.