Snippets:: Martin Allen's Appointment Confirmed...Dowie's Tough Job....Other Snippets

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Confirmation as noted on QPR Report on Saturday, Martin Allen has been appointed manager of Cheltenham.


Cheltenham Official Site - Martin Allen confirmed as Robins boss
Cheltenham Town Football Club have this morning announced the appointment of Martin Allen as new first team manager.
The 43-year old has agreed a three year contract with the club and will start work immediately, taking charge of his first match tomorrow night against Bristol Rovers at Whaddon Road (7.45pm).
Martin will be embarking upon his fifth job in football management having previously worked at Barnet, Brentford, Milton Keynes Dons and, most recently, Leicester City.
As a player he began his career with Queens Park Rangers, signing professional for them in 1983 and spending six years at Loftus Road. A competitive midfield player who won two caps for the England Under-21 side, he played in the 1986 League Cup Final against Oxford United before a £670,000 move to West Ham United. At West Ham he won two promotions to the top flight in 1991 and 1993.
He stayed with the Hammers until 1995 when he made a £500,000 switch to Portsmouth and had a brief loan spell at Southend United during his three years at Fratton Park.
Martin's coaching career began at Reading, his home town club, where he was assistant manager to Alan Pardew. His first management job was at Barnet and led the Bees to the brink of the Conference play-offs in 2004 but was offered the chance to manage Brentford before the end of the season. He enjoyed two successful seasons at Griffin Park, leading Brentford to the League One play-offs in both 2004-05 and 2005-06 and reaching the FA Cup fifth round in both seasons.
In the summer of 2006 he moved to Milton Keynes Dons and once again led his team into an unsuccessful play-off campaign, this time in League Two. A year later Martin was appointed manager of Leicester City in the Championship but left after only four games following a difference of opinion with chairman Milan Mandaric.
Since leaving Leicester Martin has remained involved in football by doing some scouting and media work.
His managerial record in the Football League is impressive having taken charge of 183 games across his spells with Brentford, Milton Keynes and Leicester. Of those games, 84 have resulted in wins, 51 draws and 48 defeats.
However, despite this good record his only previous visit to Whaddon Road as a manager was not a happy one. In August 2005 Martin brought his Brentford team to Cheltenham and left on the end of a 5-0 defeat to John Ward's team. Martin was also in charge of Leicester City when Cheltenham visited the Walkers Stadium for a behind closed doors pre-season friendly in 2007 that Leicester won 2-0.
If you would like to see Martin's first match in charge of Cheltenham Town there are tickets available for the home match against Bristol Rovers on Tuesday night. For comprehensive ticket information please visit the ticketing section of the website. Tickets are available either in advance, with a £2 discount for members of our free membership scheme, or at the turnstiles on the evening of the game." Chelt


Coventry Evening Telegraph/Any Walker - Iain Dowie's QPR job tougher than Coventry City role, says Marcus Hall

MARCUS Hall believes that life at Coventry City was easy for Iain Dowie - compared to the tough job he faces at loaded QPR.

Dowie returns to the Ricoh Arena on Saturday for the first time since Ray Ranson showed him the exit door at the Sky Blues in February.

Having been forced to watch the pennies at Cov, Dowie finds himself in a completely opposite situation at his new cash-laden club QPR.

The Rs, owned by mega-rich F1 tycoons Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal,were dubbed the world's richest club before the recent takeover at Manchester City.

The West London club, who snapped up ex-Italy midfielder Damiano Tommasi on Wednesday, are one of the favourites to lift the Championship title this season and expectations at Loftus Road are sky high.

Coventry veteran Hall, 32, believes that his former gaffer Dowie faces an uphill struggle to be viewed as a success at QPR because of the incredible cash injection.

It's been suggested that Dowie will still be given the heave-ho with a golden handshake even if QPR are promoted at the end of this season.

Hall believes that bottomless pockets don't bring instant success and because of that Dowie has taken on a much harder job than he had at the Ricoh.

"It seems that Iain Dowie has got a harder job now," said Hall, a born-and-bred Coventrian.

"They've got a lot of money at QPR and as a result there's a lot of pressure to get to a play-off place or into those automatic promotion spots.

"The backers are showing some big money and it does create unrealistic pressure because it's easy to presume that money brings success because you can go out and get the best players.

"But you have to be able to make them gel together and having a lot of money doesn't always mean that every player will come to your club anyway.

"That makes your job as a manager harder because expectations rise to an unrealistic level. The fans do want to see that success and there's no excuses when you've got the money .

"But you've got to get the right balance of people and you don't want people coming just for the money."

Dowie was unveiled as Coventry boss in February 2007 following the sacking of Micky Adams and he made a mixed start to life with the Sky Blues.

At the start of the following season, Dowie was forced to fend off speculation linking him to Leicester City but he stayed loyal to Coventry despite the threat of administration hanging over the club.

Things started to look up for Dowie and Cov when Ranson completed his long-awaited takeover in December but the new chairman had booted out the ex-Northern Ireland international within two months following a difference of opinion with the board. Coventry Banter


The Economic Times "Middle East investors use sports to build brands"
" On September 1, Manchester City became the world’s richest football club. Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment confirmed that it had bought the club in the morning, reportedly for more than £200 million, and by midnight the blue half of Manchester was toasting the signing of striker Robinho for a record £32-million fee.
Foreign ownership of Premiership football clubs is nothing new, but it is the growing influence of the Middle East that has been most keenly felt and is changing the face of sports globally. Ownership of clubs and sponsorship of sporting events may be vanity projects stoked by rivalry between competing Middle Eastern cities, but the investments often have more to do with the creation of assets beyond the oil industry and driving tourism.
It is no surprise that airlines and tourist boards are the most proactive in sponsorship. Emirates, an airline whose tie-ups span sailing, golf, horse-racing, cricket, Australian Rules football, powerboats and rugby, has led the way, with Etihad and Gulf Air also boasting impressive and growing portfolios.
In football, Emirates is a global sponsor of the FIFA World Cup and Arsenal’s shirt and stadium. Gulf Air became shirt sponsor of newly cash-rich Queens Park Rangers earlier this year, paying a record £7 million, while Etihad sponsors Chelsea FC...." The Economic Times


- Vinnie Jones' Update

- Flasback Three Years: QPR1st "Minutes/Report from Meeting with Club/Board Thursday 15 th September 2005"