For a man who must have been gasping for a cigarette and who told me he was tired before he even sat down, Carlo Ancelotti was a charming interviewee on Friday afternoon.

It was the first time I had interviewed the Italian away from the Match of the Day post-match interview room at Stamford Bridge.

How long you wait for a manager to emerge to meet the cameras is often dependent on the result; but Ancelotti is always prompt. Once his first priority, the post-match fag, has been dealt with he is usually straight out for the cameras.

Read the rest of this entry

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Newsvine |
• NowPublic |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Early next week, there will be a change to how you leave comments on this blog - we're upgrading our current registration system to a new and improved one. When you log in to the new system, you will be prompted to upgrade your existing account, and you should be able to do that with a minimum of fuss. More details on this can be found on the BBC Internet Blog.

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Newsvine |
• NowPublic |
• Reddit
• - What's this?

Whilst English football is flooded with coaches imported from around the globe, there are precious few English coaches making their living beyond the shores of our green and pleasant island.

Off the top of my head I can only think of a handful: Bryan Robson has recently replaced Peter Reid as the national coach of Thailand, whilst Bob Houghton is in charge of India, Steve McClaren is at the helm of Twente Enschede in the Netherlands and Stuart Baxter is in the dug-out for Finland.

Then there is Keith Boanas, national coach of Estonia's women's team.

Read the rest of this entry

• Bookmark with:
• del.icio.us |
• Digg |
• Newsvine |
• NowPublic |
• Reddit
• - What's this?