Over the&nbsp;last 24 hours I’ve been reading several interesting and amusing headlines including, the&nbsp;predicted&nbsp;signing of Gianfranco Zola as the next Hammer’s manager, the possible&nbsp;return of Edgar Davids to Serie A,&nbsp; Mourinho’s Fury regarding his cable bill and Marcello Lippi shuffling the deck for World Cup qualifying.
Gianfranco Zola –&nbsp;labelled as, “one of Chelsea’s greatest players ever”, by chairman Bates, looks likely to be&nbsp;in London town&nbsp;by Friday as new manager&nbsp;at West Ham United.&nbsp; His&nbsp;main opposition Slaven Bilic did not wish to leave the Croatian National&nbsp;team until January.&nbsp; With Michael Landrup on his way to Russia that left Zola and&nbsp;Roberto Donadoni as the only&nbsp;managers standing.
(Slaven&nbsp;will be behind the bench tomorrow&nbsp;as England play Croatia so watch out England, after sending the West Ham interest adrift I’m sure Slaven is going to have his side fully charged)
see: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/sep/09/westhamunited.premierleague">West Ham trim their shortlist down to Zola</a>&nbsp; and&nbsp;for a short analysis of Gianfranco’s career, <a href="http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/zolaop.html">The Ambassador 
</a>
<a title="edgar davids" href="http://www.serieatalk.com/interesting-headlines-in-the-world-of-italian-calcio/325/edgar-davids/" rel="attachment wp-att-326"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" style="width: 131px; height: 230px;" src="/files/2008/09/prostars-pro1099_davids_holland.jpg" alt="edgar davids" width="119" height="214" align="left" border="0" hspace="10" vspace="10"></figure></div></a>Gennaro Gattuso&nbsp;is&nbsp;out for two weeks after a freak accident&nbsp;at the end of the&nbsp;Cyprus – Italy game where he fell into the dugout&nbsp;causing multiple fractures to his left hand.&nbsp;With the AC Milan marshall slash pitbull seated on the sidelines who are we going to watch&nbsp;for that tantalizing midfield battle?&nbsp;&nbsp;Look no further&nbsp;Edgar Davids (the caveman)&nbsp;is ready to make his return to Serie A.&nbsp; Genoa President Enrico Preziosi has given the green light to&nbsp;go out and sign&nbsp;Davids&nbsp;the former Ajax/AC Milan /Juventus/Inter/Tottenham journeyman.&nbsp; This season&nbsp;keeps getting better and better and I’ve always enjoyed watching Davids win balls while creating&nbsp;disruption amongst the opposition.&nbsp; see: <a href="http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/sep9e.html">Genoa prepare Davids deal</a>
Sounds like Jose Mourinho isn’t happy with the Cable Guy after having a new&nbsp;service installed in his Milan home. The Special&nbsp;One is reported to have&nbsp;blown his top&nbsp;over billing of €18,600, it seems there was a conversion error and&nbsp;Mourinho was adamant about getting a further correction for his inconvenience. Read&nbsp;more at… Mourinho’s TV Fury,&nbsp;&nbsp;HEY Jose&nbsp;get broadband.
In&nbsp;losing Gennaro Gattuso, Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Gamberini to injury&nbsp;after the Azzurri’s last outing, manager Marcello Lippi is definitely feeling a&nbsp;player crisis for the next world cup qualifier Wednesday against Georgia.&nbsp; What I find most upsetting…&nbsp;<a href="http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/sep7g.html">Lippi, No&nbsp;Replacements called.</a>

Interesting Headlines In the World of Italian Calcio

Interesting Headlines In the World of Italian Calcio - World Soccer Talk

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Donadoni">Roberto Donadoni</a> and&nbsp;former Napoli and Chelsea forward, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianfranco_Zola">Gianfranco Zola</a> have made the shortlist for new manager at West Ham United.
What an amazing change&nbsp;of events I can remember not to long ago Italian tactics and methods were despised by the&nbsp;English establishment, now it seems there is a shortage of originality in&nbsp;“the Home Countries” (British Isles) of football and Roman invaders are welcome.
<a rel="attachment wp-att-319" href="http://www.serieatalk.com/serie-a-elite-on-west-ham-united-shortlist/318/the-candidates-reutersfigcafpandreas-solaro/" title="the candidates (FIGC,Christopher Lee/Getty Images,AFP/Andreas Solaro,Reuters)"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" width="435" src="/files/2008/09/the-candidates-003a.jpg" alt="the candidates (FIGC,Christopher Lee/Getty Images,AFP/Andreas Solaro,Reuters)" height="332" style="width: 388px;height: 289px"></figure></div></a>
With <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabio_Capello">Fabio Capello</a> already head of the national side, and senior statesman <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Trapattoni">Giovanni Trapattoni&nbsp;</a>coaching the Irish national squad, the ground work for more&nbsp;Italians to coach in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales&nbsp;is being laid.
&nbsp;News from England&nbsp;reports both&nbsp;Donadoni and Zola have met with the higher-ups at the club and have impressed, especially Zola. Gianfranco is currently joint coach of the Italy Under-21 side and&nbsp;previously plied his trade while at cross-town rivals Chelsea FC&nbsp;in the late 90’s.&nbsp;
The fact that West Ham already have an Italian (Gianluca Nani) as director of football doesn’t hurt and is clearly a benefit to both candidates if the club truly desires to move toward a more continental style of management and play.
Two other candidates made the shortlist, Michael Laudrup and Slaven Bilic but I wonder if <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Mancini">Roberto Mancini</a> could possibly be that phantom waiting in the wings? Mancini has mentioned an interest to come to England and coach and least we forget&nbsp;there is one additional name that may&nbsp;mysteriously reappear, the infamous&nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Di_Canio">Paolo Di Canio</a> who was a&nbsp;West Ham striker from 1999-2003.
Personally I think the Di Canio option is the least likely but one never knows what management is thinking.
<h4>Related Articles</h4>
UK Guardian – <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/sep/07/westhamunited.premierleague">West Ham narrow manager shortlist to four 
</a>BBC Sports – <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/west_ham_utd/7598744.stm">Zola &amp; Donadoni impress West Ham</a>
NEWSFLASH – looks like Michael Laudrup is out of the running for the vacant manager’s job at West Ham after agreeing to take over at Spartak Moscow. Biliac has also indicated a move by next match day is impossible. Looks very likely an Italian will get the job.

Serie A Elite On West Ham United Shortlist

Serie A Elite On West Ham United Shortlist - World Soccer Talk

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Serie A Elite On West Ham United Shortlist