Zola's a top man but is he a good manager? Friday, March 26, 2010 by Paul Parker . YOU’VE got to admire West Ham’s new owners for sticking by Gianfranco Zola – but I’m not sure he can repay them by avoiding the drop. A lot of people have sympathy for the Italian, and I can understand that.   Being brought up in Essex, everyone was West Ham daft and I know what survival means to them. I watched the last 30 minutes of the Wolves game. Boy, it was bad. I’ve had some texts from mates who are all big fans and they are in a bad way.   But the situation with Zola is difficult. I had a short stint as a player with him at Chelsea and he was different class – one of the nicest people I ever met in football.   There weren’t too many of those knocking about, but I’d put him up there with Ray Wilkins, another gentlemen. Everything about Zola was class. I just couldn’t fault him and all the players learnt a lot from him. He taught us all a lesson in how to conduct ourselves – how to eat, train and generally be better people.   He didn’t ram it down our throats or say ‘look at me’, but you just couldn’t help but watch how he operated and take it all on board. People saw his habits and thought ‘Christ, he’s the dog’s b*ll*cks’. But he ain’t looking like that now.   You can talk about the lack of money there and all that, but you’ve got to look at some of the players he’s brought in, the foreign ones, and they don’t have enough quality. The Hammers are in a fight now and nice football won’t get them out of trouble.   You’ve got to have something about you and Zola doesn’t have that mean streak. He’s not tasted this before. He’s too nice, you have to wonder whether he’s got what it takes to be a manager. Naivety has cost West Ham points and they haven’t been good enough. Are the players doing it for themselves or the club?   Did you see that spat between David Moyes and Roberto Mancini? Having played for a Scottish manager, I know who my money would be on in a fight between those two. I thought it was sad really. You can’t nick much more time nowadays ’cos even substitutions don’t do that for you now.   I’ll tell you what it showed though – that Mancini is feeling the pressure. He can’t handle it. That was so unlike him. He’s been ultra cool so far with his scarf and all that, but there was nothing cool about that. He’s lost more games than Sparky now and he is feeling it.   He did well as a manager in Italy but let’s be honest, Serie A is like the Championship in England. I think they’ll sack him if he doesn’t get that fourth spot. Look what happened to Sparky! I think City would have fared better under my old mate.   SPURS might be bragging after getting to the FA Cup semi-final but the job is only half done. Everyone expects them to get to the FA Cup final, but it’s getting into the Champions League that really counts. They are still living in the 1960s or the Hoddle era. A dream world.   All they have ever done is get to cup finals but they need that fourth spot if people are going to start taking them more seriously. If that doesn’t happen Harry Redknapp will be a disappointed man. He wants to be in the European Cup managing against the best the continent has to offer.   They haven’t been competing against the big boys for years and until they start doing so they should focus on not getting carried away. Bookmark & Share Print this article  Email to a friend  Facebook      Related Articles There are no related articles.

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