To celebrate the fact that the download of the new Football Manager 2010 demo is
exclusively available on MirrorFootball,
it's Manager Week on MirrorFootball.co.uk.
And the revelation that Fabio
'Darth Vader' Capello uses a lightsabre
(well, ok, a laser pen) to instill fear in his subordinates (ok -
impart tactics to his players) got us thinking about which bosses
would make the best Star Wars characters, writes Dan
Silver.
Here's our Top 10. Can you do any better? Let us know by leaving
a comment below...
1) Fabio Capello = Darth Vader
A renowned disciplinarian who rules his men with an iron fist,
Capello has now taken to waving a laser around at training. It can
surely only be a matter of time before he dons a black mask and
cape, builds a bloody great Death Star over Wembley and starts
obliterating planets in his spare time.
2) Gianfranco Zola = Luke Skywalker
The little guy fighting for truth, justice and a neat passing game
in the face of near-insurmountable odds (ie West Ham's balance
sheet), Zola also harbours a dark secret: he's Fabio Capello's son!
Well, ok, he's about as tall as Fabio Capello's son, which is good
enough for our purposes.
3) Sir Alex Ferguson = Emperor Palpatine
The master of all he surveys, he answers to no-one and crushes
insubordinates with the awesome power of the force (or 'the
hairdryer', as it's more usually known). It remains to be confirmed
whether Fergie can actually shoot blue lightning from his
fingertips, but it would certainly explain THAT David Beckham
dressing room incident.
4) Rafa Benitez = Princess Leia
A natural rebel trapped in a seemingly endless battle with evil
imperial overlords (Gillett and Hicks), hapless Rafa is forever
needing to be rescued by his trusty allies (Torres and Gerrard). If
he'd only swap the goatee for a couple of Danish pastries taped to
the side of his head, the resemblance would be perfect.
5) Sam Allardyce = Jabba The Hutt
Well, they don't call him 'Big Sam' for nothing.
6) Arsene Wenger and Pat Rice = C-3P0 and
R2-D2
Spindly, able to speak several thousand languages and with an
uncanny knack for looking the wrong way whenever trouble rears it's
ugly head, Wenger is a shoo-in for everyone's favourite protocol
droid. Luckily he has a diminutive sidekick on hand to get him out
of any scrapes.
7) Sven Goran Eriksson = Han Solo
An unflappable smoothie with a girl in every space port, Sven is
the unlikely hero who manages to escape from each successive
disaster with barely a scratch on him. The jury's still out on
whether or not this makes Tord Grip Chewbacca, mind.
8) Harry Redknapp = Lando Calrissian
To Portsmouth fans, Redknapp's a former hero turned traitor who
spends most his days with his head in the clouds. Their Tottenham
counterparts would hail him a hero of the resistance, working
wonders with limited resources to defeat the evil Emirates empire.
Everyone else can't quite fathom why this shady supporting
character gets so much attention.
9) Jose Mourinho = Obi Wan Kenobi
Concealing his rugged good looks behind an omnipresent Armani
cloak, the Special One is the former apprentice turned master who
can talk his way out of any situation and has dedicated much of his
life to bringing down the evil Emperor Ferg.
10) Gordan Strachan = Yoda
Small, gnomic and given to near unintelligible pronouncements that
superficially appear philosophical, but on closer inspection a load
of rubbish turn out to be.
