Sydney FC reaffirmed their ability to score headlines (if not wins) after losing coach Ian Crook just six rounds into the season.

The amiable Englishman admitted he wasn’t cut out for the top job and that the arrival of Alessandro Del Piero only added to the strain.

In all the kerfuffle over recent days the Italian legend’s 38th birthday went largely unremarked. It happened a day before the Big Blue meltdown and the former Juve great brought a cake to training to mark the occasion.

Meanwhile the rest of the league moved on apace and former NRL chief David Gallop took the reins from Ben Buckley. What can the rest of the season bring?

Coaching Frenzy
The resignation of Crook gave birth to some crazy wish lists regarding who would take the Sydney FC hot seat. We went in search of Italians that ADP might rate. Genoa-based David Schiavone, the Editor of Forza Italian Football, thought most suggestions were pretty far-fetched but then threw this name into the mix - Marcelo Lippi – a former Juventus and Italy coach who signed this year with Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande.  Schiavone admits it was really “pushing” the envelope but “maybe someone of standing, who has won everything there is to win and is looking for a completely new experience.” His other alternative is former Azzurri defender Alessandro Costacurta although the rationale might not fill the Sydney FC board with confidence. “He has had little success with his forays into coaching, so it would represent a new challenge an opportunity to build his profile up again, as he isn’t likely to get any top jobs anytime soon.”

Aussies Bug Magpies
Newcastle United have turned to Aussies to get them out of a game losing funk. The EPL club took a novel approach to training after a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to West Ham by introducing a bushtucker trial including cooked testicles. Really? Snakes and bugs were brought to the club canteen for a special Australia Day feature for the series I'm A Celebrity (Get Me Out Of Here!). Goalkeeping coach, Andy Woodman was caught on camera running from a tarantula. Had he brushed up on Aussie footballers he would have known an Aussie Spider can make a great shot stopper. Toon manager Alan Pardew told the Mail: “We have not had the best of weeks, we all are just as much annoyed as the fans after last weekend’s performance and result, so it has been a nice morning.” More surprising that the creepy crawlies was that Newcastle’s Aussie contingent, Curtis Good and Brad Inman, were nowhere to be seen.

Inman On Loan?
Still on the case of Inman and perhaps the 21-year-old Aussie was too busy contemplating his next move. Reportedly keen on securing a loan deal to a League One side to improve his chances of first team action at St James Park, Inman told the Evening Chronicle: “Hopefully, I will be going out on loan in the next week or two. I have been speaking to the gaffer about it. So hopefully things will come through. I think it will be a League One team.” Inman said footballers who went out on loan returned as better players. “You come back and learn a lot,” he said. “It is more important than playing in the reserves. You are playing to win. You are playing for points and for promotion. I can learn from it.”

More where that came from
Talk about the new-look Socceroos and the off the bench performances of Aziz Behich, Tom Rogic and Eli Babalj in the recent international friendly against Korea Republic reminded au.fourfourtwo.com of a recent conversation with Peter Turnbull. The chatty chairman of Central Coast Mariners dismissed claims the Gosford outfit was kept afloat by selling off its best and brightest. Naturally the conversation turned to football/futsal whiz, Rogic, and whether he might fetch a handy sum. “We haven’t marketed Tommy or any player in any way,” Turnbull said. But he added the club was taking a long-term approach and preparing for the day when the gifted 19-year-old moves on to bigger and better things. “We’re also the current Youth League Premiers and the coach’s job is to get the best teenagers into the club every single year,” he said. “We’ve already got a couple of guys earmarked to take Tommy’s spot out of the Youth League and that will continue to be our focus. I can’t say who they are because that puts a bit of unfair pressure on them. But that will become apparent in due course.”

Fanboy
Not surprising that Melbourne Victory fan Matt Morris was keen to pass on this YouTube clip of a Sydney FC supporter at full throttle. Proving once again that fans are a large part of the football spectacle the man in question took delight in hamming it up for the cameras as the home side took a two goal lead in last weekend’s Big Blue. Of course Victory managed to turn the whole match on its head in just 13 minutes, winning 3-2. Morris told au.fourfourtwo.com to take “particular notice was his crying action” after Pascal Bosschaart’s goal. “I wonder how his spirits were at the final whistle.” Like so many Sky Blues supporters he’s probably learned to bounce back from adversity.