Big Phil Scolari: Don´t Tap! Make an Offer!

Big Phil Scolari has fired a surprising broadside across the bows of player’s agents and club coaches that he feels are doing what they can to unsettle his squad. This has obviously been simmering inside the Brazilian manager recently and will form part of his Premier League education, nevertheless, unable to bottle it up anymore he sent out a simple “Put up or shut up!” message.

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"I am waiting for the coaches who contact my players every day, the technical directors who call and send messages to my players every day, the club managers who call every day saying they intend to sign this or that player who is unhappy.

"I'm waiting, and until the 31st is the time for signings. Yet until now who have they signed? Which message did they send? Who did they come to sign? I want to say that it is time for those ­people who have no morals to come to Chelsea and make their offer for A or B. If not, they need to stop lying to the players; to stop cheating or deceiving the players and let them get on with their jobs at Chelsea. Their interests are to harm my work at Chelsea.

"It's time for coaches, managers, technical directors, these physical trainers who have the job of sending messages to the players, to show themselves, talk, sign a player or shut up. Shut up and let us do our work, and go and do your own. The envy, or something like that, is ­getting too much – and I don't know why it's happening."

I wonder what he would have made of Kenyon and Mourinho´s meeting with Ashley Cole whilst still an Arsenal player in a hotel just rounds the corner from the FA?! 

Still, it appears that Scolari has an air of honour about him although he might soon realise that tapping-up has been and still is pretty much rife in English and continental football since transfer fees were first permitted.  That said he’s not saying don’t talk – he’s saying make an offer and we’ll look at it (whilst knowing that in many cases the buying club probably couldn’t afford the fee nor the players wages).

This most recent warning from Scolari follows a week where we have heard him impose authority over his squad and stating that most were playing at less than 50% of their performance.

It’s clear we are now seeing the tough get going Scolari version that we knew existed.