His career was awfully cut short when he broke his leg in 2000-2001 season playing against St Gallen in a UEFA Cup match. For a player who was at the top of his game at that time we can only wonder how much more he could have achieved if he had played for a few more years. He spent 18 months on the sidelines and finally decided to call it a day in February, 2002. At the time when he was signed by Gullit he was the most expensive transfer signing by Chelsea and during his times here went on to win the FA Cup twice(scoring in both finals), League Cup, Cup Winners Cup, Super Cup and the Community Shield.

Fast forward six years since his retirment from the game, Robbie is making a return to England but this time as a first-time manager of MK Dons. He will succeed Paul Ince who left for the Premier League side Blackburn Rovers this summer. MK Dons are a club on the up and were promoted to League 1 last season as League 2 Champions. With a new stadium and solid infrastructure, the expectations of the fans are high as ever. In Peter Winkleman, they have a chairman who was slated by many when he moved the club from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes but now there are people who are calling him a visionary. MK Dons has proved to be a stepping stone for many budding young managers over the last few years. First Martin 'Mad Dog' Allen left it for Leicester and this season Ince is the latest one to make the step up. Di Matteo is another managerial novice but going by the trend or the magical powers of the MK Dons hotseat(whatever you may call it!) you can't help but feel that we might see him managing at a higher level in a few years if he does well.

Robbie has been out of the game for the past six years but he had been working on getting his coaching badges. He has already acquired the UEFA 'B' and 'A' licenses so he has the basic qualification required for a manager these days. He would be bringing Eddie Newton, his teammate during his time with Chelsea as his assistant manager. Eddie has been coaching the under 16's at Chelsea and has done excellent work with the boys, some of whom had figured in the FA Youth Cup. Eddie also partnered Robbie in the Chelsea midfield back in those days though employed in a more conservative role compared to Di Matteo's attacking role. He was also the second name on the scoresheet that day at Wembley when we won the FA Cup by beating Middlesborough so MK Dons are infact getting not just two FA Cup winners but two Wembley final goalscorers.

It's great to see Chelsea old boys getting into management, Robbie and Eddie being the latest ones to join the ranks. It is interesting that all of our Italian contingent during the 90's have tried their hands at management after retirment now. Vialli a decade back with us and Watford, Casiraghi and Zola are incharge of the Italian U21s and now Robbie. I would certainly be keeping one eye on MK Dons' results this season to see how our boys are fairing in their first managerial challenge.

Good Luck Robbie and Eddie!

His famous FA Cup goal:

Continuing the new Chelsea theme at Stadium:MK is Fitness Coach Ade Mafe, who was employed at Stamford Bridge for a number of years in the same capacity.
Everybody at Chelsea wishes Eddie the best of luck as his coaching career progresses.

So Paul Ince has been named as Mark Hughes successor in the Rovers hotseat. Another Alex Ferguson protege and, as the media so often reminds me, the Premiership's first black British manager... Because that really matters, you know!

I can't offer my verdict on Ince at the moment. Without a proven track record at the top level I am unsure how this one will go, it is very similar to the situation when Hughes joined, having only managed the Welsh national team. Obviously I will remain ridiculously optimistic as I always do and fingers crossed we can get into Europe next season having hung on to Roque Santa Cruz.

Ince has made his first mission to persuade David Bentley to stay at Ewood. This won't happen. The petulant ungrateful little child has already made his mind up and if we can get £15 million for him then that's fantastic business from our point of view. If today's story in the papers are to be believed then the addition of Aaron Lennon to any possible deal will also offer us a good replacement.

Next up is Santa. I reckon he will stay. He has said before that he is happy at Rovers and a change of manager can't suddenly make him want to leave. Ince has told Ferguson to bugger off and I hope he does, Arsenal are also being linked with the Paraguayan but they are being linked with just about every striker in the western hemisphere...

One quarm I have with Ince is his backrrom staff. Fair enough, bring in your League Two assistant manager. Ray Mathias, I have been led to believe, is a top notch assistant and was instrumental in the successes Ince has had at Macclesfield and MK Dons. However, if this trend continues I can't help but feel we would be managed by an under qualified team. Hopefully Ince will bring in some quality coaches with top level experience to help him.

I haven't heard a figure on how much transfer money the now gaffer is going to receive but I expect it will be pretty meagre, the quick sale of Bentley should help this cause.

There are new times ahead. Whether they will be succesful or not, we will have to wait and see. Mr Ince, congratulations on the job. Welcome to Blackburn, we're a friendly bunch. Most of all, best of luck for next season!

In the meantime, it's a bit of a slow news weekend all around, but some folks have managed to pick out some quality goodness:

-The Guvnor's Coming To Ewood Park (The Guardian): Paul Ince has become the first black manager in the Premier League after being appointed manager of the Blackburn Rovers.  That's right, he beat out Big Sam Allardyce for the jobby job, and here's hoping the former England captain and MK Dons manager will make it through his three year contract.

-Just let him bloody go!  If Cristiano Ronaldo wants to go to Real Madrid, then let him- if only so that writers can stop wasting column inches online and in the sports pages on this guy.  Yeah, he's a really good player, yeah, he's probably not a very nice chap- we know, we know.  I found this fantastic letter to Cristiano from a ManU fan, and well- it says it all. (Manchester Red)

-How many sports blogs are written by women?  Let me rephrase this: How many sports blogs are obviously  written by women? Do you care? As a woman footie blogger, and a fan of bloggery in general, I was stoked when Anna of This Is Extra Time sent over this link to an interview with Andrea from Ladiesdotdotdot about blogging whilst female.

The Canaries will face Paul Ince's MK Dons in the first round of the Carling Cup at stadium:mk, which is good news for me as it's my nearest league ground. More on that later.

Whether or not the Dons are still Paul Ince's by then is another matter entirely of course, as the former England international continues to be linked with the vacant manager's job up at Blackburn.

Meanwhile, City's own Marshmallow Man's Rumour XI continues to develop at the excellent NCFC - The Alternative View blog, where there is definitely no shortage of strikers! You can check out the latest version here.

Groan...why oh why does Sir Alex (Queiroz?) insist on picking sides to try and play tactically? All they needed today was a draw to effectively seal the Premiership title. So, of course, he makes 6 changes from the last match and picks a side designed not to lose. Always fatal. Fergie and Queiroz just can't do it. Or at least the team can't. It's not in Man U's DNA to play for draws; their instinct is to attack with thrilling pace and to scare the crap out of lesser teams with the quality of their attacking play.

Players like Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo, Nani, Anderson, Gigg were bought (or groomed) because of their scoring instincts. Expecting any of them to hold out for a 0-0 or 1-1 is counter-intuitive to them and it shows. What's the problem Fergie - go all out for the win and if it comes off Premiership secured. Now pressure's back on. You've created squeeky bum time for your self. And a bloody German scores a penalty in a critical match to beat us. No change there then.

My other sides didn't fair much better. Boro' lost to Sunderland and are still in danger of being relegated, especially as the other sides down the bottom are hitting some form. Fulham's come-back today was stunning. I always fear teams who are hitting momentum this time of year. Boro's form just seems to have disappeared since the Man U game. They only seem to play well against the top sides.

Blackpool had a heavy 3-0 defeat and from looking secure two games ago, they now find themselves getting sucked into the relegation quicksands again. I'm not sure the club would recover from dropping down into the dark side again.

Watford who I'm representing on the sponsorship front are just in an awful slough of form. Losing at home to an already-relegated side isn't the way to end the season. From being certs for automatic promotion some months ago they are desperately clinging onto a play-off place. Thank goodness Crystal Palace's form is equally erratic.

Meanwhile Millwall secured League 1 survival with a big 3-0 win today. My mate JP will be v happy tonight, probably for the first time this season. It must have been grim to be a Lions fan this year. Those days of the Cup Final and flirtation with the play offs to the Premiership seem like a million years ago. That was their moment and they blew it. Now they just seem to change ownership and Chairmanship even more rapidly than the managership. That's a recipe for a club heading towards the exit door.

So a not very good day for my teams. At least MK Dons got promotion. If I was still living in Buckingham I might just have gone to watch them next season. Nah...

pp

Hereford created very little and never really looked like scoring in a game which the visitors dominated. Darren Ferguson's men bagged their winner inside 30 minutes when Dean Keates headed in from close range after a quality cross from Chris Whelpdale.

Clint Easton and Steve Guinan both had chances for Hereford but were comfortably saved by the Posh keeperJoe Lewis.

Turner recalled Sammy Igoe from injury on the right hand side of midfield and Trevor Benjamin continued his return to fitness by coming off the bench with 15 minutes remaining.

Peterborough secured the inevitable with their victory yesterday, both them and MK Dons (who thankfully won away at Stockport) will now go up automatically.

As for the Bulls, because the Dons won we stay a point clear of Stockport and now Rochdale who have crept in un-noticed, in third place so promotion is very much in our own hands.

Wrexham will roll into Edgar Street on Tuesday night who themselves have everything to play for after a vital three points at home to Notts County.

 The race for promotion is now a three horse race, with Hereford, Rochdale and Stockport are fighting for that elusive third spot. We could have had it in the bag by now, but a little excitement wont do any harm!

So my 2-1 prediction wasn't exactly correct, but no one can argue that if we were offered a point at the Dons before the game we would have snatched their hand off!

Turner named exactly the same squad that beat Darlington on Saturday with Wayne Brown once again doing his super man impression.

Brown produced a string of fantastic saves from Jude Stirling and then Jemal Johnson after keeping out Alan Navarro in the early exchanges frustrating the home crowd. Hereford were forced to keep out a seige of Dons attacks throughout the game but did carve a chance as early as the fourth minute when Guinan had time to cross but Hooper couldnt convert.

Hooper had another chance from 25 yards but lobbed his effoty the wrong side of the stranded Dons keeper's cross bar.

Paul Ince's celebratory champagne for promotion will for the second game running remain on ice, although a win on Saturday at in form Stockport County will seal it.

As far as the Bulls goes, the draw means we go a point ahead of Stockport in third and seven behind Peterborough in second. Beating them on Saturday and then winning the game in hand will but us in a fantastic position to finish in second place.

Everybody put your MK Dons shirts on underneath your Bulls top this weekend, because any day light between us and the playoff spots (Stockport in fourth who play Dons on Saturday) is a priority rather than catching 'Boro in second.

 So part two of the 'week of death' over, now to finish the job with a win this weekend, we are almost over the line! As Alex Ferguson once said, its squeaky bum time!

After going away to Darlington and picking up a valuable and desevered three points Turners men most now tonight travel to Paul Ince's top of the league MK Dons.

MK Dons were supposed to have secured promotion by now, possibly making it easier for the Bulls but their little slip up against Wycombe on saturday means it is all still to play for.

this game represents one of Hereford's games in hand over second place Peterborough (who we play saturday) and fourth place Stockport, so a result is a must tonight.

As far as team news goes, Sammy Igoe remains on the sidelines, but Trevor Benjamin does finally make the squad after not being fit enough to make the team on Saturday. One slight concern for the Bulls is that in form striker gary Hooper is struggling for fitness after a robust challenge caused him to be subbed against Darlington at the weekend.

Paul Ince has no new injury worries for tonights game after full back Carl Regan has come through a fitness test on a sore muscle suffered against Wycombe.

Mad4Bulls prediction: I think we can get a win there, we are generally better away from home: 1-2 Bulls. Come On!!!

Although in dyer form themselves, Darlington was a tricky place to go for Turners men who were without a win in three league games.

It was on loan striker gary Hooper who again stole the show for Hereford after his second half strike saw the Bulls claim their 14th away win of the season.

Turner made two changes to the side that drew at home to Chester City. Injured Sammy Igoe was replaced by Karl Broadhurst and Simon Johnson was recalled to face his former club.

the playing surface at Darlington was heavily criticised by United who couldn't play their usual football but they were rewarded for their efforts after 69 minutes when Johnson fed through Hooper. The on loan striker's first attempt was saved but he cooley slotted home at the second go for his 10th for the Bulls.

Darlington featured former Bull Rob Perdie who looked dangerous bombing forward from right back but despite two half penalty appeals the home side rarely threatened Wayne Brown's goal.

Victory meant Hereford's 'week of death' as it has been so dramatically labelled, gets off to a perfect start. Turners men remain third level on points with in form Stockport in fourth after their impressive away win at Peterborough. The Bulls have two games in hand on the Boro which could see them leap frog Darren ferguson's men into second place.

The 'week of death' will recommence tomorrow night against table toppers MK Dons who promotion celebrations were put on hold after they were held at home on saturday to Wycombe Wanderers.

Line Ups (on Saturday)

Darlington: Stockdale, Austin (Wiseman 79), Foster, White, Valentine, Purdie, Cummins, Kennedy, Parker (Nelthorpe 82), Wright, Ndumbu-Nsungu (Ravenhill 79).

Hereford: Brown, McClenahan, Beckwith, Broadhurst, Rose, Johnson, Diagouraga, Smith, Easton, Hooper (Robinson 77), Guinan.

Attendance: 4,331

Turner has stressed the importance of being winners, and if the boys take that on board over the next three games, we have a massive chance of going up.

Darlington away, who are in fifth, is followed by a daunting trip to Paul Ince's MK Dons on Tuesday night with Darren Ferguson then bringing his impressive Peterborough United side down to the home of football. 

We all know that traditionally Hereford have been a better side on the road so three points tomorrow against a recently poor Darlington side is a real possibility. A draw would be a good result away at MK Dons who lets be honest are flying, then the real test comes a week tomorrow. 

Peterborough have been on fantastic form and have pushed the Dons all the way but if we can beat them (which we can) then it is all to play for.

As far as tomorrow goes, Hereford welcome back Trevor Benjamin to the squad after a spell on the sidelines with an eye infection (he will be wearing Edgar Davids style glasses, lets hope he plays like him) whilst Steve Guinan continues his recovery from a three month lay off to lead the Bulls attack along side in form Gary Hooper.

As posted earlier loanee Sammy Igoe is out, and probably will be for the Dons trip but apart from him Turner has no new injury worries with long term absentees Luke Webb and Mark Ingham still out.

Despite their failure to win in the last three games, hereford are still sitting in third spot and have two games in hand on tomorrow's opposition and on second place Peterborough.

Mad4Bulls prediction: Darlo 1-2 Hereford United.

The 26-year-old winger has netted an astounding 14 goals in the last 29 games since moving to MK Dons. He was released by Walsall at the end of last season, and was snapped up by the Dons manager Paul Ince.

Since then Mark Wright has been in the form of his life, repaying the faith that Paul Ince showed in him.

His form this season is even more amazing when you look into his six years at Walsall. During that time he made 107 appearences, scoring just 9 times, less than once every 12 games, but since his switch he's been scoring at the rate of a top class striker, netting almost once in every two.

Paul Ince is determined to fight off the interest in his prize asset, and should the circumstances change, Leeds would still have to fight off interest from Crystal Palace amongst other clubs.

Living in Bedford my nearest football league club is MK Dons, who are going to Wembley today to play Grimsby Town in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final.

Their average home attendance this season is somewhere between 8,000-9,000 I believe which is quite impressive for a League Two side without any 'traditional' support, but for their big day out were given an allocation of around 30,000 tickets.

Cue loads of locals who don't particularly follow Franchise FC, but want to have a nice day out at Wembley. People like me (hello!).

I left it pretty late (as is my way), but on Sunday I went on the Dons website to see if there were any tickets left and what do you know there were - priced at £20, £30 and £50 each.

So I selected the "find me the best seats available" option (as they were all out of £20 tickets), and I was presented with two Club Wembley tickets (RRP £50), marked as -£1 each. Yes that's right, I could get two £50 tickets for the rather cheaper price of -£2.

How could I turn that down? So I ordered them, and after postage and packing etc the final price was £3.80, which made me smile.

Rather naively I thought I might actually get away with it, and thought I had right up until the dreaded phone-call arrived on Wednesday afternoon to say that there was a "mix-up" with their online booking system so the tickets hadn't actually been allocated to me - and nor would they at at -£1 each. I had a simple choice - pay the additional £104.20 and bag the tickets, or get a refund.

Contrary to what some northern observers have stated in the passed (I'm looking at you Randall), I'm not that tight, but I'm not paying £50 to go and watch the Dons. No chance.

-Jermain Defoe got in on the t-shirt scribbling tribute by putting Sharpie to Spandex and penning a sentiment for his gran on Saturday.  He of course recieved a yellow card for his troubles, but it's no matter- Pompey took down Wigan 2-0, thanks to JD's goalscoring efforts and DJ's work between the sticks.  'arry Redknapp was so pleased with his keeper that he said, "James was a fantastic signing. They kept throwing all these silly names at me. There was only one goalkeeper I wanted here. He was different class. He’s the Ronaldo of goalkeepers. He’s got so much talent."  You can read DJ's take on the up and down week for him in his column on The Guardian website.

-Speaking of goalie's who can write, the beloved Shaka Hislop is the new MLS correspondent for GU Sport.  His latest blog could use some punctuation, but it's still a refreshing and non-condescending look at Major League Soccer.  Also, it's Shaka.  C'mon now.

-I am working overnights in the CNN digital recording center this weekend, so I fell asleep after Premier League action finished, thus already going back on my promise to be an MLS supporter, but I'll be watching re-feeds of the matches during my shift tonight.  Click here for the scores.

-I came home to watch the Bolton-Arsenal match, and was horrified to see it was 1-0 when I flicked on the channel.  Mere minutes later, the Arse went down 2-nil, and when I went to see how the lads and ladies over at the Arsenal Facebook group were taking in the match, I was alarmed to see that some were clearly near tears.  I've no idea what Arsene Wenger said to the boys in the dressing room at the half, but I'm pretty sure it was something along the lines of, "Hm... maybe we should try to win this, eh?"  The players must have agreed, because within minutes of taking the field for the second half, they'd leveled the score at 2-2.  The final score of 2-3 to Arsenal was accomplished by Cesc Fabregas kicking the ball and joyfully watching it ricochet off of two hapless Bolton boys before it finally dropped in the net.  Not exactly pretty stuff, but a win is a win.

-The pundits on Setanta (and some print news outlets) have dubbed Manchester United "the title holders-elect", and after watching the match against the absolute shower that was Aston Villa today, it's hard to disagree (though I really, really want to do so).  I can't stop watching Ronaldo's accidental/on-purpose flick on goal- it's frightening how good and useful that guy has gotten over the past year.

-League Two's MK Dons take on Grimsby at Wembley on Sunday for the unfortunately named Johnstone's Paint Trophy.  The Observer has a nice little write up about the club's journey through its relocation, problems with finances, hiring of Paul Ince, and now bid for silverware. 

-Those of you who read and were shocked by the dry-heave inducing News of the World story about Derby County manager Paul Jewell's hour-long videotaped bondage romp with an unnamed blonde will be thrilled/oddly disappointed that the tabloid has removed the story from their website at the behest of a law firm.  Don't worry, we're sure it's archived somewhere.

 Normally I would be previewing tomorrow's game about now, but I cant because we don't have a game. What is more annoying is it is supposed to be against Mk Dons which would have been some game but because of their prior engagement at the slighty inferior Wembley Stadium they can no longer travel to the Holy Grail that is Edgar Street.

So what, a well earned rest for Turners troops I hear you say? Well not quite. On Tuesday Hereford must participate is what is quickly becoming a nothing tournement ie the HFA Senior Cup.

I suppose it is the final and silverware is silverware, but really who cares? We have already beaten Westfields once this season and now we shall have to do it again!

One good thing to come of it I suppose is that Turner may see this as a perfect opportunity to throw new boy (or old man) Sammy Igoe into first team football, as a start against Paul Ince's table toppers tomorrow would have surely been too soon for a guy who havent played in some time.

On a more selfish note what am I supposed to do tomorrow? I will have to turn into a man of football, route for the underdogs, the refs! And certainly the teams facing our promotion rivals. I will also wish a win on doomed Derby County for the good of the game and to be honest im started to feel their embarrassement and I have nothing to do with the football club.

Well I have talked invariably about nothing yet I believe this has been my longest post to date. If you have bothered to read this I offer you my sincere apologies for wasted your time.

So until there is something decent actually worth writing about I shall go back into my hut outside Edgar Street; waiting for something, anything to happen....

I made my first trip to stadium:mk last night to watch England U19s take on their Russian counterparts in an international friendly.

I have to say that I was impressed with the stadium. There's a real top-quality Championship setup in the making there for MK Dons. I also learned three other things:

1. Never go to a game where the majority of the crowd are small children. My god, the screeching. I can still hear it now. In fact I think there are dogs within a 10-mile radius of Milton Keynes that'll still have ringing in their ears today.
2. Scott Sinclair = Pretty boy. The Chelsea starlet has got a pretty touch, but my word he was frustrating to watch last night. I don't think he gave a single simple ball all night, and never took one touch when 15 would do.
3. James Tomkins = Class act. The West Ham youngster scored twice and looks to have the skill-set to be a top, top player (as Jamie Redknapp would say). He really was superb.

Oh and I guess I learned a fourth thing - always take your gloves when going to a midweek game in England in March. A rookie mistake.

BULLS new signing Ryan Esson goes straight into the squad for tomorrow's game against Bury but on-loan defender Robbie Threlfall looks set to miss out due to an ankle injury.

Steve Guinan is close to returning after a calf injury which has kept him out since New Years Day. The Bulls front man played in a friendly against Team Bath but boss Graham Turner says tomorrows match could be too soon for the 32 year old.

A win for United would make up ground on the top two as MK Dons and Peterborough played out a 1-1 draw at the MK Stadium, much to the delight of Turner's men.

Hereford now sit six points behind both teams at the top of the league, but have two games in hand on second place Peterborough, and one on Paul Ince's table toppers MK Dons.

Bury defender Dave Challinor misses out with a knee injury and striker Andy Mangan is doubtful with a hamstring strain. Goalkeeper Darren Randolph and midfielder David Buchanan are available ahead of international duty next week.

SEEING as there doesnt seem to be much coming out of the Hereford United grapvine today, I thought I would preview the game tomorrow (Good Friday) which does concern us Bulls.

The two teams that occupy the two other automatic spaces above Hereford lock horns at the MK Stadium which could go some way to deciding the winners of League 2.

Three points for Paul Ince's Dons would all but make sure of promotion who already have a game in hand over The Posh.

Victory though for Darren Ferguson's side would mean a nerve racking end to the season for the Dons as both Peterborough and Hereford could make up ground on them.

MK Dons are on terrific form and havent lost since the home defeat to Rochdale on January 26th. Peterborough have also been on a winning run and are unbeaten in thier last 12 matches, 10 of which they have won.

These two teams have already met twice this season, once in the league and then in the Johnstons Paint Trophy, with the Dons coming out on top both times.

Hereford will be hoping for a draw tomorrow night so that with a win in their game in hand (which I believe is against Lincoln in midweek) Turner's men can close to gap at the top to three points and would still have played a game less than the Posh.