Premier League - Papers: Why Wilkins was axed

"Former Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins was given his marching orders at Stamford Bridge following a blazing row with the club's top brass, according to this morning's papers.

The Daily Express reports that the former England midfielder argued during the summer with Roman Abramovich, and had a further furious bust-up with chief executive Ron Gourlay just two weeks before he was told his contract was not being renewed.

Apparently, the row with Gourlay came over the use of substitutes; Wilkins is now suing Chelsea for unfair dismissal.

The Champions League victories by Tottenham and Manchester United take up plenty of column inches in this morning's papers - and if all you'd seen were the back pages you'd have thought that Wayne Rooney had taken on Rangers all by himself and still won 10-0

"GeROOnimo," blasts the back page headline in the Daily Mirror, while by The Sun's inside headline is "Och aye the Roo - Life's sweet as Wayne sinks Scots". All good fun - though not exactly representative of a tight match in which United failed to impress and were rescued by the, admittedly, excellent Rooney spot kick.
Spurs, meanwhile, were impressive in beating a weakened Werder Bremen, and the papers heap praise on them. "Everyone will fear us now," claims the Daily Express, with the Daily Mirror claiming that, "Spurs are on their way to Wembley." Presumably, they're not referring to a potential FA Cup semi-final against one of their London neighbours.

Elsewhere, Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce has apparently been told by the club's new owners to make his side play more entertaining football, according to The Sun.

Venky's chairwoman Anuradha Desai seems unaware that her request is a bit like asking the Pope to be a bit less religious, or suggesting to Ferrari engineers that they think about fuel economy a bit more. Then again, she did betray her knowledge of football by saying that Blackburn

"should go up in the rankings"

 - but, in the century which saw McDonalds start selling salads, anything can happen.

Desai - and Allardyce - will both be full of Christmas cheer if the top transfer rumour of the day comes off: former Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz could be on his way back to Ewood Park for £4 million in January, according to The Sun. That's £13m less than the sum they sold him to Manchester City for under two years ago.

Chelsea's young star Daniel Sturridge could be set for a surprise loan move to Swansea, according to the Daily Mirror.

The Swans had originally asked about an emergency loan earlier this week, but Brendan Rodgers is apparently now looking for a longer loan deal, as of January.

And finally, the Daily Record reports that the Scottish refereeing saga is set for a few twists today: the paper reports that refs will vote not to back down on their strike threat - but also claim that the Dutch FA have agreed to provide all the officials required to enable this weekend's fixtures to go ahead."