Paper Round: Ryan Giggs snubbed by Swansea after interview flop

Ryan Giggs had already pencilled in his plans for a backroom team at Swansea ahead of his interview for the Premier League job only for the club to snub him and appoint Bob Bradley, reports the Daily Mail. The Swans hierarchy apparently had concerns over Giggs' lack of experience when they were looking for a replacement for Francesco Guidolin, but the Manchester United legend was still front-runner for the job prior to a disappointing interview that allowed former USA coach Bradley to sneak in.

Paper Round's view: Is it really a snub to turn down a man with no management experience in favour of one with over three decades of it?

The reaction to Bob Bradley's appointment has been surprisingly negative considering the quality of the coach that Swansea have just appointed. He may be the first American to manage in the Premier League, but Bradley has a wealth of coaching experience across the world and will bring an interesting tactical approach to a club who are in need of rediscovering an identity.

Giggs' time will come, but interview flop or not, this wasn't the job for him. And if he fluffed the interview? Well, at least he'll have bagged a bit of practice for next time round.

Gareth Southgate has made sure that Wayne Rooney knows who’s boss by telling the England captain that he will play where the interim manager picks him, reports The Sun. Southgate has taken over the national team for four games while the Football Association search for a long-term replacement for Sam Allardyce, but is keen to put some tactical restraints on Rooney, who was previously told he could play "wherever he wants” by Big Sam.

Paper Round's view: It's hardly hairdryer treatment management, but it's still good to see Southgate rectifying the Rooney mistake that Big Sam made. Giving him a free position was not going to be an effective tactic in the long term. Or the medium term. Or even the short term, come to think of it. And while a free-roaming role might work for Lionel Messi, it's probably for the best that Rooney plays his part in a team with structure and defined roles across the starting XI.

Talking of the starting XI, should Rooney even be in it? Probably not... and he really shouldn't still be captain. But it would be a pretty ballsy call for an interim manager to come in and strip the captaincy off the country's all-time top scorer, so one step at a time for Southgate.

What is encouraging is that, reading between the lines, Southgate has insinuated that Rooney is not guaranteed of starting every game and certainly isn't guaranteed of playing in that No. 10 role. It would make a great deal of sense, particularly given the injuries in midfield, to drop Rooney a bit deeper for the two upcoming qualifiers and free up Dele Alli to get involved a bit more on the creative side.

Danny Willett has whipped up a media storm in America by claiming that the behaviour of some of the USA fans at Hazeltine proved his brother right. The Masters champion's brother, Peter, stoked the flames ahead of last weekend's Ryder Cup with a controversial article that accused the home fans of being "pudgy, basement-dwelling irritants, stuffed on cookie dough and pi**y beer, pausing between mouthfuls of hotdog so they can scream 'Baba booey' until their jelly faces turn red."

The European team apologised profusely for the article, with captain Darren Clarke revealing that Willett was very upset about the article… but Danny went on to endure a tough three days in Minneapolis, failing to pick up a point and receiving a level of abuse from the crowd that got under the skin of the usually passive Yorkshireman.

Paper Round's view: You can't help but feel a bit of sympathy for Danny Willett. He didn't write the article, but he's taken the heat generated by it from an American crowd not universally known for their good grace in the grandstands.

But this has not been a well-handled story by the European team.

Did you read the piece in question? If so then you'd have seen that it was not an anti-USA rant as has been reported, but was more of a self-deprecating and amusing attempt to poke fun at caricatures of the sort of American supporters that even most of their compatriots find slightly irritating.

By openly apologising and saying that Danny was upset by the issue, Darren Clarke instantly linked the news to his team in a way that was not helpful.

Throw in the player's frustration at his poor performance and the tiredness of a busy three days of competition and there's your explanation for why he's said this.

And, let's be honest, most of the American fans are great, but some of them really are a pain in the a***.