Lets Talk Football

Sir Sean Connery's love-child

12-09-05

Originally Posted by Golgot

.

You guys have got some promising players coming thru n'all i believe. (Or at least i hear Spurs are trying to pinch two younguns from Hibs at the moment

Hibs have some good young players, but I don't think they are any better than anything Spurs have. What's happened to Reid and Dawson, I expected great things from them, Spurs have an embarrasement of wealth in midfield, Celtic have been linked with Mendes in January.
Scotland does have some good young players, but the SPL is so bad that hardly any of them have played at a decent level or have any european or international experience, at the moment McFadden of Everton and Fletcher of Man United are seen as the saviours of the national team, neither of them would have got anywhere near a Scotland squad of the 80's when we did actually have world class players like Souness, Hansen, Dalgleish, Strachan etc.

Oh well, bring on the world cup, next summer I will mostly be Brazilian!!!

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Piddzilla

I am having a nervous breakdance

12-10-05

I just read in my morning paper about Paraguay's way to the cup. The games include results like: 2-1 vs. Ecuador, 0-0 vs. Brazil, 0-0 vs. Argentina and 1-0 vs. Argentina. Yikes!

Looks like they can take on just about any team and even beat the greats. Looking at the results it appears as Paraguay is relatively defensive for being a South American team which works against teams like Argentina and Brazil, but Sweden and England's different way of playing football might puzzle them. I also heard that their defense has been their most effective weapon but that it's starting to crack. And their biggest star, Roque Santa Cruz of Bayern M�nchen, runs a high risk of missing the cup due to a bad knee injury (I think it was).

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nebbit

Registered User

12-10-05

Originally Posted by Piddzilla

Ok, so here's the groups:
Group F:
1. Brazil
2. Croatia
3. Australia
4. Japan

I don't think this is good for us

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Piddzilla

I am having a nervous breakdance

12-10-05

Originally Posted by nebbit

I don't think this is good for us

Well, I think that you have decent chances against Japan and Croatia if Brazil do their job properly in their matches against them. I was impressed by what I saw in the match against Uruguay in the play off.

Golgot

there's a frog in my snake oil

12-10-05

Originally Posted by Piddzilla

I just read in my morning paper about Paraguay's way to the cup. The games include results like: 2-1 vs. Ecuador, 0-0 vs. Brazil, 0-0 vs. Argentina and 1-0 vs. Argentina. Yikes!

Looks like they can take on just about any team and even beat the greats.

They're not the defensive force they once were tho. They also lost 5-2 to Equador, 4-1 to Peru and 4-1 to Brazil along the way

. (Altho they did beat Uruguay and Bolivia 4-1 as well).

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/re...=20062&cc=5739

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Piddzilla

I am having a nervous breakdance

12-10-05

Originally Posted by Golgot

They're not the defensive force they once were tho. They also lost 5-2 to Equador, 4-1 to Peru and 4-1 to Brazil along the way

. (Altho they did beat Uruguay and Bolivia 4-1 as well).

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/team/re...=20062&cc=5739

Sure, all I'm saying is that they have the ability to beat that kind of teams. Compare the qualification groups in Europe to the South American one.... It's really two completely different things. I just think that there will be a lot of talk about England and Sweden, but it's easy to forget the team in the group that's had the toughest competition on the way to the cup. A team that brings home 4 points from two games against Argentina is worth a whole lot of respect.

Golgot

there's a frog in my snake oil

12-10-05

Originally Posted by Piddzilla

A team that brings home 4 points from two games against Argentina is worth a whole lot of respect.

I'm sure they'll get it too (from the teams, tho not necessarily from eulogising-English fans

)

Originally Posted by Darth Stujitzu

What's happened to Reid and Dawson, I expected great things from them, Spurs have an embarrasement of wealth in midfield, Celtic have been linked with Mendes in January.

Reid's been sidelined and has only really shone in reserve games. He might scrap his way back into the team tho. Dawson is going full guns. He's looking like a real prospect.

Pedro probably will go in January. Which is a shame. He's good at everything except defence. I think that's where he's loosing out to Davids and our Finnish guy Tainio.

Last edited by Golgot; 12-10-05 at 08:08 PM.

Tacitus

The People's Republic of Clogher

12-11-05

Originally Posted by Golgot

Reid's been sidelined and has only really shone in reserve games. He might scrap his way back into the team tho. Dawson is going full guns. He's looking like a real prospect.

Reid needs to lose a few stone from what I can see but The Lilywhite's policy of buying every talented midfielder in the country under the age of 25 might just be bearing fruit.

Dawson does indeed look as if he's going to be an excellent player, same with Lennon.

Anyway, yesterday was not a good day to be a Glentoran fan (as I'm sure the majority of MoFo's are

) as we lost 3-0 to flippin' Linfield in the League Cup final. Roll on the new Ulster sports stadium (on the site of the old Maze prison hehe) as I can't stand attending Windsor Park and it's knuckleheaded local 'supporters' for much longer...

Reflecting on this, I think my country has the best football team names in the world:

Chimney Corner

Distillery

Haarland & Woolfe Welders

and ermmmm ... RUC

All League teams.

We've got one of the most wonderful stadium names too, Cliftonville's Solitude. Anyone who's attended a match there knows how apt it is.

My dad played for two of the above teams in the 60s and early 70s.

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melbournemaniac

Me & Em

12-17-05

I'm into Australian Rules Football and follow the Shinboners AKA The Kangaroo football club, but I think you are all talking about European football.

nebbit

Registered User

12-18-05

Originally Posted by melbournemaniac

I'm into Australian Rules Football and follow the Shinboners AKA The Kangaroo football club, but I think you are all talking about European football.

They are talking Soccer, now known as football here

all Melbournines are Aussie rules fanatics,

Go the Sydney Swans

Golgot

there's a frog in my snake oil

12-18-05

Originally Posted by Tacitus

Reidy played in today's bruising 3-3 with Boro. I didn't see the first half but it sounds like he huffed and puffed but still isn't clicking for the first team. Apparently he's not overweight tho. They did that old body-mass-index thing etc on him and he's not fat. Science says so

.

Our young'uns are definitely looking promising. (We're copying the Arse's buy-em-young strategy really

). And the mid-younguns are doing alright too. Jenas and Mido scored two lovely goals today.

Originally Posted by Tacitus

We've got one of the most wonderful stadium names too, Cliftonville's Solitude. Anyone who's attended a match there knows how apt it is.

I've always liked Barnet's sloping 'Underhill' ground. Totally incongruous place. Saw them win 2-1 there once and it's the only time i've been in a standing stadium (or leaping in that case

). It was class

Originally Posted by Tacitus

My dad played for two of the above teams in the 60s and early 70s.

Which ones? And what position? And did the fans have a nickname or chant for him? (and was it complementary

)

(Wow, i've turned into an Aniko-style question-asking machine now we're on a footie topic

)

Last edited by Golgot; 12-18-05 at 02:38 PM.

Tacitus

The People's Republic of Clogher

12-18-05

Originally Posted by Golgot

Which ones? And what position? And did the fans have a nickname or chant for him? (and was it complementary

)

My dad played for H&W Welders (old shipyard boy, which seems to have been the family 'trade') and, later, the team on the list who wouldn't have been exactly popular with Belfast Celtic fans. A works team, if you will...

He was a midfield general, ie a clogger. I remember him coming home with legs covered in all manner of grazes and bruises, some of which might even have been football-related.

I don't think there was a chant for him as the three men and a dog who turned up to B Division fixtures back then would have collapsed in a Woodbine-induced coughing fit if they'd raised their voices above a growl.

Golgot

there's a frog in my snake oil

12-18-05

Originally Posted by Tacitus

I don't think there was a chant for him as the three men and a dog who turned up to B Division fixtures back then would have collapsed in a Woodbine-induced coughing fit if they'd raised their voices above a growl.

alley-kat1991

Registered User

12-19-05

New England Patriots Rule

Revenge of Mr M

Get off my island

01-12-06

Mike Newell, Luton Town manager has come out today talking managers who take bungs, and he was talking about the money that would get handed off to agents in the transactions, and that got me thinking about John obi Mikel.
You may or may not know of this fascinating tale, but to cut a long story short, Mikel played (plays) for Norweigan club Lyn Oslo and a deal was arranged last year for him to be transferred to Manchester United. Shortly afterwards, he seemed to have a change of heart when Chelsea hijacked the deal and now there are lawyers invovled, trying to sort out this mess. As aforementioned, Lyn have already agreed a deal with United, but Mikel's agents are now claiming that his contracts with Lyn were forged and he should be allowed to move to Chelsea (a claim that apparently was thrown out, possibly laughed out of court).
But the most interesting part is that in May, according to Aftenposten :

A few weeks ago, rising young soccer star John Mikel Obi seemed to gladly accept protection from his Oslo club, Lyn, saying he was afraid of the agents he'd fired the day he turned 18. On Tuesday, he was back with those agents, and now says he's afraid of Lyn's sports director Morgan Andersen.

Furhtermore:

Oslo soccer club Lyn sent their talented young soccer star John Obi Mikel to a secret location for five days after announcing that he'd signed on with Manchester United. Alleged threats had come into Lyn's Oslo office, and club officials feared for Mikel's safety.

John Obi Mikel spent five days at an Oslo hotel, because of concerns for his personal safety.

The 18-year-old Mikel also was worried about the threats. Newspaper Aftenposten reported Tuesday that he thus was quickly and quietly driven up to Oslo's fashionable - and highly secure - Holmenkollen Park Hotel in the hills above the capital, instead of going home to his house in suburban Bekkestua.

It remains unclear where the threats came from, but it is clear that Mikel's transfer to Manchester United has angered his former agents and officials at rival English soccer club Chelsea. Most thought that Mikel, originally from Nigeria, would end up at Chelsea before Manchester United snatched him up.

It's been reported that several people may have lost money on Mikel's surprise transfer. Before he joined Lyn last summer, two agents had allegedly secured deals with the then-underage player. One of the contracts reportedly secured one of the agents 30 percent of Mikel's gross earnings.

Lyn ignored those agents and signed a deal directly with Mikel's parents when they brought Mikel to Oslo. Late last month, just after Mikel had turned 18 and therefore was of legal age in Norway, Lyn's attorney wrote letters to the agents cancelling the contracts on behalf of Mikel. That same evening, Mikel signed on with Manchester United.

Another agent who allegedly tried to visit Mikel at his suburban Oslo home, Jack Karadas, refused to respond to questions from Aftenposten.

Mikel, meanwhile, is back home again but Lyn has tightened security around him. Lyn director Morgan Andersen said he's most keen that players get to choose which club they want to join.

"He's God's gift to his family, and now has the possibility to support both himself and those closest to him," Andersen said. "It's not right that other people run off with large portions of the earnings for his talent."

I just can't understand why FIFA tolerate agents. I've never heard any stories ever where an agent has made a deal that has not been motivated solely by money, and all these alleged death threats make it even worse.

For more on John Obi Mikel: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/sp...cle1193773.ece

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Tacitus

The People's Republic of Clogher

01-12-06

Newell says he's not going to lose any sleep over naming names, but I bet it's agent's names he mentions rather than specific managers.

Brian Clough, as well as being the finest English manager of his generation (possibly a few more generations as well), was no stranger to brown paper bags stuffed with cash being exchanged at motorway service stations. He came to expect a bung as a waiter expects a tip...

SmegFirk

Ground Control To Major Thom

01-12-06

John Obi Mikel actually signed for Man Utd, was at the ground and had publicity shots with Fergie in his new shirt. Chelsea came along and then Mikel claims he never wanted to join Utd and Chelsea is the club for him. I just think he's attracted to Abramovich's chequebook.

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Revenge of Mr M

Get off my island

01-12-06

I find it interesting that in Football Manager 2006, it's automatically programmed in that Mikel joins United in the January transfer window. Which in fact is right about now. I don't think the money makes as much a difference to the player as the actual playing. Of course, it means everything to his agents and it's obvious he's been manipulated.

Darth Stujitzu

Sir Sean Connery's love-child

01-12-06

Is it just a simple case of Chelsea offering more money?
I'm slightly biased here as Man Unt are my English team, but all Chelsea have done recently is copy Man Unt's blueprint and poach all their transfer targets by throwing ridicolous amounts of cash at them.
They took Peter Kenyon and hey presto, long time Man Unt targets, Duff, Robben, Kezman, and Essien all end up at Chelsea, so is this another case of Chelsea trying to poach another talent Fergie has had his eye on for some time?
Don't get me wrong, Chelsea winning the league last year was a breath of fresh air, but their financial dominence and poaching tactics are begining to turn me against them, jealous, me, of course!!!!
On the other hand they are having to pay well over the odds for any player, and they have some rather expensive squad players to pay!!!!

Travis Bickle