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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)
- Thread starter hadareud
- Start date
- Status
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
Let's ban Denmark from Europe, they haven't provided anything useful since Peter Schmeichel and Danish bacon, and I'm vegetarian so I didn't give a **** then even.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
Does anyone know where Saviola is going to end up? I know he's decided not to stay at Barcelona, can't think why, which means he's available on a free, but is he staying in Spain? Going back to Argentina? I'd be surprised if no English teams were looking at him.
itsinmyveins
Gets to pilot the crappy patrol labors
It's gotta be rough for that danish guy who ran out on the field. It's not like nobody saw him. Apparantely, danish newspapers (or atleast their websites) have posted pictures of him and are asking for identifaction and so on.
They've written the following; "this man is guilty/responsible for danish loss aganist Sweden. If you know who he is, write to us at XXXXXXX"
EDIT: Oh, and there's a photo of him next to that little piece of lyric, of course.
They've written the following; "this man is guilty/responsible for danish loss aganist Sweden. If you know who he is, write to us at XXXXXXX"
EDIT: Oh, and there's a photo of him next to that little piece of lyric, of course.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
Alright, we'll keep the country, but ship all the people off to Australia like the good old days. Could do with more space, the UK's population density is getting out of hand.
itsinmyveins
Gets to pilot the crappy patrol labors
It seems like the guy responsible's been arrested. He's a dane, but lives in Sweden.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
He's a mole. He really supports Sweden, has done ever since he moved there, but infiltrated the Danish supporters thanks to his roots for just this sort of scenario, automatically winning the game for Sweden.
I know what you meant Im just saying...They did ok at the world cup I mean they didn't win it or anything ( and they had home field advantage I mean look what it did for South Korea) and the matches since then are hardly a good way to guage stuff.Blablurn said:
(plus last I checked Italy was part of europe)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weDl79I3xA8
itsinmyveins
Gets to pilot the crappy patrol labors
Mama Smurf said:
So in short; he's a chubby Donnie Brasco rooting for Sweden :lol
But I gotta admit; it was kinda surreal. I was watching the game with a sinking heart (Denmark were really pushing it) and it was almost over. Then the whole ordeal of penalty kick and sudden rush of new confidence - instantely shattered with the game being stopped after that supporter rushed the field. I'm glad we won, but it wasn't a "fun" victory in the end.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
Can we not just have a European International League system? There are only 52 teams involved in qualifying for Euro 2008 (including Switzerland/Austria), we could said up 4 divisions of 13 teams.
We could scrap the European Championships and just play the divisions in the years between the World Cups (and qualification for that could come through the divisions). It's only 24 games home and away, that could easily fit in.
We'd set it up based on the FIFA rankings initially (not great, but it's as good as anything else and it'd only be a one off) then from then on we could relegate and promote 4 teams from each league. So at the moment it'd be:
Division 1
Italy
France
Germany
Holland
Portugal
England
Spain
Czech Republic
Ukraine
Croatia
Scotland
Romania
Greece
Division 2
Russia
Poland
Turkey
Switzerland
Sweden
Denmark
Serbia
Rep of Ireland
N Ireland
Israel
Bulgaria
Slovakia
Finland
Division 3
Bosnia-H
Norway
Macedonia
Hungary
Belgium
Belarus
Wales
Slovenia
Austria
Albania
Cyprus
Moldova
Georgia
Division 4
Lithuania
Iceland
Azerbaijan
Latvia
Estonia
Malta
Kazakhstan
Armenia
Liechtenstein
Andorra
Luxembourg
Faroe Islands
San Marino
I reckon this system has a bunch of benefits:
- I'd actually care more about international football again as we'd so often be playing teams around our level
- We actually might get a better answer as to who the best team in Europe is than a cup competition could ever give us
- No more ****ing stupid games against the minnows of Europe, which are interminable for fans, and pointless for players of both teams
- Said minnows would actually have something to play for, being in a division where they have a chance to compete, whereas they have zero chance in the current system. They might even be able to gradually improve over the years and rise up the divisions if they can play matches where the get to touch the ball for more than 5 ****ing minutes
- The European tournament would no longer just be a mini-World Cup, it'd be a league format in contrast to the cup format
- I even think there'd still be time for a few friendlies against teams outside of Europe, so it wouldn't be completely restrictive
We could scrap the European Championships and just play the divisions in the years between the World Cups (and qualification for that could come through the divisions). It's only 24 games home and away, that could easily fit in.
We'd set it up based on the FIFA rankings initially (not great, but it's as good as anything else and it'd only be a one off) then from then on we could relegate and promote 4 teams from each league. So at the moment it'd be:
Division 1
Italy
France
Germany
Holland
Portugal
England
Spain
Czech Republic
Ukraine
Croatia
Scotland
Romania
Greece
Division 2
Russia
Poland
Turkey
Switzerland
Sweden
Denmark
Serbia
Rep of Ireland
N Ireland
Israel
Bulgaria
Slovakia
Finland
Division 3
Bosnia-H
Norway
Macedonia
Hungary
Belgium
Belarus
Wales
Slovenia
Austria
Albania
Cyprus
Moldova
Georgia
Division 4
Lithuania
Iceland
Azerbaijan
Latvia
Estonia
Malta
Kazakhstan
Armenia
Liechtenstein
Andorra
Luxembourg
Faroe Islands
San Marino
I reckon this system has a bunch of benefits:
- I'd actually care more about international football again as we'd so often be playing teams around our level
- We actually might get a better answer as to who the best team in Europe is than a cup competition could ever give us
- No more ****ing stupid games against the minnows of Europe, which are interminable for fans, and pointless for players of both teams
- Said minnows would actually have something to play for, being in a division where they have a chance to compete, whereas they have zero chance in the current system. They might even be able to gradually improve over the years and rise up the divisions if they can play matches where the get to touch the ball for more than 5 ****ing minutes
- The European tournament would no longer just be a mini-World Cup, it'd be a league format in contrast to the cup format
- I even think there'd still be time for a few friendlies against teams outside of Europe, so it wouldn't be completely restrictive
I had a little think about it and there are good sides to it and some not so good ones.
here's the bad ones I'm thinking of
- the rankings are flawed (very much so)
- smaller nations can have good teams every now and then - a league system would not let them take advantage of that, because by the time they are in the highest league that good team might be too old again and they are shit again
- smaller nations cannot improve if they can't measure themselves with bigger ones
- the lower leagues wouldn't be interesting for anyone, including the participating nations
I think a European tournament every 4 years is actually a good thing, the qualifiers are shit though, as you say.
One idea would be to have pre-qualifiers for the lower nations. The effect would be that only the good ones would go into the real qualifiers and you'd have decent quality there, without the tedious games that you get now.
here's the bad ones I'm thinking of
- the rankings are flawed (very much so)
- smaller nations can have good teams every now and then - a league system would not let them take advantage of that, because by the time they are in the highest league that good team might be too old again and they are shit again
- smaller nations cannot improve if they can't measure themselves with bigger ones
- the lower leagues wouldn't be interesting for anyone, including the participating nations
I think a European tournament every 4 years is actually a good thing, the qualifiers are shit though, as you say.
One idea would be to have pre-qualifiers for the lower nations. The effect would be that only the good ones would go into the real qualifiers and you'd have decent quality there, without the tedious games that you get now.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
hadareud said:
I know, I'd have a hard time believing the Ukraine are a better side than Sweden, but it would only be a one off. One way to make it a little more fair is to have some play offs for the teams on the cusp of different divisions. So teams 10, 11, 12 and 13 would play teams 17, 16, 15 and 14 respectively, and the winners would get into division 1. Just the first time round, after that it'd be normal relegation and promotion.
Well if they have a good team they'll be able to go up a division, leave behind the weaker teams and improve further still against better opposition. But importantly, not opposition so strong that they'll just be destroyed immediately, it'll be a gradual thing.
I think the opposite, smaller teams can't improve in the way the system currently is. They never even see the ball against the big teams, those mcathces are worthless to both sides. They'll actually be able to play against teams around their own standard and some will stand out and gain the experience to move on to the next level. And in time, they may even become a big team...it'll take decades, but they'll never become a big team or take part in a major championship the way things are now.
Again, I think the opposite. It finally would be interesting for those nations, who normally just see their sides humiliatingly defeated time after time. They could actually get behind their team now, in the hunt for the title or promotion or even just a few wins. And the teams could have some pride and something to play for.
It kind of bores me, it's just a weaker World Cup. And even when it comes around you get maybe 4 big games if you're lucky, and all it takes is one off day or one bad refereeing decision and that's it all over for your country for the next 4 years where you can take another shot, in a league system you get lots of big games, guaranteed.
itsinmyveins
Gets to pilot the crappy patrol labors
Mama Smurf said:
And you'd be damn right in having a hard time believing that!
I mean, honestly, we make it through every qualification - often in the top.
depends on how long you want this league to run. if you want a home and away game against each team it's gonna take 4 years, keeping the same number of games that you have now.Mama Smurf said:
it would take a 3rd division team a mininum of 8 years to get up to the first league, by which time their good team may be too old.
I don't know about that. Let's take Austria as an example, they are in the 3rd league by current ratings. I know for a fact that for their players it would be bad news to play against those other 3rd league teams. I see your point though.
Let's take Austria as an example again: no one is interested in playing those other teams and nobody wants to watch them. It's also not like we get battered by the Englands of the world. We played 2:2 and 0:1 in the world cup qualifiers. It would be a horrible step back and would kill a lot of interest in football. While teams like scotland play in the first league and are just as shitty as we are.
That would be hard to take for a small nation that actually was used to qualifying for world cups in the past and at times didn't do too badly there.
MrPing1000
Member
If sweden get the 3-0 victory it bones Northern Ireland as well
itsinmyveins
Gets to pilot the crappy patrol labors
Kiriku said:
I know what you mean :lol
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
hadareud said:
Oh it'd have to be home and away, I can't stand things like the UEFA Cup where you just play a team once in a league format. And 4 years makes sense, otherwise it would mess up the WC qualifying.
Well to be honest, if they can't produce a team good enough to last more than 8 years, I don't see why they deserve to play at the top. There were 14 European teams at the WC, produce enough good players and you only have to come top of the second division to make it, which, if the team is good enough, can easily be done within their playing career (which is usually about 16 years), so it's not like a good team from the lower divisions would miss out on some of the top competitions.
Well if they're good enough they'll be in the second division straight away and playing better sides, if they're not good enough then I think they're better off competing against teams of a similar level until they can improve.
I think after the initial shock, Austrian fans would get behind their team in the hunt for qualification. It's like the lower leagues of English football, no one actually wants to play the Carlisles and the Doncasters of this world, but it's still exciting as you're fighting for the promise of facing better sides (and winning the division, which is cool if not as important as promotion).
The rankings would quickly stop meaning anything, it would just be a way to set things up the first time round. So if Scotland didn't deserve their place, they wouldn't be there long, might be dodgy for the first 4 years though. After that it would become quite fair.
Well I don't have much sympathy to be honest. It probably would be hard to take, but if the team's not good enough it shouldn't be down to the qualifying format to keep chances alive, they need to improve. Huddersfield Town once won three English championships in a row, now they're in League One and I wouldn't want them back unless they had the quality to make it back.
Teams would still be able to play friendlies, and therefore lower teams could take on bigger teams, there are enough international dates to make that perfectly viable. This league system would take up 24 games over the 4 years and obviously one summer of that would be taken up by the World Cup. If we look at the current 4 years (the qualifying for WC06, the qualifying for Euro 08, Euro 08 itself and friendlies), it breaks down like this (for England at least, a lot of countries play more):
WC06 qualifying - 10 games
Euro 08 qualifying - 12 games
Euro 08 - 7 games (for two teams anyway, and if they can do it everyone can)
Friendlies - 19 games (estimating 4 friendlies in 2008 before Euro 08, as there were 4 friendlies that year prior to Euro 2000)
So that adds up to 48 games, double the amount the league needs. 24 friendlies is looooaaaaddsss, lots of chances to play higher teams, or teams outside of Europe.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
It doesn't really matter anyway, it's never gonna happen. I just think it would bring international football back to life, in Europe at least, I see more and more fans become disillusioned as it falls behind domestic football.
I feel the real problem with the international scene is the lack of passion at and for friendlies. You just don't feel like anyone cares anymore. At any point during England-Brazil -- which should have been a titantic encounter -- did it look like England were fired up to beat arguably the most famous side in the world? When they took the lead, did England defend that lead with the passion that comes from a sniff of a famous result?
For Brazil: Did you ever feel after the goal Brazil REALLY REALLY wanted that equaliser to avoid losing to another major footballing nation? Or did they kinda want to equalise so they don't get a bollocking from the press? With Brazil 1-0 down and time ticking down, did you ever feel they'd throw everyone forward at an injury-time corner? For that matter, if England were 1-0 down, would Robinson come up for a corner? I doubt it.
But why not? National pride should be at stake here. I just don't feel like it is anymore.
For Brazil: Did you ever feel after the goal Brazil REALLY REALLY wanted that equaliser to avoid losing to another major footballing nation? Or did they kinda want to equalise so they don't get a bollocking from the press? With Brazil 1-0 down and time ticking down, did you ever feel they'd throw everyone forward at an injury-time corner? For that matter, if England were 1-0 down, would Robinson come up for a corner? I doubt it.
But why not? National pride should be at stake here. I just don't feel like it is anymore.
psycho_snake
I went to WAGs boutique and all I got was a sniff
Todays rumours
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/6715989.stm
Some interesting rumours. If the rumours are to be believed, then mama's question about saviola is answered and he'll be joining united. I think its rubbish, but Id like to believe its true. Its a good price for a young decent player.
And had must be going mental after reading another henry to brca rumour. Now since there are various newspapers reporting this, it could be true.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/gossip_and_transfers/6715989.stm
Some interesting rumours. If the rumours are to be believed, then mama's question about saviola is answered and he'll be joining united. I think its rubbish, but Id like to believe its true. Its a good price for a young decent player.
And had must be going mental after reading another henry to brca rumour. Now since there are various newspapers reporting this, it could be true.
Dr Zhivago
Member
Wow, UEFA really suck. Of course, UEFA giving half the tickets to 'sponsors' who sell them straight to touts is just fine.
psycho_snake
I went to WAGs boutique and all I got was a sniff
The euro league is an interesting idea, but there is a problem. If it lasts for 4 years, so lets say from 2010 to 2014, its going to intefere with the world cup qualifiers that take place in between 2012 and 2014. If they play 6 euro league games and another 6 world cup qualifier games, then its going to be an additional 12 games on top of the club schedules. Some layers will end up playing 40+ games for their club and another 12 for their country. Its a lot of games to play, but then again you expect the players to be fit enough to cope with that. They'll have the benefit of having a full summer holiday because there will be no euro anymore. I like the idea, but I dont think that the european cup at the moment is that bad. I really enjoy them. The qualifiers are not that bad either. Just look at england at the momet. Its going to be quite intense to get an automatic place in the tournament because we've slipped up. Qualification has become quite intense for england.
The only problem with internationals is what fowler mentioned and that is that no one really cares about the friendlies. The fans are not that bothered because there isnt much to play for other than pride. The players are not bothered either because they dont have anything to play for and because there is no point pushing yourself so hard and risking an injury when there isnt anything to play for.,
There have been some interesting idea's posted in this thread. The best idea Ive read was the one that I think mama posted. The idea is that you have a knock out tournamenet with all the clubs in the first division of every country. So for instance you've got all the premiership teams, all the la liga teams, all the serie A teams etc. If the english teams entered into this tournament instead of the league cup, it would be a lot more interesting. You're going to have some very interesting fixtures. Just imagine someone like portsmouth playing Milan or Chelsea playing chievo. Some of them are going to be one sided but there are bound to be some surprises in some fixtures.
The only problem with internationals is what fowler mentioned and that is that no one really cares about the friendlies. The fans are not that bothered because there isnt much to play for other than pride. The players are not bothered either because they dont have anything to play for and because there is no point pushing yourself so hard and risking an injury when there isnt anything to play for.,
There have been some interesting idea's posted in this thread. The best idea Ive read was the one that I think mama posted. The idea is that you have a knock out tournamenet with all the clubs in the first division of every country. So for instance you've got all the premiership teams, all the la liga teams, all the serie A teams etc. If the english teams entered into this tournament instead of the league cup, it would be a lot more interesting. You're going to have some very interesting fixtures. Just imagine someone like portsmouth playing Milan or Chelsea playing chievo. Some of them are going to be one sided but there are bound to be some surprises in some fixtures.
WHAT violent scenes?! I didn't see jack.
Mind you, it's UEFA, you know how it works. It's like United's game against Roma. Roman fans throw stuff at United fans. United fans go, "wtf". Italian police interpret that as a hostile act and beat the living hell out of United fans. UEFA condemns typical English hooliganism.
That's pretty ****ing discusting right there, apparently the african players are excused because they all send a lot of their paychecks back home, but the English/European players in that squad are just twats. You can lump them in with the Man U squad that only had 2 donators.
It was only a days wages they were looking for.
The entire West Ham squad signed up...nothing at all to do with NRCs mum being a nurse
celestial body
Member
200K a week wages in the not too distant future?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/rod_liddle/article1875557.ece
If you look past the author's commentary there is some interesting info there.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/rod_liddle/article1875557.ece
If you look past the author's commentary there is some interesting info there.
hadareud said:
3 Arsenal players contributed to it.
Here's the list of who donated... kinda.
Premiership Players:
Arsenal 3 players Theo Walcott, Thierry Henry, and Justin Hoyte
Aston Villa 2 players Steven Davis, Ashley Young
Blackburn - 23 players including David Bentley and Morten Gamst Pedersen
Bolton - 22 players including Nicky Hunt and Kevin Nolan
Celtic 1 player Neil Lennon (wait... Premiership?)
Charlton 8 players Matt Holland, Luke Young, Hermann Hreidarsson, Ben Thatcher, Darren Ambrose, Darren Bent, Marcus Bent, Scott Carson
Chelsea - 0 players, donation from club to Mayday for Nurses Hardship fund
Everton - 8 players on board including Alan Stubbs
Fulham 28 players, the entire first team squad Carlos Bocanegra, Michael Brown, Jimmy Bullard, Philippe Christanval, Simon Davies, Clint Dempsey, Papa Bouba Diop, Simon Elliott, Ahmad Elrich, Adam Federici, Heiðar Helguson, Claus Jensen, Collins John, Zat Knight, Jan Latuvka, Brian McBride, Robert Milsom, Vincenzo Montella, Antti Niemi, Elliot Omozusi, Ian Pearce, Mark Pembridge, Franck Queudrue, Tomasz Radzinski, Liam Rosenior, Wayne Routledge, Alexey Smertin, Moritz Volz
Liverpool - 12 players Craig Bellamy, Jamie Carragher, Peter Crouch, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Mark Gonzalez, Harry Kewell, Dirk Kuyt, Jermaine Pennant, Pepe Reina, John Arne Riise, Bolo Zenden
Man City 6 players Michael Ball, Joey Barton, Richard Dunne, Georgios Samaras, Nicky Weaver and Micah Richards
Man Utd 2 players Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs
Middlesborough - 0 players, manager Gareth Southgate on board
Newcastle - 12 players Titus Bramble, Celestine Babayaro, Pavel Srnicek, Nicky Butt, Stephen Carr, Damien Duff, Shay Given, Stephen Harper, James Milner, Scott Parker, Peter Ramage, Nolberto Solano
Portsmouth 1 player David James
Rangers 2 players Gavin Rae and Barry Ferguson (Hmm!?)
Reading 27 players, the entire first team squad Mikkel Anderson, Alan Bennett, Andre Bikey, Oliver Bozanic, Aaron Brown, Bobby Convey, Ulises de la Cruz, Kevin Doyle, Michael Duberry, Brynjar Gunnarsson, Marcus Hahnemann, Greg Halford, John Halls, James Harper, Stephen Hunt, Ívar Ingimarsson, Seol Ki-Hyeon, Dave Kitson, Leroy Lita, Glen Little, Shane Long, Péter Máté, Graeme Murty, John Oster, Nicky Shorey, Steve Sidwell, Ibrahima Sonko
Sheffield 23 players
Tottenham 20 players including Paul Robinson and Jermaine Defoe
Watford 28 players, the entire first team squad including Malky Mackay
West Ham - 26 players, the entire first team squad including Nigel Reo Coker
Wigan 1 player Arjan de Zeeuw
http://www.maydayfornurses.com/?module=players
If we're grasping for straws technically Sidwell is a Chelsea player now.
I'm sure the players donate more to charity than all of us put together, maybe they dont think the nurses charity is one of the more worthy causes?
England should line up like this when possible.
-------- Carrick --- Hargreaves
Gerrard------- Rooney -------Joe Cole
-----------------Owen---------------
Attacking 4 should be interchangeable but I think apart from Rooney swapping with Gerrard they'll be too one dimensional so it might not work. Beckham could be alternative to Carrick/Gerrard. Shame Lampard and Gerrard are undroppable, really prevents us from experimenting much.
England are largely built around Chelsea and Liverpool, and they wonder why they play boring football? Get the ball down, pass well and move asa team and get the best out of the talent on display. No more excuses, its always injuries, its a friendly, the team needs to gel etc etc.
Even when they win its through dire football. More effort than good football.
England should line up like this when possible.
-------- Carrick --- Hargreaves
Gerrard------- Rooney -------Joe Cole
-----------------Owen---------------
Attacking 4 should be interchangeable but I think apart from Rooney swapping with Gerrard they'll be too one dimensional so it might not work. Beckham could be alternative to Carrick/Gerrard. Shame Lampard and Gerrard are undroppable, really prevents us from experimenting much.
England are largely built around Chelsea and Liverpool, and they wonder why they play boring football? Get the ball down, pass well and move asa team and get the best out of the talent on display. No more excuses, its always injuries, its a friendly, the team needs to gel etc etc.
Even when they win its through dire football. More effort than good football.
hadareud said:
I thought you meant from the England squad looking at it again, most of the England squad have donated except the Chelsea players .... and Owen.
OI!!
Other than Crouch, Carragher and Gerrard are usually playing outside of positions they would prefer to play in.
And Liverpool can play football damnit. >_<
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
I don't believe that amongst 20 odd Chelsea players, not one would donate funds. I don't know why, but I think the club might have forbidden them to for some reason, especially as the club itself made a donation instead. Like "don't talk to our players, but here, have some cash". I'm happy with Blackburn's contribution anyway.
psycho: as I said, qualifying for the WC would come through the league system, so there would be no traditional qualifiers anymore.
That Saviola rumour is annoying, don't journalists check their facts anymore? This is like the opposite of when they said Heinze was available on a free at the end of this season, and I knew that wasn't the case without even having to look it up. I mean, are they football fans or not?
Anyway, Saviola is available on a free, not £7m. He'd be cheap at £7m imo, but no one will even have to pay that much.
If Benitez is really going after Eto'o and if he could really get him for £35m and if the player is really willing to leave...I still don't think Liverpool would necessarily get him. I mean, if I was Alex Ferguson, I wouldn't let that chance pass, no matter how much they've already spent this year. I'd go to the board and say "look, I reckon we can get at least £27m for the sale of Saha, Smith, Heinze and Richardson, will you stump up the extra £8m for Eto'o?" and if need be let them cut his budget for next summer to get him.
Anderson has said his best position is....left back. Apparently he likes playing a Roberto Carlos like role. I don't think that's why United got him and I doubt he'll play there much, but useful to have that option, especially if Heinze's going.
psycho: as I said, qualifying for the WC would come through the league system, so there would be no traditional qualifiers anymore.
That Saviola rumour is annoying, don't journalists check their facts anymore? This is like the opposite of when they said Heinze was available on a free at the end of this season, and I knew that wasn't the case without even having to look it up. I mean, are they football fans or not?
Anyway, Saviola is available on a free, not £7m. He'd be cheap at £7m imo, but no one will even have to pay that much.
If Benitez is really going after Eto'o and if he could really get him for £35m and if the player is really willing to leave...I still don't think Liverpool would necessarily get him. I mean, if I was Alex Ferguson, I wouldn't let that chance pass, no matter how much they've already spent this year. I'd go to the board and say "look, I reckon we can get at least £27m for the sale of Saha, Smith, Heinze and Richardson, will you stump up the extra £8m for Eto'o?" and if need be let them cut his budget for next summer to get him.
Anderson has said his best position is....left back. Apparently he likes playing a Roberto Carlos like role. I don't think that's why United got him and I doubt he'll play there much, but useful to have that option, especially if Heinze's going.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
It'd be laughable if it wasn't so stupid. I need to read the actual NotW article though, because if they really did say "less than £7m", then technically they're right. Though they might as well have written "less than £100m" in that case.
Well, you gotta remember that a transferfree player still isn't exactly 'free'. Last year, PSV tried to sign Saviola, and Barcelona didn't demand a fee from PSV. Still, Saviola wanted some 3 million in 'signing money' (dunno what the english term for that is) next to a salaris PSV couldn't afford.
Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
I don't think he could demand a signing on fee from United, certainly not that big. He could claim he's a bigger player than PSV are a club, so if they want him they better make it worth his while, but he couldn't claim that with United, he's not Kaka.
Damn eh. We had a friendly last night, Australia vs Uruguay, and 60,000 people turned up to watch a side mainly full of the young guys coming through the ranks. This coming from a nation where football isn't the dominant sport (yet :lol).Fowler said:
I'm excited to see how we will fare in the Asian Cup next month and how the media will go about it. Once we finally qualified for the World Cup we copped a bit of media attention about it because of the people in the streets going insane over it yet the media was still caught with their pants down about the mass hysteria that is the World Cup. Took us to beat Japan by scoring 3 goals in 8 mins at the end of the match for them to wake the **** up.
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