Damn, murked meant jook up when I was a nipper. Thanks to Urban Dictionary I see you are not being aggressive, just imprecise in your adoption of colloquial slang.
But it's true, I was born a subject of the Queen in the outskirts of Norwich and was raised in the Shire Counties. According to your God, I am one of the chosen people and much better than the dirty Scots/Irish/Welsh. But every now and then I was reminded of my Einrick ancestry and threatened with a visit to the ICU, usually in even years that are not divisible by 4. This is why I have opinions on xenophobia in the UK. I thought I was British until other people informed me otherwise.
LOL, but I wasn't born there and have never lived there. So there's that.
Yeah but being brought up in Norwich is like growing up in Arkansas or somewhere. Alabama. There's going to be ancient held beliefs still having currency. Plus the whole inbred thing. Plus the fact that the area was under threat of invasion during shhh you know when. Godwins FTW.
Anyways, if you have a grudge still, know that most of East Anglia will be under water in a hundred years.
Left Norwich in a carry cot. My parents were amazed! But nah, I was raised da Midlands and can spot a Brummie in an airport at 50 paces. I know all about Royal Shows and 2 Tone.
I bear no grudges. Just trying to point out some of the shortcomings of the nation-state in the 21st century ;)
Realise this will be kryptonite to all you budding Rik Mayalls out there, but you Arsenal fans (and football fans, and indeed sports fans in general) should peep the Martin Samuels column (a two pager) in the Mail today, which focuses on the Wenger issue.
He compares Wenger to Jenkins/May/Riddle-era Sinatra, discusses the evolution of concept albums, touches on Chet Baker and Miles Davis, moans about the late-career rubbish put on Best Of compilations, berates Squeeze for later career tracks, compares Wenger to Bowie and subtly trashes Mo Tucker's political views (Tea Party if you must know).
I have a soft spot for Squeeze. They're local lads, I see Glen Tilbrook at the local pool regularly, and they were very good value at teh Albert Hall a few months back*. A handful of cracking tunes.
But taken in the round, in total, yes, relatively shite.
O'Neill also jarred, on first reading the piece. Samuels is a fan-boy, no doubt.
*ended up having a quick drink w/ the singer from The Feeling. Rock n fucking roll!
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
skel said:
Realise this will be kryptonite to all you budding Rik Mayalls out there, but you Arsenal fans (and football fans, and indeed sports fans in general) should peep the Martin Samuels column (a two pager) in the Mail today, which focuses on the Wenger issue.
He compares Wenger to Jenkins/May/Riddle-era Sinatra, discusses the evolution of concept albums, touches on Chet Baker and Miles Davis, moans about the late-career rubbish put on Best Of compilations, berates Squeeze for later career tracks, compares Wenger to Bowie and subtly trashes Mo Tucker's political views (Tea Party if you must know).
A must-read.
I have to admit, I like Samuels when he goes off on one of those. He did a piece a while ago (about Rooney, I think) where he quoted a Tribe lyric.
Should be a good one on Sunday with a slightly knackered but somewhat confident Arsenal against Taggart's Tossers or whatever this new generation is called.
I have a soft spot for Squeeze. They're local lads, I see Glen Tilbrook at the local pool regularly, and they were very good value at teh Albert Hall a few months back*.!
I ride. they are the poor man's Blockheads but they're cool for cats.
Should be a good one on Sunday with a slightly knackered but somewhat confident Arsenal against Taggart's Tossers or whatever this new generation is called.
I doubt it's going to much of a competition to be honest. With effect of injuries, suspensions and turncoats our squad is looking beyond threadbare, whilst United haven't looked this strong in a long time.
On paper it definitely looks like a walk in the park and the space Udinese were finding down the wings last night offered all kinds of possibilities for the United Youths. However, I learnt a long time ago to never write off Arsenal when they play Utd. Similar to Liverpool in that they always seem to find an extra gear against us.
Funny, imo in recent years we have been mediocre against you at OT, rarely playing to the full of their ability, let alone stepping up a gear.
We have a team that looks rather bewildered atm. We'll have no defensive midfielders due to suspension. We have no left back. We're playing a kid at rightback who's nothing more than a prospect. Wilshere is still injured, and Ramsey is still floundering for form. It's all rather depressing.
Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, all signs point to us giving you a bit of a pasting and I'm pretty sure we will but weary of getting lulled into a false of confidence against a team that still has plenty of bite.
Fergie obviously thinks it's gonna be a good one though as he appears to have ended his boycott on the BBC in time for Saturday's MOTD.
That article was a fun ride of a read without really saying very much about Arsenal. Not much questioning of the fancy pasta aerobics 'New System' crap got them exactly zero champs league trophies. I remember they would have little focus bits on MoTD or whatever looking behind the scenes ... "no more post-match drinks at the bar" type stuff and shots of physios rubbing dudes thighs.
The thing is for the fans is that they have had to take it in the nuts many times as some of the most fan favourite "most Arsenal" players have been moved out and the fans were all "yes, yes, we understand, it's for the future".
At the same time there is a West Ham style long list of highly watchable foreigners who were brought in to play the New Arsenal Way and a lot of them pissed off for one reason or another. So now the team has no soul and can't buy a trophy either.
There aren't really many managers you can compare Wenger to, considering how many years he has had. But compared to them, he can't be considered great.
Group A: Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli
Group B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor
Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, Otelul Galati
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund
Group G: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, APOEL
Group H: Barcelona, Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen
Tough welcome for Citeh, whilst Manure get a nice easy pass to the later stages.
Group A: Manchester City, Napoli but it's really up for grabs
Group B: Inter Milan, Lille
Group C: Manchester United, Benfica,
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon,
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia,
Group F: Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund
Group G: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, unless apoel keeps everyone from scoring
Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan
Manure always seems to get a nice easy pass to the later stages.
Group A: Bayern Munich, Villarreal, Manchester City, Napoli - Who knows?
Group B: CSKA Moscow Lille
Group C: Manchester United Benfica
Group D: Real Madrid Ajax
Group E: Chelsea Valencia
Group F: Arsenal Borussia Dortmund
Group G: Porto Shakhtar Donetsk
Group H: Barcelona Milan
Great interview with Pat Nevin. Like all of his views on British football's technique blindspot, and the guy likes to DJ!
Hello, Pat. How are you?
Hello, Small Talk. I'm very well thanks.
So, you've got a show on Radio 5 Live next Tuesday called The Perfect 10. What's it about?
Well the concept originally came when I was watching England get knocked out of the World Cup, and they had to make a change because it wasn't working, and it struck me that they didn't have anyone who was going to make a huge difference. They brought on Joe Cole, who was seen as a great hope and now is more adaptable whereas other countries would have this more central player that they could channel things through, usually a more skilful player. Down the years, players like Pel??, through to Zinedine Zidane, Xavi and Lionel Messi, are being created around the world. Places like Argentina produce them all the time, so do Brazil. Even Germany have got theirs, and there are others. So why on earth, I wondered, don't we create them to the same level? We certainly create guys who are capable of that and have the skills. I wanted to ask various people in the game from various countries why we have stopped doing that and I got a variety of answers.
Who have you spoken to?
Trevor Brooking, Ossie Ardiles ... I'm going to meet Roberto Mart??nez today. I've spoken to a lot of people personally as well, about why we do, why we don't. There seems to be a whole raft of reasons for it. Having played the game myself, it would have been a position I would have seen myself in when I came into the game, but I was quite quickly stuck out on the wing and I'd never really played on the wing before I came to Chelsea.
Do you think it would have been different if you had played in a foreign country?
I certainly would have been tried more in that position. I would have hoped I would have been good enough to do it. But not many teams played with those systems for a period of time, they didn't play in the gaps between those lines a lot and some of us felt there were gaps there. I'd often say to a manager that I'd had an idea I could play there and more often than not the line would be 'Oh, you wanna play in the cheat's position, do ya' ??? you wouldn't have to defend, you'd just attack. Whereas in other cultures, like Argentina, Ardiles said that's not the cheat's position, that's the absolute core of the team, the player who's certainly the most creative. The best player, the one that's going to be able to see everything. Our technique was just to go for power and pace and certainly there was a period during the late 80s, early 90s and even through parts of the Premier League where that's what was produced. Is that because it's what the managers wanted or because it's easier? To produce one of those more cultured players like a David Silva takes 10-15 years. Did we not do that? But the teams who wanted to play like that bought those players. You bought Zola or Cantona.
Should Joe Cole have been that player?
If you ask his coaches when he was younger, they would have argued that he was the most skilful player they'd worked with but at Chelsea he was out on the wing because Jos?? Mourinho played a 4-3-3. Instead of producing these players, it would be, 'Oh he's not doing it every week, stick him out on the wing'.
Does there need to be more understanding to these players?
Well I know I do, but that's only me. But that's the part of the game I like, that I tried to play. My favourites have always been these sort of players. All the teams who are successful on a world level have all got one, whether it be Zidane, whether it be Cruyff. They all had that one thing in common: they were creative, Maradona being the best example of it. He almost won the league on his own for Napoli and was completely pivotal to Argentina in the World Cup. For a lot of countries, it is unacceptable to not have someone in that position. Culturally the UK just didn't seem to agree with that. Barcelona have three playing at the same time! And it's extraordinary. People have been saying that the Premier League is the best in the world, but hang on, England haven't been winning anything. In my time, I felt there was a correlation between that and teams increasing power.
Well, you were rejected by Celtic for being too small ???
Well it was more subtle than that. I think a better example is when I was at Everton at the age of 27 or 28, playing the best football of my career and I was leaving. Four of five years before I was playing at Chelsea and suddenly that kind of player wasn't wanted any more. The teams would power up, Wimbledon would power up, and they would just beat you with set-pieces. You'd play Wimbledon and your manager wouldn't play his best team, he would play his most powerful team and that was counter-productive. Under Martin O'Neill Celtic had a good team, but you looked at the team and there was Varga, Valgaeren, Bald??, Hartson and Sutton. And even Larsson was good in the air. Six guys and their average height was 6ft 2in. You try playing against that. Barcelona have a good way of doing it: don't give them the ball.
It doesn't seem to be a problem for the foreign players though. There's an adaptation to it. They've been allowed to develop to that level. David Silva was stuck out on the wing for Manchester City at the start. Mancini, being a No10, understood he needed to be more pivotal. He's been my favourite player, he's the best technical player. Modric is close, but Silva's the best. I got laughed at for suggesting that in his early days. The sadness is one club has tried to do it properly and they haven't won anything for six years. But Arsenal may have further problems than just that.
It's a case of balance ???
Yeah, there has to be. There's nothing wrong with being a powerful team. Whatever way you play is the 'right way' if you win. I like the beauty of football, the artistry, that's why I was interested in it. I watched Brazil in 1970, and that's how you should play football, that's what you should aim for. But there's more than one way to play and there's a grudging respect for what Stoke do. And a grudging understanding for what Wimbledon did.
Without these players do England have a hope? No.
[Small Talk's heart sinks] We need it.
Even though England are the fourth best team in the world?
[Laughs] Yes! Spain are miles ahead. But I don't think Britain can't produce those players. They are there.
Do you think they're there now? Someone like Jack Wilshere?
Yes, and the England Under-19s have a lot of fantastic players. And Tom Cleverley looks like he could do that. If there's one player who could be world class in that position, it's Wayne Rooney, but he's played at centre forward or on the wing.
Are these players wasted though? Look at Glenn Hoddle or Matt Le Tissier ... Ah, Matt Le Tissier. How many games did he get for England? He was seen as a lazy player. But he was extraordinarily talented. Hoddle maybe more so. I'd argue he was the last great No10 England have produced. Gascoigne could have, but he played more as a midfielder. The other one who could have done it was Peter Beardsley. He was extraordinary, but his name never comes up. I played with Peter at Everton and I would call him a great player. Not good ??? great.
You're a Chelsea fan, aren't you?
I like all my old clubs - Chelsea, Everton ... I have a season ticket at Hibernian for the pure love of their concept of the game.
Did you fall out of love with Celtic?
That was for a different reason. That was all to do with the sectarianism. I have no great dislike or hatred, you don't have that about a club you supported for 35 years, but I found myself sitting beside people who were saying things that I was very uncomfortable with politically and morally.
Will the issue ever be resolved?
I'm speaking in Scottish parliament in two weeks' time about that. I'm very involved in a discussion in Scotland about that. I kind of relate that to when I signed for Chelsea in 1983 and I was the first footballer to speak out about racism. I don't accept it. It's got no place in football.
How was that taken by the fans?
I come from an educational background and I'm a bit of a leftie. I was on anti-apartheid marches and all that sort of stuff, and then I turn up at Chelsea and they're booing their own player, a black player called Paul Canoville. I scored the winning goal that day against Crystal Palace. Afterwards I said 'I'm not talking to the press about football, I'm just disgusted that the fans were booing the player', knowing the headlines that would get. There was a bit of stick from people within the club. They were saying 'It's not your place to do that'. Now that seems strange. But that was the culture at the time.
It's different now here ???
Yes, it's not acceptable here any more, and if I played a small part in that, I'm proud of it. The argument some Chelsea and Rangers fans have against me is that it's not religious bigotry, it's cultural identity, and then it becomes sectarianism, and then it's a semantic argument about what that is and what it isn't.
You were a very different kind of footballer for the 80s and you probably still are. Was that difficult?
No, I was just confident in myself really. I was studying and doing a degree beforehand. I had a big help that other footballers didn't have. If I failed at football, there was other things that I could do. I had that luxury and others didn't.
Were you not subbed once at half-time in a friendly to attend a gig?
[Sheepish] Correct, yes.
What was the gig?
Erm, it was Cocteau Twins, but I was a big music fan, I liked to DJ. But it's not as mad as it sounds, it was the last pre-season game against Brentford and I was just about to sign a new contract. The manager knew I was conscientious. I wasn't being flippant.
NME called you the "first post-punk footballer" ??? I'm not sure what that meant.
Small Talk isn't either. Maybe you're the only post-punk footballer?
It was just a cultural thing at the time because I was such a muso. I just happened to listen to The Fall or Joy Division at the time, but I didn't feel better in any way. It was just a cultural difference. Everyone's got their interests. I felt that made me normal as opposed to making me strange and I still feel that way.
You drank with George Melley, didn't you?
Ha! Melley! There's a funny story behind this. I was asked to go on A Question of Sport and I'm crap at sport, so when I was asked to do the art version of it, that was right up my street. George was one of the team leaders on it. That meant going over to Bristol to do it and spending the night drinking. I'm not a big drinker but an evening out with George Melley ??? The only club membership I had was at Ronnie Scott's because it was a cool place to hang out and he played down there sometimes. And what a guy to spend some time with.
And you were friends with John Peel ???
Yeah. My hero when I grew up really. I was writing for a Chelsea newspaper, writing a music column obviously, and I wrote to John saying that I worked for a small newspaper in west London and could I have an interview? He wrote back saying he was a bit busy, and for the first, last and only time in my life I wrote back saying 'It's just because my team are playing your team Liverpool in a few weeks' which was the subtlest version of 'Do you know who I am' you've ever heard in your life! John wrote back and we met up and we just ended up going to gigs together and became good friends. Great man. He would in no way ever let you down.
Would you ever have been on Twitter?
Oh no, because I hate any kind of celebrity. I hate the word with a passion. I work in the media now and talk about football. I played football because I liked it. I do things in the media that are specifically orientated towards the job and hopefully I have something to say about it. The punditry is not there to say 'I'm great, I'm smart', it's hopefully to enlighten people.
Do you think there are pundits who do that?
Of course there are and some of them are the most successful. It just happens not to be me. It's hopefully educational in some way. There's no point me coming on and saying 'Oh, that hit the post' and everybody can see it. I want to come on and say: 'I played a bit. You might not have noticed this, but keep an eye on this'.
Is the punditry in this country good enough?
There are different levels. I love using technology and I tend to do it on Channel 5 and I get 42 seconds at half-time, while I look at someone like Gary Neville and he's got a huge amount of time after the game. Now I don't do jealousy but if I ever did I'd love to be able to do that. I've never really had the opportunity to do that. I'm grateful to have that job but I'd love to have a wider platform to do that.
What have you made of Neville's start?
Fabulous use of technology. Very good insights. I liked those. There will be a number of people who say he's not hard enough on Manchester United. We'll find out when they have a crap game. I suspect he'll be fine. I quite want to see if he'll say something strong enough to upset Sir Alex. I suspect he will.
What would you put in Room 101?
[Long pause] ... We'll make it a football one. I managed to go through a career playing 800 professional games and didn't dive once. I would put cheats in there and I'd call them diving cheats. I had an idea I pitched to somebody that on Match of the Day they should have Cheat of the Month because that would stop them.
Small Talk assumes that was knocked back.
Er, I haven't heard back from them.
What's your favourite TV show?
I'm not a big television watcher.
You can say Match of the Day if you want.
Not really. I watch it because it's my job. I wouldn't rush home to see it. I'm more of a radio fan. I have to say Danny Baker's show is pure genius. It was the happiest day when I heard he was coming back to 5 Live. I let out a yelp of delight. He's a genius.
What's your favourite album?
Probably Underachievers Please Try Harder by Camera Obscura.
Who would win a fight between a lion and a tiger?
Don't care.
Not at all?
No.
If it meant you could have Cheat of the Month on Match of the Day?
[A little too quickly for someone who doesn't care] Tiger.
Who's your favourite author?
I loved French and Russian literature when I was younger but then I grew out of it and went into a period of Hunter S Thompson. But for the pure love of the English language, it's got to be PG Wodehouse.
A good choice. Small Talk approves. Can you tell us a joke?
A repeatable joke?
Preferably.
Two lions are walking down Oxford Street at 3 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon and one lion says to the other lion 'I thought you said it was busy down here'.
Small Talk might nick that one. Thanks for your time, Pat. Bye! Thanks Small Talk! Bye!
Stevie G could [when he was fit] do the job Nevin speaks about. Scholes too. Bigfat maybe? Not really a flair player is he? Same with Gazza Bazza. Adept with a finish, but I'm not sure he's got total vision as a string-puller. Are we to blame Sven/Fabio for wanting to have the ideas rather than the players?
Dad always rated Bee-Yad-Slee [in Geordie] as the best player of his generation. Poor Peee-ah had the same problem as Tevez, doe - his wife called the shots (she might have been his agent IIRC) and if she fell out with the club - out went the toys.
Die-hard scousers down my old local raved about the time Le Tiss was back defending an unwinnable cause vs Anfield and made fools of all the LFC forwards - winning the ball back, nutmegging some big egos, and clearing the ball. The best bit of skill they'd ever seen, they admitted. The Kop stood up and applauded him.
Wrong time, wrong club, vis-a-vis his England status?
I know you don't wanna hear it from Jonny Foreigner but here's where I bring up the travesty of no Macca even in the squad in 2002, with England going 1 up against Brazil. Someone who knew what to do with the ball at his feet, and also with the ball not at his feet. Surprisingly rare qualities for young men who are paid an absolute fortune.
Gerrard, Scholes, Beckham were not even close to being that type of player.
2001/02: Second Champions' League
Eventually, the Board, including Florentino P??rez relented, declaring that a "man like that would always have a place in my club", while Johan Cruyff described McManaman at the time as the most useful player in the "Galaticos" because he was "everyone's best partner on the pitch."[159] A further honour was also extended on the pitch by the club in the 2001/02 season, where as part of Madrid's Centenary Celebrations, McManaman was made the first Englishman to captain Real Madrid in a game against a FIFA World XI, to the applause of the ultras, with whom he was a cult favourite.[160] Arguably his second greatest moment in the white of Madrid also took place that year, in the 2002 UEFA Champions League semi-final against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on 23 April 2002. In this match of monumental proportions, due to "El Cl??sico" being a massive game in its own right, but also the fact that it was a Champions League Semi-final, McManaman appeared as a second half substitute to score a critical goal in second half injury time to secure a 2-0 first-leg advantage, chipping over goalkeeper Roberto Bonano after being played in by Flavio Conceicao, after Zidane had scored the first goal on 55 minutes. This notable victory, Real's first at the Camp Nou since 1993, helped secure their place in the final of the 2002 Champions League at Hampden Park, Glasgow, where he came on as a replacement for Figo ??? and thereby ensuring his second Champions League winners' medal, after Madrid secured a 2-1 victory over German team Bayer Leverkusen.[161]
2002/03 Final season
McManaman was used as a late substitute for games at the start of the campaign and after scoring a goal and assisting in several of new signing Ronaldo's goals,[162] he was given surprise starts. In one of his starts, he scored a brace against AEK Athens in the Champions' league. McManman also started in a famous game in 2003, where Madrid were beaten 4-3 at Old Trafford in the Champions' League, even as Ronaldo hit a hat-trick.[163] Nonetheless, after only playing 21 games of which he started only 9 times, and making a meagre 15 appearances in La Liga, questions constantly arose throughout the season about McManaman's ability and reasons for staying in Spain considering his diminished role, lack of first team action and international attention. Suggestions that McManaman had "sold out" for money and had grown indifferent and lackadaisical to his football were rampant in the British Press, though the media were also described as suffering from "a selective media amnesia over McManaman's time in Spain."[164]
Nonetheless, McManaman managed to pick up a second La Liga medal for the year, and was in the squad that won the Intercontinental Cup in Japan. These trophies, in addition to the others over his four years at the club, meant McManaman became the most successful English football export to ever play overseas. In addition to honours, according to Forbes magazine in 2001, McManaman was listed as 6th on the list of highest earning footballers in the world,[165] and is believed to have pocketed an estimated 15 million Euros (just under ??10,250,000) in his four years with Madrid.
The signing of fellow Englishman David Beckham proved the last straw in eventually forcing McManaman down the pecking order at Real Madrid. McManaman remained with the club for its pre-season for 2003-04, even after coach Del Bosque was given a shock sacking 24 hours after having won the club's last La liga title,[166] but in the close season, and the arrival of Carlos Queiroz as new coach, McManaman was released by the club after helping Beckham settle in with the language and despite Beckham's pleas to the management for McManaman to remain.[167]
In a tribute to McManaman, four years after he left the club, ex-coach Del Bosque told Spanish newspaper AS Marca, that McManaman and Geremi Njitap were the two most important players in his squad, because "together they kept the whole team united."[168]
But you know, he wasn't "doin it week in week out in the Premiership." Like a "real" England player.
Comments
:liljohn:
But it's true, I was born a subject of the Queen in the outskirts of Norwich and was raised in the Shire Counties. According to your God, I am one of the chosen people and much better than the dirty Scots/Irish/Welsh. But every now and then I was reminded of my Einrick ancestry and threatened with a visit to the ICU, usually in even years that are not divisible by 4. This is why I have opinions on xenophobia in the UK. I thought I was British until other people informed me otherwise.
Please accept my condolences.
When we getting those Alcatrazz freebies?
BAN
b/w
these kids know how to show proper respect to those of Cymraeg heritage...
You missed the part about "According to your God"
Hey don't shoot the messenger!
LOL, but I wasn't born there and have never lived there. So there's that.
hmmmmmm... a welsh god?
john cale?
Yeah but being brought up in Norwich is like growing up in Arkansas or somewhere. Alabama. There's going to be ancient held beliefs still having currency. Plus the whole inbred thing. Plus the fact that the area was under threat of invasion during shhh you know when. Godwins FTW.
Anyways, if you have a grudge still, know that most of East Anglia will be under water in a hundred years.
I bear no grudges. Just trying to point out some of the shortcomings of the nation-state in the 21st century ;)
He compares Wenger to Jenkins/May/Riddle-era Sinatra, discusses the evolution of concept albums, touches on Chet Baker and Miles Davis, moans about the late-career rubbish put on Best Of compilations, berates Squeeze for later career tracks, compares Wenger to Bowie and subtly trashes Mo Tucker's political views (Tea Party if you must know).
A must-read.
Martin O'Neill? Really? A big guy? Pfft.
Plus, Squeeze are shite.
But taken in the round, in total, yes, relatively shite.
O'Neill also jarred, on first reading the piece. Samuels is a fan-boy, no doubt.
*ended up having a quick drink w/ the singer from The Feeling. Rock n fucking roll!
I have to admit, I like Samuels when he goes off on one of those. He did a piece a while ago (about Rooney, I think) where he quoted a Tribe lyric.
30 mil a season plus his club gets 36mil
FERGIE!
etc.
Should be a good one on Sunday with a slightly knackered but somewhat confident Arsenal against Taggart's Tossers or whatever this new generation is called.
I ride. they are the poor man's Blockheads but they're cool for cats.
Kenilworth? Leam?
i just really want modric...cmon Arry let it go
We have a team that looks rather bewildered atm. We'll have no defensive midfielders due to suspension. We have no left back. We're playing a kid at rightback who's nothing more than a prospect. Wilshere is still injured, and Ramsey is still floundering for form. It's all rather depressing.
Fergie obviously thinks it's gonna be a good one though as he appears to have ended his boycott on the BBC in time for Saturday's MOTD.
The thing is for the fans is that they have had to take it in the nuts many times as some of the most fan favourite "most Arsenal" players have been moved out and the fans were all "yes, yes, we understand, it's for the future".
At the same time there is a West Ham style long list of highly watchable foreigners who were brought in to play the New Arsenal Way and a lot of them pissed off for one reason or another. So now the team has no soul and can't buy a trophy either.
There aren't really many managers you can compare Wenger to, considering how many years he has had. But compared to them, he can't be considered great.
Leam!
Group B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor
Group C: Manchester United, Benfica, Basel, Otelul Galati
Group D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb
Group E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk
Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund
Group G: Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, APOEL
Group H: Barcelona, Milan, BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen
Tough welcome for Citeh, whilst Manure get a nice easy pass to the later stages.
Group B: CSKA Moscow Lille
Group C: Manchester United Benfica
Group D: Real Madrid Ajax
Group E: Chelsea Valencia
Group F: Arsenal Borussia Dortmund
Group G: Porto Shakhtar Donetsk
Group H: Barcelona Milan
Why do Lyon ALWAYS draw Real at some point???
Stevie G could [when he was fit] do the job Nevin speaks about. Scholes too. Bigfat maybe? Not really a flair player is he? Same with Gazza Bazza. Adept with a finish, but I'm not sure he's got total vision as a string-puller. Are we to blame Sven/Fabio for wanting to have the ideas rather than the players?
Dad always rated Bee-Yad-Slee [in Geordie] as the best player of his generation. Poor Peee-ah had the same problem as Tevez, doe - his wife called the shots (she might have been his agent IIRC) and if she fell out with the club - out went the toys.
Die-hard scousers down my old local raved about the time Le Tiss was back defending an unwinnable cause vs Anfield and made fools of all the LFC forwards - winning the ball back, nutmegging some big egos, and clearing the ball. The best bit of skill they'd ever seen, they admitted. The Kop stood up and applauded him.
Wrong time, wrong club, vis-a-vis his England status?
Gerrard, Scholes, Beckham were not even close to being that type of player.
But you know, he wasn't "doin it week in week out in the Premiership." Like a "real" England player.