Morning all. 2 days to go until the Euros begin. I must admit I'm getting rather excited now. I remember in the lead up to the World Cup 2 years ago I was beside myself with excitement. The Euros have crept up on me but now I can't wait until Saturday afternoon at half past 4 and the prospect of seeing the Czechs beating Switzerland 2-1.
It appears that England's win over Trinidad may be struck from the record books after England made 7 changes. The FA thinks that FIFA ratified the extra change (or at least Jack Warner did) on this one occasion but apparently that's not the case. It seems a tad petty to be honest.
Elsewhere, one of the candidates in the Barcelona presidential election is using Cristiano Ronaldo as a promise should he get elected.
Mark Hughes has been given between £40 - £50m to fire Man City into the top 6 next season. His arrival could yet persuade Richard Dunne to stay.
Paul Ince is the latest name in the frame for Blackburn whilst they try and fend off Aston Villa's interest in Brad Friedel.
Aston Villa, Everton and Portsmouth are interested in Steven Taylor.
Toulouse have dropped their £21million asking price for Bolton target Johann Elmander.
Sunderland are likely to let another 7 or so players leave to free up some more cash for Roy Keane.
West Brom are prepared to pay £4million for Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson.
Burnley want to sign Hearts winger Andrew Driver and Celtic forward Derek Riordon.
Celtic will monitor Martin Stranzl of Austria at Euro 2008.
Dundee United want Sunderland's Roy O'Donovan and Palace's Scott Flinders on loan.
Leeds have joined QPR and Stoke in the race for Kevin Phillips.
One of the only part time players in League Football Dave Rainford of Dagenham & Redbridge has joined Conference South new boys Chelmsford City as he looks to concentrate on his teaching career.
Porto have been thrown out of next season's Champions League after being found guilty of match fixing.
Fulham have signed Darlington keeper David Stockdale.
Danny Blanchett has snubbed the idea of a move from Peterborough to Weymouth.
Bayern Munich have signed Hans Jorg Butt on a free from Benfica. Butt has scored 26 penalties in his career.
How can there be so much fucking football stuff going on when no one's playing?
Jeez.
but there is something going on
clearly
Oh Theo
A major competition starts in 2 days.
OFFICE CRICKET '08
Do I go to ROTA on Saturday or watch the football?
I'm frustrated by the lack of decent Chelsea news
shit i thought it started tomorrow
Ashton has signed
a contract at last.
I am far too excited about Euro 2008
I think I might actually burst.
I have a feeling Sparky has made a BIG mistake going to City
please let us
(leeds) get Kevin Phillips. He'd shit on League One.
It's a 6pm kick off, isn't it?
which means I get no chance of watching either of the opening fixtures thanks to the girlfriend's flatmate's 21st birthday patry :(
5 and quarter to 8
I might get to watch the first half then
still :(
It's alabout the 1939 rematch the next day.
Nods
Absolutely. That group is fantastic. Germany, Poland and Austria. The Greater German Reich group. If only the Czechs had been in Group A as well.
I'd have taken the Russians
for a group of literal death.
:)
It will be good to watch
the Euros without all the England hype for a change.
^ This
Exactly what I'm looking forward to
Yup
couldn't agree more. I do wonder how ITV are going to fill their half time slots though without Ned Boulting's reports from the hub of the England camp.
champions league previews
Gah
you're probably right.
Townsend and McCoist
will be at the touchline table and will play the national version of Monopoly for whatever teams are playing.
This would be brilliant
It'd certainly
be better than their coverage of the actual tournament.
Robbie Earle
lurks in the background clutching connect 4 and looking hopeful
You just know
Peter Drury will leap upon any Union Jacks/crosses of St George he sees in the crowd.
Probably literally.
'Who will you support?'
'Romania because it will be funny'
Why do you have to support anyone, why not just watch the football and hope for some good games
There are some teams I'm more interested in
I quite like the Czech Republic and I have a (probably misplaced) "feeling" about Russia. But yeah, ultimately I'd prefer to see some good, exciting football over and particular team winning
^this
This whole "you've got to support someone" idea pisses me off. Why must we all succumb to facile nationalism just because wing mirror flag manufacturers are making a loss? Neutrality is the best way to watch a game because a) there's not the loss of composure associated with watching your team live on telly and b) it allows you to appreciate/laugh at stuff and utilise gut reactions.
and just saying
'oh I'll support Spain' literally means nothing.
But Torres
is 'elastic'. That's good enough for me.
Because a lot of people won't watch
because England aren't playing but the Beeb need people to watch to justify putting it on.
I'm more excited than if England were invloved - no hype, no hope, no disappointment, no idiots packing out pubs, just hopefully some great weather and good football. I think this will be a great tournament
^
Can't be arsed with England hype this year.
I'm getting pretty excited about the Euro's, too.
I'm fully intending to watch every minute of every game. I'm actually glad England aren't there, if anything it adds to the tournament in a way, certainly makes it more fun to watch when you're completely unbiased, if that makes sense.
Elsewhere, the Jo & Ronaldinho deals appear to be done. We're not even paying the majority of the latters wages, which is nice. Word is that Hughes first target will be Ryan Nelsen, which i'm pretty underwhelmed about, tbh.
^Are you being serious about Ronaldinho?
Yes.
Nike will be paying £80k of his £150k wage, apparently.
That's amazing, they must make so much money out of him.
Are you even excited, I'm not sure he can be bothered with football anymore. Or maybe it's the new challenge he needs.
I'm not that excited really, no.
I just don't see where he'd fit in. Initially, yeah, it'll be interesting to see what happens, but i can hardly imagine him being up for a kicking at Stoke on a wet Monday night. He could surprise us all, of course, it might suit him being the big fish in a little pond again. I just can't imagine Hughes playing him, Elano, Petrov, Jo, Ireland & Johnson. He tends to go with two real central midfielders, wingers & forwards. Perhaps he'll play upfront with Jo, i'm not sure.
With Elano playing a bit deeper?
I think they'll have to rotate the two.
Bentley..Gelson..Johnson..Petrov
.......Jo..Elano/Ronaldinho.....
Looks pretty good actually!
I don't understand Spanish presidency hustings
Isn't running with a public statement of "vote me into office and I will buy the club him, him and him" a form of tapping up?
You'd think so wouldn't you?
But remember when the entire Joan Laporta campaign was based on him signing Beckham at whatever the price? He won, Beckham went to Real, Barca got Ronaldinho and played the best football in Europe for 3 years.
It always amazes me when players go to Real over Barca.
There's something detestable about Real Madrid.
I agree
It probably stems from Real being Franco's club.
^This
I did a course on the Spanish Civil War at uni. We saw a video of the Real vs Barca game from 2 days after Franco died and Barca win 2-1. It makes your eyes well up how much it means to those fans.
I've never been that keen
on either side to be honest. That probably stems from the sheer size of both clubs marketing machines more than anything else though.
True.
but i think Barca are the lesser of the two evils. Ladislav Kubala's probably my favourite player of all time. Absolute genius. I actually enjoy the run-ups to the presidential elections, although both clubs probably use underhand tactics to buy players it's certainly interesting.
Danny Blanchett?
When did he get a professional contract?!
About 18 months ago
Peterborough signed him from Cambridge City. There was an interview with him in the Peterborough v Hereford programme - the game I went to see. He's a tidy left back now rather than the headless chicken who played for us.
Shocking news
I could probably name about a thousand players better than him that I've seen in the Ryman League.
Go for it
:)
1-60 in no particular order
Darren Bonfield
Tim Allpress
Gary Dixon
Adam Parker
Jeran Meah
Clifford Akurang
Kingsley Banks
John Pollard
Ali Reeve
Gareth Howells
Andy Walker
Ryan Gray
Danny Hodges
Danny Bolt
Nko Ekokou
Victor Renner
Delroy Preddie
Dave Stephenson
Simon Harland
Fitz Hall
Corey Campbell
Ryan Moran
Steve Blaney
Paul Borg
Lee Akers
Matt Elverson
Matt Fowler
Danny Tanner
Scott Tarr
Mark Lisk
Dominic Naylor
Tim Sills
Lee Chudy
Les Cleevely
Craig Dundas
Veli Hakki
Joe Nartey
Dominic Gentle
Justin Gentle
Francis Duku
Jimmy Jackson
Che Stadhart
Lee Spiller
Ashley Harrison
Adam Miller
Steve Ward
Neil Gregory
Steve Parmenter
Jeff Brazier
Steve Clark
Lee Endersby
Darren Brodrick
Carl Bartley
Martin Kuhl
Mickey Desborough
Danny Hazelden
Jon O'Sullivan
Mark Xavier
Ben Chenery
Mark Stimson
Steve Tilson
Can't really pull
you up on anything so far. PM me the other 940.
Except maybe Jeff Brazier
he loses points for poking Jade Goody.
Still a better player
than Danny Blanchett was though.
Joe Nartey?
The Gerry Anderson puppet?
:D
WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE LEARN
I rather think
this is a family malfunction.
Well... just us two really
I can't see Dad or Steve ever trying to do this. Maybe "200 Ryman League grounds I've been to" or something.
you missed Bobby Bowrie anyway
*Bowry sorry
That'll be because
I've never seen him play in the Ryman League.
He's not looked brilliant
In the few times he's played for posh he's looked way out of his depth, but there is something there. There's a least 2, probably 3 left backs ahead of him, but I would loan him out for next year rather than get rid permanently.
In other posh news Mark Tyler and Adam Newton are apparently off to Wycombe, who've got to be in with a good shout for the league two title next year.
italy v france 2000 highlights
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/euro_2008/7429332.stm
what a great game. how old is henry in this?
*consults EURO 2008 guide at his side*
Henry would have been 22, just coming up 23.
he was fucking good in this game
what a game too!
An amazing game
Henry was so fast wasn't he? I really miss him at Arsenal :(
Can't wait for the Euros to get underway
I'm off to Geneva at some ungodly hour tomorrow morning. May try to get a stupidly expensive ticket off a tout for Portugal Turkey on Saturday night.
This whole "you don't have to support anyone" thing.
I agree to a certain extent but in my case I'm supporting Italy because I have Italian heritage and have watched Italian football most of my life.
I wouldn't support a team for the sake of it though, just enjoy the football.
Also, anyone that isn't watching the tournament just because England aren't playing can go to hell.
i'm supporting holland cos i want to
it doenst really matter tho. its only football.
I'm not saying it's wrong to support a team for no real reason..
..just that you don't really have to.
does this support
go any further than 'yeah I hope Holland win' and then feeling a second of disapointment when they don't but moving on and not caring about it very swiftly? Well does it?
No it includes dressing up in orange
and drinking Oranjeboom
People can not watch whatever they want
for whatever reasons they want
I'll be supporting Croatia.
Simply because i saw more heart & skill in ninety minutes against England than i've seen from 'us' in ten years. They're a genuinely top side, and i like Bilic a lot. The only other side we have players in is Switzerland, so i'll keep an extra eye on them, and i like the Czechs, but i'm not really bothered who wins it. I just hope the most expansive team gets the trophy and that it's a clean and fair tournement, but my experience is that most are a let-down, normally officiated badly and sometimes won by teams that don't deserve it.
It's a shame Eduardo is injured
He's a massive loss to Croatia, I think they could have got to the final with him in the team. Still, I'm expecting them to do very well. How long before Bilic is a manager in the Prem then? He seems to be constantly linked, even if it is because of lazy journalism.
friedel
good lord i hope he doesn't go. i'm starting to worry than within two weeks blackburn will have fallen apart completely. we'll be stuck with no manager, no bentley, friedel and possibly roque. nelsen to city as well could be a real possibility...
Who's he being linked with?
Friedel won't go anywhere
He's basically said he wants to end his career here, and he's turned down better opportunities. He'll stay.
And Nelsen just said yesterday, or the day before, that regardless of Hughes going he was really happy at the club and loves playing there. I can't see that he'd leave at all.
And I really don't think they should listen to any offers at all as far as Roque is concerned. The max that could be expected would be, say, £15m, something like. Even with £15m it would be bloody difficult to find another 20-goals-a-season striker.
I don't think £15m's very realistic.
We'll give you four and Sun Jihai.
I said that would be the absolute max
And even with the absolute max, it'd be extremely difficult to get a replacement likely to do as well.
Dean Ashton
will never get an England cap.
Call-up 1: SWP breaks his ankle in England training - out for 10 months
Call-up 2: Injures himself at Aston Villa. Out for 2 months
Call-up 3: Plays 45 minutes - cap revoked by FIFA
I can't wait to see what the cosmos has in store for him next.
It all seems a bit silly.
I mean, really, why did England need to make seven subs instead of six?
Did they?
I thought it was only T&T who did.
No
Warnock was the 7th sub. Poxy Blackburn cunt.
Haha, out of every player playing in any club, league, country
Friedel is about the least likely to go anywhere ever.
Is there some kind of competition for stupidest rumour?
why?
lots of players leave after a manager departs
cos he'd LAUGH at the chance of european football right?
working with a highly respected manager, yeah?
playing in front of 30-35k people each week?
with a probably pay rise?
yeah, you're right.
who's he being linked with?
Spuds?
Villa
I just don't think that's Friedel at all
"I am delighted to have extended the agreement. It was not a difficult decision to make. Blackburn Rovers is home to me. This is my club and I have a special affinity with it."
I don't think Friedel would leave at any time for any reason.
he probably won't leave
but it'll be interesting what he thinks about it with a new manager and a few of the better players gone.
He's had a different manager
He was at the club well before Hughes and with completely different, and comparitavely far worse, players.
harder going the other way though
ie good-->shit
to be fair.
he is 37, and he's said that he'd like to end his career back home. I'm sure people would've thought Brian McBride would be at Fulham next year too.
Although
he could spend a couple of years at a "bigger" club, and would still probably be able to do a couple more in MLS after that, even at his age.
Well, I'm confident that he'll still be here for 09
And certainly not at another premier league club.
And he said he wants to end his career HERE
...not in the US.
It's all about the bunse, sweetie.
I have no idea what the hell that means....
I suspect nothing.
Money
Well I disagree, for him anyhow
and this will go nowhere, so whatev.
he'll go
wave some money in front of him and he'll forget his loyalties. He is a Yank after all.
Enter this
http://drownedinsound.com/articles/3423118
This story is totally, totally bizzare
Concerning implications, potentially.
http://kumb.com/story.php?id=123324
He's a cunt.
He's working for us as a 'transfer consultant' aswell.
Sorry
Who's 'us' there?
I know he's a cunt. He's been trying to fuck us over since his takeover bid failed. Now there are pretty worrying signs that Gudmundsson might be wanting to sell pretty soon and this knob-sock's in prime position to make a bid for a club he's already shown he gives significantly less than two shits about.
He's working for City, as a transfer consultant.
Last year the owner used Jerome Anderson. He conducted all of Svens deals, think we paid him about £7m commision, the bastard. I think Joorabchian's company part-owns Jo, and we're also using him in negotiations for Ronaldinho. I don't know how he's got into such a position, although it all pisses me off i can see how someone like Pini Zahavi might've built up a mass of contacts over the years, but this idiot just seems like some guy with a lot of money who's earning a lot more money for no apparent reason. His firm, MSI, is actually funded by Roman Abramocivh, i think, which is why it didn't make sense to me that Mascherano & Tevez went to Liverpool & United.
It's needlessly complicated,
but as I thought he was going to be our chairman for a long time, I have read a lot about him. The Russian bloke who part-owns MSI (can't remember name) is apparently mortal enemies with Abramovich. There were rumours about Abramovich funding MSI, but from what I read, they weren't true. Kia Joorabchian is basically a complete chancer. If he does ever take over a club, he will completely destroy them. Like he did Corinthians. I'm really really unhappy we're having anything to do with him. Especially after the way he's acted since the end of last season.
wtf?!
site's blocked
rough synopsis/cut n paste?
West Ham have settled
out of court with Kia Joorabchian and have hired him as a transfer consultant.
oh dear
I don't think there's too much
to worry about and am glad it got settled out of court
I suppose so
but did you hear what his evidence was? It was basically him saying he'd had conversations with Scott Duxbury that Duxbury said he could prove never happened as he was elsewhere. It's good news for the Sheffield United court case, but thinking in the long-term, I'm worried about him being this close to West Ham.
he's a very shady character
but hopefully BG is a bit wiser after the Tevez stuff. Kia and Zavahni (sp?) have good contacts though.
And why has Kaka not has his baby yet?
It's late, and I'm getting concerned.
It's only 11am
so no that late.
It's late in Wellington
I'm more concerned about
why he's been playing football while pregnant.
I'm rather excited about Euro 2008
and yes, it'll be refreshing not to have all the constant hype about England from the press but I'd be far more excited if England were in it. Saying that, if we were in it, we'd still have Steve Mclaren as manager.
OH NO
http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=724190
i wouldn't be too worried
i'd be confident adebayor will never quite be the player he could be. his attitude's wrong and he makes so many mistakes.
sell him for 40 million euros. sign villa for a few less. voila. you're better off!
I just read something similar on the Telegraph website.
I doubt there's any truth to it to be honest. Ade has consistently come out and declared his desire to stay at Arsenal, for what it's worth.
has anyone mentioned
Ronaldo saying he wants to leave yet?
Surprisingly not
I also love this.
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/06/05/SOCCER_Euro_2008_Shearer.html
"Alan Shearer believes Cristiano Ronaldo could become as revered as football legend Pele.
But he warns that fans should not expect too much from the Manchester United winger"
LOL
ah you've got to love Alan.
Samuel Eto'o headbutts journo
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/feedarticle/7564944
When the English press refused to play ball with the national team the players just refused to take part in kind. Clearly they do things differently in Africa.
Ouh Stranzl, excellent
They won't sign him on the back of this tournament, that's for sure.
I'm also excited, can't wait to see Andreas Ivanschitz be the only player to come out of this tournament smelling like roses.
I'm worried for a few teams who had an ace qualifying, like Romania, as I can see them not even turning up for this.
Plus, Cannavaro is injured, get in.
anyone who put their money on spain winning euro 2008 just made a mistake.
the reason being that spain, in all its talented glory, are ALWAYS due for a choke-job. they're probably worse than england in this aspects. Unlike england, who have decent players and win nothing, spain having some fucking brilliant players (fabregas, torres, villa, siena, sergio ramos, etc) and manage to win bugger all. Anytime a major tournament comes around that spain are in you always have the certain few who say that spain will finally break the schnide and win something. but, in typical fashion, such event never happens.
^ absolutely this.
I cant believe so many people are writing off France, been there and done it SO MANY times. I don't see anyone other then them or Italy winning it, but as pretty much everyone's saying, Croatia are massive dark horses.
I think you
can add Germany to that list. Hard to look beyond them, Italy and France.