2010-2011 Football Thread

[Lord Blackadder]

Ignorant Generalisations – be they football-based or on other matters – are a staple part of our national press. Pay them no heed, and give Henry a boo from me when he visits Ohio.

Indeed. Can't wait to give him the raspberry in person.

That's what I heard too.

I've heard that as well. It's a way of keeping the rivalry in the stadium and out of the economy.

 

[Fuzzy14]

I'd heard it's because there's a concern that supporters of Team A would boycott the goods/services of Team B's sponsor, and vice versa – so as to avoid scaring potential sponsors off they go for joint deals.

That would seem reasonable. There have been several joint sponsors of the Old Firm; CR Smith, CableTel/NTL and Carling, but for a long time Rangers were solely sponsored by McEwans lager (I believe Celtic were offered Harp lager from the same brewer but declined.) I don't know any of Celtic fan who drinks McEwans lager. Actually come to think of it, I don't know anybody who drinks McEwans lager!

For the away shirt, it's nice to see that Arsenal are paying tribute to Bradford City with their second choice polyester rag...

View attachment 238873

That to me looks like a baseball shirt!

Since I'm in the mood, here's a quick quiz. Why were Rangers sponsored by Center Parcs when playing certain games in the Champions league? (answer below in white, highlight to read)
Alcohol sponsorship in sports is banned in France so for any French away games, i.e. Lyon they displayed the name of another Scottish & Newcastle brand. In this case I believe there is a Center Parcs camp in France.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I don't know any of Celtic fan who drinks McEwans lager. Actually come to think of it, I don't know anybody who drinks McEwans lager!

Despite supporting the 'pool, you won't catch his Lordship drinking their longtime sponsor beer Carlsberg. I've had it a few times and don't find it any better than standard crap American macro-lagers like Buttwiper - er, Budweiser (though for some reason I can tolerate Stella Artois, but only when it's ice cold).

Nice quiz Q...changing sponsors for Europe does look better than playing wearing shirts with the sponsor logo taped over - though it would be even nicer if teams just played with sponsor-less shirts in those cases.

 

[Fuzzy14]

Indeed, shirt sponsorship has done little to influence my choice of beer (or double glazing or cable TV supplier). I hate McEwans, Carling and Tennant's makes me sick (I am currently sipping a Carlsberg Export 5% - is that available in the US? Can't touch the normal 4% stuff)

Well the bad news is my little assignment to Middlesbrough looks likely to go on until October but the good news is it looks like 1/2 of the Rangers team is joining me! Gordon Strachen seems to be raiding the SPL for players much like Blackpool last season (and look where it got them)

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Indeed, shirt sponsorship has done little to influence my choice of beer (or double glazing or cable TV supplier). I hate McEwans, Carling and Tennant's makes me sick (I am currently sipping a Carlsberg Export 5% - is that available in the US? Can't touch the normal 4% stuff)

The most common Carlsberg product I've seen in the US is Elephant Beer, which, at 7.2%, is on the strong side but not at all bad for an occasional drink. The regular 'ol lager is often found in English/Irish-themed pubs, not sure if it's the 4% or 5%.

Well the bad news is my little assignment to Middlesbrough looks likely to go on until October but the good news is it looks like 1/2 of the Rangers team is joining me! Gordon Strachen seems to be raiding the SPL for players much like Blackpool last season (and look where it got them)

If enough Rangers players make the move, we can funally answer the question of how well the Old Firm would do iin England. Meanwhile, I'm set to continue till the beginning of October myself in Alaska, a place that is pretty unlikely to ever host a professional football team in the foreseeable future.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Meanwhile, I'm set to continue till the beginning of October myself in Alaska, a place that is pretty unlikely to ever host a professional football team in the foreseeable future.

You may think that now, but clearly it's a prime area for a new MLS Franchise. Make it happen, your Lordship – the Anchorage Adders could raid the SPL for the few players Strachan hasn't signed yet.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

It would have to be played in a heated bubble on a plastic pitch. Or underground....

 

[Jaffa Cake]

That's the advantage of going for Scottish-based players – they'll be grateful for the move to warmer climes.

 

[takao]

Forget shirts, France's most famous cheat has just officially made the move to the Red Bulls.

Stupid name for a club, but they have lots of money and a very nice stadium.

I know it was the worst-kept secret in the league, but it's another big player going to the MLS. Not as martketable as Becks, but a better player and one without any other playing commitments. I can't wait to see Columbus thrash them.

In far less fun news, Torres is confirmed to have a torn muscle. I'm beginnning to think he's officially injury-prone. I just hope that Hodgson and the new physios can manage him better than the previous staff did.

The only problem i have with red bull is that they didn't bring Henry to their Austrian Red Bull club .. guess too little of a market (though Salzburgs new signings looked good in the first CL qualifier )
but all in all Red Bull Salzburg had a rather good talent at scouting good-value players to fill up the squad after the star/well known player signings

and it's gonna be interesting when the cooperation between the 4 Red bull squads will pay off ... wether that means US young players being sent to Salzburg to catch CL/Euroleague expierences or some of the younger Austrian players who have a hard time catching first team place to play in the MLS

I don't think torres is quite so injury prone it's more his "finding back to form after injury" which is his problem, similiar to Klose

If you're not playing in the Premier League you're a nobody. If you used to play in the Premier League but don't any more, you're a washed up nobody whose best days are behind you.

in the last 10 years the english arrogance has grown to staggering levels.. only equalled by the PL's collosal pay-checks for mediocracy

can anybody believe that John Terry is still actually one of the best paid defenders of the world ...while Wolfsburg just snatched Arne Friedrich from Hertha for a 2 million euro transfer check ? hilarious

edit: meanwhile loyalty never is underrated especially if combined with humility:
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=808824&sec=europe&cc=5739

"Therefore I am not even thinking about a transfer. It cannot be taken for granted that you will always be allowed to play for Bayern. For a start, you have to keep this level up for years. If someone said to me that I would play for Bayern for the next ten years I would say: 'I will sign immediately'."

"Everyone is glad when their boss wants to give you a wage increase, but what I like most is that such a statement makes me feel highly regarded after my first season," Muller said. "That is an honour.''

 

[Queso]

in the last 10 years the english arrogance has grown to staggering levels.. only equalled by the PL's collosal pay-checks for mediocracy

Blame Murdoch. He's made a fortune out of promoting the Premier League as "The Best League In The World!!" and thanks to the money the FA and leading English clubs have made they've bought into the charade. I hate the Premiership, and wish it would just disconnect from England and go play its games in China, Dubai or wherever else would have it.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

in the last 10 years the english arrogance has grown to staggering levels..

I'd disagree with that – we've always set the standard for footballing arrogance, it's nothing new.

From our resignation from FIFA in the 1920s and our initial refusal to play in early World and European Cups (meaningless competitions because we were the world's best anyway, and playing inferior teams to prove it was beneath us) up to today's breathless endorsement of 'The Greatest League in the World™', if World Cups were awarded on the smugness of our FA and media we'd have run out of room for stars on our crest years ago.

Blame Murdoch. He's made a fortune out of promoting the Premier League as "The Best League In The World!!" and thanks to the money the FA and leading English clubs have made they've bought into the charade. I hate the Premiership, and wish it would just disconnect from England and go play its games in China, Dubai or wherever else would have it.

Hull City supporters are fortunate to have a bit of a rare experience in the past ten years, having experienced life through all four divisions, from the very bottom of the lowest tier up to taking on the big boys of the Premier League. Having experienced it, I'm with you totally – the Premier League is not all it's cracked up to be in the slightest. Quite the opposite, it's quite a grubby little product geared up to line the pockets of the bigger clubs and to pander to worldwide TV audiences. The fact that we have clubs driving themselves to the point of bankruptcy just to try and compete in it speaks volumes.

Every so often talk crops up of the bigger clubs peeling off to form some sort of European Super League – let them have their dream, and let the rest of us get on with playing the game.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I suppose it's naive to hope, but perhaps some of the fallout from England's World Cup campaign will lead to changes in the England camp, the FA, the Premier League and the national attitude?

and it's gonna be interesting when the cooperation between the 4 Red bull squads will pay off ... wether that means US young players being sent to Salzburg to catch CL/Euroleague expierences or some of the younger Austrian players who have a hard time catching first team place to play in the MLS

I would love to see movement between clubs like that. I think MLS is a bit too "foreign" for some clubs (different schedule, no promotion/relegation, playoff system), but the standard of play is pretty good and getting better. There's plenty of opportunity to loan players between clubs and in the case of Red Bull it should be even easier.

 

[MackPro91]

So Martin Jol to Fulham, what does everybody make of that? Personally I think Jol is a great manager, though I'm not sure if Fulham is the right club for him for a number of reasons. Also I question why he has given up Champions League football with Ajax?

I've just finished watching England vs Austria in the Euro U19's. The Young Lions won 3-2, couple of goals from Frank Nouble of West Ham (previously of Chelsea) and a goal from Tom Cruise of Arsenal. Couple of good prospects at this level for England, most notably Delfouneso (Villa) and Matt James (Man Utd). David Alaba looked really good for Austria but he has experience of playing for Bayern Munich's first team and also a few caps for his national team at senior level.

 

[Don't panic]

The only problem i have with red bull is that they didn't bring Henry to their Austrian Red Bull club .. guess too little of a market (though Salzburgs new signings looked good in the first CL qualifier )
but all in all Red Bull Salzburg had a rather good talent at scouting good-value players to fill up the squad after the star/well known player signings

and it's gonna be interesting when the cooperation between the 4 Red bull squads will pay off ... wether that means US young players being sent to Salzburg to catch CL/Euroleague expierences or some of the younger Austrian players who have a hard time catching first team place to play in the MLS

honestly, i don't think Henry would be interested in playing in Salzburg.

it would be interesting to see the synergy (where are the other two RB teams?), but i am not sure that the new york team could be seen as a sort of 'farm team' for the austrian one, where to send their second tier players.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Thierry Henry made it down to sunny Columbus to watch his new team get spanked 2-0 by my boys. He didn't play, but said

“I’m coming to watch the game, feel the vibe and be with my teammates,” said Henry, who signed a multi-year contract Wednesday. “I’ve never been to Columbus. I’ve been to Cleveland, but I heard [Columbus] is not far away.”

Well well, a celebrity who not only heard of Cleveland, but managed to refrain from mocking my hometown! I think I must now completely forgive him for the Hand of Gaul.

He plays Spurs on Thursday in NY...

 

[Jaffa Cake]

He plays Spurs on Thursday in NY...

I'm sure the former Arsenal player will get a very warm reception from the Spurs faithful.

Meanwhile, I read over the weekend that Henry would like to return to Arsenal once his playing days are over.

They could certainly do with a goalkeeping coach...

 

[awmazz]

Meanwhile, I read over the weekend that Henry would like to return to Arsenal once his playing days are over.

They could certainly do with a goalkeeping coach...

And Suarez' agent says he wants to play for Man Utd. Would Ferguson even consider a player who did what he did, no matter how good he is otherwise?

It's good to see club loyalty in a high-profile player rather than just to themselves and their wallets. I can't see Adebayor or Anelka ever having that attitude.

 

[awmazz]

(moved this post from the WC thread. makes more sense to put it here).

Columbus are my "local" team, being about 2.5 hours away from my ancestral Blackadder manor. The USA national squad is my top team to support, followed by Columbus. Liverpool is the team I follow in Europe. So I am a bit of football polygamist.

The team I've decided to support doesn't actually exist yet. It does on paper, but not on the pitch yet. The Sydney Rovers' first season will be 2011-12. So the local derby will be with Sydney FC. Sydney was just too big and spread out for one team, so slicing it down the middle west vs east (Rovers vs FC) is more logistically sensible. Aussie Rules will be doing the same thing too I think.

I've never supported a 'franchise' before, which is why I never really got into the following the competition here before this. See how it goes. I'm still in two minds about guaranteeing any sort of loyalty to a business rather than a club. As far as I've always considered it, a team belongs to whoever owns it so have always believed the supporters should own it. I guess realistically it's just too expensive and difficult to set up any new competitive team now without a business consortium to finance and control it.

At least Rovers have started out the right way I think by doing their research and adopting a plain traditional badge and name instead of the more fancy commercial franchise-type logos of all the other teams (ie, 'Brisbane Roar' or 'Perth Glory').

Interesting about which English teams people in other countries support. Arsenal's the club I've always followed since they were the first team I ever saw on colour TV here in the '79 FA Cup Final (I decided to go for the yellow team who were losing, but then Sunderlaaaaaaaand!!! got me hooked permanently, followed by ten years of nothing until *that* season finale to beat all finales to end Liverpool's reign forever). But once they started coming good in the late 90s I *had* to choose a second team to remind me of the old days when they were mostly crap with the odd flash of success so one year I just picked the club that narrowly missed out on relegation from the 4th division - Lincoln City. They couldn't get any worse if they stayed up. So if the Imps finish mid-table, it's a good season. If they make a play-off and lose, it's a briliant season. Ah, mediocrity. True club football.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Any significance to the stars? Obviously they don't denote any titles or cups, so are they just a Manchester Cityesque 'design feature'?

Meanwhile, Jur Curl (as he's called here in Hull) has agreed a move to Anfield, pending a medical.

 

[awmazz]

These stars are said to represent the north, west, and south of Sydney.

I suppose it should more accurately be north-west and south-west for the straight west vs east geographical split. It's a bit of design free-licencing though because the compass placements are actually west, north and east.

Edit: I found an image of their home and away kit. Looks like they can retain the same basic shirt colours for both because it's different enough from any other team's already.

 

[Don't panic]

Any significance to the stars? Obviously they don't denote any titles or cups, so are they just a Manchester Cityesque 'design feature'?

it wouldn't have anything to do with karl Rove and his iraqi obsessions, would it?

 

[awmazz]

I don't think they did any roving beyond the St Kilda aussie rules club in Melbourne for their design, right down to the black shorts with red and white flashes on them. It's not bad kit in action I reckon.

The new Melbourne Hearts club has done the exact reverse by taking the red & white colours of the Sydney aussie rules team. I guess in both cases because there'll be no local identification with an exisiting team in each city.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Are those the final, approved designs then awmazz? Because it seems bizarre that the home and away shirts are so close to one another in terms of colour, irrespective of whether or not there's a clash with other teams...

 

[woolyback]

Joe Cole signs for Liverpool....nice

So we've basically swapped Benayoun and £6m for Cole (sort of, not really), I'd take that.

Maybe I was a little harsh on Roy - let's just hope it was Benitez and not coming to LFC that destroys forwards.....

 

[oscillatewildly]

The Southampton kits are lovely, but not quite up to 'shirt of the season' for me. I'll wager oscillatewildly approves of the big red sash, mind.

Yes, and I'm trying to use it to divert me from this, poor VdS: