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Listed below are comments made by red_fab_fred between Wednesday, 17th December 2008 and Sunday, 17th May 2009.

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Man Utd are worthy champions 1:27pm on 17 May 2009 At 12:58pm on 17 May 2009, rob_LFC_fairbairn wrote:
i love when journalists ignore everything before a competition changed its name in order to add drama.

"become the first team to defend the champions league" certainly does sound more dramatic than "do what liverpool did in 77 and 78"

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I think you are being a little harsh on Phil here, because although the trophy is the same the competition is very different. The fact that there are up to 4 teams from certain leagues involved now in the competition just demonstrates how different it is, even from the early champions leagues from the late 90's.

I'm sure many more teams would have retained the champions league if there had been only one team per country involved in the competiton.
Bitter recriminations at the Bridge 09:02am on 07 May 2009 Wow some Adrenalin is o0bviously still flowing this morning i see, as a Man Utd fan this is how i see it.

First point for me is to get some perspective about the final whistle scenes from certain Chelsea players. Yes they were in the wrong, yes they lacked class and yes it was a bad advert for english football but if you compare last night to the scenes involving Valencia and Inter Milan players 2 years ago then there is no comparison of class. So all this talk of banning the club is just nonsense!

My second point is that the referee is not to blame here because like goalkeepers their mistakes are highlighted more than out field players. He had a very bad game, but you know that can happen in football it is part of what makes it the best game in the world. Technology has removed the element of Human error from top sports like Rugby (both codes), Tennis and Cricket, however at the same time those sports have lost those controversial moments are synonymous with high drama such as incorrect line calls, tries that were not grounded or LBW's that were missing leg stump.

It is unfortunate that Chelsea were on the wrong end of so many incorrect and poor decisions from the refereee last night. But the ref must have been doing something right this year to have been given this match, so calls of foul play must be misplaced but then again in England we have a bad reputation for the way we (fans and media) treat refs from abroad, and this kind of reaction doesn't help.

Finally, i think its time that Drogba explained to the world how the slightest touch can send hin down to the floor so frequently but yet three or more grown men could not stop him from approaching the referee. He is one of the strongest men in world football, a fact that doesn't escape the attention of managers, players, officials, media and fans, everything good about his game suggests that the slightest of touches will be hard to put him off balance (same goes for Ronaldo) but yet he still thinks he is fooling the world by going down.
Liverpool have 'the Big Mo' 12:37pm on 23 Mar 2009 The problem for about 'Liverpools wonder week' has been that they have been abled to approach and play these games with pressure. The fact that they had almost written themselves out the title race took a lot of pressure off them. Even the Man Utd result against Fulham didn't put too much pressure on Liverpool. However, this is now where the pressure begins because they are genuine contenders again instead of sn outside chance. At the points in the season where Liverpool have been considered as genuine contendrs they have struggled under the pressure.

I have no doubt that Liverpool will beat the likes of Man Utd, Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal, Barcelona but for me i think question marks still hang over their ability to beat mid table teams.

Also Phil i wouldn't say that Man Utd have played well all season and i think that when the pressure is on with 5 games to go then we will see better performances from them.
Scolari fails to step out of Jose's shadow 10:16pm on 09 Feb 2009 Where are the mods?

I said at the time sacking Grant was hasty and it has proved to be true.

Despite no real track record grant did what 'the special one couldn't do and that was beat Liverpool oer two legs in the champs league.

The person i believe is to blame (a have said it on many threads on 606) for a long time now is Arnesen. He was supposed to be the main man in finding the new Messi, Ronaldo. Aguero etc.

As far as i was aware his role at tottenham was not only find 14 -16 year olds but also find 18-20 year olds who were ready to be involved with the first team squad. So far what has he produced on that front he has done nothing!
McAllister out - what next for Leeds? 11:08pm on 22 Dec 2008 I think Kevin Keegan & Alan Shearer would be a great appointment.

It sounds crazy i know but i honestly think they could do a job at Leeds and take them back to the top tier of english football. Shearer needs to coach a a lower level before he even thinks about taking teh Newcastle job. Also Keegan (when in the mood) will provide Leeds with that much needed enthusiasm the club needs to go forward.

*** Then when Ashley sells Newcastle, Bates can bring Wise in as executive director of football***
(above statement purely a joke)

Also i don't agree with any bloggers critising the impact of Bates on your club. One particular poster is very inaccurate in stating that Chelsea were in a mess when he sold up. They were £80m in debt when he sold them and the deal made him £17m from a £1 purchase made in 1982. So i wouldn't neccessarily think that was bad business was it!

Leeds should just be grateful that the fall from grace was not as bad as it could of been. Many experts and pundits believe that if it were not for the historical name Leeds has within the english game they would have been expelled from the league.

I feel Leeds may go through a few more managers but will end up in the rightful place of the Premier League.
(Man Utd Fan)
Experiencing boutique football at QPR 12:23pm on 22 Dec 2008 10.
Jerod Mayo, nice honesty mate admitting that you follow Chelsea despite your family being Rangers fans. However, i fear you are not alone in your defection to a more glamourous Premiership option.

In regards to ticket pricing here is a link to an interesting article in on the Mail website

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1057573/As-credit-crunch-deepens-QPR-bring-50-Championship-ticket.html

This would suggest that the League itself is not happy about the price increases. However the final paragraph is significant in my opinion, because it states that the money made from the increases is to be ploughed into the club. It says 'club' and not 'team' so make of that what you will, but it suggests that the extra revenue will help the future of QPR.

I think that consideration has to be given to the location of QPR as a club in London. West London is considered the most expensive part of the capital and if you were to look at the average house prices around all 24 clubs in the Championship then i'm sure QPR would come out top. Some times we forget that football clubs are not community funded projects but businesses that need to be self sustainable. The costs of running Loftus Road will be higher than most (if not all) other Championship clubs. Also according to government stats the earnings of people from that area are significantly higher.

QPR's poor financial history has been well documented in the past and maybe this has been caused because tickets were vastly under priced, under the previous ownership. I just see don't see it as a suprise that QPR should be the most expensive ticket in the Championship. Location is everything in my opinion, and so long that Briatore is not using the extra cash to refurnish the board room then i don't see the major problem.
Experiencing boutique football at QPR 9:58pm on 21 Dec 2008 From the outside looking in i would throw this theory into the mix about the average age of your fans.

It wasn't that long ago that QPR were the biggest team in West London (yes Chelsea fans even bigger than you!). Then came the early Chelsea revolution with Ken Bates followed by the major impact of Abramovich. Between these two stages of revolution at Chelsea, there was the Fulham revival under the guidance of Al Fayed. During this time QPR were overshadowed by the glamour and style of the Marketing campaigns, that both Chelsea and Fulham undertook.

Then came what i thought to be the killer blow to QPR which was the ground share with Fulham. I suppose at the time the board couldn't image the impact it would have, but allowing a team that are more prestigious than yourselves (at that moment in time), with a great history, to share your ground, you open up yourselves to lose support.

I used to get free tickets to go watch Fulham play when they played at Loftus Road. The one thing that stuck out the most to me was that there was not too much advertising or signage around the place that would have pointed to a ground share situation, it looked more like Fulham's ground. In fact, the only thing that gave any indication that QPR played there was the blue and white colours scattered around the place. I think the only successful ground share agreement in football has been that of Milan and Inter.

Now what i have noticed in the past 5 years in the west london and surrey areas is the youth involvement schemes run by Fulham and Chelsea. Now i'm sure we all remember as children we all wanted the latest and shiniest toys. This is what Fulham and Chelsea currently represent to the youth in QPR's catchment area.

However, with Fulham now gone and ultimately cutting back in their previous extravagant activities, QPR have the opportunity to claw back some ground. It seems that they now have a manager who can guide the team to the top tier similar to Tigana at Fulham.

Until QPR start to take back 'their Manor' (for want of a better phrase), from Chelsea and Fulham, they can forget about this new branding enterprise. Everything seems to be in place for this to happen its just a case of whether they can push on.

I would be interested to know just how many young fans, that go to Chelsea and Fulham matches and wear the club colours, have older family members that are QPR supporters.
Mourinho will relish Man Utd test 11:36pm on 19 Dec 2008 I'm sorry if it has been said already but i have to state that Man Utd v Inter is the tie of the round. The current holders of the trophy against the reigning champions of Italy who have a manager that has a great history in the english game.

Liverpool v Madrid is historically a good game but Liverpool whilst being Champion league experts, have never won the premier league. Also Real Madrid have done very little in europe over the past few seasons to justify a top billing as serious contenders.

Forest have won more European cups than Chelsea and Arsenal!

I also think Uefa should introduce trophies so that if/when the champions of leagues play each other they are play for a little extra recognition.
Mourinho will relish Man Utd test 5:12pm on 19 Dec 2008 As a Man utd fan i hate to say it but i think only one English club will progress this time.

In a suprising twist i also would have fancied both Chelsea and Arsenal to beat Barca at this stage of the competition if they had drawn them.

The recent successes of English clubs i think will play against them this year, because all the teams are well known to everyone both tactically and their personnel.

Unless Keane can have an impact at Liverpool or Berbatov can improve at United then both these teams are pretty similar to ;last year. Chelsea although playing a more attacking game have become more vunerable in th process, to the extent where a result at home in the first leg is no longer a foregone conclusion.

Arsenal for me are the team that have the best chance because their game of ball retention really has worked in Europe over the last few years. The youngsters have pulled off some classic performances against experience opposition and i don't see why that would change now.
Ince demise highlights flawed thinking 1:45pm on 17 Dec 2008 A problem i can identify from the majority of responses on the blog, is which is the best path for a recently retired player to seek a career in management?

There are 2 options it seems, either start off in the lower leagues or join the coaching staff at a Premiership club.

However from my point of view there is only one option and that is to join the coaching staff at a top club. With the current gulf between the Premiership and League football what can anyone learn about life at top level football, coaching in a team that has no comparisons to top flight football.

For me it would be like comparing being the Manager of McDonalds to being the manager of The Ivy. These 2 jobs are the same in title but in application completely different - i'm 100% certain the responsibility & accountabliity of the McDonald's manager is less than 5% of that of a Top London Restaurants manager. However, it is not beyond a McDonald's manager to become the IVY manager it will just take a long and tedious path of promotions.

Also you have to look at for example someone like Steve Clarke. Here is a guy who had a good playing career but outside of Stamford Bridge not many people would remember much about his playing career. However, he has gone on to become one of the top coaches in the premiership. Many pundits believe that he was the chief string puller at chelsea and is now the tactical stalwart at West Ham. So why is it then, that whenever a top flight job in the premiership comes up, we never see him anywhere near the bookies favourites?

Am i the only one who thinks if Steve Clarke had applied for the Blackburn job (in the summer) he would not have even got an interview? So despite my views that a better apprenticeship would be served at a top prem club on the coaching staff, it seems that this path is also blocked unless you are 'big name' like Tony Adams.

Whilst the money reigme in the Prem still exists it will be harder and harder for any player to enter the premiership management circle unless, they use their current status instantly like Southgate did.

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