posted Jan 19, 2007

"not that it's possible to be racist about nerds from Sweden??"

Eh?? Bit of a dead giveaway isn't it?!

Bit depressing coming from a representative of the BBC.

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posted Jan 19, 2007

This is a great article, and I have to say I agree with just about every point made.

I support FC United of Manchester, and if anyone wants to know how the game can be given back to the people, perhaps the people that want to could do something about it themselves and maybe support their local non-league or lower league teams a bit more often.

Or maybe even consider forming their own teams.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Man United, and I still love watching them on tv. But I'll not contribute any more money to those that simply don't need it (millionaire owners and players).

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posted Jan 19, 2007

How can you blame the incoming cash bonus for the various problems plaguing English or British football? It reduces the domestic financial liabilities and provides a more equal foothold for all the teams of the premiership.And money is bound to trickle down the lower leagues,no matter what people might think.
The quoted sum is £ 20 million for the bottom club.If paid before the end of the season,the bottom clubs have a great way to buy out of relegation trouble.Put simply, it can be said that a club which spends £ 2 million in a transfer window can't compete with the big boys spending £ 20 million, but a club spending £ 22 million (i.e. £ 2+20 million) can compete easily with £ 50 million, with a couple of smart buys.
On the other hand if the payment is season-end then the relegated club has enough money to keep paying its current players without the need to sell its best players.Also it can strengthen up the team for a quick return.Since 3 teams from the championship move up we have 6 teams with the £ 20 million bonus over a period of 2 years.Now it is possible that a few possible established but highly profligate premiership teams might make the move down( Aston Villa, Boro and the like kind), so the possibility opens up that over a longer time scale( 5 years or more) we can expect at least half of the current championship will have had a share of the cash pot.
Regarding the trickling down of the money the case is quite clear.Even the mediocre English talents sell for the £ 10 million mark but then they sell.Hargreaves might go for £ 20 m but he is an international at a big club but what about Ashley Young.Since,it can be safely assumed that Watford will be pursuing its immediate future in the Championship, what is this if not a trickle down!Curtis Davies, Matthew Upson, David Nugent,Gareth Bale (they are British if not English) and so many others are all available for Premiership as long as the interested clubs pay an over-the-top price.
The premiership still buys a lot from the lower divisions and that too at a more than a reasonable price.Thus every league raids a lower( financially lower!) league club for its requirements.This chain goes a long way down and the problem with you people is that you look only at the first chain link.
The talent problem is not because of foreign talent, although people prefer to blame it on external things than put their own house in order!France,Germany,Italy,Spain get just as much foreign players but they prefer to put together a proper youth system rather than play the blame game.The championship is good enough as a stage for the academy level players and if they can't make it there , then calling them talented would be a mistake.Clubs are not paying enough attention to their academies and it is evident when you try to count the number of academy players who make it to the team sheet.Buying English is certainly no excuse for not having a proper academy setup.
If the ticket prices go up, blame it on the demand.If the fans still fill up the stadium after an increase in ticket prices then it is considered a good business move.The right price is which helps you make the maximum profit and a football club doesn't run on charity or does it?
And last but not the least,learn to appreciate this cash stockpile, English football is about to get.After all any league in the world would gladly take it ,if only they could have it.

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posted Jan 19, 2007

Whoever has commented that the article is racist is an absolute moron.

Idiots like this are exactly why this country is ridiculously PC. I wasnt racist it was just arguing for more english players

IT SUPPORTS GRASS ROOTS FOOTBALL AND EVENTUALLY A BETTER NATIONAL SIDE

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posted Jan 19, 2007

go watch oldham at boundary park. Some of the best football in the country is played there and it dosent cost a lot due to them being in league 1

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posted Jan 19, 2007

The suggestion was that the article was implicitly racist, and the language could easily be misinterpreted where foreigners (and money) were being aportioned a large slice of blame for the current state of English football. Racism is a word often taken out of context and I agree most of the governmental PC notions and phrases are no better than racial slurs themselves.

I am not sure though that having more English players in the Premier League helps grass roots football any? Are you saying that there are now less English people at grass roots level because of the foreign influx? It has only been the last ten years or so this astronomical increase is foreign players, so where was all this Elite English talent between '66 and '96?

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posted Jan 20, 2007

Blah Blah bloomin blah. Xenophobe they shout. I'd prefer to agree with Matt Slater and not because of race just the fact that the vast majority of foreigners in the English game are rubbish. The trend started in the early 90's and continued apace to ridiculous scale today. I should know Charlton are packed full of awful foreign talent whom could be replaced by better players from the championship and lower. Passion appears to be a lossed commandment. It used to be prevalent and at the end of the season you used to see many players with even more endeavour as they were playing for a contract. Now players like Jeffers are so rich, little effort appears at any time in their contract and another team is around the corner willing to throw money at him. Players such as Andy Hessentahler never get a look in in the prem now, whereas twenty years ago they'd have had a couple of seasons at Luton or Coventry to prove their worth. And if anyone says he wasn't good enough then why has dross like Faye had a 100 odd games in the prem? Hessentahler had skill and passion and was easily good enough in the mid 90's, a far better player all round to Faye. There are many more like him.

I'm no critic of Arsenal's youth/cherry picking setup and it get's results. Hoyte, Fabregas, Eboue and Tore are wonderful examples of skill and commitment. My disgust is at the huge ammount of rubbish - some English - which swill around the game where twenty years ago a similar player to Jeffers a lad called Moran had a mertiorious drop down the game after poor performances and mis-spent energy.

It is clearly not racist to make a factual statement that most foreigners in the prem are third rate. I'd happily watch Charlton with 5-6 South Koreans, for their commitment and energy in the game. But people like Curbs' and Dowie wanted big strong atheletes who can't play football. When you look at the team assembled at Celta Vigo in the late 90's with their star buy at £900,000 Karpin, tearing it up in Europe it makes you wonder how Curbishley, Gregory, Francis et al spend so much money on rubbish. I'd rather have coaches like Fernandez and Hiddink who can mould teams with enticing wages but low transfer payments. It only seems Allardyce does that here.

Touching on Spain higlights the main issue of the lack of competition in the prem. Now we know that Barcelona and Real Madrid generally win but how many different teams have competed at the top recently? Real Sociedad, Deportivo La Coruna, Villareal and Sevilla are a few I can think of in recent years. The essence of any sport is the emergence of new rivals, the re-birth of fading greats and unpredicted challenge. When has that happened in the last ten years. Ipswich? It is not down to finance but managers. When Robson was top of the league what did he say? It's too soon, we're not ready this year, we'll challenge next year. Rubbish. Would Clough ever had said this? No you take the chances given to you and force everything you can. I suppose in the end Errikson was the perfect choice for England. A manager with profiligate spending who bankrupted two clubs. With very little silverware and in the main many seasons with no title challenge. Sounds like an EPL manager to me. Are England good enough no, but it doesn't help that every England manager since Hoddle want to play three central midfielders with no pace in a midfield four. I'd doubt if Hiddink would do that.

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posted Jan 20, 2007

I would like to point out that Theo Walcott, Justin Hoyte, Kerrea Gilbert are english players that are all breaking into the arsenal 1st XI. Moreover, we have a very large contigent of england under-21s. This criticism of Arsenal's system is so poorly disguised, it's clearly from those who don't like the club, and the idea of a french manager, because it's not based on fact. Would you rather we did a chelsea and bought all the english players to warm our bench and make a fortune?

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posted Jan 20, 2007

The Premier League had the oppourtunity to even the contest by giving bottom teams the most money out of the new tv deal to compete with the best but have wasted it. Premiership football is a joke.

Wonder how long will 16 out of the 20 teams will join the SPL or form a new league and invite Celtic & Rangers?

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posted Jan 21, 2007

Matt Slater was mention many things but players origins seems to be the main focus that has been picked up. Fair enough the Premier is a decent league with clubs having their share of cloggers, brits or not.

Although most managers seem to dislike the transfer window I think it is having a major impact on young brits getting a chance. Eventhough they got mauled in the cup Newcastle are an example of this. Ramage, Huntington and Taylor have been put in the firing line much more than expected. Times were that Newcastle would have brought someone in but transfers have to be right now as you don't have the option of off loading like before. Milner is leading the attacking for the club despite the fact he was heading for the door in the summer.

Boro had the same situation last season and had to blood a massive amount of youngsters. Now some are forcing overseas players out of the club. This has to good for the national team.

However youth development is not as poor as the media make out in this country. Talk of the Gunners youth set-up ignores that fact that they produce very good players such as Sidwell, Harper and Bentley, all of whom are playing well this season. The lack of Brits in the team stems from Wenger 'buying' his youth at 16 when they are top class and ready to go into the team. They use the young Brits as a means to bring in small tranfers, not squad players.

Look at every team and there is a young brit emerging.

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