Football

[SS4]

There is a lot of United + Fergie hatred everywhere, a by-product of success. I just get used to it, and when I get accused of being a gloryfan put the facts out there. Also congrats on your Owls gaining promotion, nice to see them go back up.

BBC news: Paul Scholes has agreed to play on next season. How long can we keep him going?!

AKA Fergie's pathetic attempt to steal back headlines off of Manchester City :roll:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
FWIW I dislike Alex Ferguson because he comes across as arrogant, pompous and self-righteous - like Manchester United as a whole, arguably to the point of monopolising the term United

 

[hairyhandedfool]

I notice a certain Manchester based manager is now calling for all final day games to FINISH at the same time.:roll:

 

[richw]

I notice a certain Manchester based manager is now calling for all final day games to FINISH at the same time.:roll:

A complete impossibility as can't predict what stoppages are going to occur in each game

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[Minilad]

Happy Bunny

 

[richw]

Happy Bunny

Who would you like next? Chris hughton

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[Minilad]

Martinez please

 

[richw]

Martinez please

I was quite hoping my team Would get rid of our manager and he'd come to my team, installs excellent belief and spirit in his team, in March 6 points a drift at bottom, with 9 games to go, finishes 8 points clear of relegation

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[andrew bell]

Few things I heard on 5Live this evening, the banner that Tevez held up was thrown up by a fan while they were in Albert Square and he just danced with it, if it was Vincent Kompany who held it up would we be having this same discussion, I think not. Also the very quiet whispers Pat Murphy (BBC 5Live West Midlands football corrospondent) is hearing about the vacant Aston Villa job is Brendan Rodgers will be approached

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Martinez please

Do you think that Wigan Athletic would easily let him go, after his motivation when it really mattered kept Wigan Athletic in the Premiership for at least another season.....and the financial value alone that will bring to the club.

Burnley let Owen Coyle depart for Bolton Wanderers and they suddenly seemed to be a much poorer-looking team. Owen Coyle admittedly has seen Bolton Wanderers relegated and next season, he will find himself back in the Championship where he would have been with Burnley.

It is all a question of a manager being able to motivate his players in sequences of critical matches that can see the matter of league safety or relegation. This is why I draw a comparison between Roberto Martinez and Owen Coyle as an example of good motivational skills...at the critical times of a season.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

A complete impossibility as can't predict what stoppages are going to occur in each game.

It's just because Man City won the title after Utd had finished playing. It's not so much him having wanted more time, but rather that City had less.

 

[Darandio]

Do you think that Wigan Athletic would easily let him go, after his motivation when it really mattered kept Wigan Athletic in the Premiership for at least another season.....and the financial value alone that will bring to the club.

Dave Whelan (Wigan chairman) has always said that he would never stand in his way. He was actually prepared to let him leave last season if that was what Martinez wanted.

 

[YorkshireBear]

I agree paul, compare martinez's player motivation to that of steve kean's....

 

[SS4]

Surely if there's one thing we've learned from Manchester City winning the title is that everyone is available for the right price

 

[Ivo]

As part of this "all matches should finish at the same time" malarkey, I take a United fan would infiltrate the enemy's ground (be it the Etihad, Anfield, Stamford Bridge, wherever) and "accidentally" fire some kind of weapon at an enemy player, causing a long stoppage that would seriously hinder the other team's chance of victory? The whole idea is just dumb. The current method of synchronising the start of Second Half is fine.

Surely if there's one thing we've learned from Manchester City winning the title is that everyone is available for the right price

I would go further and suggest that football and its players have "sold their souls to the Devil" - but it's way too late for that.

 

[SS4]

As part of this "all matches should finish at the same time" malarkey, I take a United fan would infiltrate the enemy's ground (be it the Etihad, Anfield, Stamford Bridge, wherever) and "accidentally" fire some kind of weapon at an enemy player, causing a long stoppage that would seriously hinder the other team's chance of victory? The whole idea is just dumb. The current method of synchronising the start of Second Half is fine.

I wonder what would happen if it was Manchester United who happened to be losing 1-0 [at home] and had to finish after 85 minutes because, say, there was an unusually large amount of injury time in the first half? Ferguson's hypocrisy would no doubt soon kick in.

Not a fan of how Manchester City won the title but I do like to see Manchester United get taken down a peg or two. Since I've quoted Ivo it's only fair to mention Everton's spectacular 4-4 draw

 

[Ivo]

Since I've quoted Ivo it's only fair to mention Everton's spectacular 4-4 draw

Why thank you Ashley

 

[Oswyntail]

....Not a fan of how Manchester City won the title

They won the title by (apparently) playing good football consistently. To take such a disparate bunch of even top grade players and get them to play well as a team is quite some achievement. As for the money aspect, where do you draw the line? Is it any more "fair" for a team such as (eg) Aston Villa to be able to buy sufficient players to stay in the premiership at the expense of (eg) Bolton who couldn't? Or, if you object to wallet power, how can you ask for the Villa owner to release more funds for purchases in the summer?Or should there be a cap on the size of personal fortune an owner can have? Personally, I agree that there should be more emphasis (in all sports) on participant development, but if you have a free market transfer system there will always be those who can outbid others.

but I do like to see Manchester United get taken down a peg or two....

And that is worth every penny City spent. Seeing Ferguson offering them congratulations through gritted teeth, or having that moment when the Sunderland crowd went wild and the United players suddenly went quiet - Priceless

 

[ACE1888]

To finish off the current season ('tis been a good 'un ) I won the monthly first to 11 goals competition in work and won £32, the team being Everton
Took my youngest two to MacDonalds and had a party on my winnings!

 

[SS4]

They won the title by (apparently) playing good football consistently. To take such a disparate bunch of even top grade players and get them to play well as a team is quite some achievement. As for the money aspect, where do you draw the line? Is it any more "fair" for a team such as (eg) Aston Villa to be able to buy sufficient players to stay in the premiership at the expense of (eg) Bolton who couldn't? Or, if you object to wallet power, how can you ask for the Villa owner to release more funds for purchases in the summer?Or should there be a cap on the size of personal fortune an owner can have? Personally, I agree that there should be more emphasis (in all sports) on participant development, but if you have a free market transfer system there will always be those who can outbid others.

If you can't beat them...

Really a worldwide transfer/wage cap will be the only real way to ensure it becomes fairer as long as it's not too high as to be practically invisible (eg 500k a week would be too high to make a difference). The FFP rules are retarded since they're easily circumvented and cash from the Champions League will essentially make it a closed shop

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Dave Whelan (Wigan chairman) has always said that he would never stand in his way. He was actually prepared to let him leave last season if that was what Martinez wanted.

I note what you say, but the end of this season has a different twist to the previous season at Wigan Athletic. Dave Whelan is a shrewd businessman and is aware of the financial value of being a Premiership club. There is the other matter connecting Roberto Martinez to Wigan Athletic which is his playing days there as one of the "Three Amigos" quite some time ago.

This is why I used Owen Coyle with his time at both Burnley and at Bolton Wanderers as a comparison with Roberto Martinez, in terms of whose motivational skills were the better of these two managers.

Undoubtedly, Roberto Martinez, with another season of football management *under his belt" in terms of managerial experience, will most certainly be the target of many clubs seeking " a new hand on the rudder", so to speak. However, whilst this will will be to the benefit of another club, how do you feel the club and supporters of Wigan Athletic will view matters? All I can say is that if your own club were in such a situation, where an escape from relegation against against all the odds (noting the type and calibre of teams that faced Wigan Athletic in their last nine league matches) was achieved, after your euphoria had subsided, how would you personally view the possible loss of your manager, if he was the same calibre as Roberto Martinez is ?

We all know that matters have to...and actually do...move onwards. All I want to show how the matter will be viewed by the expressed feelings of supporters of the club actually losing such a manager.

 

[Ivo]

What do we think of these then?

20 Season Award Winners

Regarding the Most Memorable Quote: Love it

 

[EM2]

No way is Rooney's goal the best in the last 20 seasons.

 

[SS4]

What do we think of these then?

20 Season Award Winners

Regarding the Most Memorable Quote: Love it

AKA The Manchester United Circlejerk*


* Potentially NFSW (especially as it's urbandictionary) but I'm using definitions 2 and 3, not 1

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What do we think of these then?

20 Season Award Winners

All it refers to is "panel of experts", without saying who these "experts" are.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

The 'Panel of Experts' don't seem to be identified anywhere, but are noted in the Daily Mail as 'leading football pundits, journalists and commentators'.

The panel chose the awards for Best Manager, Best Player, Best Quote, Best Team and Best Season. The public voted for Best Goal, Best Match, Best Save and Best Goal Celebration. The panel and the public voted on their 'Fantasy Eleven'.

The public votes were from a select list of six choices (except the Fantasy Eleven), which presumably were shortlisted by a panel, though not necessarily the same panel. the Fantasy Eleven choices varied only by two choices, the public picking Vidic and Gerrard whilst the panel chose Rio Ferdinand and Roy Keane.

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/features/20-seasons-awards-winners.html

 

[Oswyntail]

More gracious comments coming out of Old Trafford. Evra - the voice of reason as ever - saying he would congratulate true winners, but Manchester City only won the title because United dropped points (Presumably like every other team in the league). And "Bobby" Charlton, the perennial gent, saying he doesn't see why he should congratulate City, nothing to do with him.
Has there ever been any organisation so overflowing with nasty, mean-spirited types you would not want to have a chat with? They deserve Ferguson!

 

[jon0844]

Damn, so that's the reason we (Spurs) didn't win - it was because the teams above dared to get MORE points than us. That's exactly the sort of dirty trick a team like Arsenal would pull to knock us down a place.

 

[CC 72100]

But the simple fact is that we did drop points - Evra in this case is right. From 8 points ahead of city we gave it away and dropped silly points (such as Wigan and Everton). You would expect a team from this position to with 5/6 games left to carry on and coast home winning the league. However, I must commend city for their determination and refusal to give up, allowing them to take advantage of us dropping points (especially against Everton, although I do rate them as a team and Moyes is a fantastic manager)

Also, I'll admit that Evra has a bit of a habit of making bullish and sometimes controversial remarks, but in this case he is right.

 

[Robinson]

But the simple fact is that we did drop points - Evra in this case is right. From 8 points ahead of city we gave it away and dropped silly points (such as Wigan and Everton). You would expect a team from this position to with 5/6 games left to carry on and coast home winning the league. However, I must commend city for their determination and refusal to give up, allowing them to take advantage of us dropping points (especially against Everton, although I do rate them as a team and Moyes is a fantastic manager)

Also, I'll admit that Evra has a bit of a habit of making bullish and sometimes controversial remarks, but in this case he is right.

Or, you could look at it the other way - Manchester City from a commanding position blew silly points against Swansea (away), West Brom (away), Sunderland (both matches) and Arsenal (away) to gift Manchester United that 8-point gap in the first place. Either way, it's a silly comment to make, and the bottom line is, City won the title, you didn't

 

[Badger]

I can't believe best match wasn't Wolves vs Blackburn, 2011. I know that might be because it's my team, but jesus, that was the best match I've ever watched (er, listened to) - one goal decided who went down of any five teams and it went right down to the last few minutes.

The whole thing seems too focused on the top :/