Re: The Football Thread - 10/11

[doremi]

ManU are screwed if they play the same midfield as last season.

[G.Wood]

Connor Wickam

1. Who would call their kid Connor
2. He must be a bit special if they are talking 10M quid for a 17yr old

[Bradman]

Is he black?

Connor means 'dark warrior'.

[Bradman]

Connor Wickam

1. Who would call their kid Connor
2. He must be a bit special if they are talking 10M quid for a 17yr old

Breaking news. The kiddies done his ankle and will miss the first six weeks at least.

[G.Wood]

Is he black?

Connor means 'dark warrior'.

he's a pasty pimply faced prat


much like how I imagine PeterCS

[WideWally]

Remember Tony Greig's good friend - Connor Tist?

Ended up in prison, I think.

.

[G.Wood]

I don't know why, but I laughed.

I think I've spen too much time in Cedar Grove

[WideWally]

I think I've spen too much time in Cedar Grove

You must know Rita the Rooter?

.

[G.Wood]

why do you think I was there?

[taipan]

Looks like the 25 player cap and 8 home grown players is going to hurt some clubs more than others.

Citeh look particularly at risk.

[taipan]

http://blogs.bettor.com/Football-Update-English-Premier-League-wakes-with-the-anxiety-of-new-25-man-squad-regulation-a19630
Football Update: English Premier League wakes with the anxiety of new 25-man squad regulation

With the announcement of new regulation, English Premier League has been struck by anxiety. EPL clubs, who clearly are dependent on foreign players, are wary that this rule could weaken their squad. The Premier League's new 25-man squad rule will be applicable from this start of this season. It will come into effect from September 1, 2010. Each of the 20 EPL clubs will have to name their 25-player squad, who will be eligible to play matches before the January transfer window.

According to this ruling, the squad will comprise of three goalkeepers, eight defenders, nine midfielders and five strikers. However, there are certain clauses of this rule which turned out to be a headache for Premiership managers. For instance, one such clause states, “Clubs will be able to supplement their squads with unlimited additional players under the age of 21 on January 1st in the year in which the season commences.”

This means that there is no need to include anyone born after January 1, 1989 in the list. With this clause, managers could play 35-40-player squad this season, mainly consisting of U-21s. Let’s take example of Manchester United. United has plethora of talent which is under-21. It includes likes of Chris Smalling, Ben Amos, Rafael, Fabio da Silva, Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley, Corry Evans and Joshua King. All of these players will be available to Sir Alex Ferguson in addition to his first choice 25. Now, take a look at probable 25-man squad, which Ferguson will select for the upcoming season.

It will include Edwin van der Sar, Tomasz Kuszczak, Gary Neville, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Nemanja Vidic, John O'Shea, Jonny Evans, Ritchie de Laet, Owen Hargreaves, Anderson, Ryan Giggs, Park Ji-Sung, Michael Carrick, Nani, Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher, Antonio Valencia, Darron Gibson, Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez, Mame Biram Diouf. The only limitation for Ferguson is that he will need to make space in the squad before signing any new player.

However, there is another clause which is also very significant for Premiership. It states, “Clubs must include eight home-grown players out of a squad of 25.” According to this ruling, “A home-grown player means one who, irrespective of his nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months prior to his 21st birthday.”

Even this clause will hardly affect the prevalent combination of most clubs. For Manchester United, following players, who are not even England-born, pass this clause. Players such as Giggs, Fletcher, Evans and O'Shea all are considered home-grown according to this rule. Same is the case with Arsenal, who has plenty of non-English but home grown players. Their list includes Cesc Fabregas, Nicklas Bendtner, Johan Djourou, Gael Clichy and Vito Mannone.

On the other hand, there are two clubs which will be directly affected by this ruling. Chelsea and Liverpool may find themselves in dilemma after the introduction of this regulation. In Chelsea's team, the home-grown group includes John Terry, Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Ross Turnbull, Michael Mancienne and Scott Sinclair. They have made further space with the timely release of Ballack and Belletti. Now Chelsea has 17 foreign players in 25-man squad. If Chelsea is planning to buy any new foreign players, then they will have to release likes of Deco Nemanja Matic, who failed to establish themselves at Stamford Bridge.

The only loser at this stage is Manchester City. If City plans to bring any new players, then they will cut 8-9 players from their squad. The most eminent choices will be David Gonzalez, Kelvin Etuhu, Javier Garrido and Felipe Caicedo. This list may also include Robinho and Craig Bellamy. Apparently, it seems that over-hyped new ruling won’t affect the clubs in a way it was expected before.

[G.Wood]

Does Macedonia have a monkey god?

LINK

[Jontyh]

Interesting article here about why these global investors are looking to acquire PL clubs even if, in some cases, they're saddled with years of debt.

[JKLever]

Looks like Portsmouth have been saved. Not sure they should've been though - HMRC seems to dig their claws into every other aspect of British life so I don't see why football gets away with it.

[beamer]

And until they start shutting down clubs for good, there's no incentive not to run them in this way. Buy an FA Cup and run in Europe with money you don't have, then write off your debts (including at the taxpayer's expense) and start again just one division lower...

[JKLever]

Aye, they need to shut a club down. They are definitely more aggressive against football these days though - may make clubs think twice in future.

I also see the numpties in the Guardian have Ipswich as one of the favourites to go down. Muppets.

Don't they know we made a superstar signing in Marton Fulop from Sunderland today? Rumours persist we're close to getting Chopra too.

[Chivalry Augustus]

Ipswich beat title favourites Middlesbrough 3-1. Maybe Roy Keane spending £2708374728 million will finally work out for them? Meanwhile, Forest start with a loss at Burnley. I watched the game on the internet and Burnley barely passed a ball all match. Forest were attractive but entirely ineffective. Never looked like scoring. Not that bothered but a little concerned about the lack of quality in midfield. There's a little bit of rumourage suggesting that that problem may be addressed this week . . .

[Guest]

Ipswich beat title favourites Middlesbrough 3-1. Maybe Roy Keane spending £2708374728 million will finally work out for them? Meanwhile, Forest start with a loss at Burnley. I watched the game on the internet and Burnley barely passed a ball all match. Forest were attractive but entirely ineffective. Never looked like scoring. Not that bothered but a little concerned about the lack of quality in midfield. There's a little bit of rumourage suggesting that that problem may be addressed this week . . .

So our shocking away form from last season continues into this one then... Great.

[JKLever]

Ipswich beat title favourites Middlesbrough 3-1. Maybe Roy Keane spending £2708374728 million will finally work out for them?

Perhaps, though getting slated for spending from a Forest fan is a bit rich.

We have some decent players at the club, and have shipped out a lot of dead wood (Bruce, Garvan, Lisbie)

3 academy players played for us today too, so Keano is clearly not all about money.

We're likely to lose Jon Walters to Stoke this week, but apparently were buying Jason Scotland from Wigan. We lack a bit of power up front so hopefully he'll do the trick.

[Henry]

Capello turns to two Arsenal youngsters to try and Freshen up the England side- 18 year old Jack Wilshere, and 20 year old Kieran Gibbs.

Who was it on here who said that Arsenal doesn't produce enough young English players and spends too much money on foreign talent?

[Zat]

Jeez I hope you were saying that with tongue in cheek, Trev.

From wikipedia, Arsenal's First-team squad As of 28 July 2010.

I have put in bold the players deemd as English under FIFA eligibility rules.
No. Position Player
1 GK Manuel Almunia
2 MF Abou Diaby
3 DF Bacary Sagna
4 MF Cesc Fàbregas (captain)
5 DF Thomas Vermaelen
6 DF Laurent Koscielny
7 MF Tomas Rosicky
8 MF Samir Nasri
10 FW Robin van Persie
11 FW Carlos Vela
14 FW Theo Walcott
15 MF Denílson
16 MF Aaron Ramsey
17 MF Alex Song
19 MF Jack Wilshere
20 DF Johan Djourou
21 GK Łukasz Fabiański
22 DF Gaël Clichy
23 FW Andrei Arshavin
24 GK Vito Mannone
27 MF Emmanuel Eboué
28 DF Kieran Gibbs
29 FW Marouane Chamakh
30 DF Armand Traoré
52 FW Nicklas Bendtner
53 GK Wojciech Szczęsny

Walcott came up through the ranks at non-league Newbury, then Swindon, and on to Southampton beforer Arsenal.

And Gibbs was discovered by the Wimbledon academy, and went to Arsenal after the Dons folded and moved north.

I know it's virtually the same for every EPL club. But that may explain why England has won - basically - dick in over 40 years.

[skully]

Lordy, that IS an eye-opener, Zog.

What's debt like at the Arse at the moment?

[taipan]

So that is why Wenger is whining so much.

Where is he going to find the eight he needs for their squad.

BTW MU is overflowing with English qualified players. Looks like SAF is one step ahead of the game as always.

[beamer]

Capello turns to two Arsenal youngsters to try and Freshen up the England side- 18 year old Jack Wilshere, and 20 year old Kieran Gibbs.

Who was it on here who said that Arsenal doesn't produce enough young English players and spends too much money on foreign talent?

Well, if they actually picked them in the first team rather than stalling their development by only giving them a game in the Carling Cup people might start to think differently... they have developed a lot of young English (as well as foreign) players but the majority never establish themselves and either drift down the leagues having missed their chance, or occasionally prove themselves elsewhere.

[taipan]

I think Zat's post says it all

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