Lets Talk Football

That's the life of a football fan. You dare to dream then watch as it crumbles before your eyes.

At least you're not permanently on the verge of bankruptcy like my club, Glentoran.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Always pleased with a win, but I'm slightly surprised by just how hard many seem to've jumped on the Giggs bandwagon. I think in 4 or 5 years time, depending on what happens between now and then at United, he could be a perfect fit. Especially if there's that core of '92 around him like there was yesterday. However, he's no experience, not even at youth team level, and United need to get players in this summer. The right players, not just numbers. If we're talking about Kroos or Fabregas (again) then I'd rather have them thinking about whether they want to play at United under van Gaal or Ancelotti (for example) than the much respected, but untested, Giggs.

All this, and we could've had Jose. Such a write off of a season in so many ways.

I'd also like to point out that it's only the second half, from what I'd heard and seen, that we started playing and that for most of the first half, we weren't really threatening much more than Norwich were, which was not at all. Plus, Moyes got a 4-0 win away at Newcastle earlier this month, so it's not even as if Moyes couldn't have got yesterdays result. I accept that, given our terrible home for, it's unlikely, but not out of the question.

You can have a club that does things a certain way. A 'right' way, if you like or a romantic way. But those clubs have natural peaks a troughs and there's no place at the top table for clubs like that in modern football. So, if that's what United fans want and are prepared to accept, and they might want to look at Arsenal's lack of competition and trophies before accepting that, then they'd better find a way of buying out the Glazers, because they don't care how United play. They just to be at the top table and they only want to be there for the money that's available. United's their cash cow and that's all it is.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Agree with you there. Did you hear Profile on radio 4 earlier on today about the Glazers? Worth a listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041v278

I didn't. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out later.

Guys I have question,do you think Mourinho is "destroying" football etc...Because I think that is a ********,win is a win,it was a fair win,tactic is a tactic ,so haters are going to hate.

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“By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.”

No, Mourinho's not destroying football. If anything is destroying football, and I don't know that it is, it's money, ably helped by FIFA and UEFA.

Ain't that the truth

I don't think it's money per se, more where the money is coming from - Vanity projects from impossibly rich oil men. There have always been rich clubs but when someone injects vast amounts of money over the course of a couple of transfer windows it throws everything out of whack.

Yes, it's nice to see new(er) faces winning trophies but you get the feeling that some of them are just a few steps away from becoming a Portsmouth or an Anzhi.

And no, Jose's not ruining football. Don Revie didn't, George Graham didn't, John Beck didn't.

They say in boxing that a clash of styles is what makes a fight special. Football's much the same.

I don't think it's money, either, as I said, I don't know that anything is 'ruining football', but I think the ability for people to go in and take a club way above it's natural 'place' is vital in the current situation. Otherwise most of the clubs may as well pack up and go home, in terms of winning the top league. I think this is what's going to happen anyway, to an extent. Eventually the top/biggest 15-20 clubs across Europe will break away and have their own league, ala MLB. No relegation, no promotion, with what's currently the rest of the top leagues and below being the equivalent of the Minor Leagues in US baseball.

We've got a situation now where people like Abramovich, who was the Devil ten years ago, are almost the dream owners. Extremely rich men who are there because they want to own a club, like football and aren't looking to get the money back. The Abu Dhabi men are only there to promote their country and help to give it a future beyond the oil, while the people at United are only there for the money.

Well done Chelsea. Still think the Scousers will win it, but I'd rather City won than them. Though it would be fitting.

BTW, did Torres pass the ball so he didn't score against his old club or so that he didn't miss against them?

I don't think Abramovich got too much of a rough ride when he bought the club because, basically, he wasn't Ken Bates. There were concerns as to how he'd actually earned his money but they seem to have disappeared - If Chelsea hadn't had such a strong English core in that time would he have been treated with continuing suspicion?

Is FSG just the Glazers with better PR and a pretty wife? Just thought I'd leave that one hanging.

I don't know, I remember him always being "all that's wrong with the modern game" etc and, as you say, where and how his money came about was and still is something of a concern. However, I think you're absolutely right when you say the core of British players, all of them key players, that came in at that time really helped out in this respect.

I've wondered this, but I don't know anything about what they're doing with the money. However, should Liverpool actually re-establish themselves at the top of the money tree, then it'll be interesting to see how they spend it. After Hicks & Gillette, I think even the Glazer's would've been considered perfect owners at Liverpool and I couldn't blame them.

Damn, I'd almost forgotten about Hicks & Gillette. They're in the OED under 'bumbling'.

The line that gets trotted out whenever Vincent Tan or The Hull Bloke (who's a local bonkers owner) say it's either their way or the club going to the wall, surely the reason that the club might be going to the wall is because they otherwise couldn't compete with the massive cash injections we've seen elsewhere which make everything and everyone more expensive?

It's a tough nut to crack.

Sorry, which line gets trotted out?

That one.

Been a while, guys.


I've come to dig Wenger's grave some more (I'm about to hit the Earth's core I reckon). He figured it was a good idea to play the Scouse, Chelsea and City in the same way he did against Cardiff at home. When you do that, you tend to head home with about as much goals than you have in the whole of about 20 other games. Guy just needs to get the boot.

Good goal by Barkley at the weekend. I wonder if he was watching the United U21's on Friday?

Rumours of Bony, Schneidlin and Micah Richards going to Arsenal in the summer. Great news for the Gunners, if true, IMO. I don't know about Richards because it's been so long since I saw him play that I couldn't be sure what they're getting. Bony and Schneidlin are both quality though, IMO. I'd be happy to see either at United and I think Schneidlin is someone we should be looking at. Should've last season, too.

Starting hearing talk of current Bayern players coming to United. Didn't think twice about it because, of course, it's pretty stupid, especially when they mention players like Robben. However, with Pep saying the problem against Real wasn't too much possession football, it was too little and then saying he's looking to make Bayern less direct, suddenly a 30 year old Robben might be looking to be moved on. Especially with the wage he'll be on at Bayern. He'd be a much better fit at the current United than the direction Pep is looking at. There's also talk of Thomas Muller moving. Again, I normally wouldn't give it a second thought, but with the noises coming out of Germany, who knows. United are looking to spend the money and, should van Gaal turn up as expected, it at least sounds plausible.

The papers were up to their old tricks again, so, in case you can't imagine what a player who plays in red would look like in a different red top, here you are.,

Interesting news..

Manchester City fined 50 million pounds and have their CL squad restricted to 21 players for next season.. after being found guilty of breaching UEFA's financial fair play rules. 8 of those 21 players must be home-grown.

French newspaper L'Equipe has reported that PSG are facing even stiffer penalties from UEFA than City.

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Atletico’s entire team cost £20m less than Fernando Torres

£50m? So what? They'll spend more than that this summer on players, let alone the wages to pay those players. This is one of the big problems with FFP, IMO. UEFA won't do what will/might be necessary to deter the super rich clubs breaking the rules. Do you think the Abu Dhabi people even think about £50m? It's like asking us for a couple of quid as a penalty for doing as you please.

I like the idea of limiting CL squads and it should be a first step. 16 registered players, maybe 18 seeing as you can use players under 21, but that's it. Other than that, I'd throw them out of the competition for a year, 'demote' them to Europa League for a couple of seasons (not something I'd like, but I can see some merit in it), points deduction in their league, again, I can see the merit but I'm not sure how much of a deterrent it'd be for some unless it was significant or, my personal favourite, a two window transfer ban, without the possibility of appeal unless you bring forward new evidence to help your case or can show bias. However, you wouldn't be able to 'postpone' the punishment by making an appeal. I can see that this could lead to even great hoarding of the best up and coming players, but seeing how much that happens already, how much worse can it get? However, were this to be part of a larger restructuring of youth development, the loan system, etc, it could work pretty well, I think.

Of course, those are far less likely as UEFA won't want the big clubs to breakaway and form their own league.

Anyone, of a certain age, think back to Cantona and Irwin with Borini's goal against West Brom on Wednesday?

Yaya Toure said last week that he's underrated because he's African. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm much more confident that he'd be higher up in things such as player of the year, FIFA World Player, etc if he were European. Regardless of colour, IMO, he'd be a much bigger star if he was European and, if he was British? Holy crap! Can you imagine if Steven Gerrard had had the season that Yaya Toure did this season? Even Suarez wouldn't have stood a chance of being Player of the Year and Football Writers Player Of the Year would've been finished before it even started.

All this was prompted because of the goal Yaya scored this week.



Honestly, if Stevie Me had scored that goal, in this game, it being the 4th goal at the end of a game that almost wrapped up the title, it'd be on a constant loop over here.