[drewks]

Nigel Pearson

...quite like the guy myself - look at this video where (IMO) he's being pushed and pushed by this journalist who's only OBVIOUSLY trying to goad him into another reaction......but I think he keeps his cool very well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32543893

(This is after he's issued the apology for having a go at another reporter the previous day)

[drewks]

......Newcastle a l'il bit desperate?

From the BBC website today - this is saying McClaren was wanted to take over for Newcaste's final 3 games:

"Carver, Pardew's former assistant, took over at the end of 2014 with the club 10th in the table, but has won only two of his 17 games in all competitions.
Derby's season, meanwhile, is over after their failure to reach the Championship play-offs after a run of two wins in their last 13 games."

McClaren hardly would go into that situation on a high, with THAT run of recent form behind him - couple together him and Newcastle, that's 4 wins in 30 games!!

A match made in heaven

[drewks]

Head coach Steve McClaren says Newcastle United can become one of the "top 10 clubs in Europe".

Not with YOU in charge, me ol' mucka!!

[meandbrenarebaggies]

Just thinking about the future of football.  Lets pull a few reasonable assumptions

together; in no particular order of importance.  Real Madrid will continue to dominate
from a financial aspect; they will continue to be able to buy any player at any price at
any time they like.  There is not a Russian, Far East or Shiek billionaire big enough to
take on the collective money at Real.  Spanish football will remain a two-horse race.
Italian football will remain too poor to have any real impact.  It will manage to scrape
together a few good teams over the next 20 years but that will be as a result of talented
Italian players opting to stay as big fish in a small pool (Seria A) rather than expose
their fragile talents abroad. Germany will continue to play well because of their
attitude towards teamwork rather than reliance on star players.  England will continue
to be mystified as to why they have the best competitive league but the worst national
squad despite everybody knowing its because of use of foreign players in too high
a proportion.  Latin American players will continue to be the best in the World.  The game
will become more technical.  Sponsorship will become more and more important.
Facebook will enter a team in the World Cup when Sweden becomes the first country to
have 100% of their population on Facebook and they elect to ditch the name “Sweden”
in favour of Facebookland.  FIFA will be smashed to pieces and then rebuilt almost exactly as it was before.  All in all, football in 10 years time will be as screwed up as it always has been
and it won’t worry me at all as I will probably be long gone by then.

[silverbaggie]

And, true fans of the game will stop going to watch their team because
a) they can no longer afford the admission price and
b) unless you support a team that's one of the rich clubs; you can't possibly win anything worthwhile.

[Dingle-Dingle]

And, true fans of the game will stop going to watch their team because
a) they can no longer afford the admission price and
b) unless you support a team that's one of the rich clubs; you can't possibly win anything worthwhile.

Since 1968  DD 

[drewks]

Is it me??

Yesterday afternoon I watched England v Ireland (rugby); thrill-a-minute stuff, 100% commitment throughout, honesty and acceptance of every refereeing decision even when it was totally against the player, and no acting, diving, cheating.

Then turned to watch San Marino v England ("football"), and I was bored after 5 minutes and switched off after another 5. I know it was never going to be an inspiring game but it was just so obvious that those footballers just love themselves, and their egos just make me despair

             

Phew, rant over. Where's my beer?  

[Baggievicar]

Not just you, drewksy. I remember about 30 years ago I used to argue with my Welsh friend, who'd grown up on rugby, about which was better to watch. Even in those days I'm not sure if I really believed football was better or if I was just defending my first love. Now, absolutely no contest. Very sad.
Mind you, with the rugby it may just be that the cheating is harder to spot - there's plenty goes on, in various ways.

[drewks]

Not just you, drewksy. I remember about 30 years ago I used to argue with my Welsh friend, who'd grown up on rugby, about which was better to watch. Even in those days I'm not sure if I really believed football was better or if I was just defending my first love. Now, absolutely no contest. Very sad.
Mind you, with the rugby it may just be that the cheating is harder to spot - there's plenty goes on, in various ways.

Not sure about that, Vicster - certainly at the top level there are cameras everywhere, and citing can happen after the event. I think the culture is still so different between the 2 sports - I know cheating & foul play DOES go on in rugby but it's not widespread and contaminating the game like it is (imo) in football. Listen to the players and coaches afterwards too - an honest appraisal of the game, not just a load of rollocks as in football 

[drewks]

Don't ya just fekin HATE Chelsea