Author Topic: Football will eat itself (Read 32415 times)

bobb · « **Reply #75 on:** 08 November, 2015, 02:38:53 pm »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 28 October, 2015, 07:32:00 am

But why does he call himself the "special one"? Is he unaware of the connotations of that particular adjective?

He doesn't. The media do.

He did originally refer to himself in an interview as "A special one", but it was in reference to the number of very big and well known clubs he'd been a manager of and it was pretty obvious that "Special one" was meant as "Fortunate one". It's just that his English wasn't that great back then and he clearly struggled to find the right words. Of course, the media jumped on it straight away and for some inexplicable reason, people believed he had proclaimed himself "The special one" because it said so in The Sun, or The Guardian or whatever rag they read it in.

He's still a knob, but there's no need to believe stuff made up about him....

Wowbagger · « **Reply #76 on:** 08 November, 2015, 04:38:07 pm »

Given that, as I said in my post, I normally try to avoid such stuff, and that my post was couched in the terms of a question, I don't think I actually believed anything. "Facts", as posited in national newspapers, are at best regarded as something which may not be entirely without truth, but equally may be.

LEE · « **Reply #77 on:** 09 November, 2015, 02:12:03 pm »

Quote from: bobb on 08 November, 2015, 02:38:53 pm

He doesn't. The media do.

He did originally refer to himself in an interview as "A special one", but it was in reference to the number of very big and well known clubs he'd been a manager of and it was pretty obvious that "Special one" was meant as "Fortunate one". It's just that his English wasn't that great back then and he clearly struggled to find the right words.

No.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybQAg2YUxY

mattc · « **Reply #78 on:** 09 November, 2015, 02:17:09 pm »

He doesn't call himself "The Special One" in that clip.

(If we're going to get pedantic, let's get this right

)

bobb · « **Reply #79 on:** 09 November, 2015, 04:14:37 pm »

Quote from: LEE on 09 November, 2015, 02:12:03 pm

Quote from: bobb on 08 November, 2015, 02:38:53 pm
He doesn't. The media do.

He did originally refer to himself in an interview as "A special one", but it was in reference to the number of very big and well known clubs he'd been a manager of and it was pretty obvious that "Special one" was meant as "Fortunate one". It's just that his English wasn't that great back then and he clearly struggled to find the right words.

No.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybQAg2YUxY

OK, fair enough, I misremembered it a bit, but he still does not call himself THE special one...

LEE · « **Reply #80 on:** 10 November, 2015, 11:06:58 pm »

Quote from: bobb on 09 November, 2015, 04:14:37 pm

Quote from: LEE on 09 November, 2015, 02:12:03 pm
Quote from: bobb on 08 November, 2015, 02:38:53 pm
He doesn't. The media do.

He did originally refer to himself in an interview as "A special one", but it was in reference to the number of very big and well known clubs he'd been a manager of and it was pretty obvious that "Special one" was meant as "Fortunate one". It's just that his English wasn't that great back then and he clearly struggled to find the right words.

No.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybQAg2YUxY

OK, fair enough, I misremembered it a bit, but he still does not call himself THE special one...

Agreed, but he knew precisely what he was saying.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #81 on:** 15 November, 2015, 01:28:14 pm »

Not sure if this really fits in this thread, but: Wenger saying things along the lines of "other teams inject their players, I never have" sounds to me a bit like "I know that not only have other teams used organised doping but I've let my players do it on an individual basis".

Peter · « **Reply #82 on:** 15 November, 2015, 02:05:50 pm »

Or perhaps he's talking about quick-fix pain-killing injections administered on thr pitch or at half-time - or before a game?

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #83 on:** 15 November, 2015, 02:13:07 pm »

"doped" was the word he used.

Peter · « **Reply #84 on:** 15 November, 2015, 02:21:18 pm »

Ah, that wasn't clear from your post.

LEE · « **Reply #85 on:** 27 November, 2015, 10:01:36 am »

Quote

Lionel Messi's agents have had initial discussions about a deal with Manchester City that would see the 28-year-old Barcelona and Argentina forward join on a weekly wage of £800,000

£20,000 an hour, considering a 40 hour week. To put that in perspective that's more than some London emergency plumbers!!!

Peter · « **Reply #86 on:** 27 November, 2015, 01:43:59 pm »

Peter · « **Reply #87 on:** 15 December, 2015, 09:46:41 am »

Leicester are top of the table having beaten Chelsea. The whole Leicester team "cost" less than Chelsea's inconsequential centre forward. Wouldn't it be marvellous if this was the direction football was heading? We can dream.

PaulF · « **Reply #88 on:** 15 December, 2015, 09:55:06 am »

Quote from: LEE on 27 November, 2015, 10:01:36 am

Quote
Lionel Messi's agents have had initial discussions about a deal with Manchester City that would see the 28-year-old Barcelona and Argentina forward join on a weekly wage of £800,000

£20,000 an hour, considering a 40 hour week. To put that in perspective that's more than some London emergency plumbers!!!

But he only does 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon and a mid week game from time to time! So more like a 4 hour week.

Yes - I know the train as well but I doubt it's 40 hours a week

madcow · « **Reply #89 on:** 15 December, 2015, 10:29:45 am »

The Chinese equivalent of the premier league are supposedly eyeing up Wayne Rooney and have put a £75 million price tag on him. At that sort of money ManU will probably be tempted to sell.
Sven goran Erickson thinks it would be a good move. But then what does he know?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/manchester-united-captain-wayne-rooney-6888223

LEE · « **Reply #90 on:** 15 December, 2015, 11:46:31 pm »

Quote from: madcow on 15 December, 2015, 10:29:45 am

The Chinese equivalent of the premier league are supposedly eyeing up Wayne Rooney and have put a £75 ~~million~~ price tag on him. At that sort of money ManU will probably be tempted to sell.

FTFY

Jaded · « **Reply #91 on:** 15 December, 2015, 11:49:56 pm »

The good news is that Man U would then spend the £75m on 4.5 crap players and 0.5 of a good one.

hatler · « **Reply #92 on:** 17 December, 2015, 07:29:25 pm »

Jose takes a dive.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #93 on:** 17 December, 2015, 09:02:56 pm »

Would that be a Josedive?

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #94 on:** 28 February, 2016, 10:51:20 pm »

Wikipedia has some interesting statistics about nationalities of players in Champions League/European Cup teams. The contrast between Arsenal's 2006 side and the other English and Scottish sides mentioned is striking:

Quote

Nationalities
Benfica twice won the competition (1961 and 1962) with a team consisting entirely of Portuguese players, although some of them had been born in Portuguese African colonies, then Overseas Provinces of Portugal but now independent nations.
Celtic won the competition in 1967 with their entire squad born within a 30-mile radius of Celtic Park, their home ground.
Nottingham Forest (1979 and 1980) won twice with a team consisting of players from England, Scotland and Northern Ireland (Martin O'Neill played in the 1980 final).
Liverpool won in 1981 with a team consisting of players from England and Scotland.
Aston Villa also won the European Cup (1982) with a team consisting entirely of players from England and Scotland.
Arsenal are believed to be the first club in Champions League history to have fielded 11 players of different nationality at the same time, in their 2–1 win away to Hamburg on 13 September 2006. The Arsenal team, after the 28th minute substitution of Kolo Touré, was: Jens Lehmann (Germany), Emmanuel Eboué (Côte d'Ivoire), Johan Djourou (Switzerland), Justin Hoyte (England), William Gallas (France), Tomáš Rosický (Czech Republic), Gilberto Silva (Brazil), Cesc Fàbregas (Spain), Alexander Hleb (Belarus), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo) and Robin van Persie (Netherlands).[14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Cup_and_UEFA_Champions_League_records_and_statistics#By_nation

The Celtic way might make you feel all pride-of-placey but I can't quite bring myself to condemn the globalism of Arsenal.

hatler · « **Reply #95 on:** 28 February, 2016, 11:42:52 pm »

And tonight's silly stat from MotD2 was that the last time an all English team played in the Premier League was Aston Villa in 1999.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #96 on:** 03 March, 2016, 04:15:50 pm »

In a secondhand bookshop a while ago I picked up the autobiography of one Charles Buchan, who played for Sunderland and Arsenal from 1910 to about 1928. He writes a lot about transfer fees and how they rose roughly fivefold in the aftermath of WWI. He puts this down to simple supply and demand: a lot of the pre-war players had retired or been wounded or killed, while at the same time the demand had increased by the introduction of the Third Division in 1920. At the same time, players' wages were falling, which he also blames on the Third Division: prior to this, the Southern League was a separate organisation and a player who was dissatisfied with their wages or conditions in a Football League club could easily join a Southern League team because no transfer fee was payable. One the Southern League was amalgamated with the Football League, this was no longer possible. The Players Union was contemplating a strike at the end of the 1920 season, demanding a rise in the maximum wage from £9 a week to £10 but it didn't happen and in the end the maximum wage was actually reduced to £8 in season and £6 out of season. It seems football has always been eating itself in one way or another.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #97 on:** 03 March, 2016, 04:42:06 pm »

Blimey! The maximum wage was only twenty quid a week when it was abolished in 1961

I blame Jimmy Hill.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #98 on:** 03 March, 2016, 06:00:09 pm »

He mentions being offered £3 a week by a First Division club in 1909. "It was really a wonderful offer when you consider that the wages of a fully-trained engineer, fitter and turner, or a carpenter were 37s 6d. And they had to serve a five-years apprenticeship before they got it." He turned it down though because he wanted to become a schoolteacher. I reckon the footballer:engineer wage ratio has increased somewhat since then.

LEE · « **Reply #99 on:** 08 March, 2016, 01:49:35 pm »

Quote from: Cudzoziemiec on 28 February, 2016, 10:51:20 pm

The Celtic way might make you feel all pride-of-placey but I can't quite bring myself to condemn the globalism of Arsenal.

I think it's time to question why people support their local clubs, especially Premiership clubs.

What relationship do they have with them and how do they feel their local club represents them over, say, another Premier League club?

It's typical to have a foreign owner, a club sponsored by an overseas company, a foreign manager, foreign coaching staff and mostly foreign players*

What exactly are the fans cheering about and why do they feel the need to punch an opposing fan?
Is it because their Ivory Coast striker is better than the other's?

It's become a very strange relationship.

* Manchester United have quite a good record in the "Local Boy Makes Good" stakes though. Fletcher Moss Rangers, just 4 miles south of Old Trafford becoming quite a famous supplier of talented kids who get to play in the first team.

More than anything I don't think you can beat a "local boy makes Good" in your side. It provides the fans with a small hope that they could also play for their local club.
It also gives you a player who you KNOW will pull out all the stops for the club, when the foreign legion are busy trying to get a better deal somewhere warmer.

It's no coincidence that Manchester United won so many games in the last few minutes (and beyond) when 5 or 6 of the team were boyhood United fans.