Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Tua madre si da per niente! :thumbdown:

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Ooh. I hope Flogger doesn't speak Italian. :rofl:

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Tsk. Can't all be going through a bit of slump like spurs, can we:)

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Google helped. Rude Bas***d. (Oink obviously, not your good self)

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

It's the difficulty in supporting a London team. There are so many local rivals you have to vilify.

It'd wear me out, I've only got S*******d to hate and that's tiring enough.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Brentford are ok, nowt against them.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Chelski ain't a football team they're a circus act.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

and Chas n Dave are crap

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

:p My nan used to go to bingo with Chas' mum.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

That's nowt. I used to know Eric Burden's mum when he played for the animals.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

yes good night at the bridge tonight,chelsea finally turned up,
still life in the old guard,good to be in the draw on friday.:)

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Nice to see Torres still running around as aimlessly as Carroll.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Third place anxiety?

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Worried about getting kicked out of the European second division at all?

<at least it was a clean sweep of Mancunians> :thumbsup:

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

as l have said before torres is not my sort of player,just a complete waste of time.
yes he does a lot of running around but sadly no end product,the russian needs to let him go maybe back to spain?.
carroll has more of a chance to improve than torres in my opinion.:)

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

not a bad draw for chelsea dodged the bullet in getting benfica.
that might be a far as they will go l think.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

I'm as pleased as anyone when Man Utd come a cropper at one of the smaller clubs such as at the SDA, WHL, SOL etc. However, only the deluded and jealous suggest that Man Utd are lucky when as far as English clubs are concerned thay have been consistently the best or close to the best for the best part of 20 years. Any foreign player playing for any club outside the big 4 (now 5) is clearly only using that club as a stepping stone for better things. Some are able to be reasonably discrete about it others behave like Berbatov.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Sorry Jim I don't follow. You will, I hope, accept that for a club like Man U, with it's temporarily infinite resources, it's stellar recent history and the self acclaimed manager of the last and present (and next if he had his way) centuries, it's a bit of an oops to get eliminated at early stages of both European competitions?

I've no doubt they'll get another shot next year of course but still, no need to be petulant is there?

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

No need to apologise for your confusion. After appearing in the last two champions league finals Man U would be entitled to regard this season as an early exit. Other English clubs can only dream of aspiring to such failure.

'I'll tell ya - you can tell him now, he'll be watching - we're still fighting for this title. And I'll tell you honestly, I will love it if we beat them - LOVE IT!' Petulance - eh........

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

What do you expect from a Scouser?

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

That was not an impressive performance from the Toon today. They were, frankly, lucky to get away with 3 points and they'd better buck themselves up if they want to stay ahead of an ever improving Liverpool side.

If the brainwashing we gave Carroll before he left starts to wear off, Toon are f***ed.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

A scouser from Doncaster.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Fabrice Muamba brings all of this into rather stark perspective. Some things are more important than some silly game. I hope he pulls through.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

The good news is there is some improvement so fingers crossed.

Apparently in the UK 12 young men under the age of 35 suffer cardiac arrests each week.

Muamba is lucky to have had such wonderful paramedics at close hand.

Maybe next time Premiership footballers are given the opportunity to donate a day's wages to the nursing profession more of them will do so.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

I don't think United are lucky.

Just rich thanks to a wonderful marketing machine and fan base across the world that means they have the biggest sponsorship deals etc....

Every year they don't win the league is a miracle in itself and every year they do should be no surprise.

The fact that so many teams in Europe with a tenth of their budget have caused them so much distress should be of concern for the Glazers.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Every club has the opportunity to challenge Man Utd on the marketing side of things. Obviously Man Utd dominate that aspect now so they must have some sort of appeal that other clubs can't match.

Do Spurs have a 100% success rate against teams with a smaller budget?

If other teams with 1/10 the budget of Man Utd can beat them why can't the likes of Spurs?

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Utd are rich, but given the debt that they have to service too I wonder if other clubs have more "disposable income" as it were. Arsenal probably have the soundest financial footing (short of a sugar daddy like Roman Abramovich), but they seem loath to spend it on top drawer established players.

Does anyone think that "financial fair play" will make much difference?


On any given day anything can happen on the field, but over the course of a season the clubs with serious resources will nearly always dominate.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Be interesting to see what happens when ole glowing nose finally retires.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

What are you rabbiting on about? The only thing more boring than Man Utd is a Man Utd fan.

Manchester United are famous because of a disaster in Munich firstly and secondly because they were fortunate to come good when the TV income distribution and global TV exposure changed dramatically with the beginning of the Premier League.

No one can dispute Alex Ferguson has done a good job of course but the change in Football economics that was bought on initially by Hillsborough and then accelerated by the Premier League has played to their favour.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

The clubs have too much power now. I just can't see Uefa having the clout to really enforce it.

For Financial fair play to take place you would need clubs to alienate other clubs. The finances of each club are so mirky I just can't see it, creative accounting and dodgey sponsorship deals are the norm.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

How many Man Utd fans in China or Malaysia have any idea that there was a plane crash in Munich? Not many. You say "..they were fortunate........" - so its just down to luck and fortune then?

The changes in football economics benefited all the "big" clubs Spurs included. Some clubs have been more successful in exploiting the benefits than others.

I'm not a Man Utd fan by the way.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

They were fortunate.

Liverpool had a very strong 80's but the global appeal of the Premier League wasn't there. Football shirts weren't the equivalent of 50 pounds. Teams didn't sell naming rights to their grounds and working class fans could get into games.

It was pre-Taylor report so the crowd surges and violence did not help matters. The Taylor report has a lot to answer.

You are right people in China and Malaysia have no clue of Hillsborough or the fact that Manchester United don't even really play in Manchester. That is just the sad reality of a game that forgot the fans who built it.

Manchester United have produced some good teams in the last twenty years and Ferguson knows how to win Football games. But of the pitch they have been more impressive selling out in every way they can to line the pockets of owners and players.

It's the people in Trafford and Salford I feel sorry for. I don't see many tourist dollars rebuilding those depressed areas around the stadium.

All the other clubs have sold out too. The Liverpool "racism is acceptable" one was a classic example. There was only a climb down when Standard Charter threatened to pull their 20 million pounds a season.

Tottenham were screwed over by "Sir" Alan Sugar. ITV had a much better TV deal on offer for Tottenham but Sugar called his pal Rupert Murdoch because he was the satellite dish provider for Sky. His desire to sell dishes for Amstrad was far greater than his desire to build a decent club.

Lstly I'm glad you are not a Man United fan. I don't usually engage in dialogue of any length with them so I feel much better about posting here now.

Once some one tells me they support Man United I'm usually switched of and thinking about more pressing stuff. As I say the club is boring and I find they offer no interesting perspective or point of view of the game. They assume a devine right to win and as I don't really understand where the joy is in the game for them. When they don't win it is usually drivil like "We can't win every year" or "How many European Cups have you won". I don't find the Man United fan in the UK any more knowledgable than some of the idiots I meet who sport Man United training tops here. I had a "Man United fan" from Lancashire ask me over a pint the other day who I supported. I had played two seasons with him wearing Tottenham shirts.

Rant over.

I need a beer.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

I dont think Man U fans are particularly bad, and they have had some exceptional tallent to watch so I dont really get your point.

Generally its the older ones, who remember what SAF started with and before that who have the more interesting perspective.

Liverpool had quite a good time of it in the 70s too by the way;)

Pains me to say it, but what SAF has done in building, maintaining and rebuilding consistently successful teams there has been nothing short of absolutely outstanding, I dont think we will see his like again in my lifetime to be honest.

Football has definitely lost its soul though with the pursuit of money, but you cant really blame the players for taking what they can get, it can be a very small window of opportunity for many, and if someone offered my $100k a week to do my job I would not say "No thanks, its too much", would you?

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

It pains me to agree. It further pains me to suggest that if a competitor for "best manager" is to be found, it's probably Martin O'Neill. :thumbdown:

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

+ 1. I wanted him before Rafa B took over at Liverpool.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

I have always thought that David Moyes has done a solid job on a shoe string.

I think we all agree that Ferguson has been amazing. Apparently they were going to sack him if he had lost that first FA Cup final.

The biggest challenge for any manager now is that there is so much money in the game that boards and fans demand results quickly.

You won't get managers reshaping a club like Fergie has done anymore.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Perhaps.

In recent years I have not found Manchester United to be particularly entertaining. Just organised and efficient. I think Jose Mourinho's Chelsea made Fergie evolve his style.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Hard to know what Moyes would be like with money behind him, but he's worked miracles at Everton.

Mark Robins wonder goal against Forest in the 3rd round (1990) wasnt it?


Nottingham Forest, could be a pointer to Utds future when a collossus of an irreplacable manager retires...


Well, its nice to dream:cool:

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Man Utd have been there before though haven't they when Busby retired.

Nottingham Forest have just reverted to what they were before Clough. I don't think you can compare them to Man Utd.

Leeds are probably a good model for what can happen when the financial risks taken were too great.

My top managers for the last three decades and a bit would be Ferguson, Clough, Paisley, Wenger and the special one.

Re: The Toon Army / EPL thread
 

Exactly, dropped down to the 2nd division in the early 70s, countless years before they recovered to win anything. Its unimaginable now I suppose.

Maybe not... The surprise is maybe not that bumpy transition , but how Liverpool avoided it by and large through Shanks, Paisley, Fagan, Moran, Evans, Dalglish etc