The Beautiful Game Thread, 11/12

[fsquid]

Aldershot is going to get blasted by an angry Man U team today.

[Macca00]

Aldershot is going to get blasted by an angry Man U team today.

Indeed, Michael Owen is well rested and raring to go!

[wco81]

Well the Soccernet podcast noted that all the scorers from that game commanded transfer fees of 28 to 35 million pounds, FWIW.

[RobVarak]

Here's a tip for Fox. If you want to makeover your football coverage, start here

http://hotscores.tv/index/

[pk500]

Here's a tip for Fox. If you want to makeover your football coverage, start here

http://hotscores.tv/index/

Whoa -- her rack plays a mean game of keepie-uppie.

[davet010]

(And all this is an entirely separate issue from the fact that the football press is foolishly obsessed with transfer fees to the total exclusion of any discussion of wages).

Ding ding! We have a winner!

I can see why you'd want that, what with Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson costing the same as Aguero and Silva

[RobVarak]

(And all this is an entirely separate issue from the fact that the football press is foolishly obsessed with transfer fees to the total exclusion of any discussion of wages).

Ding ding! We have a winner!

I can see why you'd want that, what with Andy Carroll and Jordan Henderson costing the same as Aguero and Silva

True enough there.

It's just something that I never understood, certainly in part because US commentary focuses exclusively on wages because player sales haven't been in vogue since the early part of the 20th c. I've always been perplexed about how every £6m player is seen as having the same value despite the probability of widely different wages.

[davet010]

I suppose the theory would go that players who appear to be of the same purchase value would be on roughly the same sort of deal. Of course, we know that is unlikely to be the case, but I could see why people would adopt it as a rule of thumb. Anyone who is familiar with Football Manager knows that there are a whole multiplicity of clauses which may affect the overall 'cost' of a player over the life of his contract, such as appearance clauses, milestone payments to the selling clubs, goal clauses etc.

Wasn't there some transfer payment involved in Babe Ruth's move to the Yankees ? Something about funding for a show ?

[Feanor]

John Terry is hopefully about to get his comeuppance. Can't have a known racist as England captain.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... ry-as.html

[davet010]

Quite right too - you can't be constantly running the 'Kick It Out' campaign and be talking about racism and then not investigate this thoroughly. And John Terry is a completely odious individual.

[10spro]

Instead of the long ball to Van Persie, Arsenal has been playing pretty footie since their lopsided loss a few weeks ago. Nice win against Chelsea, JT's nightmare continues.

[F308GTB]

Instead of the long ball to Van Persie, Arsenal has been playing pretty footie since their lopsided loss a few weeks ago. Nice win against Chelsea, JT's nightmare continues.

It was an entertaining game with some spectacular strikes. The lousy pass to Terry that resulted in his slip and the relatively easy Van Persie goal was a huge Chelsea screwup.

[toonarmy]

Very entertaining game between Arsenal and Chelsea. The Gunners looked good. This has been a very fun BPL season thus far.

[10spro]

Magpies' good fortune continue with a 2-1 narrow win. Trey didn't play well at home today but a brilliant half volley strike by R. Taylor made the difference. Zebras missed a hand ball call that should have been awarded to Everton.

[toonarmy]

Newcastle in third place -- woohoo!!!!! Hard to believe they are still so far up in the standings 1/4 of the way through the season. They looked pretty good today. Their goaltending has been great this season and I'm still not sure how their defense has been doing so well given who is on the back line, but I'll take it. I was a big doubter of Pardew when he was hired, but have to give props to the guy for what he has accomplished thus far. He's been pulling the right strings.

[Naples39]

USA-France on at 3pm today. Make your Friday afternoon go by quicker by watching on espn3.com.

[Macca00]

Newcastle in third place -- woohoo!!!!! Hard to believe they are still so far up in the standings 1/4 of the way through the season. They looked pretty good today. Their goaltending has been great this season and I'm still not sure how their defense has been doing so well given who is on the back line, but I'll take it. I was a big doubter of Pardew when he was hired, but have to give props to the guy for what he has accomplished thus far. He's been pulling the right strings.

Did you just use the word goaltending in a football thread?

The toon have been doing f'ing brilliant, I am very jealous. Cabaye and Demba Ba have been incredibly astute signings.

Unfortunately, I think it's only a matter of time before your idiot owner screws things up again.....I can't believe he shows his face at St. Ja-er.. I mean The Sports Direct Arena - what a tit!

[toonarmy]

Newcastle in third place -- woohoo!!!!! Hard to believe they are still so far up in the standings 1/4 of the way through the season. They looked pretty good today. Their goaltending has been great this season and I'm still not sure how their defense has been doing so well given who is on the back line, but I'll take it. I was a big doubter of Pardew when he was hired, but have to give props to the guy for what he has accomplished thus far. He's been pulling the right strings.

Did you just use the word goaltending in a football thread?

The toon have been doing f'ing brilliant, I am very jealous. Cabaye and Demba Ba have been incredibly astute signings.

Unfortunately, I think it's only a matter of time before your idiot owner screws things up again.....I can't believe he shows his face at St. Ja-er.. I mean The Sports Direct Arena - what a tit!

It's hockey season, cut me a bit of slack, lol.

Your point about Fat Mike is what I worry most about. The players are clicking together and putting forth good effort. The coach is doing much better than I thought he would do. But lurking in the background is a complete dumbass that knows how to cock things up like no other. I'm hoping that just maybe he has learned from his mistakes and is now in a winning spirit, and wants to see wins as much as money. Probably a pipedream on my part.

[10spro]

Bosnia held off Portugal in the first leg of the Euro playoffs. The pitch was awful and Bosnia could have even shocked Ronaldo's team if Dzeko didn't miss in the second half. Instead of using the short passes that served Portugal well in the past, they lacked ideas today and played repeatedly the long downfield ball. Although they were outplayed most of the game, BH had some glorious chances to break the tie.

[Macca00]

Anyone check out Liverpool's earbiter 4 goal performance for Uruguay vs. Chille? Amazing stuff. Too bad he couldn't put just one of those away against Swansea.....jeez...

[10spro]

Argentina took a step forward after a disappointing tie with Bolivia a couple of weeks back for the WC qualifier. Aguero with the winner helped the Albicelestes pull out a win against a hostile Colombian team at home. Messi with the other goal as they came out on top 2-1.

Big win for the Germans against the Netherlands.

[pk500]

Your point about Fat Mike is what I worry most about. The players are clicking together and putting forth good effort. The coach is doing much better than I thought he would do. But lurking in the background is a complete dumbass that knows how to cock things up like no other. I'm hoping that just maybe he has learned from his mistakes and is now in a winning spirit, and wants to see wins as much as money. Probably a pipedream on my part.

This might be heresy, but has Fat Mike f*cked up that badly? He seems to have weeded out a lot of expensive dead weight and wood -- Nolan, Barton, CARROLL for 35 million -- and let Pardew and the club's scouts bring in some really good players for lower transfer fees and wages.

I work in professional sport, so maybe I see the stadium naming rights' flap differently. But it's every owner's right to monetize his assets. The idea of a stadium name being sacred is foolish in this era of sport. It's the ground and the game played on that pitch that matters, not the name. Plus the fans and media still will call it St. James' Park for a long, long time.

Ashley also was smart to apply the name of his company to the ground now. He will catch the most sh*t of anyone for being the first party to change the name of St. James' Park. Future companies that pay for naming rights won't face the same wrath, since Fat Mike already has enacted the first corporate name change.

Fat Mike was foolish to say the $10 million naming rights fee would be used in the transfer window. No one believes him, because the club did little to nothing with the riches from the Carroll deal. But Newcastle is unbeaten in the Premiership, so who's complaining now? The club was awash in red ink, so maybe it was smart to sock away some of those Carroll profits and pay down the debt instead of splashing mindless cash at some marquee signing who achieves little Tyneside.

I'm not ready to convert Fat Mike into St. Mike, but I think there is a method behind his madness. Hell, Newcastle is third in the table -- he must be doing something right, yeah?

[miget33]

Sepp Blatter declares there is no racism!! Huzzah!

Minutes later the English FA charges Luis Suarez with racial abuse.

[Macca00]

I'm interested in a few things;

1) What proof the FA have --> when Evra last said someone made racist comments about him, the FA charged the Chelsea groundsman then withdrew the charge when they found out Evra was telling porkies.

2) If Suarez is guilty (with adequate proof) then he should get the book thrown at him - but I'm wondering what will happen to good old John Terry....

Hmmmm.

[GB_Simo]

This might be heresy, but has Fat Mike f*cked up that badly? He seems to have weeded out a lot of expensive dead weight and wood -- Nolan, Barton, CARROLL for 35 million -- and let Pardew and the club's scouts bring in some really good players for lower transfer fees and wages.

Agreed.

It's the ground and the game played on that pitch that matters, not the name. Plus the fans and media still will call it St. James' Park for a long, long time.

In the same way that I still call them the Town End and the Mill House, instead of the Hartlepool College of Further Education Stand and the Niramax. My HUFC season ticket says I sit in the Niramax Seating. Previously, it said the Camerons Brewery Seating. Never once have I called it anything other than the Mill House, nor has it registered with me that I should be. It'll work exactly the same in Newcastle, especially since the local council has already announced that it won't change any of the wording on the road signs directing people to the ground.

In fact, everything you say has its basis in fact, as far as I can see. However, when the people of Newcastle have the opportunity to react hysterically over any kind of footballing matter, they do so with nary a thought given to considered analysis. Same as they did when Cole left, when Keegan left, when Keegan came back...not that there's anything wrong with that necessarily, because passion is a wonderful thing, but it can impair the judgement sometimes.