Football talking points

First topic message reminder :

Rather than hijack the "which team do you support" thread where some of these are being talked about...

Some of the events of the weekend that are getting people talking

1) Mario Balotelli: plenty to say about him in general but specifically the alleged stamp on Scott Parker and his subsequent charge by the FA

2) Lescott's elbow on Kaboul(?) - FA say no charge to answer

3) Conspiracy theories in general about Man City!

4) Wenger's decision to take Chamberlain off and put Arshavin on - and Van Persie's reaction

5) Peter Crouch and the "eye-gouge"

6) Harry Redknapp and the tax-dodging allegations and court case

Discuss!

LOL - love those JT pics!

I see that Joey Barton has picked up a 12 match ban, so I guess that we won't be seeing him until around the end of October.

Was ultimately expecting a 10 game ban for Barton but 12! Must have added an extra game ban for each offence as it would have or could have been a 3rd and 4th sending off in a season.

I think they worked on the theory of maximum 4 matches for the original offense plus 4 more for each other cited offense giving 12. It's reported that this is the maximum the FA could have given him. I'd have liked to see them find ways to make it even more

Obviously Barton has a good contract and Hughes will find it hard to move him on, unless he can terminate his contract for bringing the club into disrepute .... I hope at the very least he's going to be stripped of his club captain role.

Doc wrote:Obviously Barton has a good contract and Hughes will find it hard to move him on, unless he can terminate his contract for bringing the club into disrepute .... I hope at the very least he's going to be stripped of his club captain role.

According to the made up story in the Evening Standard last night, QPR lawyers are investigating how they can sack him, otherwise it could cost £11m to terminate his contract, which still has 3 years left. I know £11m is an exaggeration, but it is a ridiculous situation where a football club is stuck with a player and unable to remove an under-performing employee.

I'm not even sure £11m is an exaggeration ray

That equates to around £75k a week over 3 years, which considering the ludicrous salaries paid these days isn't beyond the bounds of possibilites

Trying to get rid of anyone these days is a complete joke, and in football especially so. I sacked a guy last year because he refused to do his job, and walked off site. He was warned that he was jeopordising his job, as per the terms and conditions of his contract of employemnt. He just said fook it I'm off. A month later we recieved a letter informing us that he was taking us to an industrial tribunal for a) Sexual discrimination? b) Giving him a target that was impssible to achieve c) Demanded we give him £40k to stop the action.

Not once did he complain about losing his job, he just wanted cash. The sexual discrimination was all to do with a request he made to his line manager: he asked if he could have extra overtime and his team leader told him 'kiss may arse'. The targets are achieved by everyone except this tosser. The outcome is that I and many of our senior management team are taking a whole week out of the business because the tribunal has been accepted. Even though the claim is vexatious, malicious and utterly, utterly wrong. No wonder businesses don't want to employ people these days. Its too easy for anyone to sue an employer and when they lose their case they don't get hit with costs. So they usually get paid off in a compromise agreement as its cheaper than going to tribunal and all the legal costs etc. A joke country we live in

I hope you mean sexual harassment not sexual discrimination!

Am not likeing whats happening with Hodgson right now. Johnson crocked so Martin Kelly gets a call up ???????????? There is no way that Micah Richards isnt a better player than Kelly, he is better than Johnson for christs sake ! Something odd happening there. Apparently in training yesterday Hodgson was saying no more than 5 passes and then play it long......Im all for playing to the strengths of the Premiership style but not all Premiership sides play like Stoke FFS.

I was having that exact conversation with a client this morning over a round of golf!
I don't get the Richards thing. As you say there's an argument he's good enough to start! Plus he is a decent centre back for cover.
Apparently, Roy didn't want to call up Richards only for this friendly only to send him home again as he felt it was insulting to him, so did exactly that with Kelly as he is closer to him from Liverpool. However, i bet i know whether Richards would have preferred to have been asked or not. Who's to say he wouldn't have played a blinder and forced himself into the squad. Very odd decision.

I don't want to get on his back already but i was very disappointed with the Euro squad. Same old sh*t as far as i can see

Average performance but a win I guess. Would say nobody will find England easy to beat this summer, and some iffy results for a few nations last night.

I was very underwhelmed by the performance in truth.
You have to take into account it was very much a second string 11 for us, but Norway were very poor. I was disappointed as was hoping for a bit of a fresh feel with it being Hodgson's first game, new ideas etc. But it may well have been Sven sitting in the dugout. It felt the same as every other England game, even down to the second half being a non event as ever.

If i went to watch an England friendly these days i would genuinely leave at half time as the traffic getting out is a nightware and the second half is inevitably not worth watching!

"Stay at home, watch it on TV. Don't even risk it...because you could end up coming back in a coffin"

Sol Campbell's advice to fans planning on travelling to Euro 2012. Do we think an appropriate warning or unnecessary scaremongering?

I think it sounds a pretty fair warning. I've no doubt the media are bigging this up a bit but from what I've seen it could get pretty ugly over there and I'm sure the Ukrainian thugs will especially target the England fans

I see it's been confirmed that Gareth Barry is out of the Euros - Phil Jagielka will replace him

Really? I hadn't seen that. Where's the sense in that??!

Jagielka in as a centre back, Jones becomes the defensive midfield cover for Barry I'd guess.

Agreed Digs, I gave it some thought after and figured he must be counting Jones as a CM now. He's a terrible right back in my view anyway so no bad thing!

Doesn't say good things about Henderson though right!
I wonder if Carrick is regretting his little strop as he would almost certainly have been in now.

I'd guess Parker will be the defensive starter alongside Lampard with Gerrard further forward

And in view of losing a CB/RB to be a midfielder in Jones would Richards have been a good shout now? Is he better than Jagielka? Difficult to say but I'm pretty sure Man City wouldn't swap them

Agree with all of that MPB, I guess with Ledcott and Baines and Jagielka there is good understanding from playing at Everton.
Richards should be there , Jones as you say is a rubbish right back.

MustPuttBetter wrote:
But it may well have been Sven sitting in the dugout.

Being compared to Sven is no bad thing. I thought Sven did a good job as England manager, and he got harshly criticised by the media, often because he wasn't English. We always breezed through qualification, and then lost at the quarter final stage. McLaren, Capello and Taylor would have taken that record.

Depends in what context you're comparing him Ray

I wasn't talking in terms of results, although i'm not sure i agree Sven did a good job - an adequate job maybe!

I was comparing in terms of atmosphere and the shambles of a non event 2nd half

Paul Lambert has apparently quit as Norwich boss last night after a row about Norwich not letting him speak to Villa. This rumour is everywhere. As a Villa fan, i am quite excited about him being the new manager, if it happens

MPB - my teaching pro is a diehard Norwich fan, so he will be devastated if Lambert goes to Villa (or anywhere else!).

The managerial merry-go-round looks as though it will be in full swing for the next few weeks. Who will end up with the Chelsea gig? Is Steve Keane going to remain in situ at Blackburn Rovers? So many questions ...........

Don't get too excited MPB...Paul Lambert will keep heading north (Col U, Norwich, Aston Villa?) until the bus stops at Celtic Park

Maybe Blue (although Birmingham is slightly south of Norwich) but if he pitches up at Villa for a couple of years, signs Holt, Ruddy, Morison and Hoolahan before leaving i will take that

Mary, i think you're spot on, with Rodgers and Lambert moving, the merry go round could well be out of control! If i were Blackburn i would have already ditched Steve Kean. Seems like a real numpty but the chicken people seem to like him and i think they will stick with him. I'd be amazed if Gus Poyet didn't end up at Norwich or more likely Swansea. Martinez is going to stay at Wigan and i have a horrible feeling Pep Guardiola will go to Chelsea, which is very very harsh on Di Matteo. Maybe he will end up at Norwich. Either him or Malky Mackay.

There you go, my predictions. Put your money on anything but these!!!

MustPuttBetter wrote:Maybe Blue (although Birmingham is slightly south of Norwich) but if he pitches up at Villa for a couple of years, signs Holt, Ruddy, Morison and Hoolahan before leaving i will take that

Geography never was my strong point!

Did well to find your own way home Blue?

Seems strange or a gamble of Liverpool to put Rodgers in as manager. He likes the pretty football that the fans will want, might not be able to call the, hooftheball anymore, but will he be strong enough to control the egos and twits (the I should sound like an a) in the dressing room? He is pretty much unproven at this level so a big risk in my opinion.

Lambert is another one with an unproven record but Villa would be replacing one unproven manager with another. But Lambert has taken underperforming players and got them working well.

Silly season is well and truly underway.

Ian Holloway is being mentioned for the Swansea vacancy - hope that he doesn't go there.

Add Neil Warnock into the mix, because he's been shafted by ken Bates at Leeds, and he's not happy. Good bet that unless Bates opens his wallet, Warnock will walk. He went on holiday last week after having his deal with Portsmouth for Ward cancelled. he had a massive bust up and told them when he gets back it needs to be sorted or he's off. Takeover talks are also underway at Leeds and Warnock is waiting to see the outcome next week.

Somebody has been shafted by Ken Bates?...whoever would have thought that

Another win then, looking average again. It's funny , I suspect England's results over the past 2 years must be as good as anytime I can remember, lost only 3 games or so. Last 5 games been 4 wins over decent opposition including Spain and a late loss to Holland.
On paper the team does look average though and though I still think we will be tough to beat I can't see us making enough chances sadly, Wilshire is a big loss.

At least they've kept two clean sheets though!

Norway weren't much opposition but I thought the Belgian team last night looked quite strong so although we didn't really shine, it was still a win and a clean sheet

No bandwaggon-jumping from me with claims that we are going to win the Euros but if we can get out of that group then who knows what may happen!

I know what will happen...we will get knocked out on penalties as usual!

Thought Ox looked pretty good last night , must admit I thought it was to soon for him bit he seems like an intelligent and calm kid, has a lovely first touch.
I really hope the plan isn't to start Cahill and Terry, we need a mobile centre back, Jagielka might be a good option, I'd play him with Ledcott.

The plan definitely isn't to start Cahill anymore!
I have to say i think the whole stand by list has been a fiasco. Either Roy didn't think it was likely they'd be used or he and I have very different views on players, but Henderson ahead of Carrick and Scholes, Kelly over Rio or Richards?! Just madness.

I think there's a very real chance we won't get out of the group. I'll make a prediction now that we won't score a single goal. I don't see where they're going to come from

Welbeck, Defoe or even (maybe) Carrol could nick a goal - or one from midfield perhaps (Young, Theo or Ox) - keeping a clean sheet is more important

I haven't heard the news today though - is Cahill and/or Terry out now as well? At least with Hart in goal we've got a world class keeper.

Even without strikers, if we can keep clean sheets and maybe nick an odd goal here and there then we can progress (but not really shine)

Yep Cahill out with a double fracture to the jaw, perhaps Tony Adams might get a late call up?

Davie, whilst in a league competition keeping a clean sheet is important it's not quite the same in a knockout tournament. We won't win anything drawing every game 0-0. In fact 3 points won't get us out the group.
And yes Carroll could become a world beater or we could nick chances and win every game 1-0. But look we couldn't make more than one chance against each of Belgium and Norway let alone Europes best.

I hope I'm wrong but I don't think so

Kelly over Miccah Richards now? Baffling decision.

Got to keep Miccah fit for the Olympics remember!

Hodgson does seem to have a fixation with Liverpool players, is he trying to make ammends?

Richards should have been a shoe-in, so too Adam Johnstone who always produces, whereas downing has been dire for club and country, and Henderson has had a nightmare but gets picked???

Cardiff City to change their playing strip to red, and have a red dragon on the emblem, to meet with sponsorship requirements to appeal to the Chinese market.

Hmmm, difficult decision to sell the historic identity of the club, but I suppose that in this day and age financial survival is the name of the game.

Mary_S wrote:Cardiff City to change their playing strip to red, and have a red dragon on the emblem, to meet with sponsorship requirements to appeal to the Chinese market.

Hmmm, difficult decision to sell the historic identity of the club, but I suppose that in this day and age financial survival is the name of the game.

Mary - there is a whole thread on this:

https://golf-chat.forumotion.co.uk/t421-soccerball-the-cardiff-red-dragons

Ooops - sorry, I heard it on the radio this morning.

Thanks for the link Ray.

Mods - please delete my post!

Don't worry about it Mary. If the mods delete your post then Ray's post looks a little silly. Are Cardiff to be the next MK Dons? Kit changed dramatically, home ground next?

Home ground moved to Beijing perhaps?

Maybe a 47th game Blue?

Definitely a distinct possibility I would have thought Grumps

So Harry is leaving Spurs after all...what do we make of that?

Maybe he's got the England job after all