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!

I preferred it when you were optimistic Grumps!

Playoffs it is then Blue.

Playoffs for Brentford you mean Grumps!

Still 5 points off the playoff places Blue, gotta believe mate

I do believe Grumps...I believe we could go down this season

Oh well, just think of all those new grounds you could get to visit then

I've already been to most of them, can't say there are too many that I would eagerly anticipate a return visit!

John Ward has been sacked by Colchester. Any thoughts on this BC?

Did John Terry have anything to do with it?

Davie wrote:Did John Terry have anything to do with it?

LOL - if ever there was a case of "chalk and cheese", it would be those two!

I presume that JT jumped before he was pushed?

Mary_S wrote:John Ward has been sacked by Colchester. Any thoughts on this BC?

I suppose it is not any great surprise after he was given the dreaded vote of confidence by the board only last week!

You could say that it has definitely been coming as we have only won one game in the last 20 odd. Certainly he has lost a lot of support amongst the fans. Our gate for last weeks match against Crawley Town was a paltry 2484, over 500 fewer than our previous lowest league gate at the new stadium.

Personally I am never particularly a fan of sacking the manager especially when you've just let him re-vamp the squad. Whoever comes in will want to bring their own players in I would imagine and we probably can't afford to do that. All in all it's not good times at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

George Burley is the early favourite to be the new manager. Although the rumour is that Terry Butcher has got the inside track for the job

Interesting one Blue, who would you favour or prefer?

Easy one that Grumps. George Burley was our manager a few years ago and left us in the lurch by taking the short trip up the A12 to manage the Tractor Boys. Now I am not one of the many Col U fans that despise all things Ipswich, but I think a return to us would not be popular with a lot of people.

Terry Butcher however I think would cause a bit of excitement. Who can ever forget the sight of his bloodied head when playing for England and refusing to leave the pitch to get stitched? Now that's the sort of attitude that has got to inspire players to succeed!

Didn't realise Burley had been there before Blue. Never go back, just look at Hooftheball. Also didn't realise that there was animosity between Ipswich and Colchester; I knew there was no love lost between Ipswich and Norwich.

Terry Butcher was probably the reason you have the bit of blood, gerroff the pitch rules now. Lionheart for England in that display.

Yes there is a bit Grumps. My first visit to Carrow Road when we were in the same division I was quite amused to hear a lot of the Col U fans sing "We hate Ipswich more than you"!

Is Terry Butcher coming back to England really on the cards? I thought he was totally settled in Scotland these days ..

Wasn't Butcher ex-Ipswich himself though?

I'm pretty sure Butcher played for Ipswich before he moved to Rangers. Has he stayed in Scotland all that time?

Over in the US a documentary has just started about Liverpool. It's called Being Liverpool and the start was about the time Brendan Rodgers was appointed as manager. I must admit, despite my dislike of Hooftheball, that it is quite interesting and I'm especially enjoying the bits where I know it doesn't work out for them.

Does anyone know if it's on in the UK or is coming soon?

Davie wrote:Is Terry Butcher coming back to England really on the cards? I thought he was totally settled in Scotland these days ..

Wasn't Butcher ex-Ipswich himself though?

It's all over the Col U fan site tonight so could probably be completely made up!

He was indeed Ipswich, part of that great Sir Bobby Robson side in the early 1980's

GG - we saw the first episode of "Being Liverpool" last Friday. I thought that huge painting which Brendan Rodgers had in his house was a bit weird!

When I first saw it, I think I jumped to prententious t**t. You're right about it being a bit scary too.

Haven't seen yesterday's episode yet, will find a repeat of it to watch. I just want to laugh at them, really.

Can't we just put all footballers in a collective bag and throw it off a bridge.

They make liberace look like he had good taste.

Col U have called a press conference for 9.00am tomorrow. New manager to be announced already perhaps? Either that or they have reduced the price of the hot dogs to £2.00

So it's Joe Dunne promoted from assistant manager to first team manager. Mark Kinsella appointed as his assistant, previously Mark was assistant manager at Charlton.

Both were firm favourites with the fans during their playing days with Col U, good luck to them both.

Hope those managerial decisions work out BC.

So, John Terry gets a ban that's half the length of the Suarez one, and he's also fined a week's wages. Do the FA look rather foolish having postponed this for so long, and also the fact that he was already found not guilty in a Court of law?

Personally I don't like JT, so won't be losing any sleep over it!

Still - people who live in glass houses and all that - Bristol Rovers have just signed Derek Riordon on loan. Could be an interesting few months in Bristol!
http://m.local.stv.tv/edinburgh/magazine/103946-footballer-derek-riordan-banned-from-entering-city-centre-at-night/

Regarding JT I heard someone on TalkSport phone in today say something I thought was very insightful

Basically they said "I don't think JT is racist - I just think he's not a very nice man"

Couldn't sum it up better

New management must have been just the ticket for Col U, Blue. Out of the relegation zone and only 10 points from the play offs.

You wouldn't have believed it was the same team Grumps. Joe Dunne signed 3 players on loan this week, a striker from MK Dons who scored twice and two youngsters from Arsenal who looked different class. Even though we went a goal behind we created a lot of chances and ran out comfortable winners playing some really good football along the way.

A great start for Joe Dunne and Mark Kinsella and a much better atmosphere at the stadium.

I saw Sanchez Watt on the team sheet and knew he was an Arsenal lad but didn't know when you signed him. Good to see you moving in the right direction.

The two lads from Arsenal looked head and shoulders above most of what we have seen on the field so far this season, despite Craig Eastmond's wayward pass for the Hartlepool goal.

Two away games to come, starting with Paolo Di Canio's high flying Swindon tomorrow night, next home game is against Stevenage on Saturday week. It's only one game under the new management but now feeling a bit more optimistic for the season ahead.

Another win, 1-0 against Swindon last night! Just like a London bus, you wait ages for one to come along and then two in quick succession

Great start to his managerial career for Joe Dunne, how long will it be before Norwich come sniffing round for him?

Don't you have to beat them 7-1 first.

Did you go to the game Blue?

The 7-1 yes!

Not the Swindon game Grumps, couldn't escape from the office early enough to get there unfortunately

Don't think it should have been called handball but it was given. Liked Balotelli's hand gestures to the keeper afterwards.

Just when you thought the John Terry incident was old news, Ashley Cole has tweeted:-

Hahahahaa, well done #fa I lied did I, #BUNCHOFTWATS

This has come from his official, verified Twitter account.

Although, to be fair, that's probably a decent description of the FA

I'm guessing the real report says they find his evidence to be unreliable or something similar.

Some footballers just have no idea; if brains were dynamite they probably couldn't blow their head off.

I spent a while reading the official report. Cole came out of it very badly, referring to the "evolution" of his evidence (i.e. he changed his story over time)

Waiting now for him to claim his twitter account was hacked. He couldn't possibly be that stupid could he? Well yes, he probably could

I think you're right on the likely "hacked" defence Davie. Shame that his idiocy might rob England of one of their best players - also due to be recognised for his 100th cap in the near future I believe.

Davie wrote:He couldn't possibly be that stupid could he?

Well he did mess Cheryl about, now that wasn't too bright...

The tweet was timed so that it came through right in the middle of the Chelsea press conference - which put poor Roberto on the spot somewhat, as the journalists were picking it up via their phones straight away. Rumour is that Cole was considering retiring from international football anyway, so maybe he had somebody advising him about how to cause maximum damage to the FA?

So the FA decide to take no further action on RVP's forearm smash, but press charges against Ashley Cole for his misguided tweet.

Perhaps it wasn't so misguided after all...

Agreed Davie
How smashing someone in the face with your forearm can be deemed a less serious matter than a flippant tweet........ err ok..

I guess the tweet was insulting the FA themselves which of course must be looked into immediately by such an upstanding bunch of gentlemen. Forearm smashes can wait until this terrible matter has been resolved.......

Anyone watching England? We have so little creativity in us it's boring! Why doesn't anyone pick up the ball and run at them??

Blimey, must be like buses; two came along at once. Not sure about Tyler's comment about Welbeck going down easily; clearly taken out by the keeper.

Nice win today Blue against high flying opposition. Must have been bouncing in the Weston Community Homes Stadium; doesn't that just flow off the tongue.

Get it right Grumps it's the Weston Homes Community Stadium

Yeah it was a good win, the first league defeat that Stevenage have suffered this season. We were helped by them having a man sent off early in the second half but we played some nice stuff and deserved the three points. Sanchez Watts, one of the Arsenal lads, scored the winning goal and a tidy finish it was.

BlueCoverman wrote:Get it right Grumps it's the Weston Homes Community Stadium

Oh, I'm so sorry Still just rolls off the tongue....

It is right up there in the crappy names for stadiums list I agree.

Still I think once they had paid 200 grand for the privilege Robbie Cowling couldn't care what they called it...

top of the list for crap stadium names is clearly the Wankdorf Stadium.

Stevenage don't get off lightly either... the lamex stadium. My favourite sponsorship though was when Southampton were sponsored by Draper Tools.