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!

Mary_S wrote:Not one to bear a grudge though, a couple of years later I did give evidence in Court for a Cardiff fan who was wrongly arrested at Twerton Park.

Surely just being a Cardiff fan is more than sufficient grounds to be arrested?

Oh dear Blue, looks like it was more like "We've only come to stuff the Col U, come to stuff the Col U..."

But you can take (some) heart from the fact you were doomed from the start anyway as you were playing at home. None of the other home teams managed a win, the best they could do was a draw.

And we did have to contend with the bizarre decision making of Mr Trevor Kettle as referee...

Should have had a few quid on that, I wonder what the odds of none of the home teams recording a win in the 12 matches tonight would have been?

No doubt Richard Keays will be crowing on Talk Sport tomorrow - I don't think Coventry get many victories in a season these days!

Some Bristol Rovers fans calling for the Manager to go after a 4-0 defeat. That would be our 6th Manager in 24 months - talk about a revolving door!

So DiMatteo gets the bullet this morning just 5 months after winning Champs League

What a crazy decision! Fat Spanish waiter Benitez now favourite to take over for rest of the season

Makes Arsenal's chance of finishing top 4 a lot easier though!

Madness! Sacked at 5 a.m. this morning apparently.

Wonder if DiMatteo fancies a spell in the West Country!

DiMatteo had even more bad news when he arrived home early to find John Terry just leaving

So - will Raffa be the new Gaffa? 4/5 at the moment according to Twitter.

Be better off with Boycie the Jaffa...

So Rafa gets it

Interesting as I was driving home tonight listening to the radio though - the presenter was talking to a rep from one of the online bookmakers, talking about the market on next manager and how it had been suspended. Mid conversation the presenter butted in and said that it was Rafa and read out the statement from the Chelski website saying Rafa was "interim manager until the end of the season". The bookmaker could hardly contain his glee saying that the market had been on the next permanent manager!

Some serious soul-searching for the bookmakers I think!

Davie - I was tempted to have a little flutter at lunchtime, but the word "permanent" held me back (thankfully). I'm sure that many took the bait though.

"Chelsea is a big club [..] I would never take that job, in respect for my former team at Liverpool, no matter what." - Benitez 2007

Davie wrote:Some serious soul-searching for the bookmakers I think!

Straight out of the business school ethics of Michael O'Leary...

Mary_S wrote:"Chelsea is a big club [..] I would never take that job, in respect for my former team at Liverpool, no matter what." - Benitez 2007

Unless I'm out of work and the money is right of course...

Football is so rubbish nowadays.

Careful SR you are sounding a bit like Mac there...

Well it is.

I've a total lack of interest in the game other than playing it. Don't have the patience to sit through a game anymore. It's just so dreary and footballers such frightful people.

Certainly some footballers are as you describe and I can't muster too much interest in the premier league these days.

Still enjoy supporting my local league 1 side, although must admit I don't follow them away as much as I used too.

super_realist wrote:I've a total lack of interest in the game other than playing it.

So if you have got a football match and a golf competition on the same day which one do you choose SR?

Golf every single time. Only play 5 and 7 a side anyway. Not interested in muddy satudray 1 a side getting lumps kicked out of me by pikey players.

That's the reason I gave up, hobbling around the office for the early part of the week suffering from the effects of said pikey players. Still miss it though, had some great fun playing football

Must admit I find it hard to start the golf season off due to the end of the football season and hard to get into the football season because I'm heavily into the golf season. This is really due to the weather but was never really a factor back home.

So Clattenberg has no case to answer at the FA. The FA said Chelsea were right to make the complaint and acted appropriately in doing so. Ramires also acted in good faith in making the allegation.

The head of the referees union has said that Chelsea should apologise and pay Clattenberg compensation. I have to say I don't agree with this based on what the FA said. Due process has been followed and Clattenberg has been exonerated.

Wonder what the Society of Black Lawyers will say especially as Mikel has been charged with misconduct. Could it be seen as retaliation?

I think that Chelsea's mistake was to go public with it within a couple of hours of the final whistle. Surely they could have carried out their duty to Mikel, but let things be investigated away from the public domain? There will always be those who now view Clattenberg with a "no smoke without fire" slant.

If that's the case Mary then they should apologise to Clattenberg for the leak.

I think the FA are just being politically correct in saying the charge was made in "good faith". If that's "good faith" I'd hate to see bad faith!

Chelsea look on the verge of total meltdown to me - first the managerial crisis and now this. I wouldn't be surprised to see the club go into freefall in the aftermath of all this trouble. The FA have obviously trying to brush this off as a storm in a teacup but it seems more than that to me. The charge should never have been brought against Clattenburg.

I'd hope that fans of every other club see this and will actually support him on his return to refereeing - the Chelsea fans will obviously give him a bad time but I'd hope that fans of every other club give him backing (even if for the wrong reasons to stick two fingers up at Chelsea)

Davie wrote:So DiMatteo gets the bullet this morning just 5 months after winning Champs League

What a crazy decision! Fat Spanish waiter Benitez now favourite to take over for rest of the season

Makes Arsenal's chance of finishing top 4 a lot easier though!

Benitez is a brilliant tactician and an outstanding manager.

What he did at Valencia was incredible. An inferior team can beat Barcelona in a one off game (Celtic!), but over the course of the entire season to win the league ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona really is an achievement. Valencia aren't a small club, I suppose it is like Newcastle winning the Premiership. And he did it twice. And won the UEFA cup.

Then I thought he was pretty successful at Liverpool... 2 CL finals, and came close to winning the Prem with a very high total in 2008-09, regular top 4 for most of his reign. It went a bit wrong for him when he couldn't spend any money and he got frustrated and performances slipped, but in the context of the budget he had and the turmoil created by different owners I thought he did a great job at Liverpool.

Looks like Hughes is gone too today - making the way for the return of 'Arry

Doc wrote:What are peoples views on the plight of QPR under Hughes. Warnock romped the championship to get them promoted, and he didn't really get the backing of the owners at the time. These blokes then sold the club in the close season to Fernandes, but it only left Warnock with a few days to do a supermarket sweep to buy whatever players were still left. He did ok in the prem, as he was trying to get his make-shift team working, but was sacked and Hughes brought in. Hughes was lucky to keep them up and I reckon if Warnock was still in post they wouldn't be in the relegation zone. Hughes then goes out and buys a whole new team this summer, spending a bomb, but is still bottom and far from safe. Did Fernandes act hastily by getting rid of Warnock. Hughes has the gall to blame the previous management???

Warnock has every right to feel bitter, he was doing a great job given the circumstances, but new owners usually means a new manager. But Fernandes is tryng to do things the right way and he has put his money where his mouth is. Fair play to him.

The current situation? It baffles me to be honest. The team looks to have no fight, which is just not what you expect from a Mark Hughes team.

Much was made of Hughes' shopping spree in the summer, but actually it was pretty erratic and not all that successful. For example we have half a dozen premiership quality full backs, but not one centre half who would expect to start for a premiership team. Hughes tried to sign Dawson and Carvalho (which would have been great) but we didn't get either and so we play Nelsen and Ferdinand, who are both ok as squad players but no more. If one of them is out, the players coming in are Championship quality.

We've got some good midfielders, including some pretty creative players, but many of them are new to the Prem and will take time to adjust to the league. Sadly, experienced players like Park ji sung and Wright-Phillips just haven't delivered and look a shadow of what they were.

Up front, Hughes has been unlucky with injuries. With Johnson and Zamora now out for the long term, we are left with only one out and out striker - Cisse.

Worrying times. We are almost certain to lose at Old Trafford this weekend. I though Hughes would be given a couple more games to turn it round, but it seems that the owners realised they had to act. Let's hope we get Harry!

Harry will be in the stands at Old Trafford tomorrow.

Makes a change from in the dock I suppose

BlueCoverman wrote:Makes a change from in the dock I suppose

I think the story about Harry going to Ukraine was just to force QPR into action. Bit odd to sack Hughes today, why not do it at the beginning of the week?

Mary_S wrote:

BlueCoverman wrote:Makes a change from in the dock I suppose

I think the story about Harry going to Ukraine was just to force QPR into action. Bit odd to sack Hughes today, why not do it at the beginning of the week?

spot on mary

no way 'Arry would go to the Ukraine. Obviously quite a bit of posturing / bluffing / negotiating going on

Conspiracy with the bookies. Who was expecting Di Matteo to have gone before Hughes?

Roman Abramovich perhaps?

What was it you said to me on another thread, Blue? Oh yeah, I remember: No one likes a Smart Ar$e

I said that?...surely not!

It's all going sadly wrong at MK Dons...losing 4-1 and down to 10 men

Make that 5-1

Another disappointment for the Gooners today too - can we just play Tottenham and Chelsea every week please?

Oh dear Blue, least you didn't go watch it.

Didn't we lose to Chelsea, Davie? Why would we want to play them every week? My phone died on me whilst out on the course today so I couldn't keep up with the score; it must have known it wasn't to be our day so it put me out of my misery.

I must've blocked the Chelsea game out of my mind this time around Grumps - but we have a pretty good record against them recently and the way they are going into freefall now....

I'd hardly class 0-0 draw with Man City as going in to freefall. Maybe someone has been spending too much time reading the tabloids?

Ah it wasn't just the Citeh game Ray - just a cumulation of everything that's happened to them recently (JT, Mikel, Clattenburg, Di Matteo etc). I actually thought they did well to get a point off Citeh!

Abramovitch would have been better playing a decent PR card, and told everyone the reason RDM was sacked, was because of the way he handled the Clattenberg affair. Instead of shock/horror and a slating in the media, many would have applauded him for it. Chelsea do seem to be a club where the owner can do whatever he wants, even pick the team, or buy a player he fancies etc. He has a load of Russian mafiosa types following him around and just saying yes to everything. That club deserve all they get

Doc wrote:
Chelsea do seem to be a club where the owner can do whatever he wants, even pick the team, or buy a player he fancies etc.

He owns the club, he can do whatever he wants to it. That's the whole point of buying a football club. It's a business and/or a plaything, it's not some sort of benevolent community scheme.

I don't get all this outrage from Chelsea "fans". If you wanted to watch a James Bond film but the studio decided to replace Daniel Craig with Danny De Vito, you probably wouldn't go and see it. You wouldn't pay money to sit in a cinema and boo Danny De Vito and throw popcorn at the screen. The same goes for football. If fans think their club has sold out, they should follow Wimbledon fans and stop handing over their money to the club.

Chelsea is going through the most successful period in its history and it's down to one man. If Chelsea fans are happy to boast about the clubs new wealth and success they have to accept Abramovich can do as he pleases.

It's not a fair comparison though is it Ray. Seeing a James Bond film is when you turn your brain off for a couple of hours and have an enjoyable night out. Supporting a football team (as I am sure you know as a QPR fan) is more like a lifetimes journey and addiction.

Dave Sexton was 82 years old when he died. I bet every Chelsea fan that joined in the minutes applause at the weekend, however young they are, had heard about Dave Sexton and what he achieved as manager of their club. They know and accept that Abramovich can do as he pleases, that doesn't mean to say that they have to show approval of every decision that he makes.

Yes not a fair comparison I don't think. If some one has supported a club for 10, 20, 30 or even 50 years I don't think it's as easy as to just say "well I don't like what they are doing so I don't care anymore".

To continue your own analogy, Disney have recently bought out the rights to the George Lucas Star Wars brand - die hard saddoes will weep and moan about how the franchise will be diluted. THEY have the option not to pay their money to see the next batch of Star Wars movies (though I bet they won't) - it's just not the same as someone who has sat at Stamford Bridge (or Anfield, or Loftus Road, or anywhere else)

Is Raffa the first Manager to have the "xxxxx Out" signs displayed at his first game in charge?

Could be Mary - though there may have been some when Alex McLeish turned up at Villa

I know it's typically not a fair comparison, because people have an emotional attachment to their club.

But I have no sympathy for the chelsea situation because it is different. All these "fans" only started supporting the club when Abramovich came in and spent his millions. They have no right to demonstrate against his hire and fire approach.