English Football

[deancoles 0]

The Best:Worst thing in the past five years will be hard, as there hasnt been a lot of bad things to happen

How about the injuries that Pahars has suffered? Or the Delgado farce?

[Vanhalen 0]

I guess I'm just a contented fan then

[TheFranchise 0]

A fan who spells his star striker's name wrong in his sig?

[deancoles 0]

Did anyone watch the spurs game on Eurosport last night? Tottenham had 2 shitty trialists called Bakari and Silva who were really awful and showed no skill or commitment, they made me laugh though, I'm having a lovely vision of seeing them in a Swindon shirt on loan which could happen if they sign(Tottenham owe Swindon a loan player) and on the BBC 606 Tottenham board they're getting all sorts of stick.

 

Edit: "these two looked like they'd just come from emile heskey school of coaching for the under 3's." from 606 sums up those 2 perfectly.

Edited August 6, 2004 by deancoles411

[Vanhalen 0]

Good god, how in the fuck did I spell Beatties name wrong, and not only that, have it in my sig for fucking ages, cheers adam for spotting that

[Vanhalen 0]

I think this sums up Crystal Palaces 1 season stay in the premiership to a tee

 

Never mind surviving relegation from the Premiership, Crystal Palace are having trouble spelling their own name.

 

The Eagles find themselves rooted to the bottom of the literacy league after selling official shirts with the club's name shown incorrectly.

 

The blue and red striped tops bear the legend 'Chrystal Palace' under one of the crests, an error repeated on blue and white away shirts and grey goalkeeping tops.

 

And there's us thinking you were supposed to DROP your aitches in south London.

 

But not everyone has seen the funny side.

 

Palace fan Joe Cusworth, of Tooting, London, told BBC Sport he feared it was a sign of things to come this season.

 

"We could do without getting embarrassed off the pitch as we've got a good chance of getting embarrassed on it.

 

"It makes us look like a total bunch of clowns."

 

Another Palace fan, Dom Cummins from Sutton, could see the funny side, joking: "I'm surprised anybody noticed.

 

"Footballers aren't exactly renowned for their spelling.

 

"We ought to keep the extra letter - we should take anything we can get!"

 

The replica shirts, which cost £39.99 each, were made in Romania for sports manufacturers Diadora.

 

An explanation on the official club website read: "On delivery of our first batch of shirts, we have noticed a discrepancy on the spelling of the club's name.

 

"We have subsequently contacted the manufacturers to enact a recall policy if required."

 

The offending crest is at the bottom of the shirts - amazingly the main badge on the left breast is correct.

 

The blunder comes a day after it was revealed Warwickshire Cricket Club are selling Ashley Giles tribute mugs branding him the 'King of Spain' - after makers put an extra 'a' in by mistake.

 

And while Crystal Palace have gained an 'h', David Beckam - sorry, Beckham - lost one off the back of his shirt in the Charity Shield a couple of years ago.

 

One thing's for sure, if the Eagles start performing badly, expect a new chant to ring around the terraces this season -"We're shirt and we know we are".

[deancoles 0]

Good luck today guys, I'll be able to watch the 1st half of Derby vs. Leeds before I'm off to Ashton Gate to see us win 2-0, Tinnion has said he wants to go very attacking for games(see the Play Off final for why) and his formation will be either 4-3-3 or 3-5-2, Since we had the best defence last year(but a poor attack) it isn't as risky as it seems.Funnily enough the year before we had the best attack but our defence wasn't very good.

 

I wonder if Sky will send anyone down to cover our match for Soccer Saturday as we're favourites for league 1 and sky usually cover 4 games in the studio and send about 3 guys to the Grounds.

 

Does anyone watch the Premiership Years on Sky? I was watching 95/96 on thursday and I was reminded of how awesome Les Ferdinand was that year and seeing Tony Yeboah's famous half volley against Liverpool never gets old.

[Vanhalen 0]

Les Ferdinand was awesome then for Newcastle, cos he had the best supply, he had Gillespie and Ginola pinging in crosses all day long, good luck for the new season, still seven days to wait for me grrrr.

[caboose 0]

Leeds United 1 - 0 Derby County.

 

Not the best start but the performance wasn't comepletely woeful. Junior missed two good chances but the second was partly due to an amazing reaction save from Sullivan.

[k thx 0]

I have to say that it looks like Sulivan is gonna do a great job for Leeds.

[TheFranchise 0]

Junior seemed to be more pissed off for being on the bench.

 

Interesting choice to go for Lee Camp in the sticks but he had a good full debut.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Well, Leeds are my new favorites for the 'Championship' now. Pugh and Richardson look class, they've made solid signings and gotten rid of some dead-wood. Plus they've obviously got something to prove. Meanwhile West Ham, my pre-season pick, looked less than convincing.

[DCMaximo 0]

Well Coventry are top of the league, although that likely wont last long, but I still predict MonkeyHead Reid to lead them to the Prem this year. Have actually been persuaded to watch them in Cardiff this week; should be a good game.

 

Yes, Bakari is a joke, and I'm praying that Santini doesn't sign him. Hopefully, he'll take advantage of the Keane injury situation to give Jamie Slabber a shot in the squad, he's been on the brink for the last year or two, and it'd be nice to see some home-grown talent do well for Spurs.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

New season, same fucking sheffield wednesday. Thing is, I just hang around with a couple of fans rather than being one, so I can sit back and laugh.

[Anorak 0]

Well, Leeds are my new favorites for the 'Championship' now. Pugh and Richardson look class, they've made solid signings and gotten rid of some dead-wood. Plus they've obviously got something to prove. Meanwhile West Ham, my pre-season pick, looked less than convincing.

Everybody's going to beat each other this year, its unlikely the two automatic places will be secured half as easily as they were the past couple of seasons. The Leeds youngsters did look quite impressive at times but overall they were lucky to win, they don't look any better than 10+ other sides at the moment. With so many new players at a lot of those sides its pot luck guessing who gels the best and will be the most consistant.

 

Can't believe how stupid Dublin was against West Ham, he's always had a big gob on him when he's playing but at 35 he should be past kicking out and butting heads. Shame because Connolly looked really good and didn't deserve to be so isolated, the sending off killed the game really.

[TheFranchise 0]

New season, same fucking sheffield wednesday. Thing is, I just hang around with a couple of fans rather than being one, so I can sit back and laugh.

Such a solid crowd at that game too

[deancoles 0]

Watched the Community shield yesterday and if Arsenal want to loan out Fabregas(his stats need improving for the next CM 05 and FM 05),Hoyte or any other young player for first team experience then they'd be welcomed with open arms at Ashton Gate.

[caboose 0]

The FA have told Newcastle to play Middlesborough regardless of the Conjunctivitis outbreak at the club. Shay Given, Lee Bowyer and Laurent Robert amongst others have been struck by it. Its kind of ironic Newcaslte wanted to cancel the match against a side that was docked 6 points for failing to play against Blackburn in 1997 during a similar outbreak of illness at Middlesborough.

[Anorak 0]

Derby 1 LEICESTER 2

[caboose 0]

I was waiting for that. The woodwork has cost Derby a point two games in a row now.

 

But alas, the Derby side is not anything special. Its going to be a struggle all season long. Leicester however will be chasing promotion again.

[Vanhalen 0]

No question to what the biggest story of the day is

 

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has confirmed striker Michael Owen will move to Real Madrid.

The deal is believed to involve Liverpool getting £8m for 24-year-old England international Owen plus midfielder Antonio Nunez from Real.

 

"Michael will have a medical with Madrid before the deal is completed," said Benitez.

 

"I was very happy with Michael and I wanted him to stay. The problem was he only had a year left on his contract."

 

 

He added: "Real Madrid started talking with his agent and in the end it was an impossible situation to control.

 

"The money from his sale will be used to balance the team.

 

OWEN'S LIVERPOOL CAREER

Born: 14 December, 1979

1996: Signs professional terms with Liverpool on 17th birthday

1997: Scores on his first-team debut against Wimbledon

1998: Scores his first Premiership hat-trick against Sheffield Wednesday

2001: Scores twice as Liverpool beat Arsenal 2-1 in the FA Cup Final

September: Signs a new four-year deal with the Anfield club

December: European Footballer of the Year and eighth in the World Player of the Year poll

2003:Scores his 20th goal in European competition, equalling Ian Rush's club record

2004: Leaves Liverpool for Real Madrid

Owen's career statistics 

 

"We still have good forwards here and a good team. We did our best to keep him but, as I say, in the end it was a difficult situation for us."

 

He added: "I talked with him a lot of times and the only thing I can say is I wish him all the best ."

 

The signing of 25-year-old Nunez should be completed later on Friday after the player's agent, Jose Antonio Martin Perton, revealed talks were at an advanced stage.

 

"Yes, it's true, we are talking to Liverpool," he said.

 

"It's going really well and we hope to have the deal closed in a few hours.

 

Vieira stays at Arsenal 

 

"Even if Owen hadn't happened we were pushing for a move. We have been talking with Benitez for quite a long time, for around a month.

 

"The inclusion in the deal for Michael Owen has only just come in now."

 

Perton added: "He is hard working, quick and could help cover the absence of (the injured Vladimir) Smicer on the right.

 

  I'm devastated, Owen is synonymous with Liverpool Football Club

 

From Liverpool fan

Have your say on 606 

 

"We think it's a great move to a very professional club. It's very important that they wanted him.

 

"It will originally be a two-year contract with the option of a third depending on the will of the club and the player."

 

Owen was left on the bench for Liverpool's Champions League game against Graz AK on Tuesday so as not to be cup-tied and decrease his value.

 

With just one year left on his Liverpool contract, Owen would have been able to leave the club he has been at since he was 11-years-old for free at the end of the season.

 

Owen insisted he would not allow that to happen, but the Anfield bosses have decided to ensure they cash in.

[caboose 0]

I think Benitez is smart. Owen ahs not developed as a player in a long time. He's exactly the same player as he was in 1998. He might learn some stuff at Real to combat better defenders which will help England I guess. And a better relationship with Beckham will also benfit England.

[Guest wayzing]

This is good for everybody.

 

If Owen's to realize his awesome potential he needs to move on. I think he can do it.

 

As Caboose said, it's good news for England too. Beckham and Owen training on the same field every single day is good news for Bedmaster General Eriksson.

 

Liverpool must've known they were losing him and hopefully they've got some plans. There was no way they could take the risk of losing their biggest name for no money. They needed to change things anyway if they want to be a top three team again. Any Liverpool fans here who has a take on this?

[King Cucaracha 0]

This is certainly a suitable move.

 

Owen isn't half the player he was 6 years ago and Madrid aren't half the team they were 6 years ago.

 

To be honest I really don't rate Owen as 'World Class' anymore, despite the fact every British journalist and pundit still seems to. Since coming back from injury he's not been able to find form, he had a bad European Championships (then again who didn't) and he's still riding on the crest of that Argentina goal's wave. It's more of a blow to Liverpool in terms of image than it is on the pitch.

 

 

Anyway...according to The Sun, Beattie could be off to Charlton. I'm sure the Saints fans here want the whole Beattie saga settled sooner rather than later.

[caboose 0]

ITS BACK!

 

May the world be at peace now.

 

God bless the Premiership, Soccer Saturday on Sky and most importantly...

 

...BBC MATCH OF THE FUCKING DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anorak 0]

I really can't see Owen doing much at Madrid, it seems a weird move to me. At some other big European side he could maybe establish himself but there's so much other crap that goes with being at that club that takes its toll on characters like him. Raul is a god there, always playing regardless of form, Ronaldo won't stand being on the bench and Morientes is on fire at the moment.

 

Derby had a really good result, Leicester had a crap one. Jody Morris scoring against you doesn't leave a great taste in the mouth either.

 

Iwan Roberts is still scoring in this division!

[caboose 0]

Great result for Derby!

 

Nice one George against your old club.

 

Newcastle got screwed today. Hasselbaink clearly handled it in to give Boro their second.

 

Words cannot express how happy I am that the footie is back!

[Guest CurryMan]

I don´t even see Owen playing that much for Madrid. Last season Raul and Ronaldo played almost every game now they have gotten Morientes back from Monaco. Can´t see Owen getting that much playing time at Real.

[k thx 0]

Lukewarm start for Pompey, but Birmingham look like they should be well in the top half of the table, so we'll take what we can get.

 

Always good to see Southampton in the relegation zone, if only for a week.

[BrokenTiger 0]

Liverpool/Owen saga:

 

When they got rid of Heskey, I'm sure fans were throwing parties (my brother, a lifelong reds, sure did) but selling Owen...I didn't saw it coming as I thought Real would've signed Vieira. As voiced by other people before me, Real doesn't really need Owen as they had Raul, Ronaldo AND Morientes at their disposal. Remember McManaman?

 

True, at Liverpool Owen seems...to be reaching a plateau (even regressing, in my personal opinion) as a player. Aside from Baros, who else the Reds have at their disposal for the striker's position?