Real Football (Soccer to you Yanks) Thread

[Springsteen]

I was really surprised. I mean, Chris Hughton takes Newcastle back into the Premier League, with a great season in the Championship, where, if you remember, he got rid of players who didn't want to be there and then got the players who did performing. Then as I said he took them up, and thye haven't done badly. Sure they lost at home to Blackburn and Blackpool, but they also hammered Sunderland, beat Arsenal, got a point from Chelsea.

Foolish sacking. It will also upset the camp.

[skyblue]

its pathetic,hughton was doing a great job up there

[Springsteen]

Barcelona beating Real Sociedad 3-0 at the moment, it's just footballing perfection. They might just have become unstoppable.

[skyblue]

hodgson to leave liverpool by mutual consent......you heard it from me first

[Springsteen]

"The owners are very intelligent people and have a very clear vision. What they want is for the club to be in the top four," said Hodgson.

Shame it won't happen this season then.

In fairness, I don't completely blame Hodgson for the mess Liverpool are in, I mean, Rafa signed most of these crap players although Rafa shouldn't be blamed for anything concerning that according to Liverpool fans.

The shits.

I say keep Hodgson there, it's funny.

[Peter Parka]

Rumour going round that we're trying to get Adebayor on loan at West Ham till the end of the season. Would be great if we could get him, need someone major here to shake things up and help stop the rot.

[porterjack]

Rumour going round that we're trying to get Adebayor on loan at West Ham till the end of the season. Would be great if we could get him, need someone major here to shake things up and help stop the rot.

the guy who plays for man city? could you afford to pay him - i imagine he would want a lot

[Zorak]

the guy who plays for man city? could you afford to pay him - i imagine he would want a lot

there'd probably be some arrangement as to wage contribution. Man city would probably relish any chance to decrease their bloated wage bill

[porterjack]

there'd probably be some arrangement as to wage contribution. Man city would probably relish any chance to decrease their bloated wage bill

what do you mean wage contribution, why woold man city pay him a cent? if he goes to another club surely they woudl assume repsonsibility for whatever his contract says he gets

[Peter Parka]

Yeah, I mean obviously we would have no chance of signing him permanantly but he's unhappy at Man City so getting regular first team Premiership football to the end of the season when someone else would sign him would work in both our favour. Granted the wages might be a bit of a problem but the two David's are desperate to not see us relegated which ultimately would cost us more. Paying a guy high wages for a few months shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Zorak]

what do you mean wage contribution, why woold man city pay him a cent? if he goes to another club surely they woudl assume repsonsibility for whatever his contract says he gets

It's a loan move, so he's still under contract at man city. Usually, for big name players, one of the clubs would pay a proportion of his wages.
It's only in the case of young players going out for experience that a club would continue to pay a players wages in their entirity.

[Peter Parka]

After todays game, I wrote this on a huge West Ham forum...

What a difference a game makes...

... well not really but unlike a lot of West Ham supporters I keep things in balance, well, at least try to. I dont knee jerk about sacking Grant but I also dont think everything is top of the world and we wont get relegated just because we won a game.
Any West Ham supporter just saw what I saw so I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of the match too much even though my opinions took it into account. I just want to state my opinion about how things are going and what should happen from here by addressing some areas that have been brought up on WHO at least once.
Should Upson stay as captain? - NO. Pretty good game today but he's been worse with this burden/ privledge on his shoulders. Parker is the inspiration and should take over the captains band from his midfield position where he can really inspire and rally all our players. Upson needs the pressure off but make him vice captain where he can rally the defense.
Cole - Dont boo him. Yes he's had a bit of a bad run of late but that just knocks his confidence. I see him as a bit of a Gary Linekar, he's quick and instictive at scoring 6 yard tap ins. Never pretty goals but they all count and I'd rather have 10 tap ins than 1 amazing goal.
Piquenne - Keep him long term, he's one of the most creative players we've got.
Transfer window - we need a good central defender first and then a quick, experienced guy on the wings.
Should Grant be sacked? - Give him till at least after the transfer window - Overall he dosent seen to inspire the players too much but he's a shrewd manager and what he did with Chelsea and a nearly bankrupt Pompey shouldn't be discounted.
Overall, it was a good win today, we finally showed a bit of fighting spirit but Fulham were as bad as us in defense. We still didn't look hungry enough to me and a big team would have destroyed us. Players like Cole, Piquonne, Parker and Upson looked good today but dont be fooled, playing like that against a good team and they would have been poor. They are good enough to hold their own against the best and that's what they need to do. I'm not fooled for a minute, we're one of the weaker teams in the Premiership and we need to fight and play out of our skins to stay in the top flight. Thank fuck for Green, I dread to think where we would be without him.
So thanks for reading and happy new year everyone!

[skyblue]

thing is peter...to stay up its these type of games you need to win

[Peter Parka]

thing is peter...to stay up its these type of games you need to win

Well we've now won, one of them and that shakes our shocking away not winning streak off our back. We just have to build on it and not be complacent. How are Coventry doing lately? I still think I'll win our little bet at the moment.

[Peter Parka]

Thanks for last night, Liverpool, you utter, utter, cunts! ffs!