Gotcha, thanks Owl. Can I call you The Great Gray Owl? National Geographic just ran a great story on the Great Gray Owl. I love Owls!
Anyway, one last English Football question. If the World Cup were to start today, what would the English starting lineup look like?
Thanks
Fair point on the first part - until Googling it, I hadn’t realised how low the rugby attendance at the JJB had fallen. As for the second part, fair point, but too obvious 
Just imagine if Wigan had kept Springfield Park, though :eek:
http://castlereagaa.com/3302425758.wmv
Interesting perspective of the tunnel incident at the recent Man. U/Arsenal match.
Some swearing but otherwise a good laugh.
Ignore me, Shibb, I’m just an expatriate Manchester United supporter, who eats too many prawn sandwiches - well, prawn dumplings, anyway. (I recalled hearing something about Spector going on loan, googled, found a site that said he said he was off to Rovers, and jumped in.) It will never happen again.
Re the rumble in the tunnel, bits of which I saw on the box when it happened, Keane is awesome. Have you read his autobiography? Well worth a read. Much of the success at Manchester United since 1992 can be put down to three people, Fergie, Cantona and Keane. Cantona was like a Pied Piper who lent self-belief to the young players, while the relationship between manager and Cantona’s successor as captain has underpinned the triumphs. He also learned to deal with the booze, which blighted the careers of the likes of Jimmy Greaves and George Best in the 60s. Giggs has long been my favourite player (versatile, tough, pacey, skilful, team player), but Keane is the heartbeat of the team. Which other player could take the piss out of his own fans for their lack of passion and get away with it? A diamond.
I’m watching Crystal Palace and Bolton this morning. So far Bolton seem to have a slight edge. If the Johnson you reference is the hairless one playing up front then he seems decent enough but doesn’t get much support. I think FSW are airing a Man City game later this weekend, so perhaps I’ll get a chance to check out Phillips as well. Thanks for the recos.
Couple of very minor nitpicks on the loan front: Nick Barmby was released by Leeds United, so he’s on Hull City’s permanent playing staff.
Fees can be paid for loan signings, particularly where the player is well regarded enough. For example, Celtic paid Wolves £1.5m to take Henri Camara on loan for the rest of the season (he later returned and was loaned out to Southampton instead). That was, and probably still is, the British record “loan fee”.
Norwich v. West Bromwich Albion - the battle for the bottom:
Well, as I mentioned further up in this thread I stated I was rooting for Norwich to stay in the Premiership and not get relegated. So I’m happy about the outcome of this match.
But, geez - W.B.A. outplayed Norwich almost the entire game. Robson must surely be pulling his hair out over this one. Norwich didn’t play especially well - but they do seem to have the ability to come back and make games interesting. Francis’s winning goal was lovely.
I feel badly for W.B.A. (I like Earnshaw, Gera, and Purse as players), but that’s what happens when you can’t capatilize on easy opportunities and your defense breaks down at the wrong moments.
Oh, and GorillaMan - 
- sorry, couldn’t resist.
It’s alright, we’re five points clear - I can almost accept the idea of a derby next year 
Yup, that’s him. I thought Palace did ok, but we just couldn’t score. AJ works hard but he does lack support. It will be interesting to see him playing for England on Wednesday.
Well the boys made my Pompey prediction a little more likely (although to be fair to the skates they did play quite well)
Palace fan chap: Are you resigned to losing Routledge at the end of the season (we don’t want him now we have Reid, but there wil be other takers no doubt - wouldn’t the money have been useful?)
What do people think should happen to Chelsea - they seem pretty guilty of tapping up Cole? However it goes on all the time - they’re just more blatant than most.
Oh and Mido? What a debut!
Perhaps the most amusing and high-profile recent example would be that of Fernando Morientes (who recently signed for Liverpool). In the 2002/2003 season (I think) he was loaned to Monaco by Real Madrid. Subsequently, the two teams met in the European Cup, and Morientes scored two goals for Monaco over the two legs to put the team that owned him out!
Despite this, I think that he even went back to Madrid at the end of his loan period and played a few more games for them before leaving last year. I can’t imagine what sort of reception he got from the fans and staff on his return!
Southampton vs. Everton - Geez, a heartbreaker for Redknapp and the Saints. Everton looked (and played) like crap the entire match, but pulled out a draw in the last seconds of stoppage time with a goal by Bent.
Depends whether we stay up or not. If we go down I expect we’ll lose him and AJ. If not, who knows? Dowie is one of those managers that inspires loyalty. When Spurs was chasing Routledge Dowie said that he’d rather have him as a player than have the money.
Steady on Rog. A diamond? I like Roy Keane a lot myself, as uncompromising men are easy to admire (voice of Robert the Bruce’s old man in Braveheart). However, he lives in infamy for his knee-breaking assault on Alfie Haaland, something that should never be forgotten when discussing the bloke, a most cowardly act.
There is definitely room in the premiership for a few thugs, especially if they are as talented as Keane or Rooney, for example. Most thugs lack character though, and can be relied upon to disgrace themselves and their team sooner or later.
THere’s two questions here. One is if we started tomotrrow what would we look like. My guess is (playing 4-4-2 which Sven and the players like):
GK: Robinson
RB: G Nevill
CB: Ferdinand
CH: Campbell (spit!)
LB A Cole
RM: Beckham ©
CM Lampard
CM Gerrard
LM ??? (I’d give SWP a go)
Hole: Rooney
CF: Owen
However what the actual team could look like is:
GK: Robinson
RB: Anyone other than Neville PLEASE!
CB Terry
CH Judas
LB A Cole
RM Beckham
CM Lampard
CM Gerrard
LM Downing
CF: Defoe
Cf Rooney.
With SWP to come on when Beckam’s legs tire
Sven says Wright-Phillips will be starting the Holland friendly on the right and that Downing and Andy Johnson will play (although probably not start), at least according to BBC Teletext anyway.
I guess that means Beckham and Lampard/Gerrard will start in the centre with the other one of Lampard/Gerrard on the left.
Hopefully SWP, Lampard, Gerrard and Downing will all impress enough for Sven to finaly realise that Beckham is only good enough to warm up the bench. I can dream…
Sven doesn’t take friendlies seriously.
I think you can assume that SWP and Downing are on the plane to Germany next year. Johnstone’s got a lot to do: Rooney; Owen; Defoe; Smith are all ahead of him and realistically he’s only good enough to challenge Smith - so he’s hoping for an injury to get in the WC squad.
If yo work on the basis that the WC Squad wil have two players for every position and then be cut back to 22 I think it’s likely to be this:
GK; Robinson/James
RB G Neville/Carragher
CB Campbell/Terry
CH Ferdinand/King
LB A Coe/Bridges
RM Beckham/SWP
CB Lampard/Butt
CB Gerrard/A N Other
LM Downing/Parker (if fit)
Forwards: Rooney Owen Defoe Smith
Saw the replay of the leg breaking incident on FSW last night - nasty. I wasn’t aware of the incident previously; now I understand why he’s reviled as much as he is.
Hey, thanks for all the replys to my questions, particulary regarding the English World Cup lineup.
Somehow I stumbed upon this link which shows the Goals of the Year: 2004. Whoa! Un-freakin-believable! That goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic is f-ing amazing! What can you guys tell me about this guy? Is he a super star?
Hell, all of those goals are jaw-dropping! I gotta get satellite, man.