# SDMB FOOTIE FOCUS: September **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 1, 2003, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942 "2003-09-01T09:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![sc913](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@sc913](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sc913)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/201 "2003-09-24T07:25:57Z")
Glenn Hoddle would be quite desperate to get back in management, I think ;). Some other names: The Roedent, Robson (Bryan), Carlton Palmer. Just kidding, of course (or so I hope, for your sake)… ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/202 "2003-09-24T09:34:30Z")
Both **Owl** and **ruadh** highlight the issue of keeping ‘em once you’ve initially got the bloody manager. At the moment I suspect Tottenham might have more chance of hanging onto O’Neill than Curbishley. On Curbs, where do In-Ger-Lan go if Sven takes the Money Launderers Roubles post-Euro 04 ? (as seems very possible). If the FA want an English manager, who would be in front of Curbs if he did well at Spurs ? Answer, not a lot. The reality is Curbishley could be Spurs manager for less than a year having used the club as a neat stepping-stone to the Big Blazer. O’Neill, however, is interesting. No question he’s coming back to the Prem, just when. Fwiw, I sense he, like most managers, likes to set himself up as David facing some terrible Goliath – in his case Rangers and, also, being from a small league playing in Europe – all managers love the underdog/against the odds thing. He’s got that in spades at Spurs. There’s also a different and more acceptable form of pressure in that situation, not of expectation but of hope. At somewhere like Liverpool the pressure is different. Further, they all love the saviour/messiah thing, and you don’t get that if your club is already achieving. So, I suspect, on a human, emotional level, he fancies Spurs (and I don’t think he’s frightened of a little adulation, either). He might even fancy the squad; to me, it looks the best for at least a decade. Plus, the money, plus the London connection . . . . I can see how he’d fancy it. Just a question of the\* very tricky \*timing, then . . maybe **Owl** is right to pounce on Curbs . . or maybe that Celtic defeat in Munich will be the making of Tottenham (if Celtic don’t make it through the Group stage) ? ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/203 "2003-09-24T10:08:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Barks’ dog food \* > \*\* > > I do (obviously) not attend PL matches reguarly, though I go to Norwegian games, I watch them at the pub.\*\* Where to start…? \*\* [/QUOTE] And when I talk to people at the games and the pub we discuss football and not the private lives of players. I don’t know a single rumour about the players in Norway, you see Norwegian fans care only about football which, acording to you, sets them apart from English fans. \*\* [/QUOTE] Every Norwegian football fan I have ever met (and we get a lot at the lane - they have some sort of travel deal going on) has been absolutely DESPERATE to tell me the same two things about Iversen (one of which isn’t true), well three if you count the fact that his dad’s Odd. Perhaps you’ve fallen in with the wrong crowd old chap, perhaps you should: 1. get yerself off your cross 2. mount up your high horse, 3. take a trip over the moral highground you know so well to the airport. 4. then get to England. 5)Then buy a ticket AND go to a game and talk to people who actually have a right to an opinion - because they’ve paid for one. (just my advice - but avoid anyone in a jesters hat - they’re always twats. I would also avoid remonstrating with the chaps with the little nato badges on their sleeves too) . 1. then come back and tell someone who’s held a season ticket since 1968 how to support an English football team. go on give it a go. You never know you might like it. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/204 "2003-09-24T10:11:25Z")
btw, as of now BetFair has: Ruddy Antics: 4.4/1 Curbishley: 6.6/1 Topbanana: 8.4/1 O’Neil: 14/1 Glenn Rodent: 310/1 ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/205 "2003-09-24T10:19:50Z")
And btw, btw, btw, they have a book on next ManUre manager as well: O’Neil: 3.5/1 Roy Keane: 5/1 Ulrika’s playmate: 6.6/1 Interesting that O’Neil is so much more in the frame for that job . . London tic-tac Calling, with binoculars at the ready . . . ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/206 "2003-09-24T10:29:20Z")
Re the Spurs job: My mate’s mate (only the best gossip here y’know) says that O’neil is bagged for the lane, but won’t leave until January or CFC’s euro-pot exit. The board is very split as to whether Pleat can be trusted between now and january - given that we could concievably be doomed by then. Curbs is plan B and has been tapped up\*and has said yes in principle. Apparently he feels that he has done all he possibly can at CAFC, which given they got 10,000 last night is probably true. I still think he’s the most likely. I thought it was well known that Maclaren was a shoo-in for the Ingerland job? It’s been in the papers and everything. \*allegedly hem hem. I should stress. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/207 "2003-09-24T10:37:33Z")
Well given ‘boro are on the same points as Spurs and he had a near punch-up with David Moyes on Saturday, I’d think he was ideal for In-Ger-Lan. Nothing’s that certain, is it. And, of course, Adam Crozier has gorn . . who knows . . . If it’s Curbs or O’Neil, I’d think we’d have done the best we could. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/208 "2003-09-24T10:49:48Z")
And if we get O’neil he could bring Vega back too! ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/209 "2003-09-24T10:52:37Z")
A man who even David Blaine doesn’t want near his box . . . ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/210 "2003-09-24T11:16:25Z")
I don’t think O’Neill and Vega are on particularly good terms these days. Hopefully he’ll take Sylla with him, though. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/211 "2003-09-24T11:18:36Z")
**Owl** , I don’t agree with **Barks’ dog food** about limiting the discussion to on-the-field matters but I think he has a point on the gay thing. The reality is that we’re not down the pub shooting the shit with our mates, we’re on an internet message board which has a different set of standards and conventions. Give the ‘shirt lifter’ bullshit a rest, for Christ’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/212 "2003-09-24T11:24:16Z")
I’m not trying to upset people, so I have stopped. However some people seem to take a special pride in being offended. One of my pals is a gay football fan (and as hard as nails) and he thinks the whole “poofter” thing is hilarious. Still he’ll be pleased to know that people who have never been near a football ground in their life are offended on his behalf, what with him being 6’4" and with a string of convictions as long as an oran-utang’s arm for duffing people up. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/213 "2003-09-24T11:31:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by owlstretchingtime \* > . . . for duffing people up. ooh . . 3/6 a pint, jumpers for goal posts, Spurs in the top half! ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/214 "2003-09-24T11:47:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by London\_Calling \* > \*\*ooh . . 3/6 a pint, jumpers for goal posts, Spurs in the top half! \*\* arthur rowe, push and run, john white, cliff jones, the fairs cup, the shelf, the old east stand, floodlights on pylons, the tottenham roxy, golden goals, jimmy hill and alex cross, enduring image, bill nicholson, pass and move, the double, jimmy greaves, danny blanchflower, dave mckay, hard man isn’t it? first ever british european trophy, big five, charlie buchan’s football monthly, shoot! league ladders, butcher’s coats, pringle, casuals, enduring image, saint and greavsie, first ever televised league match, irving scholar, public listing, diamond lights, gazza, gary charles tackle, el tel, that cunt sugar, man in a raincoat… where next? ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/215 "2003-09-24T12:10:46Z")
Owl, your mate doesn’t post here, so what is acceptable in his company is different from what is acceptable here. Frankly, it makes your posts look like the opinions of a 12 year old in the playground. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/216 "2003-09-24T12:14:43Z")
As for O’Neill, I think the “sleeping giant” analogy hits home closer to Liverpool than to Spurs. They have the money, and the bones of a good squad (plus O’Neill is the only one ever to get consistency out of Heskey.) Spurs I’d reckon could get McLeish, plus having ENIC owning a fair proportion of both clubs gives them an “in” to any contractual hiccups, and Rangers won’t mind the money needed to break the contract. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/217 "2003-09-24T12:15:06Z")
Ho and furthermore hum. I said I would stop as it appears to offend the easily offended. I have stopped. What more do you want? Also I am deeply prejudiced against my pal - he’s a hammer, and you know what they’re like. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/218 "2003-09-24T12:30:10Z")
Putting alegiences aside; I think O’Neil would be a mug to come to spurs. Here’s why… At present he is flavour of the month, he did well at leicester etc, and has got CFC to a euro-final. There really isn’t any down side. But the spurs job is a bear trap. The media have it in for us (really they do - honest); we do have some good players but the fanbase are unrealistic in expectations and are easy to turn against people. He should keep his repuatation intact and go for the Man Utd job in time. However it is the ideal move for curbuishley. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/219 "2003-09-24T13:52:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Barks’ dog food \* > \*\*I don’t care what fans or footballers discuss. They are not on the SMBD. I want to dicuss football. If you want to dicuss players private lives then start your own thread. > > When I said private lives that obviously didn’t include crimminal activity. If you can’t see the difference between commenting on sexuality and criminal behaviour, I don’t know what to do. > So if you could give us some cites about the crimminals we can discuss it. > \*\* > Pennants mum? Haven’t you read my posts? It’s a rumour about the private life of the mum of a player, how can that possebly be relevant? Do I really have to ask you to stop every kind of irrelevant rumour you post. I’ll make it clear: > Please stop talking about Pennants mum and her private life as it has nothing to do with this discussion. > I do (obviously) not attend PL matches reguarly, though I go to Norwegian games, I watch them at the pub. And when I talk to people at the games and the pub we discuss football and not the private lives of players. I don’t know a single rumour about the players in Norway, you see Norwegian fans care only about football which, acording to you, sets them apart from English fans. > > I don’t care about the working class. I care about the footie thead at SDMB is ruined by a single poster who insists on bringing up irrelevant rumours. \*\* A single poster? Over here in England, we spend hours in the pub speculating over which Viking Stavanger it is who loves his pet Alsation… rather too much… Football over here rather more than just latching on to a team from another country, it’s about years old rivalries, it’s in the blood. (ManYoo excepted). It’s not just kicking a pig’s bladder about. A former Norwegian commentator understood that only to well… I had a lovely Gazza quota for you, but it escapes my mind at the moment… Just out of interest, what was it that drew you to a site called ‘The Straight Dope’? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2003, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942/220 "2003-09-24T14:00:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by owlstretchingtime \* > \*\*The media have it in for us \*\* Well then MON will feel right at home. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-footie-focus-september/198942.md?page=12)