So; half way through the footie season, how's it going for your club/country

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Club:

Tottenham.

It’s been a topsy-turvy season including a fortnight at the top of the
table. Which was fun but noone believed it would last. It didn’t. We’ve
played some lovely football, and some truly shocking stuff too.

We have one of the brightest young talents in Britain - Simon Davies (If
only he were English) and a promising crop of youngsters coming through.

We also have a manager who would baffle Sigmund Freud, never mind Steffen
Freund. Some of Hoddle’s decisions seem almost wilfully perverse,
sticking with Poyet, who is clearly totally shot. Ditto Sheringham.

This transfer window is vital. We need a defensive midfielder, a
goal-scoring striker (ie not Emile bloody Heskey). It would be nice to
palm off some of our dross too. So far we’ve done Birmingham up like a
kipper with Clemence and West Ham appear likely to take Les Ferdinand off
our wage bill.
>
So realistic prospects? With the above signings top six, without mid
table.

Country

England:

The great under-achievers strike again. Sven flatters to deceive. Gary
Neville must have compromising photos of him to keep getting picked. It’s
all going to come down to the two Turkey games. I am far from confident.
The Turks are quite a formidable prospect.

But here’s a prediction: There will be carnage in Istanbul, and UEFA will
do absolutely nothing, allowing the Turks to get away with literal murder.
However a Turk will trip over the paving stone in England and we will be
banned again. Still, mustn’t upset the Muslims now must we? That would be
“racialist”. Pah!

Surprises:

Everton: Moyes must be some manager to get Everton to where they are with
a pretty pony squad. Let’s see I they can keep it up. Rooney is over
rated at present. Hope he lives up to the hype.

Southampton: A worse squad. Brett Ormerod in Europe? Blimey?

The success of AFC Wimbledon and the continuing of the fan’s boycott of
Wimblestein.

Disappointments:

Portsmouth buying the 1st division. I hoped that those days were coming
to an end. Still if they buy Sherwood I’ll be well made up.

England’s performances generally.

2

Aberdeen:

We fired Ebbe. We hired Steve Paterson from Inverness CT. Euro 2008 isn’t coming to Scotland/Ireland, so New Pittodrie isn’t going to be built after all. We’ve hired loads of new players, but they don’t seem to be panning out as we’re mired in 9th place.

And I’m glad only one team gets relegated from the SPL.

3

This is about club soccer in England?

4

Crap!!

Your prediction about El-Tel was spot on.

There seems to have been some dressing room problems that have not helped at all, and there is a distinct lack of work ethic in the more mundane but still important matches.

Seems like some of our contingents only want to play in the big games.

Maybe we’ll have a good cup run, hmmmph!

5

Club soccer, weirddave, but not necessarily in England.

Celtic:

Doing surprisingly well in the UEFA Cup, not so well in the league, though we still only need one victory against the huns to turn it around. Wake up every morning wondering if we still have a manager. Getting completely shafted for tickets for European away games (Stuttgart gives us 5,000 of which only 1,700 are actually being sold to the fans? Frigging insane considering the away support we take to every game!). Just sold one of our brightest youngsters, as well as our dodgiest keeper and are about to sell another (not so bright IMHO but rated by a lot of other fans) youngster while our transfers in are looking like … eh … nobody. Gonna be a long season.

Local club:

Bohemian FC can win the League of Ireland title tomorrow by beating Shelbourne who are currently in second place, four points behind, with three games remaining. It’s certainly doable, although the injury absence of Bohs’ star striker, the recently-capped Irish international Glen Crowe, will make it a bit more difficult. Still I’m optimistic :smiley:

6

Ajax Amsterdam is second in the league, only a few points behind PSV. They’re looking good enough to take the title, just like last year.

In the Champions League, they’re doing OK. Joined first place with Arsenal - it’s just that they still have to play Arsenal. February 18!

As for the Dutch national team, they’re doing OK in the qualifiers for Euro 2004. Joined first spot with the Czech Republic, who we still have to play. I’m sensing a pattern here. :wink:

March 29 is when the Czechs will come over. Go Holland!

7

Hello? Don’t we have any football fans on this board anymore?

cough

Sunday’s result:
Bohemians 1 (Ryan 89)
Shelbourne 0

Championes!

8

Newcastle:

Not doing at all badly considering how awful we were in the first few weeks of the season, and how useless we still are away from home. We’ve had some good fortune in getting to the second stage of the Champions League but I doubt we’re gonna get any further. Hopefully we can finish in the top 4 but there’s still a long time to go in the season.

We need to get a new centre-back 'cause Dabizas and Caldwell aren’t good enough for the Champions League or even the top half of the Premiership. He has to be a commanding presence in the defence who would organise it a bit better than it is at the moment. John Terry from Chelsea would be good.
We also need a new midfielder to replace Robert Lee. All of the current batch apart from Speed (who’s injured) are too attack-minded. Finally Robert needs to stop being such an ass and get on with being a member of the team.

Southampton and Everton have definitely been the surprises of the season. Aston Villa have been surprisingly rubbish.

9

You’re going nowhere in Europe. Aberdeen isn’t going to qualify for next season.

10

Still a sore spot, eh? :wink:

11

Crystal Palace:

dullest season for years (unless Liverpool stay useless for another two weeks), no likelihood of promotion, relegation, play-off, bankrupcy, administration, or all those other little things we usually experience.

Been quite a nice change, really.

12

Chelsea: we’ve now got 41 points and so probably won’t be relegated.

Yes, I still think in those terms. 20 years’ practice is not easily lost.

Other than that - who’d have thought that Ranieri would actually come good? Except me of course, who’s been arguing for the last few years that he just needs the time to shape a squad in his image.

Best defensive pairing in the Premiership. Best keeper in the Premiership. Best striker pairing in the Premiership. Comfortably third, well within Champions League placings. Nobody has lost fewer games than us. Nobody has conceded less goals than us. Only Arsenal have scored more goals than us. Things are looking pretty good, I’d say.

Mind you, I’m still expecting it all to turn to shit at some point. I have 26 years’ experience to back me up on that one. It would be more, but I’m only 26 years old.

pan

13

Leicester City.

Second in the First Division, so we’ll be back up if form continues. Micky Adams has done a lot of good since old man Bassett moved upstairs. He’s brought out a good winning mentality and our mixed squad has done pretty well. Scowcroft, Deane, Dickov and Izzet have put in good performances, and Matt Elliott is back on form.

Against all expectation, Muzzy Izzet is still at the club, which is great. Unfortunately, we also still have Frank “Spencer” Sinclair on our books. Wish we could get rid of him. Even Nikos Dabizas would be an improvement.

The club are working their way out of administration. I should have my supporter’s trust membership stuff fairly soon. I’m slightly concerned about how the club will be run in future. I don’t want the same people to be making the same mistakes. At least with the supporters trust, we have some kind of a say.

The playing side of things is going well, and I hope it continues. The manager’s done a great job, in large part due to his attitude of “I’ll do my job and you do yours.” We have to make sure that we do go up at the end of the season (ideally without going through playoffs, of course, so back off Sheffield United) because if we don’t, then we really will be buggered.

14

Oldham Athletic AFC.

Currently in sixth place in Division Two and suffering from a major injury crisis. Captain and defensive rock Clint Hill is out for the season with a broken leg; alternative captain Matty Appleby is suffering from a host of injuries. Top scorer Clyde Wijnhard is out for anywhere between one and eighteen months, depending on who you believe. Our entire midfield is either injured or suspended for the next game.

On the brighter side: we’re starting to recapture our early season form. Ben Burgess, who scored 17 for Brentford last season, has signed on loan to add some firepower, and so far we’ve held on to star defender Fitz Hall and increasing impressive Aussie keeper Les Pogliacomi in the face of Premiership interest. The playoffs may yet beckon.

15

My prediction: Farnborough Town 4 Arsenal 2.

16

For Celtic, read Ruadh’s.

as for Dublin City F.C., sitting In Mid table with two games to go and only having won 7 games all season (drew 4 and lost 9 for the rest of the results) gives an indication of the calibre of opponents and a measure of their greatness.

Another season battling Monaghan United for mid table mediocrity :slight_smile:

17

kferr: are you going? I’m trying to get tickets from three sources currently. It’s been ages since I last saw the 'Boro, but I’ve still seen them more than any other team.

18

KABBES:

How do you feel about the news (in Sundays Observer Business section) that Chelsea Village may be sold to a yankee pension fund who would then sell of CFC to the highest bidder? Possibly Master Bates?

I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing for CFC.

19

Crusoe, I’m gonna try to get a ticket. The club secretary drinks at my local and I think the landlord is getting a few as well as a few other friends that have ties to the club.

20

Farnborough’s only down the road from me. I wouldn’t mind seeing that game either (though they aren’t the kabbess’ favorite team right now because they beat Darlington and Darlington’s star player was a friend of the kabbess’ in school!) Maybe we could do a dopematch if they actually keep it at Farnborough? Although I’m guessing tickets are not easy to come by.

Owl: I’ve lived through many years of Chelsea being this: <-> close to going bust. So it takes a lot to faze me on that score. Combine that with the fact that I’ve always been a big Barnet supporter too (went to 18 home matches one season!) and I know my way around football club problems.

The long and the short of it is that I’ve learned that, principally, nothing changes. At least not overnight. And long term is impossible to say.

So the village may change hands and then the club. Still the same old same old.

Anyway and as it happens, I rather like Cuddly Ken. I still remember the dark old days when there used to be big drums on the terraces to throw your loose change into, to keep the club from going bust. Ken bought the club for £1 and turned it into a success on a sound financial footing. In my eyes, we owe it all to him, otherwise we’d probably be in the 2nd or 3rd division by now. So I say onwards Mr Bates.

pan