On the Eve of the new Season...

man i really didnt want to get into it

but, i dont see your point at all. neither chelsea nor arsenal had to do anything when building their squads for the first half of the season differently. the only two teams that did were shitty and spurs. who cares if man u have more players that count against a bizarre rule versus arsenal or chelsea. arsenal has been going with the kids before this rule, and chelsea's youth movement is more an economic one than a hargreeves-doesnt-count-but-half-of-ireland-does rule one

phew! that was close

if you ever want a good laugh, click on the comments section of any soccernet article regarding liverpool. so funny

good thing hicks and gillette didnt put up their own money, because they somehow dont have control of the club

godsshoeshine wrote:
the rule makes no sense, but i think i've beaten that to death. at least it made me realize i share a birthday with andy carroll

for £5m i think hughton did great

If you watched any of the world cup and saw how shyte England were, and the lack of depth they have, the rule makes a lot of sense. The English kids aren't getting a chance to reach the highest level because most top teams don't have the patience or interest to develop players so just buy them from the continent.

Man Utd being the exception, we have a second generation of "Giggs, Nevilles(s), Scholes, Butt, Beckham" coming through in Gibson, Evans(both of them), Cleverly, Smalling. Sure, we may have a couple of relatively dry seasons as far as trophies go, but in a couple of years..WATCH OUT! (I include the Irish lads simply because there's always been a special connection between Man Utd and Irish players)

This rule is basically for the benefit of the national team so as an Englishman totally agree with it. It also helps our neighbours across the Irish sea, because lets face it….the Eircom league isn't going to produce the next Keano.

Frank wrote:

godsshoeshine wrote:
the rule makes no sense, but i think i've beaten that to death. at least it made me realize i share a birthday with andy carroll

for £5m i think hughton did great

If you watched any of the world cup and saw how shyte England were, and the lack of depth they have, the rule makes a lot of sense. The English kids aren't getting a chance to reach the highest level because most top teams don't have the patience or interest to develop players so just buy them from the continent.

Man Utd being the exception, we have a second generation of "Giggs, Nevilles(s), Scholes, Butt, Beckham" coming through in Gibson, Evans(both of them), Cleverly, Smalling. Sure, we may have a couple of relatively dry seasons as far as trophies go, but in a couple of years..WATCH OUT! (I include the Irish lads simply because there's always been a special connection between Man Utd and Irish players)

This rule is basically for the benefit of the national team so as an Englishman totally agree with it. It also helps our neighbours across the Irish sea, because lets face it….the Eircom league isn't going to produce the next Keano.

the rule doesnt make sense because it has less to do with being english and more to do with training with english clubs. leaving adam johnson, ashley cole, theo walcott, ect at home hurt you guys more than the greatest league on the planet. i mean charles insomnia counts as homegrown. only one team changed anything the first season because of that rule, and that only effected a welshman

full credit to sir alex and manchester united, though. he'll figure out a way to win no matter what the rule is

I think the last time I posted on here was the last time United beat the merseyside pikeys! Should I take that as an omen?

i suppose i cant make fun of the league cup for the next month or so. what a match

oh nigel de jong

you might remember him from such "rash challenges" as "breaking stuart holden's leg in a friendly" and "karate kicking xabi alonso's chest in front of the entire world"

he's back and starring in "how to ruin newcastle united's season"

i was going to say that i'll never root for the dutch as long as they continue to pick him, but hey he's already dropped. good for van marwijk

He's having a helluva year, eh?

I finally saw the tackle.  How that wasn't even a foul, let alone a card is beyond me…

Sorry man.  Maybe Valencia and Ben Afra can rehab together?

i just thank god that carroll didnt start

certainly didnt help that atkinson didnt call either of those penalty shouts the toon's way

Now, I have less than zero interest in this game you call baseball, but I have always HATED with a passion the NY Wankees for some strange reason. With that in mind I was always a default Red Sox fan if ever pushed to pick a team. Now the fuckers are buying pikeypool so I have an awful dilema of who do I hate the most.

a, WANKEES?

b, DEAD SOX?

c, BOTH EQUALLY?

Why is life so complicated?

if it makes you feel any better the red sox have pretty much turned into the diet yankees anyway

so liverpool has a new american owner that doesnt know anything about english football and only cares about making money. stop me if you've heard this one before…

So I'm drinking at my local soccer bar last night and the scouser fans are all excited about their new bids and how some rich Asian is going to buy the team and dump billions into the team to restore glory.

So I tell them, "Hey, one of the bids is from another American - the owner of the Red Sox.  He doesn't know shit about football."

You could have dropped a feather in that place and you would have heard it hit the ground for the split second while they contemplated that.  Then all hell broke loose and I'm pretty sure if they had an American flag they would have burnt it.

Now can they find the football larry lucchinos and theo epsteins? Can they translate pseudo-moneyball to the premier league?

vansmack wrote:
Then all hell broke loose and I'm pretty sure if they had an American flag they would have burnt it.

i almost wish i watched baseball so i could call sawx fans flag burners. this is going to be high comedy

Other than Lerner at Villa, except the O'Neill walking out fiasco….what yank meddling with a premiership team has made a positiver impact on it?

It's not a challenge, simply a question.

forget nationality for a second, ownership motivation is the one aspect that will sink a club faster than anything. if the ownership is trying to make a profit, they have no business being in the business. i could be wrong, but i dont believe that henry has any ties to merseyside or knows anything about the prem. at least hicks owned corinthians

godsshoeshine wrote:
if the ownership is trying to make a profit, they have no business being in the business.

what dictatorship/communist country do you hail from?

We can really make this assessment after two to three years?

I can assure you the list of bunk English owners is much longer than the list of American owners and I'd put the Chelski / Sheik City damage up against the American owned squads any time you'd like….

yeah portsmouth, west ham, leeds, and hell newcastle have not been owned by americans. i always thought it was interesting that the english media and fans seem to be focused on the transfer fees and totally ignore the wages. huge wages are what crippled the toon

sweetcell wrote:

godsshoeshine wrote:
if the ownership is trying to make a profit, they have no business being in the business.

what dictatorship/communist country do you hail from?

one that has no room for millionaires. you need a billion or go home. i guess thats china?