Football 2006-07

[Larry]

At long last the take over is now done and thank god is Maggunson's bid that was successfull all though I was pro Kia in the beginning as the weeks went on I got more worried about his intentions. Like many other Hammers I realised that under Kia, the values and traditions of West Ham that are so important to us would be lost. When you begin to hear things that the major backer knows nothing about football and only sees West Ham as a good piece of realestate you begin to see how very wrong their bid was.

Thank full with Magnusson we have a genuin lover of football who understands what the fans need and want and he will do nothing to damage the club in a new and exciting era that now awaits us.

[Mark]

It's been quite a week for take overs. What with Mandy moving a step closer to taking control of my beloved Foxes

[Larry]

It's been quite a week for take overs. What with Mandy moving a step closer to taking control of my beloved Foxes

well if he dose the Same for Leicester as he did for Pompey you could be back in the premiership very soon..

[Paul Clement]

Spurs have qualified for the knockout stages of the Uefa cup, having beaten Bayer Leverkusen 1-0, thanks to a Dimitar Berbatov goal.

Newcastle and Blackburn also qualifying makes me wonder something. Is the Uefa cup a double-edged sword? All three English sides are doing well in the competition, but they are also all underperforming when it comes to our position in the Premiership. Perhaps we don't have the strength in depth to play competitively on both fronts, or maybe we are spending too much time with an eye on our European games to the detriment of our league performances.

[Larry]

Middlesboro had a terrific run to the final lasy year and struggled badly in the League - and I actualy quite fancy Spurs having a good run this year though I don't think they will struggle in the premiership.

[Jonno]

Hope you don't mind Larry, but I've changed the thread title to reflect the current season (as we've had it since ooh about the 02/03 season on the old PS). I'm a stickler for tradition!

As regards the UEFA Cup, I think the fact it's mainly made up of the dregs of the European leagues (Spurs aside naturally and we were only relegated to the UEFA Cup on the last day of last season!) makes it a waste of time IMO - especially with all these convoluted group stages and then stil faced with 32 clubs - a quarter of which are failures from the Champions League group stages!

And of course we end up playing half our league games on a Sunday as a result - ridiculous!

[Larry]

Hope you don't mind Larry, but I've changed the thread title to reflect the current season (as we've had it since ooh about the 02/03 season on the old PS). I'm a stickler for tradition!

As regards the UEFA Cup, I think the fact it's mainly made up of the dregs of the European leagues (Spurs aside naturally and we were only relegated to the UEFA Cup on the last day of last season!) makes it a waste of time IMO - especially with all these convoluted group stages and then stil faced with 32 clubs - a quarter of which are failures from the Champions League group stages!

And of course we end up playing half our league games on a Sunday as a result - ridiculous!

not at all -

Agree with you about the Uefa cup I also can't see the point of these group stages and feel it's a waste of time and just inceasing an all ready over loaded fixture schedual. It's also a joke that the clubs who finish 3rd in the champions league groups are allowed in by rights they should get nothing for finishing 3rd but it's just Uefa's way of protecting the big clubs and money.

As for you complaining about "half our league games on a Sunday as a result" well I wish we still had that problem..

[Lissa]

UEFA are considering only allowing captains to talk to referees during matches. (BBC). Do you think this will help stem the tide of indiscipline and intimidation faced by officials? Or is it just another example of a good idea that gets floated but ultimately never happens? Or is it a bad idea period?

[Dave Tudor]

Hmm, seems a bit daft. It's hardly going to quell indiscipline, especially when the captains themselves don't always set a good example. Look at Roy Keane, for instance: great player, and a fine leader, but to say he didn't always stay in the good books is a bit of an understatement!

[Paul Clement]

UEFA are considering only allowing captains to talk to referees during matches. (BBC). Do you think this will help stem the tide of indiscipline and intimidation faced by officials? Or is it just another example of a good idea that gets floated but ultimately never happens? Or is it a bad idea period?

Bad idea. The indiscipline needs to be stamped out, but what also needs to be put into place is more accountability for decisions made by the referees. If they have a poor match, they can shrug their shoulders and move on. They will still referee other matches and still get paid. The team who lose points and get relegated could end up in a financial mess, but the referee cheerily plods on his merry way.

Let's face it, Uriah Rennie wuld have been sacked for incompetence in any other walk of life.

[Paul Clement]

Gillingham have moved up to 10th in League 1 thanks to a 1-0 victory over Rotherham. A play off place is still a realistic goal, but only if they can keep hold of Matty Jarvis and the odds are they will cash in on him in January rather than wait till the end of the season when his contract runs out and hope for a decent tribunal offer.

[Larry]

UEFA are considering only allowing captains to talk to referees during matches. (BBC). Do you think this will help stem the tide of indiscipline and intimidation faced by officials? Or is it just another example of a good idea that gets floated but ultimately never happens? Or is it a bad idea period?

waste of time in my opinion this is some thing that happens in Rugby League & Union but the main difference is that unlike in football rugby players respect the ref's decision and don't give him any back chat because they know they'll be punished.
For me one way one to stamp out indisciplin is to adopt sin bins as they do in rugby if managers know that every players who back chats a ref will get 10 or 15 minutes in a sin bin they'll soon be very quick to stamp it out.



but the great nes is West Ham kicked off their new era with a 1-0 win over Sheff Utd..

[Paul Clement]

Sod it, this is a football thread so...

Well done to the White Horse Reserves for their 4-2 win against G.T.S.C.F.C in the Sheppey Sunday League. Treena's two brothers scored a goal apiece, and some great tactical play from the coach/asst manager (namely me) in regards to substitutions helped to get us pushing for the third promotion spot in Division 4.

[Captain Tancredi]

UEFA are considering only allowing captains to talk to referees during matches. (BBC). Do you think this will help stem the tide of indiscipline and intimidation faced by officials? Or is it just another example of a good idea that gets floated but ultimately never happens? Or is it a bad idea period?

The ten yard penalty for dissent was adopted from rugby and works when it's used properly. Referees have a fair amount of protection from intimidation and foul language as it is- they're called yellow and red cards- but the problem is that if you're refereeing a game at, say, Old Trafford and you have Wayne Rooney calling you every name under the sun and half the United side around you plus 70,000 fans booing your decision to dare to give a free kick against United, you aren't going to dish cards out to everybody who deserves them.

More imagination with the penalties might be the answer. As of next season, make a straight red the punishment for any foul language directed at an official or a member of the opposition and enforce it, with any suspensions to be accompanied by a fine of one week's wages for every match suspended rather than on a fixed scale which often doesn't reflect how much the most visible offenders are paid.

[Paul Clement]

Penalising the clubs by loss of points if they reach a certain level of indiscipline in a season could also work as a deterrent. The managers and the board will know that too much dissent could cost them points and will stamp it out themselves.

[Paul Clement]

Chelsea and Man Utd have played out a 1-1 draw, a fair result considering the run of play. Man Utd domiated the first half, while Chelsea were almost all out attack for the first twenty minutes of the second half.

Meanwhile, Spurs have beaten Wigan 3-1 with goals from Defoe, Berbatov and Lennon and are back in the top half of the table.

[Jonno]

Thank goodness for that - that makes for a great weekend, with the Gooners losing again! Mind you, just 3 months in it's a shame that we're down to a two horse race already. I really thought it would be closer at the top this season...

[Larry]

Penalising the clubs by loss of points if they reach a certain level of indiscipline in a season could also work as a deterrent. The managers and the board will know that too much dissent could cost them points and will stamp it out themselves.

well pts deduction for indisciplin is the only way you'll hurt Chelsea they have so much money and so many resources in terms of players that they just laugh at a fine..

[Paul Clement]

well pts deduction for indisciplin is the only way you'll hurt Chelsea they have so much money and so many resources in terms of players that they just laugh at a fine..

And of course, some of the worst indiscipline has come from the larger clubs. Who can forget the Arsenal and Man Utd episodes of the last few years. The way in whoch players of both teams would surround the referee when a decision was made against them.

[Larry]

And of course, some of the worst indiscipline has come from the larger clubs. Who can forget the Arsenal and Man Utd episodes of the last few years. The way in whoch players of both teams would surround the referee when a decision was made against them.

and it seems to be much worse now i've been watching football since the late 70's and all though it did go one it was no where near as bad as what it is today. But Fifa and Uefa have only got them selves to blame for letting things get out of controll and not having the guts to stand up to the big clubs..

[Paul Clement]

I remember watching a programme with Stanely Matthews being interviewed about his career a few years back. He said he was sent off once, and refused to leave the field. He just said 'no, I'm going nowehere' to the ref, so the ref changed his mind.

[Paul Clement]

It looks like Shevchenko is going to be consigned to the super-flop bin. Chelsea seem to have decided that enough is enough after buying one of the worlds top strikers and watching him underperform in just 13 games. They are now looking to sign Valencia's David Villa to replace him.

Is 13 games really enough time to give up on Sheva? He's probably not yet adjusted to the English style of football, but he didn't get his reputation for nothing. If they do sell him, I wonder how much they'll get and whether he'll just go back to Milan.

What do you think?

[Larry]

It looks like Shevchenko is going to be consigned to the super-flop bin. Chelsea seem to have decided that enough is enough after buying one of the worlds top strikers and watching him underperform in just 13 games. They are now looking to sign Valencia's David Villa to replace him.

Is 13 games really enough time to give up on Sheva? He's probably not yet adjusted to the English style of football, but he didn't get his reputation for nothing. If they do sell him, I wonder how much they'll get and whether he'll just go back to Milan.

What do you think?

Well I said the to my brother the moment Chelsea signed Shevchenko that he would be a flop he was far from impressive during the World Cup and he has been no more than average so far this season..

"Is 13 games really enough time to give up on Sheva" - It's a difficult one to answer we signed both Tevez and Macheano, back in August and both has struggled and it's only in the last few games Tevez seems to have finally settled.

But like our two Sheva- is a big name with a big rep and when you've paid 30m for them you rightly or wrongly expect them to start banging in the goals right from day one and the problem with stikers the longer they go struggling to score a goal the harder it will get.

Personaly I think paying 30m for a 30+ year old is crazy and it shows what a mockery Chelsea are making of football when they can just wright off 30m and then go out and buy a replacement costing 22m..

[Paul Clement]

Ballack hasn't really impressed me yet either. I wonder whether Mourinho has made a mistake by getting the 'big names' into the club. They had, so far, seemed to ignore these in favour of up and coming players like Essien, Robben and Drogba or players who were solid yet unspectacular like Makelele who would come in and do a damn good job for the club.

[Dave Lewis]

Ballack hasn't really impressed me yet either. I wonder whether Mourinho has made a mistake by getting the 'big names' into the club. They had, so far, seemed to ignore these in favour of up and coming players like Essien, Robben and Drogba or players who were solid yet unspectacular like Makelele who would come in and do a damn good job for the club.

I don't think it was necessarily Mourinho who signed Ballack or Shevchenko - they are world class players, Ballack is getting better with each game and Sheva will eventually start banging them in... it's what he does, after all - but they are the kind of glamorous (in a football sense) big name signings that Chelsea could make at the whim of Roman Abramovitch, if he so desired. And I believe he did, or the people who tell him how good players are did. I don't think Jose kicked up much of a fuss, because even if they don't necessarily fit the team he's been moulding, they're too good to simply say 'no' to. But if he had the choice, he wouldn't have signed them. Ditto Robben, who was already on his way to Stamford Bridge when he took over, although like Joe Cole, I think he realised that it would be better to utilise their creative talent, rather than ignore it in favour of his preferred way of a team playing. Essien, and Drogba, although they cost far too much, seem to me to be far more the kind of players that Jose wanted for his team. This season, where they've both been outstanding on occasion, particularly the latter, has in my eyes shown the wisdom of splashing out 24 million apiece for them.

I don't think they'll win the league now. I can't remember whom I predicted for the title - Liverpool, probably - but I think it's United all the way now. Vidic and Rio are solid at the back, Heinze and you-know-who (when he's fit) are world-class full backs, Giggs and Scholes are (cliche alert) rolling back the years, while Rooney, Ronaldo, and Saha are as good a forward line as you'd find anywhere in the world.

Carrick's a waste of Malcolm's millions, but he's better than O'Shea, or Fletcher, and if they get Hargreaves in the transfer window, it will complete their midfield jigsaw, and while it'll leave a sixteen million pound player without a place in the first team, it'll safeguard their winning of the premiership. Even if Bayern keep him under lock and key, I don't think it'll make that much difference. It's United for me, no matter how much it irks me to say it.

I've got nothing to say about us at the moment - if we can only beat Pompey tomorrow, then that's good enough for me. And that shows how awry this season has gone. And don't even mention Bellamy's misdemeanours, on and off the pitch... if he's guilty of anything in the latter, he should have his contract torn up and fed to him in prison. If he's innocent, then we should institute a footballing equivalent where he can serve a stretch for being less talented on the pitch than his better-looking doppelganger Sandi Toksvig.

I'll shush now.