The (Un) Official Football thread

[houston4044]

Nah. It's the same old names that have been mentioned numerous times already. Not much will come of it.

There wouldn't have even been a story if Allardyce wasn't such a greedy fat pig. Yes he's been stitched up, but when you have three million biscuits you don't need a few thousand more. You keep your gob shut and all is forgotten in a few years time. Just look at Ferguson, everyone knows he took bungs, but it's all lost in the mists of time now.

I'd heard rumours but never saw anything concrete about Fergie, what did I miss?

[Gandalf the Red]

Nah. It's the same old names that have been mentioned numerous times already. Not much will come of it.

There wouldn't have even been a story if Allardyce wasn't such a greedy fat pig. Yes he's been stitched up, but when you have three million biscuits you don't need a few thousand more. You keep your gob shut and all is forgotten in a few years time. Just look at Ferguson, everyone knows he took bungs, but it's all lost in the mists of time now.

I'd heard rumours but never saw anything concrete about Fergie, what did I miss?

Not much.

Apart from a documentary on the BBC virtually calling him and his family crooks. Hence him not talking to the BBC for years. There was also stuff about meddling with horses as well.

Ferguson was too "hands on" not to be involved in transfer deals. Nothing happened at United without his say.

Most of it's word of mouth. Plenty of people know things that are going on in football that newspapers wouldn't dare print. The amount of stories that you hear about players when they are out and about that never get published is astonishing.

No gay footballers? Why are half of them in Garlands on a Saturday night?

[houston4044]

Not much.

Apart from a documentary on the BBC virtually calling him and his family crooks. Hence him not talking to the BBC for years. There was also stuff about meddling with horses as well.

Ferguson was too "hands on" not to be involved in transfer deals. Nothing happened at United without his say.

Most of it's word of mouth. Plenty of people know things that are going on in football that newspapers wouldn't dare print. The amount of stories that you hear about players when they are out and about that never get published is astonishing.

Ah I thought you were referring to something substantial that had passed me by, I had heard some rumors but I tend to take some with a pinch of salt as half of it is just thrown out there to catch the eyes of readers knowing they won't get called on it. Or it just turns out to be a Redknapp and while there is certainly dodgy stuff going on there isn't enough to prove it. I imagine Fergie has dirty hands, lets face it half of the transfers that he's overseen do seem pretty questionable, Quinton Fortune jumps to mind.

I'd heard about the horse (Rock of Dublin or something) but lets face it, horse racing is pretty dodgy anyway (saying that so is football ).

[houston4044]

Papers already starting on Conte being on borrowed time, I know Chelski have a reputation but they aren't this bad normally, wow.

His job is far safer than a certain former Chelsea manager.

Safer than 2 former managers, Di Matteo is hardly setting the championship on fire

Turns out I was right http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37534496


Great performance yesterday, played up to potential and we dominated. Saying that, watch Spurs lose to WBA now Got to admit, I may have been wrong about Sissoko

[Tet]

Great performance yesterday, played up to potential and we dominated. Saying that, watch Spurs lose to WBA now

Yep. Much as I want to be proven wrong, I suspect we'll stumble sooner rather than later.

[bloodfiend]

Both Di Matteo sacked by Villa and Guidolin sacked by Swansea on the same day!

First is predictable, 1 win from 11 games in the league from a team looking for promotion is shit, second decision somewhat baffling, he did a great job at the end of last season, not a great start this season, but axing him after 7 games is ridiculous.

[Skippy]

I feel bad for both of them really. After last season Villa were never going to instantly start winning, and Swansea have had a hard start. I guess that's the way it is now, you can spend the summer making sure your manager signs a new contract and then fire them after narrowly losing to a side who people are tipping for the title.

[Gandalf the Red]

I think Guidolin's problem was that the owners had already lined up Ryan Giggs as a replacement.

If I was a Swansea player then I would be getting a chastity belt for your wife.

[houston4044]

Both Di Matteo sacked by Villa and Guidolin sacked by Swansea on the same day!

First is predictable, 1 win from 11 games in the league from a team looking for promotion is shit, second decision somewhat baffling, he did a great job at the end of last season, not a great start this season, but axing him after 7 games is ridiculous.

I still think Swansea made a bad decision in getting rid of Laudrup, I know he had issue with the board but still, I think if they had stuck by him they would be challenging for a Europa spot most years. As for Guidolin apart from Hull and maybe Southampton, they weren't games I expected them to get more than the odd draw from; when you look at the fixtures they weren't exactly games I expected Swansea to get many points from. I get the board wants to aim high but firing a manager after losing to City twice and an in form Liverpool is beyond me. Okay he threw away leads to L'Pool and Chelski but still, if that what the bar is to getting fired nowerdays then wow.

Bob Bradley has been appointed the new Swansea manager, good luck to him, he's going to have Giggs sitting in the wings waiting for him to screw up which I don't envy him for.

[Gandalf the Red]

Very surprised at that. Seems that the American owners want their own man in charge even though he has no experience at that level.

Doesn't seem to have gone down very well with the fans.

Swansea City Supporters' Trust, which holds a 21% stake in the club, issued a statement saying it is "disappointed" not to be consulted over the managerial change.
"Having been an integral part of the club board for 15 years we are saddened that decisions as major as this can be taken without our involvement, despite earlier assurances from the new majority shareholders that they wished to work closely with the Supporters' Trust," it added.
"We are also frustrated and angry that the club have allowed the speculation over the manager's future to be played out in public."

I think that's them gone then.

[houston4044]

Reports saying that Swansea considered but turned down Giggs in favor of Bradley more for "conduct" than his CV.

Well, good luck to the Swansea seahawks becoming the best Soccer ball team in the United Kingdom league, I'm sure that's what the owners are thinking of

[Gandalf the Red]

Neil Warnock new manager of Cardiff.

I'll just leave this here.


http://worldsoccertalk.com/2014/01/13/c ... ing-bungs/

[houston4044]

You know a club has run out of ideas when it goes for Warnock.

[kanet666]

Would rather have Warnock than Owen Coyle...

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

I thought the England game was a 19:45 kickoff tonight not 5pm. If I had have known and seen that they weren't going to score in the second half I could have cashed out the acca I had them at a -2 on and got at least a little something. Instead I turned the TV on just as it hit around 85 minutes and by the the time I saw how they were playing with zero desire to score again the bet was suspended. I know Malta do hold better teams to low-scoring draws quite often, but I really thought that a 3-0 win would've been the minimum scoreline given the bad few weeks English football have had in the press and the players hoping to get on the good side of the potential new manager. But ah well. Still got some more matches over the next few nights to be excited about, including some potentially very poor results for Chile and Argentina on Wednesday that I got tasty odds on.