Sunday 4 August 2013

The new season ... and England


With the football league kicking off this weekend, the summer break has flown by! In just a few seasons 'Arry has gone from managing a Champions League team to a Championship team, Wolves have gone from a Premier League team to a League One team and Barnet are no longer classed as a league team... Although it's likely that with Edgar Davids as boss, it wont be long until they climb back into the football league! 
So what has been the reflection of the summer? We've had Brazil beating Spain in the CONFED cup, Manchester United have had their first pre-season without Sir Alex guiding them, Chelski have re-apointed the Special one, although he hasn't really splashed the cash as of yet and there has been so much talk about bloody Real Madrid and Bale... im so bored of hearing them two in the same sentence! 
So as we look forward to another season, spare a thought for Trevor Francis the first million pound..... 

Tuesday 5 February 2013

International rescue

Midweek international friendlies... What's the point of them? Players pull out left right and centre, club mangers moan about them, and in the end we end up watching average players playing for their countries, these average players then end up going back to their clubs demanding bigger, better contracts and then demand a move to a bigger club and end up wasting away out on loan somewhere... Just look at David Nugent, David Bentley, Michael Ricketts and Jay Bothroyd to name a few. 

The FA charge a packet to watch England play, isn't it about time that kids for a quid should be the normality every time The Three Lions play? With half empty stadiums up and down the county the men in suits need to take a long hard look at what direction football is going in, the everyday man can no longer afford the prices being quoted. 

We all like a good moan, but it's safe to say that in the eyes of FIFA that football is untouchable when it comes to making money... They fail to make any statements on administration or debt, except this one joke rule about fair-play and finances that the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City have managed to exploit with made up naming rights.... spare a thought for the likes of Swindon and Portsmouth who thought that Monopoly money was real.... Their fans could end up without a club come the end of 2013. 

Tuesday 29 January 2013

Cult Hero


Next up in our cult hero section is Big Martin Jol (looking very youthful in the above image) Every club the big man has been @ the fans have taken to him like a nice half time cup of tea! Solid as a rock, this Dutch international started life at his local club ADO Den Haag where he went on to make over 150 appearances before signing on with Bayern Munich. Jol didn't really enjoy his Munich adventure and with only a handful a games under his belt he decided to return back to the Eredivisie with FC Twente. After a few seasons with Twente Jol headed over to England with WBA, The WBA fans took to him straight away, after only 2 seasons Jol was on the move again along the road to Coventry City. At the end of that season Jol returned to Holland and back to his local side ADO Den Haag where he would go on to win the Dutch player of the year!

After a short time out of the game Jol returned as manager of  ADO Den Haag after a few years making his name in the lower leagues Jol got his chance with Roda JC, then RKC Waalwijk. In 2004 Jol returned to the UK as part of the Spurs coaching staff, within weeks of his appointment the Spurs boss decided to leave and Jol was promoted to manager! After 2 top 5 finishes (The highest Spurs had finished in the premiership) Jol was replaced with a manager that nearly got Spurs relegated after spells with Hamburg and Ajax Jol now manages Fulham.





Monday 21 January 2013

Cult Hero


It's been a while but our cult hero section is back! With Super Gerry Francis making it into the hall of fame! QPR fans will remember that youthful look and even though he has aged since his playing days, his hair hasn't .... well it's gone grey but other than that the famous GF mullet is still going strong!

Friday 11 January 2013

Tea Stories


A new feature for 2013, is tea stories, a lighter look at the latest headlines making the news! So with Rafa under more pressure than a Catholic priest stuck in a room full of school boys, Martin Tyler decided to ask AVB about the on-goings at his previous club!

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Teams of 2012

With 2012 turning into 2013, we @ It's a football thing have been a bit slow getting our teams of the year together, we could blame it on the rain or we could blame it on the Midweeker getting Man flu and being stuck in bed for god knows how long......

Fear not as we have finally made our selections and for the first time in 3 years Joe Hart fails to make it into either pundits team! Joe has been solid but there have been some outstanding displays by other keepers throughout 2012 including that twat of a bloke Szczesny. Defending was a problem throughout 2012, with teams such as Tottenham & Newcastle conceding 5 or more on more than a few occasions! As for Man United they had been leaking goals left right and centre! On the United front what has happened to the likes of Smalling and Jones? 2012 also saw Paul 'ave ago' Scholes return to Manchester as he got bored playing fifa on the PS3.

West Ham returned to the top flight and then decided to buy Andy Carroll.... lets just say he hasn't really hit the ground running... or played much!

What a signing Michu has been for the Swans! The Midweeker had tipped them to go down this season, but with Michu up top the Swans on their day can beat anyone anywhere.... Just ask Arsenal!

2012 saw the Toffees start a season on fire! it makes a change for them, in the past they seemed to like playing ketch-up (not the tomato type)

So with our debate settled with who makes the starting 11 of our teams of the year The weekender slumped in his pint of best raises his head and shouts out a request for Friedel to move the O's on loan!