11-08-2004 01:33									#31
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Ah player/managers. For some reason I think that just isn't a good idea, though I know that sometimes they work .

Or will Shearer leave after this season? I know they brought in Kluivert to replace him after he decides to hang 'em up.

	11-08-2004 01:39									#32
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This is his last season. He's getting old and wants to retire while he's still good. He won't be a player manager. This is Robson's last season and my uncle (who is "in the know" [he's a match commentator at SJP]) says that Shearer has been promised the job.

I think he's still the best English forward in the league. Not bad for an old man.

	11-08-2004 01:40									#33
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If you want to get into footy Imran, find a local pub where expats congregate to watch games.

	11-08-2004 01:50									#34
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GO CARDIFF CITY FC! Ok, they're not in the Premiership, but they're 1st Division, IIRC. My father, being Cardiff-born, would be psyched were they to go up. Especially since they haven't done anything since the year he was born (1925).

-Arrian

	11-08-2004 01:59									#35
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quote: If you want to get into footy Imran, find a local pub where expats congregate to watch games.

Well that may have to wait a year. Drinking and law school shouldn't mix that much .

quote: Especially since they haven't done anything since the year he was born (1925).

Actually in 1927, they became the first (and only) Welsh team to win the FA Cup .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_City

	11-08-2004 02:19									#36
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johncmcleod's omission of both Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta as best defenders speaks volumes for the amount of football coverage you get in the states. The club team rankings are also pretty arbitrary.

Maquiladora: I disagree that Robinson is our only decent signing over the summer - I think Sean Davis will be also be an excellent player for us next season.

One of the better ways to learn about the players and teams in European football leagues, and I'm not joking here, will be to get a hold of a copy of Football Manager 2005 (link) when it is released this autumn. Seriously.

	11-08-2004 02:43									#37
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quote: I disagree that Robinson is our only decent signing over the summer - I think Sean Davis will be also be an excellent player for us next season.

There are others like Pedro Mendes (CL winner with Porto) and Swedish International left-back Erik Edman, but its a case of wait and see. Robinson will be quality though. Sean Davis was way overrated on Champ Manager BTW

quote: This is his last season. He's getting old and wants to retire while he's still good. He won't be a player manager. This is Robson's last season and my uncle (who is "in the know" [he's a match commentator at SJP]) says that Shearer has been promised the job.

He was talking like he was in charge already on saturday morning, without disrespecting Bobby of course (but we all know hes off with the fairies most days now)

quote: I think he's still the best English forward in the league. Not bad for an old man.

I agree. Ive never seen a player in the EPL hit the target so consistantly and make the keeper work from any chance he gets. I was genuinely sad when he retired from International football.

	11-08-2004 02:45									#38
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quote: I was genuinely sad when he retired from International football.

So were the tabloid asses who had howled for his removal.

	11-08-2004 02:49									#39
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Thats actually what he said on Saturday, talking about Paul Scholes retiring saying the press and everyone is on Scholes' back for not performing at Euro2004, then when he retires at 29 they cant believe it.

	11-08-2004 03:41									#40
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quote: One of the better ways to learn about the players and teams in European football leagues, and I'm not joking here, will be to get a hold of a copy of Football Manager 2005 (link) when it is released this autumn. Seriously.

The real successor to Championship Manager... not that bastardized version from Eidos this year.

	11-08-2004 03:43									#41
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quote: Thats actually what he said on Saturday, talking about Paul Scholes retiring saying the press and everyone is on Scholes' back for not performing at Euro2004, then when he retires at 29 they cant believe it.

Gotta love that English press . Btw, GREAT avatar

	11-08-2004 03:56									#42
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quote: 1. Italy (remember these are leagues, not national teams) 2. England 3. Spain 4. Germany 5. France 6. Holland 7. Portugal 8. Argentina 9. Brazil 10. Belgium 11. Scotland 12. Turkey 13. Greece 14. Mexico 15. MLS

Auch!!!!
Sorry man, but your of the mark, not far...just a couple of miles, that's all.

The spanish competition IS the absolute best, no doubt.
The english - though the most exciting to watch - is not all that good. Well, it's not bad obviously, but certainly not the top league.

You can move Portugal up a few spots too IMO, and the eastern europe leagues are improving too, that are starting to be able to keep their youngsters now.

quote: Top Strikers: 1. Thierry Henry 2. Ronaldo 3. Raul 4. Alessandro Del Piero 5. Ruud van Nistelrooij

Raul didn't do crap last year but surely has the talent. Ronaldo hasn't been close to form ever since he joined Real, I can agree with your other choices though.

quote: Top Midfielders: 1. Zinedine Zidane 2. Ronaldinho 3. Pavel Nedved 4. Luis Figo 5. Frank Lampard

Ronaldinho hasn't proved that much yet, I LOVE to see him play but he's moves aren't that productive.
Figo: over he top and too little of a teamplayer. He sure was great at Barcelona.
Lampard???

quote: op Defenders: 1. Roberto Carlos 2. Paolo Maldini 3. Cafu 4. Mikael Silvestre 5. Rio Ferdinand

Carlos, hmm, well I never considered him to be a defender so.
Maldini, great respect for the guy, but again, over the top.
Silvestre???
Ferdinand: not sure, still has to prove alot IMO.

quote: 1. Oliver Kahn (though he's getting really old) 2. Gianluigi Buffon 3. Dida 4. Tim Howard 5. Carlo Cudicini

Kahn is still good, but not numero uno anymore. Chech(sp?) should be in here.

	11-08-2004 06:01									#43
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quote: Btw, GREAT avatar

Its the perfect bicycle kick (or as close as)

But perhaps Pelé was more than we can understand...
In his final game in 1977, when Cosmos played against Santos at Giants Stadium in New York, it was raining after the game, and a witness explained: "God was crying".

http://www.usp.br/eef/lob/pele/

quote: Lampard???

Thats the trouble with the continentals teams, they dont know about good English players unless they shine in Europe or Internationals. In England we seem to give far too much credit to ANY foreigner with a good touch, a fancy trick and a few good games.

Lampard played alright for England in Euro2004, but was lucky to score 3 though IMO.

Silvestre is one of the most nervous looking and clumsiest players ive ever seen.

	11-08-2004 06:10									#44
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I know about Lampard, just don't think he is one of the top 5 midfielders in the world, that's all.
Ohh, I think it's the other way around to be honest, you give to much credit to English players.
That's one lesson i learned from he CM series.

	11-08-2004 06:31									#45
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Oh definitely in CM they were overrated, the younger players were given world class potential and traditional hard working English mentalities - a lethal combination to reach your peak potential But there were even more in Sweden, but they apparently had a quiet word with the Swedish researchers for the new Football Manager.

CM peaked with 01/02, CM4 (and the new FM) needs to get less tiring to play, theres too many seperate menus and things that dont have a great effect, but take up a disproportionate amount of time to do, like contract negotiation.

	11-08-2004 09:29									#46
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Well of course English players will be overrated in CM. Where do you think Marc Vaughn is from?

	11-08-2004 13:19									#47
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At least the Belgian players were realistically terrible in the CM series, eh alva.

	11-08-2004 15:13									#48
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As people already suggested play Championship Manager or Football Managers as it is going to be called from now on.

Then watch some games. It is a lot more interesting

	11-08-2004 17:21									#49
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Well the thing is with CM/FM, as people have pointed out, biases sometimes come through, as they do with any rating of players. A discussion among fans, however, may give you more than one point of view, after which you can decide.

	11-08-2004 17:35									#50
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i'm an arsenal fan but i can't believe anyone (least of all a yid) is saying spurs will go down. spurs will never, ever, ever in your life go down. they are one of a number of teams, like villa, saints and everton (well maybe not this season ) who are never in any danger of winning anything but will not go down either. no ambition, no world class players, but they have a lot of support and a bit too much quality not to surivive. as one spurs director was quoted as saying after they lost 4-3 to man city in the cup last year 'it's ok, we'll get a full house in here again next week'

	11-08-2004 17:52									#51
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quote: Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui quote: If you want to get into footy Imran, find a local pub where expats congregate to watch games. Well that may have to wait a year. Drinking and law school shouldn't mix that much . quote: Especially since they haven't done anything since the year he was born (1925). Actually in 1927, they became the first (and only) Welsh team to win the FA Cup . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiff_City

Oh, that's an old man's memory for you. I didn't look it up, you see, and he remembers that it was 1925, not 1927. Either way, it's a bloody long time. Basically, he's never seen them do well. They've sucked for pretty much his entire life. He's really psyched they seem to have improved enough to hang around in their current division, instead of being relegation material.

When I first got into the PL, I was fairly young and chose the teams I liked based on name. This, unfortunately, led me to cheer for Crystal Palace and Aston Villa. Doh. Then, having not paid attention for years, I spent a semester at St. Andrews and all the freshmen I lived with (the Americans got to live in the freshman dorms, yay) seemed to support ManU. So I watched a fair amount of ManU... and they were awfully good that year (1997), so they were fun to watch. Didn't like NewCastle (LOVE the beer, though )... didn't like Shearer for some reason.

I used to root for Coventry City too, when Gordon Strachan was the manager, just because I loved that guy. What an accent! The team was mediocre, but kept managing to stave off relegation at the last moment.

-Arrian

	11-08-2004 18:06									#52
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quote: This, unfortunately, led me to cheer for Crystal Palace and Aston Villa. Doh.

Ah yes, Aston Villa... From how people react to them I guess their nickname is apt .

	11-08-2004 18:20									#53
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The main appeal of Gordon Strachan is the philosophical diatribes discourses he delivers at post-match press conferences.

	11-08-2004 18:22									#54
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quote: Well of course English players will be overrated in CM. Where do you think Marc Vaughn is from?

It used to be worse, until cm3, Everton would be vastly overrated because of the Collyer(sp?) brothers. That's the guys who started the game and are huge Everton supporters.

quote: At least the Belgian players were realistically terrible in the CM series, eh alva.

Yup, great job, quite easy job it is though.
-

BTW: the FM BETA demo is coming out next month already
It should go gold Q4 !!!!

	11-08-2004 18:58									#56
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I remember the Collyer brothers supporting Cambridge Utd. Or did they change allegiance since 1996 or so? In the early Championship Manager games Cambridge always had a star striker and a star defender, and if you didn't want to play at too realistic a level, then you could snap them up at nothing at the start of the season, before they went from £50k to £20m in a single season and Juventus and Barcelona ended up fighting over them at the end of that season.

	11-08-2004 19:25									#57
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quote: Neil Dejyothin Sports Interactive : We haven't set a specific release date at this time, but we are expecting the game to be out in the shops at some point during Q4 2004. A gold demo will be available around one-month before the game is released but we will also be making available a beto demo with the Official Football Manager magazine. The magazine should be available in September.

	11-08-2004 19:28									#58
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quote: Miles Jacobson Sports Interactive MD Well, I had said that we weren't going to make any announcements about leagues until much further down the line, and this announcement is even going to suprise most of the guys at SI, but 5 minutes ago, Sega and ourselves signed an agreement with the MLS which will not only see MLS in Football Manager 2005 (and sequals) but will also see the game released in North America through Sega, and called "MLS Manager 2005" in the US. To say I'm excited would be an understatement

http://community.sigames.com/eve/ub...691&m=783202282

	11-08-2004 20:18									#59
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First, the English Premier league hasn't been going for that long. Compared to how old the Football Association is, anyway. So saying "this team was great in the 30s" is deceitful.

Second, don't expect to see all the football on Saturdays. A helluva lot of games get played on Sundays or midweek... so don't expect to get them all at one hit.

Third... English media is obsessively focussed on this issue, as it makes a convenient blind spot for hiding political and economic disasters.

Good luck with the Toon Army!

EDIT: One great place to get radio coverage is BBC 5Live and 5Live xtra. You can stream the first from the internet, not sure about the second... even if you have TV coverage, the audio those people produce is second to none, and mostly faster/better than TV commentary.

Last edited by Cruddy on 11-08-2004 at 20:24

	11-08-2004 20:23									#60
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We'll need it.