SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums College, Pro & International Soccer What A Year For British Football

Here we are with April looming and with usually only Man U{recently} alive at this time of year in Europe--5 British teams still survive.
Regardless of the outcome of the ties to be played in a couple of weeks,congratulations to Arsenal,Liverpool,Chelsea,Newcastle United and Celtic.Arsenal and the Magpies certainly look favored to progress.Good luck to all.

Anthony, I couldn't agree more -- well done UK!!!

On the EPL front, Arsenal (21-0-7, 70 PTS) now leads Chelsea (19-5-4) by nine points and Manchester United (18-5-5) by 12 with only 10 matches remaining in the Baryclay Card Premiership. Amazingly, the Gunners have also more than doubled the points total of 11 EPL clubs (Tottenham, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Southampton, Everton, Blackburn, Manchester City, Leicester, Portsmouth, Wolverhampton, and Leeds).

Arsenal FC is also in the quarterfinals of the Champions League where the boys from Highbury will face London rivals Chelsea.

The Gunners are also involved with the FA Cup as the two-time defending champions of England's oldest trophy will square off against Manchester United at Villa Park in the semifinals.

Go Gunners!

Before singing the praises of "British Football" - have a closer look at the managers and players on said teams - not exactly predominantly British now are they??

Eyebrows were raised in the UK a few weeks ago when they realised that Steve McLaren (Boro) was the first English manager to lift a trophy since Brian Little (Aston Villa) back in the early/mid '90s (ha hah hah)!!!

Out of the teams named by Mr.Pelton only Newcastle are managed by an Englishman - all the rest are foreign (Northern Irish, Scottish, French x2 and Italian).

We'll see how well they do at the Euros.

Af

And yes, I am still bitter that Ireland didn't qualify...but that was Mick McCarthys fault not Brian Kerr.

Sadly,some of what Mr.Foley says is true.But such is the state of the game today.Lucrative contracts in many cases fueled by TV money have lured many countryman abroad.
Celtic's 67 European Cup championship team was dominated by Scots,followed by Man.U.in 68{either English,Scottish or Irish}.I don't know if we will ever see that again.
Too bad about Ireland,they defend very well,but attack ineffectivly.

Thats a bit unfair about Ireland - McCarthy stitched Roy Keane and the rest of the country up two years ago - but thats another story. We've got a lot of VERY young and VERY TALENTED players - Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Clinton Morrison, Liam Miller, Shay Given, John O'Shea and Andy O'Brien!!!

Germany 2006 watch out!!!

Plus England will never play us cos they know we'll kill them - like we were doing the last time til they tore our stadium up (literally).

Af

Anthony, one other thing - maybe in 1990 that "defend well but attack ineffectively" comment would be merited, but not anymore - we actually play football now and are attractive to watch!!

Plus, the contract thing - what is making the English twitchy is that they are being managed by a Swede, their top domestic managers are all foreign (excl. Bobby) and there is no English manager doing well anywhere else of any note!! Poor old England - my heart goes out to them......ha hahahahhaah!!! Hope France hockey them in the Euro opening game - Henry hat-trick and Zizou to get two!!

Af

a.foley....I will try and get my head out of the encyclopedia if you promise not to throw any more stones while living in your glass house!

"Before singing the praises of "British Football" - have a closer look at the managers and players on said teams - not exactly predominantly British now are they??"

What an amzing quote to come from a man who is from the Emerald Isle! Your most succesfull ever national team was managed by an Englishman (Jack Charlton) Full of English born players like Townsend (maidstone, thats next to dublin right!!!?) now your team is full of 'stars' Such as Clinton Morrison (wheres his charming Irish brouge? oh thats right he was born in tooting!) and Matty Holland, who was in fact born in the rolling hills of Bury!

Alas, i am not afraid to admit that the Irish are always a tough and formidable test for anyone (see the result against Brazil when they should have won)but where do you think the likes of Duff and O'Shea learnt their trade? the answer is at British clubs! Roy keane was 19 when he came to Forest, was he the finished article? Maybe the success of the Irish national team has more to do with British clubs than you give them credit for.

Roll on the Euros!

Must admit I have not seen them play in awhile.I know Duff and Miller are players and would certainly help your attack.
Was at the 94 World Cup match up with Holland in Orlando.Jackie Charlton was obviously well thought of and his team was exceptionally organized when the ball was turned over,but they only seemed to probe at the Dutch defense and upon losing the ball were determined to get 10 men behind it.
Patty Bonner cost you dearly that day and after a Dutch second the Irish had no choice but to push up to get back in it.Looked hesitant and uncomfortable on the attack,but then they didn't have the players you have spoken of.
I wish the Irish luck and for that matter any of the teams on the two islands I generally pull for when the U.S. has been eliminated from play.It would be nice to see the Welsh do well in a big competition--they have pieced together a nice team.

No you didn't!!!

Jimmy, whilst sitting in Lansdowne Rd during Ireland recent 3-0 victory over Canada I was reading the match program - and you know what I noticed?? All of our crap players are born in England - Gary Breen, Matt Holland, Clinton Morisson etc.(I included him in the "good players" only b/c he played well vs Brazil, I still hate him tho).

Now, the 1990 world cup, Jack Charlton has gone from being loved, to hated here, Keano took him (and a few others) down in his book. He played a "style" of football that bypassed all of our most gifted players (Whelan, Sheedy, Houghton) and went against the way most of them played the game at club level. Lumping the ball forward to the big men up front was a sad sad way to play football when there's players such as those mentioned, plus Paul McGrath, Kevin Moran and Terry Phelan who were all very good on the deck.

PLUS - on this subject, where's Michael Owen from again?? Oh yeah, Wales isn't it. Where was Owne Hargreaves born??? Canada. Wayne Rooney qualified to play for us. Go back to singing your "two world wars and one world cup" song. England, gifted individual players, but it NEVER comes together for them!! hahahahah....thats what I love, and of course, the Jackeens always have somebody else to blame (Waddle '90, Southgate '96,Becks '98, Seaman '02) - I was scratching my head about 1994, and then I remembered that ye didn't qualify!!! hahahah!!

Af

France 5-0 England
Henry 3 Beckham missed pen (35,46)
Zizou 2

a.foley, last time i checked Chester was still in England:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player?id=7930&cc=5739

Terry Phealen-good on the deck??!?!? The 'whippet'couldnt pass gas let alone a soccer ball

Kevin Moran-Good on the deck!?!?!?!
are you suggesting the big man was cultured?

God McGrath-Good on the deck?
Yes God could play

Doesnt it say something about your national team that "all our crap players" as you so eloquently put it are form England, yet they all get a game?! Oh and your right about Morrison, he couldnt hit a barn door with a shovel.

Like it or not (and im sure you will go with not) your most succesfull manager was an Englishman...Wheres your gratitude!!

How dare you say that we all chant anti german/french/irish/scots/welsh songs!
It's "Two world wars and TWO world cups".....Remember Johhny Wilkinson!!

As for 94, seems a long way off now that the Euros are nearly here!!

The only way Clinton Morrison and his other "Irish" team mates will be there is if he jets off to the algarve for his summer holidays!

You really don't want to go down the rugby route with me....<<<cough>>><<<TWICKENHAM>>><<<cough>>>>. ha hahahahah!!

Most "successful" manager? How do you figure that? If you gauge success as taking perfectly good professional footballers and making them play an unattractive and "low" tactical level of football then I suppose he (Jack) was the most successful....but don't forget Mick ("you English c**t etc"(Roy Keane)) who celebrated a 2-2 draw with Holland (or Portugal, I can't remember) in the World Cup qualifiers - nothing wrong with that you might say....well, we threw away a 2-0 lead - Keano depressed and McCarthy celebrates. No more though, we've got Kerr now, no more English influence

I wasn't aware that Kyle allowed English hooligans to join the website!! You obviously got on the wrong plane (drunk no doubt) back from Charleroi back in 2000 and ended up in SC?!

Af

As for the Ruggers, im glad the world cup is four years away as i get to gloat for a long time to my Irish (and oz and kiwi and boks and french) Bretheren. Alas if the world cup was tomorrow i do not think we would win it. But, its not! count your blessings eh a.foley!

I think youll agree a manager can only be judged by his results, Charlton's were the best.

Yes youve got Kerr now, my Irish mates speak well of him, Just let us know if it doesnt work out and well send you another 'Wor' Jack Charlton.

I love the general English Stereotype that you mentioned! just about as much as im sure you love the "Guinness swilling, horse owning, Transit van driving, cowboy builder!!" stereotype that is (unfairly) thrown around for the jovial Irish.

Unfortunately, it wasnt Charleroi, i caught the plane from, but the equally lager louted up venue of Gatwick, and that was just the Leicester team!

Gatwick?? How come when I go to SC I end up flying from Heathrow to Dulles and then on to Greenville?? Didn't know there was a flight from Gatwick.

You seem to miss the point of my rugby quip - did you not see the six nations the last weekend!!

You'll need "Big Jack" or "Big Pr**k", as he is known here now, yourselves when Sven takes over Chelsea in July!!

You can get a direct flight from Gatwick To Charlotte, NC.

I didnt so much miss your point (saw the result not the game) as side step it, come on you know us English!

As for Svvvvveeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnn, will he or wont he? I dont know, but Ranieri will be sorely missed for his Quotes of the week on the BBC website.

I cant beleive Jackie C gets so much stick over there now? The politicians said if he would have run for prime minister after 94 he would have won!? what happened?

Keanos book, and the independent investigation into the workings of the FAI it caused. The complete vindication of Roy Keane the findings of said investigation produced - and the complete vilification of everybody who ever crossed Keano (or his puppetmaster Fergie). Charlton was on the Late Late Show here a few months back (dunno if you're familiar with it), but he came off really bad, well, not really bad, just really English!! To explain it, think about it in these terms: you've been sleeping with someone for months, its all great, you tell them you love them and they tell you they never really liked you at all - they were just using you. Thats kinda how everyone thinks of Jack, plus what was in Keanos book kinda killed off "the legend". I think I'll bring my copy of it down from college and stick a few exerpts from it on the site - probably infringing millions of copyright laws, but its a good read.

Poor old Ranieri, one of the few true gentlemen left in the game. He does his job with so much humanity despite Sven and Tord "in your office measuring for curtains" (Gary Linekar to Ranieri at the BBC Sports Personality Awards! Poor Claudio just laughed).

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all! Here are a few of my favorites:

WHEN IRISH EYES ARE SMILING

When irish eyes are smiling
Sure it's like a morning spring
In the lilt of irish laughter
You can hear the angels sing

When irish hearts are happy
All the world seems bright and gay
And when irish eyes are smiling
Sure they steal your heart away

OH DANNY BOY

Oh Danny boy, the pipes,
The pipes are calling,
From glen to glen
And down the mountain side,
The summer's gone
And all the flowers dying,
'Tis you, 'tis you
Must go and I must bide.

But come ye back
When summer's in the meadow,
Or when the valley's
Hushed and white with snow,
'Tis I'll be there
In sunshine or in shadow,
Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy
I love you so.

But if ye come
When all the flowers dying,
And I am dead,
As dead I well may be,
You'll come and find
The place where I am lying,
And kneel and say
An "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear,
Tho' soft you tread above me,
And all my dreams
Will warm and sweeter be,
If you'll not fail
To tell me that you love me,
I simply sleep in peace
Until you come to me.

IT'S A GREAT DAY FOR THE IRISH

Oh I woke me up this mornin'
And I heard a joyful song
From the throats of happy Irishmen
A hundred thousand strong
Sure it was the Hibernian Brigade
Lining up for to start the big parade

So I fetched me Sunday bonnet
And me flag I love so well
And I bought myself a shamrock
Just to wear in me lapelle
Don't you know that today's March 17
It's the day for the wearin' of the green

It's a Great Day for the Irish
It's a great day for fair
The sidewalks of New York are thick with blarney
For sure you'd think New York was ol' Killarney

It's a great day for the shamrock
For the flag's in full array
We're feelin' so inspirish
Sure because of all the Irish
It's a great, grea-eat day

It's a Great Day for the Irish
It's a great day for fair
Be gosh there's not a cop to stop the raidin'
Be gord, 'or all the cops are off paradin'

It's a great day for the shamrock
For the flags in full array
And as we move a'swingin'
Every Irish heart is singin'
It's a great, grea-eat day

THE PARTING GLASS

Oh, all the money e'er I had, I spent it in good company;
And all the harm that ever I've done, alas it was to none but me;
And all I've done for want of wit to mem'ry now I can't recall;
So fill to me the parting glass, Good night and joy be with you all.

If I had money enough to spend, and leisure time to sit awhile;
There is a fair maid in this town, that sorely has my heart beguiled;
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips, I own, she has my heart in thrall;
Then fill to me the parting glass, Good night and joy be with you all.

Oh, all the comrades e'er I had, they're sorry for my going away;
And all the sweethearts e'er I had, they'd wished me one more day to stay;
But since it falls unto my lot, that I should rise and you should not;
I gently rise and softly call, Goodnight and joy be with you all.