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Weird Rituals
There's two questions I'd like to ask your wonderful readers and one that's been nagging at me for a while.
1. At what age does a person become someone a team relies on rather than someone who, while now in his later playing years, is still a first choice player?
For instance, according to most media people, Man Utd have relied on an ageing Giggs ever since he was around 33. Surely he's still good enough, and was/is, to play for United's first team. But because he is now in his 30's we think there is a chance his legs will suddenly imploded mid-season and United to be left with a big gap in their midfield selection.
2. Does anyone else have any weird, totally unnecessary, rituals regarding opposite teams?
I don't know when I started it, but I will not directly click on a web link that is labelled with an opposition's team name. My reasoning being, this will give the opposition club some kind of luck or form that propel them up the league and my own team will suffer from the consequences. If by accident I do click on an opposition link, I need to find a link with my teams name to restore the balance. In my mind this is reasonable logic, in others, I'm a freak.
Frank (Shouldn't really post his name after question 2) Butcher
Villas-Boas Should Ship Out Old Guard
Re. Chelsea managerial situation...I remember Roy Keane saying that Fergie didn't stand by him during his last days at the club. As soon as the opportunity arose Fergie actually shipped him out.
The manner of departure didn't make a difference to Fergie.
I couldn't help draw similarities between that situation and the current John Terry / Frank Lampard situation at Chelsea. I understand it is difficult to do but under no circumstances should a player (or few players) be bigger than the club. Fergie tried to accommodate Keane by changing the system and briefly adopted a 3 man midfield but as soon as he realized that wasn't working, he was quick to fix the situation.
The results have been there for everyone to see. And it not just Roy Keane, you can come up with lots of instances when Fergie has ditched ageing players for the good of the club. Great players they may have been but there is little room for sentimentality in the modern game. Unfortunately AVB doesn't have the sort of influence at Chelsea that Fergie enjoys (or to put it accurately - has earned) at United.
Aashay
...FAO Matt Stanger, although he's probably received this a dozen times over this morning...
http://hasandrevillasboasbeensackedyet.com/
Darragh G
First Impressions
Rob Melia's reference to Glenn Helder took me back to a game just after he joined Arsenal during which he performed a quite astonishing trick (as I recall it!) to leave the defender on his backside + bomb down the wing.
Can't remember the game or any other details but everyone at Highbury stood and applauded and the post-match pub talk was about what a great player we had signed.........
Joff, Barton Gooner
Second Chances
When I was reading Rob's email about will clubs sell indulgent players and he said any chairman or manager can always claim "The lads' done his time and deserves a second chance," all I could think of was Harry Redknapp's voice saying that line in my head!
Goodness knows what you would have to do for 'Arry not to give you a second chance!
Hambo
...Rob from the morning mailbox makes a good point - players will always be indulged by their clubs if they are talented enough. However, once you start factoring age into the equation, players are less and less likely to be indulged as they get older (even if their talent level stays relatively constant).
The culmination of this is some players who are talented and still have something left in the tank - but are complete n*b-heads - can find themselves either out of work, having to go step down the leagues or ply their trade in Uzebekistan by the time they are in their early-to-mid 30s. El Hadji-Diouf springs to mind, but I'm sure there are plenty of other examples.
A talented professional footballer can get away with being a n*b-head when he's young, but may find himself out of work by his early 30s (which probably lessens his ultimate career earning potential compared to a model professional with the same ability). Maybe it is better to be professional rather than a n*b after all...
Nathan
You'd Have Thought So
I liked your piece on the top ten surprises of the season, but come on... if Emile Heskey has 62 England caps, Grant Holt should have at least ONE by now!
Kel, Norwich
Zlatan Will Not Be Asked This Question
Hi Zlatan,
Would you rather sleep with a woman with the brain of a monkey or a monkey with the brain of a woman?
Thanks a lot,
Tom
Effort
Re. John Doe...you have no idea mate.
I've had to pay $14.99 to download a 'remote desktop link' so that I can dodge my company's web filtering policy. This has not been easy.
I think there should probably be a section on the site that explains how to do this.
Any Chinese users having issues with paranoid government sanctions?
James Barkstriker
...I have a feeling that whoever ends up employing "John Doe" on the basis of his decent CV (F365 Mailbox this morning) will, in a very short space of time, know exactly what Kenny Dalglish feels like when watching Stewart Downing play.
Andy, Birmingham
... So let me get this straight; you now know that John Doe cuts and pastes the Mailbox then prints it out so he can look like he's working whilst reading the Mailbox; you also know that Jim, Macc covers his screen with Excel spread-sheets with just one line of the Mailbox poking out so he can read it whilst again looking like he's working.
In other words you know that people go to extraordinary lengths to read the Mailbox during work for their greater enjoyment and so as to prevent the UK's GDP expanding beyond disproportionate levels; and today you give them a Mailbox that can be read in about 3 minutes flat!!!!
Dear Mailbox Compiler, where is the commitment and dedication to your users? (cue 'we can only print what we get etc.', it's Champions League night; you must've got more than that).
Dessie, Belfast, LFC
