Mails: Smug, deluded United ‘new Liverpool’

Matt Stead

Break it up, you guys. Or don’t. But do mail theeditor@football365.com

 

A one-off season? No chance
This isn’t a topic that I thought I’d ever write in about but I think Spurs are going to be a force for several years to come. Mainly the reason for me writing this is as a result of all those hilarious emails from United fans this morning. Essentially Pocchetino is the key. If Spurs retain him whether they win the league this year or not, I think they will continue to challenge at the top.

Pocchetino looks the most complete manager to me and the only one around I’d swop Wenger for. In a perverse way I think it would be amazing if Spurs did win (and us to finish 3rd or higher) as it could mean a season without the Manchesters (the only time that word is allowed ok?!) in the Champions League. If the final place went to West Ham then this will indeed be the bestest season like ever.

So again, back at those self entitled and righteous United fans, why would Spurs sell Kane???
JazGooner (Kane is actually a Gooner anyway)

 

The reason everyone hates United can be seen in the last 2 mailboxes. What a bunch of smug, entitled beings their fans really are. The really funny thing is the delusion that makes them think they’ll be on top of the pile again next year. It’s going to be an absolute car crash next season whether they limp on with Louis, jump for Jose or gamble on Giggs. It’s only their fans who can’t see the impending doom which is going to make it all the more enjoyable to watch.

The assumption that Spurs are a one season wonder is a deeply flawed one. What we’ve done this season while having to play Thursday night football is nothing short of miraculous. Watch us go next season without that distraction.
David (He’s one of our own, leave him alone)

 

I’ve been thinking it for a while but this morning’s mailbox confirms it – Man U are indeed the new Liverpool. Self-entitled, smug and importantly deluded. They need to take those lemons out of their mouths and stop being bitter about Spurs and Leicester’s success. Don’t worry though, of course we’ll sell all our best players to you, bow down and let normal service resume (at least in your mind).

Long may you continue to be upset at our progress. No guarantees you’ll be better next season regardless of how much money you plan to throw around….especially if you finish outside of the top 4.
Nick THFC

 

All of the letters this morning lambasting the idea of Harry Kane not wanting to join Manchester United were ended with the same idea; this season is a one off. Normality will resume. Enjoy and thanks for the memories. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Why will it though?

There were United in the early days of football (since we all know football started in 1992) with some challengers (Blackburn, etc.). Then it was United and Arsenal as the big dogs. We next had the top four ruling roost. And lately it has been five big teams to fit into four small places (with Spurs and Everton knocking about). Then there is this season…..?

You all say United will be back so matter of fact-ly. Like the idea of United having a bad season next year is ludicrous. That’s the same United who have had 2 of the last 3 bad seasons (that’s if you count 2014-15 as a good one?). But it’s not only United doing badly but other teams doing well. Leicester, Spurs, West Ham, Southampton, Stoke. There is no evidence to suggest that these teams will suddenly be crap next season (new stadiums, Europe, $$$).

You all rightly point to money being the deciding factor. And you’re right, it is. United will buy the best players in the Premier League with all their money. But the others will buy the best in all the other leagues with all theirs. These teams will continue to build and strengthen and be there for when the big teams big money signing isn’t a big hit (but come on, that never happens, right?)

This letter became a bit long winded (apologies) but the crux of it is; I’m not saying that United will not finish in the top four next season. I’m just calling out those who say it will definitely happen next season. How many of you said Leicester will be relegated and United will win the league since Van Gaal had a year to build
Conor (I think I used enough of these already), Dublin

 

United fans really need to wake up.

The Premier League has always been about money – the only champions of the league thus far have been United, the biggest club in the land or clubs bank rolled by owners. Arsenal have been the one exception but then we have always had a good habit of breaking up a monopoly when things have started to get boring.

Spreading the money around the league looks set to have already delivered results in Leicester topping the tree.

Your predictions that United will return to the top four seem blinkered.

This is the new dawn for the league where everyone bar Arsenal can dream of winning the league. The league no longer favours a select few – it’s been a long time coming.

To United fans – you stand as good a chance as any of finishing top four but you’ll have to earn it – it should no longer be an expectation.

In a league without expectations – it’s going to be much harder for glory hunters to pick a club.

The question is why would Harry Kane sign for United when he’s got an equal chance of success at Spurs. Furthermore – Spurs will be in the champions league next season – at the point of writing it’s questionable whether United can say the same.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

 

Some of the writers in this morning’s mailbox seem to consider this season a one off for United and Tottenham. With regards the latter they may very well be right but a little research will show that it is just as likely to be only the beginning. Whilst this is United’s third consecutive season of overspending and underachieving…not the first.

Tottenham fans are wondering why Kane would join a team who have continued to regress, certainly in terms of their own lofty standards, when he is at a club who have shown all the attributes that United once did themselves. Money does talk, and Tottenham have plenty. We have, in the past, sold off our best players but it has been 8 years since we did to United, and United are most certainly not Real Madrid, so it is a tired and lazy point.

This is not, I should add, to say United aren’t capable of being champions next season, although it is unlikely. More to say that the idea that next season will see our teams positions reversed is to highlight only further the lack of, at best, humility among some sections of their support, and at worst, arrogance that has made their demise so celebrated among other teams supporters.
Dannyboy

 

A balanced view
Smug United fan wonders whose lives they should enrich with a move to their illustrious club. Spurs fans upset about the idea then make mockery of that thought because we are currently better than them. Further United fans then pooh pooh that because said Spurs fans have overlooked the fact they’re really rich. Thought I’d try and offer a balanced opinion without needless sniping (but allow me to call the “thickos” guy out, who claims United, who have spectacularly failed in each of the last four transfer windows and employ Ed Woodward, are a “slick organisation”).

Firstly, why he wouldn’t: this is no normal situation between player and club. It’s a player who grew up a Spurs fan, who is the ultimate star of the best Spurs team of his lifetime. We have a team who will only improve; to suggest that, if we don’t win the league next season, we never will is pretty ridiculous, given that three of the five or six potential clubs will have new and completely different managers. Spurs, whilst not having the financial clout of United, will do whatever we can to pay him what he deserves. Also, United will not be in the Champions League next season, whereas Spurs almost certainly will. Man United don’t yet have a manager for next season, whereas Kane is currently playing under someone who is perfect for him as a player and us as a club.

Why he would: money – although United will stand to lose a very substantial amount of income if they don’t achieve CL, based on their sponsorship contracts, they will likely still be able to offer more in wages than Spurs. The potential that United may eventually get their act together and challenge for trophies again (which will also be made more difficult without CL). The possibility of, in future, playing for a world-renowned manager (somewhat negated by Pochettino’s potential). The possibility that United will sign lots of much better players and sometime soon have a better squad than Spurs (see previous comment about money). The possibility of playing for a world-famous club (instead of the one his family belong to).

Conclusion: unless United sort their act out, which seems like an uphill task given their current situation and that of those around them, there is no chance. Kane loves it at Spurs; we have a massive amount of potential within our team and management, and are only going to improve (helped by the fact that we don’t have many standout players to be poached). It’s absolutely possible this may change in a few years, in which case there is every chance that Kane moves on, but a lot of in-no-way guaranteed things would need to happen. In the near future, we are in a very good place, and there are more important things to some players than money. After all, you couldn’t get Shearer just by clicking your gold-clad fingers (in an era of trophies galore, no less), so why would Kane be any different?
Alex G, THFC (reality check)

 

Lukaku, Mahrez and done
I response to Sudarsan Ravi (For Sanchez and Ozil, Think Silva and Aguero. Those four deserve better)’s mail regarding who the United should splurge the money on ( if they do decide to that is lol )the choice is easy. Lukaku and Payet is what is missing in the current starting XI. Maybe a ‘higher-level’ CB, but they do have Schneiderlin, who when he plays ( why not every game LVG FFS ) makes the jobs of Smalling and Blind, who need all the help they can get! Kane and Mahrez are novel ideas but not really what the team needs at the moment. Lukaku’s pace and power edges Kane, for me at least, and Payet is the kind of schemer Man Utd has been missing since Scholes left. And he’s pretty handy at free-kicks too!

Regarding Marcus Rashford, go on son!!!! Let’s just hope that Old Trafford doesn’t turn into the Theatre of (Pipe)Dreams!
Mac Bolan ( Plastic fan since 1995 ), Cape Town (RSA)

 

Giggs is an unnecessary risk
I can understand people making the argument for United to keep LVG or go for someone other than Mourinho (I’d personally love Poch, but that’s not gonna happen), but hiring Giggs over serial winner Mourinho makes no sense and would be an unnecessary risk taken by a club who have made little to no progress since Ferguson left.

You’re talking about choosing a guy with no real managerial experience over someone who has won 505 of 765 matches, that’s a win percentage of 66 percent over a period of 16 years. League titles with Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid plus the Champions League with two of those clubs. Granted he will leave within 3 years, but who cares? Managers come and go all over the world these days. What has Giggs done to deserve this job more than Mourinho? Look at Neville’s managerial experience thus far if you need more of a reason to be skeptical about hiring someone merely because he had an excellent playing career.

I’m sure you’ll like Mourinho a lot more when we’re celebrating a league title instead of a FA cup quarterfinal replay with West Ham.
Gaaavie (I’d still prefer Poch though), Cape Town

 

One email, many subjects
Lets get to it shall we?

1 – LVG. Stay or go? If Mourinho’s the alternative then he should stay. Mourinho’s a truly odious character who has managed to behave in ways which allow you to say he was worse than the combustible and often unpleasant, Fergie. If you can’t want good behaviour when talking about how to play a sport, when can you? I’d only consider him if he arrived with a full on mea culpa accepting that previous behaviour doesn’t belong in football and promise to be true to the spirit of the club (before you hit your keyboards, clubs do have characters, which can change over time, and United are known for playing predominantly attacking football with a focus on youth development).

But if he gets 4th and the FA cup he should stay. Why? Because if you sack a manager who wins the FA cup and qualifies for the Champions League you can’t say you want long term managers. It’s no vintage season, but it will have been a better season than almost all football clubs have enjoyed. One season of boring without a trophy. One season of mostly dull with a trophy. What happens next season?

If he does have to go, give it Giggs. I know you lot think it’s mad to put Giggs in charge, but I don’t care. I don’t directly pay anything to watch United, I am not employed by them, they are a form of entertainment and as long as they don’t go out of business I will continue watching them if they are winning, losing, drawing, getting relegated, whatever. So, if that is a given, aim for the most amazing possible outcome which would be club legend Giggs taking over and launching a new dynasty. If it doesn’t work out, so what? Who would have known Rashford would have been ready? It’s football, not the economy. United may not win things for a few years. Or ever again. So? When was the last time Everton won anything? Or Stoke? Or lots of clubs who have supporters who enjoy the sport.

2 – City. Just what do they have to do to get the kind of slaughtering United regularly get? They have spent just £10m less than United in the past two seasons. They spent £13m more on Mangala than United did on Fellaini. Mangala. Have you ever seen him play football? No, me neither. As you can imagine, I have no love for City, but when they are 1 point ahead of a United side who I am regularly told spend more time poisoning children and making puppy jam than being a good football team, why are people still treating City like a small cuddly 2nd Division club (we had loads of fans when we were down there. we are amazing. we are real fans…. so do portsmouth. you are not special) rather than a club who have spent over £900m to win two leagues and two cups?

3 – I hope, but have no expectation whatsoever, that United will return to the pinnacle of English football. And if we do, I will enjoy it even more this time around. One of the reasons is that I have a better appreciation now than when I was younger about what I enjoy about football, but also because the sheer delight at our predicament has been hilarious. Sure, I smile when Liverpool do badly, but the levels of joy provided by our demise are, frankly, pathetic. Winning in the future will not only be a positive for the fun it will provide me, but it will be equally satisfying to know that some small-minded and pretty sad individuals will be as annoyed by our success as they would be delighted by their own team winning. This behaviour is not restricted to those laughing at United – our fans are pretty much the same as all others and there are plenty of United fans who revel in others misfortune – but we United fans will have a very good reason for our smug smirks.

4 – Next season. What a belter it could be. I have, for many years, been talking about the fact that top clubs suffer from the diminishing returns on transfer fees meaning smaller clubs are often able to get a better return on players than the big boys. This will be even more the case with all the new money swilling around. I have also been saying for years that it will be better for football when clubs cannot assume they will get into the Champions League each year. It should make it less likely that managers will be sacked, players will leave and new ones will refuse to arrive. I hope that will allow Everton, Spurs, (London based, possible Champions League, massive stadium, passionate fans) West Ham, Southampton, maybe even Stoke and Liverpool (Ok, not Liverpool) build on their squads and push on. Sorry Leicester, do not see it happening again. There could be between 6 and 10 teams for whom it would not be crazy to suggest they could get into the top 4. With the prospect of additions such as Bournemouth and Watford consolidating themselves and adding to the colour and variety of the league, with decent sized clubs like Brighton and Hull possibly coming up, I think next year could be amazing.

5 – The idea of a European Super League makes me feel sick. Wonderful to see the response of the Dortmund fans. But why is it always left to the Germans to do the complaining? Why are English fans so compliant? So meek? So, well, pathetic? They sit there, pay a fortune and are spoon fed worse and worse conditions and given less and less input. Old Trafford, the Etihad, The Emirates… it is like tens of thousands of frogs sitting there asking each other if the water is getting warm. Credit to Liverpool fans – if there is going to be a fight back it will start in Liverpool.

6 – On today, of all days, surely we can all agree that this is a game? A fun and incredible game, but a game. There is far more that unites us football fans than divides us. Lets all try and be a bit more Danny Baker and a little less Robbie Savage.
Andreas (I needed that) Hunter, St Albans

 

Everyone else failing has saved Louis
A very constructive retort by Ted to the lashing he received after his initial letter. United are still in a position to end the season in an okay position, but in many ways this is DESPITE LVG’s work, and not because of it. LVG’s declaration that he runs a small squad to make room for academy players is frankly risible. With a fully fit squad available there is no way the world at large would have even heard of Marcus Rashford, let alone have him lead the line for some of our most important games.

LVG’s penchant for playing players out of position, and benching superior quality players is baffling to say the least, and some of his tactical decisions (having Schweinsteiger charging forward at every opportunity at the Etihad, anyone?) have left much to be desired. As for his management of the Angel Di Maria situation, well, it is pretty clear that apart from Di Maria’s personal issues, trying to shoehorn a free spirit into a rigid, old-school system was never going to work.

Remember SAF building his team around the mercurial talents of Cantona? It looks like Lauren Blanc took note while LVG missed the memo. United will never become a major force again so long as the captain of the ship can’t handle players with egos larger than his own. SAF and Mourinho can be guilty of this trait, but both have gotten the best out of huge players with equally huge egos.

It is only because United aren’t the only one of the top clubs having a sh*te season that the embarrassment of another fruitless and frustrating period hasn’t already bitten LVG on the a*se. If United were labouring around 5th or 6th place and out of Europe while Chelsea, Arsenal and city were playing well, dominating the top slots and cutting a swathe in the CL then he may well have been shown the door at Christmas (which he should have been).

LVG has been a very lucky chap to still be in his job. Perhaps we should be asking him to pick our lottery numbers, eh?
ET King (MUFC)

 

Snatch Antonio, you Contes
I might have missed it but I don’t think anyone’s suggested this yet…

If Man Utd managed to win the fourth place trophy they would arguably be in a good position to snatch Conte away from Chelsea. How do Man U fans feel about that prospect as a way out of the Giggs/Jose dilemma, with an added ‘f*ck you’ to Chelsea?
James Bruschini

 

Don’t take Sturridge to the Euros
After reading todays Media-watch and the number of strikers Woy is potentially looking to take to the Euro’s, there seems to be a common acceptance that Daniel Sturridge’s name is already on the squad list. I think otherwise.

When it comes to tournament football and a squad of 23, players who can play in various positions on the pitch and perform in said different positions are worth their weight in Alexanderson gold (DRLC/MRLC/RW/LW on some past form of Championship Manager).

Working through the options that England have and working on the common belief that you take 4 strikers, Rooney will be in the squad if fit as he is the captain and can play as lone striker (and perform ok) or as number 10 behind. Vardy has played wide left and wide right for both Leicester and for England and adds pace and non-stop running. The same can be said for Welbeck who has shown he can also lead the line for Arsenals attack in recent matches. If you accept the above argument to give the squad more depth and better options, you are then left with Daniel Sturridge and Harry Kane as genuine centre forward options. When at Chelsea, Sturridge struggled when played out wide and at times looked as though he was sulking and saying he wanted to play as a striker. He then moved to Liverpool to get that opportunity and has performed well on occasion when not injured. Kane on the other hand has arguably been the leagues most consistent performer of the past 2 seasons with a quite frankly ridiculous scoring record.

Based on the above, it should come down to either Sturridge or Welbeck as to who gets that 4th striker place in the squad. Welbeck offers more to the squad depth than Sturridge and would give us more options tactically.

Just an observation.

And no, I didn’t leave out Andy Carroll by mistake.
Wrighty DCFC

 

A radio station that talks about football last night was running through their 23 man squad for the Euros. While this is a bit premature (most recent F365 ladder was November?) I thought I would give it a go so we can spend most of the week debating whether Rooney should go or not. Assuming a 4-3-3

GK (3): Hart, Butland, Heaton
Def (7): Bertrand, Rose, Walker, Smalling, Cook, Stones, Cahill
Mid (8): Alli, Henderson, Barkley, Dier, Lallana, Sterling, Drinkwater, Milner
Atk (5): Kane, Welbeck, Vardy, Sturridge, Rooney

Surprised:
-Milner has one of the highest key passes per game in the Premier League (2)
-Antonio (West Ham) has 6 goals and 2 assists in 15 (+3 subs) games. But we all know Rooney is going
-Steve Cook has 8.5 clearances per game. Perfect alongside someone like Stones
-Our defence situation is a bit low on caps
-Do we need another specialised right back? Has Walker ever been injured?

Potential Swaps
-A fit Wilshire replaces Drinkwater
-Rooney for Antonio/Deeney/Walcott is very acceptable

There you go thats my 23. I would start:

Welbeck – Kane/Sturridge – Vardy
Dier – Barkley – Alli
Rose – Cahill/Smalling – Stones – Walker
Hart
Rob A (1 Arsenal players, what a load of s***) AFC

 

More Bale talk
Matt Stead’s article on Gareth Bale really tickled my fancy. It made
me look at the current English National Team Squad and i realized there were no players from outside England on that list. NONE!! I then compared them to every other team going to the Euros and also realized that they had a healthy percentage of their players playing abroad. Then it clicked. This might just be the reason English players struggle at international competitions(WC and Euros, not qualifiers). They all play the Premier League way. They only know the 4-2-3-1 formation. They are all the same technically. Thats why they will struggle against the Germans, French, Spanish and Italians. These teams combine homemegrown talent with foreign experience.

Almost every English player that has gone abroad(at least on loan) has spoken well about the experience and technical ability acquired. Are English players too scared? Are they satisfied with being ‘local champions’?. Its surely not a coincidence that the best players in the world are not playing in their own countries-De Gea,Aguero,Messi,Ronaldo,Ibra,Di Maria(PSG and Real version),Neymar,Suarez.Pogba,Auba… The list goes on and on. The EPL has English players that CAN be world class, but the bittter truth is that they NEED to play abroad. Rooney might have been a better striker if he played abroad. Smalling might become that special defender if he takes a leap.The Alli’s and Barkley’s can round their games more if they play abroad. Imagine Kane or Sturridge adding some Spanish technique or German graft to their game. Imagine Sterling at Milan or Napoli for one year and he might learn to shoot and be a £50m player. Some can and would still stay but many need to go.

France has a poor league but a very good national team. Same as Germany, Spain(FCB and Real aside),Italy and even BELGIUM. As for England: Best league?yes. Best managers?yes. But not best international team.
Joe(its international week),Marsielle.

 

As an input into why English players don’t often choose to move abroad, I thought I’d use the tiny bit of knowledge gleaned from non-league and apply it to the larger footballing world.

Sido Coelho Jombati is a full back who currently plays for Wycombe Wanderers. A few years back 2009-2011 he played for Bath City, and was part of the squad that got us promoted to the Conference National & our season of finishing 10th winning player of the season, before moving onto full time football. As a youth Sido played for Sporting CP (Lisbon to the rest of us!) but didn’t make the grade.

Sido had options to stay in Portugal and make it in the second division, but from conversations people had with him, it transpired that the wages on offer were around the £250/300 per week mark, by moving to England (originally with Weymouth) he was offered £400/week with amble opportunities to progress (Weymouth were playing Conference South at that time), so took the extra money, and now he is playing in the 4th tier it is safe to assume he will be on a fair bit more than that.

Footballers only have a short career, if you were being offered substantially more money to stay at home, with all the comforts that implies, would you move abroad for less? This is at non-league level, I dread to think of the difference between pay at say Norwich to Frosinone/Palermo (both recently promoted clubs).
Jon, (Matt Tubbs was paid £1.5k/week by non league Salisbury ffs!) Bath City FC

 

Love the response from the Gareth Bale article about attracting big name players to the EPL in particular Dan’s email. However I disagree with the best players don’t come to the EPL. Firstly it is widely thought in Europe that the Premier league is the most competitive league in the world. Whilst other league have better players but lesser competition. Hence why Ronnie and Messi can score 50 plus goals every year, and PSG can win the league with 9 games to spare. I don’t know the consensus for Ballon’dor but it is usually Club form and then international recognition. Now you can’t tell me that these players you mentioned would have scored or assisted the requisite amount of goals to win the Ballon’dor in England. Even Ronaldo himself didn’t average over a goal a game in the league nor Suarez. It is true we get the leftovers but I digress that we don’t attract Ballon’dor winners as I think that is an advantage playing in a lesser league, with a break etc.
Franchise( MUFC)

 

Out of control
This has been evident with some time but, as a Spurs fan, it was clear during the recent 2-2 North London derby. There is a severe lack of midfielders who can control a game. At Spurs we once had Modric, Arsenal had Fabregas (and others), United had Scholes, Liverpool had Alonso and each team played a style of play that suited these players. Now the style of play has changed to quick transitions but the ability to control a game has been lost (except by United who seem to want to patiently control a game when they are drawing or losing).

Spurs were a man up and a goal up in that match. All that was needed was to keep possession and make Arsenal chase the game. Where Bayern, Barcelona and Dortmund have adopted interchangeable styles of pressing and possession the likes of Spurs, Arsenal and United have picked one and forgotten how to do the other. Too many teams are throwing away points from winning positions (Liverpool, Man City, Everton and Chelsea at the beginning of the season) and this is probably the reason why. Although it will be great to see Spurs, Leicester and maybe West Ham in the Champions League next season, it might not last very long.
Colin, Dublin

 

Ashley is not the victim
“Do I regret getting into football? The answer is yes. I have had tonnes of fun in it but I haven’t been able to make the difference I wanted to in football. AlI say is, there is a bank account, when you have emptied it, it’s empty. Don’t come crying to me for more money.”

These are the words (as reported by the Daily Mail) of Mr. Mike Ashley, owner of Sports Direct and it’s advertising subsidiary, Newcastle United Football Club. Elsewhere in this interview, Mr. Ashley claims to feel unappreciated and says that he feels there’s been a lot of negativity around him. He is the victim. After everything he has done for the Magpies…

Except that he’s not. And he hasn’t. And what a farcical interview it is. Most of the national media chose to report it with headlines such as ‘Ashley vows to stand by Newcastle’ – the valiant knight in shining armour, staying to support his wounded bride. I’m sure I can’t be the only one who then went to read what he’d actually said – and surprise, surprise, it’s nothing of the sort.

When asked if he’ll stick around if the club go down, Ashley replied ‘We’ve got no choice. We’re stuck with each other.’ In other words, if Newcastle are relegated, it won’t be worth selling because the club’s value will be lower. It all comes down to money.

But it’s the quote with which I began that really antagonises me. ‘Don’t come crying to me for more money’?! Since Ashley took over in 2007, Newcastle’s transfer policy has been simple: buy cheap, sell big. If Newcastle have lost money, it’s down to Ashley’s refusal to invest in proven quality to see the club actually compete in any of the competitions in which they have taken part. Even the investments in January were on two players who have never really proved themselves as being as good as the hype. His wet dream is to see the club finish 9th with a squad of players assembled for 50p – and then sell the lot for £50m. The whole time, it’s never been about football, it’s been about money.

I am not a Newcastle fan but as a football fan it pains me to see the club used in this way. The only saving grace is that it’s so spectacularly backfired on Ashley – but there are no winners here. Either Newcastle do badly and Ashley won’t sell because the offers won’t be big enough, or they do well and he milks it dry.

Don’t be fooled. For all his clever PR, Ashley is not the victim. He’s just a fool who gambled big and it spectacularly backfired.
Alex, Leeds

 

Ashley has come out and spoke to the media….NUFC must be in trouble again!

Of all the things he said, all of it negative misery, he says he ‘regrets’ getting into football.

I regretted moving to Ireland once, so I moved back to England. I didn’t stay there for 9 years.
I regretted buying a coat for £125 once. I took it back to the shop, I didn’t keep it for 9 years.
I regretted going back to ‘that’ girls house, I wont say why. I did not stay with her for 9 years.

Point is if Ash regrets getting into football and buying Newcastle Utd….why is he still here and own the club 9 years later?! Just sell it. Stick that ill advised purchase on ebay like the rest of the world. No one wants him here, he doesn’t wanna be here, just get rid and get out.

Where is this mans logic??

Question to all: What have you regretted buying/doing? Have you still got it 9 years later..?!!
ToonBano (I regret ever shopping in Sports Direct)

 

The best league in the world?
Its a bit annoying with the regular mail about “best league in the world”, like Dan (THFC- Oslo) sent today.

The criteria for best league, doesn’t have to be best player or best team or most participants in CL (sticks used to beat the PL with), rather it could be mean the most competitive league, most entertaining league or most watched league.

So here are some interesting numbers. 700 million fans watched United vs Liverpool last season (neither team was sniffing the title), compare that to and estimated 400m-500mil viewers watched the El-Clasico. The Champions League final in June had less than half the estimated viewers of the Liverpool v United clash.

Simply put it seems fans around the globe with no local affiliation to the PL, La Liga, Seria A or Bundesliga, think the PL is a better league to watch. So the viewship numbers confirm the PL’s claim of being the best league in the world.
JB, MUFC

 

No Big Dunc?
Top 10 premier wild boys and no Duncan Ferguson?

This really shows how little Storey knows about football
Fat Man Scouse, EFC

 

Nostalgilicious
I know I’m not the first to praise Mediawatch‘s ‘Recommended Reading of the Day’ feature; the Ardiles/90s Spurs article today was nostalgilicious. Can we please, pretty please, have Non-football Story of the Day back too? Lunchtimes just aren’t the same without hearing about something dreadful happening to someone else’s penis.

Many thanks in advance,
Tom, London