Exiled in Texas

Yeah!! Don't call it football.

What exactly have Marseille done wrong? Ben Arfa is their player, if other clubs are willing to buy him for a reasonable fee why would they agree to sell him to us for less? I don't think they have done anything wrong (except being cnuts to us) but as the sellers it's their perogative to try an get as much money for any asset they want to sell. The point was really that despite everyone screaming for torches and pitchforks and wanting Ashley's head on a pike, if Marseille wanted to jerk us around then they could do that. Nothing that NUFC could do to get them to accept an offer today if they thought that they "might" get more money for it tomorrow.

Love how the fact that Marseille seem to have just stalled the deal, waiting for a better deal, and its Newcastle?Ashley's fault. Ashley: OK, we agree to the terms. Let's sign the contract. Marseille: Eet eez not reddee yet, we sign tomorrow, Ok? Next day Ashley: We agreed to the terms yesterday. Let's sign the contract. Marseille: Eet eez not reddee yet, we sign tomorrow, Ok? Next day Ashley: We agreed to the terms yesterday. Let's sign the contract. Marseille: One more change and then we sign tomorrow, Ok? Next day Ashley: We agreed to the terms yesterday. Let's sign the contract. Marseille: Eet eez not reddee yet, we sign tomorrow, Ok? Next day Ashley: We agreed to the terms yesterday. Let's sign the contract. Marseille: Sorry, But Bremen offered more money. We sign the contract with them.........tomorrow.

BBQ is good, and the TexMex is good too.

Totally understand that perpective too. Should I include photos of the hot texas babes in the job offer?

Cheers mate. I just typed in soccer coaching jobs in america. And there si so many hits. Many seem to take on Level1 coaches and it seems to me to be a perfect platform for pro experience. I am really considering this for next summer now. Aye, me too, though 3 months seems to be the minimum (which is probably the maximum I'd go for - for now). Yes, 3 months is the minimum from my knowledge of the British coaches coming to US. There seems to be two main options - coming to US to work the kids summer camps. You spend 8-10 weeks coaching young-uns - week here a week there. They tend to be based in one main location and your spend a week living with a host family and then move on to the next family. I think the company pays for the ticket out to US and you get one week off during the summer to go somewhere, the rest of the time you're doing the weekly camps. I know that some other opportunities exist where coaches are brought in to coach a team or to be part of a club coaching setup. Consistency is very important, so they would want the coach to be there for the full season. That could be either both for fall/spring seasons or for the full Sep-May season. I wouldn't consider hiring a coach for a period that didn't fit with my program as I want consistency through the season.

Was poor last night - no movement, no interaction with surrounding players. Spent most of the night standing around. I've seen him play so much better and that was a terrible performance.

At least he tried to take players on.....Jonas was worthless last night (except for one cross-field run). Stood around most of the timeand did nothing. Frustrating to watch the play surge up through the middle with barton and watch him looking for the through ball, only to see Jonas standing still waiting for the give-up-sideways pass. At least Xisco was taking players on. [oh, and the "let's all have Xisco, Let's all have a Xisco chant was funny at the game on ESPN last night]

Thanks OCK, We are contracting with Challenger Sports (AKA British Soccer) to provide us with some coaches to provide skills and run our U8 academy program (leading in to U10). Academy and Club soccer is very competitive here in TX, and I wanted to understand if these Badges were levels that were gained in one weekend session, or if they were higher level of requirements. We'll be advertising the program and including the coaching qualifications and didn;t want someone to say"yeah but anyone can get that with a weekend class" Thanks....appreciate the help

Question about coaching credentials.....our local soccer association in TX is looking to hire some british coaches to run an academy program for U8s. I'm told they will have UEFA level 1 or 2. What sort of qualification is that? Basic, couple of grades up the line, suitable to coach what age group etc What does it take to get this qualification? Wondering if the qualification is all that or not (and they hope we don't know the difference)

If he was serious about playing for us he would have hopped on a plane to Newcastle and be wandering through Eldon Sq doing a bit of shopping while they finish negotiating the price. Don't see the necessary committment myself.

Could easily just be a reflection on Bristol City. Might be a lot easier to be passionate about working in premier league with Villa than working at Ashton Gate in Championship

Not football, but a rant on my beer-league ice hockey team. Hockey is supposed to be played at a high intensity fast pace.....players on the ice for about a minute and then rest for 1-2 shifts. So it pisses me off when players coast about on the ice at half pace for 2 to 2.5 mins , never look to come off the ice and have to be dragged off by the bench when his line change is done except for him and he steals the ice time from the guy behind him in the rotation.

Sounds perfectly realistic. I love how people say "the club should be run properly.....give him what he wants to get him signed" Mind boggling.

Referee training 101 - Don't do a favour to one team when you may not be able to do it each time. Stop one ball, then why not the next. Why stop their ball but not our ball etc. And as you put it....it's not their job

so if the power was in your hands who would you hire to replace him? Maybe Martin jol. For me if the manager picks the right team a result can be blamed on the players, for me hughton often selects the wrong team, ir Guthrie on the right and that will be found out this season The same Martin Jol who turned down the UEFA League finalist Fulham to stay at Ajax (2nd in Eredivise)? No seriously, who would you hire to be the manager?

OK. Who changed the poll question?? That's excellent.

Actually.....it sounds like he hasn't

Hopefully these sort of loans have a pre-arranged purchase price or purchase conditions so that if someone plays well then we can still afford to sign them and did not price ourselves out of the market for a player who we built up.

Happens in all sorts of businesses. Probably.....but I'm surprised that HM Government doesn't legislate that HM Government doesn't get screwed

I'd suspect that HM Goverment will pass some legislation that stipulates that HMRC automatically gets a "Most Favoured Nation" clause that means that they cannot have a lower standing as a creditor than any other entity. Ridiculous that the Prem League (or is it FA) can legally create a situation where they protect some creditors in full based on some industrial association membership, and they can have a higher status that HMRC and HM Government. I understand them saying that we pay football debts before non football debt meaning that they pay transfer fees and wages before they pay any other suppliers etc, but the fact that they can put their own interests above their legal tax obligations is amazing.

You should have at least put some French media article there to confuse people who can't speak French. Would have made it more interesting (for you). Yeah, at least make us ventilators work for it.

Noticed this.....looks good.

Cue comments like....... the badge looks tacky with that fake shield. Why is the badge central and not on left nip, Sponsor looks ironed on, why does it cover up part of the skyline nike/umbro/insert-manufacturer-here would have made it better But it really is a great shirt!!

I have imaginary friends too. Let's see if these buyers are anything more than imaginary.