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I actually haven't seen that one before. Funny stuff. I actually spent a few minutes this afternoon watching youtube clips of Ronaldinho. How this player could ever become "bad" is beyond me. Surely he's still class, just getting turned into a scapegoat at Barca because of the politics. Not that he'll ever come to us, or City for that matter but.... Great player.

I just recalled that after Luque's debut I was genuinely in love with him. For some reason he was really passionate and getting stuck in that day. Thought he had bags of skill with a great attitude to boot. Turned out I was wrong on both counts, of course.

There's something that doesn't quite add up here...... I mean Ferdinand should be on the list but there is obviously one man who deserves to win I find it amusing how we can be consistently spanked by Gerrard every time we play Liverpool, yet our fans still severely underrate him. He doesn't deserve an England place, I know that much. Going by his form at international level btw, not for club. Maybe if we put a Liver Bird on the England shirt he'd perform? Well yes, the man either cares less about international football, or works less well with the national teams tactics, just like several other excellent players across the world do. (cf) Henry, although a lot of that may be down to England as a whole having been shit for a while now. Still one of the best at club level though.

There's something that doesn't quite add up here...... I mean Ferdinand should be on the list but there is obviously one man who deserves to win I find it amusing how we can be consistently spanked by Gerrard every time we play Liverpool, yet our fans still severely underrate him.

That's why I feel Kaka is a better player than Cristiano, simply due to the fact he can control and dominate a game. Something which Cristiano doesn't have in his locker, despite being one of the best players in the world. Ronaldo doesn't need to control games. Man U could be at 30% posession and playing horribly: he's still liable to pop out of nowhere and score a hat trick. Yes, he's an individualist that doesn't bring out the best in his teammate like Zidane was, and to a lesser extent, Kaka is capable of. But he's the best f****** individualist alive. And in that sense he's absolutely irreplacable.

Drogba. I always love those "shut up and get out of the way: I don't care what you're doing, I'm just gonna score." strikers.

Ashley's got 100m, right?

Yeah maybe, but no other striker did, Oba did. Put it this way, if Roeder had actually gotten Kuyt instead of Oba...

Aye, good point. I'd say a small non-alcoholic "family" section is a good idea in general, not just for practicing Muslims et al.

I suppose whether you hate Man U/Liverpool/Chelsea more really depends on the people around you. I don't know a lot of Liverpool fans and my best mate just happens to be one so I don't particularly mind them, but Man U fans... Jesus... I can't stand being around them.

This thread is tempting fate WAY too much. Just reading through it gave me the chills.

I think it's exactly the opposite for him. He's a very, very good player who's not getting as much credit as he could because he's only playing a bit part and is playing alongside the greatest player in the world at the moment. I've seen him playing for the national team countless amount of times, and seeing him play with shit players actually makes me realize how much depth he has in his game that doesn't shine when he's at Man U because he's surrounded by players like Ronaldo and Rooney. Aside from his obvious advantages (versatility, work ethic, pace) he's got excellent technique and surprising creativity and vision. I honestly think the SWP comparison is apt and that he'd walk into any side outside of the top 3 right now. He's very underrated right now because of the players around them and the fact that Man United's formation doesn't really play to his strengths, but this is the lad who almost single handedly dismantled AC Milan three years ago. Unfortunately he's convinced himself that he's happy warming the bench for Ronaldo and Nani at ManU. Would love to see him move in the summer to a side like us or Villa and really show the world what he can do.

I think this thread has gotten to the point where lists of names don't even register in people's brains.

Best work ethic in the Prem. Can play any position in the midfield. Better than Lennon! (ducks for cover) honestly though, Park being a Korean is more of a minus than a plus for me because that means if he comes to us the s*** Korean media would be writing s*** stories about us 24/7. If you think your rags are s***... Even if Fergie really held us ransom, He'd probably cost less than Lennon would cost and would do a better job. I say why not.

I reckon there's quite a few reasons. There seems to be quite a lot of sikhs and hindus who support man utd; you always see them at OT. But I reckon quite a lot of ethnic minorities might be quite 'intimidated' if you will. I personally, despite being a black muslim, have never been intimidated by football and have had a season ticket for the last few seasons. I don't drink the alcohol, don't go into the pubs, don't wat the food inside whl etc. But I make it work and I love it. However, I remember watching a show a few years ago; one of those appalling day time shows you watch when you are home sick. They found 2 fans, one black/indian ( can't remember) and one white who both had a season ticket at the same club. They did them over, changed their skin colours for the day and both noticed marked differences in the way they are treated at the match. Make of that what you will. The intimidation thing isn't completely farfetched. I'm East Asian and I often feel that people at pubs and the match are just a bit off in the way they react to me, although I'm sure most of it isn't intentional. Probably just wondering why I'm at SJP and not Old Trafford.

I hopes Fener sneak a draw. Will always love Kezman for this pic. http://blog.joins.com/usr/t/h/theother/36/%EC%BC%80%EC%A6%88%EB%A7%8C.jpg

Game really isn't very popular in India/Pakistan. Can't comment on how popular it is in the Middle East. The lack of Halal food, the alcohol, and the rowdy atmosphere may also be contributing factors for those of them who are practicing Muslims. Speaking as someone of Indian origin I would refute that, it's not hugely popular (in comparison to Cricket) but there are lots of games shown on TV and if like me were born and raised in this country (as with many of the younger Muslims/Pakistanis/Asians) I naturally developed an interest in football and look forward to attending games, why don't that many of them too? You'd have thought more would, really. I was mistaken, fair enough. Always assumed Cricket was king and nobody watched football in India/Pakistan. As far as growing up here negating cultural influence, I'd say that the generational influence is pretty huge. A lot of Britons get attatched to thier local clubs through their parents, and for immigrant children who may or may not have parents that watch football, I assume there's some negative correlation there.

Game really isn't very popular in India/Pakistan. Can't comment on how popular it is in the Middle East. The lack of Halal food, the alcohol, and the rowdy atmosphere may also be contributing factors for those of them who are practicing Muslims.

My "realistic" wishlist so far then RW/LW/CM = http://news.joins.com/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/200802/htm_2008021716201660006010-001.JPG CB/DM = http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en-commons/thumb/a/ac/250px-Rafael_Marquez_15abr2007.jpg ST = http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41727000/jpg/_41727998_petercrouch_1416pa.jpg or http://beefbagel.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/johan-elmander.jpg DM = http://www.africahit.com/news/images/articles/2007_12/3722/u1_djila.jpg AM = I don' know.. Deco? I don't think any of these players wouldn't be let go by their clubs if we payed fair market price, and I don' think any would be particularly averse to coming to us if we could promise first team footie. All could do a great job.

I honestly fear for the future of Britain if any significant portion of the population share's the perceptions of jarralad et al. As far as immigration is concerned, I'm pretty conservative and assimilationist myself, but... This = Islamic cultural invasion of Britain!?! How Why?

Rafael Marquez not getting a game? I'd love to have him here. How old is he though?

I wouldn't want us to throw a game even if it meant the Mackems winning the title.

And we'd be a laughing stock again if we go out and spend mad money on a 30 year old who's not exactly setting the world on fire at the minute. Don't get me wrong if we signed him for realistic money and wages I'd be well happy but if we spend stupid money on him and he fails to produce were going to look like bigger fools. See Michael Owen exactly one year ago he was the consensus best striker in the world. And it's not as if he's suddenly turned into Ameobi at Barcelona: he's just struggling to adapt, not playing in his natural position, and being thrown off balance by all the internal turmoil in the club. Fifteen million and 70~80k a week wages and I'd gladly carry him from Barcelona and across the English channel on my two shoulders. Turning our noses up at Henry? He's two still two years younger and despite recent troubles has a fitness record a billion times better than that of Mark Viduka, and is at least ten times the player. Viduka is still a massive threat in the Premiership. Players do not suddenly turn completely useless just because they've hit the big three-oh. Of course, all of this is immaterial and rather silly, to be honest, because there's honestly no fucking way he'd come here.

of course, the cold hard truth is probably that neither will agree to come to us.

Now, I disagree with this completely. Don't undersell Newcastle. Would Les Ferdinand or Rob Lee for example have moved on from Newcastle when they were here ? This is the club as how it should be and what Keegan certainly will demand and expect. I would be massively disappointed if we signed a player such as Bentley and he then wanted to move to Liverpool. You must - going by your username - remember when Pop Robson thought moving to West Ham was a step up ? And Gazza and Waddle went to Spurs ? And whats more, sadly, at the time, they were making a step up. It's not like I want Bentley to move, and I agree that we're a great club and one that players fall in love with. (I think that's happened to some extent with Martins and Owen, who could do better than us in the summer but won't.) That said, Bentley's already shown that his career always comes first. I've seen nothing about the lad that indicates to me that a year with us will make him want to stay with us on a long-term basis. England caps and Champions League football are far more important to him than "52,000 screaming Geordies." If we buy him this summer and if he plays anything approaching decent for us, demand for him will be through the roof. And when Sir Alex or Rafa or whoever Liverpool's manager is gets on the phone, I don't think he'll hesitate. We'll probably end up about 10 million richer, but right back where we started.