Kaizero

"Best use of/Best Gif" will probs take over for Best Smiley next year as another one off.

You are taking the piss. We've got a good scouting system, big money signings hadn't worked out for us, we're 8th in the league which isn't that bad, our fans are more unhappy when we're losing, his own stint here didn't work out, we can't compete with the mega-rich clubs, and he had no problems with Kinnear but felt he was from a bygone era. Controversial. I'm quite inclined to agree. Only thing exceptionally wrong with that article in itself is that Michael Owen is talking about football. The content is fairly boring common knowledge that gets discussed on this forum on a regular basis, only now an absolute cunt is saying it so fuck the police.

Relegation, lack of money, necessity of playing their kids. We have many of those same things going on. Very few teams offer kids the same first team opportunities we do. Whether or not they take them is down to them. I do think generally, that English managers don't trust kids. You'll never win a game with 11 James Miners etc etc. Too an extent. It's a high pressure job where 3 losses in a row and people are calling for you to be sacked. It's understandable to a point. That's part of the reason I like MLS. The salary caps and limited "roster" space mean that kids are necessary for building a squad. My Seattle Sounders had DeAndre Yedlin break through last year and are very likely to see Dylan Remick and Eriq Zavaleta this year. There's just no other option for most teams. You get the same thing happen when clubs like Southampton are stuck for cash, or like us: keeping the squad thin. I think we're more likely than other clubs to start producing good young players for that very reason. It just doesn't happen overnight. There are also other factors: as a football coach myself I know there's only so much you can actually do to help players. You can give them all the instruction in the world but if they're not prepared to push themselves then they're not going to get any better. You can't kick the ball for them. As anyone who has ever had a job knows; 90% of the people employed there are just happy turning up and doing the same thing they've always done. Comfortably phoning it in. It's no different in football. Andy Carroll is a great example. When his first team opportunity came up he really knuckled down and you could see him getting better and better. Then he signs his big money contract, thinks he's made it, and he stagnates. There are a lot of variables at play. But the one thing I can say with complete confidence is: remarks like "We're never going to have any good youth players under Pardew" and shit like that are nonsense for many reasons: 1) We do give players opportunities to prove themselves. We actively want them to step up because we're at the bare bones most of the time. 2) He's not even the fucking youth coach. 3) Motivation is the single biggest factor in developing a player, and he's shown himself to be reasonably good at managing players (Cabaye, Colo, etc). 4) He has come out publicly and urged these guys to step it up. Whether they do or not is on their own backs. He can't kick the ball for them either. Another good example re: the MLS is Omar Gonzales at LA Galaxy. If they'd had no salary cap, there's no chance that one of (IMO) the US' best CBs at the moment would have had anywhere near the gametime he'd need to develop.

It's going to open up a more interested league to be honest. Now that Galaxy aren't the only ones getting the players it should be more of a fair game. I think I may start watching it again this season, does anyone over here have the rights? Not as far as I can tell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Soccer_on_television That list seems bad regarding international deals though. We get MLS live on TV over here and aren't listed.

Decent first eleven, bench full of the cheapest players available.

Hard? Try IMPOSSIBLE.

Man City annoys me much more than Beckham, at least Beckham has been a part of making the MLS more popular and in one sense deserves to continue to be a part of it. Man City just comes to New York with some shitty team when there's a franchise with such a rich history as the New York Cosmos right there wanting to join the MLS. Fuck man, annoying.

There's been an MLS thread on here for three years you know.

Well thank you Captain Obvious.

No offence but that sounds like a load of s****. I know - straws being clutched at. he seemed quite sincere about it. oh well, we can still live in hope. I'm just desperate to believe there is a buyer out there. Interesting....Their CEO owning the Dallas Stars is decently relevant. Hope he's partnering with Jerry Jones Whoa!! wait ... Who owns Sandman hotels? Tom Gaglardi ?? Google says it's him Family net worth at $2.24 billion it seems.

Hatem's face lit up!

Not wanting to sound like "pedant of the century"like, but can you get bummed in the face? Surely you either "bum" or get "bummed", either way there's no face involved, only arse. Not that I'm an authority on it obviously. 3-1 to the rent boys http://forgifs.com/gallery/d/141928-3/Butt-face-prank.gif He's getting bummed in the face.

In fantasy land, below 10k attendance and protests outside the ground burning SportsDirect shit would probably garner some pressure for Ashley to really just get out. In reality, it will be almost a full house no matter what. I don't blame any fan for going to see their club, but some massive protest tarnishing SportsDirect instead of anything else would help.

I wish our players would just fucking shoot instead of taking one touch too many every fucking time. (Bar Tiote, who shoots at everything.)

Yeah, fuck bubbles.

He just can't decide.

dat bump

LET'S BURN THIS MOTHER DOWN

The odds get removed from the acca if it's a dnb, so it pays out as if it was an acca without the dnb match included.

£7 on Cardiff @14.5

Been reading a bit about transfer prices / inflation. Apparently Shearer would've cost £44.4 Million today if adjusted for inflation. Would that have been a fair valuation in today's market, though?

Another Norwegian signing for Cardiff in Jo Inge Berget. This will not end well.

They're making them less complicated, man. France now will have an agreed upon set of friendlies with the nation that normally would not be able to play (in a five nation group). This instead of both France and said nation having to try and arrange a friendly on the same date when most other nations are already busy with qualifiers. This due to the issue other host nations have had to do just that during past qualifiers. It's sensationalism to say "UEFA have changed the rules". They've just made it easier for the host nation to maintain their International schedule as well as kind of making it fairer on other teams in that France will still potentially have to play minnows instead of just competing in friendlies against Brazil and such.

I find it a good option. They'll be in the group with five teams, so once each round lne team needs to play a friendly instead of a qualifier. Adding France makes it all much more neat and easy and France gets a decent amount of matches without being in the actual qualifiers. Poland and Ukraine struggled with arranging frinelies when they arranged it. It's basically a pre-arranged set of friendlies rather than anything else, and it gives teams the same advantage. (I.e France playing shit teams and not just Brazil over and over again in Abu Dhabi or some shit.)