Consortium of one

I don't go to the official site too much, preferring instead to get all my late breaking news off the ITK posters on the internet  mackems.gif

hmm, I forgot what I was going to post.  My mind keeps going back to Scarlett Johansson...

I would have liked to have seen him get to play more under Keegan.  I'd keep him and give him a go in Geremi's spot.  It helps that he could play on the left too, as I thought he did better on the left than he did on the right when Duff came back (and we were still playing 4-4-2).

Kaka is supposed to sign in about three weeks after KK returns from his 2nd vacation

Does the club supply fresh underwear too?  Socks?

Sometimes having an owner get more involved can be a good thing but oftentimes, if the owner has a little success. he gets to meddling in the day to day affairs and if the owner has little practical experience in the sport it can be a very, very bad thing.

I'd get rid of him ASAP if his presence on the team is hindering us from signing other players.

I like Milner and think the best is yet to come from him but no way the team could turn down 10m.  I wonder how many teams are looking to stash away a few natives in anticipation of this alleged 6+5 rule.

Rozy seems to slight for a regular spot in an EPL back 4.  Maybe he can be a squad player and cover a game or two for injury or be subbed in late to aid an offensive push but unless he gets a little more bulky I would think the week in, week out I think he'd get ground down to a nub. 

You know, I can't even name the majority of the USA squad, but I'm looking forward to this game. I honestly want to see just how far away we are from you.

 

 

England, Spain and then home for Argentina will give every one a pretty good feel for how the team will fare going forward.

Did Spurs sign Emana yet?

Why do Americans refer to clubs as singular when we refer to them as a group?

 

'Wants' my arse.

 

I've wondered the same but in reverse 

I think it's because we can look at the club as both singular or plural.  Most clubs are commonly referred to by their nickname, more so than the city so it depends on how the club is referred to that defines how the verb is handled.  For instance:

New York wants blah blah

The Mets want blah blah

I'm no english major but I think you guys always see it the same while we Americans will vary depending on if the name is pluralized or not.

Why do Americans refer to clubs as singular when we refer to them as a group?

 

'Wants' my arse.

I've wondered the same but in reverse 

The toughest job for any kind of manager is to clean up someone else's mess.  Not only did he do that but it looks like he also rebuilt the foundation for the club for the foreseeable future.  Kudos to Chris Mort on a job well done.

i nearly fell off my chair laughing when ronaldo missed that penalty. arrogant little b******. shame it mattered not in the end like

I felt the exact same way.

Can't stand Man U.

A lot of American contracts have a morals clause in them.  They aren't invoked very often at all but I'm curious as to whether European clubs have such clauses.  In all honesty, if the club had adequate cover for him, I would expect them to ditch him if they could.  Since it's presumed that they don't, they'll stick by him.  He's probably on his last chance though.

The first question about any player is "Does he want to be here?"  If he doesn't, no matter how good, he has to go.  If he wants to be here, I want Zog.  he's exciting on the ball and who better to bring out his full potential than Keegan?

American sports teams are catching on to the business model that Baggio is talking about.  In American football, which has a salary cap, a lot of the roster is populated by "value" players.  These "value" players are not as experienced, don't make as much money and, in many cases, will not be quite as good as their more experienced, more expensive counterparts.  However, they have the potential to be as good, if not better, and allow the team to have the flexibility to spend more for other key areas of need.  Now, American football has a salary cap while, say, American baseball does not.  However, in reality everything has a cap, whether plainly stated or administered or not.  Even the New York Yankees, whose payroll nearly doubled the next highest team's payroll cannot maintain that level and remain profitable.  They too are pursuing this model.

This model is predicated on scouting and player development.  It is imperative to be able to spot talented youth and train them to maximize their value.  It is also predicated on being able to unearth young talent that is further along the development path and coaching them to a level beyond what had been expected of them by their current clubs.  Someone's else shit player who is never going to develop may be your squad player who will run through a wall for you because you recognized his talent, helped develop it and gave him a shot.  Who knows, maybe some of these players develop into stars or solid starters.  Once the stream of younger, capable, less expensive players gets established, money is available to safely address key areas and, most importantly, retain your own players who develop into stars.

To begin, this is not a sexy way to go about business.  For a team that has made it a habit to buy older, experienced players who are paid more and more than likely on the downside, this model can be quite a shock.  While the back room staff is built up, the roster most likely has to be torn down.  Branch Rickey, one of the greatest GMs in baseball had a saying, "Better to get rid of a player a year too early than a year too late." and he is right.  The dead or dying wood has to be trimmed.  It does not have to be a scorched earth policy though, at least in most cases.  However, expectations do have to be lowered.  The temptation for the quick fix has to be overcome and there has to be a level of commitment from everyone in the organization.  Ownership has to ensure that money has to be spent on scouting and development.  Scouts have to work hard to unearth talent.  Coaches and managers have to be consistent in their approach to training from top to bottom.  Patience is a virtue for the club and it's employees and for the supporters.

This model is not a guarantee for success.  Your scouting staff may not be up to the task.  The ownership may be unwilling to commit the necessary funds to scouting and development.  The manager may become impatient and feel the need to get results now.  The club may do everything perfectly and the talent just doesn't pan out or there are injuries.  There are no guarantees.  However, I see this model as being the only one that will have a chance in the emerging economy.  The days of being able to throw money around will be going, going gone.  Even if the media pot of gold stays the same or even continues to grow, other revenue streams will be shrinking, including the pockets of the fans.  The smart teams will adapt, the dumb teams will continue to throw money at problems, money they may no longer have available to them.

I voted to postpone the decision.  I think the team has to have the right players around Owen.  I'm probably not going to say this right but I can't see him as the primary scoring threat.  He'd be much better off with other legit scoring or on the ball threats around him to take pressure off of him.  I don't think he's big enough, strong enough or fast enough to be the primary focus of a team's defense but if he has space to slip into he can be deadly.  The 433 with he, Oba and Viduka was ideal for him.  Oba is pacey and is a concern and Duke was a big, strong guy who could hold up the ball.  The type of player that Owen is is ideal to play offof that combination, IMO.

Has he been seen at SJP yet?

Seeing that Youtube video of an Allardyce training session.  It drove home how totally misconfused the team was.  They played like there were footprints all over the pitch and they were thinking, "Step here, step here, then here...or was it there?" and they were completely clueless and unable to react to the ball naturally.  He signed crappy players and taught them crappy football.

Too young.  Much too young.

RIP

Before the end of May.  I think there are targets already identified and close to being signed.  The first one or two signings will be squad type signings.  The bigger deals will take longer and will come in June or later.