Village Idiot

Remember him always having a tab in his mouth. Hope he pulls through. He famously quit smoking after suffering a stroke while he managed us. He even headlined an anti-smoking campaign in the Catalan telly after that. Seems it finally caught up with him.

Cruyff diagnosed with lung cancer.

Our FA's president (acting UEFA president while Platini is suspended) is under investigation too. God, how I wish that massive crook ended up in jail.

He came out of nowhere to be frank. You bought him after his first season as a senior player, and no youth caps. Some brilliant scouting there.

Damn, I was away today because of work and I missed this. It was even on the Spanish telly.

Our press keeps linking you with Valdés as a replacement. Would love it.

Av threw me. Was wondering why VI hated Neymar now. It's absolutely horrible. I keep thinking VI has lost it when Tooj posts (Not that Tooj has lost it, but they have quite different views on football and stuff ) Do we? I usually find myself in agreement with a lot of what Tooj says, or his football tastes.

Ney Same old story for Rayo. They always look like troubling big teams, but end up with a pasting.

Think for example of Real Madrid. If we still went with pre-Bosman rules, they'd have to pick 3 out of: Ronaldo Benzema Bale Modric Varane Rodríguez Kroos Navas Kovacic Danilo Casemiro (Marcelo has a Spanish passport IIRC) Now besides the fact they'd be weakened themselves, all the players they'd be giving up would be at smaller teams, a lot of them in their nation's leagues, strengthening them. That's how football was before the Bosman ruling.

People overrate the 90s imho - which is understandable since I guess is when the majority of us got into football, plus NUFC were great at the time. But you still had an elite of clubs dominating the big European leagues, and the CL. It's worse now, mind, but wasn't really that great back then. I blame the Bosman ruling myself. It allowed big clubs to hoard foreign talent. Back in the 80s-early 90s you had middling clubs with great players because the big clubs just couldn't hoard them all. By the same token, big teams in small leagues like Ajax or PSV were able to retain their talent for longer.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42058000/jpg/_42058106_healy3416.jpg Raúl's last game for Spain. His tournament record for Spain was truly laughable. When Aragonès dropped him for the 2008 Euros (he was Spain's captain) the Madrid press got into a fit, yet that ushered the golden age of Spanish football. He was a very good player made to look better because of the players he had at his side. I'll say that somebody like Villa was a superior footballer (and for example has a much better record in tournaments for Spain), but only spent 3 seasons at a top team so he didn't get enough hype. The player he sort of replaced at Real Madrid - Butragueño - was a much better footballer too. A brilliant striker he was. He was just unlucky to face 80s Milan first and Cruyff's Barça second.

Nah, at no point he was even the best player at Real Madrid. He got a considerable hype machine on his side, though. Still a very good striker.

Raúl retires. Very good player that made the most of what he had; had the past 7 years not happened he'd be remembered as one of Spain's best. Somebody post that silence pic because I obviously won't.

Since it would be played in a neutral stadium I guess UEFA doesn't think there would be any bother.

It's from Marca, I just located the original article. http://www.marca.com/2015/10/03/futbol/futbol_internacional/premier_league/1443862081.html Looks to me there's nothing in it. "Pochettino was interested. I was flattered by it, it didn't happen because NUFC thought I was too important". Other highlights of the interview: - Was disappointed to not play more at the beginning of the season, but he understands there was a lot of new people and a new manager, and he feels his hard work is being rewarded now. - Gets along very well with Mitrovic on and off the pitch. Feels their playing styles mix up very well. - He feels most comfortable playing as second striker. - Wants to improve his defensive game (the way he says it makes me think he's been instructed to do so)

One of our rags is running a gallery Barça players travelling to away games. http://www.mundodeportivo.com/futbol/fc-barcelona/20151005/202039025638/las-imagenes-que-el-barcelonismo-ya-no-vera.html?_ga=1.212970836.1529334630.1442671172 A few choice ones:

We are shit at the moment (and I suspect we will be for a while), but I'm glad that it looks like Real Madrid have been Bénitez'd and are giving us a lifeline.

8.

So, in the past 60 minutes, the two teams I follow have conceded 7 goals. Grim.

You mean the independence chant? It's just "independence!" shout over and over. One word is about the average length of songs you'll hear at the Camp Nou. I've noticed this the couple of times I've been. Woeful chants from a largely woeful support. In their defence the first time I went was probably a record for rainfall that night and the second time was quite possibly the coldest recorded night in Barcelona also Also due to the fact the game was on public TV that night it knocked 60,000 off the crowd We produce a somewhat decent atmosphere in big games, but that's about it. The club tried to start a singing section, but local authorities blocked it because they feared it would facilitate hooligans banding together

You mean the independence chant? It's just "independence!" shout over and over. One word is about the average length of songs you'll hear at the Camp Nou.

Also, what the hell is with Flip's name and avatar?

Shit game, fantastic finish. We were crap, but ended up leaving the stadium buzzing

I know you're just baiting, but he missed two months when he first arrived at Real Madrid. That's a longer injury than any Messi has ever had.

He has, just not in the league. Aha, thanks. Still a pretty weird record, given the squads he's managed and the managers you've had.