Village Idiot

Nery Castillo, FM legend back in the time (2001-2002 I think). I used to pinch him for a bag of crisps and laugh all the way to the league championship

Here I posted some other Spanish summer trophies http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,69885.msg2373179.html#msg2373179

In Spain we love our massive preseason trophies I'm back in Barcelona and the Teresa Herrera is usually on the telly, hopefully I'll be able to catch your lot The Teresa Herrera is the oldest preseason trophy in Spain, and the most prestigious.

Have I missed an inside joke here? He's only 20, therefore doesn't need to be. Pretty sure we did this with Leo Messi for quite a few seasons

Today ends the deadline Deportivo had to pay off their debt with former player Sergio. If they don't they will be relegated according to La Liga's regulations. They are expected to pay since the sale of Filipe Luís was done to get enough funds, but they haven't yet agreed with Sergio the form and timeline of the payments (€4,2m).

Come on, I was just highlighting one of his finest rivalry moments now that he's left. I'm being complimentary with f***ing Raúl González Blanco, don't make it harder than it already is

Sorry, but that gesture? He only put his finger to his lips didn't he? I'm not slagging him off or saying it was unsporting and s***. To the contrary, I'm saying it was boss and cemented his status both for Real Madrid fans and for us. It's been the highlight of most videos these days after he left. You don't need to do much sometimes.

Yeah, sent him flowers for his birthday too. What I'm saying is that we didn't particularly care about Raúl that much until he did that. He was just 22 and although he had achieved lots already he wasn't "Raúl" yet.

Nah, it pretty much started around the time he did that. Figo, Hierro, were usually the biggest targets at the time. He wasn't mr. Real Madrid at the time yet, and that gesture pretty much started making him that.

Gotta say I despise Raúl but in a good way. He pretty knowingly built himself into a hate figure for us and football wouldn't just be the same without stuff like that. His most iconic moment, which he did after scoring against us at Camp Nou http://www.corazonblanco.com/media/galeria/44/6/5/9/4/o_real_madrid_raul_gonzalez-54956.jpg cunt

Was Raul a poacher then ? I have never really paid any attention to him but I was always under the impression that he is similar to Del Piero :-/ Raúl has never been a trequartista. He used to cover more pitch in his early days though. Would drop to the flank and be involved in the build up before coming in the box. He suffered a tremendous slump when he was 27-28, which I guess it's understandable when he'd been playing 30+ games a season since he was 17, and reinvented himself as a poacher kinda player with great success. Not dissimilar to what happened to Shearer I guess. I wouldn't say he's "just a poacher" though, he's just an extremely intelligent forward and has a great football brain. Reads the game very well and positions himself to make the most of it. Now I have to go wash my mouth after praising Raúl.

I have to say it will take some time for me not to feel pissed off when I see him score. It's my subconscious, and the Schalke shirt looks a bit like Madrid's away kit.

Looking forward to Ben Arfa and Carroll in the same training pitch

We probably need a generic "football news" thread.

First goal is classic Raúl.

Gai Assulin on trial at ManCity. Also, Marchena has signed for Villarreal for an undisclosed fee (won't be much since he's 31, wonder why Valencia sold him)

Ah didn't know about that! Cheers, For some reason my favorite feature of SJP has always been the "Newcastle United" letters in the upper stand. Something simple, but actually not very common.

Already played against Hamburg the other day. But good for him.

Remember that one of the things that precisely held back Barça after Cruyff left was our insistence in playing a pure playmaker as #4 (the "Guardiola role") even though football was becoming more physical (think how Desailly absolutely murdered us in the 1994 CL final). Sir Bob played Popescu there, which was reviled by the fans (but it worked). After he left Popescu was promptly sold and we went back to putting Pep/Xavi in front of the defence until Rijkaard signed Davids and struck gold.

Canny article One of the things about Busquets is that he has some awful body language when controlling a ball, etc... that makes him look less technically adept than he is. He had a great World Cup.

He had one good season, but glad we somehow tricked Ajax into buying him. We have had way worse than him though. Oscar, Roger, Cembranos, Celades, Javi Moreno... our 1995-2000 crop of players was just s***. You've had some bizzare squad fillers in the past like. I know he wasn't Catalan but what about Ezquerro? What was the deal with him He was on a free, was decent at Bilbao, we had to pad our squad a bit upfront after Larsson's injury.

He had one good season, but glad we somehow tricked Ajax into buying him. We have had way worse than him though. Oscar, Roger, Cembranos, Celades, Javi Moreno... our 1995-2000 crop of players was just s***, but Cruyff had gone Wenger at that point (before Wenger went Wenger himself) and kept playing them.

He's at his level, imho. He doesn't start for Celtic in the SPL. He is another Arnau Riera Nah, Crosas is twice the footballer that Riera was. My opinion of the SPL is very low, mind, Nacho Novo was a star in that league FFS

He's at his level, imho. He doesn't start for Celtic in the SPL. Well, he isn't going to be another Arteta but I think he's been playing somewhat regularly up there. EDIT: 41 starts in 2 years according to Celtic's website.

He's at his level, imho.