Coastie

I’ve been screaming for the manager to start him. If he’d started yesterday no way do the mariners lose that game. He’ll be a total star at the WC

In reply to an earlier post, there are three immediate possibilities for GK. He could be given a work permit on the basis of appearances at the WC - I've no doubt he'll come on in every game. NUFC could apply for a special dispensation on the basis of him being an outstanding youth player. He could be loaned out to another Euro club. If either of the first two happen, he could go straight into Eddie's first team squad. If that happens, he won't be fazed - super confident lad with super skills. Gonna be a major star.

That's why it's called the World Cup and not the European Cup... Jeez...

Yeah, I'd be wary of bulking him up too much. He already looks strong enough for what he does and runs like a gazelle - don't want to screw around with that. He'll bulk up naturally as he ages, in any case. Played brilliantly the other night (again), but I wish Monty would start him. Almost too late now as he'll almost certainly go to the World Cup and then there'll be just a handful of matches before he joins the Toon.

I agree with most of your points, except the comparable quality - which is probably like arguing about angels dancing on a pinhead. Bottom line is that GK is excelling in a league good enough to be taken seriously by the likes of Barcelona and NUFC.

I suspect football everywhere has changed somewhat everywhere since the 80s and 90s... You have to remember that the AL is played in summer so it's necessarily a slower game than those played in the northern winter. As for Australians performing in Europe - they take a while to adjust to the different pace - just as Europeans ,come into the AL and struggle with the very different conditions. Robbie Fowler, for instance, and plenty of others thought they were coming to a superannuation league and struggled big time. The reality is it's very hard to compare the leagues given the huge differences in conditions (and salary levels) but Celtic came out to Australia a few years back and were beaten by my club (Mariners) who had the previous season done pretty poorly in the AL, so I stand comfortably by my SPL comparison.

We do the best with what we have. It's a salary capped league meaning most teams' playing budget is (approx) between two and three million pounds. Just about any league would look shite compared with the EPL. A fair comparison would be the SPL. Take out the Old Firm and most AL teams would beat most SPL teams. The very best team in the AL (Melbourne City) would probably survive in the English Championship. Probably... There's a whisper Garang might start for the Mariners tonight. Would love to see that - and would definitely improve the Mariners chances of an upset.

For all that though (swearing etc)... it looked to me like there were far more than the usual amount of women at the game. As for the swearing, I live in Australia and the young women are far swearier than the chaps these days. I accidentally cut in front of a 20 year old not so long ago and she shouted: "I've got one, you are one!"

Spinechilling stuff. Is it my imagination or do NUFC have a higher proportion of women at the game than most clubs? Good to see anyway.

Mariners were 2 - 0 down at home yesterday. Kuol came on at halftime and was a massive spark in the revival that saw us win 4 - 2. Also had one of their players sent off when he brought him down in very ugly fashion. That's going to happen a lot in his career - just hope he dosen't cop any major injuries from it.

Mostly yes. Postecoglou at Celtic has done a good job (with what he has) and is a serial success merchant everywhere he's gone. Very likely to end up in the EPL and will be fully prepared when he does.

You say that like it's a bad thing...

Finished the U20s tournament which saw Oz qualify for the U20s Asian Cup next year in Uzbekistan. Did pretty well - just one goal but figured strongly and was a main reason for Oz success. Now back home to star in the A League and then in the World Cup.

Kuol won't be playing today. He was picked for the Oz under 20s for an Asian Cup qualifying tournament. Idiotic selection when he's already played for the senior team - should be playing against men in the A League.

And you can probably find the Haaland comparison via this link: https://www.sportingnews.com/au/soccer/news

https://www.ftbl.com.au/analysis You can probably find the World Cup article at this link...

Perhaps links don't work here?

At the risk of over-hyping... Two articles indicative of how highly he's rated in Oz. This one calls him Australia's answer to Erling Haaland: Garang Kuol set for unmissable A-League Men farewell ahead of Premier League move | Sporting News Australia And this suggests Oz should build their entire World Cup campaign around him: The Socceroos need an entirely new approach for 2022 World Cup - FTBL | The home of football in Australia

I don't know about automatic but the usual rule is for countries outside (I think) the top 20, you must have played 75% of the last few internationals. Don't know if there's a time limit - like over the last 12 months or so. The club can also apply for a special dispensation regarding a youth player who is particularly outstanding and would make a big difference/improvement to the league. The pressure on Arnie to take him to the WC is pretty much irresistible. Just needs to keep performing for Central Coast and I reckon his confidence will be off the scale right now.

Bigger than who?

If he tears it up at the World Cup he'll qualify for a work permit. So right now he'll likely go out on loan, but you never know... He certainly has enough belief in himself to be featuring sooner rather than later, and I can definitely vouch for his quality. Gonna be huge... injury permitting. The last Aussie wonderkid (Daniel Arzani) tore his ACL on debut for Celtic and has never been the same since.

If he stays injury free, he will be absolutely monstrous. Bargain of the century getting him for $500k Australian. NUFC might sell him in 5 years for 200 million pounds, which would be excellent for the Mariners, presuming a decent chunck of onsell cash.

Be hard on the brother (four years older). He's already had to watch Garang go past him in the Oz NT set up and then he'd be sitting on teh bench hearing the crowd sing his brother's name. Mind you, I hear they're very close and that when Stuttgart signed Alou he told them: "You've signed the wrong Kuol. Garang is better than me."

You'd have to see the exact wording to have an idea. A contract to have a contract is not really a contract. It would also depend of FIFA/UEFA rules regarding contracting outside the windows. That said, it does seem to happen a bit, so must have some kind of standing.

If NUFC don't make a minimum of 15mill profit on GK then I will submit myself to the attention of enthusiastic prostitutes until death, I am that hesitant about his qualities...