*Official* English Football Season 2006-07

[Neil Pickup]

Serious question this. As you'll shortly be moving into the area, will you soon also be switching to Cheltenham or even Oxford supportership?

No chance. City til I die.

 

[Matteh]

No chance. City til I die.

I have a dilemma about which Austrian club to support next year. Tirol Innsbruck as i'll be there for a few months, or one of the Vienna teams? Salzburg are out by default for their shameless branding.

 

[James]

I resent that, tbh. I'm reasonably sure I hate them more, and probably another 5 million people in this country would also be possible contenders. I hate them more then I like any other Prem team, so the most important team for me each week in the division, is the team playing manure. ABU+. Quite sad, when I come to think of it really

Anywhoo, I'm so nervous about tonight I started drinking ages ago, with luck I won't remember any of it.

Don't understand it personally, as so many UK players play for them. Chelsea and Arsenal on the other hand. They're very nearly 100% foreign players, and Mourinho is the biggest sore loser in sporting history. Does he ever credit the opposition when they win?

 

[James]

Just made a list of England players within each squad.... at least Man Utd are supporting English/Irish talent, and their reserve players in their squad are mostly all English too.

Man Utd

Gary Neville
Rio Ferdinand
Wes Brown
John O'Shea
Ryan Giggs
Michael Carrick
Paul Scholes
Kieran Richardson
Darren Fletcher
Wayne Rooney
Alan Smith

Arsenal

Theo Walcott

Chelsea

Ashley Cole
Wayne Bridge
John Terry
Frank Lampard
Joe Cole
Shaun Wright-Phillips

 

[BoyBrumby]

Just made a list of England players within each squad.... at least Man Utd are supporting English/Irish talent, and their reserve players in their squad are mostly all English too.

Man Utd

Gary Neville
Rio Ferdinand
Wes Brown
John O'Shea
Ryan Giggs
Michael Carrick
Paul Scholes
Kieran Richardson
Darren Fletcher
Wayne Rooney
Alan Smith

Arsenal

Theo Walcott

Chelsea

Ashley Cole
Wayne Bridge
John Terry
Frank Lampard
Joe Cole
Shaun Wright-Phillips

Think you're stretching the definition of "English" to breaking point there.

Plus you've missed Justin Hoyte for us.

 

[superkingdave]

It's not about that anyway...it's much deeper hatred

 

[James]

Think you're stretching the definition of "English" to breaking point there.

Plus you've missed Justin Hoyte for us.

Meant UK, not English, but I'm sure you at least see where I'm coming from.

Man Utd would love it if a restriction on foreign players ever comes in...

 

[superkingdave]

Meant UK, not English, but I'm sure you at least see where I'm coming from.

Man Utd would love it if a restriction on foreign players ever comes in...

There used to be such a restriction. It could never happen now as anyone in the EU is entitled to work over here. I believe there probably is still a restriction on non EU players.

 

[Matteh]

Naah, the quality of the Premiership shot up once the foreign player restriction was lifted in the 90s.

 

[Matteh]

There used to be such a restriction. It could never happen now as anyone in the EU is entitled to work over here. I believe there probably is still a restriction on non EU players.

Championship Manager claims 3 non-EU players in a team.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Meant UK, not English, but I'm sure you at least see where I'm coming from.

Man Utd would love it if a restriction on foreign players ever comes in...

Well partly, but it doesn't help English football no matter how many Scots or Irish a team plays.

Ideally I'd like to see more English players at New Highbury, but unfortunately it seems as if they come with a value added tax. £18m for Carrick & £20m+ for Hargreaves are cases in point. I'm sure if Hargreaves was called Otto Harlinger he'd cost about a third of the mooted asking price. ManUre may be able to afford to pay over the odds (& Chavski obviously can), but most clubs just aren't able too.

 

[steds]

Well partly, but it doesn't help English football no matter how many Scots or Irish a team plays.

Disagreed. Stops English football looking so dull.

 

[Craig]

In Spain IIRC it is 3, but you don't have to wait long to get a token Spanish passport, I'm not sure about Italy with regards to non EU players and how long the wait is.

Speaking of the foreign player restriction, didn't Ryan Giggs have to be counted as a foreigner? Or perhaps what I read was wrong...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Disagreed. Stops English football looking so dull.

Well there's no doubt few can hold a candle to the sheer wow-factor of Darren Fletcher, no.

 

[Matteh]

In Spain IIRC it is 3, but you don't have to wait long to get a token Spanish passport, I'm not sure about Italy with regards to non EU players and how long the wait is.

Speaking of the foreign player restriction, didn't Ryan Giggs have to be counted as a foreigner? Or perhaps what I read was wrong...

Can't imagine he would have done given that he's a Home Countries player.

 

[Craig]

Can't imagine he would have done given that he's a Home Countries player.

The Bosman ruling also prohibited domestic football leagues in EU member states, and also UEFA, from imposing quotas on foreign players to the extent that they discriminated against nationals of EU states. At that time, many leagues placed quotas restricting the number of non-nationals allowed on member teams. Also, UEFA had a rule that prohibited teams in its competitions, namely the Champions League, Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Cup, from naming more than three "foreign" players in their matchday squads. This had an especially negative impact on British teams, because both UEFA and FIFA consider England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to be separate nations. As an example, Manchester United were forced to count their Welsh winger Ryan Giggs as a foreign player, despite the fact that Wales and England are both constituents of the UK, and comprise a single entity for purposes of conflict of laws. (The Giggs case was more complicated, in that the player had represented England as a schoolboy, but only because eligibility for the England Schoolboys team is based on school attendance and not nationality. Contrary to a widely stated belief, he was not eligible for the England national team.) After the ruling, quotas could still be imposed, but could only be used to restrict the number of non-EU players on each team.

Main paragraph

then

 

[roseboy64]

Interesting that.

 

[roseboy64]

Well there's no doubt few can hold a candle to the sheer wow-factor of Darren Fletcher, no.

This is even more interesting than what I just posted...maybe, now that you brought up Fletch. At least he looks like he's getting up to that potential. Certainly improved a lot this season. Saw the article today, it was posted on a Man Utd forum,

Fletcher is ready to fill Beckham's boots(Year - 2000)
By Ken Lawrence
The thought of losing David Beckham to Barcelona or any other predator may be anathema to Manchester United supporters but Sir Alex Ferguson can afford to be less agitated over the prospect.
Not only could United boost their transfer budget by £40million if Beckham were to decide he could no longer play for his highly critical boss - a ready-made replacement is literally waiting in the wings.

Ferguson is convinced that in teenage prodigy Darren Fletcher, he has a youngster who will make a sensational impact when he breaks into the first-team.

The 16-year-old Scot, already rated Beckham's understudy, is so integral to Ferguson's future plans that the manager took the lad into his own home to convince him to move to Old Trafford.

Since then, Ferguson has discovered that losing the willowy midfielder would have been a massive blunder.

So convinced is he of Fletcher's long-term potential that he is certain to blood the youngster in the Premiership this season. But he insists that United's prize capture should be allowed to walk before he is asked to run, which means he will not be allowed to serve his country yet.

Ferguson said: 'I know Craig Brown (Scotland's coach) has been looking at the boy and there is no question he can go all the way at the highest level. But he needs time to build his strength before Scotland start playing him.'

While Ferguson has no intention of sitting back and allowing Barcelona to spirit Beckham away, he is comforted by the knowledge that he still has the best midfield prospect United have snapped up since the Brylcreem Boy himself.

Yet, had Ferguson not stepped in when he did last January then Fletcher, born and raised in Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, would almost certainly have been lost to Newcastle United.

The young man who played for Scot-land's Under 16s as a 14-year-old arrived at Old Trafford for the youth-team game he believed would result in him signing to realise his boyhood dreams.

Instead, he was not picked for the game and was not even used as a substitute.

Desolate, Fletcher returned home, where his parents dissolved into tears when he told them he did not believe United really wanted him.

Fletcher's father contacted Old Trafford in an effort to discover what had gone wrong and Ferguson was furious when he discovered what had happened. He knew the teenager had the potential to become Scotland's best football export in a generation.

Immediately, Ferguson poured on the charm offensive. Fletcher was not only invited back but summoned to the manager's luxurious Cheshire home and put up for the night.

A United insider said: 'Sir Alex treated him like his own son. He knew from speaking to the lad's parents that the youngster was desperate to join United and always had been. Like David Beckham, he even had United posters on his bedroom walls.

'Ferguson had long since decided they could not afford to lose him but he was unaware of that.

'Darren's parents have never sought financial gain over United's interest, nor did they even when it looked like Darren was going to reject the club. They wanted only what they thought was best for their son and that was for him to go to Old Trafford.' Ferguson realised that by taking Fletcher into his home and talking to him for hours about what lay at the other end of the rainbow, he could strike the right chord with the midfielder who had been noted as much for his ability in the classroom as his intelligence on the pitch.

Fletcher quickly realised how much the legendary manager wanted him to sign for United.

Within days, plans were in motion to settle Fletcher in one of the club's boarding houses and he has since resumed his studies at a school on the outskirts of Manchester, his United contract safely tucked away.

An order also came from on high that Fletcher, providing he was fit, should play in every youth game he was available for. Ferguson decreed there would be no more risks taken with the player's developing ego.

Such was the pace of Fletcher's development that he had become a regular in the reserve-team by the end of last season and it was only at the last minute that Ferguson shelved plans to name him as a substitute in the final Premiership game of the campaign at Villa Park.

Fletcher is considered at least as far advanced as Beckham and Ryan Giggs were at the same age and, unlike either, is as reliable with his left foot as he is with this right.

Former Old Trafford stalwart Pat Crerand said: 'The boy has wonderful vision. He can carry the ball, he can pass it and he can shoot. He scored one goal, a thundering effort, and there was hardly any backlift before the shot.

'He has superb balance and he's the best thing I've seen come out of Scotland in years. He's going to be huge.' Ferguson has always believed that if they are good enough they are old enough. Giggs, for example, was only 17 when he played in the first-team and the manager made his name at Aberdeen by introducing a stream of starlets such as Eric Black and Jim Leighton.

He will therefore have no compunction in picking Fletcher sooner rather than later.

Crerand, like many who have watched Fletcher, predicts he can be a regular in the Premiership side within a year, receiving the same sensational reviews that first greeted Giggs and Beckham.

Beckham, probably the best crosser of the ball in the world, remains one of Old Trafford's treasures, vital to Ferguson's plans to conquer Europe again. But how Beckham reacts in the coming weeks to his manager's premeditated criticism in the update of his autobiography may determine his future.

United's actions have suggested Beckham is priceless to them. Twice they rejected advances from AC Milan. Now Barcelona, having sold Luis Figo for £37.5m, are preparing to test the water again.

But things may have irrevocably changed between Beckham and Ferguson over the last few days after the manager dredged up Beckham's failure to turn up for training back in February and their subsequent row.

There surely cannot be the same empathy between the pair, especially as Ferguson had vowed he would never again bring up the subject. It is conceivable that Ferguson, with an insurance policy called Fletcher in place, may end up, not for the first time, laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[roseboy64]

He got injured for around two years between 16-18 yrs which are the developmental stages for transition from amateur to pro football.

 

[Tom Halsey]

Aussie, its swings and roundabouts if you consider Man U only won the first leg after AC had lost Gennaro and Maldini.

That only evened it up considering our injuries IMO.