*Official* English Football Season 2010-11

[roseboy64]

BBC Sport - Football - Jack Wilshere called into England Under-21 squad

No issue with Wilshire being relegated to under 21 for now. But Richards certainly has to be in the senior squad based on his performace vs Liverpool the other day - looked his old self. Johnson can't play RB again.

One decent performance from Richards doesn't make up for the rubbish he's done the last year or so. Would be a shocker if he's called up.

 

[aussie]

As such FIFA has to give the go ahead for Arteta or Almunia or anyone with no British heritage or schooling to play for England or any Home Nation. To grant that it'd pretty much mean the disbandment of the national associations and to form a GB team as FIFA views the Home Nations as it does the Basques and the only reason the Home Nations continue as they are is through their history and the fact they don't pick foreign players.

No need to thank me for educating you. Do you still think I know nothing about football GF?

I see what you are saying rose, given just now i came across this about Arteta on wiki, which made my heart jump:

In 2010, several news reported that Arteta willing to received call-up from England,[7] however he is not eligible, as he is not a multi-nationality holder when he representing Spain U21.

Article 18

1. If a Player has more than one nationality, or if a Player acquires a new nationality, or if a Player is eligible to play for several representative teams due to nationality, he may, only once, request to change the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches to the Association of another country of which he holds nationality, subject to the following conditions:

(a) He has not played a match (either in full or in part) in an official competition at “A” international level [i.e. non-friendly] for his current Association [i.e. Spain for Arteta], and at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an international match in an official competition for his current Association [i.e. Spain for Arteta], he already had the nationality [i.e. British] of the representative team for which he wishes to play.

But at the same time i think you may be exaggerating slightly when you say..."To grant that it'd pretty much mean the disbandment of the national associations and to form a GB team as FIFA views the Home Nations as it does the Basques and the only reason the Home Nations continue as they are is through their history and the fact they don't pick foreign players".

Since if FIFA views the home nations as the they do the Basque's over in Spain. Then how did Marcos Senna get picked by Spain?. He didn't have spanish or basque home schooling or spanish heritage. Just gained Spanish residency & qualified to play for them.

But we shall see what happens, since there seems to be some confusion about this.

One decent performance from Richards doesn't make up for the rubbish he's done the last year or so. Would be a shocker if he's called up.

Preferably yea, him having hame a string of solid performances would be better than just a one-off. But ENG have a crisis @ RB ATM with the incumbent (Johnson) being utter crap defensively. So its worth the risk i'd say, especially when you consider Richards did prove before last season he can defend well againts good players - something that Johnson never proved he can do before Capello picked him & he made a national embarassment of himself vs Germany, SMH.

 

[marc71178]

As such FIFA has to give the go ahead for Arteta or Almunia or anyone with no British heritage or schooling to play for England or any Home Nation. To grant that it'd pretty much mean the disbandment of the national associations and to form a GB team as FIFA views the Home Nations as it does the Basques and the only reason the Home Nations continue as they are is through their history and the fact they don't pick foreign players.

Why would it?

What is the difference between that and Germany picking Poles or Spain and Portugal picking Brazilians?

 

[marc71178]

Of course its not long term, its not as if we would be expecting him to be involved in the 2014 WC or something. Just the EURO 2012 qualifiers & tournament.

So the same bloke who 12 months ago himself said he didn't think he'd last more than 1 season you think is going to be around for another 2 years when he's not got the international breaks to give his body a rest?

 

[Ikki]

Fair enough with Gerrard, but Torres has never been able to play anything close to a full season so I'm not having that. Saying you might have done better if Torres hadn't been injured a lot isn't far from saying you might have done better had Lucas not played **** a lot. Staying fit is a part of the game, one that Torres is particularly bad at, and that is always going to cost his team over the course of the season.

You're wrong. He has. In his first season at LFC he played a full season and scored 33 goals. In fact, the season in question was the first season he'd been out for a significant amount of time in his career.

 

[GIMH]

Fair enough with Gerrard, but Torres has never been able to play anything close to a full season so I'm not having that. Saying you might have done better if Torres hadn't been injured a lot isn't far from saying you might have done better had Lucas not played **** a lot. Staying fit is a part of the game, one that Torres is particularly bad at, and that is always going to cost his team over the course of the season.

As Ikki said, he has played full seasons.

That aside though, you bloody quoted me saying 'they should just build a better squad' - i.e. if you know Torres is going to miss a lot of games, you need another top-level striker too

 

[BoyBrumby]

Wish news sites would stop making up stories about Fabregas and Inter making a play for him. Unless Arsenal plan to do to it to spite Barcelona (and they won't), it's just not going to happen. Wish these sites and newspapers could be banned.

If Inter can't afford the £25m for Mascherano there's nooo way they can afford Fabregas. We've already blown out one £29m offer from Barca.

If Capello can convince Scholes back too...Arteta and Scholes swapping passes in midfield...that would be a sight.

Would need to make another disabled parking space if they both played tho. Would be slowest midfield ever.

Would have Arteta like a shot tho. Not sure of the rules/gentlemen's agreement & CBA to check but there's a common sense argument that a British citizen (as Arteta now is, according to reports I've read) who's played in England for over five years is at least as English as another UK national who hadn't lived in or played football in England when he was called up to the national team & who doesn't qualify as "home grown" under the new Wafer rules.

 

[Nate]

Ngog > Babel.

Haha, a new season, same old dross.

 

[GIMH]

If Inter can't afford the £25m for Mascherano there's nooo way they can afford Fabregas. We've already blown out one £29m offer from Barca.



Would need to make another disabled parking space if they both played tho. Would be slowest midfield ever.

Would have Arteta like a shot tho. Not sure of the rules/gentlemen's agreement & CBA to check but there's a common sense argument that a British citizen (as Arteta now is, according to reports I've read) who's played in England for over five years is at least as English as another UK national who hadn't lived in or played football in England when he was called up to the national team & who doesn't qualify as "home grown" under the new Wafer rules.

I didn't read roseboy's links but I'd imagine the sort of ruling should surely be aimed at preventing players from just picking a home nation on that basis, i.e. if Wales approached Arteta?

 

[Craig]

Sorry aussie, but I see Yoann Gourcuff is now a Lyon player after his €22m from Bordeaux.

 

[Ikki]

Haha, a new season, same old dross.

Outscored Babel last year and is doing so again this year. Not sure what there is to argue over really. Babel shows promise one game then shows nothing for another 5-6. Babel is 2 years older than Ngog and cost almost 10 times more than him. Babel has scored 21 goals in 130 appearances whereas Ngog has scored 15 in 60. True, Babel has spent much of that time on the wing but Ngog probably has a better minutes/goal ratio as forward anyway.

If Babel wants to prove himself this is the season to do it.

 

[Jarquis]

They're both pretty dire tbh.

 

[vcs]

Outscored Babel last year and is doing so again this year. Not sure what there is to argue over really. Babel shows promise one game then shows nothing for another 5-6. Babel is 2 years older than Ngog and cost almost 10 times more than him. Babel has scored 21 goals in 130 appearances whereas Ngog has scored 15 in 60. True, Babel has spent much of that time on the wing but Ngog probably has a better minutes/goal ratio as forward anyway.

If Babel wants to prove himself this is the season to do it.

It seems Ikki and I agree on all things Liverpool except for Gerrard's suitability to play CM.

N'gog's not great but he's promising, and a useful squad player, like Bendtner for Arsenal.

 

[Furball]

Gibson has the loophole of having both Irish nationalities so yeah a stir there. He's the only one to really do it though AFAIK.

Nah, Northern Ireland has a massive problem because the Good Friday Agreement allows those born in Nothern Ireland to choose to have either British or Irish nationality.

FIFA requires players to posess a passport of the country they wish to represent, so if you're a Northern Irish Catholic, you can represent the Republic despite not being born in the Republic and having no family links to the Republic.

UIMM, there's been a few Northern Irish born players play for the Republic's underage side.

 

[Ikki]

In news that makes me want to kick myself in the face; Roy is after Carlton Cole.

 

[Furball]

I didn't read roseboy's links but I'd imagine the sort of ruling should surely be aimed at preventing players from just picking a home nation on that basis, i.e. if Wales approached Arteta?

I'm pretty sure under FIFA's eligibility rules I'd be eligible to play for England or Wales as a British national. However, the gentleman's agreement between the four home boards would prevent me from representing either, as I have no links to either through lineage, being born there or being schooled there.

Players born in British territories overseas, such as Matt Le Tissier, or anyone born in say, British bases in Germany or Cyprus are automatically eligible for all 4 nations. Players like Arteta who might opt to gain British citizenship would be eligible for all 4, but I'm pretty sure the gentleman's agreement would kick in and they'd only be eligible for the nation that they'd qualified in. Could be interesting if Arteta had played for Swansea or Cardiff for 5 years instead of Everton, mind.

 

[Cevno]

Would have Arteta like a shot tho. Not sure of the rules/gentlemen's agreement & CBA to check but there's a common sense argument that a British citizen (as Arteta now is, according to reports I've read) who's played in England for over five years is at least as English as another UK national who hadn't lived in or played football in England when he was called up to the national team & who doesn't qualify as "home grown" under the new Wafer rules.

Agreed.

Hargreaves played for England ,so why can't Arteta.

Don't think that arteta is too keen to play for England though.

 

[Craig]

Nah, Northern Ireland has a massive problem because the Good Friday Agreement allows those born in Nothern Ireland to choose to have either British or Irish nationality.

FIFA requires players to posess a passport of the country they wish to represent, so if you're a Northern Irish Catholic, you can represent the Republic despite not being born in the Republic and having no family links to the Republic.

UIMM, there's been a few Northern Irish born players play for the Republic's underage side.

So does that apply with Aiden McGeady? Born in the Glasgow, and now playing for the Republic?

Agreed.

Hargreaves played for England ,so why can't Arteta.

Don't think that arteta is too keen to play for England though.

Eh?

BBC Sport - Foootball - England call-up interests Spanish-born Mikel Arteta

And FTR, Hargreaves could of played for Wales since one of his mum was from there, and his dad's (IIRC) English.

 

[Uppercut]

Nah, Northern Ireland has a massive problem because the Good Friday Agreement allows those born in Nothern Ireland to choose to have either British or Irish nationality.

FIFA requires players to posess a passport of the country they wish to represent, so if you're a Northern Irish Catholic, you can represent the Republic despite not being born in the Republic and having no family links to the Republic.

UIMM, there's been a few Northern Irish born players play for the Republic's underage side.

Darren Gibson's the controversial one.

Don't think it's worth opening a can of worms over.

 

[GIMH]

I'm pretty sure under FIFA's eligibility rules I'd be eligible to play for England or Wales as a British national. However, the gentleman's agreement between the four home boards would prevent me from representing either, as I have no links to either through lineage, being born there or being schooled there.

Players born in British territories overseas, such as Matt Le Tissier, or anyone born in say, British bases in Germany or Cyprus are automatically eligible for all 4 nations. Players like Arteta who might opt to gain British citizenship would be eligible for all 4, but I'm pretty sure the gentleman's agreement would kick in and they'd only be eligible for the nation that they'd qualified in. Could be interesting if Arteta had played for Swansea or Cardiff for 5 years instead of Everton, mind.

Yeah, this is how I understand it.

I think roseboy has got the wrong end of the stick re Almunia & Arteta