The Footie Thread

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@Orikoru
I believe at the time it was reported from other sources the acon was one of the reasons behind the "bad attuide" comment .. IE refusing to play for club before the acon so they didnt get injured

But yes in that article doesn't say about acon ... However if you refuse to sign players because of acon as an official policy it would be exactly the same outcome no?
If you poorly word your transfer policy, the racist accusations are pretty clear. If he then comes out to try and provide more context, it is difficult. Why did he not give that very important context in the first place? Some might think that he is now trying to use AFCON as a get out of jail free card. (Maybe he did give more context, maybe not, I find it very hard to trust any media article these days as they can be quite good at selecting quotes to make their own context)

I don't think any club needs an official policy of "do not sign African players because of AFCON". However, they do not need to have a quota of different nationalities. So, when it comes to recruitment, and when a final decision needs to be made, then if a club in 50/50 about a player, their lack of availability during the season may well be an unwritten factor why they decide to not sign a player. If Australasia, North / Central America, etc started to play mid season tournaments, that may well limit the amount of those nationalities clubs would sign.

At any rate, I think they generally changed AFCON so that it would take place in the northern hemisphere summer. However, for this specific one, they delayed the 2023 tournament to January 2024, due to adverse weather in Ivory Coast. So, I'm not sure clubs need to get too concerned about African players, if AFCON is not going to continually be played in our winter. They may feel the players absence will be more of a one off than a regular thing every 2 years.
 
@Orikoru
I believe at the time it was reported from other sources the acon was one of the reasons behind the "bad attuide" comment .. IE refusing to play for club before the acon so they didnt get injured

But yes in that article doesn't say about acon ... However if you refuse to sign players because of acon as an official policy it would be exactly the same outcome no?
No, of course it wouldn't. Saying you won't sign African players as they'll miss a month of the season is categorically not the same as saying you won't sign them because they have a bad attitude. 😆


Here we go , mentions acon in his explanation..

"It was never, ever meant to be racist in any way. The reason we said we didn't want any more Africans was because we already had three. The day before we'd had four, but one of them left.

"I just felt that, as a head of recruitment, I look ahead down the line and I thought that, in 12 months' time, it's the African Nations Cup. If we had four African players, come the African Nations Cup, we are going to lose them in January and February, and we could struggle with that.
So after he's been publicly flogged for disliking African players, he then remembers that he meant to say it was just because they miss games for the African Nations. Seems legit.
 
No, of course it wouldn't. Saying you won't sign African players as they'll miss a month of the season is categorically not the same as saying you won't sign them because they have a bad attitude. 😆


So after he's been publicly flogged for disliking African players, he then remembers that he meant to say it was just because they miss games for the African Nations. Seems legit.

Don't forget the personal reasons at the end that follow every sacking

Was looking for my account was hacked for the full bingo of excuses

@Swango1980 I agree management of squad is key

I can see it now tho as a seasoned west ham fan used to disappointment, we will be hovering around top 6 at Xmas

Then aguard, kudus , cornet and benny will disappear for 2 months

Zouma will pick up his yearly 6 week injury

Paquata will get banned for betting

Our owner will go bankrupt (like the Icelanders did) stopping all transfers

And we will be back to the relegation scrap by Easter 😆
 
Don't forget the personal reasons at the end that follow every sacking

Was looking for my account was hacked for the full bingo of excuses

@Swango1980 I agree management of squad is key

I can see it now tho as a seasoned west ham fan used to disappointment, we will be hovering around top 6 at Xmas

Then aguard, kudus , cornet and benny will disappear for 2 months

Zouma will pick up his yearly 6 week injury

Paquata will get banned for betting

Our owner will go bankrupt (like the Icelanders did) stopping all transfers

And we will be back to the relegation scrap by Easter 😆
Wow. Thats bleak.

Like, Scandi-Noir movie bleak.
 
Wow. Thats bleak.

Like, Scandi-Noir movie bleak.

You get used to it ...

Sign a really talented young English striker (Ashton) gets called up. Career ending injury

Sign 2 amazingly talented young argies from under the noses of the big clubs ..turns out it was a dodgy deal tainted the club

Get taken over by an Icelandic bank , it goes bust! Almost go out of business

Remarkable really 😂
 
So, Euro 2028 is coming to UK & Ireland. We've asked not to be given automatic qualifying apparently. That could backfire horribly couldn't it? Surely will be perceived as arrogance by other nations as well (i.e. we're not worried about the risk of not qualifying). Southgate probably just wants more England games because without them, Maguire and Phillips wouldn't be playing football at all.
 
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I think the request to qualify is more about playing competitively for that period. There are now so many teams in a finals that qualifying shouldn't be an issue and those games have purpose to them. If you only play friendlies for two years then you can go into a tournament undercooked.
 
I think the request to qualify is more about playing competitively for that period. There are now so many teams in a finals that qualifying shouldn't be an issue and those games have purpose to them. If you only play friendlies for two years then you can go into a tournament undercooked.
I don't disagree.. but no other nation has ever asked for this before have they? Just think how much if of a laughing stock would be if it did backfire and we missed out on our own Euros. We should have one of the best England teams we've ever seen by then, particularly as Bellingham will have a couple of Ballon D'ors under his belt, but it's still never a formality!

What will the line-up be by then I wonder? Assuming Southgate will have toddled off by that stage so I won't be including a 34-year-old Maguire or 37-year-old Henderson.

(I'm just adding 4 years to the ages since I can't be bothered working it out exactly.)

Ramsdale (29)
James (27) - Stones (33) - Colwill (24) - Chilwell (30)
Rice (28) - Bellingham (24)
Saka (26) - Foden (27) - Eze? (29)
Kane (34)
Left wing is probably the biggest question mark, could see someone like Madueke or Palmer break through there. But what a team! We're winning it for sure. It's coming home.
 
So, Euro 2028 is coming to UK & Ireland. We've asked not to be given automatic qualifying apparently. That could backfire horribly couldn't it? Surely will be perceived as arrogance by other nations as well (i.e. we're not worried about the risk of not qualifying). Southgate probably just wants more England because without them, Maguire and Phillips wouldn't be playing football at all.
It’s a no win situation EUFA can’t give 5 qualifying spots. If they gave England a spot the other nations would rightly be unhappy.
 
I don't disagree.. but no other nation has ever asked for this before have they? Just think how much if of a laughing stock would be if it did backfire and we missed out on our own Euros. We should have one of the best England teams we've ever seen by then, particularly as Bellingham will have a couple of Ballon D'ors under his belt, but it's still never a formality!

What will the line-up be by then I wonder? Assuming Southgate will have toddled off by that stage so I won't be including a 34-year-old Maguire or 37-year-old Henderson.

(I'm just adding 4 years to the ages since I can't be bothered working it out exactly.)

Ramsdale (29)
James (27) - Stones (33) - Colwill (24) - Chilwell (30)
Rice (28) - Bellingham (24)
Saka (26) - Foden (27) - Eze? (29)
Kane (34)
Left wing is probably the biggest question mark, could see someone like Madueke or Palmer break through there. But what a team! We're winning it for sure. It's coming home.
The guidelines state "In case of more than two joint-host associations, the automatic qualification of all the host teams cannot be guaranteed and shall be subject to a decision to be made in conjunction with decisions concerning the qualifying competition"

Your obviously just focused on England, but there is also Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to consider. I suspect all 5 nations were fully aware of the qualifying implications when they made the joint bid.
 
Damn. Talk about a career fizzling out. He was one of the best players on the planet until he signed for Real, and then that was it, nothing more from him.
Think he had a few injuries,not sure if that’s why he’s retired.
Must be nice to retire at 32.
 
I'm pretty sure he mentioned that his body has given up on him, or something like that. Sounds about right really. A shame as he was a wonderful player to watch in his prime.

He was a wonderful footballer but not one I liked ,to much of a prima donna for me.

I remember him not giving his all for Chelsea at the end of his time playing there and was instrumental in the unrest at the club.
 
I don't disagree.. but no other nation has ever asked for this before have they? Just think how much if of a laughing stock would be if it did backfire and we missed out on our own Euros. We should have one of the best England teams we've ever seen by then, particularly as Bellingham will have a couple of Ballon D'ors under his belt, but it's still never a formality!

What will the line-up be by then I wonder? Assuming Southgate will have toddled off by that stage so I won't be including a 34-year-old Maguire or 37-year-old Henderson.

(I'm just adding 4 years to the ages since I can't be bothered working it out exactly.)

Ramsdale (29)
James (27) - Stones (33) - Colwill (24) - Chilwell (30)
Rice (28) - Bellingham (24)
Saka (26) - Foden (27) - Eze? (29)
Kane (34)
Left wing is probably the biggest question mark, could see someone like Madueke or Palmer break through there. But what a team! We're winning it for sure. It's coming home.
Rashford?
 
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