acrossthepond 877 Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Some of those are hilarious like. The Barton one (Prison, 1 cap - Six months) had me in stitches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Park Life 71 Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonatine 11374 Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 7025 Posted June 21, 2009 Share Posted June 21, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohhh_yeah 2964 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/20...awrence-donegan Even with his injury record, big clubs are foolish to write off Michael OwenEngland striker still has a lot to offer Just when Michael Owen thinks life can't get any worse along comes a smart Alec in the Guardian comparing him to Barry Bonds, the sullen, unpopular and largely discredited baseball slugger who is currently awaiting trial on charges of lying to a jury about his alleged use of steroids. The parallels, it should be acknowledged, are not immediately obvious. But before Owen's lawyers get in touch I would urge them to ask themselves this: are there two athletes around today who have been so unfairly ostracised by their sport, victimised more because of the herd-like mentality of those in charge than because of their perceived failings? Let's take Bonds, who at 44 still looks fit enough to play baseball and is desperate to do so. Yet it has been almost two years since he has swung a bat in anger. Apparently, he is no longer good enough for any team, which must come as quite a shock to fans of, say, the 2009 Washington Nationals, who make 2007 Derby County look like 1999 Manchester United. No one who knows anything about baseball believes that Bonds could not do a job for a major league baseball team; no-one except those who run the 30 MLB teams. The response of the Major League Baseball Players Association has been to file a grievance on Bonds' behalf, arguing there has been collusion between the owners to keep the slugger out of the game. Unfortunately for Owen the Darwinian marketplace of top-class English footballers holds no truck with fopperies such as grievance procedures. You are on your own here, mate. The England centre-forward has come to the end of his contract with Newcastle United and, like anyone else who finds themselves in that position, he is casting around for a new job. This he, or at least his agent, has done with a refreshing lack of ego, which might sound like a strange thing to say of a campaign which has as its centrepiece a 32-page glossy brochure. Yet this is how things are done these days. It's called marketing. Needless to say, this has been brushed aside in the rush to make fun of the brochure and of Owen, who has been portrayed as Yosser Hughes with more money than sense. There are a couple of things to say about this, one of which is to make the, admittedly unoriginal, point that we in this country take an ugly delight in seeing successful and famous people torn down and it is one of our least endearing national characteristics. In the case of Owen the glee has been heightened by the news the only clubs so far indicating an interest in signing him are Hull City and Stoke City, two of the supposedly "unglamorous" members of the Premier League fraternity. What constitutes "glamour" and its usefulness when it comes to stopping Fernando Torres are questions for another day, but for today there can be no arguments over what Tony Pulis had to say when declaring his interest yesterday in signing the England international for Stoke. "He has had his fitness problems and they've been well publicised, but if you've got a fit Michael Owen then you've still got one hell of a player on your hands." Not for the first time, Pulis has shown himself refreshingly unwilling to follow the herd, the likes of Wigan chairman Dave Whelan who questioned Owen's "bottle" the other day. Even by Whelan's low standards, this is silly. Owen has played successfully at the very highest level for more than a decade. The idea that he doesn't have "bottle" is ridiculous, although not quite as ridiculous as the notion that he, like Bonds, isn't capable of playing at the very highest level. Given his injury problems, he wouldn't command a fee anywhere near to the £17.5 million Liverpool have just paid for Glen Johnson but as a free agent Owen's transfer fee has already been set; it's nothing. His wages won't be nothing, of course, but nor will they be anywhere near what they were in the past. These are the news realities facing the former golden boy of the English football. That he appears, in his public utterances, to have accepted as much says a great deal about his character and ambition. It also suggests the only people lacking bottle – or indeed marbles - are those within English football who cannot see the bargain he represents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 7025 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 At least hes got more than just Hull to choose from now. . . . . . . . Stoke are after him Oh the dizzy heights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyshinton 59 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 At least hes got more than just Hull to choose from now. . . . . . . . Stoke are after him Oh the dizzy heights! I find it amusing we are taking the piss out of the little fucker cos he is only going to be earning 40k a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Dynamite 7025 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Im taking the piss cos whichever team he joins hel be hawking himself around again next summer when they are relegated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyshinton 59 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Im taking the piss cos whichever team he joins hel be hawking himself around again next summer when they are relegated! I hate the little bastard. Just thought I would clarify that. By the way it's lovely up here in Blyth at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Owen was a disgrace last season imo. Still scored more than OMGILUVMartinsLOL!!11111111!!! though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombadil 0 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Owen was a disgrace last season imo. Still scored more than OMGILUVMartinsLOL!!11111111!!! though. Martins will be gone next season though. Smith on the other hand will still be here. And he could even be back in the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Owen was a disgrace last season imo. Still scored more than OMGILUVMartinsLOL!!11111111!!! though. Martins will be gone next season though. Smith on the other hand will still be here. And he could even be back in the team. I just think Martins deserves the same amount of stick. He (like Owen) did fuck and he (like Owen) was injured half the season. He took the piss even more than Owen out of the club too by training when he liked etc. Hope the pair of them do fuck all in their careers after this. Fairly safe bet they will as well because one's finished and the other's shite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 It's likely the media has stirred the hornets more in Owen's case because of his stature in the eyes of English fans. Martins is just another wantaway foreign import. Who could give a crap. Owen was once a national golden boy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 It's likely the media has stirred the hornets more in Owen's case because of his stature in the eyes of English fans. Martins is just another wantaway foreign import. Who could give a crap. Owen was once a national golden boy. Couldn't give a fuck about the papers. I'm on about the fans. I want to spread the hate, basically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 My point was a lot of fans read the papers and base their opinions on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 My point was a lot of fans read the papers and base their opinions on that. I'd expect Newcastle fans to base their opinions on performances (or lack of though). Fair enough for some other teams' fans to get what they know about our lot largely from what they read but if a Newcastle fan's getting all he knows about our lot out of the papers their opinion isn't its salt. Not suggesting you have to go to every game or whatever but the stats are there in black and white and they should know (approximately at least) who played when and where etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombadil 0 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 It's likely the media has stirred the hornets more in Owen's case because of his stature in the eyes of English fans. Martins is just another wantaway foreign import. Who could give a crap. Owen was once a national golden boy. Couldn't give a fuck about the papers. I'm on about the fans. I want to spread the hate, basically. Same here, Smith doesn't get half the hatred he deserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 I think you're given more credit to the fans than they deserve. I think the fans are pretty knowledgable about certain aspects, but (as with al things) often the heart leads the head. It's easier to dislike Owen because he made it clear we weren't his first choice, he's been a failure at the club and he's commanded a huge wage. In comparison, I don't thnk expectations were very high for Martins, as such he's not really a failure in that regard, and although his wage is big, wage to wank ratio is pretty fair. (The likes of Smith and Coloccini do not score well on this ratio). plus he's a bit of a character and Owen is most definitely not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 dunno if this has been posted yet. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...nd-striker.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 I think you're given more credit to the fans than they deserve. I think the fans are pretty knowledgable about certain aspects, but (as with al things) often the heart leads the head. It's easier to dislike Owen because he made it clear we weren't his first choice, he's been a failure at the club and he's commanded a huge wage. In comparison, I don't thnk expectations were very high for Martins, as such he's not really a failure in that regard, and although his wage is big, wage to wank ratio is pretty fair. (The likes of Smith and Coloccini do not score well on this ratio). plus he's a bit of a character and Owen is most definitely not. I'm not. Re-read what I said. If the above applies to them their opinion isn't worth shit Agree on Smith btw Bombadil. And Barton and Nolan, etc., etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 Aye but I know people (and I'm sure you do too)who'd been at the game with me and absolutely slate Butt (for example) when in fact he'd had a good game, but because of an emnity they'd constructed from scraps of banter at the pub, stuff they've read and prior poor performance, he received staggering amount of abuse. My point was that Owen Martins et al do deserve a similar level of abuse but the cheeky smile and media indifference lets him duck under the radar more so than the much commented upon, biege Owen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isegrim 9772 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 In comparison, I don't thnk expectations were very high for Martins, as such he's not really a failure in that regard, and although his wage is big, wage to wank ratio is pretty fair. (The likes of Smith and Coloccini do not score well on this ratio). I think the expectations were quite high when we signed a 10m striker from an Italien top team. The thing is that he became a cult hero for some right from the start (Obafemi Martins song etc.) and his performances never got really questioned by a large section of the fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fish 10856 Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 Were they? I think among the fans who knew a little about the player they'd have seen a striker who made most of his impact from the bench, (From what I've come to know), those that didn't know him... would they really have known? I'm sure that I really didn't know what to expect. Sure, if normally we'd only spent £5m or £6m I'd be a bit more expectant of such a big outlay. But Luque, Boumsong among other have crushed any idea of what a real footballer is worth these days. I hadn't any real insight into Martins as a player, just that he was quick, and was a striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest alex Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 The expectancy was less than that of Owen, fair enough (I think a lot saw him as being a stop-gap / all Roeder could get). He's still been fucking gash though. Especially this season when we needed him most (on the odd occasion he was fit, obviously). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norbert Colon 0 Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 The expectancy was less than that of Owen, fair enough (I think a lot saw him as being a stop-gap / all Roeder could get). He's still been fucking gash though. Especially this season when we needed him most (on the odd occasion he was fit, obviously). I think he appeased alot of the crowd because he is able to get on the ball and go past a couple of players (then more often than not lose it to the opposition) and this raises the excitement level a bit whereas owen never got a kick (or looked like he wanted one) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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