With the Crapello comments now firmly winging their way around the networks and message boards, is it right for this age old debate about the 'English culture of drinking' to once again be brought up? Do we agree that the modern thinking of pasta and mineral water is the way forward, or do we have any dinosaurs that think a good old night on the piss with your mates/workmates creates bonding and team spirit? Which camp are the Not606 lads pitching their tents in today? For the record, I still think there is room for both (nee fence sitting there then Lol) because both have their merits. I remember only too well when British clubs ruled Europe and there were some massive drinking cultures at every club then. I have no problem with players getting twatted after games and during the week, so long as they perform on a Saturday. Mickey Gray was infamous in Sunderland for his big drinking exploits (amongst other things cough....cough) but he NEVER failed to give anything less than 100% during the match and it didn’t bother me at all. Does anyone remember in the 70’s and 80’s in particular, copious amounts of drink was part and parcel of the game and yet our clubs still beat all the pasta eating, mineral water slurping Johnny foreigners with ease. I think the continentals (Europeans) are paranoid about alcohol and this is from countries like Italy and France who drip feed their toddlers on the grapes? I have travelled around Europe in my life and can honestly say the Dutch, Germans and French in particular can drink like ****ing fishes as good as any Englishman I have ever met but they don’t get the Dutch disease/German disease thrust at them. Maybe it would do some of them (players) the world of good to go out and get pissed sometimes, so long as it is not at the expense of others and this is where it gets a bit grey to be honest. The problem the modern footballer has, is the craving for constant VIP status and the 'do you know who I am' syndrome of 'do you know how much I earn'? Footballers of 30 years ago went out and got pissed in the local pub or club, away from the spotlight. Theses days it’s a high profile yacht or private island and it gets too much public attention. I guess I would be of the opinion that these young men have to be allowed to go out and sow their seed and drink their fill, otherwise you are going to have characterless morons playing for you and teams that look that way too. When I was in my late teens and most of my 20's I would shag a warm scarf and drink until the sun came up. It’s what young men and women do and we shouldn’t expect our footballers to be any different - in moderation and without incident. A little bit of the old world and the new world would be my management style. Can those two things be achievable in the modern game? I'm not so sure unfortunately but I’m happy to remain a bit of a dinosaur in these debates.
Although they are over paid prima donnas, i do think they are entitled to freedom and an enjoyable life. Some can do this without it affecting performances others can't. I don't mind them socialising as long as they don't end up acting like twats (gerrard for instance). Biggest pissheads in the world are not English, from my experience, it's the scandanavians, they love a tipple or ten.
I think it all depends on the person, more than the culture, and alcohol is an addictive drug to some, we seem to get more of the fighting and bad name from it but i bet it goes on in every city in the world. There will also be a fair share of alcoholics all over the world as well, not just in the UK. But when a 20 year old is on 70,000 a week and has money to burn (Woodgate would do that around boro on a night out, get a stack of £20 notes and set them alight) then its not really surprising that a few get on the wrong end of it.
That kind of comment has got me 'Hop-ing' mad and I think you are just 'grapeing' at straws to make your point. 'Ale' have to take you to task and find your gibes are 'gin' the worst possible taste. I'll stick to chatting with my mates from now on. 'Beer' the devil you know and at 'yeast' I know where I am with them. And I'm out of jokes.....Lol
Notice it's Capello and Mancini predictably moaning about players drinking too much, as going out on the piss is not normal in Italy in the same way as it is in Britain, Germany, and the Scandanavian countries. I wouldn't read too much into their comments. I too don't mind players going out on the lash after games, as long as they train properly the rest of the time and don't end up in Joey Bartonesque criminal incidents.
Hard subject for me Cest and will try not to get to deep and personal. In my youth and 20’s I lived in Peterlee so the two places for socialising were the club circuit and Hartlepool or Newcastle on the pull. Newcastle was less drink and more pull but a club night out was drinking and TBH nothing was thought of it. We didn’t have binge drinking just a good night out with lads. In my 30’s and 40’s it was hotels for week long meetings and heavy drinking with beer and shorts and it was both expected and enjoyable. Mind at no point was I a highly trained athlete on thousands a week who was expected to keep my body in peak condition. I thi nk that’s the key with Caroll, he gets paid big bucks to play football and is expected to show restraint. Now I don’t drink at all because my other half, who I met around ten years ago, is an alcoholic, I found out the hard way when I rushed her to hospital to be told she would probably not make it through the night because her liver was gone, very nieive but I had no idea. Because of this I don’t drink simply to try and help. So, in me we have someone who abused drink but apart from lots of hangovers never had a problem with it. In my partner we have someone who sort of ended up with a big drink problem but never drank a lot, at first.
Christ did you see his name in the 25 man squad along with Angeleri? Thought they would have both been long gone by now didnt you? Maybe both will be needed if this injury jinx strikes again. Anyone else got a shiver running down their spines?
Terrifying thought mate. We are deffo a CB short with Anton's sale, for all it was a good deal, Anton has done a decent job accross the back 4 at various times, with O'Shea crocked again, might be an issue. I don't think Kilgallon is a bad defender , personally, but i'd be at my wits end if Nyron got a game now.
Not all drinkers are alcoholics and not all alcoholics are drinkers. I got told that a long time ago and never understood it till much later in life Syd but I have known someone from both camps. The former is someone who socially drinks lots and gets nothing worse than hangovers for their indulgence but the latter is someone with a truly awful disease, that has no social element attached at all and is far less understood by many either. They don’t consider what they are doing as ‘drinking’, it’s just a way of life and is most often done in the confines of the home. My best wishes for you and your good lady and I know how hard that illness is to conqueror. For the social drinker, it’s hard to comprehend an alcoholic’s problem but the 2 can’t be confused. Any footballer that has an alcohol problem needs help not condemnation but likewise, any footballer who wants a good night out on the beer with his mates, should maybe not be condemned either. It’s a very fine and delicate line mate.
To me an alcholic was someone without will power and a bit of an idiot, what a fool I was. Over the past few years I have had to learn fast, we dont live together, my fault I think and the rsult of two divorces, so when it rears its head, and it always does, I see it coming, get lied to then get a call to,"come and get me". Its then a few days watching shaking and getting her back up, I know how it will probably end. It tarnishes views on drinking but love is a terrible thing at times and you cant just do a runner when things get hard. Ffs Cest, this is turning a little emotional mate, time to find a new thread for me, how about Bruce out.
I hate him but he's right. English footballers shouldn't be drinking. They have short careers in which they should look after themselves and then can go as gazza as they like afterwards.
George Best all night binge, removes his dick from Miss World then rinses his mouth with champagne, 15 minutes before arriving at Old Trafford for the match. Onto the pitch rip whoever was put in front of him a new one, score a hat trick, off for a shower and back on the piss. His loving champagne lead to addiction though. I was accused of being an alcoholic when younger, as I used to get through work and finish by 11 am and straight to the pub and not get back home till about midnight! There was a regular squad of 5 or 6 of us did this every day. The difference was I enjoyed a drink and still do, but can go without no problem. Alcoholics can't they NEED the drink.
