For me, an intriguing twist in all of this is how little resistance Ranieri appears to be putting up to the big clubs now looking to pick apart the best squad he has managed in 3 decades. They happily went along with Arsenal's flirtation with Vardy, then he came out last week with comments along the lines of Mahrez and Kante's futures are in their own hands, essentially admitting 'we won't stand in their way if they want to leave'. I'm a bit taken aback as to how indifferent they are to keep this group of players together. If Levy had adopted the same stance with Berbatov, Modric and Bale, I would've been livid.
Just reading that the Juve players nicknamed the dressing room 'Cape Canaveral'.because of the number of flying objects during a Conte team talk'!..
Not really. Seems to be a combination of release clauses / mercs / managerial philosophy. I suspect Ranieri has probably gone meh about Kante as he believes that anyone within reason can play that role in his system. Vardy and Mahrez would be the big losses as they are effectively the attacking threat. So seeing what happens if the latter goes all ratboy on Leicester will be interesting.
Our ex-youth keeper David Button is on the verge of a move to Fulham, apparently. Brentford have signed another player in his position and he's being moved on. His replacement is someone that we've been linked with, Southend's Daniel Bentley.
Good to see Button getting a move to an established club (Ryan Fredericks is there too, isn't he?), supposedly been one of Brentford's best players in his time there, he was someone that was spoke of highly when at the club so it was weird that we let him go when we did, unless he asked for a move?.
Yes, Ryan Fredericks is at Fulham and he played against us at the weekend in the training ground friendly. Button was always good enough to be able to make a good living out of football. His main weakness was always seen as mental strength, the bigger the game then the more nervy he was. So much so that he would throw up in the dressing room minutes before kick off. He seems to have mentally matured now and good luck to him, his performances for Brentford were often top class. He deserves this move. We were more than interested in Bentley at Southend. Indeed we made him an offer a year ago and he turned us down.
St Pauli have taken intimidation for their opposition sides to a new level, their new players tunnel is something else.
More bad news for Leicester, their assistant manager/ head of recruitment, Steve Walsh looks set to join Everton. If I remember rightly, a few of the Leicester lads that come on here last season were all saying that Walsh had been a pivotal key to their success, finding the likes of Kante and Mahrez amongst others. Seriously, you'd have just thought Leicester had been relegated by the recent stories surrounding them... Vardy contemplating a switch to Arsenal, only to stay when an improved contract from Leicester was offered, Kante has ****ed off at first opportunity to a team not even in the CL (£££s!), Mahrez has been linked with a number of sides and despite Ranieri claiming he'll 100% stay I just think that's to try an appease fans, if Barca or someone come calling with a wad of dough I think he'll ask to go and now to top it off a key member of staff has been poached.
It really is intriguing and in a way a great shame. I had my fair share of beef with our Leicester guests throughout the duration of last season, my main antagonist being the one with the name that sounds like a popular semi-automatic weapon, but it is a shame to see a team work so hard to achieve so much only to be picked off by the usual vultures. I was talking to a friend yesterday about what you can call the 'Southampton dilemma'; a syndrome wherein no matter how well-run and promising a club's future is, no matter how much potential greatness is on the horizon, ultimately their status as a 'small fish' will conspire to see them robbed and pillaged by marauding rich kids every single year. I thought Leicester, with that famous golden badge now on their sleeves and the supposed 'togetherness' of the squad under Ranieri, would be the first 'small fish' to buck that trend, but apparently not. My theory yesterday was that $$$'s plus agents incessantly whispering in their clients' ears are probably the two main factors behind these moves. The bottom line is that not a single team in the past 3 decades has even come close to establishing themselves as a top club winning regular trophies through hard work and graft. Regular success is apparently only enjoyed by those with massive names and/or massive cheque books. Not surprising really, but what I guess I'm saying is that football needs Spurs more than Spurs need football. To quote Lt. Gordon; "We are the hero Gotham needs, but not the hero it deserves right now. So they'll hunt us. Because we can take it". If we can do it next season. IF we can win that bloody trophy, I believe that, together with the new stadium, it will usher in a new era of a club that has worked its way through decades of pain and sacrifice to reach success that it richly deserves.
I can understand (and be less harsh on) Vardy given his age, and the fact he is guaranteed 8 CL games per season by the Goons (but no more ) , But Kante, what an utter merc. Mahrez, we shall see ...
IMHO lot of those "decades of pain" have been due to under-achievement (the Sugar era) , and ENIC learning on the job (2001-9) , rather than "sacrifice" . Citeh winning the lottery just as Spurs usurped the Poool has not helped either.
The FA, Premier league and Football League have all introduced new guidelines to deal with dissent towards officials: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36844570 I give it three weeks before they give up due to the usual suspects carrying on as normal.
Will be interesting to see how many players from the "big" clubs get caught up in this. My guess is that it will be between "nada" and "zilch" as we all know the likes of Costa are just poor misunderstood lambs who are unfairly victimised. Also hope it doesn't make the referee unapproachable as they cannot be made even more aloof and without reproach as they already are. Just hope common sense is applied and captains aren't sent off left right and centre.... Oh and just book John Terry every time he steps on the pitch to save time.
I've never understood this. When i passed my refereeing course back in the 90s it was an offence to swear at all. The example they used on the course was that even if a player swears at themselves (eg, misses a shot...."****!") then that was an offence. When did it not become an offence? Seems a weird rule change to make. So actually all they're saying is that they're choosing to implement this rule now?
True. I'm sure I've seen 'XXXXX XXXXX Sent off. Foul and abusive language' come up on the vidi-printer many times over the years.
"168. Posted by TheBrigadier on Just now Man Utd and Mourinho's season is over already then.....the amount of ref abuse by Man U is DISGUSTING and I'm pleased to see the FA are going to stamp down on it....this should give a chance to Liverpool the only club that won't be affected by this new ruling as we are the only club to respect the ref and the game in general" What will this "person" be saying when "The FA, Premier league and Football League have all introduced new guidelines to deal with blatant diving" appears ...
I think these rules are long overdue and make perfect sense. The respect shown towards officials in Rugby can and should be replicated in Football. Until our game against Chelsea, I used to think that games which descended into out of control brawls were quite fun; like Ice Hockey - I saw it as part of the entertainment. Thinking back to the United v Arsenal games of old with Keane, Stam, Vieira and Parlour regularly getting into fist fights...the Chelsea game made me realise that it's all fun n games when you're an impartial neutral fan, but when it's your own team on the end of it or instigating it, the whole scene becomes exceptionally unpleasant to watch. Hopefully these measures will help officials have a stronger backbone in controlling games, although in all honesty this cuts both ways: if refs want more respect they have to cut out the shocking number of inexplicably bad decisions that have crept into the PL over the past 5 years. It is impossible to respect someone with the judgement of a 5 year old in toys R us, no matter how many cards you wave at the problem. I would very much like to see officials having to face the media in the same way that managers and players do. A short session with pre-selected questions that are clearly on everyone's lips. They should be made to explain the reasoning behind their most controversial decisions.
They didn't change the actual offence, but altered the interpretation of the rules, I believe. There was a report of an amateur player getting sent off after a couple of seconds a few years ago, though. The ref blew his whistle to start the game, the player said, "****, that was loud!" and that was it!
The steward of my local village club, where I lived in England, played for Crystal Palace many years earlier, back in Steve Kember's day. He held the distinction of being sent off before he even got on the pitch. Danny got into a row with one of the opposing players in the tunnel, nutted him, and that was that!...
Just browsing stats about PL refs as I was mulling over the thought that paying them more for the grief they go through would lead to improved decision-making, but to be perfectly honest an average annual salary of £70k pa for 2 hours' work per week is more than enough. Top refs can earn up to £120k pa, it all depends on the number of matches they officiate: http://www.totalsportek.com/money/english-premier-league-referee-salaries/ The differential between the fixed annual retainer and single match fee is the rub, I believe. Every other major league in Europe pays far less in terms of retainer, but far more in terms of individual match fee. This means that refs in La Liga and the Bundesliga can actually earn far more in a year than even the top drawer PL refs, as it all depends on how many matches they are selected to officiate, it fluctuates across all leagues between 10-35 games pa...and that, unlike the annual flat-rate retainer, all depends of course on actual level of competence and performance. I would drastically slash refs' retainers from appx. £40k pa to £25k pa and boost the individual match fees to similar fees offered in France, Germany and Italy (La Liga offers ridiculous fees per game) and basically say to the referees: the money is out there, ready for you to grab it. Balls it up too many times and you'll officiate 10 games and only bring in an extra £28k pa. Reach Pierluigi Collina levels of officialdom and you'll be given closer to 30 matches, raking in a tasty £84k extra per year.
