Good for Fabio - a carnation for his son and a poppy for the fallen... Credit to the Spanish fans as well, immaculately observed silence and plenty of signs remembering the contribution of the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. Decent first half performance as well from a very strange looking England side.
Is strange as Charlton always seem to have someone on a BBC / ITV / ESPN or Sky panel. (a la, Matt Holland / Paul Walsh / Iain Dowie / John Salako / Alan Curbishley / Alan Mullery / John Barnes am sure there are more...
Mark Bright is (was?) very prominent. I was going to suggest we all make a list (not counting current managers or players who drop in to talk about current events, just those employed full-time or part-time as pundits and no longer playing for or working for Charlton). But then I discovered Charlton Life has already done it: http://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/comment/135427 For a medium-sized club we do seem to contribute more than our share but it might not be coincidence. Firstly a greater proportion of players from the really big clubs are foreign and have returned to their own countries or are not totally fluent in English. Secondly, a greater proportion of players from the really big clubs retire as multi-millionaires and might not want to bother with an appearance fee, whereas a player from a smaller club might consider it a nice little earner. Thirdly, Lawrence and Curbishley always favoured a slightly more responsible, educated and articulate player. I don't want to make a big deal out of that as there are many exceptions both ways, but it could be one more factor.
England 1-0 Ireland in the final will do - Darren Bent to head on to the post, Frank Lampard to head the rebound into any empty net, now where have we seen that before.... ;-)
Excellent performance tonight - Parker and Lescott massive, Rodwell and Welbeck well up for it. Yes, it was only a friendly but that was a full-strength Spanish side and they're World Champions. Plenty of good things to build on.
Nah, it has to be Ireland beating Spain 5-0 in the final, with Ireland having 80 per cent of the possession. Trappatoni will be announced Taoiseach and Ireland will have all of their 'euro' debts erased because of their contribution to Euroland with the quality of their football.Oh, and Guinness will be tax free forever- with Germany and France's Treasury blessing.
I think you might be right about all of that, except for the bit about Guinness The unofficial world champions are Japan, have been for a year.
