The New English Footy Discussion Thread

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Status
Not open for further replies.
i am delighted with my boys...they pulled through and won the game even withour JM there. and i'm so happy that we have been getting 3 - 4 goals/match....it's great.


boring boring chelsea indeed :p
 
hmmm....yes - without Jose in person. But I believe there was sth fishy going on with that bloke on the bench. He was def. up to sth with that hat pulled over his ear....:eyebrow:
 
:lol: probably

i've been floating around some chelsea boards and some people who watched the replays think that the ref may have blew the whistle for a possible tiago handball in the box and not the dive by ballack. interesting and very well may be true but i would have to see the replays again.
 
Party Boy said:
18th is concert at twickenham! doh.. yep am going so am def up for meeting if poss!

Excellent, hopefully we'll have something sorted by the time you get back even if it's just half a dozen of us in the pub.
 
I'm afraid I can't get too worked up about the penalty, it's not like it was a game on a knife edge or anything and the decision has cost us an enormous amount. As long as we don't lose 2-0 we'll go through and if we don't manage to do that we probably don't deserve to go through.
 
Last edited:
Chelsea boss in 'secret phone' row
Thursday, April 7, 2005 Posted: 1036 GMT (1836 HKT)

LONDON, England -- The manager of English soccer premiership leaders Chelsea, Jose Mourinho, was the center of a storm after claims he got around a match ban by sending messages to his team via an assistant's secret earpiece.

"Jose hat trick," thundered a back-page headline in the Daily Mirror tabloid Thursday after Chelsea beat Bayern Munich 4-2 in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the European Champions League.

"Chelsea romp home ... but did Mourinho set up a secret phone link to this man?" said the paper.

"Ear we go," said The Sun tabloid.

The Daily Mail reported that observers from UEFA thought he might be communicating with fitness coach Rui Faria, who was wearing a woolly hat and "regularly pressed his right hand to his ear as if using a listening device."

Despite the mild temperature, Faria -- who is Portuguese like Mourhino and rarely seen on the bench -- wore a large woolly hat pulled down low. He constantly fiddled with his ear "as if to disguise an earpiece," said The Sun.

Faria was seen on Sky TV scrawling notes and passing them to assistant manager Baltemar Brito and coach Steve Clarke.

Mourinho was banned from the quarterfinal games last week by UEFA for suggesting FC Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard and referee Anders Frisk colluded in a February 23 Champions League match won by Barcelona 2-1.

No investigation
The match's fourth refereeing official reportedly confronted Faria and Brito in the 67th minute of the match.

On Thursday, UEFA said Chelsea had been cleared over suggestions that Faria received telephone messages from Mourinho, the UK's Press Association reported.

Mourhino was banned for suggesting a rival manager colluded with the referee.
Spokesman Frits Ahlstrom revealed the premiership leaders would not face an investigation following a debriefing after the quarterfinal first leg at Stamford Bridge.

Ahlstrom told PA: "I can confirm that UEFA has nothing to report about any incidents of any kind during the match."

Brito denied there had been any such conversations with Mourinho, telling PA: "There was no contact at all. We prepared for this game last week and the last time I saw him was two or three hours before kick-off.

"It was difficult without him because his presence is very important," Brito added. "But on the other hand, he prepared us and gave us direction all week, and that made us a bit calmer."

In a similar ban two years ago when Porto was playing Lazio in the UEFA Cup, then Porto boss Mourhino said afterwards he had managed to communicate with his players and beat the ban.

Chelsea spokesman Simon Greenberg dismissed suggestions that Mourinho was in touch.

"We haven't had any indication from UEFA of any complaint," Greenberg said. Asked where Mourinho had watched the match, he replied: "A far away, quiet place."

Lampard double
Frank Lampard scored two second-half goals for Chelsea. Joe Cole opened the scoring in the fourth minute, netting a goal that deflected in off the heel of Bayern defender Lucio and behind 'keeper Oliver Kahn.

Didier Drogba added the final goal 10 minutes from the end as Chelsea overpowered the four-time European champions. The English leaders have never won Europe's top club prize, and Wednesday's game was the first between the two clubs. Next week's return leg in Munich will be the second.

"I'm very pleased, it was 1-1 at time and to get two and give us a two-goal cushion was great, as was the fact that they were both left-footed strikes," Lampard said. "The second one I was very pleased with."

Off the field, Chelsea was reported Wednesday to have offered Mourinho a three-year contract extension -- including an annual pay increase of £1 million ($1.88 million) -- to dissuade him from quitting.

London's Evening Standard newspaper said Chelsea acted because of Mourinho's unhappiness at the club's decision not to appeal his two-game ban.

The newspaper, quoting Mourinho's agent Jorge Mendes, said the deal could be wrapped up as early as Thursday.

Mourinho joined Chelsea last summer after leading Porto to the Champions League title and is already the highest-paid coach in English soccer.

His contract, which expires in 2007, pays him £4.2 million ($7.9 million) a year. Under the proposed new deal, Mourinho would receive £5.2 million ($9.78 million) a year.
 
from todays mirror.....

JOSE WINS PHONEY WAR

Jose Mourinho was given the all-clear to continue his Champions League ban stunts last night as trembling UEFA backed away from another battle with the Chelsea boss.

Mourinho appeared to be deliberately thumbing his nose at the European governing body with the earpiece worn under fitness coach Rui Faria’s woolly hat during Wednesday’s 4-2 win over Bayern Munich.

When Faria handed over notes to the Chelsea bench and goalkeeping coach Silvinho Louro appeared with instructions seconds before each of their three substitutions, it all seemed to be orchestrated from Mourinho’s eyrie in the Chelsea Village fitness centre.

But as UEFA chiefs effectively confirmed Chelsea’s contention that the Anders Frisk affair had seen the club on the wrong end of a stitch-up job, and then went into full-scale retreat, Mourinho must have felt untouchable.

After beginning the day insisting there would be no investigation and then changing tack twice, UEFA were left looking powerless and pathetic as Mourinho ran rings round them. Chelsea suggested the whole episode might have been a wind-up.

Bayern vice-president Uli Hoeness said: “Even if everything is true we will not be making a protest. We only want to play football. We don’t want to be part of a theatre.”

But while UEFA will make a show of enforcing the final game of his touchline suspension in Munich next week, the unwillingness to investigate showed that Mourinho can do virtually whatever he likes.

And there was increasing pressure on the governing body to act against Barcelona boss Frank Rijkaard and discredited UEFA press chief William Gaillard last night.

UEFA admitted there were THREE tunnel conversations between Frisk and Rijkaard at half-time in February’s Nou Camp encounter.

Mourinho was banned for claiming he personally saw Rijkaard entering Frisk’s dressing room and linking that with Didier Drogba’s red card.

But last night it emerged that Nou Camp venue director Pascal Fratellia reported three separate conversations between Rijkaard and Frisk in the tunnel, rather the the single brief chat claimed by the Barcelona boss.

It further undermines Gaillard’s tattered reputation while UEFA, which stands accused of hypocrisy and outright falsehood, is now under pressure to charge Rijkaard.

i knew it....tsk tsk mr rijkaard. :tsk:

and another lovely quote from our amazing captain JT....

FURIOUS John Terry last night accused Bayern Munich of "taking the p**s" as he locked horns with his England team-mate Owen Hargreaves.

Both men were venting their frustrations in the wake of Chelsea's 4-2 win in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Referee Rene Timmink gave the German side a lifeline for next week's return by awarding them a last-gasp penalty.

Asked by Terry why he had given the decision, the Dutch official insisted that it had been for Ricardo Carvalho's tug on Bayern midfielder Michael Ballack.

But Terry fumed later: "It was a harsh decision. I've seen it again four or five times and every time it wasn't a penalty.


"We'd worked our socks off to get that three-goal lead so we're disappointed it was thrown away by a terrible decision from the referee.

"He wasn't listening all night. Not only Ballack, but a few of their players were diving and that's disappointing to see.

"That's not what we're about in England and it's disappointing to see teams come over here and do that.

"We felt that the referee should have been onto Ballack as he was doing it all night.

"There's taking the p**s and there's taking the p**s and I think that's what he's done. It takes a shine not only off their performances but also off a big night."

:yes:
 
i found this funny little atricle on the times online.

How I remained two steps ahead of suspicious parties
By Alyson Rudd
José Mourinho delivers his TV verdict (with a little help from our correspondent)



HOW typical of the English media that rather than try to find my private and peaceful place, they have instead been disrespectful about it. I am not at Highbury, I am not in the space between the ears of Lee Bowyer and I am not shopping for cheap coats. My peaceful place does not have an address. I find peace within the strong confines of my aura.
But still, I require a television. The events of this match affect my work for the next game. I am always one step ahead of the next step, which means you can never miss the present. So I do not settle down, as you say, to watch this match — I have three screens, a desk, a computer spreadsheet, a stopwatch, a Dictaphone and other items I cannot discuss.



I am not interested in the Sky Sports preamble except to say I like that man Andy Gray and his tactics table. I shall offer him a job on my scouting team. And, I have to say this, not because I am arrogant, but because it is the truth — my American Express advert is exceptionally good.

4min: We have the lead. Gray says Chelsea are lucky because of a deflection yet I have calculated that Joe Cole’s type of shooting is likely to cause poor clearances. When Gray starts his new job, I shall sack him.

16min: The phone rings. It is not Steve Clarke, it is the recorded voice of a woman telling me I have won a holiday.

36min: Joe Cole leaves the pitch. He slurps hurriedly from a plastic drinks container. The container is the correct colour, but Cole, he is too hurried. I left instructions for him to take slow sips. This will obviously need correcting before the second leg.

44min: The phone rings. It is Steve Clarke. I want Uefa to know that I have not telephoned him, he has called me. He has lost the sheet titled: “The Most Effective Manner In Which To Leave The Pitch At Half-Time When Score Is 1-0 and Two Chelsea Players Have Been Cautioned.”

Half-time: I am humble but am feeling God-like. The men on Sky think I am hidden in the stands or behind a screen in a hospitality booth or under the seats in the dugout or in the Chelsea Village Health Club or under someone’s hat. I am all-knowing, I am everywhere yet I cannot be seen. Except on that very good advert.

65min: Robert Huth replaces Glen Johnson. This substitution is instigated 49 seconds late. But messages can take time to be processed. I mean messages in general. Not necessarily my messages.

70min: A goal I like very much from Frank Lampard. He points a finger towards me as part of his celebration.

Stoppage time: I cannot say what I think about the referee or you may not see me again.

:giggle:
 
Last edited:
Aardvark747 said:
Andy Gray and Martin Tyler......Best commentary duo EVER....
:rockon: :rockon: :rockon:

Hell yeah.......

i never tire of hearing them week in ,week out

but is it just me or have they been broken up more than usual during this particular season :shrug:
 
No - it aint just u, i've noticed that too, and I aint happy!!:grumpy:

Why oh why they have Alan Smith commentating sometimes i'll never know! He must be the dullest guy ever!
Rob Hawthorne doesnt do too bad a job tho.
 
he is a great player, but Inter was just the wrong club for him. I hope he does leave and find a club where he can finally blossom.
 
D'oh! said:
he is a great player, but Inter was just the wrong club for him. I hope he does leave and find a club where he can finally blossom.



in last times inter appears to be the wrong club for many players, i don't know what's up there, but many players who come to us supposed to be champions go away rejected like farts and then become champions again..................look bergkamp, seedorf, pirlo, roberto carlos (most of all!) etc etc! there's more than one person at inter who doesn't a understand much of football, otherwise we would have won a title in the last damned 15 years!!! you're right over robbie keane, he deserves a team where he can finally show his worth, with he irish team he's simply gorgeous!
 
babyman said:




in last times inter appears to be the wrong club for many players, i don't know what's up there, but many players who come to us supposed to be champions go away rejected like farts and then become champions again..................look bergkamp, seedorf, pirlo, roberto carlos (most of all!) etc etc! there's more than one person at inter who doesn't a understand much of football, otherwise we would have won a title in the last damned 15 years!!! you're right over robbie keane, he deserves a team where he can finally show his worth, with he irish team he's simply gorgeous!

Like me im sure that you at times find it exasperating being a die-hard fan of a club like Inter. They haven't won anything in ages, even though at all times they posses some of the biggest names in world football.
Of the names you mentioned, Pirlo is the one that hurts the most. I mean he is the engine that drives Milan. I think there is something fundamentally wrong at the club.

Do you feel that Inter have any chance in tuesday's game? Im sure we dont. All Milan have to do is score once, and we'll need 4 in that case. Fat chance......
 
It's really funny to me that I know almost nothing about English football, and yet it looks like I'll be opening the new "English footy" thread.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom