Grand Prix Rejects

It's official: Stramaccioni has sent home by Inter.

Stramala might or might not be pleased on this one.

FMecha wrote:It's official: Stramaccioni has sent home by Inter.

Stramala might or might not be pleased on this one.

Probably not, considering that his current nickname is based on Stramaccioni.

TheBigJ, Still don't underestimate the income prices as a reason as to why many people don't show up in Brussels or Wallonian footbal clubs (and to a lesser extent in many european countries) Yes sure, many of these teams are run by incompetent or questionable people, but still, for lot of people, paying 300€ per year is quite a big effort. The play-off system made sure people would only have to pay even more, hence why even less public interest. (and i notice that 'talking about football' happens less and less, because of the play-offs system, lot of people lost interest, especially now Belgian players are making it big in other countries)
The other thing is that most people support 2 or 3 teams: one big team (usually a foreign team, but it could be one of the big 3), a local smaller team, and a local amateur team. Many people actually choose to go to the amateur team because of the social value such teams have, whilst the big clubs usually gain from merchandising and tv money, but the mid-sized clubs feel this. And it really is because of the economic crisis, as back in the seventies or eighties, Charleroi got 20000 people in second division, the city of Liege had two clubs that each could handle 30000+ fans and Brussels has had quite a few heavily supported teams like Union, Schaerbeek and RWDM/Daring. Sometimes also Racing Brussels and even WS Woluwe, Leopold Club, Uccle, Ixelles, Forest etc. had their decent share of fans. Somehow RJ Brussels never caught on, though.
Here in Limburg, it was nicely divided between STVV, Beringen, Winterslag, Waterschei, Eisden, Hasselt and Tongeren, all teams had between 5000 and 10000, i would say Beringen was the biggest actually. (Lommel came later) many people here started supporting other teams 'due to lack of better options' but secretly, they just hope their local teams would have success once more. It seems though that the financial problems teams started to have in the nineties have caused irrepairable damage to the football clubs, and the fans started to give up on them.
Also one things proves there's something very wrong: both players, teams and sponsors prefer 3rd division over 2nd division. That's not a healthy situation. Of course, there's a lot of shadow economy in third division...

The only team that has the right to call themselves Limburg are Royal Dolhain Football club, from the city of Limbourg! (or some other team from that city, but as it's quite small, is suppose there won't be lot of teams)

Nuppiz wrote:

FMecha wrote:It's official: Stramaccioni has sent home by Inter.

Stramala might or might not be pleased on this one.

Probably not, considering that his current nickname is based on Stramaccioni.

Actually, I'm happy. I need to change this stupid idea of a nickname.

Walter Mazzari is a step up in quality in terms of manager. However, it will make no difference if reinforcements for the squad are not brought in.

Bayern have finally clinched the Champions League. Many Congrats to them

It was bound to happen. I bet on the opposition.

Admittedly I don't put bets on very often, but whereas I win on horse racing bets every so often, I have NEVER won on a football bet. Or an F1 bet, for that matter.

Barbazza wrote:It was bound to happen. I bet on the opposition.

Admittedly I don't put bets on very often, but whereas I win on horse racing bets every so often, I have NEVER won on a football bet. Or an F1 bet, for that matter.

I've never won a bet.. on an account that I've never placed a proper bet before

Barbazza wrote:It was bound to happen. I bet on the opposition.

Admittedly I don't put bets on very often, but whereas I win on horse racing bets every so often, I have NEVER won on a football bet. Or an F1 bet, for that matter.

I almost never win football bets, although my betting record on the Premier League Darts was very good this year. 3/4 bets successful, must have made about 50 quid profit overall. I don't bother betting on F1.

Stramala wrote:Actually, I'm happy. I need to change this stupid idea of a nickname.

I thought it was just me never liked your current username

eurobrun wrote:

Stramala wrote:Actually, I'm happy. I need to change this stupid idea of a nickname.

I thought it was just me never liked your current username

And this matters why?

Stramala wrote:

eurobrun wrote:

Stramala wrote:Actually, I'm happy. I need to change this stupid idea of a nickname.

I thought it was just me never liked your current username

And this matters why?

I was just stating my opinion. Is that a problem?

eurobrun wrote:

Stramala wrote:

eurobrun wrote:I thought it was just me never liked your current username

And this matters why?

I was just stating my opinion. Is that a problem?

It was a needlessly scathing yet empty retort, so yes, in this case, it is a problem. There are times where stating your opinion is not really necessary. This was one of them.

Stramala wrote:

eurobrun wrote:

Stramala wrote:And this matters why?

I was just stating my opinion. Is that a problem?

It was a needlessly scathing yet empty retort, so yes, in this case, it is a problem. There are times where stating your opinion is not really necessary. This was one of them.

Needlessly scathing? All I said was I didn't like your username, that is not an offensive comment. I personally don't like my username either due to the lack of capitalization. And as for my post being empty, I don't consider it any more empty that your reply

Neymar is currently the most overrated football player in the world.

DanielPT wrote:Neymar is currently the most overrated football player in the world.

No, that award has to go to Wayne Rooney.

So the last european spot from the Belgian JPL is known, after Standard won against Gent with 7-0 Where on earth did that come from?

JeremyMcClean wrote:

DanielPT wrote:Neymar is currently the most overrated football player in the world.

No, that award has to go to Wayne Rooney.

No it has to be ronaldo and not only myself but all my mates agree the reason ronaldo is so good is his skills, in 5 years time he will fade into obscurity and be as good as Ben Watson

roblomas52 wrote:

JeremyMcClean wrote:

DanielPT wrote:Neymar is currently the most overrated football player in the world.

No, that award has to go to Wayne Rooney.

No it has to be ronaldo and not only myself but all my mates agree the reason ronaldo is so good is his skills, in 5 years time he will fade into obscurity and be as good as Ben Watson

Suggestion one; very good. Neymar has been exceedingly average for Santos lately. He doesn't contribute a massive amount in national team games, preferring to be selfish and waste opportunities that could have worked out had he moved the ball on to team-mates isntead of trying his usual trickery nonsense.
Suggestion two; not bad. He's massively overpaid, but when he's not busy having a strop he can occasionally be world class. But over-rated by the English nonetheless.
Suggestion three; WTF??? Ronaldo is over-rated? I really have to disagree with that. I certainly don't like him and his attitude, but he can really play football. He'll never fade into obscurity, merely fade into a good but not world beating player late on in his career. Just like every footballer ever.

The most over-rated player in the world at this moment in time is Gianluigi Buffon.

He has declined lately. He's not the same superman keeper from years gone by. Both Marchetti and Handanovic are now better in Serie A. If I was Prandelli I'd seriously consider handing Federico Marchetti the #1 shirt for the Confederations Cup next month, and if he can keep up the level he's at right now, make him the number one keeper for the World Cup next year.

roblomas52 wrote:No it has to be ronaldo and not only myself but all my mates agree the reason ronaldo is so good is his skills, in 5 years time he will fade into obscurity and be as good as Ben Watson

Sorry? Have you seen any football he's played over the past 6 and a half years? I mean, in his last 3 seasons with Manchester United, he netted 66 league goals; i.e. a much better return than any other player on the planet at the time. Since then, he's averaged a goal a game with Madrid in La Liga which, if it weren't for Messi being Messi, would see Ronny being idolised even more so than he is now.

Brain before fingers guys, brain before fingers...

Stramala wrote:Suggestion one; very good. Neymar has been exceedingly average for Santos lately. He doesn't contribute a massive amount in national team games, preferring to be selfish and waste opportunities that could have worked out had he moved the ball on to team-mates isntead of trying his usual trickery nonsense.

I only said it about Neymar because everyone is praising Barcelona for snatching him from under Real Madrid noses and berating Florentino Perez for losing him. Now add to this the fact that everyone in Brazil have been talking him up for years now and that they actually dubbed Messi vs Neymar that hugely one sided game that was the club world cup final in which Barça destroyed Santos 4-0. After that, it was bid for the FIFA greatest goal of the season award (last year, I believe) in which a goal from Neymar was present and the only thing I can remember from it was the appalling defensive display from the opposition. Oh, have I mentioned his anonymous performances at the Olympics? Where no thanks to him Brazil reached the Final only to crumble pressure? In that team he wasn't even in the top 3 players (probably top 5), never mind the best. Granted, he is a good player. A very good one too, but it is all worth this hype? I don't think so. I wish him the most success, but I am afraid he might follow the footsteps of Robinho instead those of Ronaldo (Fenomeno) or Ronaldinho.

As for Buffon, I don't doubt that he might be the most overrated player in Italy, but outside, not so much.

The most overrated 'underrated' player in the world is undoubtedly Pablo Zabaleta.

roblomas52 wrote:No it has to be ronaldo and not only myself but all my mates agree the reason ronaldo is so good is his skills, in 5 years time he will fade into obscurity and be as good as Ben Watson

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?

I honestly can't give a proper response to this.

FullMetalJack wrote:

roblomas52 wrote:No it has to be ronaldo and not only myself but all my mates agree the reason ronaldo is so good is his skills, in 5 years time he will fade into obscurity and be as good as Ben Watson

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?

I honestly can't give a proper response to this.

I want to live in roblomas' fantasy land.

shinji wrote:

FullMetalJack wrote:

roblomas52 wrote:No it has to be ronaldo and not only myself but all my mates agree the reason ronaldo is so good is his skills, in 5 years time he will fade into obscurity and be as good as Ben Watson

Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?

I honestly can't give a proper response to this.

I want to live in roblomas' fantasy land.

Where Chelsea are Tottenham Hotspur's bitter rivals.

FullMetalJack wrote:

shinji wrote:

FullMetalJack wrote:Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?

I honestly can't give a proper response to this.

I want to live in roblomas' fantasy land.

Where Chelsea are Tottenham Hotspur's bitter rivals.

Chelsea? No, has to be Crystal Palace.... Spurs - Place games are ALWAYS tense with both sides seething with hatred for the other

FullMetalJack wrote:

shinji wrote:

FullMetalJack wrote:Say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?

I honestly can't give a proper response to this.

I want to live in roblomas' fantasy land.

Where Chelsea are Tottenham Hotspur's bitter rivals.

Chelsea and tottenham are big rivals in real life and so is arsenal v Chelsea and tottenham v arseholeI mean arsenal so it kind of comes full circle

Did I smell that his odd opinions here have something to do with his "unacceptable" driver names over PMMF?

FMecha wrote:Did I smell that his odd opinions here have something to do with his "unacceptable" driver names over PMMF?

No because I have stated the 3 biggest London rivals and I haven't started on crystal palace and west ham yet

This wrote:So the last european spot from the Belgian JPL is known, after Standard won against Gent with 7-0 Where on earth did that come from?

More to the (rejectful) point : where did Rednic's sacking come from? Guided Les Rouches to Europa League as was targeted after a horrendous start to the season and a squad with an average age of 22. Sacked after a 7-0 demolition job on Gent to be replaced by an unknown israeli under-21 manager. Most players senior out of contract/leaving, supporters (including a lot of my friends in the ultras) threatening to boycott, owner just pocketed 20million from the club's funds despite the club being in debt.

Award for most rejectful owner in Europe : step forward Roland Duchatelet.

roblomas52 wrote:

FMecha wrote:Did I smell that his odd opinions here have something to do with his "unacceptable" driver names over PMMF?

No because I have stated the 3 biggest London rivals and I haven't started on crystal palace and west ham yet

Erm...Tottenham and Arsenal are the big rivals. They view Chelsea as just a russian oligrach's toy, not a genuine football club. Interestingly enough the most hatred at a Chelsea game I've seen is against Liverpool. For some reason they hate each other (CL semi-finals, Benitez?).

Palace's main rivals are Brighton way down south. West Ham's are Millwall. Both are in the Championship. Fulham are rivals with Brentford in League One. The only proper hateful derby will be between us and Tottenham, trust me on that.

Still, any London derby is interesting.

delt

TheBigJ wrote:

This wrote:So the last european spot from the Belgian JPL is known, after Standard won against Gent with 7-0 Where on earth did that come from?

More to the (rejectful) point : where did Rednic's sacking come from? Guided Les Rouches to Europa League as was targeted after a horrendous start to the season and a squad with an average age of 22. Sacked after a 7-0 demolition job on Gent to be replaced by an unknown israeli under-21 manager. Most players senior out of contract/leaving, supporters (including a lot of my friends in the ultras) threatening to boycott, owner just pocketed 20million from the club's funds despite the club being in debt.

Award for most rejectful owner in Europe : step forward Roland Duchatelet.

Yeah i feel sorry for the Standard-fans. This guy has ruined STVV, he has ruined Ujpest (well, his brother) and now he's ruining Standard, and he's only gotten richer by it. Altough it seems this guy has a fetish for women football And he's not the most rejectful owner, that was defenitely Patrick Vanoppen (Beerschot) But the difference is that Roland knows pretty well what he's doing and that other guy was just dressing himself in a purple bear costume instead. And he's sacking Rednic because Rednic had an opinion. He doesn't like to get involved with people that have an opinion (which is why Pierre François left Standard a while back). But it looks that Israeli guy doesn't have a good reputation, so that's just asking for trouble. They're lucky they still got a good club coefficient in Europe, but that's not going to last very long, i fear.

Meanwhile: Zulte Waregem owner Patrick Decuyper has bought shares from KV Oostende, but as he hasn't paid for them yet, this trouble is not going to end soon, with the KVO manager not willing to sell anymore.
Meanwhile in Antwerpen: Mayor Bart De Wever tried to got involved with football, and he's paying this cash. He could hold back socialist and muslim protestors, but not Antwerp football protestors. Politicians should know that they should not get involved with football. (But then again BDW doesn't know anything about this world) Unless if they're watching the game, like Elio Di Rupo watching a game of the national team together with Prince Filip, and none of both having any idea what's going on, because that is funny Oh we gotta love this country. One Belgian law: if anything could happen like it were a Monty Python sketch, it will happen.

TheBigJ wrote:Palace's main rivals are Brighton way down south. West Ham's are Millwall.

We also hate Spurs.

Stramala, thoughts on Valentino Angeloni? Supposedly joining Sunderland as 'technical director' whatever that role is meant to be.

We seem to be making some interesting signings - on free transfers - at the moment. None confirmed, but apparently Cabral from Basel, Valentin Roberge from Maritimo and Modibo Diakite from Lazio. A definite change from our previous transfer policy.

Warren Hughes wrote:Stramala, thoughts on Valentino Angeloni? Supposedly joining Sunderland as 'technical director' whatever that role is meant to be.

He didn't really get the chance to do anything at Inter. Marco Branca was above him in the chain of command, which basically meant all of Angeloni's good ideas (assuming he had some, which is likely) went to waste on a total asshat of a transfer policy director. Though he may be the reason we've signed Ruben Botta and Diego Laxalt.

His work at Udinese is the stuff that got him his reputation. Alexis Sanchez, Mauricio Isla, Juan Cuadrado, Cristián Zapata are just some of the guys he brought from obscurity to Serie A. He helped Udinese turn big profits on players to keep them financially stable. I would expect a large influx of South Americans if you are able to pry him away from Inter..

Technical Director would mean he gets a promotion from Head Scout to what Marco Branca's position at Inter is. Dictating the direction of the transfer policy, identifying and acquiring players who fit the needs of the manager, while taking into consideration economic constraints set by the Chairman. Unlike many people think, transfers aren't as simple as the manager telling the chairman "I want that guy" and the Chairman immediately stumping up the cash. Unless of course you are the manager of Real Madrid...

To simplify; you know how Graham Carr has turned Newcastle United into Little France? Valentino Angeloni will turn Sunderland into Américinha do Sul...and they'll be better off for it.

You thought the story was over...but no! TWIST ENDING!
So, I mentioned Marco Branca earlier. Well, he is being removed by Moratti in the coming weeks and replaced. By whom, we're not really sure. But theoretically, Angeloni could be in line for a promotion to Technical Director at Inter. So just because the Echo suggests it's a done deal, or merely a formality, or whatever line they're playing, I wouldn't believe it just yet!

For my Belgian friend,

Club Brugge have signed the very talented GK Matt Ryan from Central Coast. A very promising keeper, won young player of the year and named best GK in the league too. Thats not too bad considering Australia has and still are produced some great GKs in the past. 21 yrs old, capped by Australia, and has played in Asian Champions League so has been involved in some big games. Seen him play many times, very safe pair of hands, also has taken penalties in the past too.

The irony is that Brugge signed him up, paid a transfer fee just days before his contract was to expire! Guess shows how keen they were to get him.

David AGS wrote:For my Belgian friend,

Club Brugge have signed the very talented GK Matt Ryan from Central Coast. A very promising keeper, won young player of the year and named best GK in the league too. Thats not too bad considering Australia has and still are produced some great GKs in the past. 21 yrs old, capped by Australia, and has played in Asian Champions League so has been involved in some big games. Seen him play many times, very safe pair of hands, also has taken penalties in the past too.

The irony is that Brugge signed him up, paid a transfer fee just days before his contract was to expire! Guess shows how keen they were to get him.

Well, Club Brugge didn't exactly have had good goalkeepers over the last few years, so probably getting a good one was probably one of their main priorities. Some say a goalkeeper can't make a team become champion, but Courtois proved otherwise when he still was at Genk. Now despite having a tradition of good goalkeepers in Belgium, somehow Brugge fails to produce good ones. And generally fails to produce any significant talent at all.
Not a lot of meanwhile in Belgium news today: Beerschot is now officially revived by 'buying' first provincial club Wilrijk, but they don't have permission to play in the Olympic stadium, unless they can get 1500 fans. (as it is a initiave by fans, this will probably not be a huge problem, though how long will those fans last if they can't get back fast to at least 2nd division?)
Good news for our Standard-fans here: Duchatelet has promised that if he will not end in the top 3, he will leave at the end of next season. (What will he do next, buy Genk? )

And in the friendly game against the US, Wilmots had finally the guts to put Benteke and Lukaku on the field together, combining this with the excellent assists of De Bruyne, and that means lot of goals (shame i couldn't watch the game). If any team needs lot of goals, buy De Bruyne and Benteke, they are used to play together from when they were at Genk, and can find each other blindly.

This wrote:

David AGS wrote:For my Belgian friend,

Club Brugge have signed the very talented GK Matt Ryan from Central Coast. A very promising keeper, won young player of the year and named best GK in the league too. Thats not too bad considering Australia has and still are produced some great GKs in the past. 21 yrs old, capped by Australia, and has played in Asian Champions League so has been involved in some big games. Seen him play many times, very safe pair of hands, also has taken penalties in the past too.

The irony is that Brugge signed him up, paid a transfer fee just days before his contract was to expire! Guess shows how keen they were to get him.

Well, Club Brugge didn't exactly have had good goalkeepers over the last few years, so probably getting a good one was probably one of their main priorities. Some say a goalkeeper can't make a team become champion, but Courtois proved otherwise when he still was at Genk. Now despite having a tradition of good goalkeepers in Belgium, somehow Brugge fails to produce good ones. And generally fails to produce any significant talent at all.

It's not surprising given since 1996 they've had only about two first choice keepers. There was Dany Verlinden, but he was brought in from Lierse, so not a Club Brugge youth product! As for Stijn Stijnen, what a freaking idiot. Getting his family to hype him up and deride the club on internet fansites is totally deranged. So maybe Beerschot going bankrupt is karma telling them they shouldn't have hired the idiot.

Meanwhile in Appiano Gentile, Massimo Moratti could be on the verge of selling Inter Milan to Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir for €280 million. He would *apparently* plough €100 million into buying players. And the number one target in that case is Fiorentina's Stevan Jovetic.

I would say a sale is unlikely though. Unlike many football clubs where ownership is traded like a commodity, Inter is a bit different. It's kind of considered property of the Moratti family. It's been linked to Saras for such a long time. Angelo Moratti (Massimo's father) was in charge when Inter won everything in sight in the 60s. There's a long history between Inter and Moratti. Despite all the crap that is happening at the moment, it's still hard to believe he'll actually up and sell the entire club.

Australia leads Japan. Overly optimistic commentators (that make our F1 guys look positively unbiased) are basically saying the Socceroos have done an excellent job to win (despite the fact they were shite). What happens next?

Japan equalizes from a penalty right on 90 minutes

the Masked Lapwing wrote:Australia leads Japan. Overly optimistic commentators (that make our F1 guys look positively unbiased) are basically saying the Socceroos have done an excellent job to win (despite the fact they were shite). What happens next?

Japan equalizes from a penalty right on 90 minutes

Oh dear... The Socceroos are making their life difficult, still they depend on themselves. Which is not as difficult as Portugal's, of course, who have to win all matches until the end and still hope to not finish the worst second placed team...

Is it me or is there something dodgy with the way Real Madrid are trying to sign bale?
Remember what happened with modric and ronaldo?