Mediocre, overpaid and spoilt that just about sums up our sportsman of today. While aimed mainly at our footballers this does hold true for cricket and rugby.

While our rugby team seems to be getting its act together after a poor start in the Six Nations and they did mange to reach the rugby world cup final after another poor start. They are still not covering themselves with glory, the standard of rugby they play is poor and they still don’t know to run with ball all they can do is kick and they rely on the kick skills of Johnny Wilkinson to pull them through.

Our cricket team fairs no better, after a whitewash in the ashes tour last year we have had some limited success, however, we have shown our true worth once again, in New Zealand where we have been overcome with ease by a country whose national sport is rugby and cricket falls way back in the pecking order.

What do these sportsmen have in common, their love of money and not the game? They care more about lining their pockets than playing the game and who’s to blame, us the great English public? We are the idiots who go week in and week out to watch this so called entertainment.

But the dilemma of rugby and cricket pail into insignificance when compared to our footballers. We are constantly told that the English Premier League is the best in the world. Why is this we ask, well it’s because we have millions of pounds to spend on bringing the best players in the world here? The reason for this is clear with the exception of a few individuals we do not have the talent in this country. This can clearly be seen in the way our national team performs. Every time we play in the finals of the World Cup or the European Championships the papers, pundits all say this is our time we have a great chance of winning this time, are these people living in cloud cuckoo land, we have no chance of winning anything while we have this type of mental attitude and we pay hundreds of thousands pounds a week to mediocre players. Thankfully we aren’t even in the running this year!

Foreign players make a great success in this country, just look at the top of the Premier League and see how many foreign players are in these teams. While these players do very well over here, English players have had very limited success in Europe, because we are just not good enough. If we look at the top scorers today in the Premier League there is not English player in the top 10. Gerrard and Rooney are in equal 12 positions with 8. What more proof do we need?

I have seen two year olds have temper tantrums, but this is nothing when compared with our professional footballers who question every decision surrounding the referee trying to change his mind with intimidation. At least in rugby they just accept the decision and get on with the game.

The Premier League want to take our game abroad, this is only to raise more money, the larger clubs get richer while the smaller clubs suffer, it has ruined our game. I used to go and watch football every week, but the game has been ruined by too much commercialisation and I for one no longer support it. We need to return to grass routes cap the wages of players and let’s play for the love of the game and not money.

It takes a nurse 4 years to earn the same as a professional player such as John Terry does in a week, but would you put your life in the hands of a footballer!

Just read this rather bizarre article on the BBC website.

Of course, it's never going to happen, but it would be really nice to see them there. I suppose it's a combination of my Irishness and love for the underdog, but I think they could spring a few surprises, especially in a group with Sweden, Russia and Greece.

Since Spain never, ever do the business despite insane amounts of talent, I hereby call for their removal and replacement by N.I. Anyone want to support my campaign?

"Sadly for us it could have been worse. 5-1 is a bit harsh but it's a reality check if we needed one which I don't think we did."

i don't know what to make of the latest outburst from old redface, sir alex.

chelsea, liverpool, man united to go through to the quarter finals of the champions league.
arsenal to go out.

any takers?

Police have confirmed reports that Avram Grant ( the Chelsea boss) was sent a death threat in the post. The package contained a powder, which the sender claimed was lethal, it also contained a message "You are a back-stabbing Jewish Bastard, when you open this letter, you will die a very slow painful death"
It was also confirmed that his wife ( a tv personality ) was also sent a sexual death threat.
Why? I'm sorry, I don't understand this. I love football, but this is madness, and I hope they catch the culprit, and lock him up in a secure unit, to protect the public. I just can't get my head around this, crazy people inhabit this planet that we call home.
Enough said...

i've read that kevin keegan is planning a big shock result when newcastle play man united at the weekend.

no comment.

Tonight ( tuesday the 19th Feb 2008) sees the start of the Champions League last 16, knockout stage. There are 4 matches tonight, and another 4 tomorrow. Tonights fixtures are:-  Olympiacos versus Chelsea. Liverpool versus Internazionale ( that's Inter Milan, in old money) Schalke versus Porto, and lastly, Roma versus Real Madrid.
After my none too brilliant result forecasting, in the FA Cup, at the weekend, I thought that I'd not bother today, but then I thought, go for it man, then I thought no, I don't wanna be a laughing stock ( whatever that means?) but, hey why change the habits of a lifetime? So here goes.
Olympiacos v. Chelsea, I think could be a draw, although I think Chelsea will go through over the two legs.
Liverpool v. Inter. It depends on what Liverpool team turns up? I think Liverpool will win a close fought contest. I don't think there will be many goals in this match ( a 4-4 draw then eh?) but Liverpool should just edge it.
Schalke v. Porto. Schalke were beaten 2-1 by Wolfsburg at the weekend, and Porto have won their last two games, without conceding a goal. I predict that Schalke will win, roared on by the home supporters.
The final match is Roma v. Real Madrid. Both these clubs have slipped up a bit in recent weeks, in domestic football, and over the 2 legs I expect Real Madrid to advance to the next round. For tonight I'll sit on the fence, and plump for a draw.
So that's my predictions, for what they're worth, as none of my teams are in the Champions League, I just hope for entertaining matches. Cheers..

can't help but agree with sam allardyce's recent remark that football chairmen may have millions from running businesses, but
they can't take the pressure from irate fans.

bryan robson has been kicked out at sheffield united already.
big sam himself only lasted eight months, i think.

sam says club chairmen's knees buckle the minute they get any abuse from fans - they're not used to it and they can't handle it.

this picks up the point made earlier on this blog by aj.

Liverpool are out of the FA Cup, beaten 2-1 at home by Barnsley.
Barnsley are joined in the next round by, Bristol Rovers, West Brom. who beat Coventry 5-0, Cardiff, who beat Wolves 2-0, Chelsea, who scraped through 3-1 against Huddersfield Town. So only one Premiership team through so far, although Man. Utd. play Arsenal shortly, and one of them has to go through, don't they? Or will the magic of the cup mean that they both get knocked out? The game is on BBC1 at 5.15pm, so cheers.... Come on the Arsenal ( sorry Kev)

Bristol Rovers are the first side through to the next round of the FA Cup, after beating Southampton 1-0, with a deflected free-kick in the 84th minute. The first shock of the weekend, will there be more I wonder? Could Huddersfield Town join them? Will Liverpool fall at home to Barnsley? The magic of the cup eh???

Last Wednesday, Il Fenomeno was carried off after falling awkwardly three minutes after coming off the bench for Milan in a Serie A clash with Livorno.

Milan later confirmed that he conpletely severed a tendon in his left knee. At 31, for a player who sufferes famously with fitness and weight issues, surely this must be the end?

He has already ruptured that tendon in his right knee on two seperate occasions, and came back stronger than ever.

Even though I have a rather strong and illogical dislike for the fecker, he was (is) incredible. Remember how he pulled United to shreds at Old Trafford for Real Madrid in the 2003 CL quarter-final? Or his utter domination in the 2002 World Cup? Amazing.

So he deserves a little tribute.

This weekend the football in England is dominated by the Fa Cup 5th round. the fixtures are as follows:-

Bristol Rovers v Southampton. My prediction for this is a draw.
Cardiff v Wolves  My prediction for this game is a home win, but it could go either way.
Chelsea v Huddersfield. My prediction for this is, that if there is a shock in the cup, this could be the tie to produce it, but I doubt it, and I think that Chelsea will win.
Coventry v West Brom. Ooh this is another difficult one, but I think that West Brom should scrape through, or maybe a draw, no Coventry will put their league form behind them and win, oh I dunno?
Liverpool v Barnsley I should think that Liverpool will win, but what Liverpool will we see?
Man. Utd. v Arsenal Oh this is THE tie of the round ( it's live on BBC 5.15 KO) and maybe home advantage will just edge it for United, but it didn't last week when they were humiliated by City ( sorry about that, but it doesn't happen often) and will Arsenal be up for it? I think a draw could be on the cards here, maybe even a 0-0 draw.
There are two matches on Sunday.
Preston v Portsmouth Which could be a tricky one for the Pompey, but I'm pretty sure they'll win.
Sheffield Utd. v Middlesborough This match sees Brian Robson, the Sheffield Manager, take on one of his former clubs. This tie could produce the shock of the round, as The Blades produced the shock of the last round ( well it shocked me anyway) so I'm going for a home win.
So that's my predictions for the weekends FA Cup football, What's yours? Do you agree? Disagree? Is your team not in it, so you don't really care?  Have I got it ALL wrong? (Yet again)
Let's hope that the 4 televised matches produce goals, excitement, and what we football fans like most of all CONTROVERSY!!! Have a good one.

Hi there it's me again. I've had a quick look at some of the other group blogs, and well I don't know how to put this, but they all seem better than ours. Not in content, but in presentation. Now I'm just trying to add a bit of colour to this blog, but there's only so much I can do, and really, I think we need to, emm, spruce it up a bit, tidy the place, if you're finnished with your commenting, or posting, don't just go, flick a duster about the place at least, and don't leave empty beer cans strewn all over the place it's not the sort of image we want to project, is it?
I know who is mostly to blame, but I won't be naming names, ( it's the eagle-eyed red under the bed, King Kevin) So let's clean up our act, and try to attract some more footie fans to this group.
Right I'll start a topic, with a question. Should new technology be used in football more? Also what new technology would you like to see? Wait there's more. Would it spoil the after-match pint(s) if new technology was brought in?

i tend to agree with nigel reo-coker when he says the physical contact element of football is being stripped out of the game.
it's getting to the stage where players just have to fall over to get a free kick (huge exaggeration i know, but bear with me!).

i just wondered what others thought about that.
is it a better game for being less physical because it allows football skill to shine through?
or do referees overdo the use of the whistle?

Very badly kept secret, but looks like Giovanni Trapattoni will be the new Irish manager. I'm just glad they managed to find someone willing to do the job, and such a proven winner can only be a good thing. Would have been awful if he turned it down, as Terry Venables would have been a fool to accept being such a clear second choice.

Not sure I like the idea of a former Milan, Juve and Bayern boss in charge, but I'll get over it.

And anyway, non-English-speaking Italian managers are all the rage now.

Hi there, my name is Gordon, I live in the Outer Hebrides off the North West coast of Scotland. I am a Manchester City, and Glasgow Rangers fan, I also like Barcelona, and have a soft spot for Brighton ( no not there) I don't get to many games these days, but subscribe to Sky and Sun tanner, no that's not right, Set Anter, no Setanta, that's it, and watch lots of footie on the goggle box. I saw a great game yesterday ( Sunday 10th of Feb) where City thrashed United 2-1. I was delighted, in fact I was over the moon ( a Blue Moon, of course) Right my dinner is ready so that's it from me. Tonight Arsenal play Blackburn, and I think that Arsenal will win 2-0, Arsenal are, in my humble opinion, the best team to watch at the moment, and should win the league ( City have got too much catching up to do) . They are very entertaining, and a thrill to watch. Right dinner's getting cold, so Cheers folks..

So, news on the wires this morning...

Coventry City are looking for their 8th permanent manager in 7 years after sacking Ian Dowie. The club lie just 4 points above the relegation zone in The Championship after a run of 5 defeats in 6 but they're still in the FA Cup and Dowie's sacking comes just 5 months after he led them to victory over Manchester United in the League Cup at Old Trafford.

Are we really losing patience with managers? Not just that but are we putting undue expectations on their heads?

Look at the cautionary tale of Sam Allardyce, laregly sacked for not playing the type of football Newcastle fans think they deserve, look at Billy Davies, sacked because Derby couldn't keep up with the Premiership giants... even though we all knew that from the very start...

Compare that with (and how I hate to say this) Alex Ferguson, remember he was one game away from the sack if we belive rumours from his early time at Man Utd. He was given time and now look what he turned the Red Bastards Devils now.

So, what's your thoughts? Are people these days too quick to fire?

well the one minute silence almost passed peacefully - apart from the sound of gunfire or fireworks going off, somewhere outside the ground.
i'll be interested to know what that was about.

manchester city were the winners in every way today.
they caught united on an off day and made them look second rate and devoid of ideas.
but that's what you get when so much of your game is about attack - it relies on inspiration and it's not something that's always there.
whereas working to a defensive system is.

just have to hope ex-united hero mark hughes can do us a favour at the gunners tomorrow night.

strange how today's result didn't affect me so badly.
maybe there lies a clue to our performance.
it was as much about the occasion as anything else.

my fiercest hope was that giggs or scholes - good solid local lads - would play a blinder and score the winner.

anyway, well done city, and thanks for suspending hostilities even for one minute.

PSMS medan versus sriwijaya FC

this week has been quite an emotional one for me - remembering the munich air disaster on february 6, 1958.

i wasn't around at the time, but my dad talked about it a lot and passed on to me the programme he had saved from
the first game united played after the crash - a home cup tie against sheffield wednesday, the one with the blank team sheet.

it's strange how strong the feeling is, even now.
the disaster remains a big part of the history of the club, and something i've lived with from an early age.
all the emotion just poured out of us when dad took me as a nipper to watch the european cup final at wembley - ten years later.
i was just blown away by it.

my only hope now is that the game against manchester city on saturday is played in the same honest, adventurous spirit, and with dignity from both sets of fans.

these days, there is so much hatred between clubs i find it quite difficult to deal with.
all i know is that i like to watch, and play, attractive and intelligent football - the busby babes did that, and i'm proud that man united still hold to that principle.

(sorry - this is a bit heavy, isn't it?!)

thanks for listening and i look forward to joining in with group discussions.
cheers
kevin

Amazing news from the Premiership here... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7232390.stm

If it was April the 1st I'd never believe it...

I honestly can't believe they'd be thinking of adding a game for every team and making it count towards the league total.

I reckon this is purely about money, we've already seen some team's desperate attempt to break into the Asian market, Man Utd and Liverpool have both participated in games in the Far East to boost cash from all the potential "fans" that are out there.

I wonder how this is going to be performed logistically, the clubs already complain about too many games, will we now have to squeeze in a game in America or Africa into the mix? Will that mean a smaller team like Reading playing a game in London on the Saturday, flying to China for a midweek game, then having to return for another away game in Newcastle?

It also seems highly improbable that the league would potentially allow relegation and/or the championship to be decided by the luck of the draw?

It appears the top 5 teams will be unable to play against each other but what if it was Arsenal and Liverpool for the championship (A boy can dream...) and Arsenal's game was against Derby, Liverpool played Aston Villa?

It works the same at the bottom, it creates a factor of luck, a factor of, many including me would say, unfairness?

The delight of a league is positions can't be faked, everyone plays everyone twice, once home, once away, it can't get any fairer than that.

But then how about the Russian roulette of a draw against any team at random? It could potentially turn the championship or the multi-million pound loss of relegation into something akin to the toss of a coin.

In my mind this won't work and it goes to show the League are happy to turn itself into a travelling circus if it means even more money for an already over-bloated organisation that's happy to sit back and see smaller clubs vanish in it's all-encompassing "greatness".

So... everyone's thoughts, pro or con?

I only managed to see brief highlights of most games, but England seemed impressively dominant against the Swiss, and rather more attack-minded than most people would have expected (that is, if you listen to the British media ).

Germany's 3-0 victory over Austria was deeply flattering to the visitors, who looked listless and uninventive for most of the game. Michael Ballack made his comeback in a Germany shirt after a ten-month absence and laid on a goal for Klose. Jens Lehmann looked like his usual flapping, untrustworthy, blame-everyone-else self. Germans really do believe that they have, and have always had, the world's best keepers, however trainer Jogi Löw probably wouldn't subscribe to that at the moment - two ageing, opinionated twats and a load of promising but untried youngsters. Still, at least he has more to fall back on than David James...

Ireland hosted Brazil in front of a huge crowd at Croke Park. To me, something seemed ... wrong about that. Ireland? On the same pitch as Brazil? How did this happen? And, more amazingly, how did Ireland only lose 1-0?

What else? England's conquerors Croatia were mugged 0-3 at home by an impressive Holland side, Italy looked strong sweeping Portugal aside 3-1, and France, looking rather Spanish in red shirts and blue shorts, were beaten 1-0 by Spain thanks to a late Capedevilla goal.

Still, they're only friendlies, shouldn't read into them too much...

Welcome to the BCUK Football Group! This blog is dedicated to football discussion from all over the world - no news item is too trivial to be discussed.

San Marino's new coach? Steven Gerrard in shock move to Everton? Dog on pitch at Accrington Stanley? All have equal importance here.

Just remember - tensions run high on the pitch and the terraces, but here we are nice to everyone.

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