Haven't heard about that before and I'm not aware of any alliances between West Ham and a Dutch team. But I would imagine it to be a working man's club with a fanatical fanbase, like Den Haag, Utrecht, Feyenoord, Twente or even Groningen.


BTW, I should've mentioned yesterday that Dutch media reported about HSV being interested in Martin Jol as well. But I really can't imagine him going back there as he just left that club to join Ajax last year. To be honest I don't even see him leave Ajax at all... unless it's a really big club or something.

Harry Redknapp has been named Premier League manager of the season. Hope the Spurs fans here are enjoying their honeymoon period with Redknapp before he financially destroys their team. Last three clubs he managed: West Ham (escaped administration by a whisper and still completely broke); Portsmouth (say no more), Southampton (into administration three years after he left). The main should be in jail, not Europe.

leeds leeds leeds leeds leeds leeds leeds leeds!!!

Yeah, that was great. While I'm hardly a Leeds fan it somehow feels wrong seeing them in the lower divisions. I do genuinely hope they get back in the Prem after next season. They're much more a 'premiership team' than flippin' Wigan!

what do you think of the england squad?
Looks fairly strong, there's not many in there i wouldn't take except maybe Jamie Carragher who's had a bad season.
Good to see Huddlestone, Parker, Warnock and Joe Hart in there purely on form

I agree about Carragher, but he's only really in there by default. Of the others, like you, I can't really disagree with any of Capello's choices. It's going to be more interesting when he has to trim it down to 23. The defence does look a bit weak though (as Upson's inclusion demonstrates), not that I can think of anyone else I'd stick in as a replacement. Parker was a good call, although I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't make the final 23.

More importantly, I'm having mixed feelings about Zola getting sacked. Seemed like a real gentleman and had a good attitude to how the game should be played but seemed a bit out of his depth as a prem manager.

Wish him well in the future while West Ham struggle to find a decent replacement willing to work under our rent-a-gob owner David Sullivan.

I think that's only true because they're always in the same division, and even given that i'd say matches in the Championship between Cardiff and Swansea are more intense. West Ham and Millwall are mental rivals but avoid each other by being in different divisions. If they ever end up in the same league though, that really could be armageddon. The Leeds/Man U rivalry used to be intense, until Man U's success started diluting their hardcore support to accomodate more casual fans. A division that involved regular matches between Cardiff and Swansea, West Ham and Millwall, Newcastle and Sunderland and Portsmouth and Southampton would have the FA absolutely shitting itself. And while it may not be politically correct to say so, deep down I'd love to see it happen.

had west ham gone down and if millwall go up through the playoffs, cardif stay down that would have been a tastey few fixtures indeed!

i think cardiff has rivalries with 90% of teams in every league, to be honest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGZKo...layer_embedded

here's one worth watching

i'd love Motty to go off on a Goooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllll like that one day

haha. fucking hell!

The greatest goal that never was

i thought that was going to be Freddie Sears!

Freddie's gonna be fine, once he reaches 4 foot.

I respectfully disagree.

Current Ladbrokes/Betfair World Cup Odds:

http://www.worldcup2010.pn/ladbrokes...p-betting.html

Spain 4/1
Brazil 5/1
England 6/1
Argentina 8/1
Holland 12/1
Germany 14/1
Italy 14/1
France 20/1
Portugal 28/1
Ivory Coast 33/1
Chile 66/1
Serbia 66/1
Ghana 80/1
Paraguay 80/1
USA 80/1
Cameroon 100/1

Anyone fancy a crafty punt on Cameroon?

Germany might be worth a tenner
even without Ballack they're still a good fucking team!

i cannot wait for this world cup

Yeah, I'm thinking of doing the same with Holland. If ever a team are due a World Cup win (besides England and Spain) it's surely them.

You're right about Germany though. Even when they're crap they seem to pull it together.

Teams I don't want to do well: Brazil; Italy; Portugal

Netherlands Netherlands Netherlands...

I'd be happy with a Spanish win; well, not if they face the oranges.

Germany's better off without Ballack. His future is in a wrestling association (where he could face Van Bommel).

I don't see Portugal go really far (the team seems lightweight, too reliant on Ronaldo, even neglecting Simao). And Brasil in the group might fall too. They have a tough group, and these groups never seem to do their winners any good.

I'm already making plans for a fantasy team.

Brazil, or an african team.
Team are much more successful when they play at home, or close (even if they suck otherwise) : England in 66, France in 98, Korea and Japan in 02 etc.
Btw, no european team ever won the WC when it took place outside of Europe.

Anyone watch last night's Champion's League final?

Have to take my hat off to 'the special one' after that. Inter seemed to completely stop Bayern from playing. Not pretty but effective as fuck.

It seemed pretty rubbish, and im much more impressed with Blackpool, I was chatting to one of their fans in town today. Much rather see them up there than Cardiff

Im not sure ive been on here since Spurs came 4th... Time to gloat



I just want to give Michael Dawson a big, hearty manly, kiss. Just look at his face. If loveability were enough to get you an England cap he would have surpassed Bobby Charlton years ago

Yeah, it wasn't that exciting a game.

Absolutely agree about Blackpool. And not wanting this to be taken the wrong way, but I've never liked the fact that Cardiff are a Welsh club playing in the EPL.

Capello's England Squad finally named

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart, David James, Robert Green.

Defenders: Jamie Carragher, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Johnson, Ledley King, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.


Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Aaron Lennon, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips.


Forwards: Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney.

where's Walcott? And Bent? And what the hell's Heskey doing there?

My man Brian Ching from the Houston Dynamo did not make the USA team cut. just before the world cup is a hell of a time to get injured.

And where's that guy whose name is something like Own Goal?
I hadn't heard of him before, but noticed he netted two against Japan...surely he's got to be better than Heskey!

And why only 4 forwards? Is your manager Italian or something!?

Rooney will be VERY lonely in the English attack, I guess.

Bent's the biggest surprise for me. Walcott has been injured for much of the season and I'm still not that convinced by him, even when he's fit. Heskey's had an indifferent season but he always does well for England, although more as a support for the striker than an all-out goal scorer in his own right.

I really hope Capello treats Joe Cole as more than just a super-sub.

Yeah, I read something about Rooney's goal rate being good with and poor without Heskey around. We'll see.


Anyway, in more important news, Drogba broke his elbow and seems sure to miss the world cup. What a bummer. :(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FFfsad7hm8


edit: So Ferdinand looks like he's out too.... big blow for England. But Drogba's absence is a big blow for all of Africa.

To be honest, I don't care who's injured in the lead up to the World Cup, so long as they're not English. I'd happily arrange a pre-tournament skiing holiday for Messi, Torres, Ronaldo, Kaka, etc if it guaranteed they all broke their legs.

Ferdinand has been a bit off the mark all season and has been a worry from the get-go. Terry's been up and down all season too, while Glen Johnson is a better winger than a defender (IMO). Besides Ashley Cole our back four is pretty shit, even with a fit Ferdinand.

Cole aside, what I wouldn't give right now to see the heroic return of Tony Adams, Viv Anderson and Bobby Moore. With Banks in goal!:cool:

^^In that case I'm sure you must be happy with the absence of Obi Mikel and now a new injury for Arjen Robben too (scored twice and then limped off the pitch... not looking good at all).


Personally I just like to see the world's best players available for each and every team. It's the fucking World Cup after all, not some silly B-grade tournament.

Of course, I was only joking. I'd rather England were beaten by a team of great players than win against a load of stand-ins.

Ah, I guess my irony-detector needs some adjustment, sorry. It's a bit disappointing to see this many key players injured just before the tournament. Pretty much every African star other than Eto'o will be missing (Essien, Drogba, Mikel and also Adebayor as Togo isn't there).

But of course I'm looking through an orange haze, so especially Robben's absence would be a bummer for me.


How do you rate England's chances? Looking at the schedule (and if my useless predictions are right) then they appear to be able to avoid all of the big guns until the semis...
For Holland I see a quarter-final exit against Brazil, provided both Holland and Brazil finish top in their groups.

Spain's 2nd round game should be a cracker, no matter whether it's Portugal or Brazil they'll meet (I'm not sure of Ivory Coast's chances without Drogba).

Yeah, the African nations are going to struggle big time. Even at full strength, I still don't think they're quite ready to lift the trophy but in a couple of tournaments time (and if they can attract a good coach - which is a big if) they really could become a major force.

Further Injuries aside, I think England are good enough to make the semis but I really do worry about our defence and the possibility that Rooney gets isolated. We really aren't that good against 'top' teams and are capable of going to sleep against lower ranked ones. So yeah, semis at best for me.

I always think Holland can be as good as any team on the planet and your form during qualifying was amazing, but there's always that sense that they'll slip up again. It's become a cliche in the UK to think of Holland as the best team on earth, but also the most fragile.

Regarding Holland against Brazil, I just looked at the depth of their squad and even without Ronaldinho or any other outright star up front, it's pretty terrifying:

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur), Victor (Gremio)
Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Alex (Chelsea), Juan (AS Roma), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica), Kleber (Internacional), Andre Santos (Corinthians).
Midfielders: Anderson (Manchester United), Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Ramires (Cruzeiro), Elano (Manchester City), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Kaka (AC Milan)
Forwards: Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Internacional), Robinho (Manchester City).:eek:
.

It's a point i've already made but I do almost cry with envy that Brazil once had a player called Socrates who looked like this ...






While England had one called Nobby Stiles who looked like this.





Nobby Stiles, ffs! That had to have been a rubbish name, even then.

it seems a lot of big names are not gonna be there which could make it more interesting i think because the less heard of will be trying harder to prove themselves. should make for an interesting time. is it me or does nobby styles have a slight look of jonny rotten in that pic?

i think that tends to happen anyway, with new talent coming to the fore. You want to see them challenged at the highest level though, otherwise it sort of undermines their achievements.

Haha @ Johnny Rotten. Totally! Similar dental issues too:

nobby rotten.