I got Morocco in the work sweepstakes. One pound down the bog.
I got Morocco in the work sweepstakes. One pound down the bog.
Sweepstakes are such bollocks. Imagine if Morocco actually did win the World Cup, and all you got was 32 quid.
On the other hand, you might get the mighty Three Lions at 32/1
Indeed. I got Greece in 2004 and got £10 for my troubles. An actual quid on them would have returned somewhere between one and two hundred pounds.Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
I always do a matching bet just in case, so far I've just thrown money away at double the speed but you never know
Last World Cup I had Germany, everyone went 'Oh, you've got Germany have you?' rolling their eyes, as most sweepstake participants were in the warehouse and for an office man to draw the mighty reigning champions was a grave disappointment to them. A few days later, as the third South Korean goal crashed into the back of the net to death-cries of 'Scheisse!' (I can't actually remember how the game went, this is poetic licence), I felt like Mr Bumble being overthrown by the orphans as they filed in to dance upon my sausage-laden grave.
Just seen Japan have announced their squad. Was it a 26 man group last time as well?
Surprised to see Maeda the only one of the Celtic trio to make it. Mitoma is in though.
Japan and South Korea have a propensity for basic defensive frailties but their tempo and class ensure entertainment at every turn. Both could go deep.
It was 23 last time.Just seen Japan have announced their squad. Was it a 26 man group last time as well?
Surprised to see Maeda the only one of the Celtic trio to make it. Mitoma is in though.
Also, you need to be having most goals conceded or some shit in a sweepstake to keep the Morocco wankers interested.
I've watched quite a lot of Japan games over the years, mostly qualifiers against the likes of Oman/Vietnam, and their problem is nearly always that they have nobody that can score goals. They are basically Brighton. If it's Takuma Asano leading the line then that's basically ritual suicide.
Similarly, all of the good teams went to women who don't have a club. 'Are Brazil good?' 'What are France like?'
https://www.theguardian.com/football...ting-world-cup
A rare clanger dropped by Sir Waistcoat.
Cancel him.
He's such a disingenuous individual.
The Qatari Supreme Committee, which is responsible for organising the tournament
It's pretty clear (especially from the attitude of my old mate Red Nev) that even the more progressive elements within the professional football community just don't want to talk about the various issues surrounding this tournament, because they find doing so to present far too much of a challenge to the gravy train. Disingenuous doesn't begin to cover it.
I think the problem is that the people in a position to say anything worthwhile are trivial people, so they think that the problem with Saudi Arabia is that they killed a journalist, and that the problem with Qatar is their employment laws. They either wouldn't comprehend that they are thirteenth century holes with air conditioning, or wouldn't dare question why, which is why Gary Neville freely admits to being thick and/or naive enough to think that access to elite sport would help reform the Middle East, because, in his mind, a World Cup is worth reforming your employment laws and therefore your entire society.
It's horrific, isn't it. If you don't care then fine, to a degree, but to have spent so much time claiming you do and accusing others of being scum for not towing your line while you were doing so, only to then do all this. There probably aren't words that do it justice.
I think the problem is they don't want to rile Qatari authorities because they'd very much like to not end in prison.
Apparently Dunk and Welbeck have been included on the pointless 55 man longlist for the England squad - which also reminded me of this line up from November 2018, when they somehow managed to beat USA 3-0.
Has there been a worst XI? I seem to remember Peter Taylor picking a completely random XI including Seth Johnson once.
The team that England put out to Australia years ago. Edit: actually wasn't that bad
England: James; Neville, Ferdinand, Campbell, Cole; Beckham, Lampard, Scholes, Dyer; Owen, Beattie.
Didn't Rooney make his debut in that game or something? A dark day on Green Street, if it's the game I'm thinking of.
People only think that team was bad because Francis 'Franny 'Fox in the Box'' Jeffers got a few minutes.
The real dreadful XIs were Hodgson-era.
EDIT: just looked up Francis Jeffers. 52 career goals. Is that the lowest ever for someone selected by England as a striker?
Last edited by Jimmy Floyd; 02-11-2022 at 09:25 AM.
http://www.englandfootballonline.com...PlyrsApps.html
We never got to see Kane and Austin up front.
How did Tom Heaton get 3 minutes? Was it his birthday?
What was Michael Ricketts premier League tally?
I had a think about this, and came up with a few names and checked their career goals.
Frazier Campbell - Somehow 104
Gabby Agbonlahor - 87
Michael Ricketts - 96
To be fair to poor Franny, it looks like these 3 did play a lot more games than him, and at lower leagues as well.
Yeah, Francis was never really a regular outside of Everton and Sheffield Wednesday. I thought he retired early but it looks like he carried on just as a squad fodder. Actually, he packed in at 32 so maybe a bit of both?
Even Dean Ashton, who basically lost a foot at age 25, outscores him by more than double with 111.
Shout out to Dave Nugent having 9 top flight goals to go with his goal a game England record.
6 Premier League goals.
He was still somehow banging the goals in over in Japan last I saw as well. I remember when he left us for Perugia, they also signed a woman and Colonel Gaddafi's son to their squad at the same time.
Dean Ashton was a lovely player. Shame he broke.
This is a good thinker!
In terms of people who have finished their career Alan Smith came to mind. He apparently racked up a career total of 47 and I believe played up front for England.
I'm talking about the Leeds United variant Alan Smith here. The other, older one was obviously a lot more prolific. And I suppose to be fair to him too, in terms of his low career tally, I think Ferguson largely converted him to a midfielder when he joined Man United and I'm not sure to what extent he ever went back to playing up top. He actually managed 19 England caps when I've looked it up, which surprises me.
72 in all competitions, so he beats Franny.
I'm pretty sure he spent most of his post-United time as a midfielder as well, certainly at Newcastle.
Poor fact checking on my part. I apologise, Alan. I'm obviously still sore from the (completely unavailable) cross-Pennine betrayal.
I'd like to nominate former Liverpool forward Steven Caulker for consideration
Danny Cadamarteri managed fewer career goals than Jeffers I think, which is some going off 350 appearances mostly in the lower leagues [even more so when you think he scored a third of his career goals for Everton], but his shiny new thing shtick never got him that full England cap sadly.
What's the forum plan for the World Cup? One thread per group, and a separate thread for each round thereafter?
One thread per group doesn't make much sense. One thread for each round imo.
I’d just go one thread for the whole group stage. Idiots like me don’t have a clue who is in which group and there’s no way I’m scouting out that information prior to passing judgement on some Costa Rican fella.
Monthly football thread.
I think a thread for group stages, another for knockouts, then one for the final.
No threads, as an act of defiance against the Supreme Council.
A thread per match.
Some email Ital and get him to set up a separate forum.
England v Iran will need it's own thread.
We're closing the gaff up after that.
And only invite people that aren't going to be mean about England.
We ended up with a thread per round last time despite some weirdos thinking we all have so much to say we couldn't possibly survive on as few threads as that.
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