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Has the original poster got any idea how much the Liebherr’ family are worth in comparison to Dave Whelan & thus how much they can put into Southampton or how much they can put up as security so banks will allow overdrafts/loans etc??
Their wealth makes Dave Whelan look like he’s on the dole.I’m not sure I know who he is as I tend to know people at Latics by nicknames but Latics facebook page has just posted that their thoughts are with Colin & his family & friends as he is currently in an induced coma at a Birmingham Hospital
If Whelan is banned from all football related activities for 6 weeks, which lasts the duration of the transfer window, who will make the decisions on whether the manager gets potted, which players we sign, how much is available for transfers etc etc.
I know everyone will say, Dave Whelan, and that will probably be right, but do we have a Deputy Chairman? Someone’s signature will have to be on Malkay’s Dear John letter if he goes or at the bottom of a players contact.
I presume it would be Johnathon Jackson, but would the club not need to clarify this? just wondering like….
According to an article I read on the day the ban was announced, the club decided not to appeal because essentially it makes no difference to the day to day running of the club.
It went on to say Whelan is not involved in the day to day running of the club and is not a signatory on any incoming or outgoing deals.
I’ve no doubt that it is Whelan who ultimately sanctions anything & if the decision is made to get rid of MacKay I am sure that ultimately it would be Whelan who would make that decision but as far as any official paperwork goes, it doesn’t have Whelan’s name on it.
The FA are completely powerless to stop Whelan making a phone call to Jonathan Jackson to sack MacKay, appoint a new manager, sign a new player, authorise a sale, or for that matter even prove any of the these.Ultimately, save for Whelan not being allowed to attend matches during the ban, the ban itself is pretty much worthless
He was convinced of the wisdom of staying in Liverpol by a local gangster called Pancake, wasn’t he?Anyway, I see this loyal club man has put the knife in to Rodgers today by suggesting he would have signed a new contract if it had been offered in the close season.
Don’t managers have the right to look over a player for a few games before deciding whether to re-sign them? And isn’t it up to them how many games they think a player over 30 can manage in a season?
Gerrard obviously feels he’s bigger than the club and has had his ego dented by Rodgers exercising this right to manage as he sees fit. And he’s shown how much he loves Liverpool by destabilising their manager rather than going quietly. What a strap-on.
To be fair, in the interview I read he also heaped praise on Rodgers by saying that he wish he’d got the chance to work with him at Liverpool when he was 24 & not 34 as he’d be sitting there talking about all the titles they’d won together.
There is also an article (admittedly in the mail) which states that “There has been plenty of conjecture about why Gerrard, … would leave and whether Liverpool could have done more to keep him. But Gerrard has put the record straight by insisting he was offered the chance to stay, but that he was going to be rested from time to time due to age.The former England international admits it was the ‘key’ conversation, and a painful one at that.
‘I had an idea the conversation was going to come at some time,’ he added.
‘But it was a painful conversation to have and that was the key moment – along with other things over the last six to 12 months, but that was the conversation. That was the key one.'”
None of that sounds like he’s sticking the knife in to me
Basically it seems he wanted a new contract, it wasn’t offered in the summer & when they’ve talked about it this season he’s been told he can have one but that he would be involved less on the playing side. he doesn’t want that & so is taking one last big pay day in America & who can blame him.
Most Liverpool fans I know accept that his career is on the downward & they’d rather remember him as he was rather than someone who stayed on too long & wound up becoming more & more of a liabilityI shook hands with Jonathan Jackson in Maribor too :silly: And Neill Rimmer’s and some other bloke they walked into the bar I was in with too
And Joey Johnson is the nephew of one of the staff I manage at work too
Now they are proper examples of having friends in high places!!
…watched him playing for Walsall tonight against Preston, might be worth a look at.
Scored 12 goals in 15 starts this season and 2 in 4 for the welsh U19 team, he is only 22 years old, therefore plenty time to nurture him into the team.I saw this lad play for Aberystwyth Town as a 16 year old. Did very well at that level in a short space of time, displaced a much more experienced forward, had league scouts watching him very quickly & he moved on to Shrewsbury in the summer of 2009.
Have kept an eye out for his name ever since but despite some early promise (including bagging a brace on his debut) he never really kicked on at Shrewsbury for whatever reason in the 5 years he was there.Noticed his name appearing again this season at Walsall & he’s certainly banging a few in this season. Probably worth keeping an eye out for but I’d be wary of making a move for him based on the last 4 months when the previous 5 years of his career had been a bit disappointing
Another example of saying how much he loved the club then fekked off a few weeks later. :ohmy:I think it was at the Christmas light switch on in the town centre, when he gave this heart warming speech about not wanting to leave the club and he wouldn’t be leaving in the transfer window, even with all the interest from other clubs. A couple of weeks later wooooosh! off to villa he went.
His form at Wigan had led him to regaining his England place back and he threw it all away by joining Villa and not getting enough game time.
My recollection of Heskey leaving was that he never asked to leave during that transfer window, nor was he actively pushing for a move in it & had every intention of seeing out his contract.
However he had also stated that he wouldn’t be staying beyond the end of that contract.Steve Bruce was asked by the media whether this meant that the club would be selling Heskey in January & he said no and that he’d be mad to sell him when the club was looking at getting a European spot. The next day, Whelan went public and said that the club’s aim was avoiding relegation and now that had been virtually achieved it was time to build for next season which would mean that if an offer was received for a player in January who would leave for nothing in June then that offer would be accepted if it met Latics valuation so that the money could be put into the transfer/wages kitty for January & the summer. The same also applied to any Latics player if an offer was received which met the club’s valuation if they were mid-contract
You could argue that by stating that he wouldn’t be signing a new contract that he forced the club’s hand somewhat but he didn’t push to leave in the January and would have been happy to stay until the summer had the club not accepted any bids for him during that window
I didn’t go on Saturday but I’ve no issue at all with how he conducted himself & played whilst at Latics and wouldn’t have booed him had I been there. His behaviour during that transfer window was head & shoulders above that of Lee McCulloch the year before who I’ve no doubt would be afforded a hero’s welcome if he ever returned to Wigan with an opposing team
Fair point TL i suppose i am looking at it with rose tinted specs and maybe you were unlucky to drop on a few bullies.
A memory came back to me of the late 70s/ early 80’s – a home game against either Bradford City or Port Vale at home and a group of us being attacked by a pack close to Springfield rd.
I was only 13 or so at the time but we must have been chiding this adult mob so they must have thought stuff it lets go straight into them to teach them a lesson.We where only a pack of kids but a few slaps were dished out despite the gap in ages.
The point i am making is that if you were an inncocent supporter you could more often than not avoid trouble if you kept your head down unless you dropped on some bullying scum like you obviously did.
The fact that this Mercantile credit festival passed over without any bother during a very dark period for British football highlights this fact perfectly.
I can also remember a PNE game at springfield park (mid 90s) when due to our low gates at the time a good few PNE speccies sneaked into our areas and again no bother other than some trouble at the railway station between the like minded.To be fair, it’s also the same now. I’ve been to hundreds upon hundreds of games down the years & the percentage that I’ve seen trouble at is really low. Even back then it was the exception rather than the rule
On top of that, as someone who’s never gone looking for trouble, the percentage that I’ve innocently got too close to or embroiled in is even smaller – the one I couldn’t get away from at all, and which I was right in the middle of, was the trouble that happened when we played Stoke at the JJB the weekend after Stanley Matthews died & that was in the NoughtiesIf I remember the Preston game you’re on about rightly I think it was during the 1993/1994 season. I was living away as a student back then but was back that weekend & turned up to see if any stewards were needed (I’d been a steward the season before). If it’s the same game, what happened what was that there were forged tickets doing the round amongst Preston fans & the away end was too full. As Latics were attacking down the town end in the first half the police decided to open up the gate between the away end & St Andrew’s side & quote a lot of Preston fans came through. problem was they hadn’t told the stewards & there was no segregation in place. I got sent up along with other to help form a barrier but I had 2 different Preston fans try to smack me so I decided where my talents could best be deployed was pitch side (
) & I helped lift a couple of kids over the wall. The senior steward told me to get the ref to take the players off the pitch which I tried to get him to do the next time the ball came over near me but he wouldn’tSpeaking of which, I also remember going to a Latics v Bolton game on a Friday night in the late 80’s or very early 90’s. As I walked round near the end all you could hear was “f***in pie eatin b****rds” (we were winning as per usual against them back then) and stood by the floodlight by the supporters club 2 Bolton fans started to run from somewhere near the tunnel & at about where the terracing expanded started hitting anyone in their path before carrying on & out of the ground
Aaahh the good old days!! ;) :cheer:
The truth is somewhere between both. You could get caught up in it, but in the main like faced like, and if one lot were running down the street then stepping to one side standing still usually meant the hooligans ran past. Wearing colours obviously was out though, and you still needed to be alert.In my Liverpool supporting days I only got “involved” in anything twice – once as we came out of Maine Road a guy who was on our coach, in full red scarf etc, latched on to me saying loudly “Ar eye la that was the gear, wasn it?” Of course he attracted the attention of the local morons who punched him and then turned to me and said “give us your wallet”. I swung a fist at his face, connected (more of a slap than a punch), and ran. The funny thing was I remember his reaction. He just stood there stunned and said “You…you…you…fool”. Honestly.
The other time was me and my mate walking down the road to Leeds Road Huddersfield when the local hardnut swiped my mate on the back of his head and said “come on then”. My mate was a 6 foot tall, 16 stone Welshman. He looked at this guy, and said “No” and we walked on. Terrier fan looked a right prat, and I think his mates laughed at him.
I guess it was all about what you experienced first hand but I certainly didn’t see any more respect for the ordinary supporter when it was kicking off regardless of what some of these hoolie books like to think!!
Just a few instances from my experience were:
Me (as a 14 yr old, my dad & a minibus load full of fat, middle to old aged United fans) getting set upon in Newcastle city centre in 1990 by a group who’d come out of the pub opposite as we walked past. Luckily out of the group I was the only one who saw them coming dodged out of the way of the first punch but he still managed to clock my dad instead who then also suffered the indignity of slipping in a pile of dog $h!t & crashing into the doors of a department store!!!! :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy:
Going with a mate & his dad to watch Bolton v Chelsea in about 1984 in division 2. In the days before the Nomad supermarket end, the Chelsea fans were all in the end section of the Burnden Terrace & the seated area above it. Not long after kick off the Chelsea fans started throwing the wooden seats from that stand down into the Bolton fans in the terracing at the side of them. I don’t think they were especially just aiming at Bolton’s firm
Early on in the season after Chelsea played at Old Trafford in a midweek game. It kicked off all the way down Warwick Road from the lights to the ground as some Chelsea fans were attacking anyone in their path & then just as I got in the ground some Chelsea fans decided to climb over the wall of the away end into the seats above (the K Stand – just to the right of where the away section is now) & again attacked anyone who happened to get in their wayThey’re just the 3 that always stick in my mind the most. There were plenty of others
It does seem surprising that their was no trouble but back then hooliganism only seemed to occur between like minded souls and respect was shown to the ordinary supporter who just wanted to watch the football.As a kid of 4-14 through the 80’s that wasn’t my experience of football hooliganism at all during that period
As for the tournament itself, I was only a part time Latic back then having started going during the cup run of the year before, so I wasn’t there but saw some of it on the telly & my only recollection is Phil Hughes weird penalty saving technique
It could be perfectly acceptable for this panel of experts to return a verdict of “not proven” in cases where they still aren’t sure, even after reviewing the video evidence. If it stops the obvious cheats, where’s the problem?There is already a system in place where obvious cheats could be punished – as I say its already been used to ban whatever Arsenal player it was. And the FA is entitled to look at match incidents again
The only problem at the moment is that they’re not using it – if say for instance Ashley Young launches himself into a clear & obvious dive which fools the ref during United’s next game & its clear from the footage he dived then ban him
personally I think a ref should have the ability to send a player off if they see what they think is a deliberate dive. A caution isn’t enough of a deterrentI guess another issue I have is the suggestion of the referee asking the player if he wants the free kick or penalty. If the ref has any doubts then he shouldn’t award it, not have “I’m not sure. Do you want the penalty? Yes? Okay but I’m going to have it reviewed” – it would create chaos, open up a whole new can of worms & create more problems.
Like I said, if the ref thinks a player’s dived, send him off. If he’s not sure give nowt & let it get reviewed by the match reviewers – if it was a foul the ref gets his marks clobbered (possibly taken off his next game), if it was a dive the player gets banned. Don’t think there’s any need for refs to be asking players what they want or docking 6 points & would the team offended against not then start asking for the points insead??
OK, so we just do nothing and let referees continue to get it wrong. Good-oTo be fair, by & large that system has worked pretty well since organised football began. People make mistakes from time to time but in all fairness referees get the vast majority of their decisions correct – except me who gets them all right
My point was that it’s difficult in many circumstances to prove that a player dived – there’s players starting to go to ground fractionally before the contact is made, players who claim that was the minutest of contact & all manner of other challenges where proving a dive is impossible.
The problem is we have all this ‘anticipating the contact’ bollocks which Gary Neville once stated isn’t a dive. My opinion is, if he doesn’t touch you then it’s a dive but this doesn’t seem to be the thinking in the World of football.
Similar to the intent rule really.
There is no intent rule – in football anyway. Not sure if you’re talking about rugby league[/quote]
I was referring to football. Sure I’ve seen players booked for ‘intent’ before.[/quote]
The only mention of any form of intent in the laws of the game is “deliberate handball” – its not mentioned anywhere else
The word intent is deliberately omitted coz there it is too subjective & can’t be proven – that’s why they use words like careless, reckless, dangerous etc.The problem is we have all this ‘anticipating the contact’ bollocks which Gary Neville once stated isn’t a dive. My opinion is, if he doesn’t touch you then it’s a dive but this doesn’t seem to be the thinking in the World of football.Similar to the intent rule really.
There is no intent rule – in football anyway. Not sure if you’re talking about rugby league
I remember Alcaraz getting sent off for a second caution at Old Trafford once for a foul on Fletcher. Contact was made but when you viewed the footage, by the time it was Fletcher was already on his way down having anticipated being fouled.
Nevermind what Gary Neville says, technically the first offence in that phase of play was committed by Darren Fletcher for simulation although it’d take an eagle eyed or brave ref to give it
You see forwards doing it all the time when they’ve knocked it past a keeper who’s come rushing out & I hate seeing itNah, I don’t think that it’d work
Similar to what jr says – there’s still too much grey area. personally I don’t believe that even the faintest touch can bring someone crashing to the ground like they’ve been shot, but if you remember in the champions league a good few years back some Arsenal player got a retrospective ban for diving.
Arsenal appealed & pulled out some evidence from somewhere showing that there had been the most minimal of contact & further to that produced some expert who claimed that even though it looked like next to nothing that coz of his speed it would have brought him down.
UEFA then rescinded the banStill looked like a dive to me & countless others – don’t get me wrong, some are obvious but there’s still too many that aren’t clear enough or there’s top much dispute over, meaning any club would bring in the lawyers if they’re then docked 6 points
