KBR

Was there when we played them in 2005... me & Smithdown took a helicopter back to Nice. Had to do something to cheer us up after losing.

Had lunch with a client a couple of days ago... says that apparently we asked after Insigne at Napoli. First inquired about him in Jan and got a resounding no, but we've asked after him again last week. Said client works at a bank which has a big stake in an Italian club... so its plausible he may know a thing or two. Although it doesn't make sense to me... we have Coutinho... why would we go after Insigne?

It's an analysis done by Bloomberg Sports... makes interesting reading. from the bloomberg site.. London, May 21st 2014—Bloomberg Sports (BSports), the world’s leaders in sports analytic technology, today unveiled the 2013/14 edition of the “BSports Power 50”, the most advanced data-driven ranking of individual player performances across Europe’s top five leagues. The rankings provide a purely objective analysis that evaluates players in their respective positions and considers the context of opponent strength in each game throughout the season. The full BSports list of players can be found at www.bsports.com/Power50 along with a more detailed explanation of the methodology. Just goes to show... selling our best player should never be an option. To find someone equally influential you'd have to buy Messi, Zlatan or Ronaldo.

Reckon Milner could play central? A midfield 3 consisting of Gerrard, Henderson, and Milner might work well when we play the diamond. Plenty of energy between Henderson & Milner to support the front 3 or can play wide in a front 4 too. Also his work rate is fantastic. Changed the game against us at Anfield when he came on. I think he'd be a great addition.

If we had a 80,000 capacity stadium... do you think we could fill it week in week out? 58,000 doesn't seem much and I get the feeling its going to be an opportunity missed in the long term.

Didn't know where else to post this.... The story of Panyee FC from Thailand Thought it was a nice little video

If they get Louis Van Gaal in then I think we will see these players live up to expectations. He is a good coach, and has done well at other clubs. Even had a Rafa style run with Bayern in 09/10 in the CL from the brink of elimination in the group stages to making the final, but lost to Inter. Spurs most important bit of business in the summer will be who they sign as manager... that team has too many decent players to not make the CL.

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Gollum FB look back

Seems very similar in style to Hair an all.

Science has been used on a number of occasions in the past to explain away racist views or to project the superiority of one ethnicity over another. Look at the story of the Piltdown man... As renowned as this doctor may be, his analysis simply doesn't make sense. Maybe he was misquoted... maybe those whom he was addressing misunderstood. It's easy to make sweeping generalisations... and although some statements may ring true to some extent, as a general statement, it should never be taken as a universal fact. Top athlete? Didn't someone recently claim our own Stevie G wasn't a top footballer? Anyway... we've hijacked this thread. Lets get back to the kids in our team.

Cafu on the forum?

I don't actually believe it is a cultural thing, but wouldn't say its completely untrue either. The problem is a bit of everything. I believe the main problem is that there's no grassroots set ups, literally nothing, anywhere that I know of. Hence why people never take up the sport. I also believe it is down to a lack of money & know how, that's it. There's no government funding available for this kind of thing whatsoever. Even within the capital city, let alone the secondary & tertiary cities... we won't even bring in the rural areas as they just about have medical facilities. In a country like Bangladesh, investment in sports isn't seen as a priority when you have a population of which almost 30% lives below the poverty line. I honestly believe if there was more support from the government, and private investors... it would take off. It may take a decade or so to get the set up close to the standards they have in Africa (lets not even compare to European set ups)... but it would flourish. There was a time when African teams were seen as fodder... not anymore. Their national teams can compete at the highest levels, and if you look at the players they are producing, its amazing how far they have come. At one point you could've argued for example South Africans were more interested in rugby or cricket... but the moment they implemented a footballing grassroots setup they've not looked back. Like in that Kevin Costner movie.... "if you build it, they will come"

It's more a case of a lack of any real footballing structure. The national leagues are very small and in the case of Bangladesh it's still very much in its infancy. A national league was formed in 2000... before that there was a league based in the capital Dhaka that centered around teams from that city. After a big revamp in 2007 then again in 2009... the Bangladesh premiership is in its 5th year now, with 10 teams taking part this year. In 2012 a 2nd tier was added, and only 8 teams are taking part in that. For a country with a population of over 165million... that's very poor.

That's half the problem... the steroetypes and attitude, which is a massive shame. If memory serves me correctly, in the early 90's a study was undertaken i think led by Howard Wilkinson, in which the end conclusion was that Asian kids simply aren't into football, and prefer other sports such as cricket. From personal experience growing up, football has always been the sport of choice with kids in the Asian community. There's no doubt about it, that its definitely more popular here in the UK. How Wilkinson came to that conclusion is beyond me. I grew up playing football with Sol Campbell, who lived in our neighborhood, and he played for the school & borough team. He was a beast of player even at the age of 14, but one of my mates, a Bengali lad was even better than him. Muzzy Izzet was also part of the teams they played in, and they all continued to progress and went their own ways. Sol as we all know went to Spurs & Izzet went to Chelsea. The Bengali lad ended up at Gillingham after being rejected by Tottenham, Chelsea and a few more. He had an offer from two current premiership clubs but rejected them as he said during his trials he suffered so much racist abuse that he couldn't contemplate going to either club, and his parents freaked out and then the offers dried up. He ended up at Gillingham FC as their leading striker and topped the scoring charts for the first two seasons. He was the star player there with big things expected of him. Then a new manager came in... decided he didn't like him as he wasn't the right "profile" for the club, refused to play him, even as the team got caught up in a relegation dog fight. He wouldn't release him either. Then he unfortunately broke his leg, and the rest as they say is history. This manager subsequently went on to manage in the premiership with a couple of different teams and even worked on the England set up. There's plenty of stories like this within the Asian community of young kids being forced out. I can see that the system has changed somewhat since those days... but institutional racism was always the biggest factor for Asian kids not progressing back then, and although there are still some remnants of it lingering, the Asian community has hope. Maybe one day we'll have our very own Flafu to cheer.

Thats the one!

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Some fiddling going on here? Barcelona president Sandro Rosell resigns amid Neymar transfer row

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He seemed to play more of a DMF role at Barca, as they had Xavi & Iniesta pulling the strings further up. I don't recall him scoring much back then either. Also they had Marquez to play CB/DMF as well as having Busquets as first choice and then they bought Mash off us that same summer (i think), it's fair to say he may have been seen as surplus to their requirements. Looking at how his game has since changed... who wouldn't want him now? The guy is a beast. Xavi, Iniesta & Fabregas, as great as they are attacking wise, they don't offer much in terms of physical presence/strength. He can play the passing game like the other three, but is far more athletic & powerful. But like you said... it's not like they've struggled since he left. I'm looking forward to see how he does against them in the upcoming CL game... should be a great match up.

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