BernardLambourde

Barton makes me cringe my bum off. He seems to think he is an intellectual because he knows how to copy and paste a quote from the likes of Brunel or Wilde (as if it was his own wisdom and not theirs).....then he makes basic spelling errors like "u where a good player".

Ha ha....yeah, I always think that. Man City have had the same thing now haven't they? Leeds, Forest and Sheffield Wednesday get classed as sleeping giants now but if they suddenly became a force, the other big boys would just harp on about how they were crap recently and have no right to be up there.

Well I'm not sure about in Germany but the criteria for a 'big club' here in England is a number of things, not just current on-field successes. Fan base, media interest, history, stadium, away following etc. In these respects, Liverpool are, in the eyes of many, still a very big club. Like Man City.....people harp on about them only challenging for honours now because of the Sheik's money, but for me they were still a 'big' club before the takeover. Likewise Newcastle are classed as big. And Leeds despite not being in the top flight for quite a few years now.

I was talking specifically about supporters. I don't count the other lot (Man City 'fans' in Kent).

Man City fans in Kent? Ha ha. Seriously? That boils my piss.

Dave Mitchell was a dead ringer for Jeremy Beadle.....but without the little, warped hand of course. What is everyone's view on the London hierachy? (in size terms...) I'd say Arsenal were top but then have trouble seperating Chelsea and Spurs in 2nd/3rd. I still consider them pretty big support wise.....possibly still eclipsing Chelsea (in London at least). West Ham in 4th. That said, a friend of mine from Manchester said he never really regarded Spurs as that big. That he thought West Ham were bigger.

This part of that report really annoyed me: Torres, who came through the club’s academy, scored 75 goals for them at the remarkable rate of almost one every two games. That is in stark contrast to the Chelsea fans who heaped more misery on the out-of-sorts Spaniard last week when they brutally booed him after the Capital One Cup defeat at home to Swansea. "Heaped more misery on him"......"brutally booed him". Why are Chelsea fans always being painted as the villains? They've been very patient with Torres. The man has been absolute pony for 2 years now and the awful performance against Swansea was the final straw for many. I personally didn't boo as like others here, I feel it can be somewhat counterproductive........but I totally understand those that did.

In more recent times, it's hard to tell whose initial idea the signing was. Cech and Robben officially signed when Ranieri was manager, but how many times had he seen them play? I have no idea. There are talent scouts working all over now.

Good result for Bradford but far from over.

I don't see how anyone could begrudge Sturridge wanting to move. He should have been given a run of game at centre forward when Torres was stinking the place out. As for his comments, Liverpool are obviously still a massive club but to say they're the biggest in England is just asking for ridicule. I don't even need to go into detail as to why they're not as it's obvious.

I think you may have a point. Imagine if the manager was a fat Pakistani and everyone started referring to him as a 'Fat Pakistani Corner Shop Owner'. Would that be tolerated? Unlikely. But as we all know, xenophobia is fine if it is directed at a fellow European country where the indigenous population are white. The tabloids have dictated that. "Let's beat the dirty, garlic eating Frogs!" "The Krauts are humourless deckchair stealers!" etc. Then they take the moral high ground with Terry and Suarez.

So Liverpool have now got Oldham. Did anyone see this story? Oldham fans have been setting fire to rival fan's hair! http://metro.co.uk/2012/12/15/oldham-beg-their-supporters-to-stop-setting-fire-to-rival-fans-hair-3317758/ Hopefully Oldham's 'Fine Young Casuals' will manage to set fire to a few Scouse barnets. With their greasy perm and shellsuit combinations, they'll certainly be easily flammable.

Sturridge's dancing after he scores is cringeful.

Nice story there Mike Carefree. I don't think I've ever had my pulling pants on at a football match. Might be a good idea for a new thread. "Have you ever pulled at a football game?" To be honest, I always think the calibre of women at football stadiums seems a bit substandard.....you rarely see a stunner. In fact, the only two times I've ever been sat next to a beauty were abroad.....one when I went to see the Rome Derby in the Stadio Olympico.....but she was with her boyfriend. And the other was in the Nou Camp in 2005 when Drogba got sent off. A Spanish Senorita just came and plonker herself down right next to me......in a spare seat in the Chelsea end!? I was younger then so froze and didn't do anything.....but nowadays I'd have been all over it like a wet flannel. Would die on my ar*e but I'd still have a shot on goal. Back to the subject matter in this thread.....was anyone at Rotherham when we lost 6-0? Before my time but I had the goals on my 'Danny Baker's Right Hammerings' video. Petar Borota was wearing a ludicrous John McEnroe head band and was all at sea for a lot of the goals.

But Davey Baby......do you think 7 games once every 4 years should really be the benchmark upon what a player is judged? What Diego did in 86 was amazing but he also played in 82, 90 and 94 and didn't win those World Cups. Didn't make him not a great player in those years. There are other criteria to judge the greatness of a player.

A player like Le Tiss was probably undervalued playing in this country. People would forever go on and on about his fat arse and how he didn't track back. Sure, both true.....but without him, Southampton would probably have gone down without him. He seemingly kept them up single handedly every year. Scoring over 20 in a poor side. The same people bemoaning Le Tissier's fat arse and lack of work rate never seemed to have a go at his team mates like Francis Benali and Neil Maddison for being spectacularly average footballers. They'd just laud their work ethic. Regarding the World Cup being the ultimate prize, I personally disagree. Think it is down to the player. I've heard Jamie Carragher say that he always cared more about playing for Liverpool than England. That whenever he was knocked out of a tournament with England he'd think "well at least it wasn't Liverpool". He took criticism at the time but I respect him for admitting it. If I were a player and played for Chelsea and England, winning with Chelsea would be far more important to me. Am not overly patriotic and Chelsea is far more important to me.

Was anyone here at the Millwall game in 1995 then? Any stories?

Of course it wasn't a one man job....those United teams were very good. You won't find many better balance teams than the one that won the double in 94. I do think Eric was somewhat of a catalyst though. He proved that in 95/96 when he came back and they went on a mad run, overhauling Newcastle's large lead.

What postition would you people say Charlton played anyway? He played number 9 but he looked like he was playing deeper to me. A lot of his goals seemed like he was scoring from deeper positions.

Did you ever see that interview he gave with Lineker? Diego more-or-less said that yes, he made the difference.....and that maybe without him they wouldn't have won it.......but they still had some really good players. Messi playing at QPR probably wouldn't win them a trophy. Dunno.....it's all hypothetical so difficult to say.

I agree that stats or figures can be misleading but it's pretty difficult to disregard those achievements by Charlton.

I think the general viewpoint that Argentina's side in 1986 apart from Diego was horsesh*t is somewhat overplayed. Sure, he made the difference, but they had other good players as well. Players like Valdano and Burrachaga (sp?) were far from average.

I can't see that one either. Won the First Division, FA Cup, European Cup, World Cup and European Footballer of the Year. Also scored more goals for England than any other player (49) and I think he may be United's highest ever goalscorer.

I heard an interview with Tony Cascarino once and he said when he played in France, he told the French players his favourite ever player was George Best and most of them had never heard of him. Playing for Northern Ireland probably didn't help much.

Think that assessment of Cantona is a bit harsh. He won the league with Leeds in 91/92 (their first since 1974....and of course their last), then he won the league in 92/93 with United (their first since 1967).....then the double in 93/94. He didn't finish 94/95 cause of his ban....and United lost the league without him. Then in 95/96 he came back and helped United make 12 points up on Newcastle (I don't think they'd have done it without him....oh, and they won the cup that year too). Then he won the league again in his final season of 96/97 before retiring. Not a bad career in England.