Re: The Wise Old Fox - Part II - The Great Teams Next part won't be up this week. Haven't had the time.
Re: The Wise Old Fox - Part II - The Great Teams A brilliant piece of work really worth reading, even if you're not a fan of Manchester United Football Club. Since I can't concentrate on reading lengthy pieces of text online, I printed it all out and read it while getting to work. A real page-turner!! There's something I would like to comment on and that is Ferguson complaining about the 3-foreigners-rule. I don't see it being unfair to Manchester United or English clubs in general. I infact believe it was long-overdue. All European clubs were not allowed to field more than 2 (later 3) foreign players in international competition only for English clubs UEFA made an exception, as they could field as many non-English players as they liked, as long as they were British. But in football terms, being Scottish or Northerin Irish or Welsh is being "foreign". Instead of complaining about being "disadvantaged", English clubs finally got to taste how it was for all other European clubs for decades.
Re: The Wise Old Fox - Part II - The Great Teams How many pages is it in print? I think we've broached the issue of the 3 foreigner rule in the BG forum a few times. It's a fair point you raise, but understanding the difference between what has always been an heavily integrated game amongst the British Isles+Ireland and its nations and that of the other nations is paramount. 'Foreign' for us is any player outside of that reach and I think that when the game here has always been so immersive amongst its own Isles, that's a fair distinction, one which I don't think SAF would have complained about - losing the Isles players was a bigger blow to us than the foreign stars in our ranks. I would say this is one of those differences English clubs will never see eye-to-eye with vis-a-vis European mainlanders where the heritage of the game has always been completely different. For you, there isn't an issue of losing what you never had, the definition of foreigner, as stated is very different in its interpretation - where you definitively state the Isles as completely singular entities, here, they are only seperate in internal issues/disputes etc, where national identity is apparent - all speak English which is the common bond, and they aren't colonies, which makes it a very unique situation. I'm not sure if that's a worthwhile answer for you, but I think that'd be standard response from a British or Irish mainlander.
Re: The Wise Old Fox - Part II - The Great Teams I might re-start after the season is done. I'm not sure the interest in it is strong enough though, tbh. I'm going to change the title of both to Wise Auld Fox. Seems an obvious oversight on my side there. Whoops.
No interest? I voted this "on-going" project as my favorite/best posts of last year. I'm pissed I have to wait at all. Class, this thing is.
haha, that is hilarious. if chelsea win either the league or champs league this year, will grant be the worst manager to have taken home either the premiership or cl title? and yes, post more.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/13/sfnman113.xml Fergie's man-management and influence on United. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/matt_dickinson/article3919908.ece How our current side is still, probably in Fergie's mind, in the shadows of the 93/94 side. Two great articles about the WAF, and it echoes some of what DS said about Fergie in his first two chapters. Really good stuff.