Those bozos currently debating whether they want to play in Turkey, are a disgrace to Association Football. Led by the ugly man of political activism Gary Neville, they appear unable to grasp the concept that 100 grand a week man, Rio chose not to turn up at the doping control room. There is clearly more to his non-appearance than is known at the moment, despite what Man Utd are saying, but thats irrelevent. If he did have an 'embarrasing medical condition' that’s his problem. The Players are picked to play football for the association not contemplate whether they agree with the FA’s rules. When did they last read the FA rule book? Rio is guilty. Will they also have meetings as to whether they should play in teams which include suspected rapists, and class A drug users? These players have no concept of reality anymore, massively overpaid, generally under educated & in some cases utterly amoral, why should they care if they let the country down? They’ll still be chased by slappers, touched up by crooked agents, & be forgiven anything by weak managers, whatever happens in Turkey. If they agree to strike, Sven should pick another 24 players or the U21 squad overnight. We may well get stuffed but at least the players will be bursting with pride to play for the shirt.
I agree that there is no question that they should play against Turkey. Anyone pushing hard for a boycott over this should be told to piss off back to club football. I can understand them being unhappy about the FA's handling of the situation, which has been inept, but neither did Rio do anybody any favours by creating this situation in the first place through his brainless stupidity. He's no martyr. I think it will be a minor miracle if after all this we can still get a result. If we do then I suppose it will prove once and for all that Sven is a top coach when it comes to big games.
Bozos English football is imploding at the moment. They are living in a fantasy world, where normal rules do not apply. Or this could be a handy excuse to get out of going to a hostile Istanbul stadium?! Anyway, they should be more professional and get on with it. I wonder how many non ManU players felt pressurised to agree to a boycott?
I can understand the players protesting over the FAs handling of the announcement. But the players do not pick the team. For even threatening to boycott they should be thrown out. If I were the coach I'd sure remember this the next time i called up a team. The Premiership has a pretty deep pool of players and there are only a couple guys on the England squad who are head and shoulders above the rest and (nearly) irreplaceable. Unfortunately the FA is talking to these goons, and respecting their positions.
get off the players case, they feel support for an IMPORTANT teammate might warrant a boycott, then whatever. hopefully they play on but if they don't so what. i have glanced at the rules but since i am quite busy haven't had the time to read 'em but couldn't the FA have suspended rio after the England-turkey match, for other manutd and england matches. i'm a manutd fan and we are still atrocious at the back but i wouldn't mind him getting suspended for a couple of games and playing in this match.
You can all relax, there'll be no boycott. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/3176224.stm The players are ticked though, and it's a fair point. Once the guys with the bottles of urine realized that Rio had missed the test, it would have been so easy for the FA to say "OK, from now, anyone missing the test is ineligible for selection to the national team". The FA looks proactive, and the media get to have a good old time roasting Rio for missing the test. Instead, they wait until the week before the biggest match in the qualifiers, and say "The hearing is not until after the match, but we're going to go ahead and suspend him anyway. Oh, and this is not a punishment". Now, the players are ticked, and the media, instead of (probably rightly) blasting Rio for missing the test in the first place, they get to blast the FA too for being this indecisive, and there's one more distraction to go along with the referee, the fear that a drunken Englishman could get the team thrown out of the championships altogether, the Turkish fans, and the pesky matter of the Turkish team, who incidentally, did better than England at the last World Cup. I aggree with sendorange. The bigger shock at this point will be England actually getting the result they need, as opposed to Turkey getting it.
I must say that the media overreaction to the thoughts of striking has been disgraceful and has given me a lot more sympathy for the players. It's reminiscent of David Beckham in 98, any chance those drama queen journalists and so-called fans get to be spiteful and vitriolic to England's footballers, they take it. It's so mindlessly destructive. I didn't agree with the players pushing for a boycott over something like this, and a few questions need to be asked to the Man Utd ringleaders as to what they were thinking and whether they really want to play for England anymore. But to start castigating the whole squad and in particular dedicated talented people like Owen and Beckham is ridiculous. They're putting their safety and reputations on the line by going to a place like Istanbul, especially David Beckham, and for what? To be abused by the media if they are less than perfect? It's no wonder some of them don't show up or play flat out in friendlies and minor qualifying games if that's the treatment they get.
A different take on it... The FA look like Bozos, and probably because they are clowns. But what if the curious desicion to suspend Rio is based on the fact they think he might have had a reasopn to miss the test? What if he failed a dope test after the Turkey match? What happens then? Rio gone for 2 years, the result (if England get one, and I think they will) overturned, yet more controversy and disrepute. Instead, they try to be proactive and remove the danger with thier clumsy inept fingers and poke some sensitive players right in the eye and Oh My Gawd will you look at this mess. I don't know Rio. I have no idea if he has ever used a banned substance of any sort, or for that matter if he loves his Mum, is a virgin, visits the pub occasionally, drives a Yugo, or likes little boys. And frankly none of that matters to me (except I hope he doesn't use banned substances or likes little boys). He is an awsome defender. He appears to be able to keep track of time as he doesn't miss matchdays or training. That ManU and Rio both could let this slide for days is kind of suspicious... I mean, I reckon he takes a piss at least once a day, right? But anyway, on with the football. 1-Nil to England is my guess, off a late setpiece. I don't see Turkey as an organized enough attack to break down a near desperate England team so close to qualifying.
I have no problem with that, except, he missed the test on Sept. 23, and the FA knew he missed the test on Sept. 23, and this decision didn't come down until Oct. 7. It's not like the drug testers suddenly realized that they were one urine sample short. And he did pass a test on September 24, so I'm inclined to believe that this was an honest mistake. The problem I have is that the FA waited this long. Everyone realizes that drugs are a serious issue, and I don't think anyone would have balked if the FA said on Sept. 24, 29, or even Oct. 1 that Rio had missed the test, and could not provide an acceptable excuse (personal emergency, illness, whatever). They could have said something proactive and media-friendly like "We at the FA take our doping controls seriously, and therefore it is our decision that anyone missing a test be ineligible for selection to the national team". I would have had no problem with that either. The issue comes in when the FA made the decision, and the fact that the decision was made without any sort of disciplinary hearing whatsoever. The BBC says that Rio did not aggree to moving a meeting up to this week, probably because he honestly felt that all he was looking at was a fine, as happened to a Manchester City player who missed a test last year. As for the match, I just think there's been so much distraction for the England camp leading up to this, that they are apt to come out flat. It should be a close game, but I think Turkey pulls it out, 1-0 or 2-1.
stupid Rio is supposed to be a professional and an adult capable of telling time. The rules need to apply to all players. If Rio missed the test because of some extenuating circumstances than I'd think the FA would take that into consideration. If missed the test because he thought he'd fail it, well that's another matter. In any event, the rules are the rules. If they are not enforced, what good are they? As for the players, I can't see any reason why they should threaten to boycott the Turkey game. They should be honored to represent their country. Rio or no Rio.
One thing in Rio's favour according the sun (so it must be true!) hidden amongst the vitriol was the claim that he realised his mistake and phoned the FA two hours later and asked how he could take a test - only to be told he could and he'd have to wait two days before they could arrange another one. Now if we give Rio the benefit of the doubt and say that with his house move he might have had other things on his mind and genuinely forgot about the test, what else exactly could he have done? There really needs to be some sort of procedure in place to deal with people forgetting to take a test as missing a test can't be assumed to be the same offence as refusing to take a test. Something as simple as getting players to hand over their car keys until they given a sample would stop anything like this happening again.
I dont read the Daily Mail Giro boy However, I do read Big Un's Monthly, The Socialist Worker, The Financial Times, The Communist knobber, Razzle & back copies of the *#*#*#*#*# bag.