English Premiership 2001/2002/2003

[Fastshow]

memory loss....

Oh little Dazza,

the only reason I keep lamely slagging off your orange-clad bunch of knuckleheads is because I so enjoy reading your breathless repartees in defence of your beloved club. Carry on, please, it's quite good sport seeing how easily you get wound up. Incidentally, who told who to fcuk off? Thought so.

Captain, yes, you can add Middlesbrough to that list of pathetic clubs though they probably don't even deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as any of them either. Div. 1 here we come. The Fulham match cost £22 to sit in the old fashioned stand, Fulham still have terracing and have one more year to conform to modern standards. Quite why we didn't opt for terracing 'seats' is betond me but I didn't buy the tickets so..... They play Monaco in a friendly at 3:00 on Saturday which we might go to before the England Germany 'clash'.

Stam's leaving Old Trafford is another shrewd bit of business by Sir Alex.... the book had nowt to do with it though is a nice little excuse those who believe what they read in The Sun can believe if they so choose. Stam hasn't been the same since his first season and never properly got over his injury. His pace is similar to my own and to get so much money for a man who will flop in Serie A is simply good business.

 

[dazza]

Stam

Fasty,

Bollox.

It has everything to do with his book. Unless they announce someone huge this week as a replacement, it does not look like a shrewd bit of business. Not thoroughly planned anyway.

I wonder what Stam's ex-team mates think about all of this and what effect it will have on them.

You just have to read some of the Man U message boards out there to see the reaction of the fans.

He's only 29 years old, and wanted to stay there for the rest of his life.

Let's hear from some of you Media United fans out there.

Daz

 

[cside17]

Captain, just a reminder that Beckham is not the United Captain. It's a good Irish lad named Roy. World cup predictions
Ireland 1-Holland 1
Germany 2-England 0
Croatia 3-Scotland 1

 

[dazza]

Beckham/Keane

Cside,

He's a wanker as well.

Couldn't agree more Captain.

As for Spurs, they have had a poor start, but the results probably don't reflect the actual performances from what I've been reading.

Apparently they are knocking the ball around nicely and defending well, but lacking the killer instinct in the final third.

They will be fine once they gel. The start is on par with recent seasons under Gooner George as far as results go. I just feel way more confident that they will pick it up than I did when they were playing for GG.

Daz

 

[Fastshow]

utter cack...

Dazza,

Without sounding too condascending, I do happen to have access to a few more resources than the poxy Man. Ure. message board (how the hell do you expect fans to react to a big player being shipped off?) and, for instance, ITV's much vaunted but ultimately crap Monday night football programme with Gabby Logan and Ally McCoist interviewed Bobby Robson last night (he's Newcastle United's manager if you were unsure) who said that, 'at the end of the day', Sir Alex was simply getting top £££ for a player for whom the adjective 'average' is being very kind indeed. Saha made him look like a cnut in the first game of the season (Stam, not Robson...try and keep up) and, while Stam did, admittedly, betray a certain unwritten rule about telling tales outside the dressing room, getting that much money for a 29 year old who has lost a step is good business sense, pure and simple. Despite their riches, Man. Ure. have still paid out close to £42 million pounds this summer and recouping a fraction of that will keep the PLC contingent happy since they are a business after all. The lad they've got lined up will cost at the very most half of that and he's known as the 'Stam with pace' and is 7 years his junior so..... Even if they move for Blanc, he'll only serve as a settling influence on Wes Brown whose chances were limited in a club who made Stam one of their top earners.

Do you honestly believe that Ferguson was as unaware of the contents of Stams' book as everyone is making out? For a manager known throughout the world as having a vested interest in every aspect of his players' lives, it seems a wee bit far fetched and simplistic to think he would allow such tittle-tattle to be released unless he knew he would have the last laugh.


lots of love, Fastshow (in case you've forgotten who I am, I used to play at the back for the Mermaids)

 

[dazza]

Utter shite

Fasty,

Don't be so naive.

If you were Alex Ferguson, and one of your top players released a book which discolsed that you had made an illegal approach to him when he was still playing for another club, and also slagged off some of your other players, would you want that player in your camp.

What happens if PSV take legal action over this, etc.

This all came about way too quickly to be another piece of shrewd business by AF. I don't blame Ferguson for wanting Stam out, and Stam bascically fcuked himself with the book.

Unless Media Utd sign someone huge by this Friday, the are Fcuked for the Champions league. Blanc or Campo won't be the solution.

Don't be so naive young man.

Daz

 

[Fastshow]

deary deary me...

Wow,

I've only been away for a month and a half and apparently Vic Rauter, Max Bretos and the other assorted collective geniuses who pass for football 'commentary' on Canadian t.v. have clearly come on in leaps and bounds. I can't imagine why else you'd know more about the Stam business than me or, to be frank, why you'd go on a Man. Utd. chatroom to get your info. Or perhaps you were after something more sinister? Nothing much wrong with that in this day and age just be careful and remember to wash your hands afterwards. News on this side of things, away from the admittedly far superior football minds of TSN, Sportsnet, WTN, the shortarse who writes about racing in The Province and the crack team of footballing experts that represents the Mermaids great hopes of future glory (oh bollocks, there I go again, eh?), is that Ferguson is after a 22 year old from PSV for £15 million. Not as affordable as I had thought, I'll concede, but still a good bit of business in acquiring a lad seven years younger and far quicker than Stam, a man whose best years are behind him.

A couple questions you neglected to answer; why would PSV take Man. Utd. to task when they are merely a feeder club to the likes of Man. Utd. and a handful of other 'big boys'? Have they not benifitted greatly financially from Old Trafford of late? Maybe they didn't, the papers here aren't what they should be. Heard that old chestnut about biting the hand that feeds? What would be the long-term gain in pissing off one of the clubs on whom you depend to subsidise your daily operation? E-c-o-n-o-m-i-c-s.

If you re-read my last post (move your lips in you like or, conversely, read it aloud if that helps), you'll note that I did mention that Stam had betrayed the level of professionalism for which he is handsomely paid. Answer me thus: do you honestly believe Stam published his book before Ferguson had been made aware of the contents? If you do you want to give your head a shake as in this day and age of public relations etc. you live in cloudcuckooland if you think Ferguson hadn't had a sniff of the book's contents. Still, you reckon your shower will survive in Div. 1 so I suppose anything's possible... bugger, I've done it again. You're right, I do so need a life.

By the way, Sir Alex killed Diana too.

 

[Buckfast]

Fasty,

Do the fellas in the Public House find you a bit.....well.....odd, as you take notes when they are talking football?

Buckfast

 

[Fastshow]

offside

Buck,

I'll be buggered if I know, I can't understand a word the cnuts say down here anyway with their guv'nors, ten paaand notes and rhyming slang. Maybe that's Dazza's problem too. He doesn't understand the Manc dialect on the MUFC chatroom.

Besides, in Fulham they're far too posh to stoop to such a working class game. I'm a long way from the Gorbals now me old china.

 

[dazza]

Sorry, but you're wrong (yet again)

Fastshow,

You're just plain wrong.

The main man over in old blighty, and you can't figure it out with all of your "resources" over there.

You were right though - about not having a life!

Daz

 

[Keeper]

Attention

Dazza, read your PM's.

 

[dazza]

Stam

Keeper,

Will do - thanks.

Fasty,

This was from Soccernet today:

Meanwhile, Lazio's general manager Massimo Cragnotti did his best to blow holes in Sir Alex Ferguson's theory that his decision to sell the 29-year-old to one of the Premiership champions' main European rivals was taken because he felt Stam no longer fitted into his tactical strategy.

Cragnotti told Soccernet: 'I was informed by Pasquale Bruno - a go-between who is a good friend of the player and of Sir Alex Ferguson - of what was going on in the dressing room between the player and the manager.

'He told me of the possibility of buying the player. He said I was to call United immediately.

'As a result, it was full speed ahead for Lazio after that. We had to pull out all the stops as Real Madrid and Roma were interested as well.'


Daz

 

[Hands of Stone]

Only the Beginning

I thought it was crazy that wrestling superstars were able to have best sellers.

Now pro-athletes on this side of the pond will write or threaten to write books in order to get traded or get contract demands.

Stam has started something that is going to get ugly.

Good thing most of the NFL and NBA players can't write.

Next book out will be Beckham: Why I Should be the Highest Paid Player.

HOS~

 

[Fastshow]

spinning...

Right then Daz,

You're right to believe everything you read and not question anything nor formulate your own opinion of things. Always take the line of least resistance, anything else requires too difficult a level of obectivity. Fair enough. Why wouldn't Lazio put their own spin on things? They should clearly have just admitted they were getting a player whose best years are behind him. A bit like me though in Stam's case not so quite far behind. I miss being 12. Lazio's support would have loved to hear their Chairman come out with an honest opinion about their new signings waning powers.

This is getting dead boring, a bit like the atmosphere on that newly-promoted Div.1 side I wasted one season with but now can't even remember their name. Shame Beano wouldn't sign, eh? You could have used his personality.

Tigana has pulled off a fair sized coup ( at least that's what it says in the Evening Standard so it must be true) in the last 24 hours signing Stephen 'stevo' Marlet from Lyon. He should be in the side that takes on Monaco in a friendly this weekend for a tenner.

Switching over to Soccernet to get all the facts, Fastshow.

 

[dazza]

Think what you like

Published: 27 August 2001

'Tangled up in sky blue'
by "Red Kelly"

Bloody hell, look what happens - I go away for a few days and come back to chaos. Life has never been dull as a United supporter - there's always something going on, and this time it was the Jaapster's book.

It baffles me why footballers should want to release an autobiography before they have finished playing the game anyway. I understand they may be offered lucrative advances by publishers, but haven't they got enough money as it is? I mean - how much money do they need? And for someone like Stam to be encouraged to reveal his innermost opinions on fellow professionals who each depend on the other for their livelihoods was rash to say the least! To have talked about a pre transfer meeting with the Wizard without the knowledge of PSV, and thus depositing it in the public domain where anyone could then do what the hell they wanted with it, was slightly more than rash - it was bloody stupid!

The Old Trafford inner sanctum is sacrosanct while the team are together. Success is built on team spirit and interaction. It is a quality that exists at Manchester United in abundance and has been instilled in the players by the Wizard and it is paramount. Anyone who oversteps the line and betrays this trust must face the consequences. And in this case it seems it proved fatal.

The Jaapster has played his last game in the red shirt and is destined to play out the rest of his career in sky blue - got his just desserts then. No-one is bigger than the club and no-one can be allowed to get away with criticising specific team members however trivial the criticism is perceived to be. It disrupts that all important togetherness. Players are naturally entitled to their opinions, and there are always going to be disagreements, incompatabilities and dislikes, but they should not be made public. Team spirit cannot be compromised by anyone or results would be bound to suffer.

Veron and van Nistelrooy have both commented on the spirit within the club in the short time they have been with us - now they know that we are (and should be seen as) one big family. It's the Ferguson way - the United way - our way.

So, we mourn Stam's passing.

We'll never sing his song again.

But, 'We've got Wesley Brown.'

 

[Fastshow]

que?

Well what does 'sacrosanct' mean then cleverclogs? Now you're just trying to rubbish me and humiliate me by showing the world that you read books with bigger words in them than me. Offside. Laurent Blanc 'jetted' into Manchester today for 'showdown talks' with Sir Alex before the United gaffer 'swoops' in with a bid to his Italian club (despite the fact he'll come on a free). I'll bet you hadn't heard that the real reason Stam was shown the door was because he was the mastermind behind the Indonesian refugees highjacking the Norwegian cargo ship yesterday and attempting to get into Australia only to be rebuffed (and rightly so) by the only world leader worth the respect of TTP, Aussie Prime Minister John Howard. Find that on yer soccernet.com

Fulham's new signing 'Stevo' will not play against Monaco as he's been called up to play for les bleus against Chile. Shocker.

This 'net cafe is playing the Spice Girls at the moment and it's clearly fcuking up my head. Apologies if my comments have caused any offfence to the Indonesian refugee community of Vancouver.

 

[Ballbaby]

Beautiful stuff Dazza and Fasty!

Dazza, you hit on the nail with Stam. I lose some respect for individuals who prematurely scribe their autobiographies. It doesn't seem to serve a purpose other than to inflate their ego and wallets.

 

[sensei_hanson]

I'd take Fasty's theory one step further and say that in his own way, Fergie is trying to leave his stamp on the club in more ways than being the man who led them to the trebel in '99. The moves he has made for this season guarantee that if nothing else, he refuses to hand over a team full of players who are either currently peaking, or have seen their best days pass them by. One can only assume that both Van Nistelrooy and Veron will become reliable and effective offensive threats once they become accustomed to the pace and style of English football; and by dropping Staam, he opens the door for the likes of Brown, Silvestre and the young PSV hopeful (name eludes me at the moment) to step in and become the backs of the future.

If Blanc does come in, he will obviously be used at nothing more than a short-term solution, providing veteran experience to a youthful backline during european play. If Blanc does come to United and manages to stay on board any more than two seasons, it will come as a great shock. Despite still being regarded as a top-class defender and possessing a wealth of domestic and international football experience, he is 36 and was knocked from his starting spot in Italy. I think the goal is that his tutorial skills on Brown will work quickly and effectively to groom both he and the remainder of the United defensive core into a set 4 for the future.

end of rant.

 

[fast and low]

me!

guess who's back on TTP and raring to go?

 

[hedkandi]

Jaap Stam : head to Nowhere

well said Dazza, Fasty and Sensei.

Step aside Jaap, go sit yourself down and write a letter.
Maybe the guy does need the money. His play had fallen off and maybe his reward bonus didn't kick in and needed to support his 2 homes, many cars, yacht and private jet for his pet yorkshire terrier!

I would like to know your thoughts as to Alex Ferguson's replacement and are we ending the Man U. grip on English Football making way for the other Reds? Liverpool, are they next in line. Come on Chelsea, put your money where your mouth is. Oh Yes, I forgot, they have again by spending catrillions on any big name foreigner that is availible. Their scout must speak many languages.

I can just imagine the ticker tape when these footballers go on the transfer list, the Chelsea Scout must look down and say I'll take anything over 5 million.

Come on Bolton!

Will Woverhampton Wanderers ever get the top flight or are they destined to wander. (shitty, I know but I had to TTP)