European Football Thread

[The Man From G.O.P.]

I think it is fair to say that Harry Redknapp will not be the next England manager. Ahem.

Quite. Nothing proven yet, but you don't hire someone under active criminal investigation. End of.

Sheesh what a mess, if it had to be an English manager it would be him though, I hope he comes out clean but I don't think that will be the case, Jose looks like he's back in the hunt for the job so good times.

Good results for English clubs this week, have to have something to look forward to...

[afleitch]

Late winner for Celtic tonight Fingers crossed we can be in Europe past Christmas!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Sheesh what a mess, if it had to be an English manager it would be him though, I hope he comes out clean but I don't think that will be the case,

It would take nothing short of a miracle (or something extremely dodgy happening) for Redknapp to come out of this clean. He's as bent as hell and everyone knows it.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Sheesh what a mess, if it had to be an English manager it would be him though, I hope he comes out clean but I don't think that will be the case,

It would take nothing short of a miracle (or something extremely dodgy happening) for Redknapp to come out of this clean. He's as bent as hell and everyone knows it.

Yeah pretty much.

[Michael Z]

Sheesh what a mess, if it had to be an English manager it would be him though, I hope he comes out clean but I don't think that will be the case,

It would take nothing short of a miracle (or something extremely dodgy happening) for Redknapp to come out of this clean. He's as bent as hell and everyone knows it.

Indeed. My reaction was mainly one of "Well, whaddya know". I don't think anyone was in any way surprised by this.

[Tender Branson]

Euro 2008 Draw:

Group A:

Switzerland
Czech Republic
Portugal
Turkey

Group B:

Austria
Croatia
Germany
Poland

Group C:

Holland
Italy
Romania
France       

Group D:

Greece
Sweden
Spain
Russia

[Јas]

All eyes on Group C, anything could happen.
Group D is also wide open but with lesser quality.

Looking forward to it.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

All those groups look interesting imo... lets just hope it will be better than the previous international tournaments.

Early Prediction:
A1 vs B2 - Portugal vs Croatia
B1 vs A2 - Germany vs Switzerland
C1 vs D2 - France vs Sweden
D1 vs C2 - Spain vs Italy

W1 vs W2 - Croatia vs Germany
W3 vs W4 - Italy vs France

Final: Germany vs Italy

Though in reality this is just educated guessing.

[Gustaf]

Euro 2008 Draw:

Group A:

Switzerland
Czech Republic
Portugal
Turkey

Group B:

Austria
Croatia
Germany
Poland

Group C:

Holland
Italy
Romania
France       

Group D:

Greece
Sweden
Spain
Russia

Group C is a group of death if ever I saw one. My heart goes out to Romania who had a pretty good seeding group (being safe from Germany, Spain and Portugal) and yet ended up with ultra-tough competition. Fancy Holland and France ending up in the same group...

As for predictions, I'd predict the following teams to go through, in the order given:

A: Portugal, Switzerland (I really like the Czechs but they disappointed me real bad in the WC and Switzerland is underestimated. Hosts always do better, though less so in the EC than in the WC)

B: Germany, Croatia (looks like the safest prediction...Austria is, no offence to HarryHaller, by far the worse team in the tournament and Poland always suck once they get to the tournament. I don't see Germany and Croatia missing out)

C: France, Italy (have to go with my heart on this one. I'd prefer it to be France, Holland, but I won't go with my heart that much. I'm afraid it could well be Italy, France or Italy, Holland though...tough group to predict obviously)

D: Spain, Sweden (well...I had to predict Sweden don't I? We did get a fairly easy group which could easily have been a lot worse. Spain will probably take the top spot and it's pretty wide open behind them. I do think Greece is on its way down though. Surprise champions seldom do well in defending their title. Russia is simply quality-wise worse than Sweden. I have a bad feeling that we will end up doing badly this tournament but I won't go as far as predicting my home country getting knocked out when we shouldn't!)

That would give the same quarterfinals as Gully Foyle, I just realized! Great minds think alike...I think Portugal beats Croatia though and...we have almost exactly the same line-up as in the WC semi-finals. Hm. Seems very unlikely. Ok, let's go with Croatia. I have to predict France over Italy this time around though since I hate the Italian team and if it's France vs Germany in the final I'm happy with either team winning, really. I would expect Germany though, to be honest.

[Lief 🗽]

Group C is the best group of death ever.

Feeling really good about Germany's chances though.

[Јas]

While the English FA have went and nabbed Fabio Capello - a manager with a mostly very successful record at multiple clubs; Mark Lawrenson said on Today FM earlier today that he has it on 'very good authority' that the FAI have offered the Irish job to Terry Venables! (A man whose record has consistently gotten worse since his spell at Barcelona 20 years ago.)

So much for South Africa 2010...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Mark Lawrenson said on Today FM earlier today that he has it on 'very good authority' that the FAI have offered the Irish job to Terry Venables!

Lock your tills. Now.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Mark Lawrenson said on Today FM earlier today that he has it on 'very good authority' that the FAI have offered the Irish job to Terry Venables!

Lock your tills. Now.

Already way ahead of you...

I really don't understand this move (well actually I do, FAI desperation\anti-buckstoppingness.) and I can't get why anyone thinks Venables is a good coach. After his most recent appointments even the English rag media has stopped going "OMG VENABLES!!!111" every time the English managers position is up for grabs.

[Јas]

Giovanni Trapattoni appointed Ireland manager


Must say I'm quite happy with the appointment - particularly as Venables was the strong favourite up until about 2 weeks ago. Certainly Trapattoni is the most qualified candidate to have been seriously linked with the job.

First game in charge: Friendly v Serbia (Home) 24 May
First competitive game: World Cup Qualifier v Georgia (Away) 6 September 2008
Notable upcoming: World Cup Qualifier v Italy (Away) 6 June 2009

Here's hoping the good times will come again!

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Good move for the team, I hope this is the beginning of a turnaround for Ireland.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What the hell is happening to Newcastle?

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[minionofmidas]

Go Aberdeen!

[Robespierre's Jaw]

Giovanni Trapattoni appointed Ireland manager


Must say I'm quite happy with the appointment

Here's hoping the good times will come again!

We shall hopefully make the World Cup in 2010! Wasn't Mick McCarthy manager prior to the 2006 World Cup?

[Јas]

Giovanni Trapattoni appointed Ireland manager


Must say I'm quite happy with the appointment

Here's hoping the good times will come again!

We shall hopefully make the World Cup in 2010! Wasn't Mick McCarthy manager prior to the 2006 World Cup?

Prior to, during, and just after the 2002 World Cup (Korea/Japan) - the setting for the 2nd Irish Civil War. McCarthy was fired after a disaterous start to the Euro 2004 Qualifiers - though the fallout from Saipan meant it was probably inevitable anyway.

Then we had Brian Kerr who did okay-ish, but was unable to meet expectations. In 2006, Steve Staunton was appointed, who was simply incompetent and so let go late last year.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

I am so happy today. Manchester United thumped Arsenal 4-0 in the 5th round of the FA Cup. My Dad's boss will be so pissed off . Also, Barnsley defeated Liverpool 2-1. I wonder when Rafael Benítez will be sacked or decide to leave Liverpool, they have been underperforming this year.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

YES YES YES YES YES



Atta boy Lampard

[minionofmidas]

Tomorrow's the big day - tomorrow will be the day I've been waiting for all year, and that has seemed so tantalizingly close several times - tomorrow Bayern will be finally eliminated from the UEFA Cup!

[Robespierre's Jaw]

It will be interesting to see Manchester United and Chelsea fight for the Champions League in Moscow. Hopefully United will win the Champions League and the Premier League as well .

BTW: Is it me or is Newcastle winning some games under Keegan? I know my Dad and I are shocked.

[GMantis]

Tomorrow's the big day - tomorrow will be the day I've been waiting for all year, and that has seemed so tantalizingly close several times - tomorrow Bayern will be finally eliminated from the UEFA Cup!

Well this should do it - I don't think any team, even a German has ever overcome a  four-goal lead in an European competition.
Though if it were Liverpool, I wouldn't discount them...

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Munich was some level of awful I've never seen, how embarrassing.