An interesting theory from Souness on England

[Head Honcho]

Correct to a certain extent

Graeme Souness signed former Celtic player Mo Johnston, in 1989, Rangers were said by him to have had an "unwritten policy"^[38] of not signing any player who was Catholic;^[39] although Johnston was by no means the first Catholic to sign for the club,^[40] he was the first openly Catholic, high-profile player to sign for them since World War I

John Spencer signed for Rangers 4 years before Mo Johnstone arrived at the club.

Although he signed on as a schoolboy it was well known that he was a catholic at the time.

[Sparky]

John Spencer signed for Rangers 4 years before Mo Johnstone arrived at the club.

Although he signed on as a schoolboy it was well known that he was a catholic at the time.

Ah fair enough, i presume thats the John Spencer who went on to play for Chelsea ?

[Head Honcho]

Ah fair enough, i presume thats the John Spencer who went on to play for Chelsea ?

That's the one

Everyone assumes the Mo was the first but there have been many catholics play for Rangers.......................many of then inadvertently it must be said

The general rule used to be that Rangers would not sign a boy that went to a catholic school and as not all catholics go to catholic schools there were obviously a few that slipped through the net.

[poopbutt]

Yeah he says it takes 4 weeks until your body stops struggling and starts benefiting from the altitude. England went to Austria on the 17th of May, so shouldve hit form about last Monday according to his own theory.

i don't think so, look at the the height of where they trained in Austria comapred to SA. i mentioned this a few weeks ago, that in an article i read about the altitude training. someone in the comments section wrote about how he worked for a company that handled altitude trianing and it's effects and said that their training in Austria was worthless. he could of been talking shit, but i wouldn't dismiss souness just yet. the team definitely look drained, both mentally and physically.

heres something i found quickly.

Pullen does say that despite the fortnight in the Alps, conditions were not perfect as the ideal stepping stone to Rustenburg, which is much higher than Irdning. “Austria was in all the newspapers as being an altitude training camp. In reality they were at 600m. But they did use an altitude kit, which simulates higher altitudes. So in Austria they had access to testing equipment to have their bodies physiologically adapted to the higher altitude they’ll experience in South Africa. But what they haven’t done is prepare for the dynamics of how the ball will move differently, and the drier air – the environmental conditions they’ll find in Rustenburg.”

http://www.go2altitude.com/blog/

[poopbutt]

I agree, it must have something to do with it, but then again it's been the same for Algeria and The USA.

Although both of these countries have high altitudes they don't play at high altitude and as far as I'm aware haven't prepared any different to the English.

If the 3 week issue is true then the FA have made a monumental fvck up in not allowing the players to adapt to altitude before the tournament started.................saying that I can't see fans of the top clubs being too pleased about losing their England players a few weeks before the end of the season either!

the USA didn't train at altitude, but had experince from the Confeds

[CupidStunt]

In real real trouble eh souness?

LMFAO, throws that theory out the window with a pretty decent performance yesterday if you ask me

maybe he was talking about the ital's or the french

[Webbo]

In real real trouble eh souness?

LMFAO, throws that theory out the window with a pretty decent performance yesterday if you ask me

maybe he was talking about the ital's or the french

Maybe the effect of altitude have worn off now and now we are starting to feel the benefits.

[Edmund]

Maybe Souness is talking out of his arse.