Finnegan Posted 9 February 2011 Posted 9 February 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/london_2012/9391653.stm I hate this rubbish. I know a lot of you are a completely disaffected by the England national football team and I can completely understand why, most polls on club vs country on here pop up in favour of club. But still, this rubbish really does my nut. It should be the biggest honour for a player, to be able to go out and represent his country in the European Championships and the Olympics. Maybe I'm just more passionate about this because, my whole life, I've seen clubs like Man Utd interfere with my country's selection policy (last night was a prime example) but it's completely and utterly ridiculous.
davieG Posted 9 February 2011 Posted 9 February 2011 And yet the clubs are quite happy to go along with ever expanding UEFA club tournaments that result in pointless games. There needs to be a radical rethink on this and some of the pointless international friendlies but as FIFA, UEFA, the FAs and clubs all have the same selfish aim of £££££ for their pockets at the expense of the fans I doubt we'll see any significant changes.
Finnegan Posted 9 February 2011 Author Posted 9 February 2011 The clubs don't care if they play 205280528052 games a season, in fact they'd love it. All of this "congested fixture list" bollocks is rubbish. What they MEAN is "we paid a lot for this player, we don't want him playing for your poxy country."
davieG Posted 9 February 2011 Posted 9 February 2011 The clubs don't care if they play 205280528052 games a season, in fact they'd love it. All of this "congested fixture list" bollocks is rubbish. What they MEAN is "we paid a lot for this player, we don't want him playing for your poxy country." Agree and it pisses me off as well. Let's have winter break so we can play some lucrative games abroad. Let's play a 39th game to spread the word of the Premier League to make more money now and in the future. Why do we play so many games? Double talking bullshitters the lot of them.
Finnegan Posted 9 February 2011 Author Posted 9 February 2011 Together we'll change the world, davieG. One revolution at a time.
davieG Posted 9 February 2011 Posted 9 February 2011 Together we'll change the world, davieG. One revolution at a time. Something tells me we'd have more success in an area away from football though.
breadandcheese Posted 9 February 2011 Posted 9 February 2011 Actually, on this one, I back the clubs. The Olympics is for young players, who should not be expected to play two major tournaments and a full season. i don't think anyon can disagree that whilst they're young, they are still developing, so need to rest in order to ensure that they have a long career rather than suffer injury and burn-out that can ruin them. Michael Owen is a case in point. He burst onto the scene at 17, his game based around pace. Today, he is unable to play a full season and suffers from repeated muscle injuries. So really, if a young player is to play in the Olympics and the European Championships, they will need a break from their club football. As a football fan, if we had a young player of 21/22, who was capable of playing at both tournaments, I would want them playing week in, week out for Leicester.
Finnegan Posted 9 February 2011 Author Posted 9 February 2011 Actually, on this one, I back the clubs. The Olympics is for young players, who should not be expected to play two major tournaments and a full season. i don't think anyon can disagree that whilst they're young, they are still developing, so need to rest in order to ensure that they have a long career rather than suffer injury and burn-out that can ruin them. Michael Owen is a case in point. He burst onto the scene at 17, his game based around pace. Today, he is unable to play a full season and suffers from repeated muscle injuries. So really, if a young player is to play in the Olympics and the European Championships, they will need a break from their club football. As a football fan, if we had a young player of 21/22, who was capable of playing at both tournaments, I would want them playing week in, week out for Leicester. Michael Owen was shockingly managed by Liverpool, agree, but he's a rare example and we're not talking about an U17s tournament, here, we're talking about twenty two, twenty three year olds - many (most) of whom aren't likely to be playing first team games in Euro 2012 anyway. Take England as your example, out of a squad of 27 how many are actually eligible for the Olympics? Four - and it'll be three by next year, it's Joe Hart's 24th in April. Of that four, Theo Walcott is the only one who's likely to play a majority of games in both tournaments and do we really think, at twenty one, with years of first team experience behind him, Theo Walcott is a delicate flower that can't manage playing four or five extra international games for one season of his entire career? If there's a concern the players will burn out, the onus should be on the clubs to nurture them and give them ample rehabilitation when they return home. It's once every FOUR years and most players will only ever be eligible for one Olympics in their life time. It should be an honour for any professional sportsman, the clubs should be backing them. Edit: Just for reference, the average age of the Argentina squad that won gold in 2008 was (excluding Riquelme) approx 21, the youngest players were 19 (about four or five, of which Kun Aguero was one of the only starters.) Michael Owen, in contrast was playing thirty to fourty odd games a season from just after his seventeenth birthday as not only the leading light for Liverpool but, in addition, for England. He was always a tiny boy and Liverpool put far too much emphasis on his physical development and effectively ruined his body. It's happened elsehwere in sport, for players whose God-given bodies just never quite lived up to their sporting skills, see Johnny Wilkinson for further English disappointment.
shen Posted 9 February 2011 Posted 9 February 2011 Make the Olympics football tournament an amateur competition again. Problem solved.
Finnegan Posted 11 February 2011 Author Posted 11 February 2011 http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/England-are-to-declare-war-on-rule-bending-clubs-by-banning-players-who-fail-to-report-for-Three-Lions-duty-from-appearing-for-club-the-next-weekend-article694903.html Fantastic. The FAW should get involved fo sho.
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