Been reading this site since it started thought I would finally take the plunge in an attempt to keep me entertained with the absence of any meaningful football for a while. I am also recently married and a father to baby Anton (born in July so no not after Ferdinand!) so don't get out much anymore. 
Supported our club since around 1995 and probably attended over 90% of our home games since and a few away every season.
The hot topic for now seems to be Joey Barton's ban so I will throw in my tuppence worth:
Ban was harsh based on an objective analysis of the incident(s) especially when compared to other comparable scenarios. However, if he was not our player many of us would think that he should be banned from football based on his 'CV' (imagine he was a Chelsea player!!). You can compare it to the totting up bookings in football where too many fouls = a yellow (you know when the referee points in a few random directions on the pitch!).
In a way the length of the ban is ideal in the sense that MH's decision to register him in the squad (assuming he stays) has been made for him and he will almost certainly only be added in DEC/JAN assuming there is no successful appeal. I also agree that the FA 's comment on the 'magnitude of the game' is completely irrelevant. Rules are rules. I guess what I'm trying to say is it is what it is so let's move on and put our club first.
On that note my concern is more based on his ability as a footballer, I couldn't care less if mother Theresa or Megatron played for us. You have to consider that his wages could be spent on 1 or even 2 top top players. I agree he showed was one of our better performers for the run-in and bossed a few home games in midfield and we might have gone down without him in the team for those games. However, IMHO he was pants for most the season. He was not a play-maker, not a ball winner, gave the ball away every other pass and most certainly was not a captain on or off the pitch. For these footballing reasons alone if the club can offload him through a transfer or a breach of contract clause he should go as I am confident our management team will use this extra budget to improve the quad as a whole. Granted I would pick him ahead of Derry or Buz but from a business stance they command a fraction of his salary. If there is no way to get rid of him without paying off his contract then he has to stay even if he is a squad player as we are not Man City!!
The guy gets too much column space, too much twitter tw*t and is a distraction to our great little club. I am afraid he thinks he is bigger than the club and that is a very dangerous thing. I would be happy to overlook all of the above if he was doing the business on the pitch but most of the time, he isn't. Also he will more than likely be sent off again next season do we really need that?
Wow what a rant my future posts will be shorter thank you and Goodnight!
Supported our club since around 1995 and probably attended over 90% of our home games since and a few away every season.The hot topic for now seems to be Joey Barton's ban so I will throw in my tuppence worth:
Ban was harsh based on an objective analysis of the incident(s) especially when compared to other comparable scenarios. However, if he was not our player many of us would think that he should be banned from football based on his 'CV' (imagine he was a Chelsea player!!). You can compare it to the totting up bookings in football where too many fouls = a yellow (you know when the referee points in a few random directions on the pitch!).
In a way the length of the ban is ideal in the sense that MH's decision to register him in the squad (assuming he stays) has been made for him and he will almost certainly only be added in DEC/JAN assuming there is no successful appeal. I also agree that the FA 's comment on the 'magnitude of the game' is completely irrelevant. Rules are rules. I guess what I'm trying to say is it is what it is so let's move on and put our club first.
On that note my concern is more based on his ability as a footballer, I couldn't care less if mother Theresa or Megatron played for us. You have to consider that his wages could be spent on 1 or even 2 top top players. I agree he showed was one of our better performers for the run-in and bossed a few home games in midfield and we might have gone down without him in the team for those games. However, IMHO he was pants for most the season. He was not a play-maker, not a ball winner, gave the ball away every other pass and most certainly was not a captain on or off the pitch. For these footballing reasons alone if the club can offload him through a transfer or a breach of contract clause he should go as I am confident our management team will use this extra budget to improve the quad as a whole. Granted I would pick him ahead of Derry or Buz but from a business stance they command a fraction of his salary. If there is no way to get rid of him without paying off his contract then he has to stay even if he is a squad player as we are not Man City!!
The guy gets too much column space, too much twitter tw*t and is a distraction to our great little club. I am afraid he thinks he is bigger than the club and that is a very dangerous thing. I would be happy to overlook all of the above if he was doing the business on the pitch but most of the time, he isn't. Also he will more than likely be sent off again next season do we really need that?
Wow what a rant my future posts will be shorter thank you and Goodnight!
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