The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[Colly]

In real news, Fabricio Coloccini is new Newcastle club captain.

Super . Fantastic decision, and hopefully means at least he stays for another season and possibly influences Jonas and Jose to do the same. Maybe.

Supposedly with some translation fun Etihad translates directly to Union, meaning City are more or less now playing at the United Stadium.

[IAceI]

You work for the Sun with tenuous links like that?

[Colly]

They're both quite bad to be fair, the first is blind optimism, the seconds not far off though, the implication of union is there...

[IAceI]

Was just referring to the second part to be honest. Mind you The Sun would do a much better job of blowing it massively out of proportion already.

Regarding the first, well, surely telling Jonas to stay would undo the good work of telling Enrique to stay?

[Lineker]

Chris Smalling has signed a new five-year deal at Man U.

[Starvinho]

Chris Smalling has signed a new five-year deal at Man U.

I bet a nice little pay rise for the lad too after last season's performances, good news all around for us this Summer so far. I can see Smalling and Jones being a formidable partnership in a few years time, for both club and country hopefully.

[Colly]

Was just referring to the second part to be honest. Mind you The Sun would do a much better job of blowing it massively out of proportion already.

Regarding the first, well, surely telling Jonas to stay would undo the good work of telling Enrique to stay?

I'd launch into the usual diatribe against our own fans about how Barton wouldn't have been able to work the right wing without the graft of Jonas making space for him whilst scaring full backs to death, but since I'm on me phone I'll summarise to 'fuck off, Jonas is mint!'. Love him.

[Twist]

I managed to get back home this year and while I was there watched us against Wolves. I was never the biggest fan of Jonas but watching him score that splendid goal right at the end won me over.

[Lineker]

Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher will miss the club's pre-season tour of the United States.

The 27-year-old has made only one start since 1 March after being struck down by a virus.

"Darren will remain at Carrington to undergo a conditioning programme given he missed a large proportion of last season," said a club spokesman.

"We want to give him the best opportunity to be fully fit for the start of the new season."

Fletcher lost a significant amount of weight thanks to the virus and the club hope the Scotland captain could be involved in Paul Scholes' testimonial against New York Cosmos on 5 August, or the Community Shield two days later.

"We tried to accelerate things and we feel a reduction in the amount of time Darren spends travelling will help him achieve this," added the spokesman.

"[Missing the tour] will help him catch up fitness-wise to the levels of the rest of the team."

With Fletcher missing, manager Sir Alex Ferguson will take an initial squad of 21 with him on Monday.

Of his three new signings, only England international Ashley Young will be on board, having taken the number 18 shirt vacated by Scholes' retirement.

[Starvinho]

Sky Sports Live games have been announced for the first few months of the season;

AUGUST

Sun 14: Stoke v Chelsea (1.30pm)

Sun 14: West Brom v Man Utd (4pm)

Mon 15: Man City v Swansea (8pm)

Sat 20: Arsenal v Liverpool (12.45pm)

Sun 21: Bolton v Man City (4pm)

Mon 22: Man Utd v Tottenham (8pm)

Sat 27: Aston Villa v Wolverhampton (12.05pm)

Sat 27: Liverpool v Bolton (5.30pm)

Sun 28: Man Utd v Arsenal (4pm)

SEPTEMBER

Sun 11: Norwich v West Brom (1.30pm)

Sun 11: Fulham v Blackburn (4pm)

Mon 12: QPR v Newcastle (8pm)

Sat 17: Blackburn v Arsenal (12.45pm)

Sun 18: Tottenham v Liverpool (1.30pm)

Sun 18: Man Utd v Chelsea (4pm)

Sat 24: Man City v Everton (12.45pm)

Sun 25: QPR v Aston Villa (4pm)

Mon 26: Norwich v Sunderland (8pm)

OCTOBER

Sat 1: Everton v Liverpool (12.45pm)

Sun 2: Bolton v Chelsea (1.30pm)

Sun 2: Tottenham v Arsenal (4pm)

Sat 15: Liverpool v Man Utd (12.45pm)

Sun 16: Man City v Aston Villa (1.30pm)

Sun 16: Newcastle v Tottenham (4pm)

Sat 22: Wolverhampton v Swansea (12.45pm)

Sun 23: Man Utd v Man City (1.30pm)

Sun 23: QPR v Chelsea (4pm)

Sat 29: Chelsea v Arsenal (12.45pm)

Sun 30: Tottenham v QPR (4pm)

Mon 31: Stoke v Newcastle (8pm)

NOVEMBER

Sat 5: Newcastle v Everton (12.45pm)

Sun 6: Wolverhampton v Wigan (1.30pm)

Sun 6: Fulham v Tottenham (4pm)

Sat 19: Norwich v Arsenal (12.45pm)

Sun 20: Chelsea v Liverpool (4pm)

Mon 21: Tottenham v Aston Villa (8pm)

Sun 27: Swansea v Aston Villa (1.30pm)

Sun 27: Liverpool v Man City (4pm)

Mon 28: Stoke v Blackburn (8pm)

[IAceI]

Only on once and it's away, so no 3pm home matches rescheduled by the looks of it. Although the derby will probably be moved in some form for police reasons.

That's alright then.

[Colly]

August

Saturday 13th Newcastle United v Arsenal 4:45pm

Saturday 20th Chelsea v West Bromwich Albion 4:45pm

Sunday 28th Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City 12:45pm

September

Saturday 10th Bolton Wanderers v Manchester United 4:45pm

Saturday 24th Stoke City v Manchester United 4:45pm

October

Saturday 15th Chelsea v Everton 4:45pm

Saturday 22th Liverpool v Norwich City 4:45pm

Saturday 29th West Bromwich Albion v Liverpool 4:45pm

November

Saturday 19th Swansea City v Manchester United 4:45pm

Saturday 26th Arsenal v Fulham 4:45pm

ESPN too. So pleased, I'm off on my hols on Sunday 14th so was dreading missing Newcastle Arsenal if it got moved to the Sunday, late kickoff Friday is fine and dandy.

Edit: Ace, the derbies already been moved to Saturday lunchtime supposedly. Second year in a row the SoL game hasn't been televised, no doubt SJP will again, thankfully I'm still away so should get it on my Dads hooky Spanish cable...

Edited July 11, 2011 by Colly

[Baddar]

Can't wait for the first weekend of televised games. A tricky one for Chelsea at Stoke, United's game to follow, and then one I planned on finding a way to watch by whatever means neccesary on the Monday.

I gather ESPN will have an evening game on Sat 13th?

[Baddar]

Heh, just saw Colly's post - 4-4, please!

[IAceI]

Times shown (coz I'm angry and all that) - nah, obviously a minimum amount of games each team has to be shown. Luckily for us they'll mostly be of our usual post-Christmas crash. ¬_¬

Also my count up was very quickly done. Lunch break and all that. So if there's any mistakes, I don't give a damn.

Liverpool - 9

Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham - 8

Man City - 7

Aston Villa, Newcastle - 5

Stoke, West Brom, Swansea, Bolton, QPR, Everton, Norwich - 4

Wolves, Fulham, Blackburn - 3

Sunderland, Wigan - 1

[Baddar]

Sunderland and Wigan do play shit football, to be fair.

[Colly]

Times shown (coz I'm angry and all that) - nah, obviously a minimum amount of games each team has to be shown. Luckily for us they'll mostly be of our usual post-Christmas crash. ¬_¬

Also my count up was very quickly done. Lunch break and all that. So if there's any mistakes, I don't give a damn.

Liverpool - 9

Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham - 8

Man City - 7

Aston Villa, Newcastle - 5

Stoke, West Brom, Swansea, Bolton, QPR, Everton, Norwich - 4

Wolves, Fulham, Blackburn - 3

Sunderland, Wigan - 1

Nope, your counting was spot on. Newcastle 5 - 1 Sunderland.

[IAceI]

Yep, the way we passed it around Man Utd at the SoL last season was heart breaking. Zenden hitting the post late on, would have given us our deserved win.

In all seriousness; we usually play our shittest football when on television. (The 0-0 draws agaisnt Stoke and Blackburn on Mondays night... shudder) So it's a bit of a double-edged sword. Hopefully not being on TV and a third consecutive good start to the season is in order for this year.

@ Colly, ah, curses. I see their fiendish plan now. Very cunning.

Really though, they need to get the derby matches back on TV.

Edited July 11, 2011 by IAceI

[Baddar]

I was messing with you. I'm a bit pissed Liverpool are on more than Utd, but that'll change as the season goes on and the scousers are stuck in mid-table mediocrity.

[IAceI]

And I, you.

I honestly didn't expect anything different. Although it did make me think "are we really just viewed at the same level as Wigan?" sort of, but ah well. The suits know what attracts and we have to remember the majority of people who watch on a Saturday unfortunately aren't the knowledgable, and instead can't spell their own name properly.

And, as a bonus, our TV revenue system is a hell of a lot fairer than Spains, for example. So it's still good. We'll be on however many times this season and I'll watch (assuming I'm not at the match), so that's fine. It's just a shame it's like last year and we aren't on a lot early doors when we seem to play better, and are instead probably going to be shown after another likely form capitulation and - as it stands - Monday night away at Norwich which has 0-0 all over it already. ¬_¬