The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Spurs fans really loved Martin Jol:

I was gutted when he was fired for that geezer who gave us our worst league start ever.

Maybe we liked him because he was good at upsetting Wenger.

[IAceI]

Aye, good ole Ramos. What was it again, 2 points in 8 games? Can't remember why that sticks in my mind, must have heard it once or twice from the next manager I suppose..

[Lineker]

Martin Jol is a wonderful man. He has no hair, but we just did not care.

England players Theo Walcott and Peter Crouch have called for a winter break during the Premier League season.

England manager Fabio Capello said fatigue was partly to blame for the 2-2 draw in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland on Saturday.

And on Tuesday, Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere said he had experienced a "crazy year" of football.

"It will have to come in at some point. Why not? It can't do any harm," Walcott, also of Arsenal, told BBC Sport.

"We love playing football, but it is a long season. Not just physically, but mentally as well, it's nice to have a break.

"I know in Spain and Italy they have a break ... when it comes to the tournaments, we do seem to look a little bit tired."

Tottenham striker Crouch, speaking at the launch of the Football Association's Just Play initiative, added: "It is a long, hard season, what with European games and international games.

"Our league is probably the toughest about - even if you're playing one of the bottom sides you're still in for a real hard game, you're playing tough games week in, week out.

"So all the players and managers and coaches would be behind a winter break, without a doubt. A lot of other countries have it and they seem to have faired a lot better over recent years in World Cup and European Championship campaigns."

The Premier League is expected to come under pressure to impose a winter break when the select committee for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport report their findings into football governance later this month.

However, the Premier League, which is keen to see the traditional Christmas and New Year fixtures protected, has previously stated it has no intention of introducing a mid-season break.

Capello has repeatedly called for a winter break since taking over as England boss in 2008, while Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson renewed his call for a winter break following his side's defeat to Barcelona in last month's Champions League final.

[Pesci]

Jol is definitely a good appointment for Fulham. I think he'll find it hard to do better than Hodgson or Hughes in the immediate future but give him a season or two to build a squad and he can have them challenging the likes of Everton and Villa for a top 8 spot. Sadly that's as high as a team like that can be aiming in this age of squad football.

Edited June 7, 2011 by Pesci

[EddieG]

Aye, good ole Ramos. What was it again, 2 points in 8 games? Can't remember why that sticks in my mind, must have heard it once or twice from the next manager I suppose..

2 points in 10 iirc, and the joke was the difference between Spurs and a triangle was that a triangle has 3 points.

[Guest Neon Noodle]

1) Manchester United

2) Chelsea

3) Arsenal

4) Manchester City

5) Spurs

6) Everton

7) Liverpool

8) Newcastle

9) Sunderland

10) Aston Villa

11) Fulham

12) Bolton

13) Stoke

14) QPR

15) Wigan

16) Blackburn

17) West Brom

18) Swansea

19) Norwich

20) Wolves

[The Quasi Juice]

Wonderful appointment for Fulham with Jol. He never really deserved to go from Tottenham in my opinion, and I think his style and philosophies will suit Fulham down to the ground. Wasn't he meant to be manager last season though, and then at the last minute pulled out? I know this time he's definitely here, but it seems strange that he turned down Fulham for Ajax, then quit Ajax a few months later, and now Fulham are apparently an attractive proposition to him...

Well, he was close to signing with Fulham, it was a pretty hot item in Dutch football back then. However, when the Ajax board promised he'd get money to sign some players, he said he'd stay at Ajax. So either it was a ploy to make the Ajax board give him extra money for transfers or he just wanted to leave and didn't think they would grant his wishes and when they did, he just had to stay. Regardless, he did pretty poo. Frank de Boer took over mid-way and led Ajax to their first title in around 7 seasons

I think Jol fits English football more though.

Edited June 7, 2011 by The Quasi Juice

[Lineker]

Harry Redknapp has come out and said the England job could tempt him away from Tottenham. In other words, he wants it, stop beating around the bush!

[britneyspearsisgod]

SOOOOOOOOOOO... that prediction about Fulham being relegated is looking slightly foolish now

Swap them for whoever you want. I still call Manchester City to win the league.

[Baddar]

The only League Man City are winning is the Europa, after they fail miserably in the group stages of the CL.

[britneyspearsisgod]

The only league they WON'T win will be YOUR FACE

I don't know where I was going with that.

[Summers]

It appears that Rafa and Hughes are now highly linked to take the Villa job. Fans of teams these guys have managaed, what is your opinion on them?

[Pesci]

Rafa took us from a horrible squad left by Houllier to genuine title challengers and massive games in Europe against the likes of Barca, Inter, Real, Milan and Chelsea where we came out on top - where we didn't even feel like underdogs. He made us feel like an actual world class team. He made huge profits on players like Alonso and Mascherano and had a strange knack for making a profit on flops, and generally when he did spend big money the players came good - Keane not withstanding, but since we sold him back we only lost like 7m on that. All this while dealing with horrible owners. Despite a dodgy final season I honestly couldn't recommend him enough and I still don't understand why the media hated him for the entire time he was there.

Edited June 8, 2011 by Pesci

[Starvinho]

My predicted table;

1. Man Utd

2. Man City

3. Chelsea

4. Liverpool

5. Arsenal

6. Tottenham

7. Villa

8. Bolton

9. Everton

10. Newcastle

11. Wigan

12. WBA

13. Stoke

14. Sunderland

15. OPR

16. Fulham

17. Blackburn

18. Norwich

19. Wolves

20. Swansea

Obviously I'm not going against United winning the league again, I can see City getting closer though, Liverpool having a good season and Arsenal falling away from the top 4. I think Wigan may be a suprise package next season, they have a good manager and with a couple a decent signings they could avoid the relegation commotion altogether. Blackburn will struggle unless they get all this money they've been promised and buy some very good players. I didn't want to say all three promoted teams will go down, but that could easily happen. I think QPR should just be ok though.

Suprise player of the season? Jermaine Beckford. I'm gonna predict 20+ goals for him next season. Also if Danny Sturridge stays at Chelsea he won't get 20, if he moves to Bolton or someone alike, then yes he'll get 20 no problem!

[DavidMarrio]

Rafa took us from a horrible squad left by Houllier to genuine title challengers and massive games in Europe against the likes of Barca, Inter, Real, Milan and Chelsea where we came out on top - where we didn't even feel like underdogs. He made us feel like an actual world class team. He made huge profits on players like Alonso and Mascherano and had a strange knack for making a profit on flops, and generally when he did spend big money the players came good - Keane not withstanding, but since we sold him back we only lost like 7m on that. All this while dealing with horrible owners. Despite a dodgy final season I honestly couldn't recommend him enough and I still don't understand why the media hated him for the entire time he was there.

This.

The fact we won the Champions League with the squad we did, the fact that he took us to our best league position and our best chance of winning the title (we should have won it but blew it) The games he's won such as Man.U 4-1 at Old Trafford, Real Madrid 4-1 at Anfield, beating Barca at the Nou Camp etc etc he's a good manager who just well the English press hate him. The final season was a let down but two Champions League finals, our best title challenge and a FA Cup i think he's a good choice. He'll do well with Villa I think.

The only criticism I would have of him is he can be stubborn. There was times in the final season that everyone else could see he'd have to change it up a bit but he just didn't, players like Yossi should have been starting as at the time he was one of our better players but he wouldn't and from hearing from players who have been under him that he can be hard to please cause of his stance the players might respond to it but anyone looking for the manager to just praise them constantly will be in for a shock. Think it was in Carraghers autobiography he said the contrast between him and Houllier was completely different.

[Matt]

My predicted table;

1. Man Utd

2. Man City

3. Chelsea

4. Liverpool

5. Arsenal

6. Tottenham

7. Villa

8. Bolton

9. Everton

10. Newcastle

11. Wigan

12. WBA

13. Stoke

14. Sunderland

15. OPR

16. Fulham

17. Blackburn

18. Norwich

19. Wolves

20. Swansea

Obviously I'm not going against United winning the league again, I can see City getting closer though, Liverpool having a good season and Arsenal falling away from the top 4. I think Wigan may be a suprise package next season, they have a good manager and with a couple a decent signings they could avoid the relegation commotion altogether. Blackburn will struggle unless they get all this money they've been promised and buy some very good players. I didn't want to say all three promoted teams will go down, but that could easily happen. I think QPR should just be ok though.

Suprise player of the season? Jermaine Beckford. I'm gonna predict 20+ goals for him next season. Also if Danny Sturridge stays at Chelsea he won't get 20, if he moves to Bolton or someone alike, then yes he'll get 20 no problem!

I'll donate 50 quid to a charity of your choice if that happens - I assume we're talking Premier League goals, here. If you watch him over an entire season (as I have 3 times, 2 divisions lower than the Premier League), his finishing is a lot worse than his goal tallies would suggest - he needs 5-6 good chances before he'll stick one away, he did well last season - better than I expected - but he's not a 20 goal a season player at Premiership level. Plus - although it doesn't affect his goalscoring in a negative way - he is a very selfish player, opting to take difficult shots when playing the ball to a teammate was a far better option; it's no coincidence that in the spell he was out of our side in 09/10 and this season that Becchio, Gradel, Howson and Snodgrass got a lot more goals.

[Baddar]

Tip: Do not call out Jordan over 20 goal a season strikers.

[Pesci]

Sturridge got 8 league goals last season and 17 in all competitions. When somebody says "20 goals" I immediately think of just the league, so depending on your interpretation Jordan's prediction was either sage or completely out there

[R.W.]

Can't be bothered with the rest of the league, I'll just say Blackburn will finish 11th or 12th, even if they don't buy anyone new.

[Starvinho]

When I say 20 I mean in all comps, getting 20 league goals is hard enough for the top strikers these days. I know what you mean about Beckford needing alot of chances, but his movement is always very good and he always seems to be in the right positions. He just needs to start converting, and I think he will next season. I very well might be wrong but I like a good prediction me!