[retired_bball3378]

A book recomendation - The Damned United which is about Brian Clough's 40 odd days at Leeds United. About 3/4 through and it's bloody brilliant...here's a little extract I've found:

The players’ lounge, Elland Road. Deep in the West Stand, off the main corridor. Round another corner. Two doors and a well stocked bar. Low ceiling and sticky carpet. Easy chairs and no windows, only mirrors. Mirrors, mirrors, on the walls. The smell of shampoo and Christmas aftershave as they file in from the dressing room in their denim and their leather, with their gold chains and their wet hair, teasing and touching, picking and pinching, a gang of apes after a ****, they form a circle, their heads as low as their knees in their easy chairs, they spread their legs and touch their balls and try not to look my way – My Way, indeed.

They are internationals, the bloody lot of them. Every last ****ing one of them –

Medals and trophies galore, these big, hard men in their tight, new clothes –

These big, hard and dirty men. These big, hard, dirty, old men now –

Old and nervous men. Their best years mostly behind them –

They are worried men. Frightened men. Just like me.

I pick a chair. Turn it round. I sit astride it, arms across the back. I say a prayer –

The Prayer to be said before a Fight at Sea against any Enemy …I say the prayer and then I begin, begin to say my piece:

“You lot might be wondering why I haven’t said much this week. The reason is I have been forming my own opinions. That is what I like to do. I don’t like listening to other people. But now I’ve formed my opinions and so, before I start working with you lot, there are a few things that need to be said about each of you –

O Most powerful and glorious Lord God …

“Harvey, you’re an international and an improvement on Gary Sprake,” I tell him. “But not much of one. The best teams are built on clean sheets. Clean sheets come from good keepers. Good keepers mean safe hands. So safe hands is what I want from you or I’ll go find myself a safer pair somewhere else.”

The Lord of hosts, that rule and command all things …

I turn to the two Pauls, Madeley and Reaney. I tell them, “Mr. Madeley you’ve played in every bloody position bar the ****ing keeper. Obviously Don couldn’t make up his mind. But I reckon it’s time you made a position your own, either that or I’ll do it for you and that might mean the bloody bench or the transfer list. Mr. Reaney, you’ve had one broken leg, missed one Cup Final and one World Cup – you’re not getting any younger, so look after yourself because in my opinion you deserve more bloody caps than the ones you’ve had.”

Thou sit in the throne judging right …

“No one in the game likes you,” I tell Hunter. “And I think you want to be liked.” Bites Yer Legs shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head. “I don’t give a ****.”
“I think you do.”
“I’m an established England international,” he says. “I really don’t give a ****.”

Therefore we make our address to thy Divine Majesty in this our necessity …
“Mr. William Bremner – you’re the captain and you’re a good one,” I tell him. “But you’re no good to the team and you’re no good to me if you’re suspended. I want discipline from my teams and, as the captain, I expect you to set the example.”

That thou would take the cause into thine own hand …

“And you’d do well to follow that example,” I tell Lorimer. “Because you know how I feel about you. How you harangue referees. How you fall over when you’ve not been touched. How you make a meal out of every tackle to try and get the other player booked. How you protest when you have nothing to ****ing protest about –”

“Nothing to protest about?” he says. “Them tackles that some of your lads at Derby give me? You expected me just to stand for that the whole bloody game?”

And judge between us and our enemies …

“As for you and the amount of injuries you’ve had,” I tell Eddie Gray. “If you’d been a bloody racehorse, you’d have been ****ing shot.”
Eddie Gray looks up at me, looks up at me with tears in his eyes. Eddie Gray says, “Didn’t an injury end your career?”
“Yes,” I tell him. “It bloody well did."
“Then you ought to understand how I feel.”

Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come and help us …
I turn to Michael Jones. I tell him, “Same goes for you, young man.”
For thou give not always the battle to the strong, but can save by many or few …
“Irishman, you’re another one with a terrible bloody reputation,” I tell John Giles. “God gave you intelligence, skill, agility and the best passing ability in the game. These are qualities which have helped to make you a very wealthy young man. What God did not give you was them six studs to wrap around someone else’s knee.”
“So bloody what?” he says. “People kick me, I ****ing kick them back.”
“Just remember,” I warn him. “It’s not my fault you didn’t get this job.”
“Relax, will you?” he says. “I didn’t want the job then and I don’t want it now.”
O let not our sins now cry against us for vengeance …
I point at McQueen and Jordan. I tell them, “You’ve both been to the World Cup and McQueen, you’ve had a good one. I liked what I saw but I want to see more of it.”
But hear us thy poor servants begging mercy, and imploring thy help …
“Mr. Cooper and Mr. Bates, they tell me you’re both finally fit again. Thank God! You’ll get your chance to prove yourselves to me tomorrow. Make sure you bloody do!”
That thou would be a defence unto us against the face of the enemy …
“Sniffer,” I tell Allan Clarke. “You scored eighteen goals last season. I want ****ing nineteen this season. At least ****ing nineteen! Understood?”
Sniffer grins. Sniffer nods. Sniffer Clarke salutes.
Make it appear that thou art our Saviour and mighty Deliverer …
I turn to the last three. I tell them, “Cherry, young Gray, Taff Yorath – it’s a long season ahead of us, lots of games ahead of us – so train hard, keep your noses clean, do things my way and you’ll have your chances. Up to you to make sure you bloody take them chances when they do come along.”

“Gentlemen, I might as well tell you now, you lot may have won all the domestic honours there are and some of the European ones but, as far as I am concerned, the first thing you can do for me is to chuck all your medals and all your caps and all your pots and all your pans into the biggest ****ing dustbin you can find, because you’ve never won any of them fairly. You’ve done it all by bloody cheating.”

“And there’s one other thing,” I tell them all, tell every last ****ing one of them. “I don’t ever want to hear the name of Don bloody ****ing Revie again. Never ever again. So the next player who does mention that bloody name again will spend his working week with the ****ing apprentices. Learning his lesson, whoever he bloody is, no matter who he ****ing is –

“Now bugger off home the lot of you.”

[retired_gozadera2007]

Leeds United?

Who are they?

[retired_abb1993]

so any truth in the Bardsley too Everton talk?

I think he is good enough for us tbh.

[why do we fart?]

According to reports on This is London, Everton boss David Moyes has agreed a £2m fee for Manchester United defender, Phil Bardsley.

The Blues boss has been given permission to speak to the 21 year old and contract negotiations are believed to be under way for the right back.

Having had loan spells at Royal Antwerp, Burnley, Rangers, and more recently, Aston Villa, Bardsley is clearly not part of Manchester United's plans, and will be relishing the chance to get some permanent first team action.

Having started his career as a central defender, he will have the required versatility factor that Moyes looks for in his players, while still giving Tony Hibbert a run for his money at right-back.

Shamelessly stolen from RedCafe.

[why do we fart?]

Of course, if I had read the thread;

Phil Bardsley's agent has rubbished reports that the defender is on the verge of signing for Everton.

The Sun newspaper claimed the Toffees had agreed a £2million deal with Manchester United for the versatile defender, but Bardsley's representative Des Wroe insisted the report was well wide of the mark.

Wroe said: "I don't know where this has come from.

"The same story has appeared in the papers for weeks now but it is complete nonsense."

The 21-year-old started last season on loan at Rangers but the move turned sour after a bust-up with boss Paul Le Guen.

He then moved back to the Premier League in January with Aston Villa but the club rejected the chance to make the deal permanent at the end of the season.

Please leave Phil

[retired_s. rosa]

little late.. but YAY!!!!

[retired_gozadera2007]

When are we getting these favourite ever United player results then eh?

Also, Spottswoode, who did you used to be?

[why do we fart?]

Nobody.

[retired_bball3378]

When are we getting these favourite ever United player results then eh?

Never probably.

[retired_gracie77]

Originally posted by markgood guy:
so any truth in the Bardsley too Everton talk?

I think he is good enough for us tbh.

Bardsley good enough for United? :eek:

Aston Villa didn't even want him, that just tells me somthing.