Are we really still trying to take the moral high ground here, given what's happening with the SA game now? Give the guy a break I reckon.
Chris Wood (Nottingham Forest | England)
Are we really still trying to take the moral high ground here, given what's happening with the SA game now? Give the guy a break I reckon.
Agreed. Get over yourselves people. 22 year old has opportunity to have a couple of weeks holiday with mates or fly to the other side of the world to play pointless game. What would you choose? Our qualification for Russia 2018 does not rest on what happens at Mt Smart in 1 week
Personally I have no issue with Wood doing it. He has been up front about it. Tommy Smith is the one thats been a cock with his communication around it and that's gotten backs up.
In what way? It seemed like he spoke to the NZFA and confirmed with them that it was ok, and then released it via the Ipswich Town website - the club that pays his wages. I am not sure if you were expecting everyone in NZ who was disapointed with the decision to get a hand written note from the guy before it was public, but it seems like he did it in a completely upfront way. Thinking about it, he could have cried off with an injury (no league games at the time, so he wouldn't have had El Grap and 2nd Best jumping about, waving the FIFA rulebook about and slobbering about "stand-down periods") but decided to go with honesty.
Three words: All Black sabatical.
Are we really still trying to take the moral high ground here, given what's happening with the SA game now? Give the guy a break I reckon.
Agreed. Get over yourselves people. 22 year old has opportunity to have a couple of weeks holiday with mates or fly to the other side of the world to play pointless game. What would you choose? Our qualification for Russia 2018 does not rest on what happens at Mt Smart in 1 week
Not that pointless. How many games this year will the All Whites play in NZ? Does it come down to: how important are the All Whites (in a wider sporting landscape, to football people and NZF's goals for the sport)? Do we really care about them other than in WC mode?
That's one thing I do like about rugby, no such things as friendlies. Terrible term, 'friendlies'.
Not sure the all blacks example is that helpful, at least as a direct comparison. Firstly, it's extremely year that the all blacks play anyone outside of the top 10 ranked countries. Secondly internationals only every happen in two windows every year. So combine those two things and the All Whites v SA example would be more akin to asking an all black to make himself available in mid-January for a game against Romania. Thirdly (not that this necessarily should be relevant, but it inevitably is) there's no conflict between a player's employer and their national federation, as they're essentially the same thing for anyone in the frame for all blacks selection.
Not sure the all blacks example is that helpful, at least as a direct comparison. Firstly, it's extremely year that the all blacks play anyone outside of the top 10 ranked countries. Secondly internationals only every happen in two windows every year. So combine those two things and the All Whites v SA example would be more akin to asking an all black to make himself available in mid-January for a game against Romania. Thirdly (not that this necessarily should be relevant, but it inevitably is) there's no conflict between a player's employer and their national federation, as they're essentially the same thing for anyone in the frame for all blacks selection.
+Old fashioned this
All the contracts are centralised and so far the national body has managed to keep clubs and their own private identities and money splashing competitions within the NZRFU umbrella.
It's also the reason why rugby is able to maintain popularity. The fans know who the players are and can watch them play at home. Most New Zealanders would have never heard of Chris Wood in all likelihood.
I think for a home game players should be making that a priority. They would all be willing to play if we had a World Cup to go to. However, I don't want to criticise Chris too much because he is 22 and has already played 34 times for New Zealand. He was our best player at the OFC Nations Cup debacle. As long as he is available for the World Cup qualifiers then he deserves some leniency. Ryan Nelsen is regarded as a hero but he didn't play for us for years. Same deal with Rufer.
It's also the reason why rugby is able to maintain popularity. The fans know who the players are and can watch them play at home. Most New Zealanders would have never heard of Chris Wood in all likelihood.
I think for a home game players should be making that a priority. They would all be willing to play if we had a World Cup to go to. However, I don't want to criticise Chris too much because he is 22 and has already played 34 times for New Zealand. He was our best player at the OFC Nations Cup debacle. As long as he is available for the World Cup qualifiers then he deserves some leniency. Ryan Nelsen is regarded as a hero but he didn't play for us for years. Same deal with Rufer.
Not sure the all blacks example is that helpful, at least as a direct comparison. Firstly, it's extremely year that the all blacks play anyone outside of the top 10 ranked countries. Secondly internationals only every happen in two windows every year. So combine those two things and the All Whites v SA example would be more akin to asking an all black to make himself available in mid-January for a game against Romania. Thirdly (not that this necessarily should be relevant, but it inevitably is) there's no conflict between a player's employer and their national federation, as they're essentially the same thing for anyone in the frame for all blacks selection.
It's also the reason why rugby is able to maintain popularity. The fans know who the players are and can watch them play at home. Most New Zealanders would have never heard of Chris Wood in all likelihood.
I think for a home game players should be making that a priority. They would all be willing to play if we had a World Cup to go to. However, I don't want to criticise Chris too much because he is 22 and has already played 34 times for New Zealand. He was our best player at the OFC Nations Cup debacle. As long as he is available for the World Cup qualifiers then he deserves some leniency. Ryan Nelsen is regarded as a hero but he didn't play for us for years. Same deal with Rufer.
Actually rugby crowds have been way down in recent seasons and fans are disgruntled with the absence of All Blacks players from provincial sides.
Central control by the Rugby Union means All Blacks are pulled from playing for their provinces - the Rugby Union is seen as having too much power vs. the provincial sides and franchises.
In this opinion piece Duncan Garner really gets stuck in to the Rugby Union:
http://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/comment/9906089/Not-so-super-rugby
[Condensed version edited by me below]
NOT SO SUPER RUGBY
"Gidday Steve, long time, no see. I'm writing to tell you I'm really bored with Super Rugby this year. It's putting me to sleep, mate. Seriously, I've fallen asleep on the couch twice this year watching it live on the telly...
...I'm usually at the games – but yeah, nah – can't be bothered these days. It's tedious, bloody dull and I reckon it's hugely over-rated now.
...For a start the big name players aren't always on the field. Fans have lost faith. We don't know who will turn out. I personally refuse to fork out big money to see development players – we want the real deal.
Dan Carter is on some celebrity "selfie" tour overseas so he can make the next World Cup and as a result the Crusaders look awful....
...Just 8066 turned up for the Hurricanes-Brumbies match on March 7 and 7666 for the Cheetahs the week after that.
You could play the games at Newtown Park, it would save you money.
Westpac Stadium is too big for Super 15 now. A distinctly average Phoenix side lured 9431 fans to the stadium earlier this year.
...Fans have been taken for granted – and you're seeing it at the turnstiles.
There's so much focus on the All Blacks and the elite side of rugby that it's killing the Super 15.
...New Zealand rugby has become dominated by one team, the All Blacks, and the smell of cash.
Don't get me wrong – I love the All Blacks. But I used to love the Super 15 too."
But soccer crowds have been down too. We have just lost the culture of going to games. I don't think it is controversial in the slightest to say that rugby players are seen as more representative of New Zealanders. The All Blacks do things like go play Bridge at retirement homes in Waimate and participate in gumboot throwing in Taihape. The All Whites don't do those things because the players are very rarely bothered about playing for their international side. Even when Ryan Nelsen was captain of Blackburn (pre 2010) I bet he could walk down Queen St and not get recognised once. I'm not having a go at NZ Football - it is how the sport is set up and they have no control over it. I don't think most New Zealanders actually identify very strongly with their national team and that goes back to a player like Ryan Nelsen treating it as unimportant.
You could even make the argument that more New Zealanders identify as football fans than rugby fans but it is actually meaningless because those people do not buy merchandise of New Zealand teams, do not go to New Zealand football games (at any level) and do not watch New Zealand football games on TV. If football isn't currently then I can definitely see it becoming the more popular sport but that will never matter because the All Blacks are just always going to be more important than the All Whites.
The ITM Cup is now a semi-pro competition but at least every major population centre in New Zealand has an established pathway for young talent. If you look across the board even the lesser provinces are producing talent. You can't fit in ITM Cup/Super Rugby and the All Blacks and expect players to play all 3. The ITM Cup is like the Championship in England - football over there would not be the same without it.
But soccer crowds have been down too. We have just lost the culture of going to games. I don't think it is controversial in the slightest to say that rugby players are seen as more representative of New Zealanders. The All Blacks do things like go play Bridge at retirement homes in Waimate and participate in gumboot throwing in Taihape. The All Whites don't do those things because the players are very rarely bothered about playing for their international side. Even when Ryan Nelsen was captain of Blackburn (pre 2010) I bet he could walk down Queen St and not get recognised once. I'm not having a go at NZ Football - it is how the sport is set up and they have no control over it. I don't think most New Zealanders actually identify very strongly with their national team and that goes back to a player like Ryan Nelsen treating it as unimportant.
However, the All Whites often still do their bit - Ben Sigmund has been travelling around NZ the last few weeks with the u-20 World Cup trophy, Ryan Thomas has been on the TV news visiting his old football academy (Ole in Wellington) and coaching the kids for a week (newspaper reports said he headed for Ole Academy before even visiting his parents, who had to travel to Wellington to meet him).
I live in Christchurch and Ryan Nelsen was certainly one of the most prominent sportspeople involved in visiting Chch immediately after the quakes. He was given permission by Blackburn Rovers to travel back to Chch and was back here within a week of the February quake and was out helping with junior football training, shovelling silt with the Student Army and visiting relief centres.
Players are generally only released by clubs for FIFA windows (or official FIFA tournaments like the World Cup) to play for NZ - there are only five FIFA windows per year.
Ryan did manage to play 49 "A" internationals for NZ which is about the same as Shane Smeltz or Mike McGarry - one of our most prominent players of the 80's and 90's who didn't play overseas much (except a couple of years in Australia); that's also two more than Tony Lochhead and places him 15th in the list of our highest caps earners in history.
Ryan was more injury-prone than people realise - of the 252 league games Blackburn played in his six full seasons there, Ryan played in 156 games but missed 96 of them which is 38 %. In 2006-7 he only played in 12 of the team's 42 league games due to having surgery.
http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/caps_and_goals.htm
Of the hundreds of players to play in "A" internationals for NZ, only these 14 have more caps than Ryan ( and of those, only seven have ten or more caps more than Ryan):
Leo Bertos: 56, Duncan Cole: 58, Vaughan Coveny: 64, Simon Elliott: 69, Adrian Elrick: 53, Ceri Evans: 56, Ricki Herbert: 61, Chris Jackson: 60, Michael McGarry: 54, Shane Smeltz: 50, Steve Sumner: 58, Brian Turner: 59, Ivan Vicelich; 88, Chris Zorocich: 58
There's a culture and tradition of following rugby in NZ which is hard to crack - rugby's a rural game and somehow the urban culture of football didn't take root here as in most other countries.
Things have improved for football in many ways though - the All Whites get much bigger crowds than they did in the 1980's (10,000 for home games vs. the Islands, Malaysia etc. compared to a couple of thousand in the 1980's, 38,000 for World Cup play-offs)
We have a pro team playing in the A-League which is a far superior league to NZ's domestic comp now or at any time in the past. The Phoenix get way more media coverage and all their games live on TV which never happened in the past.
Who cares what rugby are doing? Football's progressing here quite a lot.
This is the relevant song:
YOU TUBE
Maybe we should be looking to try and play games in the northern hemisphere.
Wasn't there a massive AWs tour of Europe with Ricki at some point?
Maybe we should be looking to try and play games in the northern hemisphere.
Wasn't there a massive AWs tour of Europe with Ricki at some point?
"Massive" - well, Georgia, Estonia.....our first win in an international on European soil was against Georgia.
Games in Europe are even a remoter possibility now that UEFA approved in March the "UEFA Nations League" to start in 2018 which will replace friendlies with a rigid competition format between UEFA countries to fill the gaps between World Cup and European Championship qualifiers.
See this thread:
It is a sad reality but I doubt Football will ever surpass rugby in NZ because Rugby have such a big hold on the media here. Couple that with the fact that we are probably the best Rugby Nation in the world (or touted as the best) then the chances of Football ever getting a fair share of the media or public will never happen (at least not in my life time).
I have a lot of friends who wouldn't know the first thing about football and who (I can't believe this) think it is boring. I often argue with them that the skill level to play football is so much more than rugby or league, but I may as well talk to a brick wall.
Maybe one day we might produce a player who will make the likes of Manchester United or Barcelona, then that might really lift the game of Football in NZ.
It is so sad that a lot of these rugby people have no idea what an achievement it is for a lad from NZ to make a good professional team overseas or the money that is in football in comparison to rugby or league - if they did then maybe they would take some notice.
It is a sad reality but I doubt Football will ever surpass rugby in NZ because Rugby have such a big hold on the media here. Couple that with the fact that we are probably the best Rugby Nation in the world (or touted as the best) then the chances of Football ever getting a fair share of the media or public will never happen (at least not in my life time).
I have a lot of friends who wouldn't know the first thing about football and who (I can't believe this) think it is boring. I often argue with them that the skill level to play football is so much more than rugby or league, but I may as well talk to a brick wall.
Maybe one day we might produce a player who will make the likes of Manchester United or Barcelona, then that might really lift the game of Football in NZ.
It is so sad that a lot of these rugby people have no idea what an achievement it is for a lad from NZ to make a good professional team overseas or the money that is in football in comparison to rugby or league - if they did then maybe they would take some notice.
I don't know why it always has to be or the other. We are a rugby country and football will never take over, but that doesn't mean that football can't become popular as well. If someone came up to you and dissed football before trying to tell you how good squash (or any sport) would you listen? No you wouldn't because you are defensive about the game you like first and foremost meaning you aren't willing to listen to other opinions.
A lot of Rugby people haven't s. at through a full game of football while having at least the basic ideas of the rules. it is too often that it becomes Rugby v Football so by liking Rugby you almost have to hate Football or vice versa. Coming from my perspective i told my parents that i wanted to play rugby at about 7 years old. My parents were worried about my size so suggested football, saying that if i didn't like it i could play rugby. Naturally after 1 week i hated football, and continued to hate it until one of my good friends (who loved Football) got me to play and watch some games. Now i love both. It is this attitude that needs to change for Football to become really popular amongst the masses. The diving does have some effect as well being that we celebrate hard men like Buck.
Comparing the Skill level in Football and rugby is like explaining why Apples are better than Oranges.... Both games are completely different requiring different skills. If you put Messi in Rugby would he be a Star???? No he wouldn't because his skill set is different. Same with putting Dan Carter in Football. He might be good at some things but would never be a great player... If they had grown up playing the other game who knows where they would have got to (Messi might be hindered by his size though) I don't think you can say one requires more skills than the other.
Your last point is a good one, We all know someone that has played to a decent level in rugby meaning that we think it is relativly easy to make it in the game, Our media is largely Rugby focused (more football is starting to break out recently) meaning that most people probably don't even know about players like Ryan. What page of the paper was it?? Do people even watch the 6 o'clock news any more? With the increase of the Internet most people only read stories that interest them. so if they aren't interested in football they won't read about it.
Sorry if it's a bit long..
But soccer crowds have been down too. We have just lost the culture of going to games. I don't think it is controversial in the slightest to say that rugby players are seen as more representative of New Zealanders. The All Blacks do things like go play Bridge at retirement homes in Waimate and participate in gumboot throwing in Taihape. The All Whites don't do those things because the players are very rarely bothered about playing for their international side. Even when Ryan Nelsen was captain of Blackburn (pre 2010) I bet he could walk down Queen St and not get recognised once. I'm not having a go at NZ Football - it is how the sport is set up and they have no control over it. I don't think most New Zealanders actually identify very strongly with their national team and that goes back to a player like Ryan Nelsen treating it as unimportant.
However, the All Whites often still do their bit - Ben Sigmund has been travelling around NZ the last few weeks with the u-20 World Cup trophy, Ryan Thomas has been on the TV news visiting his old football academy (Ole in Wellington) and coaching the kids for a week (newspaper reports said he headed for Ole Academy before even visiting his parents, who had to travel to Wellington to meet him).
I live in Christchurch and Ryan Nelsen was certainly one of the most prominent sportspeople involved in visiting Chch immediately after the quakes. He was given permission by Blackburn Rovers to travel back to Chch and was back here within a week of the February quake and was out helping with junior football training, shovelling silt with the Student Army and visiting relief centres.
Players are generally only released by clubs for FIFA windows (or official FIFA tournaments like the World Cup) to play for NZ - there are only five FIFA windows per year.
Ryan did manage to play 49 "A" internationals for NZ which is about the same as Shane Smeltz or Mike McGarry - one of our most prominent players of the 80's and 90's who didn't play overseas much (except a couple of years in Australia); that's also two more than Tony Lochhead and places him 15th in the list of our highest caps earners in history.
Ryan was more injury-prone than people realise - of the 252 league games Blackburn played in his six full seasons there, Ryan played in 156 games but missed 96 of them which is 38 %. In 2006-7 he only played in 12 of the team's 42 league games due to having surgery.
http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/caps_and_goals.htm
Of the hundreds of players to play in "A" internationals for NZ, only these 14 have more caps than Ryan ( and of those, only seven have ten or more caps more than Ryan):
Leo Bertos: 56, Duncan Cole: 58, Vaughan Coveny: 64, Simon Elliott: 69, Adrian Elrick: 53, Ceri Evans: 56, Ricki Herbert: 61, Chris Jackson: 60, Michael McGarry: 54, Shane Smeltz: 50, Steve Sumner: 58, Brian Turner: 59, Ivan Vicelich; 88, Chris Zorocich: 58
There's a culture and tradition of following rugby in NZ which is hard to crack - rugby's a rural game and somehow the urban culture of football didn't take root here as in most other countries.
Things have improved for football in many ways though - the All Whites get much bigger crowds than they did in the 1980's (10,000 for home games vs. the Islands, Malaysia etc. compared to a couple of thousand in the 1980's, 38,000 for World Cup play-offs)
We have a pro team playing in the A-League which is a far superior league to NZ's domestic comp now or at any time in the past. The Phoenix get way more media coverage and all their games live on TV which never happened in the past.
Who cares what rugby are doing? Football's progressing here quite a lot.
This is the relevant song:
YOU TUBE
Everything you say is true. I just never felt that Nelsen made it a priority to come back to New Zealand but I don't remember 2006 very well. My point was that, yes, Ben Sigmund traveling around the country is good but he doesn't matter to most people. Chris Wood or Winston Reid doing that would have a far greater impact. I would just like to see players make it a priority to get back here for a home international even though I can see why it isn't so important to them.
Comparing the Skill level in Football and rugby is like explaining why Apples are better than Oranges.... Both games are completely different requiring different skills. If you put Messi in Rugby would he be a Star???? No he wouldn't because his skill set is different. Same with putting Dan Carter in Football. He might be good at some things but would never be a great player... If they had grown up playing the other game who knows where they would have got to (Messi might be hindered by his size though) I don't think you can say one requires more skills than the other.
Your last point is a good one, We all know someone that has played to a decent level in rugby meaning that we think it is relativly easy to make it in the game, Our media is largely Rugby focused (more football is starting to break out recently) meaning that most people probably don't even know about players like Ryan. What page of the paper was it?? Do people even watch the 6 o'clock news any more? With the increase of the Internet most people only read stories that interest them. so if they aren't interested in football they won't read about it.
Sorry if it's a bit long..
I live in Christchurch and can tell you Dan Carter loves football and has played both sports. He was quite a decent footballer actually.
Amusingly, as a young All Black he couldn't keep away from football and occasionally turned out in Mainland Div. 2 for Nomads United, one of the major Christchurch clubs. He preferred to play football in his spare time and never turned out for his own rugby club.
This story attracted attention around the world, especially in Britain:
http://forum.leinsterfans.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2272
"Regulars at the Nomads club have known for some time that Carter has made up the numbers in a friend's team.
One player in the team, who did not want to be named, said Carter had plenty of natural ability. "He's big, strong and fast."
In his last appearance a few weeks ago, Carter put in a handy cross that resulted in a goal, but his team-mate did not think the All Black should "change his day job" just yet. "
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
On the second point, we've been lucky in Christchurch to have editors at the the local paper the Press who have been pro-football such as former All White and National League player (now Radio NZ CEO) Paul Thompson and Dutch immigrant Coen Lammers, formerly a football reporter in the Netherlands.
That other Ryan, Ryan Nelsen was actually often on the front page of the Press newspaper with news of him playing at Blackburn, and the 2010 All Whites were often on the front page here too.
That signaled a major cultural / sporting shift here in Canterbury.
Football reporter Tony Smith has been the senior sports journalist on the Press for some years now. Dutchman Coen Lammers was sports editor for a while and then became Deputy Editor of the paper.
Lammers is now editor of the Ashburton Guardian in Mid-Canterbury.
Championship clubs are also monitoring City's striking options as there is interest in their New Zealand international Chris Wood, particularly from Wolves.
Championship doldrums
Tough on him, but he is already down the pecking order before the off-season signings roll in.
Could depend on what happens with David Nugent. If he goes, they might need Wood for depth?
Many have said the championship is probably his level. Won't be such a bad thing if he stays down and plays regularly. He wasn't exactly starting every game for the foxes in the championship anyway.
Just run in to a bunch of Leicester fans who want to keep him. They feel he will make a great premiership striker in a season or two.
I know a guy from Leicester who thinks Wood has found his level, and that he will never get regular starts at premiership level. Also apparently the clubs owners want to throw millions and millions of pounds at the team and have a goal of making Europe in a few years. Doesn't sound like there's room for Wood in that plan.
I think the issue with Wood is that he's good enough to be in a top championship team but not in a weak premier league team. So he joins a team, helps them get promoted, then gets cut. Strange situation to be in. I wonder if he'd ever look at joining a club somewhere like Belgium or Scotland where he could potentially be in a title winning side and playing European football.
He's only 22 people... he is not the player he will be yet as he still has time to develop his game.
If he was a speedy striker then maybe as these players tend to drop off as the get older (Torres / Owen etc) but he is more of a target man than that.
Last year he didn't start not because he wasn't good enough (he still scored his fair share of goals) it was just tht he got injured and the other two strikers hit great form so he couldn't fight his way back in.
Leciester won't play the same style up in the prem league (possession) simply because they do not have the players to do so. I expect a more direct game, which should suit Wood.
Found his level at 22... Rojas is 21 are we saying in another 6 months no matter what he can't improve as a player?
Rickie lambert perfect example
Some on here value thier opinion too much
Wood will play Prem...eventually
He already has #pendant
Yes but you know what i mean
Here's the article about the owner's investment plans: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/may/13/leicester-owners-top-five-premier-league.
I'm not bagging Wood or saying he isn't going to improve but plenty of players get good enough to play in the Championship but not the Premier League. The championship is still tougher than most top flight divisions and for anyone to establish themselves at that level it's an achievement. Yeah there's players like Lambert who get there eventually and it would be sweet if Wood was one, but those guys are a minority. But again, that's just my thoughts on it. I know others think differently.
My mate from Leicester who said that thing about finding his level watched most of their games this year, so I was just pointing out that not all their fans think Wood has the makings of a premier league striker. Doesn't mean he's right of course because it is just opinion after all and obviously others think he's got the goods. Guess we wait and see.
Opinions are fine.
I just laugh at how people state these opinions as fact.
If I had said within 6 months of Ryan Thomas arriving in Holland he'd be winning a cup winners medal after scoring 2 goals in the final having come from ole academy I would have been laughed at and called an idiot (to be polite) but as we know thats what happened.
Belgium will win the world cup - fact.
How much have you bet on them?
I know a guy from Leicester who thinks Wood has found his level, and that he will never get regular starts at premiership level. Also apparently the clubs owners want to throw millions and millions of pounds at the team and have a goal of making Europe in a few years. Doesn't sound like there's room for Wood in that plan.
I think the issue with Wood is that he's good enough to be in a top championship team but not in a weak premier league team. So he joins a team, helps them get promoted, then gets cut. Strange situation to be in. I wonder if he'd ever look at joining a club somewhere like Belgium or Scotland where he could potentially be in a title winning side and playing European football.
I reckon Scotland is underrated. I imagine if you play for one of the smaller clubs you don't get paid much. However, at a smaller club you can get a bit of stability and you still get to play Rangers and Celtic. If I was a player I would stay away from the English lower leagues.
I know a guy from Leicester who thinks Wood has found his level, and that he will never get regular starts at premiership level. Also apparently the clubs owners want to throw millions and millions of pounds at the team and have a goal of making Europe in a few years. Doesn't sound like there's room for Wood in that plan.
I think the issue with Wood is that he's good enough to be in a top championship team but not in a weak premier league team. So he joins a team, helps them get promoted, then gets cut. Strange situation to be in. I wonder if he'd ever look at joining a club somewhere like Belgium or Scotland where he could potentially be in a title winning side and playing European football.
I reckon Scotland is underrated. I imagine if you play for one of the smaller clubs you don't get paid much. However, at a smaller club you can get a bit of stability and you still get to play Rangers and Celtic. If I was a player I would stay away from the English lower leagues.
You want to play rangers you need to play in the scotish lower leagues... SPL isn't that strong ATM.
Scottish league is probably the weakest it has ever been; and it was weak to begin with..
Scottish league is probably the weakest it has ever been; and it was weak to begin with..
Thought that that was dylan?
Scottish league is probably the weakest it has ever been; and it was weak to begin with..
It probably is. The SPL is hilariously shit.
Things I learnt in the Leicester FC forum today:
1) There is a persistent rumour that Chris Wood slept with Nigel Pearson's daughter
2) He is an "outsider" and doesn't fit well into the close knit team
3) He doesn't fit into the style that works for Vardy and Nugent together
4) He is pants in the air for his height
5) Half of Leicester fans want to keep him as an investment in the future and consider his inconsistency a sign of his age
6) The other half want him sold to the Championship
7) Sleeping with NP's daughter was not an astute career move