Anybody who cares about international football is a racist.

:o

Anybody who cares about international football is a racist.

 

So I am.

I'm joking, of course.

I don't mind if you want to call the guy who posted that weird and totally random meme a racist.

 

Messi's worth like 100million euros, some say in the coming years if he plays into his 30s at anywhere near the same level he could be worth a quarter of a billion, so why the hell would he care about 4million. If it is proven then how can we have any sympathy.

 

But as far as Messi being some kind of saint, if you watch Spanish football he can be more of a whingey little bastard than anyone, constantly whining to the ref, mouthing off to opposing players, and even annoying his team mates whenever they don't pass to him (Well practically any time they don't pass to him). Sometimes he does play with a smile, but often, especially against little teams, you just want to see him get kicked, and also I've never seen him act so petulant in say El Classico or Champions League matches, clearly people around him are aware of Messi the brand.

 

Also I wouldn't say he's a blatant diver but he does have amazing strength and balance to stay on his feet when getting lumps kicked out of him, and his belief that if he stays up he'll have chance to score, but if the balls gotten away from him he does go down at the slightest touch, he has no problem doing that (Of course nowhere near as bad as Ronaldo for this).

 

Tahiti playing Spain at the minute, and they've held it at 1-0 for 20mins now, I must say after I criticised them against Nigeria they've been a LOT more organised and fighting more for the ball, Spain are hardly in 2nd gear though. Before the match when they all shook hands, all the Tahiti players gave the Spain players necklaces and some type of card or booklet as gifts, a touch of desperation there. Some of the Spaniards reactions were pretty hilarious.

10-0 to Spain, as incredibly one sided as it could possibly be, Spain have had to work a bit for at least 6 or 7 of them.

 

Navas was fucking useless, couldn't make a 10 yard pass and didn't seem to care about that.

Navas was fucking useless, couldn't make a 10 yard pass and didn't seem to care about that.

Navas, that player under contract for the next 4 years at Manchester City? -Jesus.

What the hell is happening at Newcastle?

BT, the UK's biggest ISP, has paid £246m for the rights to show Premier League football

 

Premier League seeks ISP site block in piracy swoop

 

The Premier League is to request a court order forcing internet service providers to block a popular football streaming website before the next season.

 

The League wants ISPs to cut off access to FirstRow1.eu, which operates from Sweden. The BBC understands none of the ISPs plan to challenge the court order.

 

If successful, the action will be the first sport-related site block in the UK. The Premier League's move follows a precedent set by the BPI music industry body, which has been successful in having several piracy websites blocked in the UK, most notably the Pirate Bay.

 

In those cases, ISPs have stood firm and insisted they would only take action if ordered to do so by the courts. The UK's major ISPs each received a letter from the Premier League outlining a possible court order, and were given a deadline of Friday to signal any intent to challenge the action.

 

When approached by the BBC, none of the ISPs would comment specifically on the Premier League's planned action, but all reiterated that blocking of sites would not be done voluntarily.

 

The situation raises additional issues for BT, as from next season it will be a major distributor of Premier League football through its new sports TV channels. BT has paid £246m for rights to show Premier League football, while Sky paid £760m for its portion of the coverage.

 

Sky's ISP operation has historically been seen as taking a more sympathetic stance with copyright holders requesting the blocking of sites, whereas BT has in the past taken such battles to court on behalf of the ISP industry as a whole.

 

Jim Killock, of the Open Rights Group, said he worried that conflicted interests might lead to the blocking process becoming less transparent. "All of the major ISPs now have differing degrees of conflicts of interest," he told the BBC. "Sky, BT, Virgin and TalkTalk all supply televisions services now, so we have to expect that there will be more reluctance to be as transparent as they have been in the past."

 

Mr Killock also expressed concern that as the process for granting court orders gets quicker, it may lead to sites being wrongly blocked out. "It's possible that very legitimate services will at some point be attacked by one of these orders. Our main concern here is that these orders should be considered slowly, and they should be subject to much more public review."

 

FirstRow1.eu did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23004880

Booooo.

FirstRow2.eu on the other hand, will be delighted.......

They might go ahead with the court order, but there will always be other ways around it, until it becomes known that it's illegal to watch it there won't be a significant amount of people who stop doing so.

 

What the hell is happening at Newcastle?

 

A LOT, Kinnear comes in and can't pronounce any of our players names right, insists hes the man in charge now (I'm sure Pardew won't mind that) and claims that he has as many contacts in world football as any top manager, his most significant career role being manager of Wimbledon which finished up oh only 14 years ago. The man's completely deluded, and I bet Mike Ashley is filling his head.

 

Apparently Kinnear has come in with some sort of 'clean-up' mission in mind, but there's been nothing mentioned as to how, what or why he is cleaning up exactly, just that obviously Newcastle had a terrible season and he's here apparently to set them straight.

 

Now for some hilarity for you all, as funny as I found it initially it's dawned on me that this man has serious power at the club I support:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2343531/Joe-Kinnear-calls-Newcastles-Yohan-Cabaye-Yohan-Kebab-latest-list-embarrassing-gaffes.html

 

In other Newcastle news, the iconic "Shearer's" bar which is prominent at the front of St James Park is being re-named "9", only a few days after Shearer stated the Kinnear situation is ridiculous (This is really like crazy dictator stuff) and Cheik Tiote is being charged on frauding himself UK driving license from faking a Belgian one. I'm probably forgetting a load of stuff, it's been a bit whirlwind.

^ HEE HEE

:(

 

It was only a top comment I read on some site but someone pointed out that Mike Ashley grew up a Spurs fan when Kinnear was involved in one of the teams most successful runs, and it may explain this bizarre appointment and confidence in a man who has serious health concerns, and is clearly inexperienced in his role (Especially starting it at age 66). The idea is that the chairmans appointed one of his boyhood heroes, and the person with this thought had a few other examples of infamously colourful/insane chairmen or managers electing their own boyhood heroes but I can't remember them.

 

I mean if you're a Newcastle fan it was already obvious Ashley is totally nuts, now it's obvious to everyone.

FirstRow2.eu on the other hand, will be delighted.......

 

Free advertising

 

And if the block is like the pirate bay block, even a 4 year old can bypass it.

Didn't Kinnear leave last time due to ill health?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jun/23/joe-kinnear-criticism-alan-shearer-newcastle

 

Amusing.

^Wonderful way to win over the fans by criticising the clubs biggest legend and blaming him for relegation. The man is absolutely hated right now, but you know with Ashley, the more hate he gets, the more the chairman will stubbornly want him to stay, until the bitter end (Probably the sacking of both Pardew and Kinnear if things go similarly this season).

 

But what he said about Shearer is ultimately irrelevant, this gives me some hope:

 

"I will have the job of overlooking the reserves and the youth team and see where we are progressing, as well as being chief advisor to [the chairman] Mike Ashley," he said.

 

"If things are going wrong at the club I am accountable and he will be coming through me and not anybody else. Everybody thinks Pardew is under pressure. He's not. I am. I could get sacked.

 

"The manager: the running of the teams when it comes to the players needed, the selection of players on match days, the tactics and the public face when addressing the supporters via the media will be Alan Pardew."

 

Thank god he realised that he isn't the fucking manager, or rather, someone made him/told him to say he realises it. The last thing we need is him shouting orders over Pardew's shoulder.

 

And apologies I am ranting on about my own team too much like that idiot who is unwanted in this thread, but there's not an awful lot going on right now.

 

Anyone watching the Confed cup? Italy vs Brazil was a great game.

Wow, Gus Poyet is in the Match of the Day studio to analyse Spain vs Nigeria, and he just found out during the first half he's been sacked as Brighton boss, they just spent several minutes talking about it instead of the match at half time.

 

Talk about awkward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9RNOYRWs9xs

Oh, and I wasn't laughing at Newcastle or their fans, Reilly. I'm well aware of that it's like to have clowns at a club. Simply laughing at Shearer. Never been a fan of him as a person and he's wrongfully idolised in that respect. Best player I've seen live regularly.

^WOT U SAY BOUT BIG AL M8?!

 

But really, any reason why? As a person I'm fairly neutral on him, I don't think he seems like a great guy or funny or interesting, and at times his analysis on MoTD is woeful, but as a player he's probably the best striker the Premier League has had (Maybe not in pure talent or technique, but consistency and strike-rate) so I think he does deserve to be idolised, even from some Rovers fans as he scored a ridiculous amount of goals in a short time.

 

Was it the win-at-all costs thing? He did like to stick the elbow in and since retiring he's had no problems admitting it, he knows he was a dirty player at times.

It was his arrogance. I remember him getting done at Rovers for being drunk and bashing on the local McDonalds demanding they open for him. A lot of 'don't you know who I am', etc.

 

Then it annoyed me when he left. Not because he left, even though that hurt. The way he wanted to go to Manchester United and told Rovers he wanted to leave and join them. Then when Man U got told they would have to pay more than anybody else to sign him, a price they couldn't afford, Newcastle came in and got him. That's all fair enough. A shame for Rovers because he was awesome. But then he said he would only have ever left for Newcastle and that was the only club he'd play for since they were his hometown club, when really they only got him because he'd said he wanted to leave and join Man U.

 

I guess it's the way he tries to frame everything in order to be a hero. When he retired from international football to prolong his club career it was interesting that he only stopped when it became obvious he wasn't going to break the record for most goals. If he had been honest about his motives fair enough, but I think it's arrogant to be like that and then pretend you're doing it for others.

 

He then becomes a Messiah and is seen as ultra loyal when he's not. And he's only seen like that because of what he personally has said and the way he has spun it. He, like Beckham, strike me as the type who want a cult of personality, and there's just no need for it.

 

Then you have him pretending to be a hardman to Keane and Bellamy, etc. Just comes off as a tosser. Why would he want to be one?

 

This, combined with his punditry means I've nothing positive to say about him passed his awesome football ability.

 

One more point, he was once asked who his favourite spice girl was and he replied that he didn't think it was appropriate to answer as he had a wife and children.

Well nearly all of that is debatable, but like I said I'm neutral towards him as a person so I'm not going to bother defending him (And I mean debatable as in, you could very well be right about all of it, I don't know). But the main 2 things there that stood out were his reasons for going to Newcastle and retiring from England, unless he's so self-obsessed to think otherwise, I really don't think anyone cares, at the time some supporters might have cared, but I don't think in the North East they give a fuck about hailing him as an icon of morality, just someone who scored like hell who happened to be local.

 

Apart from some idiots, y'know the type who still want Keegan instead of Pardew, they'll remember such petty things. I just think it's a bit irrelevant whatever was going through his mind either way, and actually I wouldn't blame him for spinning such crap and taking credit for it, it's not that big of a deal, but fair enough.

Carlos Tevez: Manchester City & Juventus agree £12m deal

 

Manchester City and Juventus have agreed a deal for striker Carlos Tevez to join the Italian side in a transfer worth up to £12m.

City accepted an offer of £10m that could rise by £2m with add-ons.

The Argentina international, 29, is expected in Italy on Wednesday for a medical and to discuss personal terms over a proposed three-year contract.

When the fee is combined with wages and bonuses due to Tevez in the final year of his contract, City could save £27m.

The two clubs reached an agreement at a meeting in London on Tuesday.

Tevez signed a five-year contract when he joined the Sky Blues in 2009 after previously playing for Manchester United.

City paid his advisors - who owned his contract - a reported £25.5m fee, although some have claimed the figure was £47m.

He has made 148 appearances for the club, scoring 74 goals, but the relationship with former manager Roberto Mancini soured in 2011 when he was fined and suspended following an incident in a Champions League match against Bayern Munich.

City must now search for a replacement but have said they will not pay the £53m asking price for Napoli forward Edinson Cavani.