I really liked the 2002 WC. Great hosts, an unpredictable tournament, England playing perhaps as consistently well as they have at a major tournament in my lifetime and going out valiantly instead of tamely, Turkey and South Korea making the semis. An exceptional Brazil winning.
Just look at this QF lineup! Teams from Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and North America. Truly a "world" cup (if only the Aussies could have sneaked in!).
The Champo is a weird division this season. Hardly any really excellent sides (three?), a boring middle class and then lots of bad teams. It would have been a good year to be up!
QPR have turned it around a bit lately despite still being a bit lightweight, and are leading Oxford, who are on the slide.
Very hard to call the relegation spots, though right now I would guess Cardiff, Oxford and Plymouth.
Oxford are doing it the wrong way round. A couple of early wins probably fooling them that they'd made it and now a real slide that I think will peak at bottom place early new year.
Watching us take their place, playing champagne football so they don't even have moans about the style of play to fall back on.
I'd love all this to be true. Portsmouth can be marmite, but I'd really like them to stay up. Selles deserves a long run at a paying club, and QPR, though a little hilarious, are still not as annoying as Derby.
If they lose Haaland for any length of time then I think they're well and truly screwed. Far be it from me to doubt Pep's ability to deploy a striker-less system, but that just doesn't look like it's going to cut it at the moment. Bonkers not to replace Alvarez.
I'm wondering if they already know they are going to get relegated and have subconciously let the standards drop a little. Maybe the over 30s legs have just gone at the same time. Cannot believe Rodri would make such a difference.
The skill of Ferguson was rebuilding a successful team time after time, whatever egos he had to trample over. None of the subsequent managers have been able to, or have the balls, to do it and not many of the other teams have the money to build a strong enough squad.
I'm not sure integrating young players, rather than just buying someone else's best ones, is Pep's strong point.
I really don't understand the stick he gets on here. He happened to start out at a big club - one where he had a longstanding association - and do exceptionally well - he's hardly going to go, 'Right, I fancy a crack at the Swindon Town job now'...
Que? I'm not sure anyone has given Pep any stick? And no-one is going to disagree with your statement about Swindon.
However, he has only managed big clubs, with the best budget in that league and has had a huge amount of success.
A lot of football fans, and quite rightly so, detest clubs that have bought success. This has certainly happened at Man City who were nobodies for years until the money turned up. Obviously Bayern and Barca were not.
In the same way, a David Moyes or Roy Hodgson, got incredible success with limited resources they do not seem to be able to translate that to success at Man Utd or Liverpool. I suspect Pep would not do well at Everton, West Ham, Fulham etc who tend to be looking down rather than up more often than not.
One thing I am struggling to come to terms with at Wycombe, is that we were always a small budget/underdog club and it was something that has created this fantastic spirit, togetherness and family. With MLs billions, we are moving into the "buying" success category and I do not know how I feel about it.
It's so easy from the outside looking in to criticise but now it's happening to our club, albeit on a smaller level, it's now hard to stick to my views of other clubs that have thrown cash at it. It's so emotional to compare the love of small time Wycombe and my 30 years supporting with my dislike for throwing money at success. I'm alright this season but I'm not sure how I will feel if we did sustain ourselves in the Championship of even made the Premier League. Definitely hypocritical. Only time will tell.
Greatness is open to interpretation by everyone. Another man's greatness is another man's averageness.
For me, he is clearly a master of managing a squad of exceptional players with unlimited funds.
Maresca is doing a fantastic job at Chelsea, with what you could argue is a similar situation to what Guardiola has had at City, except it would seem Guardiola is choosing who he wants in the squad. Guardiola has done it year after year, Maresca has been there five minutes.
Ferguson managed across the whole spectrum, an unfancied Aberdeen, a Man Utd in the doldrums to number one in the World. Ferguson will always get the nod, for me, because he built that team from the ground up - something Guardiola has never really done.
That's fair enough - I can see the case for Ferguson. I'd probably go with Pep or Michels myself - both as good as perfected football, in different ways.
Comments
Apart from the time issues, I wish Australia and New Zealand would get a World Cup. They would be fantastic hosts.
VERY grim.
Nothing worse than a World Cup in January
I really liked the 2002 WC. Great hosts, an unpredictable tournament, England playing perhaps as consistently well as they have at a major tournament in my lifetime and going out valiantly instead of tamely, Turkey and South Korea making the semis. An exceptional Brazil winning.
Just look at this QF lineup! Teams from Europe, South America, Asia, Africa and North America. Truly a "world" cup (if only the Aussies could have sneaked in!).
And some extremely suspect refereeing decisions! theguardian.com/football/2002/jun/21/worldcupfootball2002.sport8
In other news, the sky is blue. 😂
Suspect a bit more than brown envelopes exchanged hands!
The Champo is a weird division this season. Hardly any really excellent sides (three?), a boring middle class and then lots of bad teams. It would have been a good year to be up!
QPR have turned it around a bit lately despite still being a bit lightweight, and are leading Oxford, who are on the slide.
Very hard to call the relegation spots, though right now I would guess Cardiff, Oxford and Plymouth.
Oxford are doing it the wrong way round. A couple of early wins probably fooling them that they'd made it and now a real slide that I think will peak at bottom place early new year.
Watching us take their place, playing champagne football so they don't even have moans about the style of play to fall back on.
City lose again. One win in 10 now...
I suspect Oxford and Plymouth are nailed on.
I’d like to see Derby come down and after all Warne loves a relegation from the Championship.
I think that last spot will be between Derby, Millwall, Stoke and Cardiff.
QPR, Pompey and Hull to move out of danger.
I would say it shows how important Rodri is, but I am afraid Real Madrid would boycott me.
I'd love all this to be true. Portsmouth can be marmite, but I'd really like them to stay up. Selles deserves a long run at a paying club, and QPR, though a little hilarious, are still not as annoying as Derby.
He is, but I'm sure he was still playing when they were scraping late wins just before the injury.
If they lose Haaland for any length of time then I think they're well and truly screwed. Far be it from me to doubt Pep's ability to deploy a striker-less system, but that just doesn't look like it's going to cut it at the moment. Bonkers not to replace Alvarez.
Could you imagine the rage if the league choose to impose the punishment on them this season!
Say a 20 pointer that doesn't see them relegated.
That'd be as an effective a punishment as fining them 100k
And sell Cole Palmer, arguably the most exciting player in the league right now.
In fairness, they won the league after selling him, but that is looking like an increasingly bad decision...
And at the time, Phil Foden looked the better prospect of the two. Unfortunately, Foden's form has plummeted since the Euros.
I'm wondering if they already know they are going to get relegated and have subconciously let the standards drop a little. Maybe the over 30s legs have just gone at the same time. Cannot believe Rodri would make such a difference.
Isn't it great to see though!
The skill of Ferguson was rebuilding a successful team time after time, whatever egos he had to trample over. None of the subsequent managers have been able to, or have the balls, to do it and not many of the other teams have the money to build a strong enough squad.
I'm not sure integrating young players, rather than just buying someone else's best ones, is Pep's strong point.
Apart from the numerous youngsters he integrated at Barcelona when building one of the greatest club sides of all time
Rodri missed a tiny amount of games last year and they seemed to lose or struggle in them all, so I do think he's that special a player.
But the malaise definitely goes beyond that as well. Even with Rodri they didn't look 100% at it pre his injury.
yeah except for that.
Replace ' I'm not sure integrating young players, rather than just buying someone else's best ones, is Pep's strong point.' with
'I'm not sure he can be arsed to rebuild a team anymore...'
In fairness it would have taken some real genius to integrate a player as limited as Messi.
I really don't understand the stick he gets on here. He happened to start out at a big club - one where he had a longstanding association - and do exceptionally well - he's hardly going to go, 'Right, I fancy a crack at the Swindon Town job now'...
Que? I'm not sure anyone has given Pep any stick? And no-one is going to disagree with your statement about Swindon.
However, he has only managed big clubs, with the best budget in that league and has had a huge amount of success.
A lot of football fans, and quite rightly so, detest clubs that have bought success. This has certainly happened at Man City who were nobodies for years until the money turned up. Obviously Bayern and Barca were not.
In the same way, a David Moyes or Roy Hodgson, got incredible success with limited resources they do not seem to be able to translate that to success at Man Utd or Liverpool. I suspect Pep would not do well at Everton, West Ham, Fulham etc who tend to be looking down rather than up more often than not.
One thing I am struggling to come to terms with at Wycombe, is that we were always a small budget/underdog club and it was something that has created this fantastic spirit, togetherness and family. With MLs billions, we are moving into the "buying" success category and I do not know how I feel about it.
It's so easy from the outside looking in to criticise but now it's happening to our club, albeit on a smaller level, it's now hard to stick to my views of other clubs that have thrown cash at it. It's so emotional to compare the love of small time Wycombe and my 30 years supporting with my dislike for throwing money at success. I'm alright this season but I'm not sure how I will feel if we did sustain ourselves in the Championship of even made the Premier League. Definitely hypocritical. Only time will tell.
Maybe not stick, but his greatness definitely gets downplayed on here because he's 'only managed big clubs'.
Greatness is open to interpretation by everyone. Another man's greatness is another man's averageness.
For me, he is clearly a master of managing a squad of exceptional players with unlimited funds.
Maresca is doing a fantastic job at Chelsea, with what you could argue is a similar situation to what Guardiola has had at City, except it would seem Guardiola is choosing who he wants in the squad. Guardiola has done it year after year, Maresca has been there five minutes.
Ferguson managed across the whole spectrum, an unfancied Aberdeen, a Man Utd in the doldrums to number one in the World. Ferguson will always get the nod, for me, because he built that team from the ground up - something Guardiola has never really done.
That's fair enough - I can see the case for Ferguson. I'd probably go with Pep or Michels myself - both as good as perfected football, in different ways.