General Football Discussion

[Kowalczyk]

What is the song that is played in the Arena, after we score a goal or at the end of the match? The one with the English lyrics

Not English but Dutch lyrics, but is this the one you mean?

It's Dit is mijn club ('This Is My Club'), by a Dutch comedy group named Jiskefet. Ironically, it was originally the song for a football parody they once did (about a group of horrible business people watching an Ajax-like club from their sponsor 'sky box').

K.

[souras84]

Thats the one Ko!!! Reminded me of never walk alone and we are the champions!!!! It's the one... What does it say, a little summary

[Orange14]

Don't know if this is the thread to post it but here goes. This epitomizes my frustration with Ajax: from Ernst Bouwes blog - http://totalfootballnl.blogspot.com/201 ... f-cup.html The clips are quite illuminating; lots of possession for Ajax, many missed opportunities, and two junk goals conceded. Pretty much like this season!!

[SE6Ajacied]

Nothing terribly exciting but Martin Jol was interviewed on BBC1 Football Focus programme today. You can watch it here http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/ (24 minutes in) - UK viwers only sadly.

[Manneken Pis]

Just half way through reading "Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained " by our old friend Simon Kuper and an economist called Stefan Szymanski.....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-England-Los ... 0007301111

It's kind of a logical evolution from "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner and "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis for those of you that have read those .... anyway, a great read; pure statistical analysis of what are often very subjective football discussion point.

I highly recommend it!

[Orange14]

Required reading: http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2010/11 ... sters.html The final examination for the course will take place next May!!! Pretty solid analysis of what is going wrong and probably why it will be hard to see any changes. Here are the money quotes (at the end of the article):

The problem is that it is unlikely that players will command significant transfer fees in the future, owing to the double whammy of the economic recession and the impact of the UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations. The first means that few clubs do not have much money to spend, while the second requires clubs to balance their books, meaning that costly purchases (with the associated player amortisation) are to be avoided. Only this week we saw an example of this with Barcelona agreeing a deal for PSV’s Ibrahim Afellay for a low fee of around €3 million, when his price had been quoted as high as €10 million.

No, the only real solution for Ajax is to get back to their roots and once again focus on youth development. This has always been a cornerstone of the Ajax ethos, but they have dropped the ball in recent years. As the latest annual report stated, “The academy is good, but could be better.” This strategy requires investment and the club has set aside a budget of €5 million with the objective of having half of the first team squad developed at Ajax.

[SPL]

Thanks for the link a very interesting read . Dutch Tv money is non existant compared with England.I read last week Bolton's debts are £93m inspite of their Tv fees and I still see English football and its debts come crashing down .

Just to make a point again about Afellay I do not think this small fee is down to the financial climate but simply his contract will have just 6 months to run when he joins Barca. With a long contract he would probably fetch somewhere between 15m and 20m euros .PSV must curse the fact their best player has made them so little money .

I do believe transfer fees will go down and no way will we get 40m euros for Suarez but will probably have to settle for no more than 25m imo . We wont get 20m for V d Wiel either.

Ajax clearly are paying far too much for wages and we have to stop paying stupid money for moderate players . This is clearly being addressed and will continue over the next year as high paid players who are not good enough are let go.

I 100% agree we have to go back to youth and concentrate on youth development .Paying big fees and silly wages has won this club nothing since the last title in 2003/4 .

[Orange14]

Thanks for the link a very interesting read . Dutch Tv money is non existant compared with England.I read last week Bolton's debts are £93m inspite of their Tv fees and I still see English football and its debts come crashing down .

It's also instructive to read the post just before the Ajax one, on Milan. It's pretty much the same story with them. Berlusconi isn't giving the club any more money and they have a lot of overpaid players. Fortunately for them many of the contracts run out next June. I was surprised in looking at some of the financial charts that except for the television money, they are not doing much better than Ajax.

[Philippe]

Required reading: http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2010/11 ... sters.html

Lots of information, and very interesting read indeed. Thanks.

[Kowalczyk]

This is the best football picture I have seen in a long, long time...

Check it out.

HAHAHAHAHA.

K.

[Philippe]

CL : money talks. The total income received from the CL over the last 7 season :

[Van basten]

Great el clasico Nice to see Maurinho face after this

[Orange14]

Great el clasico Nice to see Maurinho face after this

I hope our manager was watching; he might learn from Guardiola about how to create space in the midfield.

[Kowalczyk]

On Twitter we're on about goalkeepers who scored in the Dutch league.

A total of ten goalkeepers scored in the Eredivisie, including one (Jan van Grinsven of FC Den Bosch) who netted twice. Some of those goalkeeper goals were not caught on tape, because there weren't TV cameras at every game at the time. How many goalkeeper goals in the Eerste Divisie? I do not know.

So far, we have YouTube footage of seven goals, the most boring one being Edwin van der Sar's goal: he converted a penalty against De Graafschap once, when Ajax were 7-0 up or something. It was actually his second attempt. Ajax were 8-0 up against Sparta once, when the team called him forward for a penalty, but he missed. Against De Graafschap they called him forward again. This time he scored.

1. Oscar Zijlstra (Cambuur) (First Division, mid-1980s)

2. Rein van Duijnhoven (MVV) (First Division, 1990s)

3. Martin Pieckenhagen (Heracles) (Eredivisie, 2000s)

4. Jan van Grinsven (FC Den Bosch) (Eredivisie, mid-1980s)

5. Edwin van der Sar (Ajax) (Eredivisie, late 1990s, penalty)

6. Bram Castro (Roda JC) (KNVB Cup, 2000s)

7. Mark Verzijlberg (FC Haarlem) (First Division, 1990s...?)

These are the seven I could find on YouTube. The best field goal of the lot is definitely that of Mark Verzijlberg for Haarlem, against Eindhoven. Amazing shot.

Mind you: we're talking about the Dutch league (or cup). Goalkeepers converting pennos in shoot-outs do not count (only during the actual game).

Number 1 (Zijlstra) is a true classic. There were no TV cameras at that game, but someone on the stands who had a video camera kind of accidentally filmed it.

K.

[rjf1]

I hope our manager was watching; he might learn from Guardiola about how to create space in the midfield.

He might also learn that pitty pat possession is worthless -- that you have to play at a lightning tempo and use the possession to make incisive passes that their defense can't keep up with. Run them ragged until their tongues hang out and then blast right past them. The way Barca humiliated Madrid.

The possession game we play just makes it easy for the other team -- pitty pat around the periphery -- lose all momentum -- get used to playing slow and meaningless -- then they blast past us on the counterattack and we're too mesmerized by the slown pace we have been playing at to be able to defend against them.

[beelzebub]

Gary Lineker admitted het shitted in his pants at the WC '90 in Italy in the match against Ireland:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t_8pfbC ... r_embedded

[souras84]

Wow! That's a relief!!!

[Kowalczyk]

This is brilliant...

30 Embarrassing Old Skool Panini Stickers.

Enjoy!

K.

[SPL]

I do hope England do not win the vote today . Only reason being David Beckham will be made
Sir David . What a thought. He is praising England up etc but does not even live here anymore and probably wont again. I just wish he and his drippy wife stayed in LA and were never heard of here in the Uk again .

PS He is still the most overrated footballer I have ever seen . Good but certainly not a great .

[souras84]

I hope Holland and Belgium win, may see Oranje win it afterall... Unless they play the final or semifinal in the Arena, which is always bad luck for the Dutch

[Orange14]

Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Money ruled the day!!! Can't wait for the slow motion football in Qatar when the mean temperature is 41 C during June. Doesn't Ronald de Boer live there?

[bryan]

Qatar is a fucking joke.

They may as well have the World Cup in Las Vegas.

[Orange14]

Qatar is a fucking joke.

They may as well have the World Cup in Las Vegas.

Climate is about the same, but Vegas offers a lot of pleasant diversions!

[Philippe]

Russia and Qatar : this a triumph for democracy (the FIFA way).
Anyways, maybe the Dutch and Belgian tax payers should celebrate ?

[SPL]

No problem with Russia but Qatar, what a joke 1.6m population and temps of 50 degrees. Money rules.
At least Beckham wont be made Sir David now and can go home to LA