anderson and whatshisname may not make premier league squad

Originally Posted by dunk

He's only 20/21 isn't he?

I thought he was off out on loan anyway?

Think he's 22, he's over the age limit anyway. There was talk of him going on loan a while back alright but it seems to have died down a bit lately.

Originally Posted by Alex de Large

No room for Valencia?

I knew there was someone missing

Originally Posted by red in cumbria

Ah, thought dunk had missed someone out. That will stop him feeling smug after uppercutting Sparks earlier

I did say that I could think of, I thought I did quite well.

That's 25 with Valencia and De Laet anyway, I'm not sure how old Amos is either.

Maybe there is a player or 2 on the way

Amos is 20 I think. Can't see Hargreaves being named if there's a space needed.

Originally Posted by RedMenace

Amos is 20 I think. Can't see Hargreaves being named if there's a space needed.

If we need any space we can bin any of hargo, De Laet or Diouf, probbly Ando too.

Agreed on the first three. I'd keep Anderson though the fact that Fergie is thinking of leaving him out isn't a good sign for his long term future.

There is potential with Diouf, he was pretty good against Celtic, indifferent against Kansas, but most were.

In fact, almost every pre-season the same occurs, 1st few games are alright, then we look leggy and shit for 1 or 2, then we pick up again.

Probably to do with the training they do and the conditioning of the players.

I wouldn't write anyone off based on that game. It's also been forgotten during the Gibbo bashing that he had been home for a family bereavement in between friendlies. No wonder he looked £#%&!ed.

Hargo is £#%&!ed, like, proper £#%&!ed, he should be told to retire, just so he can be £#%&!ing replaced.

Originally Posted by Spiffy

I don't like this new squad rule and I don't like transfer windows. Can we get rid of them please? Remember the excitement when we thought we might get a new player if the start to the season was shit? Remember getting Dion, Cantona, Cole etc. Yes I know Cole was in January but how excited were you when we got him?

Nowadays we know we can't sign anyone for months and now we know we'd have to sell to buy irrespective of how much cash we have or how badly we need the player. If you have a player with a longish term injury, they could be out of the team for months when fit and in form because they had to include someone else in his spot just in case he didn't get back in time. Hopefully this will affect an England international early on and then we can rid of this ridiculous rule.

Spot on! £#%&!ing hate the transfer window!

What the £#%&! is the point???

Originally Posted by Mao's Favourite Starling

Spot on! £#%&!ing hate the transfer window!

What the £#%&! is the point???

It exists purely so that SSN can have their yellow ticker telling us that Sol Campbell is having a medical at Newcastle.

Originally Posted by dunk

There is potential with Diouf, he was pretty good against Celtic, indifferent against Kansas, but most were.

In fact, almost every pre-season the same occurs, 1st few games are alright, then we look leggy and shit for 1 or 2, then we pick up again.

Probably to do with the training they do and the conditioning of the players.

I wouldn't write anyone off based on that game. It's also been forgotten during the Gibbo bashing that he had been home for a family bereavement in between friendlies. No wonder he looked £#%&!ed.

Hargo is £#%&!ed, like, proper £#%&!ed, he should be told to retire, just so he can be £#%&!ing replaced.

Not necassaily writing anyone off but the idea that we can't sign a player 'cos our squad is too full of quality is a nonsense. If we culd get a coupla top quality players but didn't 'cos it'd mean De Laet and Diouf weren't in the squad would you say "fair enough".

Originally Posted by dunk

So, 25?

VDS
Nev (H)
Evra
Hargreaves
Rio
Wes (H)
Owen
Anderson
Berbs
Rooney
Giggs (H)
Park
Hernandez
Vida
Carrick
Nani
Scholes (H)
O'Shea (H)
Evans (H)
Fletcher (H)
Gibson (H)
PIG
Diouf

That's only 23 that I can think of, this lot being under 21...

Smalling
Welbeck
Fabio
Rafael
Obertan
Macheda
Amos (?)
Cleverly

Where's the issue?

Valencia

the transfer window is shit because we have no money. we have about as much money to spend on players as arsenal. that's where we are at.

nft.

Originally Posted by Redordead

Valencia

Titanic

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

Not necassaily writing anyone off but the idea that we can't sign a player 'cos our squad is too full of quality is a nonsense. If we culd get a coupla top quality players but didn't 'cos it'd mean De Laet and Diouf weren't in the squad would you say "fair enough".

I agree with that. But for De Laet to drop out, you would think we would have to sign someone who can play at FB, given the fact he ended up being involved last season to an extent.

Tbh, both De Laet and Diouf would be as well out on loan as doing sweet FA at United whilst we persevere with G.Nev and Michael '£#%&!ing' Owen.

Originally Posted by dunk

I agree with that. But for De Laet to drop out, you would think we would have to sign someone who can play at FB, given the fact he ended up being involved last season to an extent.

Tbh, both De Laet and Diouf would be as well out on loan as doing sweet FA at United whilst we persevere with G.Nev and Michael '£#%&!ing' Owen.

You would hope that we'd not havea defensive injury crisis like last season though, doubt he'd have seen any play without it.

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

You would hope that we'd not havea defensive injury crisis like last season though, doubt he'd have seen any play without it.

Maybe. I don't fancy watching Fletch, Carrick and probably Ozil line up in defence though

Originally Posted by dunk

Maybe. I don't fancy watching Fletch, Carrick and probably Ozil line up in defence though

I don't fancy watching De Laet line up in defence either.

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

I don't fancy watching De Laet line up in defence either.

Fair point.

I must confess, I don't see a future for him at OT, he's quick and very little else.

Originally Posted by dunk

Fair point.

I must confess, I don't see a future for him at OT, he's quick and very little else.

Trying to see the positive in all our younger players, really struggling with him.

De Laet should just be released. He'll never be good enough.

Interesting letter from www.football365.com

This New Rule Is A Complicated Business. Or Not
After reading the article in which Sir Fergie comments that he is considering leaving 1 or 2 players out because of the new squad rulings, I quickly looked up the rules on the Premier League site, which states:

"In keeping with UEFA guidelines, an Under 21 player is defined as one who is under the age of 21 on 1st January in the year in which the season commences. For the 2010/11 campaign Under 21 players will have been born on or after 1st January 1989."

Now without simply making a long list of the entire first team squad and all their ages (surely this would make for a boring mail that is unlikely to be published), I believe I am right in saying there are only 3 players who have 1st team squad numbers who are exactly 21: Gabriel Obertan, Craig Cathcart and Ritchie de Laet. Of the three, Obertan and Cathcart were born after 1st January and so wouldn't have to be in 25, de Laet was born before and would have to be. So, de Laet included, (unless I've done something stupid, which is not impossible) there are exactly 25 players in the squad who would have to be registered.

I don't run a football club and so therefore do not know all of the intricate ways in which one works, however I feel I must not be the only one struggling to see the problem here? What does this mean? Signings despite what Sir Alex has said? Departures? I'm confused.

Also, while quickly looking up this information, another question came to mind; beyond this season, what are the effects of this rule change going to be in the long term? In the case of United, there will be at least 6 more players who next season will have to be registered; Fábio, Rafael, Smalling, Ben Amos, Craig Cathcart and Gabriel Obertan. Even if, say, van der Sar, Giggs and Scholes all retire at the end of the season (which is not likely nor do I think is entirely a good idea) that still leaves 3 players that would have to be sold or not registered, that's all before new signings could even be considered.

There's certainly a possibility that it would be younger players rather than established professionals that would be the first to go. So, then they would be either only being eligible for cup competitions, farmed out on the loan as a temporary solution or sold to lighten the squad load; will this then actually encourage clubs to put faith in youth development? Could it now appear to them to be even more of a gamble? It could though lead to more clubs having to offload average 'squad' players to make room for up-and-coming 21 and 22 year olds, but given current trends in the upper echelons of the Premiership, that seems a little optimistic.

There is also the possibility that it will only affect bigger clubs who have more bloated squads, as I'm not sure how many clubs actually have more than 25 players aged 21 or over. So it could lead to a more competitive league, however will it help give young players a chance at bigger clubs? And briefly putting that in the context of the national team, isn't that one of the bigger problems for young English players?


Two main points - A deduction that we must be buying if Hargo and Ando s places are threatened:

Next year we will have 3 youth players become over 21 and it will mean decisions being made with the squad.