Morning all and apologies for not posting yesterday. I was doing so many things and there really was only one bit of speculation, which I'm going to mention below that I thought could wait for today and there really was little else, but we do have something today, but you'll think I'm mad.
You see, our manager isn't that impressed with the Europa LDV League for next season because if we were to not give up half way through and we were to take the tournament with a stupid name seriously, we'd have to play seventeen games including the final, if we were to get there. He thinks it is too much.
It is four more games than Manchester United have had to play in the Chumps League this season, so it sort of feels like the big clubs are been protected and the ones fighting to get into the top four are been punished by having to play more games. It isn't fair and if only we had a master plan, a cunning way to beat these UEFA scoundrels. Wait, I think I've got it.
How about, if we are honestly going to take this tournament seriously, we put the balance of advantage back onto our side, by not, now think about this for a second first before dismissing it as I know it's fairly radical, play only the kids in the League Cup or by golly, I think I've got it, bring in more players that can play quality football in the Premier League so we have more opportunity to rest the players we have. I know, we could call it a squad and we could call the system, squad rotation.
Martin O'Neill, May 11th 2009
I couldn’t agree more that there are too many games. You would have thought the one thing you would be talking about was going into the last 16 from the group stages. It really should have been redesigned with that in mind.
Okay, playing the kids in the League Cup might not give them much of a rest, we haven't exactly done well in any of the tournaments since O'Neill took over, but it is a start. One thing is for sure, he can not give up on this or any tournament next season and the canned excuses or tiredness and small squad can simply not be used, he has to start to get active in the transfer market.
Moving on, quite conveniently to the transfer market and some speculation. This one carries with it some credibility, because Sky Sports say that O'Neill flew out to watch this player after getting some glowing reports. His name is Thomas Vermaelen and he is currently playing for Ajax and he is, according to our new Scandinavian scout, quite a decent player. But it is only a rumour.
See how I threw in there we have a new Scandinavian scout. His name is David Wilson and his job is one of the best jobs in the world. He has to go watch football matches for a living. He has played in Sweden and Finland and started life in the Manchester United youth system and actually made a few appearance s for his boyhood team before getting shipped out to Bristol Rovers for a few games before eventually finding himself in the Finnish Premier Division.
I like Swedish footballers and hope he fins one or two for us. The football isn't great in Sweden but occasionally you come across a very decent footballer and they seem to do well in the English league, mostly because the football in Sweden is actually quite similar to the English game, just generally at a very low level.
Right, that is it for now. I have the day off to go visit the DIY store to get some screws and I'm under instructions to rake the grass. Where is a Bosnian refugee when you need one.