I'm in, I'm in... now post something quickly before they change their minds...
As a Feyenoord-fan for whom all hope of national silverware or CL group stage has been soured by you Villa(i)ns' plundering our central axis, I came across this thread when looking for confirmation of Ron Vlaar moving over to B'ingham.
There's been much said about Ron. Also by people of the likes of Villaajax, who's postings are of good content, but I believe one should not allow them on stage alone for they will likely never shut up again. Villaajax stated Vlaar is nowhere near Vertonghen and although I am relieved at his departure from Ajax, I don't think he's worth 12 million pounds. Nevertheless, Ajax of course shouldn't refuse that kind of money if some band of dimwits is pleased to pay it.
Basically I am convinced Ron to be your man. I am just not convinced he's a real captain. He is not the brightest light in the sky, proof of which is his choice of tattoo, in my mind. One could dismiss this as irrelevant, I beg to differ. There are photo's on the web for those who are curious. And I am most definetily looking forward to Ron making statements in English on MotD or Sky Sports or whatsitcalled.
Ron is not a ballerina, but last season I have seen him do things in and near the box I had never dreamed him capable of doing. He isn't flying down the flanks to give a cross, but he can thunder down the middle and has a devastating right-foot kick, usually most effective when sending a free kick away from 60 yards out. Liken him to his current boss, Ronald Koeman in this respect. Remember Wembley 1992, Barcelona v. Sampdoria, the only goal of the game. He also can put in a good header, as has been said before. Ron has an inch-perfect long pass.
I do not particularly like him for being a good reader of the game, maybe his timing is good when tackling or stealing a ball, but reading the game to me implies also that he knows when the opponent is ready for the kill and then leading his teammates to apply it and that I think is not his forte.
There's been questions on how to pronounce Vlaar and as usual the Dutch have been excellent at providing confusion on the matter.
For pronounciation of the double-A i'd like to refer you to the scene from Monty Python's Holy Grail, where the group enters the cave of the legendary Black Beast of Aaargh. Wait until John Cleese says: ''no, it's in the back of the throat''. Immediatly following that statement, Cleese provides an excellent performance of the Dutch double-A.
The Beast of Aaargh may well be a good nickname for Ronnie.
Also, much has been said of Feyenoord and it's youth academy, where again somebody clearly supportive of the highly regarded archrivals said that they have been and will always be superior. Again, a trigger for me to want to give some counterweight. Study the results of the Dutch academies and you will be able to draw your own conclusions.
What we suck at, big time, is bagging profits.
You should be ashamed of yourselves, going over to a club only just clearing itself from the Dark Ages of Debt and stealing their captain for a lousy 3 million quid... Of course, the real problem here is our legacy of bad management, where some daft arse allowed this sum to be taken up in his contract.
Anyway, wouldn't want to stop Ron for making this move, he deserved it. This guy has been out for two years with knee-trouble. Managed to get over it both times by working hard and got called up for the national squad, granted he played a poor game against Portugal at the Euro's but you've got to be the world's most narrowsighted person to dismiss the guy because of one game.
Thankfully, we've got some 4 or 5 talented cb's to take his place.
