Corcaigh

All of which failed to even qualify for the last World Cup. And you say we are at their level Didn't they all make Euro 2008 though? Did England? Look I know it's tough for some England supporters to accept their place in the football pecking order, pretend I didn't say anything!

Winning a tournament half a century ago doesn't give automatic top tier status forever, if that were the case then the Greeks and Danes would also be top tier going by your criteria. Holland, Portugal and the rest of the top tier teams you've mentioned would and have beaten England on a regular basis over the past few decades bar the odd freak result. Like I said, Russia, Sweden, Croatia and the like are Englands natural level these days, results suggest such. If England were a PL side they'd be Liverpool, living off past glories, have an entitlement mentality and naively optimistic at the start of every new season/tournament. :winkold:

An exceptional mobile phone and MP3 player salesman. Computers less so.

Brazil - Mano Menezes (Brazilian) Italy - Cesare Prandelli (Italian) Germany - Joachim Löw (German) Argentina - Alejandro Sabella (Argentinian) France - Laurent Blanc (French) Spain - Vicente del Bosque (Spanish) Holland - Bert van Marwijk (Dutch) Uruguay - Óscar Tabárez (Uruguayan) Portugal - Paulo Bento (Portuguese) England - Fabio Capello (Italian) :oops: To be fair though the teams you've listed, bar perhaps France, are world class teams. England are very much second tier and as such should be bracketed with your Russia's (managed by a Dutchman) & Greece's (managed by a Portuguese). As always it's results rather then nationality which should be the determining factor in deciding to appoint or sack a national manager, not nationality.

12 years ago! Suddenly I feel so old :shock:

Shame they're so crap at following their local football teams!

people are forgetting Armenia are still in this group so wouldnt take them 3 points for granted. They beat Russia and Slovakia already The Armenians have picked up some decent results alright but I still reckon the ROI will have too much for them at home and, just like in Yerevan, we'll squeeze through. What I can see though is Armenia getting an early goal on Tuesday night, with much fretting as a result until Keano or someone steps up to save the day again.

I think in Westwood, Coleman, McGeady, McCarthy & Long Ireland have a potentially decent enough spine to replace those guys. Then you've got the prospects who turn out to be decent or may just return to mediocrity like Meyler, Stevens, Cummins and plenty of other youngsters with British sides and in the LoI. Although I reckon Shay and Dunner will stay on for at least another WC campaign. Plus there's a great seam of talent from NI & Scotland just waiting to be poached :winkold:. Also we have to consider it'll probably be easier to qualify for Euro championships in the future as they're being expanded to 24 teams. World Cup less so.

Not even the iffy midfield can balls up Trapps boys from picking up 6 pts from Andorra & Armenia. As for Keane & Duff being past it? Rubbish!

Any word on Bent's fitness?

Think I saw him play once a couple of seasons when he was at St. Pats, didn't stand out to me then but he was quite young and unlike most VTers I'm really awful at measuring a players potential. For instance If you'd a told me 5 years ago Kevin Doyle & Shane Long would be playing regularly in the PL I'd have laughed.

Dam you BRMB

Although my preferred method of watching Villa, when i can't afford the shekels to make it to VP of course, is streams of dubious quality and in a foreign language, however as I'm now working all day Saturday I've splashed out on Sky sports 1 and watched the Fulham game on their football first service. This involves me turning off all radio's and TVs in work and shushing anyone who dares talk to me about the game when it's on, and then studiously avoiding highlights shows, news programmes and my phone in case i get gloating texts from my chums over the course of Saturday evening. Sky show an hours worth of highlights, why they don't replay the full 90 mins I'll never know. PS if anyone knows of people recording the games in full and making them available as torrents, PM me!

Never mind the potential timebomb of the shoulder injury or the 5m fee and extortionate wages, but how do you know hes still got it? My nans played more footie than Given in the last 12 months He was still solid in his ROI appearances last season despite his lack of game time at Man City so I don't think there's any concern about his game having suddenly nosedived massively over the past 12 months. It's the shoulder that's the concern. Lerner had no problem splashing out on high wages to sign a 38 year old Friedel so I can't see Given's age or wage demands being too much of a concern here. Especially when you consider the transfer fee will in all likely be far lower then what Blues will be asking for Foster.

I think people are being harsh on Given's ability, he's still very much got it. It's his dodgy shoulder that I'd be concerned about but so long as the price is reasonable then I'd be in favour of it.

Yeah, but wiwcutlbofp? Mea culpa iykwim = if you know what I mean e.g. Ireland is in it for the money and lifestyle.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Stephen Ireland needs a good kick up the hole and be told to cop himself on and I hope McLeish gives it to him. Personally I think he's damaged goods and should be moved on, but I have no doubt he'd rather sit on the bench or at home in Manchester and pick up his wages rather then move elsewhere on lower wages to get more game time because that's the kind of guy he is iykwim.

No way will Villa agree to his demands.

Hasn't Benty had 2/3 goals wrongly disallowed this season? there's your 12 goals in 15 games right there.

Wouldn't say no to a CL winning manager either. Edit - oh wait it's the Mirror. Oh well.

Sadly i can see a repeat of the 5-0 mauling this lot gave us at the end of DOLs days at Villa.

Heskey needs to cop the fawk on and stop acting like he's on his period the stupid clearing in the woods.

I'm extremely confident Villa can dupe some club or manager into taking this waste of space for cash or as part of a player swap in the summertime. Taking the hit on wages and a smaller transfer fee will be worth it in the long run to be rid of this clearing in the woods and his drama.

The past few pages have been full of win, keep it up lads!

That's an unfortunate and very wrong default assumption. I'd say the majority of people in the Republic are as afraid of the Shinners as you are. Perhap's of a certain generation BOF, but as the troubles recede into history people are more willing to forgive and forget, and younger people don't particularly care about what happened a generation ago. Plus it has to be expected that people are ''sympathetic'' to SF these days not because of their past mis-adventures in the north, or Gerry Adam's charisma , but because they have taken up a position on the centre-Left of Irish politics and have consistently argued against the bailout of the banks, the EU and the general inequalities brought about by the bubble. Come the next general election, with the prospect of the Labour party being contaminated by being in government, i envisage SF overtaking them to become the either the 2nd or 3rd largest party on the south - the variable being whether FF will be able to recover some of their lost support. The supreme irony of course being that if/when they get into power they're not going to do anything as drastic as their rhetoric suggests, as ably demonstrated by the parties work in the NI Assembly. Swinging back to the topic of the debt, this latest cash injection of 24Bn just the latest charade in attempting to bring the country back to normality. It's too late, the dye is cast and Ireland is sleepwalking into defaulting.