rodders0223 Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 (edited) Quote Aaron Hughes has been ruled out of Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifier against Germany on Thursday. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41423557 Bloody hell, I remember him playing for us about thirty years ago, and he looked past it then. Edited October 3, 2017 by rodders0223 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PieFacE Posted October 3, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 3, 2017 hahahaha... jesus he's still playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornso Posted October 3, 2017 Share Posted October 3, 2017 6 hours ago, PieFacE said: hahahaha... jesus he's still playing? He's gone from the A-League to India to Hearts in Scotland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted October 3, 2017 Author Share Posted October 3, 2017 I liked Hughes when he played for us. Had a great cross that set up plenty of goals in 05-06. Just one of those solid pros who's obviously looked after himself very well to still be playing international football in his late 30s. Given how well he did at Fulham we should've played him at centre half. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Emre is starting tonight for Turkey 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 1 hour ago, Zatman said: Emre is starting tonight for Turkey Must be pushing 40 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 On 19/08/2017 at 21:23, NurembergVillan said: I think he had a medical at Nantes which showed he had a heart condition. I don't know that he's officially retired, but I seem to remember he was advised to do so. Anyone that has the misfortune of watching the bloke play would question that he had any heart at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 according to the newspaper Jamie O'Hara is still a footballer. for who I havent a clue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 Jay Spearing, apparently 28 years old Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted October 8, 2017 Author Share Posted October 8, 2017 1 hour ago, Zatman said: according to the newspaper Jamie O'Hara is still a footballer. for who I havent a clue Billericay. They have Pennant and Konchesky playing for them aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mat Kendrick's Dentist Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 24 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Billericay. They have Pennant and Konchesky playing for them aswell. Likeable team! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 9, 2017 Share Posted October 9, 2017 Hossam Ghaly though his Wikipedia does bring up this cracker Quote In July 2007, he was set to move to Birmingham City for a fee of £3 million (subject to work permit approval).[8] However, on 3 August, Birmingham announced they would not be completing the deal after Ghaly objected to the training methods employed by manager Steve Bruce https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hossam_Ghaly#Tottenham_Hotspur 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted October 9, 2017 Author Share Posted October 9, 2017 Was reading an interview with Danny Ings today. He's had some awful luck with injury in last two years. Was a good striker at Burnley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted October 17, 2017 Author Share Posted October 17, 2017 What Matt Derbyshire is up to these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 2 awful touches he looked decent at the start in Blackburn and never did anything at any other club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Article today in a Swedish paper about one of my all time favorite players and one of those "what could have been" moments with Aston Villa. Luc Nilis. Apparently dubbed the best player he ever played with by Ronaldo. Google translate ftw. Quote "Best player you've never heard of" Ronaldo and Van Nistelrooy: He is the Master FOOTBALLless than 10 minutes ago "I've played with big players like Figo, Romario, Zidane, Rivaldo, Djorkaeff and Raúl but the one I clicked best of was Luc Nilis." The order is Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Limas - the brass, which by many is celebrated as the perhaps hottest finisher through football history. But who is Luc Nilis? "The best player you've never heard of". The title is taken from the reddit internet forum and is about the belgian that the brass Ronaldo claims is the best he ever played with. An idea shared by Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy. It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s that Luc Nilis dominated the football leagues in the Benelux countries. Between 1986 and 1994 the striker scored 127 goals on 224 league matches for Belgian Anderlecht and 1994-2000 110 new hits during 164 league matches for PSV Eindhoven . "He is the master of me" He won the Belgian league four times, the Dutch on two occasions, scored the most goals in Eredivisie both 1996 and 1997 and was named 1995 for the best league player in the league. This despite the fact that striker Ronaldo that year had made 18 league goals more than Nilis and their PSV Eindhoven only finished three in the league behind Ajax and Roda. An Ajax that same year also won the Champions League with players like Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Marc Overmars, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf, Jari Litmanen, Nwankwo Kanu and Patrick Kluivert in the team. Nevertheless, the players in the Netherlands's two highest leagues voted Luc Nilis as the foremost of all of them. "I've played with big players like Figo, Romario, Zidane, Rivaldo, Djorkaeff and Raúl, but the one I clicked best of was Luc Nilis," said Ronaldo. "He is the master of me, after his career, old great-shooter Ruud Van Nistelrooy has witnessed. But while they both became two of the world's most celebrated and famous football players, Luc Nilis has in any way disappeared and forgotten. When the 50-year-old released his autobiography this year, it produced practically no echo at all, outside the Benelux area. But everything could have been very different. "Be like bacon and egg" Luc Nilis was not like Ronaldo or Van Nistelrooy. The Belgians were indeed called "Lucky Luke" for their ability to always appear in the right place in the penalty area but otherwise something as unique as an attacker who could score from just about all positions in the offensive plane. He was an expert in turning free throws, but could as well push them in with force. He was a selfless striker who often sought the fitting instead of the shot but repeatedly showed his ability to dribble both one, two and three players and then place the ball in the net. He was also as effective in the air game as with the ball on the ground. He was the complete striker but, more than anything else, he was the complete assault partner. "He and van Nistelrooy were like bacon and eggs, have legendary coach Bobby Robson, who in 1998 won a young Ruud van Nistelrooy to PSV Eindhoven from Heerenveen, testified. But while Ronaldo was sold to Barcelona and Ruud Van Nistelrooy later, his career in Manchester United continued, so there was no big change for Luc Nilis. The reason is nobody is still completely sure. One theory is that the Belgian was simply a player who demanded too much space. "Luc is a bit like Dennis Bergkamp in that he can create a goal from nothing and always shoot at the right moment. But Luc is really a strange football player, Dutch national teamwoman Wim Jonk has told. Paul Verbrugghe, football journalist at the Belgian De Standaard, tried in 1997 to explain why the British newspaper Independent. "I think the most fair comparison is with Matt Le Tissier, when he scored goals from all sorts of angles a couple of years ago. Like Le Tissier, Luc has always been seen as a very talented player but has been difficult to place in a team. Especially the national team. He likes to play behind another striker with the freedom to expire to positions both right and left. "I miss the speed" Others have pointed to Luc Nilis own home-length as the reason why the Belgian has stayed in Anderlecht and PSV for so long. Eindhoven was only an hour by car from Nili's home municipality Zonhoven and the contract with an annual salary of 800,000 pounds meant that the Belgian also had no strong economic reasons to leave the area Luc Nilis himself has had a third theory. "I miss the speed of the first ten meters. That is why I do not belong to the category with the best attackers in Europe, "said Nilis in 1997. Then the Belgian had just impressed the eyes of the British football audience. A period that would ultimately also change the attacker's career. In 15 days, Nilis terrorized Irish goalkeeper Shay Given. Not only that the Belgian scored goals in both meetings when Belgium beat Ireland in qualifying for the World Cup 1998 - between the national teams, the PSV striker also fought to lower Givens Newcastle in the Champions League. "He's a great player, right?" Said Given a little surprised. Now there were also more in Britain who had discovered it. When Nili's contract with PSV Eindhoven expired at the turn of the millennium, Aston Villa managed to get the Belgian to the English league. Was forced to amputate Villa had the season before finishing six in the Premier League after losing only two of the 21 last matches and also seasoned it with a FA Cup final against Chelsea. Now they wanted to bet to enter the Champions League and Nilis was the star wager that would carry them there. Everything was also very promising. "Lucky Luke" scored in the debut against Czech Dukla Příbram in the Intertoto Cup on July 22, 2000 and followed up with a new match in the league match against Chelsea on 27 August. The latter additionally an unlikely dream goal where the player lifted the ball over his defender with his right foot and then dunk it on the volley with his left foot. The kind of goal that got the newspapers to formulate the big headlines and the Aston Villa fans to dream about the big cups. But in his only third league match for the club, Lucky Lukes took the last turn. In the league match against Ipswich on September 9, Nilis was so unhappy with the opponents goalkeeper Richard Wright that he broke his right leg in two places. As if that were not enough, the leg was also inflamed, which forced the doctors to amputate. - I cried when they told me. Everything has been a nightmare and sometimes I wonder how I'll do the day. This is the worst moment in my life, Nilis told the BBC in November that year. Then the doctors had managed to save their legs but not Luc Nili's career. 33 years old, the striker was forced to give up his career just three matches into the challenge that was intended to finally give him the broad confirmation his football skills deserved. "I know that things happen worse in the world but this has broken my dreams. I have never heard of any other football player who has been injured so seriously and I continue to ask me "why me?". Now I hope I can be so restored that I can go again but it breaks my heart that I will never be able to play football and that Aston Villa never saw me from my best side. Luc Nilis thought he was at the bottom of the world from time to time, but it was only the beginning of the case. For when Lucky Luke's trip ended, it really ended. "Then I lost hope of everything" "When you end up with the football you stand from one day to another suddenly in a normal life. I could not do that much either. I had to continue my rehabilitation for another 2.5 years to even walk and maybe, maybe a beautiful day playing tennis or golf. Luc Nilis soon noticed the lack of football after the game and the regular adrenaline games played before full arenas had given. Then you start testing other things. You start to bet, play on cards and more. Luc Nilis was caught in a game abuse that cost him both his marriage and a large part of his fortune. However, when the Belgian stood at the bottom of 2005, a golden road returned to his missing football. Major Beringen-Heusden-Zolder had gone up five Belgian series for ten years and now attracted well-known names with promises of investment and success. Nilis was offered the job as a technical director, but the entire project proved to be an airlock and when the promised money to leaders and players suddenly was missing, everything ended with the compulsory depreciation of the club and bankruptcy. "At that moment, I lost my hope of everything. But there was a rescue network left. "Get rest in the grave with my father" For perhaps it was lucky and not bad that Luc Nilis never switched PSV Eindhoven to a FC Barcelona or a Manchester United. When their old hero needed it most, the club was there for him. After hearing about Nili's vulnerable situation, PSV recruited his old Belgian shooter to the club. He began to work calmly as a mentor within the academy, then received the mission as a scout and was promoted within a few years to assistant coaches. "I was lucky enough to return to the football schedule at the right time. Back to the football plan I had missed that. All this, however, came to light only after the launch of Luc Nili's autobiography this year. There were also no major headings outside Belgium and the Netherlands. Despite the fact that Luc Nilis was listed for 388 goals for Anderlecht and PSV, six league titles and played the World Cup in 1994 and 1998 and EM 2000 for Belgium, the striker for many is a forgotten player. Had the trip been enough for a couple of years, and Nilis shot Aston Villa to the English league peak, everything could have been very different, but maybe it does not matter anymore. "Now my life is in order. I'm usually happy and when everything is over, I'll get to rest in the grave with my father, Luc Nilis noted with joy in the voice this year. Should we talk to football speeches, he also has enough time to get over. Why does there really be something that strikes that brass Ronaldo says you're the best? Then even an English league title is weak in comparison. Sources: BBC, Omroepbrabant.nl, DH.be, Guardian, Independent, Buzz.ie. https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotboll/a/Gv1B6/baste-spelaren-du-aldrig-hort-talas-om 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Great article but I hate the title, a lot of people have 'heard' of him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 Just looked up Jamie O'Hara and he's only just turned 31. Thought he was a lot older than that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted October 20, 2017 Share Posted October 20, 2017 2 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said: Great article but I hate the title, a lot of people have 'heard' of him Exactly. Most football fans would have heard of him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted October 21, 2017 Author Share Posted October 21, 2017 On 10/20/2017 at 14:59, Dr_Pangloss said: Great article but I hate the title, a lot of people have 'heard' of him When it was announced he'd signed (day of a game we played v Arsenal) much of crowd didn't have a clue who he was and it was treated as a very underwhelming signing e.g. why didn't we bid for Van Nistelrooy instead?! Good article. He was a good player for PSV as it said and also scored some crucial goals for Belgium. Think he scored some when they knocked ROI out of the 98 world cup in the play offs. I'm sure he'd have done well for us like Merson did in his later years. Back to this article, saw Stephen Bywater playing for Burton the other day, how old is he now? I'm sure he was playing in goal for West Ham about 20 years ago?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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