Emmanuel Adebayor...Joey Barton...Hannibal Lector next?
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 12:05PM
Welcome to the second episode of The Fighting Cock, this week coming from The Maynard pub in North London and it's squeaky kitchen door. No engineer Al this week which meant recording the podcast was one of epic blood and sweat. We got there in the end (apologies for the sound dipping a few times in the opening 5 minutes).
Flav, Spooky, tehTrunk, Ricky and Chicago Dan all present and discussing Joey Barton and Emmanuel Adebayor as potential transfer signings and pushing them head first through the 'What If?' shredder of disdain. The team also look towards the new up and coming season (are we up for another top 4 fight?).
We've got also got Neil the cabbie - the début of one of many features we have lined up. Got some email listener feedback/questions too. Also Ricky implodes and undeniably looks set to win 'Pr*ck of the Week' before a single vote has been cast.
Love the shirt.
Reader Comments (40)
Why are you talking about us talking about the Europa League and Harry Redknapp here?
The recording was okay, but until anything actually happens, it's really just a lot of noise. Will keep listening mind.
Of course you will. You'll love us in the end.
What Flav and Trunk are getting at is - any feedback would be muchly appreciated (once you all finish slagging 'arry off).
Reading the posts on here it's definitely a case of "send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance".
When talking about transfers Harry has consistently made the point that we cannot compete with the teams currently above us in the PL. That is not the same as saying that we cannot finish in the Top 4, just that it will be harder to do.
When talking about the Europa League he has correctly identified that to stand a chance of a Top 4 finish we have to be sure that our team is at its fittest for each game, and trekking-off to the wilds of Eastern Europe to play on a Thursday, then rushing back to play Sunday is not the best preparation and risks injury to key players.
Much is made of Harry talking BS but frankly a lot of you have BS converters in your ears and eyes whenever anything about Harry is reported.
The only "benefit" of winning the Europa League would appear to be a place in the CL next season as the finanacial benefits are virtually non-existent and in my view the risks far outweigh the possible benefit.
Concentrate on the domestic business and give fringe and young players a taste of the action in this ill-conceived competition.
As the link came up on newsnow, I don't think people realised that the recordings are separated from the main blog.
"When talking about transfers Harry has consistently made the point that we cannot compete with the teams currently above us in the PL. That is not the same as saying that we cannot finish in the Top 4, just that it will be harder to do."
I disagree, Redknapp has repeatedly said that he doesn't see last season's top 4 dropping out the top four this season.
I do agree about the EL being a great big steaming dollop of shit, but the point is, why does he feel the need to keep dampening expectations, it's a self fulfilling prophecy? If you don't feel you can't compete or don't want to compete, just shut the fuck up and get on with the job.
I have never been able to understand the argument being put forward, that we need to concentrate on the league, and the EL is a distraction which will prevent us qualifying for the CL. On that basis, we should have been in the CL every year from about 1995-2005 because we had no EL or similar in those days.
Assuming we get knocked out early, we then face the problem that when we next qualify for the CL, we have a lower ranking, which means that we will face tougher draw when the seeding is sorted.
I can see the logic in "giving the kids a chance" and bearing in mind that we are going to be top seeds, and only need to finish in the top 2 to qualify for the knockout stages (assuming we qualify), I think that we can blood some youngsters, but that we should still be giving it "a go".
I have to say that the worst game I saw last year was the loss to Arsenal in the CC, because there was hardly anybody on the pitch, who was prepared to take responsibility, with almost every player passing the ball as soon as they got it. Nobody wanted to be caught in possession, and the result was a night of stray passes and no invention.
Harry has done a great job and should be applauded and thanked for his efforts. However we are at a X roads and this england job situation makes everything unclear. I think levy should offer him a new 4 year contract now and if he doesnt sign it then get RID of him now.
@ Davek.
The draw has yet to be made for this competition is yet to be made, and already we are talking about trips to Eastern Europe. Believe it or not, it takes about as long to fly to Bulgaria or Poland, as it does to fly to Spain. I think the real problem is the lack of prize money and the generally unglamorous locations that we will be required to visit.
The more glamorous teams are seeded so that we can't meet them until the last 32 or even 16. Still in the comp at time of writing are Roma, A.Madrid, Seville, Anderlecht, Celtic, Rangers, Lazio, all of whom have won Euro trophies, and all within a two hour flight.
He wouldn't get half the stick he does if he stopped telling the rest of the world his/our plans and (lack of) ambition/s.
I bet if I offered him a cornetto he'd fucking talk into it.
And I'm one of those who don't actually mind him. ;o)
@WinterWeekend61 - I bet if I offered him a cornetto he'd fucking talk into it.
Brilliant and so true. If Harry just kept quiet more of the time I think most people wouldn't feel this way about him right now.
No feedback or input to the discussion here. Just wanted to say I'm really enjoying these podcast, long may they continue! Cheers guys
Well done lads, I listened to episode 2 on the commute home. Very enjoyable and seemed more natural this week. Good range of opinions - did you have to draw straws to see who would speak up for Joey B? I liked the cabbie feature - hadn't thought about it before but Modric really should be questioning his agents competence.
For what it's worth, I'd say yes to Adebayor, no-fucking-way to Barton.
Just a thought, shouldn't prick of the week have some kind of penalty imposed like having to change you twitter pic to one of Chirpy holding a Prick sign?
Traffic was bad so had time to follow-you up with an episode of Uncaged Monkeys. Not too dissimilar - Cox explaining what would happen if you fell into a black hole, Spooky explaining what would happen if we signed Joey B. Fairly similar end result.
Sorry but Neil the cabbie sounds like a miserable little whinging kid. Comes across as a tad naive. Agents are part and parcel of the game - nowt we can do about it. It's business. Blame his agent for trying to engineer a move? if you're upset, be upset but focussing on the agent, that's just reaching.
Still think that there are too many people in the discussion, and you really do need to get a regular place to record. Although I can see why the pub appeals. You looking at getting in an audience at some stage?
Hey Trembly. Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, ideally we'd like to have one location to record in and we're looking into this. We're recording tonight, in a pub again, but its a lock-down (pub is actually shut) so no background sound issues (we hope).
I think with the amount of people, thought it worked fine on the second pod. Its about find a tempo and all of us growing more confident and also understanding all the boundaries you should adhere to in podcasting (i.e. not talking over each other, making sure we refer to each others names etc).
Early, early days yet.
Audience? That might be risky, unless its invite only :)
(not logged in as site owner, hence the raw comment post)
Also: re Neil, I think his point was more to do with the fact that his agent must understand and appreciate how contracts work so why lock in a player into a 6 year contract when perhaps 4 years would have allowed him and his client more power in terms of forcing a move away.