04/26/24
August 29, 2003
Manchester City "steals" Claudio Reyna from Fulham.: The American team captain was on his way from Sunderland (last season's worst EPL team, relegated to the First Division this season) to Fulham on a 2.5mil pound deal. He was at the Fulham stadium having his picture taken in a Fulham jersey. He had discussions with the manager. Hours later, he was a Man City player, for the same transfer price. I wonder what about Man City's deal was better on personal terms? Does Reyna consider Man City (#4, 3 games, 2 wins and a draw) less likely to drop to the First Division than Fulham (#12, 2 games, 1 win, 1 loss)? Reyna will be a good playmaker option for Man City as long as he can beat his injury bug. I think it's great an American player (altho an "old" one) gets another chance at playing on the big stage, but this kind of looks mercenary, doesn't it?
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 12:10 PM - 19 comments
I'm just happy that Captain America will be plying his trade in the EPL again, and for a pretty decent squad for all that. This should make the Man City / Man U derby of great interest here in the states. Man City and our World Cup captain taking on the biggest club in the world, with a local rivalry thrown in to boot!
posted by trox at 01:51 PM on August 29, 2003
I hope Man City does the double on Man U this season.
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:39 PM on August 29, 2003
Maybe Claudio's a closet Oasis fan.
posted by holden at 03:11 PM on August 29, 2003
For once worldcup, I agree with you.
posted by trox at 03:52 PM on August 29, 2003
I'm looking for two scoreless draws in the M vs. M matches. No one scores on Timmy or Claudio!!!
posted by billsaysthis at 04:27 PM on August 29, 2003
Can one of you more knowledgeable types explain to me why Bobby Convey did not get a work permit to join Spurs? He's played plenty for the US Team...
posted by billsaysthis at 04:34 PM on August 29, 2003
McManamanamanamanaman joins MAN City too...
posted by StarFucker at 04:53 PM on August 29, 2003
And joins his buddy and former Liverpool teammate Robbie Fowler. That makes three ex-Reds with Anelka. And I think Keegan was an ex-Red, too. Solid midfield options for Man City I think. Good stuff. It'll be interesting to see the three players up against Liverpool.
posted by worldcup2002 at 05:54 PM on August 29, 2003
bill: This is what the ministry that rejected Convey's work permit application said:
"The review panel refused this application having judged that this player was not of sufficiently high calibre to make an immediate impact on the British game. There is no further opportunity for appeal.''wtf? Who turned around and made them England manager? Who is this fooking review panel? Also:
Convey has 18 caps for the United States and Spurs were confident of signing him for around £1 million from Washington's DC United even though they accepted his international record was not quite enough to fulfil basic criteria for granting the work permit. Players need to have appeared in 75% of their country's most recent international games to be virtually sure of receiving the vital documents and that was why the original application for Convey was rejected.Now, something like that is more acceptable, or at least more statistical. Whether it really makes sense is another question. And that official statement never referred to the international requirement. It is just stupefying.
posted by worldcup2002 at 06:02 PM on August 29, 2003
Dalmat joining boro is much bigger news - now they have mendieta, juninho and dalmat in midfield. Nay bad :)
posted by Mossy at 06:17 PM on August 29, 2003
Well, Convey is only 20, so perhaps after another 12 months with more international caps, he can try again.
posted by billsaysthis at 06:56 PM on August 29, 2003
It's fairly simple, your fourth string keeper ain't good enough for the Premiership. Whilst your first string one is. It's called protection of trade. I think Keller and Friedel have been here long enough to be virtually British citizens, and anyway they've played enough first team games in the Premiership to earn their place. AFAIK we only accept players from outside the EC if they meet that 75% rule or have good reason to appeal. It's just a polite way of saying it.
posted by squealy at 07:35 PM on August 29, 2003
Convey is not a goalkeeper and he does start regularly but apparently not quite regularly enough. I understand protection of trade, believe me, but I would think that for younger players that teams want to bring on the authorities would make an exception. But perhaps not...
posted by billsaysthis at 11:53 PM on August 29, 2003
Yeah, excuse me, too drunk to read properly. :-)
posted by squealy at 05:03 AM on August 30, 2003
On top of that, I reckon the EPL are more interested in encouraging the development of our own young players, hence the protectionism.
posted by squealy at 06:03 AM on August 30, 2003
I thought EPL were mainly interested in making money.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:58 AM on August 30, 2003
Dalmat joining boro is much bigger news - now they have mendieta, juninho and dalmat in midfield. Nay bad :) We'll need both Dalmat and Zenden if we're to get over today's debacle. Ugh. Actually, Mercenary Midfielder of the Week has to be the 70s-coifféd former Boro star Emerson, who had agreed terms with Wolves, then flown back to Madrid to sort out money with Atletico, then got a call from Martin O'Neill, flew directly to Glasgow, and when negotiations with Celtic fell through, he signed for Rangers. That's what I call class. I'm sure, though, that the London press will be running feature spreads on the Gorbals, and 'from the Samba to Sauchiehall Street'. Oh, no, they won't, will they? They only have stock photos of ICI Billingham. wc2002: the basic Home Office criterion for a work permit is 'of internationally-recognised calibre'; in footballing terms, the index has always been '75% of recent internationals, or a good explanation of why not, such as injury'. The Home Office doesn't officially turn down applications because someone doesn't have the caps, but not having the caps is usually the reason why someone gets turned down. If that makes any sense. Does Convey have a European grandparent somewhere in his lineage?
posted by etagloh at 05:53 PM on August 30, 2003
I don't really care. It was Spurs that wanted him. Go Liverpool!
posted by worldcup2002 at 09:39 AM on September 02, 2003
King Kev works his transfer magic again. Presumably he's offered Reyna more money than Fulham. Reyna's right if he thinks Fulham have more chance of being relegated, since Man City have virtually no chance of taking the drop. Question is, who will he replace? My money's on Joey Barton, which will be a shame for the thousands of FFL managers who've bought him since he scored last week. Heh.