Any football(soccer) fans.

[CrespoBlows]

Go for Liverpool FC mate; amazing history, most passionate fans in the world and the best midfielder in the world (Steven Gerrard).

 

Still the most succesful club in English history and you're guaranteed to have exciting soccer every week. Liverpool have been involved in the best Champions league and FA Cup finals to date.

 

How about Gerrard against Bolton on Saturday? He saved my parlay.

 

msbulldogs, this would be the guy to ask about soccer.

[msubulldogs21]

Go for Liverpool FC mate; amazing history, most passionate fans in the world and the best midfielder in the world (Steven Gerrard).

 

Still the most succesful club in English history and you're guaranteed to have exciting soccer every week. Liverpool have been involved in the best Champions league and FA Cup finals to date.

 

Well, I know they're down this year but I wouldn't want to appear like I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. They would be an easy team to go with, just like Man U, Chelsea, or Arsenal. I kind of want to pick a team that's not necessarily awful, but not great either.

[schillingouttheks]

Well' date=' I know they're down this year but I wouldn't want to appear like I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. They would be an easy team to go with, just like Man U, Chelsea, or Arsenal. I kind of want to pick a team that's not necessarily awful, but not great either.[/quote']

 

Fulham would be a nice team to watch emerge. As CrespoBlows noted earlier in this thread, they're on the rise. They have a couple American players (Dempsey, Johnson, Hangeland) to watch also so they're fun. Everton's not a bad choice either, especially with Tim Howard defending the net. Newcastle United is strange because every year they seem to have so much money to spend, and they do use it, but they don't translate it into success. They're not a big-name team, so that's about the only thing that keeps them from being the recent Yankees of the EPL (spend a s*** ton and produce nothing).

 

Manchester City is an interesting team also - and a good reason to hate Manchester United.

 

My team is Liverpool, which is also another reason to hate Man U. I began following them rather thoroughly when I was about 14 or 15 because I had always been intrigued by European soccer. My dad also went to the UK one time on business and met this guy I guess and they went to Anfield, and he came back with and gave me one of those really cool Liverpool FC scarves.

 

Tottenham is off to a hot start this year. They'd be a good and interesting team to follow.

 

There are more than enough options. Just do some research.

[CrespoBlows]

If Hangeland and Johnson were on the American team they'd be a hell of a lot better. Johnson is English, and I think Hangeland is from Norway.

 

EDIT* Eddie Johnson is on the USA team. My mistake.

[schillingouttheks]

Hangeland is indeed on the Norwegian national team but he was born in Houston. I just mentioned him for the hell of it.

[CrespoBlows]

Hangeland is indeed on the Norwegian national team but he was born in Houston. I just mentioned him for the hell of it.

 

Damn, I did not know that.

 

That f***ing pisses me off. The Americans would have Rossi from Italy, and Hangeland from Norway if they just played for the country they were born in.

 

f*** Freddy Adu. Ghana can have him.

[ScousePatriot]

How about Gerrard against Bolton on Saturday? He saved my parlay.

 

He's just utter class, honestly don't know what we'd do without him.

 

Well, I know they're down this year but I wouldn't want to appear like I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. They would be an easy team to go with, just like Man U, Chelsea, or Arsenal. I kind of want to pick a team that's not necessarily awful, but not great either.

 

Newcastle are not in the Premier League anymore as they got relegated to a lower division last season. They will rebuild and probably come back up within the next two seasons. Newcastles fans are similar to Liverpool's fans in that they are full of passion, Newcastle lives and breathes Soccer, it wouldn't be a bad team to follow if you don't mind

them not being in the Premier League.

 

Fulham isn't a bad choice either to be honest although I can't see them winning any trophies anytime soon.

 

If you don't want to follow Liverpool for fear of being on the bandwagon I'd say you're best with a team like Aston Villa. They play entertaining Soccer and have the ability to win some of the smaller trophies like the Carling Cup etc. They are not brilliant but they are not rubbish just like you want!

 

If you want your team to be playing for the Champions League trophy every year then you need to pick one of the top four teams. Again Liverpool is the way to go!

 

Everton made it to the FA Cup Final last year but where beaten by Chelsea. This year they have made a bad start but I can see them picking it up. They'll probably finish inside the top 7 this season and qualify for the Europa league.

 

Overall if it was me I'd pick between Liverpool and Aston Villa!

 

1. How do the contract situations and stuff work? I've always heard about transfers, etc, but don't really know the ins and outs of it.

 

To be really basic and keep it simple, we have certain weeks in the year known as 'The transfer window'. During these weeks team A can approach team B and offer money (Transfer Fee) for a player. If team B accept the Transfer Fee, team A must then agree personal terms with the player (Wages, Bonus etc). If the player agrees to the personal terms then he becomes a member of team A so long as he passes a medical. No transfers can be made outside of the transfer window.

 

The two transfer windows in England are typically 1st June - 31st August and 1st January - 2nd February.

 

You can also loan a player from a team for a short period of time.

 

2. Do they have a salary cap? What do they go by?

 

There is no salary cap in the Premier League so a team can buy/pay it's players as much as they think they are worth.

 

Hope this all helps and if there is anything else just ask.

[schillingouttheks]

Newcastle are not in the Premier League anymore as they got relegated to a lower division last season. They will rebuild and probably come back up within the next two seasons. Newcastles fans are similar to Liverpool's fans in that they are full of passion' date=' Newcastle lives and breathes Soccer, it wouldn't be a bad team to follow if you don't mind them not being in the Premier League.[/quote']

 

Damn, I didn't know that. That's interesting though. They have so much talent that it's a shame to see it go to waste each year. I'm pulling for Newcastle to turn it around, because I enjoy watching them play. The team is just an enigma.

[CrespoBlows]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=672926&sec=england&cc=5901

 

The gate crashers are spoiling the Liverpool party.

[CrespoBlows]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=672565&sec=transfers&cc=5901

 

Portsmouth is headed to relegation.

[Paradisecity]

Yeah Portsmouth might currently appear to be in trouble, but they were just purchased by a man who will spend a ton of money to build them up, so if they can hang on they should be decent in a year or two.

 

I never get to watch City. They aren't televised for like a month now, with back to back vs Arsenal and At Man U starting next weekend (13th).

 

Should be a good measuring stick.

[CrespoBlows]

Channelsurfing.net

[msubulldogs21]

So. I ended up going with Tottenham Hotspur.

 

Yays? Nays?

[ScousePatriot]

So. I ended up going with Tottenham Hotspur.

 

Yays? Nays?

 

Yay!

 

This season I think you'll see them qualify for the UEFA Cup or Europa League as it's called now. I can't see them taking a top 4 spot and getting into the Champions League though.

[Teddyballgame10]

I'm going to Parekn Stadium Saturday for the Danish Portugal WC qualifier. The game is home for the Danes and I'm going to a bar inside the stadium for the game. I cant wait. If Portugal lose they are basically eliminated. Cant wait to see Ronaldos tears.

[CrespoBlows]

They won't lose to the Danes.

[CrespoBlows]

England is butchering Croatia, 3-0.

[msubulldogs21]

Chelsea put one in with less than 2 minutes to go in extra time to beat Stoke City 2-1.

 

F me. I thought sure Stoke was going to hold.

[CrespoBlows]

Chelsea put one in with less than 2 minutes to go in extra time to beat Stoke City 2-1.

 

F me. I thought sure Stoke was going to hold.

 

How? Chelsea had the ball in their goal area for the last 12 minutes.

[msubulldogs21]

How? Chelsea had the ball in their goal area for the last 12 minutes.

 

Yeah I caught the last 20 minutes or so. It was more wishful thinking on my part I guess. Still disappointing.

[msubulldogs21]

Spurs get a goal 50 seconds in and its been all Man U since.

 

I'm not exactly an expert but I thought we had shot to get a point today. Bah.

[CrespoBlows]

Spurs get a goal 50 seconds in and its been all Man U since.

 

I'm not exactly an expert but I thought we had shot to get a point today. Bah.

 

Yeah, but Man U is still extremely talented. Tottenham is second-tier.

[RHS]

Paradisecity, you're not the only City fan on here. Glad I've got company, though I was gone for a while.

 

I didn't like Adey trying to take out Van Persie's eye in the last match, but our finishing finally linked up with our attacking and produced some goals. Hope we continue.

[ScousePatriot]

I guess we'll see how good City are this week as it's the Manchester Derby. Personally I'm hoping they draw with Man U.

 

The way Tottenham have been playing recently they had a shot of taking 3 points off Man U they definitely had the chance to take a point .

[RHS]

Well we'll be with Adey for the match, and Tevez is still out with his injury, so our striker lineup should be interesting so we'll see how that turns out.

[Paradisecity]

GOod to see another City fan aboard RHS.

 

YEah we will be missing Tevez, Robinho, Ade, Santa Cruz isnt QUITE ready yet (but practicing again), so this isnt really a good squad for us.

 

I am guessing we will see Bellamy and Petrov up top?

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see Vlaid Weiss make an appearance. I can't wait to watch him in a couple years when he is a top 20 player

[RHS]

Pretty pissed about the result this morning. Should have come out of it with a point. Mancs score the winner in the 6+ minute of stoppage time when there were only supposed to be 4 minutes of ET. It was in Old Trafford so I guess I shouldn't be that shocked, but it still sucks. We battled back 3 times to knot it up only to have it ripped from us.

[Teddyballgame10]

We're on our way to South Africa!

[Binky]

There is only one soccer team worth talking about...

[suns]

Yep, the USA!