QuoteThe rankings were the main reason as quoted by John Delaney at the time.Originally Posted by youngirish
No. It's all averages. I'm crap at explaining things like this so just read the guardian link.If they got 1638 points for beating Poland surely they'd be top of the rankings?
And that's all I tried to do.I think the rankings are accurate.
The rankings were the main reason as quoted by John Delaney at the time.
Aw shucks. After slagging me off when I was here, now you're missing me when I've hardly gone....
To be honest, we all know these rankings are pretty cack, but after so long when NI was a laughing stock, I hardly think anyone can really blame us if we take a bit of pride, even in something so inconsequential.
As it happens, I feel we could have another couple of months of basking in the warm, glowing ranks of the Top Thirty, since we've still got the final six months of dross under McIlroy to drop off our 4 year record (McIlroy resigned in Nov/Dec? 2003), plus our next game is in August, at home to Liechtenstein.
As for our future prospects where it really counts (on the pitch), I can't quite make up my mind about Nigel. Obviously losing Sanchez cannot be a good thing. But it might not necessarily be a bad thing, either. I say that because for all that Sanchez was respected by his players, that's not the same as saying he was liked by them, and it might just be that hearing a new voice after 3 1/2 years might refresh them. Plus Nigel should have one or two players with whom Lawrie fell out (notably George McCartney) available to him.
And if Nigel's managerial record is hardly Mourinho-like either, it's not that bad either; in fact, you could say it looks better than Lawrie's did when he took over. I just hope he's got the sense not to change too much, but treat the remaining six games as a series of "one-offs" and trust in the confidence the players ought to have gained over the last couple of years.
Thereafter, we'll just have to take what comes. Personally, I think we'll finish third, behind Sweden by 5 or 6 points, and behind Spain by a point or two, with Denmark in fourth a point or two behind us. And if in doing so, we can just squeeze into the next Seeding Pot for the WC2010 Draw, then this will have been an almighty four years since the ignominy of Sammy McIlroy, not scoring for an eternity, and plunging down the Rankings to 124 in the world!
Onwards and Upwards!
I thought you were one of the guys who wanted to see a "united" Ireland team?
I must have been mistaken.
The Englishmen came over in the year 2005
But little did they know that we'd planned a wee surprise
Sir David scored the winner, and Windsor Park went wild
And this is what we sang...
For god's sake, don't feed them !!
I don't. Dunno how the others feel.I thought you were one of the guys who wanted to see a "united" Ireland team?
I must have been mistaken.
Same as that.
F*ck Irelands Call
I think I should the parachute, because I'm great.
In fact, I think I should get both parachutes, in case one doesn't work.
EG what seeds will you guys be for the world cup do you reckon?
Surprising as it may seem on ourweecountry.com they spend most of their time discussing our team and not theirs.
Last edited by youngirish; 18/06/2007 at 3:45 PM.
Whats up u bum bum tpaddy ...sure we have nothing else to talk about at the moment anyway
At the moment we're 29th of 52 European teams, which would likely leave us 5th seeds (we were seeded 6th for the present Euro Qualifiers).
That said, if we can grind out decent results in the second half of our Euro 2008 Qualifiers and a couple of teams ahead of us underperform, depending on how the World Cup Groups are divided (how many pots etc), we might just sneak into the 4th Seeds. If so, I imagine we'd be in the company of ROI?
I would guess that jumping two Seeds in the course of one campaign is pretty unusual. But if we don't make it this time, seeing as our WCQ2006 results were not especially good (the Sanchez factor hadn't taken full effect), once we get into WCQ2010 games and the WCQ2006 results drop off, it may not take exceptional results to go alongside our Euro2008 results for us to clinch 4th seeding?
Last edited by EalingGreen; 18/06/2007 at 11:25 PM.
i dont believe it!i knoew it doesnt matter but the scots are 14th,thats crazy,they are ****!
They're so **** they've only lost 2 qualifiers, one of which was against the World Champions, they've beaten the World Cup runners up, won every other game they're played since September and currently sit third in their group.
Man, I wish we were that ****!!
In fairness they are pretty sh*t. They've grinded out a few decent results but they won't finish any higher than fourth in that group whereby any decent team would be dissappointed with anything below third.
While France and Italy are top teams, Ukraine are pretty rubbish (they were terrible in the world cup where having a combination of an easy draw and a lot of luck they somehow managed to get to the Quarter Finals where the Italians p*ssed all over them without Ukraine being impressive in any of their previous games).
Last edited by youngirish; 19/06/2007 at 1:43 PM.
Solvent abuse can kill instantly.
There's no way I'd swap our group for the one Scotland are in and have a better chance of emerging from than we have.
"Grinded out a few decent results"? They actually beat France when all we could manage in the last campaign was a "moral victory" i.e. no victory at all but we'll take the point sure -and a whingey defeat at home against them.
In this campaign -the defeat by Italy which had them disconsolate would've been passed off as "part of a learning curve" by some in and around our team who'd have reminded us we're "building for 2010".
Some of their team would get into ours on crutches and I only wish we'd fired Stan and taken McLeish when he was available.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
Scotland would beat Ireland at the moment. That's pretty much all I have to say in response to that.
And as for Ukraine being rubbish if they were in our group they'd likely be leading it on the basis of the performances of those teams in the group.
"Life is like a hair on a toilet seat. Sooner or later you are bound to get pi$$ed off."
"In this league, a draw is sometimes as good as a win" - Steve Morison
TBH I think we have a better chance of qualifying than the sweaty socks.
I think I should the parachute, because I'm great.
In fact, I think I should get both parachutes, in case one doesn't work.
You all assume I think Ireland are good just because Scotland are sh*te. Over 2 legs they might beat us but it would be close. Flick a coin.
We have far better players though with a fully fit team. Darren Fletcher and Barry Ferguson? Give me strength. Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd? Pure dung. Wouldn't get a game in the Premiership.
I'd say both teams are sh*te but they are punching above their weight at the moment while we are suffering from years of mismanagement. Overtime things will level off. We have consistently been better than them over the years and people still continue to moan even when we still have a very good chance of qualifying (which Scotland don't) while the Scots look content to finish in 4th place in their group which let's face it we wouldn't be.
That statement alone is the sign of a man on too much medication. Name their players who would walk into our team? Their best player Shaun Maloney is an average Premiership player at best no better than Stephen Reid for example. Duff(on form or off), Given, Keane, Finnan, Dunne, Doyle, S Reid and A Reid would all walk into their team if they were Scottish. Any statement otherwise is nonsense. Even McGeady would walk into their team and he doesn't get a lookin for us (thank God as he's poor like the majority of SPL players). Stop jumping on the bandwagon because they had one or two good results. They will finish fourth in that group.
Last edited by youngirish; 19/06/2007 at 5:19 PM.
Once again you mix a bit of fact and good sense with OTT comments. Scotland are not happy with fourth. I know lots of Tartan Army guys who will be ****ed off if they dont qualify. You seem to think football is about names on a team sheet. Football is about work ethic and teams gelling as well as ability. To win a World Cup you need all of that plus luck but to qualify you dont.
In Trap we trust
Scotland are sh*t. They won't finish higher than 4th. As for Lionel claiming they have a better chance of qualifying than us the poor chap is deluded and anyone that thinks otherwise is likeminded. If he thinks they have a better chance to qualify he should stick a few quid down in labrokes. They are 8/1 to our 3/1.
For the record neither will qualify IMO but we have a far better chance than them (they have none).
As for Cymro claiming Ukraine would top our group he either:
a. Has never seen them play
b. Knows none of their players
c. Has never seen Germany play
d. Has never seen the Czechs play
The Germans are a far better team than the Ukraine (and possibly than France and Italy at present) while the Czechs are slightly better.
Last edited by youngirish; 19/06/2007 at 4:47 PM.
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