A New Low - the North Overtake Us

**as_i_say** · 18/10/2006, 4:07 PM

i think the fifa world rankings are quite accurate when it comes to placing european teams but some of the other placings are quite ridiculous. i mean nigeria and cameroon 11th and 12th

egypt 25 and guinea 31

bit of a joke. ghana did ok in the wc but in general african football is a bag of sh ite. if you get to see a goal scored in an african nations game youre doing well. the north deserve their placing-hard to believe they were 124th but its a huge transformation for them since they played that group where they didnt score a goal for 7 games or whatever it was.

Fair play to them but here's hoping for a losing return to form for them *evil laugh*

**eirebhoy** · 18/10/2006, 4:14 PM

To show how quickly we could rise... If we won our 6 games under Stan we'd currently be 8th. Even if we just beat Cyprus and the Czechs we'd be about 24th.

**Not Brazil** · 18/10/2006, 4:17 PM

Originally Posted by Donal81

The comedian Colin Murphy was slagging off some of their fans on the Panel the other night. He was walking by Windsor Road when they were playing Malta, which is a Catholic country. "You bunch of Fenian b*stards," they were chanting. Marvellous stuff, you couldn't make up that kind of supporter.

Obviously Colin is a comedian.

Where is Windsor Road?

**Billsthoughts** · 18/10/2006, 4:18 PM

win our 6 games under stan?
have you seen Ireland play under him?????
San Marino at home could maybe considered a banker. thats it...

**youngirish** · 18/10/2006, 4:54 PM

The ratings are pointless sure Cyprus would have beaten NI the other week anyway though in fairness not as conclusively but we do have a sh*t manager and a bucketload of injuries.

Also I'd bet me mortgage that the Czechs would have hammerred them if they played them at Windsor Park. Sammy Klingon marking Rosicky? Don't make me laugh. The Spain result was a fluke. Latvia and Denmark are s**t at present. Denmark in particular are going through a state of transition. Please stop getting carried away. Normal service to be resumed in March.

**Not Brazil** · 18/10/2006, 4:57 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

The ratings are pointless sure Cyprus would have beaten NI the other week anyway though in fairness not as conclusively but we do have a sh*t manager and a bucketload of injuries.

Also I'd bet me mortgage that the Czechs would have hammerred them if they played them at Windsor Park. Sammy Klingon marking Rosicky? Don't make me laugh. The Spain result was a fluke. Latvia and Denmark are s**t at present. Denmark in particular are going through a state of transition. Please stop getting carried away. Normal service to be resumed in March.

...and if your Granny had wheels, she'd have been a stagecoach.

Bottom line is that Northern Ireland are currently higher in the World rankings than the Republic Of Ireland - whatever the merits of the rankings.

Keep sucking your lemon.

**youngirish** · 18/10/2006, 5:05 PM

Originally Posted by Not Brazil

Bottom line is that Northern Ireland are currently higher in the World rankings than the Republic Of Ireland - whatever the merits of the rankings.

The real bottom line is who in the Republic cares? And how come it took so long in the first place? If getting higher than the North in the rankings is our priority I'm going to start supporting England.

**Andyh** · 18/10/2006, 5:05 PM

Originally Posted by Donal81

Fair play to the North. Everything about the team - other than some aspects of their support - impresses me these days; they're making the most of tiny resources and pulling together to make a real go of qualification. No pampered mammy's boys who don't like the tough away games. Sounds vaguely familiar, in fact.

The comedian Colin Murphy was slagging off some of their fans on the Panel the other night. He was walking by Windsor Road when they were playing Malta, which is a Catholic country. "You bunch of Fenian b*stards," they were chanting. Marvellous stuff, you couldn't make up that kind of supporter.

What a load of crap! because some (rubbish) comedian said it you believe its true. Why would he be walking past Windsor Park - in the loyalist village area of South Belfast??? Catholics rarely just dander by. Windsor Road doesn't exist as far as I'm aware. But sure just an easy dig at bigotted nordies eh?

**Not Brazil** · 18/10/2006, 5:10 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

The real bottom line is who in the Republic cares? And how come it took so long in the first place? .

Whoever started this thread, and you, obviously, given your postings.

Good things come to he who waits.

Onwards and Upwards.

**Not Brazil** · 18/10/2006, 5:12 PM

Originally Posted by Andyh

What a load of crap! because some (rubbish) comedian said it you believe its true.

Says it all when people rely on hearsay from "comedians" as their source of evidence.

**eirebhoy** · 18/10/2006, 5:12 PM

Originally Posted by Billsthoughts

win our 6 games under stan?
have you seen Ireland play under him?????
San Marino at home could maybe considered a banker. thats it...

I never said it was realistic that we'd win our 6 games under Stan. What I said is if we had won our 6 games under Stan we'd be 8th in the world atm. I'm just showing how easy it is to rise up the rankings compared to pre-WC when we would have been stuck around 15th for a year or 2. Anyway, it wouldn't be a complete shock for a manager to take our players over and win 6 games. Since there isn't a higher weighting for an away game we could have played the following games:
Sweden (h), Holland (h), Chile (h), Germany (h), Cyprus (h), Czechs (h)

...and be in 8th place right now if we won them all.

On Colin Murphy. He said he lives very close to Windsor park and "if the wind is blowing in the right direction" he can hear the Windsor Park crowd. tbh, you don't know when that man is telling a joke or a true story.

**Not Brazil** · 18/10/2006, 5:18 PM

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

On Colin Murphy. He said he lives very close to Windsor park and "if the wind is blowing in the right direction" he can hear the Windsor Park crowd. tbh, you don't know when that man is telling a joke or a true story.

Aye, sure "it's only a bit of craic" to make up funny old yarns like that.

Tell you what - anytime "funnyman" Colin wants to dig out the TV coverage of the Malta game, I'll bet him everything he owns that there is no chanting of "You bunch of Fenian b*stards"

**youngirish** · 18/10/2006, 5:26 PM

Originally Posted by Not Brazil

Says it all when people rely on hearsay from "comedians" as their source of evidence.

There has been until fairly recently a fairly sizable secterian element to NI support. I doubt if it's disappeared overnight but maybe you will state it has. I'm sure the majority of NI fans are decent people the same as the majority of fans from anywhere else (even English fans) but to deny it happens or has happenned is wrong.

Booing Rangers players at Lansdowne is not on either (we should just boo that d**k John O'Shea) but it's not something that happens often.

**Paddy Garcia** · 18/10/2006, 5:39 PM

Originally Posted by northside hoop

possibly due to the fact that its not often rangers players play at lansdowne.

Or given that it is an international venue, it is more related to the fact that rangers are not too keen on signing Irish players.

**Andyh** · 18/10/2006, 5:46 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

There has been until fairly recently a fairly sizable secterian element to NI support. I doubt if it's disappeared overnight but maybe you will state it has. I'm sure the majority of NI fans are decent people the same as the majority of fans from anywhere else (even English fans) but to deny it happens or has happenned is wrong.

Booing Rangers players at Lansdowne is not on either (we should just boo that d**k John O'Shea) but it's not something that happens often.

Like EG I would challenge anyone to look at the TV footage of that game (Malta), i would imagine Colin would be proved wrong. And why Malta? we've played plenty of other 'catholic' nations recently - Spain, Portugal etc. Also Malta have a very 'loyal' history compared to the others i.e. awarded the George cross, was gonna be made a fully fledged part of the UK prior to independence in 1964 (British Govt wouldn't spend the money to raise living standards there, so was quietly brushed under the carpet). So Colin's 'story' doesn't really add up. But still ha ha ha, he he he - my sides are sore from laughing it was that funny

**DmanDmythDledge** · 18/10/2006, 5:48 PM

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

To show how quickly we could rise... If we won our 6 games under Stan we'd currently be 8th. Even if we just beat Cyprus and the Czechs we'd be about 24th.

Not that surprising. That would have included beating Holland, Germany and Czech Rep. and those games would carry more weight I think as they are high in the rankings.

**eirebhoy** · 18/10/2006, 6:04 PM

Originally Posted by DmanDmythDledge

Not that surprising. That would have included beating Holland, Germany and Czech Rep. and those games would carry more weight I think as they are high in the rankings.

If a team ranked 32nd beat Germany, Holland (friendly) and Czechs in the old system they wouldn't move to 8th in the rankings which is my point.

**Not Brazil** · 18/10/2006, 6:28 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

There has been until fairly recently a fairly sizable secterian element to NI support. I doubt if it's disappeared overnight but maybe you will state it has. I'm sure the majority of NI fans are decent people the same as the majority of fans from anywhere else (even English fans) but to deny it happens or has happenned is wrong.

I have supported Northern Ireland for over 30 years.

Without doubt, we have suffered from an element of our fans engaging in sectarian chanting in the past.

Sectarian chanting is offensive to me as a Northern Ireland fan, and is absolutely uncalled for, inappropriate and wrong. Our teams at all levels are cross community, and a growing number of our support comes from a non unionist background.

In recent years much work has been done to eradicate sectarian chanting at our matches - this has been hugely successful, and has been recognised and applauded by most observers.

Gone are chants of "The Billy Boys", "The Sash" etc - now replaced with "We're Not Brazil...", "He's Tall, He's Thin...", "Away In A Manger" & "Sweet Norn Iron" etc.

Are some of our fans sectarian? I'm sure they are. There are many sectarian people on this island, from differing backgrounds.

As long as that ****e is left at the turnstiles when Northern Ireland play, that's all we can ask for. They can be as sectarian as they like, so long as they keep it away from our matches, as far as I am concerned.

Are we alone in having an element of fans who are sectarian? Absolutely not.

"Funnyman"

Colin is talking ****e - no harm to him.

Onwards and Upwards.

**Paddy Garcia** · 18/10/2006, 8:47 PM

Originally Posted by northside hoop

So you'ld expect FAI fans to boo an Irish players if he played for Rangers?

You have missed the point ........... totally . You stated that "possibly due to the fact that its not often rangers players play at lansdowne". As Lansdowne is an international arena rangers as a club do not play there. Therefore the oppotunity to boo, or not to boo, is limited by the "policy" or record rangers have of not signing Irish players, the main inhabitants of Lansdowne.