Bald Danish Midfielder For Sale!

By: JT | July 9th, 2007

Wee Gordon Strachan has always been a quality quote guy. He’s never been cryptic, and has been known to shoot straight from that recently replaced hip of his. Normally, he’ll tease the press with quotes of the “Were people squaring up to him or was he squaring up to other people?” variety. I can’t recall him straight up calling out a player until now. Not surprisingly, Gravesen was the target.

What WGS said: “I won’t work with him any more than I’ll work with any of my players. It’s quite simple - Marcello Lippi always said if you tell a player four times where to be and what to do and they don’t get it, then forget it. He got the same time as everyone else last year and it’ll be the same again.”

What WGS meant: “I’m tired of this guy’s shit. How the hell did this cat ever get on the field for Madrid, or Everton for that matter? How does this loser have 66 caps for Denmark? He does whatever he feels like doing, and he’s starting to be a real pain in my ass. The guys are starting to get pissed at him too. We don’t do freelancers here. We have a system. Nakamura and McGeady get some room to maneuver within the system cause they deserve it. Bald, limited, overpaid, moderately talented midfielders do not get a license to roam. He needs to do his f#$*in’ job. Someone please come and take this over the hill, egomaniac and his wages off our hands.”

I’ve always rated Gravesen as a player, even when he was 1/2 of the famous Zidane Brothers with Lee Carsley at Everton. I thought it strange that he was considered the replacement for Makelele when he moved to Madrid because he had a far more complete game that Claude. I was psyched when he moved to Parkhead. At this point though, with his attitude, he’s worthless to the club, and his career may well be in the balance. Shape up or ship out is the order of the day for Thomas Gravesen.

Scott McDonald must have had one well attended press conference yesterday. Every paper reported the same quotes. Bottom line: He thinks he’s the perfect foil for Jan the Man. Its hard to believe he’s still only 23. It seems like he’s been around forever.

Here’s one vote for McManus as skipper. I often wonder if Murdo Macleod is a real person.

Japan drew 1-1 with Qatar in the Asian Cup today. Nakamura made it through OK, and in my book, that’s all that matters. “We were in control and then it was just a sense of ‘ugh!’ when they scored.” Thats the Naka we all know and love.

Doumbe is apparently off to Sheffield United. Here’s a cute little nugget from the article: If Doumbe moves from Rennes to Celtic there will be a fee because he was loaned to the Hoops this January. For any other club, he’s free. What? Celtic take him off Rennes’ hands for a few months and get him a medal because he can’t beat out Mario Melchiot of all people, and we have to pay to sign him when no one else does? Forget him.