june 30th
The main news around this morning is that Boro fancy Ray Parlour and could be set to make a bid this week. He’s one of the players that has been linked with a move away from the club nearly every summer for as long as I can remember, but come the start of the season he’s doing his thing in midfield.
However, Gary Megson said last week that West Brom were made aware of his availability, so there does seem to be something going on. You have to wonder that if Ray is available for transfer is the boss making room for a new signing, or is he creating space in the squad so we can see more of Cesc in the season ahead? We shall see.
There’s also a very strange story about how Thierry Henry and his Arsenal based French colleagues have hatched a plan to oust Zinedine Zidane from the France squad for the World Cup in 2006. Apparently Henry wants the team based around him and sees Zidane as an obstacle to the team playing that way. To be honest, it doesn’t sound anything like the Thierry Henry we all know and I suspect it’s shitwitchery on a grande scale by Le Parisien which is where the story originated.
It’s the first 1/2 final in Euro 2004 tonight. The hosts take on Holland and they’re worried about the flying Dutchmen, Robben and van Nistelrooy, who they think are just a little bit too light on their feet. This picture of RvN shows they may have a point. I’m leaning towards the Portuguese in this one, even though I’ve always had a soft spot for the Dutch in these kind of tournaments. However, this Dutch team lacks the van der Kerkhovness and the Rep and Rensenbrinkosity of previous squads. It’s the hosts for me, for sure.
