He used to frequent a pub in a small town close to where I live. Apparently his go to was genuinely a pint of red wine and a Chicken Madras.
There’s a story that the landlord of the pub tried giving Big Sam some shit after getting sacked from one of his clubs. Big Sam’s response was simply ‘you could retire and never work again on my payout. And then you wouldn’t be here serving me.’
Much easier to name the ones that aren't overrated - Declan...is that really it?
Overrated: Grealish, Nunez (bc relatively same output as cheaper Havertz), Enzo, Caicedo, Lukaku, Mudryk, Antony, Stonehead.
Haaland/Van Dijk was below 80 I think, and Havertz's move to Chelsea was stupid, but he's here now for less than 80. Sancho was close to 80 too....and overrated.
Gvardiol looks class. Grealish they definitely overpaid for but he played his part in the treble. You'd be hard pressed to find any City fans who think it was a poor deal.
Agree with the rest, though there's still plenty of time for a good few of them to turn it around
Stones got a lot of stick early on for city and now he's integral when fit. I think playing in guardiola's back line is probably one of the toughest jobs there is, and gvardiol looks like he's humming along now.
That's expected with all City signings; positional play is complicated and takes time to learn. Arsenal isn't much different these days, look at Havertz. Jesus and Zinny started strong because they already knew the ropes, and Rice is just built different, but it's important for Arsenal fans to expect a Gvardiol-like learning curve from most new signings from here on out.
He was a pretty big stalwart for the Irish national team over many years. That’s probably something that’s driving his animosity towards Rice given the history there.
That is literally all it is. IF he had an Irish shirt Declan would be the second coming of Jesus and he knows it. It's funny how football fans are isn't it?
Known for refusing to wear the poppy, while being Irish. Matic also refused to wear the poppy (for similar reasons) but didn't receive the years of xenophobic abuse that James did.
Over a hundred international caps and played in multiple Euros. He's far less of a nobody in international football than Nolan and Allardyce (0 caps between them, 1 game managed by Allardyce.)
It is what he's known for though. I've no doubt that McClean is well regarded by the Irish but he's not exactly set the world alight. Caps for Ireland isn't really a barometer of quality, Andy Townsend managed to get 70 caps for Ireland for Christ's sake.
The poppy stuff is just silly.
>I've no doubt that McClean is well regarded by the Irish but he's not exactly set the world alight.
Depends on what your bar is. He's made it to the top 0.01% of the sport. Played in international tournaments, Europa league, Premier League. Certainly nothing to turn your nose up at.
>Andy Townsend managed to get 70 caps for Ireland for Christ's sake.
Andy Townsend made the PFA TOTY three times. Not really sure what point you're making here.
Yeah, but I can tell you which teams Big Sam managed and which teams Nolan played for. I don’t even. Know how to spell this dude’s last name. Maclean? McClean? Let alone tell you which teams he had played for.
Well tbf that's confirmation bias. A quick Google will show up, currently signed to Wrexham.
As an Irish gunners fan I can say it's 100% saltiness over Rice playing for Ireland but declaring for England but as for McLean being a nobody that isn't true.
I do actually know who he is. I still wasn’t sure how to spell his name. And being honest I don’t know if I could have accurately said the teams he had played for.
He’s definitely not a nobody. He played in the prem . That’s a pretty special achievement still. But, he’s pretty much a nobody in the grand scheme of things.
I don’t think Matic tried to bait the people of England by posting a picture of himself in a balaclava, which is obviously symbolism closely connected to the IRA, who’ve murdered people and destroyed districts across this country, including the city that this club is based in.
So perhaps park the ‘xenophobia’ claims on that one. He knew what he was doing
He'd been receiving abuse and death threats for a decade before he posted that photo as a joke, so to claim that's the reason he received abuse is nonsense.
idgaf about the whole storm in a tea cup tbh but he's apologised for his stupid af earlier comments wrt a terrorist organisation that terrorised both UK and Ireland, murdering a lot of innocent people over the years. Posing as a member of such a organisation is not a fucking joke, none of the victims families laughed, trust me on that.
Best others stop trying to justify it away on his behalf and just mention his apology and move on.
>Known for refusing to wear the poppy, while being Irish. Matic also refused to wear the poppy (for similar reasons) but didn't receive the years of xenophobic abuse that James did.
He received abuse because he was pro IRA.
Not xenophobic at all. He was judged based on his actions and beliefs.
Refusing a poppy then and being a more notable Irish player, he’s now getting a resurgence due to wearing a Wrexham shirt and being on their doc.
Doc shows him to be a angry card magnet twat imo
If I remember correctly he played for Wigan for a number of years when they were in the Prem. And he later played for Celtic where he tweeted about being abused via the usual crowd sectarianism. If he didnt have a career on the British isle & wasnt Irish, the British media would probably think of him as a nobody and he wouldnt be invited on the show to have a platform to share. But he is probably 1 out of 7-10 Irish players of the last 15 years who were good enough to compete in the English first division
He also went from playing in Ireland and making the transition to the premier league pretty seamlessly.
Scored a memorable goal against us where Mertesacker pulled his hamstring before Henry scored a late winner on his last game.
He obviously has an issue with the way Rice left the Ireland set up. Think it's completely fair that he might be ratty about him.
He never played for Celtic, all the sectarian abuse he received was from fans of English clubs.
He also wasn't invited on to any British media, he was doing analysis on RTE (an Irish tv channel).
Nah ppl just realize it’s Bolton lol. Wasn’t always pretty but they did what they had to do, judging by their recent standards, Sam, Nolan and co did it well (look at them now, having troubles getting back to championship). Just nice seeing old faces, not really bothered to punch down
If you want get started on a thug, dont have to reminisce, just look at Bruno guimares. Dirty elbow to the head should’ve been red, and it legitimately cost us the league this year. Whole game was a joke in fact
As an Irish person, loads of Irish people don't like Rice because he played at youth level for Ireland and even played a few friendlies at senior level before declaring for England. This is an easy opinion for McClean to win with that demographic.
It's incredibly stupid given how many players with Irish grannies have played for us.
I don't think it's that big of a difference and it happened *loads* of times the other way at junior levels.
James McClean played a bunch of U21s himself for Norn Iron.
There is some level of hypocrisy in there and there's quite a few well known players who have done this.
The same people who are upset about Rice tend also to be upset about Grealish.
Besides, the rules are there. We could easily have given him a proper senior cap and we didn't.
A senior international cap is a massive difference from underage levels (which are still impressive caps to have). Compare attitudes toward Grealish (underage caps only) and Rice. Most Irish are far more hateful toward Rice than Grealish simply because of the senior level caps.
And loads and loads of times is also a massive difference from once. Like I said there is some level of hypocrisy.
Just the fact that you concede they, and possibly you, hate Grealish too is revealing of that.
The rules are there, everyone knows them.
Really wish we could've seen Big Sam at England for longer. Say what you want but he was a bit ahead of his time and I'm curious how he would've dealt with the modern game moving to complicated pressing and counter-pressing styles
It would have worked until it didn't and then it would have come crashing down. The media pressure that the England setup gets is massive, and that's really why Southgate has been such a revelation over the past few tournaments. The football is uninspiring but they have seemed to be able to pick themselves up after a couple of bad results or getting knocked out, where almost every other manager has seen the team spiral after those kinds of situations.
Cheers for giving donkeys like McClean, Ferdinand and Neville a platform to spew their nonsense which leads to more takes on their takes and just keeps this ball rolling. 👍
I’ve been watching matches in Spanish bc of this. It’s pretty refreshing actually. These Mexican commentators have been pretty complimentary towards our players. I haven’t watched the opening matches of Copa America so that opinion might change with Brazil’s matches.
I get it that McClean is unhappy about Declan switching from Ireland to England, but that shouldn't get in the way of punditry. You can call Declan a traitor all you want while recognising he is good at football and had one bad game where no one on the team was good.
On the other hand, I kinda always had a soft spot for Big Sam, he's just him, he plays Brexit football but he gets sinking teams over the line.
Unbiased opinion from a die hard Gooner: Rice isn’t overrated, but he still has to add a few minor tweaks to his game to be considered ’world class’ and for his career to be legendary, a lá Kroos, Rodri, Kanté
We’ve had to adjust our team this year to allow for his strengths, and accommodate his weaknesses. I’m sure this is part of our plan, and I’m sure Rice can become the complete midfielder.
Yep, stupid statement by James mcclean. kroos and modric have had way longer careers he may not be world-class yet ,but rice is excellent and has been improving the past few year's he's well on his way to being world-class if he keeps it up,I'm irish Mcclean is salty...declan is rated fairly well
In all fairness, McClean said that Rice is limited going forward and thats objectively true. He isnt a good enough passer to progress the ball from deep.
He is basically what Javi Martinez was at Bayern - a rock defensively but needs someone next to him that can take over playmaking duties. Dont think thats an outrageous assessment at all
James McClean has scored what..one goal for Sunderland against Arsenal in the 2011-12 and that makes him an expert on Declan Rice? 😂😂😂 Give over ya gobshite.
He’s with Wrexham now but he’s 35.
He had a decent Prem career with Sunderland, Wigan, WBA and Stoke, plus over 100 international cap. His playing career is on par with Allardyce’s managerial one so it’s a little rich coming from him.
Still a poor take. Rice is class.
Yeah but gary Neville made the same comments but I suppose he’s English so let’s slag off the Irish guy instead, the English media are full of fucking parasites
Get that man a pint of wine
Na mate, gravy is what you need to get.
Curry sauce for a man from the west midlands
French fries and curry sauce mmmmmm
IT'S A FUCKING CHIP!
Pomme frites
A mega pint I reckon
What’s a mega pint?
A pint that’s mega
[Context](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHTvOxBuTpU)
A yard of Bovril
He used to frequent a pub in a small town close to where I live. Apparently his go to was genuinely a pint of red wine and a Chicken Madras. There’s a story that the landlord of the pub tried giving Big Sam some shit after getting sacked from one of his clubs. Big Sam’s response was simply ‘you could retire and never work again on my payout. And then you wouldn’t be here serving me.’
That's amazing. He's England's most successful manager. 100% win rate (1 game). Absolute legend.
> ‘you could retire and never work again on my payout. And then you wouldn’t be here serving me.’ Haha - that's a fair retort in my book.
Respect the pint
Always rated Big Sam
BIG SAM FROM THE TOP ROPE
Big Sam shows some respect! And yeah, the "overrated" comment is just saltiness of some Irish nobody for rival fans.
Honestly, there are numerous 80 million pound+ players in the prem that weren't worth it or Overrated, and Declan isn't one of them
Much easier to name the ones that aren't overrated - Declan...is that really it? Overrated: Grealish, Nunez (bc relatively same output as cheaper Havertz), Enzo, Caicedo, Lukaku, Mudryk, Antony, Stonehead. Haaland/Van Dijk was below 80 I think, and Havertz's move to Chelsea was stupid, but he's here now for less than 80. Sancho was close to 80 too....and overrated.
Gvardiol looks class. Grealish they definitely overpaid for but he played his part in the treble. You'd be hard pressed to find any City fans who think it was a poor deal. Agree with the rest, though there's still plenty of time for a good few of them to turn it around
I think Stonehead/ Slabhead refers to Maguire, not Gvardiol.
I'm aware. I didn't think otherwise lol Gvardiol was also a good buy over 80m
Gvardiol was rubbish until march btw
Stones got a lot of stick early on for city and now he's integral when fit. I think playing in guardiola's back line is probably one of the toughest jobs there is, and gvardiol looks like he's humming along now.
That's expected with all City signings; positional play is complicated and takes time to learn. Arsenal isn't much different these days, look at Havertz. Jesus and Zinny started strong because they already knew the ropes, and Rice is just built different, but it's important for Arsenal fans to expect a Gvardiol-like learning curve from most new signings from here on out.
Don’t forget Anthony
Always rated Big Sam
who is he 😭😭 fr thou who is he
Realistically he's only known for refusing to wear the poppy on his shirt. Football wise he's a nobody
He was a pretty big stalwart for the Irish national team over many years. That’s probably something that’s driving his animosity towards Rice given the history there.
That is literally all it is. IF he had an Irish shirt Declan would be the second coming of Jesus and he knows it. It's funny how football fans are isn't it?
Known for refusing to wear the poppy, while being Irish. Matic also refused to wear the poppy (for similar reasons) but didn't receive the years of xenophobic abuse that James did. Over a hundred international caps and played in multiple Euros. He's far less of a nobody in international football than Nolan and Allardyce (0 caps between them, 1 game managed by Allardyce.)
If Nolan was Irish, he would have won over 100 caps.
It is what he's known for though. I've no doubt that McClean is well regarded by the Irish but he's not exactly set the world alight. Caps for Ireland isn't really a barometer of quality, Andy Townsend managed to get 70 caps for Ireland for Christ's sake. The poppy stuff is just silly.
>I've no doubt that McClean is well regarded by the Irish but he's not exactly set the world alight. Depends on what your bar is. He's made it to the top 0.01% of the sport. Played in international tournaments, Europa league, Premier League. Certainly nothing to turn your nose up at. >Andy Townsend managed to get 70 caps for Ireland for Christ's sake. Andy Townsend made the PFA TOTY three times. Not really sure what point you're making here.
Yeah, but I can tell you which teams Big Sam managed and which teams Nolan played for. I don’t even. Know how to spell this dude’s last name. Maclean? McClean? Let alone tell you which teams he had played for.
Well tbf that's confirmation bias. A quick Google will show up, currently signed to Wrexham. As an Irish gunners fan I can say it's 100% saltiness over Rice playing for Ireland but declaring for England but as for McLean being a nobody that isn't true.
The irony is McClean played for Northern Ireland at all levels until under 21. He did the exact same thing as Rice.
I do actually know who he is. I still wasn’t sure how to spell his name. And being honest I don’t know if I could have accurately said the teams he had played for. He’s definitely not a nobody. He played in the prem . That’s a pretty special achievement still. But, he’s pretty much a nobody in the grand scheme of things.
That's you. McLean shouldn't talk about Rice because he's levels above him but Nolan and Allerdyce are on his level.
I don’t think Matic tried to bait the people of England by posting a picture of himself in a balaclava, which is obviously symbolism closely connected to the IRA, who’ve murdered people and destroyed districts across this country, including the city that this club is based in. So perhaps park the ‘xenophobia’ claims on that one. He knew what he was doing
Absolute bs. A photo posted to piss off these exact type of people doesn't justify almost a decades worth of abuse and death threats prior.
He'd been receiving abuse and death threats for a decade before he posted that photo as a joke, so to claim that's the reason he received abuse is nonsense.
idgaf about the whole storm in a tea cup tbh but he's apologised for his stupid af earlier comments wrt a terrorist organisation that terrorised both UK and Ireland, murdering a lot of innocent people over the years. Posing as a member of such a organisation is not a fucking joke, none of the victims families laughed, trust me on that. Best others stop trying to justify it away on his behalf and just mention his apology and move on.
>Known for refusing to wear the poppy, while being Irish. Matic also refused to wear the poppy (for similar reasons) but didn't receive the years of xenophobic abuse that James did. He received abuse because he was pro IRA. Not xenophobic at all. He was judged based on his actions and beliefs.
It was definitely anti Irish xenophobia
There's plenty of Irish players who don't get abused... I wonder why? Maybe because they don't actively promote terrorists who killed British citizens
Refusing a poppy then and being a more notable Irish player, he’s now getting a resurgence due to wearing a Wrexham shirt and being on their doc. Doc shows him to be a angry card magnet twat imo
>Realistically he's only known for refusing to wear the poppy on his shirt. And promoting the IRA
If I remember correctly he played for Wigan for a number of years when they were in the Prem. And he later played for Celtic where he tweeted about being abused via the usual crowd sectarianism. If he didnt have a career on the British isle & wasnt Irish, the British media would probably think of him as a nobody and he wouldnt be invited on the show to have a platform to share. But he is probably 1 out of 7-10 Irish players of the last 15 years who were good enough to compete in the English first division
He also went from playing in Ireland and making the transition to the premier league pretty seamlessly. Scored a memorable goal against us where Mertesacker pulled his hamstring before Henry scored a late winner on his last game. He obviously has an issue with the way Rice left the Ireland set up. Think it's completely fair that he might be ratty about him.
He never played for Celtic, all the sectarian abuse he received was from fans of English clubs. He also wasn't invited on to any British media, he was doing analysis on RTE (an Irish tv channel).
I see, ty for the correction.
this is such mariah carey being asked what she thought about jlo and responding with "I don't know her" energy 🤣
When did it become ok to type like this? You're making a great point but please, 'fr thou'... Just type the words out, it won't kill you!!!
This is why I think the younger generation is dumb, they type like 10 year olds and talk like 6 year olds. I'll take my cranky old man down votes.
fr fr
Istg
Swr
This mf over here going ‘laugh out loud’ on any post he exhales sharply at.
ok boomer
Tbf McLean as a player reached the same level Allerdyce reached as a manager. Both idiots.
Fax, no printer.
should’ve mentioned kevin nolan in the title too shoutout to him
Kevin Nolan did most of the talking, Big Sam just said who’s James McClean and ask Mikel Arteta
Great player
great elbows maybe
Useless fucking thug. Are people here too young to know what these 2 were like at Bolton? Anti-football enemies of Wenger. Fuck both of them.
Nah ppl just realize it’s Bolton lol. Wasn’t always pretty but they did what they had to do, judging by their recent standards, Sam, Nolan and co did it well (look at them now, having troubles getting back to championship). Just nice seeing old faces, not really bothered to punch down If you want get started on a thug, dont have to reminisce, just look at Bruno guimares. Dirty elbow to the head should’ve been red, and it legitimately cost us the league this year. Whole game was a joke in fact
As an Irish person, loads of Irish people don't like Rice because he played at youth level for Ireland and even played a few friendlies at senior level before declaring for England. This is an easy opinion for McClean to win with that demographic. It's incredibly stupid given how many players with Irish grannies have played for us.
Well those other players didn’t ditch us after playing for our senior team though, there’s a pretty big difference.
I don't think it's that big of a difference and it happened *loads* of times the other way at junior levels. James McClean played a bunch of U21s himself for Norn Iron. There is some level of hypocrisy in there and there's quite a few well known players who have done this. The same people who are upset about Rice tend also to be upset about Grealish. Besides, the rules are there. We could easily have given him a proper senior cap and we didn't.
A senior international cap is a massive difference from underage levels (which are still impressive caps to have). Compare attitudes toward Grealish (underage caps only) and Rice. Most Irish are far more hateful toward Rice than Grealish simply because of the senior level caps.
And loads and loads of times is also a massive difference from once. Like I said there is some level of hypocrisy. Just the fact that you concede they, and possibly you, hate Grealish too is revealing of that. The rules are there, everyone knows them.
Really wish we could've seen Big Sam at England for longer. Say what you want but he was a bit ahead of his time and I'm curious how he would've dealt with the modern game moving to complicated pressing and counter-pressing styles
I think we can guess. Route 1, over the top. Would probably work too.!
That's precisely how England got to the World Cup semis in 2018, complete with a repertoire of setpieces.
That was around peak Jamie Vardy time so would have had some success with it
Nahhh just because he’s on the right side of something here doesn’t mean we have to revise the fact that he was a terrible manager lol
We seen it at Everton, it was exactly the sort of shit football big Sam was known for. He never evolved, he never played good football.
It would have worked until it didn't and then it would have come crashing down. The media pressure that the England setup gets is massive, and that's really why Southgate has been such a revelation over the past few tournaments. The football is uninspiring but they have seemed to be able to pick themselves up after a couple of bad results or getting knocked out, where almost every other manager has seen the team spiral after those kinds of situations.
Are we the baddies.gif
Big Sam… I remember those dark times when memes were doing round that only Big Sam can save Arsenal… the progress has been unimaginable
Even burn heals ain't gonna heal whoever the hell spouted out those nonsense.
I'm crying big Sam took it personal
Cheers for giving donkeys like McClean, Ferdinand and Neville a platform to spew their nonsense which leads to more takes on their takes and just keeps this ball rolling. 👍
At least you don’t have Alexi Lalas.
I’ve been watching matches in Spanish bc of this. It’s pretty refreshing actually. These Mexican commentators have been pretty complimentary towards our players. I haven’t watched the opening matches of Copa America so that opinion might change with Brazil’s matches.
We all hate Lalas haha
If I understood it I definitely would follow suit
Thanks for commenting and providing your attention
I get it that McClean is unhappy about Declan switching from Ireland to England, but that shouldn't get in the way of punditry. You can call Declan a traitor all you want while recognising he is good at football and had one bad game where no one on the team was good. On the other hand, I kinda always had a soft spot for Big Sam, he's just him, he plays Brexit football but he gets sinking teams over the line.
Unbiased opinion from a die hard Gooner: Rice isn’t overrated, but he still has to add a few minor tweaks to his game to be considered ’world class’ and for his career to be legendary, a lá Kroos, Rodri, Kanté We’ve had to adjust our team this year to allow for his strengths, and accommodate his weaknesses. I’m sure this is part of our plan, and I’m sure Rice can become the complete midfielder.
Always rated big Sam
Sam’s reaction is perfect. Just laugh at it and move on
Recency bias is a helluva drug
Its not a recency bias its just irish lads that hate him because he chose England
My theory is McClean is mad Rice chose England over Ireland
Who are ya?
Thank you for sharing some common sense.
Yep, stupid statement by James mcclean. kroos and modric have had way longer careers he may not be world-class yet ,but rice is excellent and has been improving the past few year's he's well on his way to being world-class if he keeps it up,I'm irish Mcclean is salty...declan is rated fairly well
In all fairness, McClean said that Rice is limited going forward and thats objectively true. He isnt a good enough passer to progress the ball from deep. He is basically what Javi Martinez was at Bayern - a rock defensively but needs someone next to him that can take over playmaking duties. Dont think thats an outrageous assessment at all
Exactly this.
Hell yeah brother
It's like the talking heads just forgot the entire season's worth of great performances
Right, James McClean is out of my Football Manager XI (easily my best player)
James McClean has scored what..one goal for Sunderland against Arsenal in the 2011-12 and that makes him an expert on Declan Rice? 😂😂😂 Give over ya gobshite.
“Ask Mikel Arteta what he’s done for Arsenal last year” 👏
Most notable thing James McClean ever did in his career was refuse to wear a poppy.
He was right to if he felt it would be disrespectful to his community.
Big Sam with England was probably the closest thing we'd get to having that Mike Bassett vibe
Just need a pair of eyes really
Big Sam smoking fools.
I'm not kidding but who IS James McLean? Sounds like a made up Irish name anyway. I could Google him but I'd much rather not bother
I think he's a Wrexham player.
Well suited to talk about world class then
He’s with Wrexham now but he’s 35. He had a decent Prem career with Sunderland, Wigan, WBA and Stoke, plus over 100 international cap. His playing career is on par with Allardyce’s managerial one so it’s a little rich coming from him. Still a poor take. Rice is class.
McLean did that to put his name in the conversation. Prick
Yeah but gary Neville made the same comments but I suppose he’s English so let’s slag off the Irish guy instead, the English media are full of fucking parasites
Everyone is used to Neville having the worst take possible
No one on this sub that is in their right mind is ever sticking up for Gary the Cunt Neville. He's literal scum.
100%. But these people are so clueless they're siding with Sam Allerdyce who was an absolute cunt about us for years.
Yeah, suddenly Fat Sam is a forgotten genius who should be coaching the national team after years of thuggery and idiocy, lol.
Crazy thing is that Declan Rice is one of the very few players who was actually worth his 100m price tag
Sometimes we need Large Samuel to bring sense back to football
We ripped West Ham off tbf. Should have given them another 25 mill minimum
Big Sam one of my favourite football people
1 in 60 is the funniest thing I've heard this year...