Please don't ake this as a Xenophobic comment - merely an observation of the type of player we have bought and the efforts we have made to accomodate them. This was at the back end of a story in onnie tonight. It refers to "Ketsbaia with Hair":

The on-loan striker has been given the chance to learn English, like every other foreigner on United's books, but has shown little interest in adapting to life on Tyneside.

A return of just three goals has hardly helped him settle and he admitted: "I can't understand anyone and nobody can understand me.

"It's just too difficult for me here and I can't wait to go home."

Surely this could have been anticioated before we brought Cordone all the way from South America? Clearly he is not blameless - I remember seeing him in the bar at KP and he looke d a total loner. Making and aving friends is a two-way street.

But it also makes me wonder what planning is done when we think about bringing Johnny over here? Sure, there are talented players in far off lands. But how many have ManUre or @rse brought in? None, as far as ManUre are concerned and I guess Kanu is the farthest flung player Wenger has acqruired - and he came in from Italy.

IMHO, bringing a player from South America is a big gamble, and therefore if you are going to take such a gamble (Nobby was a good buy), then you have to make it as easy as possible for them to acclimatise. But even in advance of that, you should not only assess the player's ability on the pitch but also his attitude off it. Had we done that, then I suspect we would not have brought Cordone over. The onlysaving grace is that this time, it was a loan not a multi-million pound deal. Talking of which, what about a gamble on Ronnie Biggs?

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2001

Answers

George Robledo, Mirandinah - neither were bad buys. The key is they have to be good.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2001

So we need to find a pair of brothers again to ensure that there's a friendly face.....unless the surname is Anelka of course. Which brings us on to those players from far flung France, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Germany and Greece who have found it impossible to settle: couldn't be anything to do with us of course, definitely just all of them. So long as we stick to Belgians and on-loan Portugese with fake passports we should be fine.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2001

wonder what planning is done when we think about bringing Johnny over here?

I've raised this before on here and also asked the question at an AGM. When a player is moving to somewhere very different culturally from where he came there is always a potential problem. Some individuals adapt better than others. I recall a few years ago an Oxford player - Joey Beauchamp? - transferring the short distance to West Ham and having to be sold back some time later because he was homesick!

I was reading the relevant chapter in Ginola's autobiog about his Toon career. He says that everything was so different and he was unsure if he could settle. He says it wasn't so bad - he had come to play football and concentrated on that. His wife had the major problem with time on her hands (although she too settled and made friends eventually).

I'm sorry to hear Cordone is not settling. I feel that the club could and should do more for such players but then again these are grown men and the club can't be expected to be a nanny.

You mention Ronnie Biggs, Screach. He's been away a long time. I remember in the 60's when his name would be chanted at the Leazes end to goad the police whenever they arrested some overzealous fan at SJP!

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2001

.... no prizes for which column Marcelino goes into then?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

.... then there is Guivarc'h, Mirandinha, and going back even further Frank Pingel, Benny Christiansen, and even further back Ben Arentoft.

I still recall Jan Molby being asked to compare his two Danish team mates Pingel and Christiansen when they first came over. He simply said "there both sh*te!"

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Frank Pingel - Didn't we also have Rob McDonald at the same time? How's that for a forward line up?

Mirandinah - crap but at least we had a good song for him

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

I share Jonno's concerns. Settling in, when living abroad, isn't always easy. So many of our 'non-British'players have underachieved it makes me wonder how much the club does to help them acclimatise.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

The example of Cordone proves nothing. Bassedas has, according to Bobby, made every effort to learn the lingo, acclimatise and put the work in on the training ground.

It is possible if you have the right attitude to blend in with the Brits and gel. Cordone hasn't helped himself and that is probably why Robson hasn't gone out of his way to help him.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

....plus, he's got the naffest hairdo of the whole squad. It would be OK if he was a goalie. Er, no it wouldn't.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

In Cordone's case I have it on good authority that the problems are not with the Club this time. He has made no attempt whatsoever to integrate, learn the language etc. Presumably just saw it as a 12 month jaunt to put some money in the Bank.
Good riddance to him - he's useless anyway.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Agree with Clarky. Bassedas, Acuna, Gavilan have all made the effort to learn enough English to at least say hello and smile at people. Cordone hasn't and always looks bliddy miserable.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Agree with Clarky re Cordone. Haven't personally had the experience of moving to a completely different country/culture(unless NYC counts in the area ;-)) ), but several times have been in situations where English-speakers were in the minority(or non-existant). It is stressful, but it takes more effort NOT to pick up words and phrases in the other language. And only a small amount of effort to start picking up enough to understand and be understood. No sympathy for someone who can't be bothered to try.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

My initial reaction was to say that we should stop buying risky foreigners and go for lower league tryers but after seeing Wayne Quinn a few times since we've bought him i'd rather we kept trying the foreigners until we get it right....

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Don't think there is much chance of getting a decent player for less than £8m - £10m, wether or not they are foreign or British. Probably something like a one in 5 chance looking at who we've bought. Which begs the question, Why bother taking the risk? If you spend £20 million on 5 players , you'll probably get one good one and four mediocre / crap ones. Why not just buy TWO or Three top players?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

and how much do we spend on top players now that Manure have spent 20m on Van Nistelrooy?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Don't just blame ManUre sparxx. We spent £15m 5 or so years ago on one player. Leeds spent £18m on a defender. By alla ccounts, RvN is a better prospect than Ferdinand.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

We need a couple of top class players plus a few very good ones. If it costs £15-20 to get top-class players, then we should spend most of our dosh on at least one - because top-class players can make decent players around them into good ones.

Our problem is that we have too many decent players like Solano, Speed (yes), Hughes, Dabz, Griffin, O'Brien, Cort, but without AS and YKD firing on all cylinders we don't have anyone truly top-class - other than perhaps Shay Given.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Clarky if the answer includes "Speed(yes)" what was the question, and why isn't a similar answer "Barton(yes)" ?

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

I believe Speed is a fairly decent player presently surrounded with dross, who has, and would still IMO, perform to a good standard in a better team. He was playing well earlier in the season, but has struggled badly recently.

Barton is simply way past it - he was never that good, but has now lost whatever pace he had and his continued selection is sadly proving an embarrassment for a decent man.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Clarky,

Sadly I am one of those people who believe you could swap the word Speed for the word Barton in your last paragraph. I have never seen him dominate a game, not never. By some law of averages it should hapen at some point but it hasn't. I know this doesn't make him a bad player but it doesn't make him good enough either. At his age (32 by start of next season) he should be leading by example, he doesn't. I don't think he offers as much as, say, Gallacher who we are all thankful for having but not too concerned about losing. Speed fills a hole but he not well enough for top half of the Premiership.

Some folk will tell of the Barton day at left back against a First Division side when he looked outstanding, Speed hasn't had one of those days for me. (I also missed that Palace game so I have no soft spot for Warren at all).

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Let me start by saying I believe Barton's EPL days are numbered - possibly down to the fingers on two hands (or both fingers on one hand MacB if you wish). I don't believe Speed is at that stage yet, but is rapidly getting there. I still believe he hides too much. Whether being invisible means he's doing a solid yet unspectacular job, or that he is cr@p is perhaps a moot point. But the times he does make a difference is in the opposing penalty area.

Now, you could argue that is why we pay such hige sums and salaries for strikers, but he does add an air of uncertainty to the opposing defence at set pieces. Sadly, his haul this year hasn't been what it was last year (and I suspect the previous ones too). But he's not alone.

If we can get a good price for GS (say £2.5m) I'd be tempted to sell. If not, I'd keep him for a season but make sure we had a replacement to fill his boots. Sadly, looking at today's squad, I can't see a natural replacement who is anywhere near ready to step into his place.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

As they say, it's a game of opinions.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Funny - I thought it was a game of two halves.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001

Jonno: You mention Ronnie Biggs, Screach. He's been away a long time. I remember in the 60's when his name would be chanted at the Leazes end to goad the police whenever they arrested some overzealous fan at SJP! and to think for all those years I was singing Harry Roberts' name!.....Harry Roberts is our mate, is our mate, is our mate, Harry Roberts is our mate....he shoots..........etc etc etc.

Clarky, would agree with most of what you have said apart from putting Benny Arentoft into the same group as the apostrophe etc. I reckon that Benny was one of the best imports we ever had.

-- Anonymous, May 08, 2001