Darius Vassell set to sign for Leicester.

[eamonn]

Actually just read that Peter Taylor is in charge there so it would make sense for Hendrie to play for him. Was his best payer for England U-21 ten years ago.

[adrenachrome]

Saw his goal on the programme that follows Match of the Day: very well taken. If my ears did not deceive me, he is the captain as well.

[Brian Taylor]

Darius made a mistake going to Turkey on a friendly contract. The fans are really great but the money men are ruthless. Banking and Law are can one say a bit Byzantine out there. Shag someone's sister and you have an enemy for life..refuse to marry her and you have vendetta for generations.
There has been a huge retrogressive change in political attitude there and it is not favouring the West anymore. They call the English 'Ayip Ingiliz' (Aye-Yup)or dirty, shamful, smelly, treacherous, lying.. it covers a multitude of attributions.  It harks back to Dardanelles, or Cannakale to them. A complete and utter disaster for us but their greatest military victory. Lawrence of Arabia killing all those Ottoman Turks and blowing up Railways from Aqabar to Damascus didn't help his case either. Neither did being situated in the Capital Ankara now home of islamofascist AK party (moderates compared to MHP Party). Once you understand the language you realise most nice Turks are actually Kurds who have been shat on by Turks ad infinitum. Think empire loyalists here and you get the new quasi Ottoman Nationalist there. Plus they are racist to the core..so sad for Darius, named after a Persian king. They don't like Iranians much either although they do want their Bomb. 'Trust a Jew before a Greek and a Greek before as Turk..' Any English resident is the equivalent of a spy now...doesn't help Darius or his lack of understanding of language and culture. All I can think is he shagged a Turkish girl into bargain..that is the absolute limit.  Then he is not Muslim either ..arggh,,he is English and they do not need to explain. Contracts in English do not count in law there. No wonder he is happy to be back in UK/Leicester.  Great friends but terrible enemies.
New Turkish nationalists and power brokers are not nice people.  'facking Turks who do they fink they are?'
Modern Turkish football owes a lot to Gordon Milne but Jup Derval always takes the laurels with them..funny that. and the Germans won't get railway building contract either..now the Chinese might!! But our railway builders taught them all to play footie..
Those that forget their history are destined to repeat it..Poor ol Darius gets in in the neck all round ..not many other English players out there ..I wonder if McGeady went?  Darius will do a lot better with Leicester..

[Simon Ward]

Saw his goal on the programme that follows Match of the Day: very well taken. If my ears did not deceive me, he is the captain as well.

Was there to see him, yes he was made captain due to being the most experienced player available. Overhead kick was form 2 yards out.

[pedro25]

22 caps and 6 goals for England, only 30 years of age and no longer anywhere near the top level of football.  Is this inevitable for quick young forwards that once their raw pace goes as they head towards their late twenties their is no future for them at the top of the game?  Joachim was the same and even Owen has done nothing of note over the past 4 years.  How can Gabby avoid fading away from the top of the game over the next 3/4 years?

[Dave]

Really? Hadn't heard that...surely you wouldn't mock the lad's ability to inspire a result, even now, (even if at that level)?

Not at all. The 'inspired' was quoting from the BBC match report. Hence the quotation marks.

[eamonn]

Really? Hadn't heard that...surely you wouldn't mock the lad's ability to inspire a result, even now, (even if at that level)?

Not at all. The 'inspired' was quoting from the BBC match report. Hence the quotation marks.

Ah right, sorry.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Good luck to the lad, I was sure he was going to do well for us, He had good pace but he wasn't a great finisher but he should do well at that level

[nodge]

22 caps and 6 goals for England, only 30 years of age and no longer anywhere near the top level of football.  Is this inevitable for quick young forwards that once their raw pace goes as they head towards their late twenties their is no future for them at the top of the game?  Joachim was the same and even Owen has done nothing of note over the past 4 years.  How can Gabby avoid fading away from the top of the game over the next 3/4 years?

Stop eating cakes?

[UsualSuspect]

Do Leicester still play in white shorts??

That could be a big problem for the strip washing person as the grass stains on the shorts from all that sliding along on his arse to stop the ball going out for a corner could be a bugger to get out

[UsualSuspect]

22 caps and 6 goals for England, only 30 years of age and no longer anywhere near the top level of football.  Is this inevitable for quick young forwards that once their raw pace goes as they head towards their late twenties their is no future for them at the top of the game?  Joachim was the same and even Owen has done nothing of note over the past 4 years.  How can Gabby avoid fading away from the top of the game over the next 3/4 years?

Stop eating cakes?

That was interesting about Gabby, at the Blackburn Cup game I sat in the North stand lower about 10 feet from the pitch and gabby's arse and midriff looked massive - he looked at least a stone overweight to me

[Lucky Eddie]

This is very interesting but fails to mention Darius's tremendous opening goal against Turkey in Englands make or break qualifyer at The Stadium of Light. A great night to be an England fan but played out amidst a horrible atmosphere of violence and racial hatred.

Darius made a mistake going to Turkey on a friendly contract. The fans are really great but the money men are ruthless. Banking and Law are can one say a bit Byzantine out there. Shag someone's sister and you have an enemy for life..refuse to marry her and you have vendetta for generations.
There has been a huge retrogressive change in political attitude there and it is not favouring the West anymore. They call the English 'Ayip Ingiliz' (Aye-Yup)or dirty, shamful, smelly, treacherous, lying.. it covers a multitude of attributions.  It harks back to Dardanelles, or Cannakale to them. A complete and utter disaster for us but their greatest military victory. Lawrence of Arabia killing all those Ottoman Turks and blowing up Railways from Aqabar to Damascus didn't help his case either. Neither did being situated in the Capital Ankara now home of islamofascist AK party (moderates compared to MHP Party). Once you understand the language you realise most nice Turks are actually Kurds who have been shat on by Turks ad infinitum. Think empire loyalists here and you get the new quasi Ottoman Nationalist there. Plus they are racist to the core..so sad for Darius, named after a Persian king. They don't like Iranians much either although they do want their Bomb. 'Trust a Jew before a Greek and a Greek before as Turk..' Any English resident is the equivalent of a spy now...doesn't help Darius or his lack of understanding of language and culture. All I can think is he shagged a Turkish girl into bargain..that is the absolute limit.  Then he is not Muslim either ..arggh,,he is English and they do not need to explain. Contracts in English do not count in law there. No wonder he is happy to be back in UK/Leicester.  Great friends but terrible enemies.
New Turkish nationalists and power brokers are not nice people.  'facking Turks who do they fink they are?'
Modern Turkish football owes a lot to Gordon Milne but Jup Derval always takes the laurels with them..funny that. and the Germans won't get railway building contract either..now the Chinese might!! But our railway builders taught them all to play footie..
Those that forget their history are destined to repeat it..Poor ol Darius gets in in the neck all round ..not many other English players out there ..I wonder if McGeady went?  Darius will do a lot better with Leicester..

[Brian Taylor]

Sorry Eddie! Footballl does not sit well with politics . Darius was signed as a club saver and in failing to repeat his goal-scoring form of previous years, in particular the goal you mention against the National team, he became the sacrificial goat.  I read some of his blogs from the time. He went from hero to zero in short order and was trying to understand what he was caught up in. He went from King of the park to social pariah in weeks. Part economic as looks like the club was bankrupt and his goals that never came were expected to attract a takeover with big money. We all know what happened economically in the interim. The new owners/inheritors saw him as a big expense on a poor balance sheet and the cold shoulder treatment started. Your form is unlikely to improve when the gossip is against you and your command of language amounts to ordering a cuppa tea(Bir chai, lutfen).
If anything the Turks have a harsher attitude to success/failure in hard black and white terms than you get with football here. Rooney has a few bad games and he is a bum idea but he'll suddenly recover with a new contract. Over there it is purely beat the top-three teams Besiktas/Galatasaray/Fenerbache and be a European contender. Fail and you are nothing, less than zero. The top-3 pull in immense crowds. Ankaragucu pull on a fraction of that fanatical support, certainly not enough to pay DV's superstar wages. Consequently unable to live up to the video he is vilified by the owners and the press although it appears the fans still loved him. He is better than a mere chattel to be sold on over there but he is a lesson to anyone thinking of going there.  He needed to be better than twice as good as he was before..otherwise he is perceived as a financial liability.  I hope with Leicester he recaptures some of his pre-Hip Hop form and helps them back to the PL.. I have good memories of Darius, and I went to first away game at Filbert St. Turkey? I used to love it but now it is an arrogant place  and looking to China for economic partnerships  rather than EU/Ameruca, so all European yanbanci ayips can sikdergit..particularly the English who inflicted so much harm on their great Empire when they colluded with the Yanks to steal their oilfields and leave them impoverished. Now boot is on other foot and they are finding their own oil again and controlling flow of rest to west. Darius was just a pawn and sad he encountered the negative side of that country. I wish him well at Leicester and hope he scores a few quickly to get his get his confidence back. apols for the politics..keep them out of football! Turkey in the EU?? We will never meet their standards. Next they will be throwing out diplomats.