Africa Cup of Nations

[Cantley 0]

Why, when the majority of African players who play abroad play in Europe, is the tournament held in the middle of the European season?

Won''t it discourage European clubs from signing African players if the best ones are going to be absent for six weeks every other year? Can that be good for African football?

[DisorientatedCanary 0]

you would have thought so, lets face it they could easily do it in the summer in the current gap years between the world cup and euro''s. i presume african leagues break this time of year and that was the original thinking behind it but on the grand scheme of things do they really care about those Mickey Mouse leagues?. soon will come the day when top clubs will make african players for go the ACN and only play world cup football as a condition of their contracts or they dont get signed and a european gets their job instead, and should such a thing happen the ACN will have to move or not involve the best of its players, unlikely i know but its the sort of thing you can see Mr Glazer suggesting, the yanks do rule the world after all [:)].

[chocolate nutter 0]

No it''s a pain in the butt for managers when you lose one or more of your best players for a month,right when thinks get going just after xmas this last part of season results are needed so losing a player for a month can and has damaged teams chances of winning thinks!!!!!!.

Why don''t the African Nations have there cup every 2 years when Europe has the Europen championship as i would say over 80% of the African Nations players play there football in europe?????,this way everyone is happy National managers,Club managers,Players,and most importantly the fans at club level get to see their teams play at full strength.

One last think i would like to wish Safri all the best but i would not be upset if he gets knocked out early!!!!!.

[whoareyou? 0]

Because it''s an African Cup and they hold it when it''s the best time of year for them, climate-wise.

[Huddy 0]

It would be better played at the same time as the Eurpean championships, unfortunately the african climate leads to them playing it in our winter.

[Fat Barman 0]

I think its a bit rich to ask the African nations to change to suit European clubs.This is a tournament which has been held for over 50 years now. It attracts huge levels of support from within Africa and would, perhaps, lead to a souring of relationships between football associations if pressure were applied by Europe.Clubs are well aware of the international responsibilities of any African players they choose to sign - it is, after all, a sign that you have a quality player on your books if he is called up - and shouldn''t bleat if these conflict with club requirements. I''m sure most of these players are delighted to be called up by their countries and would also resent interference from outside in an African event.

[Branston Pickle 3,632]

I can''t see any reason why this tournament can''t be played when African nations want it to be played - all European (and other) club sides are aware of it well in advance, so it is a bit lame for them to be unprepared (though for Norwich it has come at an unfortunate time with our current crop of injuries).  It does seem rather strange to have it quite so close to a World Cup, though.

[Cantley 0]

[quote user="Matt Hudson"]It would be better played at the same time as the Eurpean championships, unfortunately the african climate leads to them playing it in our winter.[/quote]

Last time I checked, about half of Africa was northern hemisphere, and half southern. So surely the climate is not a factor. The 1996 tournament, held in South Africa, also took place in January.

[Cantley 0]

[quote user="Fat Barman"]I think its a bit rich to ask the African nations to change to suit European clubs.

[/quote]

Who''s asking them to change? I just wondered why it''s seemingly so vital for the tournament to be held in January, given that it could be a reason for European clubs to be wary of signing the best players. Maybe they actively want to discourage players moving abroad.

[Maverick 0]

As others have said , the African Nations Cup is held at this time of year because it suits their climates.

The belittling of this competition by managers in this country and other European countries really makes my blood boil - its as important to the African nations as the European Championships are to us.Thats why I''m particularly angry that supporters in this country seem to have caught the habit if moaning about it too..

Many club managers sign African players not only for their abilities on the pitch but also for the benefits off the pitch.Famous footballers in smaller , less affluent countries enjoy far greater celebrity status than their relative abilities would gain them if they were , for example , English.This means that their fellow countrymen follow their every move in the way many people in this country follow someone like , for example again , Beckham.Thus , when an African player joins an English side , many of his countrymen back home become ''supporters'' of that particular side.This raises that club''s profile in a previously untapped market and leads to the inevitable spin offs in terms of increased demand for TV games and shirt sales and various other commercial spin offs.Witness for example the sudden demand for Everton and Man City shirts/games on TV etc in China when they signed Sun Jihai and the guy at Everton who never plays and who''s name escapes me.

So when a Prem club signs an African player they are not only looking at the prestige of signing an established international (good for club profile) but they are also looking at the potential revenue that the player will also bring in for all the other spin offs.African players are also usually a lot cheaper than an English player of similar ability , provided they are caught before they rise to the very top (ie Essien) so signing them makes good business sense too.Thats what makes me angry when Managers like Allardyce (5 African players and he has the cheek to moan) and previously Bobby Robson with Lua Lua start to moan when the players have to go to Africa for a month for the African Nations Cup.(Robson also had a problem with Solano jetting off to Peru to help his country try to qualify for the World Cup but I didn''t notice him moaning about the amount of replica shirts that the club shipped to Peru).

The answer is simple - if you don''t want your players disappearing for a month in the middle of the season every other year , don''t sign Africans.Worthy knew the score when he signed Safri and so did we so lets just get on with it.

[sheded 0]

Would someone enlighten me on who pays Safri`s wages  while he`s on this month long jaunt ?

Also why Nigel was refused  his services in the Plymouth match   , when his first game is a friendly  on Jan 21st  !    while  Tottenham`s Mido  will be allowed to  play against  Liverpool  on the same day !!!! 

I`ve always been sceptical  of the timing of " recovery " from injury    of some of our players ...     In Safri`s case   it was superb timing !   ... hope he doesn`t   limp back with a recurrence of the groin thing          or some other , hard to diagnose  ,  " injury " [6]

[Huddy 0]

[quote user="sheded"]

Would someone enlighten me on who pays Safri`s wages  while he`s on this month long jaunt ?

Also why Nigel was refused  his services in the Plymouth match   , when his first game is a friendly  on Jan 21st  !    while  Tottenham`s Mido  will be allowed to  play against  Liverpool  on the same day !!!! 

I`ve always been sceptical  of the timing of " recovery " from injury    of some of our players ...     In Safri`s case   it was superb timing !   ... hope he doesn`t   limp back with a recurrence of the groin thing          or some other , hard to diagnose  ,  " injury " [6]

[/quote]

Us

[Tumbleweed 106]

Sadly its only an issue because we are totally reliant on Safri to hold our midfield together. Even if the injured were not injured we would still need Safri as nobody else seems to have his drive and skill.

[chocolate nutter 0]

Keep  your pants on Maverick no one is belittling A.N.C we were just discussing that the timing of it is odd as some of these teams are playing in the world cup in july!!!!!,by changing the timing of the cup the clash of two cups in one year wouldn''t happen.

The other point was that the african nations want their players to be playing on a bigger stage so they come to europe where at a guess i would say that 80% of the players currently at the A.N.C ply their trade in the europen leagues ,so by a little help from both sides they get their players fit and healthy and the europen clubs don''t lose top players for a month in the middle of the season(as the football club is the main wage payer).

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

the real problem with ACN is it played every year!!! come on every 2 or 4 years would be enough...

 

[Maverick 0]

1.    The African Nations Cup is played every 2 years.

2.   Apart from the climate , the African leagues are not operational in January , this is another reason why they play it in January.

3.   We will be paying Safri''s wages while he is on this ''month long jaunt'' in the same way that we will be paying Greeno''s wages while he''s on a month long jaunt to Germany this summer (provided he''s still here,of course).

[sheded 0]

[quote user="Maverick"]

1.    The African Nations Cup is played every 2 years.

2.   Apart from the climate , the African leagues are not operational in January , this is another reason why they play it in January.

3.   We will be paying Safri''s wages while he is on this ''month long jaunt'' in the same way that we will be paying Greeno''s wages while he''s on a month long jaunt to Germany this summer (provided he''s still here,of course).

[/quote]

I`ll probably be accused of something here ,  but , for me anyway , there`s a  huge diference in an English club  paying the wages for an English  player  to take part in the world cup , and paying the wages for  the likes of Safri to play in a  contest that really has no interest  outside Africa  !    thats an interesting  financial proposition you put forward  Maverick  , but , in real terms , it doesn`t amount to a hill of beans  in the context of the English  league !

[chocolate nutter 0]

I agree with you Sheded,cast your mind back a few months when safri  came off injured against Plymouth with a strain of some sort(NOT AN ASHTON STRAIN!!!!),so was injured when he was called up by his country NW said he could go as it was an important game so off he went played (still injured)his country lost Safri came off half way through because he was INJURED!!!!!!!.

Am i the only one who thinks some thing is wrong with this ????,The club pays his wages so NW should of said yes you can go but you are unfit to play so don''t,if you do play and you make it worse(which it did!!!!) the weeks you are out we will not pay you!!!!!!!.

I know i am going to get some stick for this but look at the fuss made about Englands mid season games by teams in the prem all of a sudden players had injuries and withdraw from the squad not because they were but because their managers didn''t want them getting injuried when our season was in full flow!!!!.

Just because we are in the fizzy pop dosn''t mean we can''t do the same does it???.