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First Wizard

Beware!. Overpriced, Tempreamental Foreign Players.

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First things first, the old wizard is NOT a racist, in that respect I''m colour and nationality blind OK.

And I''m sure Sir Nigels needs no advise from me, but after seeing some of the players mentioned on these boards by posters, I think the club should be very wary of bringing in inept. expensive, and even worse, tempreamental foreign players.

Many have dodgy tempreaments, which could upset the superb ''team'' atmosphere at Colney. They feel no allegiance to the club whatsoever, have high wage demands, and are in general, no better than the British players.

Of course there are exceptions!, Zola, old Henry and Berkamp being three which spring to mind. And for some reason Scandarnavian players seem not to suffer from this trait.

No, I''m thinking more of The African Nations Cup mob, and your Eastern block brigade. Look at the problems some of the clubs, in all divisions have had with them. Some are very gifted, ie Anelka, trust I''ve spelt that correctly, but be honest, would you want him at City?.

So as we can''t afford any of the foreign players who are (a) very talented, and (b) with a good attitude towards the City cause and (c) the strict discipline regime, so carefully nurtured by NW, then stick to the four home countries for players I say.

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To be fair i dont think that it is always the case look at people like yobo at everton he always gives his all for them kanu, lua lua, viera was born in senegal, earnshaw was born in zambia,!
i dont really think it is down to where the player is from as to if they will be a good player ! you mentioned anelka he is only tempremental because of the way he is managed ! at arsenal did he play up no ! why? because he had a exellent manager who could control his players! kevin kegan & glen hoddel were great players but they are lousy managers becuse they cant control the players and still try to be one of the lads! a well managed team is a happy team a happy team makes for better performaces this makes better results !
OTBC

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I must just correct Duke on one point - Yobo does NOT always give his all for Everton, he is the best defender there in a pretty average bunch (I think our back five compares very favourably thank you), and has distinct tendencies to be very very lazy - he also held them to ransom on contract demands before signing for them in the end.....

How do I know? Other half is staunch Evertonian!

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Beware indeed. The main reason that overseas players fail to make an impact here is that some fail to settle into a new culture, struggle with the language etc This is natural and I am sure I would struggle to settle straight away if I went to work in Africa or similar. Some British players even take time to settle moving around this country depending on their personal circumstances.

The example of Rivaldo and Bolton is a good one. Rio to the Reebok is a giant leap and there can be no surprise that he is considering his options and will turn down Bolton''s offer for somewhere a bit warmer!

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Like ANY signing the question boils down to four things

1. Will the player improve the squad?
2. Will the player be a team player and not disrupt team harmony
3. Does the player have the desire/committment to play for the club?
4. Can we afford him?

Irrespective of the players country of origin if the above criteria are met then we should be talking to them as a possible signing - for every Yobo there is a Rivers - its about doing your homework before you sign them. By all means be a bit more thorough when looking to sign someone who has not played in Britain before (Emerson at boro, George at binners etc) but there are as many successes as failures. Blimey Unsworth could cope with the move to London from Everton without getting homesick so its not a surprise some players dont settle in England when coming from somewhere else!

As far as being expensive the reason why managers go abroad is because any transfer fee is lower than a similar risk british born player as are the wage demands. The vast majority of rumours on this board have been for british players anyway, and NW has a healthy scepticism following DeWaard et al. However I would not want to miss out on a Campo or Yakubu and end up with a Rivers or James O''Connor instead.

OTBC



Stick to the above 4 questions - and I am sure worthy will - and the chances of a dud - british or otherwise - will be minimised.

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Spot on Zipper.

We shouldn''t disregard this source of players but be very very careful when deciding who to sign and stick to the criteria above.

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I agree with your 4 points Zipper but can I add a 5th. Will the player be able to hack it in the Premiership? A player can look excellent in France, Sweden, Nigeria, wherever, but how do we know that when he gets over here he''s going to be able to adapt to the British game. We play a much faster game than those on the continant. It''s hard to judge if a player will settle in from abroad. If we take Yobo as an example, he came on a loan to Everton first. He worked out and then they bought him. If we''re going to look abroad we need to do our homework VERY carefully and be sure we won''t waste our money. With all this in mind, it seems much easier and safer to shop at home before you shop abroad. At least you know what you are getting.

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I cant argue with that DD - as I said look a bit more closely at anyone who has not been to the UK before, including playing premier footie.

Not a city target but I remain stunned that Prso has signed for Rangers - a class striker signing for a second club in a third rate league - why would any talented player do that??? It shows how money driven most players really are.

OTBC

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Zipper, item 3 on your list is to me the most important and I think that is where many foreign players fall down. It must be a simple fact that witha few exceptions someone from out of the region or country simply won''t have the same level of desire, won''t understand the culture or the passion and why half an entire city goes wild before an open topped bus. Its the extra level- "I want to do well for this club over any other and will play my guts out for it". It can be very hard for a foreigner who may not have English at a high level to fit into the dressing room spirit and truly feel part of it all. Even the food is different (although some of Delia''s creation seem to be pretty exotic to me).

City have not really done that well with foreign players in the past. Recently only Steeno has really stood out although Matt has come on hugely since arriving. Remember that the Walker triumphs and Stringer Cup runs were with largely UK players (though had Efan been given more of a chance he could have become a legend).

Look at Middlesbrough- they stuff their team (and are linked) with almost every foreign player under the sun who looks like moving and apart from a rather fortunate Carling Cup win (a competition which is now virtually discredited as far as the major sides are concerned) have done nothing and languish in perpetual midtable.

I''ve nothing against foreign players either and I love to watch the ones mentioned by Wiz. I full agree that we must exercise extreme care and not repeat the nearly disastrous mistakes of the Hamilton era- "He''s foriegn so he must be a more cultured player" syndrome.

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