163 replies to this topic

[David Beard]

Originally posted by Barry Boor
A little clue, David, watch the thread list and when this one doesn't appear on page 1 any more, chances are it will quietly disappear.

In the meantime - how about a suggestion -

DON'T OPEN THE DAMN THING!

OK Barry

[Nanni Dietrich]

David, I have a mild sensation you don't like football, ain't correct?

Schumacher, Fisichella, Max Biaggi, Tarquini, Badoer, Capelli, Alonso, Massa, Pantano and other friends play charity football games every months in Europe. I think the F.1 Football Team (called in Italy "Nazionale Piloti") had collected a lot of euro in last two years, playing charity matches.
For example in April 2004 they played against Brazil-1994 (Leonardo, Dunga, Bebeto and others!!!) at the Forlì stadium and the game finished 5-5: they collected 35000 euro for the Ayrton Senna Foundation. Schumi and Alonso scored two goals.
Then they played at Naples stadium against italian Members of Parliament (and won 4-0 ). All the drivers came to play for nothing!
Some of them (Capelli, Tarquini, also Schumacher) are very good players, they could really play in professional football teams...
You can look at this site
http://www.nazionalepiloti.org/
to know other news.

I think this is a good thing.

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Richie Jenkins
The championship winning Brabham of 1983 would have to be the Reading car.

I protest in the strongest terms for having (P)Oxford United's name in TNF. Never has there been such a low. I DEMAND it becomes Torquay United instead.

Yes, I was thinking that too. And for some reason the idea of a racing car sponsored by Bradford City struck me as hilarious.

[MCS]

Originally posted by Nanni Dietrich
Schumacher, Fisichella, Max Biaggi, Tarquini, Badoer, Capelli, Alonso, Massa, Pantano and other friends play charity football games every months in Europe...Some of them (Capelli, Tarquini, also Schumacher) are very good players, they could really play in professional football teams...

I was under the impression that Badoer was a good player - is that correct?

Wonder if any of the above had considered an alternative career and who they support?!

Fisichella - a Roman - doesn't strike me as the archetypal Lazio fan so wonder if he supports Roma?!

Mark

[Nanni Dietrich]

Originally posted by MCS


I was under the impression that Badoer was a good player - is that correct?

Wonder if any of the above had considered an alternative career and who they support?!

Fisichella - a Roman - doesn't strike me as the archetypal Lazio fan so wonder if he supports Roma?!

Mark

Mark, what do you intend with "the archetypal Lazio fan"? :
(I'm Lazio fan ;) )

Fisichella and Max Biaggi, and also Gianmaria Bruni and Enrico Toccacelo support AS Roma.

Badoer is a good player. And also Ivan Capelli, Pierfrancesco Chili and Gabriele Tarquini. If I remember well, when he was twenty, Ivan Capelli played in "Serie C" (national third series in Italy) as a lateral forward.

[MCS]

Nanni

No offence intended, it's just that Lazio fans have, er, a reputation for being somewhat er, enthusiastic shall we say

Intrigued by your comment regarding Capelli though - who did he play for ?

Mark

[Nanni Dietrich]

Mark, I know very well what you say. I know : a little part of Lazio supporters is known in Europe in the last years as fascist and racist. It's true. But I can assure you that SS Lazio fan is a pacific, sporting, noble supporter, nothing at all with those young unwhorty hooligans.
SS Lazio is one of the oldest Teams in Italy, was born in January 1900 as a "Polisportiva" (that means athlets for all the sports, not only football: for example the great Fausto Coppi was a member of the SS Lazio cycling team, Nicola Pietrangeli in tennis, Michele Maffei and Stefano Pantano Olympic champions in fencing, etc.). Now in Rome there is AS Roma, second football team of the city ;) more popular, AS Roma fans are more numerous, more noisy, and row makers... SS Lazio supporters are like an élite...

Coming back to motorsport... Andrea De Cesaris is a Lazio fan.

[Twin Window]

I played for Italy once! Well, sort of...

Anyone present at the inaugural Birmingham Superprix F3000 meeting in 1986 will remember enormous delays on the first morning, due to vandalism by protesting locals who unbolted barriers, cut the the PA system wires and so on.

As was the norm in those days, a football was produced in pitlane and some of the drivers started a kick-about. Then some mechanics joined in, and rolled out two pairs of trolley jacks as goal posts. The pits were in the Bristol Street Motors forecourt facing a big grandstand, and the impromptu action was going down well with the bored and frustrated spectators.

Within no time there were masses of players, and the goals had been made wider and the pitch lengthened. Such was the proliferation of our Italian friends in F3000 that season the players were split up to form Italy versus The Rest of the World.

So, with the 'international' well underway, I was enjoying the action sitting on the barriers by the halfway line with Eliseo Salazar (I was his manager that season) who didn't fancy a game.



Then, out of the blue, the ball was propelled in my direction...

Without a second thought, I sprung to my feet and hit the sweetest half-volley towards the goalmouth to my left. It was one of those weird slo-mo moments as everyone watched the ball's looping trajectory... and saw it land plum in the goal - for the Italians!

They went completely mad; Ivan and Tarquini came rushing up to me and - in time-honoured soccer fashion - did all the embraces and stuff, and then turned me round to the grandstands holding my arms up to the crowd (and those who weren't laughing too hard generously applauded!)

It was just one of those brilliant, and totally spontaneous moments - and amazingly Ivan still remembered it several years later. Oh what I'd give for a photo of those goal celebrations, as Mark Gallagher (who took the shot above) had already gone elsewhere...

Forza Azzurri!

[MCS]

Great story Twinny!!!

Mark


P.S. Wonder if Nanni knows that Mr Boor recently bought himself a Fiorentina shirt...!

[Barry Boor]

Recently???? Actually I've had it since 1996!!!

[MCS]

Originally posted by Barry Boor
Recently???? Actually I've had it since 1996!!!

Thought you'd bought a new one to celebrate the return to Serie A...

[RTH]

If it was motorsport in a football stadium, - then there was the start of the world cup rally at Wembley stadium ..................and very shortly now we have this Saturday evening's "Star Studded " Race of Champions to be screened live on 'Eurosport' at The Stade de France Paris. With all the top drivers from F1, WRC, MotoGP and David Coulthard.

[ian senior]

Originally posted by RTH
If it was motorsport in a football stadium, - then there was the start of the world cup rally at Wembley stadium ..................and very shortly now we have this Saturday evening's "Star Studded " Race of Champions to be screened live on 'Eurosport' at The Stade de France Paris. With all the top drivers from F1, WRC, MotoGP and David Coulthard.

Was it intentional to give David Coulthard a separate mention rather than lump him in with "top drivers from F1"?

[MCS]

Originally posted by ian senior


Was it intentional to give David Coulthard a separate mention rather than lump him in with "top drivers from F1"?

I wondered about that too

[Garagiste]

I've often thought that Brighton and Hove Albion's sponsors ought to link up with Minardi:

[Nanni Dietrich]

Originally posted by MCS

Thought you'd bought a new one to celebrate the return to Serie A...

For Barry: here is the Fiorentina car (third row, #3 Silk Cut sponsored... )


mmmmmm, that's a Serie A grid:
first row Milan, Lazio and Cagliari (and a yellow-shirt referee in three wheels bike ).
Second row Parma, Bologna, Perugia and Juventus...
Third row, Fiorentina, Roma, Messina, Chievo-Verona...

[TonyCotton]

Duncan Rabagliati has sent the following reply, which might be of interest.

"In 1989 I organised a a parade of Birmingham built cars @ the SuperPrix and remember breaking off my holiday in Brittany to participate.

My recollection is that in 1990, the same thing happened, but i stayed in
France ! This, I believe, is the year of the photo

The cars you see are my Kieft-MG, 1500, LDA 5 - one of the 1955 Le Mans
Cars, where it ran withthe Turner 1500 engine, before it was replaced by the
MG motor in time for the Dundrod TT. The Driver is Cyril linstone, and the
pasenger, Jo, the then girlfriend of mark linstone - Mark is standing next
to my green Emeryson 500 #500/7, which is partly obscured, and which I
debutted @ Silverstone in 1985, and which he subsequently raced very
successfully all over europe in FISA Trophy races

behind is the yellow Kieft CK52 500 of Rod Delves,which he still races and
Fred Edward's blue Kieft Formula Junior - Fred sadly died of Cancer, and the
car is now owned and raced in FJ by Marc nichols in USA. At the back are two
Kincraft trials cars, and a Landar R6 sports car. I can't immediately
identify the man with the side boards, but it is not me !!

Maybe this is the appropriate form to ask -- What can anyone tell me about
the Landar FORMULA JUNIOR car, and what happened to it - it certainly looked
to have cooper 500 origins

And while I am on - What happened to 3 beautiful and very professional front
engined Formula Junior cars - that seem to have completely disappeared
Halson- Britains FIRST Formula Junior
Evad - Built by exLotus employee David taylor
Delta - built and raced by Lotus and Parnelli F1 designer Maurice
Philippe"

[Twin Window]

AC Milan's Dutch international Clarence Seedorf is co-owner of the Valdir Seedorf MotoGP team who run Fabrizio Lai in 125s.

I think he might be involved with a GP2 team too.

[Pablo Vignone]

Two from Argentina:
1. There a team called WC or something, which owns a car racing in the popular Turismo Carretera series. The owners of the team are well-famous argentinian players Herna Crespo and Juan Veron... in fact, the brain in charge of the business is the players' agent Fernando Hidalgo. At the back of the pit, the team sell football shirts. Crespo and Veron were never seen near the car.
Oh! nearly forget. The team has also a touring car in the low cost Turismo Nacional series and the driver is the ex Formula 1 Esteban Tuero...
2. There is a whole series in Argentina called TRV6 where the cars are sponsored (or something like that...) by the Premier League teams, like Boca, River, Independiente, Racing or San Lorenzo. Last year, the champion was Guillermo Ortelli driving a Vectra-silhouette, Berta engined, Boca sponsored car. The real thing is that the racing teams pays to the football clubs to paint their cars with those colours, and, whether they find a true sponsor, they share the money. Runner-up was Ariel Pacho with a Alfa 156-alike in Independiente scheme. You can see some pictures of the car at www.trv6.com.ar

[St.Hubbins]

I painted a car in Oxford United colours for the GP3 game (well, repainted a Toyota in fact), but I don't suppose that can be included as anything like relevant on this thread.

[Vicuna]

European and South American members will forgive me for introducing another form of football, and another slant to this topic.

I have very recently learnt that one of the locks in the English touring team to NZ in 1963 was John Owen, son of Alfred or Ernest.

John played for England from 1963-67 including 12 internationals - which is approximately 12 more internationals that Guy Ligier ever played for France.

Does anyone know if the young English lock (now 65/66) had any interest in motor racing, and if he worked in the family firm?

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by St.Hubbins
I painted a car in Oxford United colours

Two words that should NEVER be mentioned on this forum.


;)

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Richie Jenkins




Two words that should NEVER be mentioned on this forum.


;)

Oh no, perfectly legit, if we're referring to Robin Herd having been a director ;P

[Twin Window]

Robin was Chairman, actually. Quite a lot of motorsporting interest in the Us in fact - well, in the era when my pal Denis Smith was manager and they still played at the Manor.

I've seen EJ there on several occasions (once with Jean Alesi), Ian Phillips, Jim Rosenthal was a regular, Ginny Williams, Mark Herd (son of Robin, inadvertent coiner of 'Jumper' and ex-editor of Autosport), Adrian Newey, Nick Harris and so on.

Not bad for a little club!

[Richard Jenkins]

Little club, my a***. How satisfying it would be to see them in the Conference in the same season that the team their directors (led by Maxwell, these were pre-Herd days) tried to take over & swallow up all together go marching as Champions up to the Premiership.

Well done Mansfield yesterday by beating this spineless ****!


Unfortunately, I can only offer that David Brabham *allegedly* watched a game at the Madejski once.


Here endeth my rant at Poxford Untied.

[Twin Window]

I can't understand why Reading fans have such a thing about OUFC; the Us don't even have a nick for them AFAIK. As you say, that was purely that evil git Maxwell and his cronies, as opposed to the club itself, and was equally unpopular 'our' end from what I understand. A merger with Derby was mooted too, wasn't it? Farcical.

[Richard Jenkins]

Yes, it was hated by the Oxford fans too, I admit.
It's the club itself we can't stand, not its supporters. Maxwell may have been the Pied Piper, but the directors (probably all gone or dead now, I don't know) followed his tune like little rats off a sinking ship & made NO attempt to stop it. That was what was (and is) so galling. Had it not been for the late Tranter & Brooks at Reading, Maxwell might have got his way.
It's the club we hate, for what they stood for. Just look at the MK Dons fiasco, that could've been us. I also believe Oxford had a minute's silence for Maxwell when he died!! We had a minute's celebration
Maybe now we're in the Premiership, it doesn't matter, or maybe, because we ARE in the Premiership, it matters more, as it reminds us of the bad, bad days, I don't know. The irony of Oxford losing its league status this season, of all seasons, would not be lost on the older fans.


Anyway, before I get berated for not keeping it on topic, I thought ol' Wiggy EJ was a Coventry City fan/director.

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by Richie Jenkins

I thought ol' Wiggy EJ was a Coventry City fan/director.

I think EJ went to watch whoever was playing at home.

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Richie Jenkins
I also believe Oxford had a minute's silence for Maxwell when he died!! We had a minute's celebration

I was in Oxford when Maxwell left this world. There were massive celebrations...

[Vicuna]

While you Poms do your 'I hate Bla-bla United' stuff, what about John Owens?

[ensign14]

Certainly there is a John Owen who was until recently involved with Rubery Owen because the family still held the intellectual property rights to the name BRM, as he is quoted in Autosport back in the early 90s in connection wth the sale/lease of the name to John Mangoletsi for the BRM P351 sportscar (doubtless to be set out in full in Volume 32 of the Magnum Opus). But as an engineering firm Rubery Owen is a far cry from the industrial conglomerate of Sir Alfred.

(And Oxford's real hatred is Swindon - or the town council.)

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by Twin Window
I can't understand why Reading fans have such a thing about OUFC; the Us don't even have a nick for them AFAIK.

Oh, FYI, it's Dreading. Dreading, Poxford Untied, Swinedon Town & Aldershit

[Twin Window]

Hmmm... I've never heard reference to 'Dreading', and Swindon (as E14 says, the *real* enemy ) are known colloquially as 'the ****'.

Who was the bloke who bought York City and immediately alienated all the fans by re-naming the club? He was a BTCC driver of sorts, IIRC.

[Richard Jenkins]

John Batchelor, wasn't it?
He didn't rename the club, but renamed the stadium. Bootham Crescent became "The Kit Kat Stadium" overnight.

Wasn't he the same fellow who ran as John B & Q or am I getting mixed up?

[Twin Window]

Yes, I think you're right - it was Batchelor.

But I'm sure I also remember him re-naming the club 'York Soccer Team' or something equally daft...

[Rainer Nyberg]

Completely OT, but York City used to have a great goalie, Graeme Crawford, I even got an autographed photo once....long long time ago...

[ensign14]

York had a famous kit in the 70s, when their normal red shirt besported a massive "Y" which led them to be dubbed the Y-Fronts. Batchelor revived the look and added a chequered sleeve in an Attempt To Make The Most Complicated Kit Ever. Which he lost to the Bochum Gay Pride one from a few years ago (imagine a Blackburn kit with the blue half replaced by red, yellow, pink, green, purple, orange and blue stripes).

[Geoff E]

Originally posted by Twin Window
Yes, I think you're right - it was Batchelor.

But I'm sure I also remember him re-naming the club 'York Soccer Team' or something equally daft...

"York City Soccer Club" in fact.

http://york.rivals.n...=2&stid=8259521

(My team's sworn enemies are Glumsby (Codheads), Scumthorpe and Boscum.)

[St.Hubbins]

Good grief, what have I started.

Maybe I will design a livery for Thames Valley Royals!

[ian senior]

It's funny how we seem to accept changes of names for racing teams and cars without too much complaint (e.g. Toleman to Benetton, Lotus to JPS, Jordan to Midland etc) but football supporters scream like hell when some clever dick of an "entrepreneur" thinks it's OK to muck about with the name of their team. Even Luton Town were in danger of becoming London Luton when Mr Blobby aka John Gurney was at the helm a few years ago. Only Wimbledon have managed the transition to become the MK Dons and even that has caused no end of flak, unless we include merged clubs such as Rushden and Diamonds.

[Twin Window]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ian senior

It's funny how we seem to accept changes of names for racing teams and cars... Lotus to JPS... [/quote]I don't think you can say that that change was ever accepted; not by the hardcore enthusiasts, anyway! Even less successful was the attempt to rename McLarens Marlboros as of the advent of the Marlboro MP4 (as that was its official name at the launch...)[/QUOTE]

[ian senior]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Twin Window
I don't think you can say that that change was ever accepted; not by the hardcore enthusiasts, anyway![/QUOTE] [/QUOTE]

It wasn't really, although they made a good fist of it, changing the chassis numbers etc. Texaco-Marlboro was another one - such a zippy name for a racing car.

One thing that did irk me a little was the appearance of Frank Williams's first F1 car, which as we know was christened the Politoys. Some people such as Motor Sport got a bit sanctimonious and called it a Williams, even though there had never been a car called a Williams before and who's to say what Frank would have called it if only he hadn't been chasing the bucks?

[Twin Window]

IIRC, his friends in the sport tried to persuade him to christen it after his [then] nickname 'W*nker'...

[ian senior]

Originally posted by Twin Window
IIRC, his friends in the sport tried to persuade him to christen it after his [then] nickname 'W*nker'...

Some friends! I recall that - it was even mentioned in MN.

[Richard Jenkins]

Originally posted by St.Hubbins
Good grief, what have I started.

Maybe I will design a livery for Thames Valley Royals!

Rainer, Graeme Crawford is a name I'd thought I'd never see on TNF! I remember him at Rochdale towards the end of his career - one of my first games at Reading was vs Crawford & team-mates.

Well, no-one saw what the kit would look like, but I'd suppose you'd merge the two together. I'd like to see blue & white hoops on a car, but the Brabham early 80's design is close enough colour wise & slightly schematic wise- it won a title after all!

[Graham Clayton]

Fellow NFers,

Back in the late 1960's the Sydney Showground (Australia) introduced team midget/speedcar racing, with the teams "representing" some of the rugby league teams that were competing in the Sydney first-grade rugby league competition. I think that there were 3 drivers in each team. I have seen publicity pictures of the drivers in the pits wearing the football jumpers of the team that they were representing, but I don't think that they were worn while racing. I will see if I can dig up some more information, but the "team" concept lasted only one season.

[Macca]

Originally posted by ian senior


Well, there we go. That's the Plymouth Argyle car.

No, no, that's too dark a green for the Pilgrims.......here's their car, with the goalie driving:





Paul M

[lotus79]

Originally posted by Mischa Bijenhof
And, of course, the Connew crew having a teambuildingday at the field:

For those who don't know.
This club is called Go Ahead Eagles and they are from Deventer in Holland. (My hometown)

[Twin Window]

I worked in Deventer, in 1977!

[lotus79]

Cool, and where did you work in Deventer, Twin Window?