“Haven’t quite figured out how to wear the new kit, the England players, have they? Collar up, collar down; t-shirt, no t-shirt. It is a bit of a modeling assignment, playing for England… So many famous faces on this team, carrying a nation’s hopes on their shoulders.”
“Andriy Shevchenko…is available.”
“But here comes a man who is about to celebrate his 34th birthday, and is a teammate of Shevchenko now, at…where old footballers go out to…to pasture. Milan.”
“This nervous lead for England.”
“Captain’s goal for John Terry! … Now, England. Keep your heads. If we’re lucky enough to be sunning ourselves in South Africa next summer, we just may look back on that goal.”
David Pleat bonus quote: “It looked a little bit worse than it appeared.”
Read More: England, The Occasional Match Summary
by Brian Phillips · April 1, 2009
It’s really quite hard to tell whether these are genuine when it comes to Tyldesley.
They’re from memory, but they’re genuine. The one about Milan actually kept going for several minutes and included an exchange with David Pleat about how footballers had wives to do their shopping.
Holy…Have you seen the result of Bolivia-Argentina?
I just saw it. Unbelievable. I assumed Argentina was hit with a massive injury catastrophe in the 2nd minute, but apparently everybody played. Maybe they’re protesting the Riquelme situation?
Or they couldn’t breath
Make that breathe
Yes! Mass asphyxiation would certainly explain why they could only put one past Bolivia.
Yeah I heard all these quotes too. Good stuff.
I couldn’t stop laughing when he said “Haven’t quite figured out how to wear the new kit, the England players, have they?” I had a picture in my head of Wayne Rooney running round the pitch with his shorts over his head.
The best part was when he realized he’d just called the England team a bunch of fashion models, then tried to backtrack with that whole bit about how their faces were carrying the hope of a nation on their shoulders.
On Bolivia-Argentina: Apparently it equaled a record set 51 years ago as the worst defeat in the history of the Argentine national team.
“It looked a little bit worse than it appeared.”
That perfectly captures this England squad, doesn’t it.
Another one I liked:
‘That was almost Italian like defending from Gareth Barry there.’
I had no idea what he meant, not quite on the same wavelength as Big Clive with regards what exactly ‘Italian defending’ is supposed to mean.
He meant Barry physically restrained one of the Ukrainian players with a bearhug of sorts and should have conceded a penalty.
Unfortunately I was watching it on Setanta, who had Brian Little and I forget the other commentator, so I missed out on these classic quotes! Hilarious.