The Daily ITK Discussion Thread - 7th July

PhezTHFC said:

Wasn't Gareth Bale wearing "Jet-boots" when with us? So maybe the deal would be financed by Nike to get him on their sponsorship deals rather than looking at what he currently wears?

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Doctor Dinkey said:

Crikey i go away from this forum for just half a day and when I come back you kids have completely smashed the whole place up...

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dovahkiin said:

hoxton hotspur on ftl:
Never heard of him
Or know what club he plays or for how much he will cost but a friend knows his dad who says his son Alfie Mawson is very close to signing for us.

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Dirty Ewok said:

Well now if we don't sign Bale then this summer is a failure in my mind.

How far we have come from not signing Llorrente (annually), Huntelaar (annually), Damiao (annually), Lass Diarra (annually), Charlie Adam, Phil Neville and Carlton Cole and calling it a failure of a window to not signing Bale being a failure....

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dovahkiin said:

hoxton hotspur on ftl:
Never heard of him
Or know what club he plays or for how much he will cost but a friend knows his dad who says his son Alfie Mawson is very close to signing for us.

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paulcumpstone said:

You don't think bale would have been watching us last season thinking if you'd added me to the lineup we would have won the league.so ignoring wages i can see why he would be tempted if he thought he could win trophies with us.

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mugpunt said:

Respectfully, you don't define the ongoing use of the English (or 'American-English') language. Terms morph and get borrowed, and I don't believe it's my invention to use it this way. I don't care to trawl soccer forums to demonstrate my point but should you - 'literally' not having heard the term used that way- you will find that it is only a reflection of your linguistic exposure (should you feel moved to investigate further).

Hell, even the word literal itself has now morphed and is acceptable to be used as 'figurative'...

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'O Zio said:

Interesting that you should comment on my linguistic exposure without knowing a thing about me. As an Englishman living in America and working with languages on a professional level, I feel I'm quite well placed to judge whether something is only used in the UK, America or both. I'm not saying I'm the leading authority on all things English language but given my exposure to both I feel I'm able to make a fairly educated judgement without having to "trawl through soccer forums" as you put it.

I'm fully aware that language changes over time. As you pointed out, using "literally" in the way I did has now become fairly commonplace. But that's just it. It's now so commonplace that who is anyone, including yourself, to say it's wrong. Calling a football/soccer player in Europe a "franchise player" on the other hand is not at all commonplace. In fact, as I mentioned, I've never heard anyone use that term outside of talking about North American sports. Presumably because, as I already pointed out, football teams in Europe are not franchises so the term doesn't make even the least bit of sense.

Feel free to trawl through forums but I'm afraid you'll find very little evidence to back up your claim, except perhaps for a few Americans who are new to football and so they fall back on the terminology they know because they haven't yet picked up on the vernacular of football in Europe, which is what I suspect you are..? There's nothing wrong with that at all. But just admit that you made a mistake rather than floundering about trying to save a sinking ship by trying to make out like it's a perfectly normal phrase to use.

The phrase you're probably looking for is "star player". Honestly, you can call it what you like as long as it makes sense. But you can't talk about someone being a "franchise player" when they don't play for a franchise.

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Led's Zeppelin said:

I can't remember who we're talking about.

Or why.

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John48 said:

& that's what it is, a red herring to deflect you from Levy's inability to get deals over the line & whilst I'd hoped Poch had done enough to get Levy to do the deals in good time, it seems he hasn't & that will eventually get to the manager & could change his attitude to staying.

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mugpunt said:

I don't care to trawl soccer forums to demonstrate my point but should you - 'literally' not having heard the term used that way- you will find that it is only a reflection of your linguistic exposure (should you feel moved to investigate further)

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Krule said:

There's the big one...ignoring wages....We tend to forget how fragile and short lived the careers are of these superstars...one major injury and the massive pay days disappear. They have a limited potential earning window in which to amass the funds required to support their lifestyles following retirement. You simply cannot ignore wages at this stage of Bale's career but also with him look at the likelihood of Real Madrid collecting major trophies (plural) compared to Tottenham. Personally I don't imagine for one minute Bale would have been thinking of what might have been last season in the premiership. He is a professional footballer playing for one of the two best footballing teams in the world and being handsomely rewarded for doing so. I am sure that he looks for Tottenham's results first when checking the English papers but I am also equally certain that he has no regrets whatsoever about being where he is at this moment of his career. As I said before, he will return I have no doubt, but only when he in his early 30's and able to produce cameo performances for the first team and become an integral part of the coaching staff following his retirement. I really do not wish to appear cynical...just realistic.
This is just my opinion of course....I may well be proved wrong....time will be the judge.

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'O Zio said:

Interesting that you should comment on my linguistic exposure without knowing a thing about me. As an Englishman living in America and working with languages on a professional level, I feel I'm quite well placed to judge whether something is only used in the UK, America or both. I'm not saying I'm the leading authority on all things English language but given my exposure to both I feel I'm able to make a fairly educated judgement without having to "trawl through soccer forums" as you put it.

I'm fully aware that language changes over time. As you pointed out, using "literally" in the way I did has now become fairly commonplace. But that's just it. It's now so commonplace that who is anyone, including yourself, to say it's wrong. Calling a football/soccer player in Europe a "franchise player" on the other hand is not at all commonplace. In fact, as I mentioned, I've never heard anyone use that term outside of talking about North American sports. Presumably because, as I already pointed out, football teams in Europe are not franchises so the term doesn't make even the least bit of sense.

Feel free to trawl through forums but I'm afraid you'll find very little evidence to back up your claim, except perhaps for a few Americans who are new to football and so they fall back on the terminology they know because they haven't yet picked up on the vernacular of football in Europe, which is what I suspect you are..? There's nothing wrong with that at all. But just admit that you made a mistake rather than floundering about trying to save a sinking ship by trying to make out like it's a perfectly normal phrase to use.

The phrase you're probably looking for is "star player". Honestly, you can call it what you like as long as it makes sense. But you can't talk about someone being a "franchise player" when they don't play for a franchise.

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DC Hotspur said:

Meh...semantic arguments...the purgatory of the internet. Who the F cares whether it is used here or there. Franchise player refers to someone who is the face of the franchise/club...the first person you think of. Ronaldo at Real, Rooney at Utd. until recently. Harry is a star player but also might be considered the franchise player whereas Dele is arguably merely a star player like Bale is at Real Madrid. See also, Messi at Barca. However, Bale was arguably the "face of the franchise" when at Spurs.

These pissing contests over the English language are tiresome.

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DC Hotspur said:

Meh...semantic arguments...the purgatory of the internet. Who the F cares whether it is used here or there. Franchise player refers to someone who is the face of the franchise/club...the first person you think of. Ronaldo at Real, Rooney at Utd. until recently. Harry is a star player but also might be considered the franchise player whereas Dele is arguably merely a star player like Bale is at Real Madrid. See also, Messi at Barca. However, Bale was arguably the "face of the franchise" when at Spurs.

These pissing contests over the English language are tiresome.

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