Steven Old (Morecambe FC | England)
Basingstoke lost in the playoffs to Dartford but steven old didn't pay
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/sport/2012/may/6/dartford_v_basingstoke.aspx
One player unlikely to return next season is New Zealand international defender Steven Old, who has left the club in search of full-time football.
http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/sport/9735675.I_ll_be_picky_over_new_signings__says_Bristow/
Is he still in England or he went back to NZ looking for a new club?
Steven Old has just signed for Blue Square South club, Sutton United, in London. He made his debut against Chelmsford City on Tuesday night - a 1-0 win for the U's. The club has recently gone full-time but have made a stuttering start to the campaign.
Here is a link to the local newspaper article on Old's debut:
http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/sport/football/9967235.United_pick_up_an_Old_hand_defender/
They failed to capitalise, though, as Sutton, missing the injured Steven Old and Harry Beautyman, recovered well from the early setback.
Steven fell out of favour at Sutton and signed dual-registration forms with their big local rival, Kingstonian (Ryman Premier League). I understand he has since moved on to trial in China.
What club in China? Is it killen's team?
If I am honest, Abris, I am not sure on the name of the club in China. I was just told by some folks at Kingstonian that he's gone there to trial. If I find out a name, I will post an update here.
Seems to have signed 2 weeks ago and will be wearing number 5
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/en/steven-old/profil/spieler_44395.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shijiazhuang_Yongchang_Junhao_F.C.
Fujian Junhao - English name was Fujian Smart Hero (best name in China One).
Hebei is a backwater - main claim to fame is that it surrounds Beijing and has the Emperor's summer retreat Chengde.
Good that Old and Killen are in the same league. It will save time looking for info.
First Old-Killen match: 23 March, 8:30 pm (NZT) Chongqing FC vs ShijiaZhuang Junhao
Second Old-Killen match: 20 July, 11 pm (NZT) Shijiazhuang Junhao vsChongqing FC
Played his first game in china last weekend: any news on that Junior82?
Man, he's a journeyman! And he was so promising when he played that game against Oz at Fulham, 2000.... when?
Played his first game in china last weekend: any news on that Junior82?
Sorry - nothing when I looked last weekend. His team lost. I'm going to post mostly in the Asian Football thread as I'm a bit lazy and can do Killen and Old at the same time there.
However China One has games this weekend (CSL has a break for the international window) so as Killen is in Dunners, I'll see what I can find for Old and post here.
Old starts as Shijiazhuang travel to Killen's team in Chongqing. They get 3 pts care of a 76th minute penalty converted by Costa Rican Johnny Woodly.
First win for Shijiazhuang and second loss for Chongqing FC.
- Steven Old ?@stevendold 4 Mai
- Away to Beijing next week and can take a lot of confidence from 2days match. Henan are top of the league for a reason & thy showed it today.
-
'data-name="Steven Old" data-screen-name="stevendold" data-user-id="132575746">Lost 3-0 to Henan. Best we have played by far and could have been 2 or 3 up at half time. Difference was their clinical finishing.
Steven Old ?@stevendold 
“League One is the second division. Old estimates it is the equal of League 1 (third division) football in England and perhaps the A League in Australia.”
Ok Steven.
Whereas Flores (I think it was) last year said that CSL was very variable but on average about the same as the A-League (i.e the better teams in CSL were better than A-League teams, and the poor teams were pants).
“League One is the second division. Old estimates it is the equal of League 1 (third division) football in England and perhaps the A League in Australia.”
Ok Steven.
Dreaming.
Alot of money is being pumped into China so the standard over the last few years has probably jumped quite a bit.
Killen would make the Nix comfortably and he's playing there... so is the standard that bad or are we saying it is becasue we've never seen a game played there or know much about it??
Olds played in the UK in the A League and now there... probably knows more than us.
Based on the article I'd say that Old's as good at ranking leagues as he is at playing CB!
snap!
It would be interesting what Killen has to say. It could well be that the second tier of the J league is A league standard however. China. unlikely but possible in a few years
Alot of money is being pumped into China so the standard over the last few years has probably jumped quite a bit.
Killen would make the Nix comfortably and he's playing there... so is the standard that bad or are we saying it is becasue we've never seen a game played there or know much about it??
Olds played in the UK in the A League and now there... probably knows more than us.
But he's in the Chinese second division!
It would be interesting what Killen has to say. It could well be that the second tier of the J league is A league standard however. China. unlikely but possible in a few years
Based on my fairly limited knowledge, I'd agree with this.
/world
From my limited knowledge would say China's top league has teams in the top half that are quite a lot better than the best A-League sides - as evidenced by Chinese champions Guangzhou easily disposing of A-League champs Central Coast 5-1 on aggregate and winning both legs over the last week in the Asian Champions League round of 16. A-League clubs have a poor record in this comp.
The top Chinese teams can afford better imports on the whole than A-League sides (Del Piero aside) - Guangzhou were fielding Paraguayan international and two-time Bundesliga winner with Dortmund Lucas Barrios, still only 28, one of the top-scorers in the Bundesliga over the last four years. Guangzhou are coached by former Italy coach Marcello Lipi, on a €10 million ($13.6 million) contract.
Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba earned €12 million (US$15.25 million) a year before he opted to leave for Turkish club Galatasaray. Former teammate Nicolas Anelka earned more than €247,000 (US$334,500) a week to score goals for the Shanghai club.
Billionaire owners, large crowds, the improving Chinese economy and illegal bending of rules mean more money is available than in the A-League. Crowds last season totaled almost four and a half million (avge 18,740). 16 teams compete, up from 12 originally.
The Chinese Super League has not been around much longer than the A-League (estab. 2004) but has had way more imports (about 120 Brazilians alone), mostly not high-profile players, but most pretty decent like Brazilian Edu from the Bundesliga and some stars like Anelka and Drogba, and Keita and Rochemback from Barcelona, Kanoute from Seville, Yakubu from Everton. However, because of the conditions, most imports don't last more than one season...
As well as Lippi, there have been some high-profile coaches like former Argentina coach Batista, Frenchman Tigana etc.
However, the Second Div. in my observation, would not be anywhere near A-League standard.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Asian league rankings from IFFHS: http://www.iffhs.de/?b883e8c00bdce05bfce15e85fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeed705
(International Federation of Football History and Statistics) - an authoratitive source.
[Note that the A-League achieves the low ranking of 22 since Australia only joined the Asian Fedeation in 2006 and its clubs have performed poorly in the Asian champions League.]
Asia’s strongest League of the 21st Century
"Each year The strongest League in the World is determined from the top five clubs of each country which scored the highest in the Club World Ranking during that calendar year. This ranking is determined from the results of matches played at the national championships and FA cups as well as at international club competitions of the six continental confederations and FIFA. For a valid international comparison, international competitions must be lent more weight."
1.Japan 4.714,0
2.Republic of Korea 4.618,5
3.Saudi Arabia 3.996,5
4.Iran 3.791,5
5.China 3.469,0
6.Uzbekistan 3.403,0
7.UAE 3.120,0
8.Kuwait 3.025,0
9.Qatar 3.013,0
10.India 2.677,5
22.Australia 1.931,5
Care to say what the illegal bending of rules are?
(I know of one but not what you would call illegal)
Edit: I'm not going to bother rebutting many of your assumptions but I would say that maybe Killen is the best qualified of any to comment on the standard between CSL and China One and then perhaps Vicelic although his stint in China was a few seasons back now.
As for China One, CSL and A-League probably the raft of Roar players who headed over there last season would be best qualified to judge.
Care to say what the illegal bending of rules are?
(I know of one but not what you would call illegal)
Edit: I'm not going to bother rebutting many of your assumptions but I would say that maybe Killen is the best qualified of any to comment on the standard between CSL and China One and then perhaps Vicelic although his stint in China was a few seasons back now.
As for China One, CSL and A-League probably the raft of Roar players who headed over there last season would be best qualified to judge.
"May 23, 2013 5:01pm#223
Whereas Flores (I think it was) last year said that CSL was very variable but on average about the same as the A-League (i.e the better teams in CSL were better than A-League teams, and the poor teams were pants)."
I have no real idea of relative quality of China One (second tier) compared to A-League. You seem well-informed. What is your opinion?
Old's side seem to be struggling a bit this season at 10th on the table but finished third last season, so have some pedigree.
On "illegal bending of rules" just referring to the rampant corruption in Chinese football first exposed in the 2009 scandal where a lot of football matches were suspected to be fixed by the clubs and more than 200 people were implicated. Last year, 56 were jailed, including club officials, leading Chinese players, refs and two former Super League CEO's. The Chinese Football Association handed out bans to 58 players and officials in February this year.
Apparently local government officials, none of whom were punished, manipulate teams to get the results they want and boost their prestige.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/20/match-fixing-bribery-chinese-football http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/evanosnos/2012/06/chinese-soccer-fixed-matches.html;
"Chinese soccer problems go beyond rotten apples, and the deep structural obstacles to solving them tell you quite a bit about the broader debate about credibility and institutional strength in Chinese life today. In The Economist last winter, Gady Epstein explained why “aeons of Chinese footballing ineptitude” have made it “a painful national joke” with the range of explanations that “lead back to the same conclusion: the root cause is the system.
... Perhaps the greatest indication that the current wave of arrests is likely to yield more headlines than difficult reforms is that some of the people who know the system best are not holding back their views. “Will Chinese soccer be free of corruption after this houseclean? I am not that optimistic,” former Zhejiang sports chief Chen Peide, whose public revelations about soccer corruption led to the first wave of arrests more than a decade ago, told Chinese reporters. “It will take long time to solve the problem because the current system is a hotbed for corruption,” he said.
The corruption/match fixing is old news.
Guangzhou Hengda bent the rules for foreigners last year by convincing the CFA to allow them to have more in their squad than other CSL teams because it was competing in the ACL. It got around it by only being allowed to have the same number in it's match day squad. Pretty shonky but the deal was done out in the open so can't call it illegal.
Guardian is rather naff when it comes to things China and in fact most of the Western press wouldn't know a mantou from a baozi.
I don't have an opinion on China One because all I have to go on are Chinese media reports and have yet to find any footage. CSL on the other hand has a good supply of streams and video highlights and wildeastfootball has excellent discussion and analysis.
I posted some video highlights from Chongqing fans in Killen's thread last season - hard to make any judgement on quality of play from those.
Note that Old's new club changed their name last season to the current tongue-twister and were formerly known as "Fujian Smart Hero."
Stephen Old's club last season (some complete games) under its former name:
http://www.youtube.com/user/HamrunS/videos
Killen's club in action round three this season (TV footage): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f-r_kgIwIo
More League One TV footage: http://www.youtube.com/user/Doc1806/feed?filter=2
http://www.youtube.com/user/zxcvbzse/videos
Came across this You Tube channel which has recent League One action of Yanbian FC:
http://www.youtube.com/user/yanbianfc/videos
This has China Two (third tier action) championship-winning Guzhou Zhicheng who won promotion to League One last season: http://www.youtube.com/user/bandefoua/videos
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From Guangzhou Evergrande's demolition of A-League champs Central Coast last week over two legs in the Round of Sixteen of the Asian Champs Lge, seems at least the Chinese Premier Lge's champs are somewhat better than the A-League champs:
Some very slick play from Guangzhou. Two very entertaining games. 2-1 and 3-0 wins (5-1 aggregate).
Highlights: First leg in Gosford: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErPT0BStTIw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhPR75JQGqU
Second leg in Guangzhou: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOUa5TzXyDg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo5msWub0LE
Guangzhou have only conceded more than one goal this season on one occasion, against Urewa Red Diamonds in Asians Champions Lge...
Argentinian Dario Conca of Guangzhou earns 12.5 million US$ per season and was Player of the Year twice in Brazil's top league when with Fluminense. Obviously the A-League can't attract those sorts of players.
Central Coast have won only three of their eighteen Asian Champions Lge games to date...
Good links! I only searched for Killen's games last season - couldn't find anything much on youtube then.
Clubs move to different cities depending on the tax breaks they get from local govt.
Fujian "Smart Hero" moved to Shijiazhuang - so new city and often a new squad depending on where players want to be.
Guangzhou Fuli moved down from the north several seasons back.
Guizhou Renhe likewise originated in Shanghai then moved to Shaanxi and is now in Guizhou.
From Guangzhou Evergrande's demolition of A-League champs Central Coast last week over two legs in the Round of Sixteen of the Asian Champs Lge, seems at least the Chinese Premier Lge's champs are somewhat better than the A-League champs:
Right, so Guangzhou Hengda (aka Evergrande) has the richest owner in the CSL. Aside from Conca they also have Muriqi, Elkeson and Barios - all very tidy foreigners and a promising young Korean Kim Young-Gwon.
Their local players are all top talent too - many in the national squad and some of the promising youth have been lured away from other clubs.
Lippi is their coach but before him Hengda had arguably one of the most successful CSL coaches - Korean Lee Jang-Soo. They didn't need to get rid of Lee, but the owner decided that he wanted a top notch white man.
So Hengda are the equivalent of Chelski and Man City - with as much staff turnover as those clubs.
To get a good feel for CSL you should look at the clubs below Hengda who do things in a slightly more modest fashion (Beijing Guoan, Guizhou Renhe, Hangzhou Lvcheng etc) I don't watch these matches much but they do sgtrike me as being pretty tidy and would probably beat A-League teams more often than not.
Here we go. Starting to look at WEF and Chinese sites a bit more now.
(Shijiazhuang lost to Shandong Luneng 3-1)
And here he is in an earlier match (4 May) vs Hunan Jianye (SJZ Junhao lost 0-3)
Round 9 match over two weeks ago vs Beijing Baxi (who won 1-0). 1st half here, 2nd half click on the first video on the right.
Old is in the yellow strip, no. 5
Good on him for making a go of it.
From last weekend's game against Tianjin Songjiang (0-0):
