Pepe the Horseman Looked good again tonight and Blackmanesque finish.
Racist
by genome » 23 Feb 2016 23:53
Pepe the Horseman Looked good again tonight and Blackmanesque finish.
by Sutekh » 24 Feb 2016 14:57
by PremAddict » 25 Feb 2016 02:26
Forbury LionIf that was the case, do you think Brian ought to get one of his mates to turn up to games in a Swansea jacket and pretend to make notes, maybe anoter one in a Wales jacket and maybe he'll play well for the "scounts"PremAddict he only played well during televised matches, oh, and just before his last contract expired.
by PremAddict » 25 Feb 2016 02:27
RoyalJames101 There are a lot of things that could be said about HRK over the past year or two but him being lazy is not one of them.
The quotes from him regarding his contract seem to have been taken out of context.“I am just focusing on my football and we have agreed with the club we will have a discussion about my future at the end of the season.
“It is an exciting period, personally I just cannot wait. I am really looking forward to some big games coming up."
Sounds like both sides have just agreed to discuss at the end of the season and that's all?
by BR2 » 25 Feb 2016 12:56
Sutekh Lets have an HRK appreciation day soon, he's really returned to a consistent high level of performance this season, particularly since Brian came back, so let's all give him some indication that we think he's wanted....
by Binfield Royal » 25 Feb 2016 13:42
Pepe the Horseman Looked good again tonight and Blackmanesque finish.
by Top Flight » 26 Feb 2016 12:05
Binfield Royal Agree with others comments. Talented but lazy. I read today that he has decided to put all contract talks with Reading "on hold" to the end of the season.
Translation - "I can get a better deal out of Swansea if they don't have to pay Reading a fee for me"
Were I the manager, I would not offer him a new contract and instead, use the budget to sign Ola John on a permanent deal.
by Hoop Blah » 07 Jun 2016 22:29
by BR2 » 08 Jun 2016 12:42
Hoop Blah Interesting piece on Robson-Kanu in The Times today.
From growing up going to church with Mick Jagger and Princess Margaret and being told off by King Hussein of Jordan, Hal Robson-Kanu is remembering what made his childhood nothing like any other footballer’s.
Suddenly, Robson-Kanu breaks out in embarrassed laughter as he recalls the time that he and David, his brother, threw a teddy bear that got stuck in a tree dangling by a cord. The next day bodyguards of King Hussein of Jordan, who lived next door, rang the door. “They told my grandmother, ‘Why are you hanging a dead squirrel from the tree?’ ” Robson-Kanu says. “ ‘The King doesn’t like it. Can you please take it down.’ Our nan was so embarrassed. She laughs when she tells the story.”
Ronaldo has said if there were 11 of him Portugal would win every week. You don’t get that from Bale. He has class
Robson-Kanu’s grandparents lived at a vicarage that backs on to Kensington Palace, then home to Diana, Princess of Wales, and Princess Margaret. It has 18 rooms and the biggest private garden in the area — royal homes excepted — that was perfect for a young boy to hone his football skills, until he was disturbed by another knock at the door.
“The King asked his guards to tell us to be quiet,” he says. “My nan would say, ‘No, they are kids. They are playing.’ ” Elizabeth, his 86-year-old grandmother, will not be mindful of keeping the noise down when she tunes in to watch the Wales forward, 27, against Slovakia in their opening group B game on Saturday. Her Fricker family are from Caerphilly, in south Wales, and the reason why he can play for the country.
When you have been surrounded by famous names from a young age, mixing with the best players in Europe is unlikely to faze you. Royalty, the Pope and the wife of the head of the CIA came to visit the vicarage at various points, which has a secret pathway from the garden into the gardens of Kensington Palace. “It was our little escape, they knew who we were as there weren’t too many mixed-race kids running around in Kensington,” he says.
Across the road at the corner of Kensington Church Street and Kensington High Street is St Mary Abbots, where his grandfather was the vicar from 1977 until 1999. The Rev Preb Ian Leonard Robson, 84, christened people such as Elizabeth Jagger, daughter of Mick, and through his notable congregation was invited to state garden parties and residences of local ambassadors, accompanied by Robson-Kanu.
Sir Isaac Newton and David Cameron have been eminent parishioners at the church and the prime minister’s children went to the adjoining primary school. The church, which has a special private entrance for royalty, dates back to the middle ages and is situated in one of the wealthiest parishes in the land.
“We came across Princess Diana and Princess Margaret at church,” Robson-Kanu says. “I remember the Jagger girls chasing me around, wanting to play. We didn’t know who he was. He [Mick] was just another parishioner. Grandmother knew everyone. Old ladies would stop us in the street to ask about our grandparents. Looking back it was unique. You don’t realise how privileged you are. It was normal at the time. We did have a lot of friends from other areas and knew the other side of an upbringing.”
His grandfather’s eldest daughter, Eva, married Rechi Kanu who lived locally and was also a parishioner at St Mary Abbots. Rechi is a lawyer and Eva, one year older at 56, is a trained nurse. Robson-Kanu was eligible to play for Nigeria through his father.
It is Sunday lunchtime and Robson-Kanu, his brother and father have returned to the church to reminisce. As boys they carried the cross, wore robes and served in the church, which would be packed with 200 people. They point to the steeple, the tallest in London. It has a narrow staircase and two-thirds of the way up is the perfect balcony that the boys used to launch paper airplanes inscribed with messages, one of which was found in the gardens of Kensington Palace. “Not rude ones,” he says. “Just saying, ‘This has come from…’ ”.
Robson-Kanu’s father has brought family pictures of their childhood, including one of them playing with a young Emma McQuiston, now Viscountess Weymouth. Stepping inside the church triggers more memories.
Robson-Kanu would play football against other children in the church courtyard after service. “David and I would nutmeg kids but I didn’t understand at the time where that would take me,” he says. “At Easter there was a massive egg hunt and David and I were so athletic that we collected all [the eggs] until we realised and put them back for other kids.”
The forward was taken to games by his grandfather, who supported Newcastle United because he was from Tyneside. Robson-Kanu wanted to be a footballer and had support from his parents. He scored 80 goals a season in Sunday youth leagues and attracted the attention of Arsenal. Patrick Vieira, then Arsenal captain, put his arm around the ten-year-old and showed him the training facilities. Jack Wilshere was three years younger at the club and they will meet again in the second group game, a week on Thursday. “Jack was really small at the time,” he says. “I remember him jumping on my back and wanting me to carry him around.”
He left Arsenal for Reading at 15, thanks to the influence of Brendan Rodgers, who later handed him his debut. The forward has been at the club for 12 years but is out of contract this summer. David, his 29-year-old brother and a former close-protection operative, is his agent and he has a sister, Clara, 30. “Brendan spoke with Liam Brady and said I had a wand of a left foot,” he says. “Brendan would say, ‘I know who will make it by the way they handle the ball.’ He would look at me in the corner of his eye.”
He played for England youth sides alongside Ryan Bertrand, Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, and kept Andy Carroll out of the team. Brian Flynn, then Wales Under-21 manager, persuaded him to switch. “He said there is a group of players around your age who could do something special,” he says.
Robson-Kanu — whose five-year-old brother, Kai, trains with Arsenal — has never looked back and received about a thousand letters of appreciation from Wales fans after they qualified for Euro 2016. He played as a target man for Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. The Barry Horns, an 11-piece band that follow the team, sing “Hal Robson-Kanu” to the tune of Salt-N-Pepa’s Push It. “The manager has seen my quality. I relieve pressure and open space for Bale and Ramsey,” he says. “I know Bale enjoys playing with me, we are on the same wavelength. It has been shown with the success. Bale is very down to earth. Cristiano Ronaldo has apparently said if there were 11 Ronaldos in the Portugal team they would win every week. You don’t get that from Bale. He has a level of class.” Since he tweeted about collecting Panini strikers for the tournament, fans have sent many packets. “I am a shiny sticker, so harder to get, and tagged as ‘campaign hero’,” he says.
His grandparents now live in Arundel, West Sussex, but returned to the church to help in the christening of Robson-Kanu’s one-year-old daughter, Izabella, last year.
Haley Bartlett, his partner, is a model and her family own the Albert Bartlett group, which produces a fifth of the country’s potatoes and other vegetables. Away from football, they are friendly with AP McCoy and attend Badminton Horse Trials.
“It sounds privileged but we are grounded and down to earth,” he says.
by SCIAG » 08 Jun 2016 16:46
BR2 So his surname really is just "Kanu" based on his father's name.
by maffff » 09 Jun 2016 11:27
“It sounds privileged but we are grounded and down to earth,”
by genome » 09 Jun 2016 12:27
maffff“It sounds privileged but we are grounded and down to earth,”
He even sounds like a knob there.
by tidus_mi2 » 09 Jun 2016 12:52
by floyd__streete » 09 Jun 2016 13:32
by maffff » 09 Jun 2016 15:56
by CountryRoyal » 09 Jun 2016 16:07
floyd__streete Comes across as a decent chap in that article, I don't really understand the h8 for him, I can think of individuals infinitely more deserving of grief for their part in the downturn over the past 3 years. Good luck at your next club, no doubt he'll go on to do better over the next year or 2 than RFC will
by ladida_gunner_graham » 09 Jun 2016 20:47
floyd__streete Comes across as a decent chap
by Ascotexgunner » 09 Jun 2016 21:20
by cp » 11 Jun 2016 19:49
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