Hai all,, it's really been a while not posting in this forum for a long time,, i've been busy with life and everything,, but i hope we'll still keep on posting in here no matter where we are and no matter what we do,,, this forum will forever remain active even if we have less bati news,,, do share your thoughts opinions or intlectual idea's all about football and on how to improve to make the national squad (argentina)better,,,, Miss you guys !!! Katy... Daryl, Linda, Mariela, Franca, Juan and Brigie

Hi, Fadzil.
Sorry it took so long for me to reply, but I was just interested to see if anyone else replied.
It seems that this forum has nearly died a death over the past year.

I must admit, it's difficult to keep it alive with so little news of Bati.
We've all got busy lives and maybe all gone our different ways, which is sad but, I'm afraid, almost inevitable.

The forum has been going for 13 years in total and for 9 years since Bati retired, so we've done very well!

The annual subscription for the forum was due to be renewed today, so I have paid it and the forum will be open for at least another year. Let's see how things go over the next year, but if things stay like this, I might have to consider not renewing it next year. It's quite expensive and not really worth it if it's not being used.

Thanks for your enthusiasm and please feel free to visit whenever you want!

Well to get the post going, I'll try to ask if anybody knows what is Lord Gabriel doing these years (and where)?

Katy, thanks for all your effort. I am a long time bati fans from Hong Kong, I visited this forum long time ago regularly but seldom come here after bati retired. At bati peak time I always came here to download the bati goal video with very slow network connection :) But I enjoyed very much~ Since bati retired, I had been always missing bati. I think no people can be even close to him. I lost interest in watching football match after bati retired...

I still hope there is a miracle to make bati 20 years young and play on the pitch again[:))

Hello friends

Katy and Rene, its been ages.

Katy you are correct with the busy lives and little news on gabi. One thing is for sure is he would always remain in our hearts.

How have both of you been. Since I joined the military and got married its been hectic.

Daryl

Forza Albiceleste xxx

Hi Darol

Life's fine thanks. Have been working in Denmark for the last decade. Became a father almost 3 years ago. For some reasons I haven't been to South America since late 2009 (well at least I did get to enter two matches at La Bombonera doing those 3 weeks).

Good to see the forum is still up and running. But, yes, it's hard to find much to post as he's so low keyed.

There was a bit recently, concerning his brief spell as technical director at Colón. Followed by his 'sudden' retirement from it. I'd love the gossip on why that was...haha!

Then, the pics and video of him and Irina on a visit to Florence. She looked a bit sullen.

It's 0200 and I'm at work. When I get home and had some rest (night shifts are killers) I'll check back and see what links I can post. This forum software and layout is hard to follow as things seem to be scattered around. I'm used to Proboards I guess.

Later.

Quick visit to Florence, in April. He's still looking good!:

video..Walking to the hotel with Irina

video interview

*I've posted these on the video thread.

I'm rather late posting here but I just wanted to say that I still come by this forum, and I`m really glad you have kept it open Katy. It would be sad to come by and see it was gone.
Congrats on the baby Rene. A future Argentina fan I expect ;)

And Katy, I totally understand that it seems stupid to pay for a forum that no one uses, but I was just thinking.....this summer its the WC. Maybe it'll be a bit buzzing then. I know I would love to come on and discuss Argentina with you all, and maybe that old passion we all felt for this place will come back for a month or two.

Forum open again until the end of the World Cup!
Full explanation tomorrow.

Heyyyy, sorry for not replying before now, but I've had to do a lot of thinking about this!.

After I read Linda's message I realised that I had been thinking exactly the same thing about the World Cup.
I have worried about my decision to stop paying for the forum, it's got so many great memories for all of us! But it costs $99 to renew for a year and that's a lot of money when it's not being used much.

Anyway, I tried to find out what would happen if I didn't renew the contract, but I couldn't find any information anywhere.
As I should have renewed on April 1st, I thought I'd just wait to see if they had forgotten about me and let us carry on. They never send a reminder to tell you it's time to renew, so it's their own fault really!

So to cut a long story short, yesterday I noticed that they had put adverts on the forum and when I tried to post, I couldn't. So I realised that I'd been 'found out' and renewed the contract for 3 months. That is a 3rd of the annual cost and will take us to July 16th, which is 3 days after the WC Final!

To change to the free forum I will have to delete over 9,000 posts (which will break my heart... SO many memories!!!) and that will take a lot of time. It will be sad to delete all those posts, but our lives have all changed a lot and maybe it's time to let go of that part of our pasts. Jas' site hasn't been updated for ages, but it's still there to remind us of the enjoyment Bati contributed to our lives. THANKS Jas, for keeping it up there!

One of my biggest regrets is that we haven’t still got the posts from 2000, especially the day when Roma won the Scudetto. Remember??? A lot of us had stayed up all night and it was SO nerve wrecking, but SUCH fun!! I’ll NEVER forget that experience! And the hundreds of people who posted afterwards to wish Bati congratulations was literally mind-blowing!

It's SO good to hear from all the people who made this forum so great, and to hear that we are all so happy with the lives we are living now! (Rene with a BABY???? WOW! ) Mariela, Daryl, Linda, Brigie, Juan and Franca.. THANKS for all the help you gave to the forum.

My final message in this post is to Bati (if he ever visits this forum)... GET BACK INTO FOOTBALL, GABRIEL, WE REALLY MISS YOU!

I’ll be back soon, if anyone else is here!

This is sad. But Thanks to Katy for keeping the forum up for such a long time.
Memories of this forum will always be with us.
Let's be in touch on Facebook page.

Hi guys . It's been a long time. We've all been busy in the last years. I've become a doctor now!. I really miss you all and miss our passionate discussions about Argentina and Bati, but it's the world cup this month and we have a pretty good chance to see our life-long dream come true and see Argentina lifting it at last.
And for Katy, words can't tell how much I apreciate what you're doing to save the forum and our memories in it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sincerity.
Finally, I too think a facebook group would be a good idea.
Vamos Argentina all the way

Thanks for the kind words!

Just to clarify the situation with the forum...
We can keep it as a 'free' forum, but to do that I have to delete over 9,000 posts because you are only allowed a maximum of 1,000 posts on a free forum and we have 10,000 posts.

So we have a choice...
1) to keep it open for occasional new postings (and delete a lot of the older posts)
OR
2) to leave it as it is, which means we won't be able to post from a few days after the world cup ends, but all the memories will be kept for us to look back on if we ever get nostalgic!

Which would you prefer???

Thanks for everything you have done to keep the forum going Katy.

I would like to have an open forum to post random news. We never know. Bati might return to football. It would be a shame if we all lost touch. It's too bad about the posts that have to be deleted, but I think I would prefer that to the forum being closed.

I understand what you mean Linda, but for now (especially after the disappointment of the WC )I'm going to have a bit of 'time out'. I've been doing this forum for over 14 years now and I just need a rest!

Even when I don't post on the forum I still have to check it regularly and keep deleting 'stupid' posts from random people who think it's OK to post anything they want. And that just makes me sad and puts me in a bad mood!

Jas already has a 'Bati' Facebook page at...
https://www.facebook.com/gabrielbatistuta.net
We can always get together there if anything happens. Also the forum will still be here (from what I have been led to believe) so I can always open it again if Bati ever returns to management.

So, I stand by all I said in my long post further up... THANKS to you all, it's been SO MUCH fun (especially in the early years) and I will always have such fond and special memories of you all. Lots of love and take CARE!!

Katy xx