bannedfromHandV Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 1 hour ago, bobzy said: They've (including most England managers) campaigned for a winter break for ages - it finally gets introduced and the FA goes "no, **** that, you're playing a replay lads"? Teams will have planned for it, weeks in advance, and then it just gets chucked out. It's an utter farce. He's completely correct - and don't even get me started on cup replays. Cup replays can be the difference between a club surviving and going bust, football is not just about the elite. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genie Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Have to say, having a window of potential games in a winter break is just stupid. I think Klopp has a bit of a point and he’s shining a huge spotlight on the planning team at the FA’s f**kup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 12 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said: Cup replays can be the difference between a club surviving and going bust, football is not just about the elite. Yes, they can. But then, so can cup ties when they're decided on the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 FA cup 5th round isn't until March 4th or something. Why can't Liverpool play Shrewsbury replay after their two week break? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 54 minutes ago, Genie said: Have to say, having a window of potential games in a winter break is just stupid. I think Klopp has a bit of a point and he’s shining a huge spotlight on the planning team at the FA’s f**kup. In an ideal world winter break would be after 1st Jan games or 3rd round weekend. Could have a 10 day break at least to recover from the xmas madness of games. February is an odd time to have it really. You could even put it in December and then restart for Boxing day although I guess premier league are worried bad weather would hit so would leave a ridiculous fixture pile up (although of course it could just hit in Feb like the other year). I do actually like the split weekend thing but again it seems the wrong time given a few of the teams also have european games in the period. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 10 hours ago, VillaChris said: FA cup 5th round isn't until March 4th or something. Why can't Liverpool play Shrewsbury replay after their two week break? Because February is **** ridiculous for EFL sides - I think they're all due to play 7 league games plus cup replays. They can't squeeze the replays at the end of the month; they have to use the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sne Posted January 28, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) So many fantastic little details and pokes at Plop and City David Squires is my favorite thing right now. "The FA Cup - Giving Joe Hart Something To Do" Quote https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2020/jan/28/david-squires-on-football-fixture-wars-fa-cup-carabao-liverpool-manchester-city Edited January 28, 2020 by sne 1 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Yeah, Squires has been phenomenal for a long time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 11 hours ago, bobzy said: Because February is **** ridiculous for EFL sides - I think they're all due to play 7 league games plus cup replays. They can't squeeze the replays at the end of the month; they have to use the start. Just had a look and you're right, Shrews playing midweek on week starting 24th Feb which is when I'd have put it. Ironically Shrewsbury's only free midweek in the month is when Liverpool are playing CL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornso Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 9 hours ago, sne said: So many fantastic little details and pokes at Plop and City David Squires is my favorite thing right now. "The FA Cup - Giving Joe Hart Something To Do" https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2020/jan/28/david-squires-on-football-fixture-wars-fa-cup-carabao-liverpool-manchester-city Grab his books if you haven't already. Had me in stitches. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Just now, Hornso said: Grab his books if you haven't already. Had me in stitches. Just might do that. Loving his stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted January 29, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 29, 2020 Absolute weapons He has kids FFS. Quote The Cheshire home of Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been attacked by a group chanting that he was "going to die". A video posted on social media showed an individual throwing a red flare over a large gate, while others sang songs aimed at the 48-year-old. Woodward, who is married with two young children, was not present at the time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 A rare the game's not gone moment where it appears that David Beckham's MLS side might not be allowed to be named Inter Miami. Maybe he can try with Juventus Miami next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NurembergVillan Posted February 12, 2020 Author Moderator Popular Post Share Posted February 12, 2020 Full, unequivocal proof that the game has gone and just by how much too. This is an incredible read... Quote SPECIAL REPORT How modern football became broken beyond repair The game is going through an unprecedented period of financial and competitive imbalance. Miguel Delaney investigates how we got here and – crucially – whether the dominance of the mega-rich is here to stay @MiguelDelaney “We don’t want too many Leicester Citys.” These were the words spoken by a senior figure from the Premier League’s ‘big six’ clubs, in the kind of high-end London hotel you can easily imagine. “Football history suggests fans like big teams winning,” the official continued, to the group of business people and media figures present. “A certain amount of unpredictability is good, but a more democratic league would be bad for business.” Exactly whose business would it be bad for? And why is football even viewed that way? The answers are among the biggest problems for the game right now. That big-six representative need not have worried. The entire sport has been increasingly conditioned so that Leicester City situations – where a club from outside the financial super elite actually wins a major title – are close to impossible. This is why the odds in 2015-16 were so long and that story was so exceptional. Let no one tell you, as former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon insisted to The Independent, that “football has always been like this”. Ranking net transfer spending in world football Show all 20 He’s wrong. It hasn’t. Every metric indicates that it is at a far worse level than ever before. It is getting worse and threatening to become irretrievable. As this investigation will reveal, football’s embrace of unregulated hyper-capitalism has created a growing financial disparity that is now destroying the inherent unpredictability of the sport. This is not just the big clubs often winning, as has been the case since time immemorial. It is that a small group of super-wealthy clubs are now so financially insulated that they are winning more games than ever before, by more goals than ever before, to break more records than ever before. They are stretching the game in a way that has caused the entire sport to transform and shift. That is a consequence of the explosion of money in the game, which means you need a minimum amount of annual revenue (€400m in 2020, going by Deloitte’s figures) to even begin competing. On the other side, when clubs like Liverpool or Manchester City maximise that revenue through admirable intelligence, the disparity then has an amplifying effect. The gap gets even greater on the pitch. This is why we are seeing so many historic records now being broken season after season. The last decade alone, which represents the true rise of the super-clubs alongside the huge rise in money, has seen: a second Spanish treble a first German treble a first Italian treble a first English domestic treble three French domestic trebles in four years a first Champions League three-in-a-row in 42 years the first ever 100-point season in Spain, Italy and England ‘Invincible’ seasons in Italy, Portugal, Scotland and seven other European leagues 13 of Europe’s 54 leagues currently seeing their longest run of titles by a single club or longest period of domination. Many of these feats appeared to be impossible for decades. They have now all taken place around the same time in the last decade, with the prospect of more to come. Needless to say, they have all been achieved by the wealthiest clubs in those competitions. The concentration of money has brought a concentration of quality and thereby success. https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/champions-league-superclubs-liverpool-man-utd-barcelona-real-madrid-a9330431.html Click the link to get the rest of what is essential reading. 6 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuwabatake Sanjuro Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 That is a brilliant piece from Miguel Delaney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 12, 2020 Share Posted February 12, 2020 Quote “We don’t want too many Leicester Citys.” These were the words spoken by a senior figure from the Premier League’s ‘big six’ clubs, in the kind of high-end London hotel you can easily imagine. Be a bit rich if this was Daniel Levy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 Maybe not the right thread but Burnley spent 15 million on Ben Gibson 18 months ago. Has played less than 10 games and is now training somewhere else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 14 minutes ago, Zatman said: Maybe not the right thread but Burnley spent 15 million on Ben Gibson 18 months ago. Has played less than 10 games and is now training somewhere else Easy to think it's only us that does those type of signings but every club and every manager has their fair share of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 14, 2020 Share Posted February 14, 2020 4 minutes ago, sne said: Easy to think it's only us that does those type of signings but every club and every manager has their fair share of them. Incredibly we got more value for money from McCormack and Tsihbola 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted February 20, 2020 Share Posted February 20, 2020 Not really sure where to put this but... Scottish League Cup Semi final. Cally Thistle player, already on a yellow (I think) gets fouled blatantly but the ref gives a dive and books him. This means the player will miss the final. Cally Thistle appeal asking for the video evidence to be reviewed, which clearly show contact, and enough contact to knock the guy flying. Scottish FA refuse. The whole saga is pathetic. Officiating in the UK is at a real low. Quote Following the decision by the 3 man Fast Track Tribunal Panel to dismiss the club appeal against the yellow card awarded to James Keatings by referee Greg Aitken during Sunday’s Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Cup Semi-Final, the club has no option but to speak out publicly on behalf of our player and on behalf of the growing number of Scottish football clubs who believe that the SFA disciplinary process is not fit for purpose. In relation to the inexplicable decision to dismiss our appeal this morning, one which will see James miss the Cup Final, we would like to communicate with our support and to the many people who have contacted James and the club since Sunday. Our appeal was submitted on Monday morning with our payment for the right to appeal and video evidence of 3 different angles of the incident, with the most enlightening angle shown at full speed and also in slow motion. The referee also submitted his reply to the appeal and within that, he states that from his angle, he believed there had been no contact made by the defender on James and this led him to believe that James had thrown himself to the ground in an attempt to deceive him, therefore he deemed it to be an act of simulation, hence the decision. We do not want to question anyone’s integrity in this statement and therefore if we set what we do or do not believe aside, it could certainly be argued that this position is plausible. The video evidence however removes all doubt from the situation and it was this evidence with which we confidently based our case on. As far as we were concerned, once the 3 man panel viewed the video evidence, coupled with the fact that the referee himself was stating that he only made the decision based on his personal view, albeit that he was only a few yards away and not the vastly superior and different video angles, justice and sporting integrity would surely prevail. James Keatings has never been booked for simulation in his entire career and Sunday’s red card was also the first in his career. The player himself was devastated by the decision on Sunday and has been contacted by many players, ex-players, the PFA and multiple journalists and friends, all of whom believed that justice would be done by the panel. This scenario represented the exact situation that these protocols were set up to address. When the club was given the news this morning that the appeal had not only be dismissed but that James had in fact been adjudged to have committed simulation, we were both incredulous and furious in equal measure. We would once again re-iterate that we do not want to call into question anyone’s integrity with this statement but we must call into question the actual football knowledge of those sitting in judgement on all Scottish football players under this current system. If the individuals involved in this morning’s Tribunal can watch the footage we supplied, footage which the whole of Scottish football has now seen and call this simulation, then there can be no other conclusion other than they do not understand football or the rules of the game. As harsh as this sounds, there can be no other conclusion. Fans and officials of all clubs are mystified by this decision. This decision has cost our player the chance to play in a national Cup Final, not something that comes along every week, to the detriment of the player, his team mates, the club and our fans. We believe it also damages the credibility of our governing body and brings the game into disrepute. The decision is plainly wrong and the dogs in the street know this. We have no right to appeal this final decision and it is painful to accept. As a club we have been contacted by Chairmen, Chief Executives, Directors and fans of other clubs today in a completely unique show of support and solidarity with James Keatings and ICTFC. As appreciated as this has been undoubtedly been, it does not change the fact that there is clearly something wrong with the system, if it is not addressed, we are all responsible for the continuing denigration of our standards, our supporters view of the national game and sporting integrity in Scottish football. https://ictfc.com/club-statement-9 Here it is: 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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