oldtype

Wonder if Wenger decides to retire after this

Arsenal more than deserved that

This cup final is brilliant

I'd be up for Gateshead. I get them to the prem every year on football manager so I feel like I have a connection Feel free to support my local club if you'd like to be a reverse-glory hunter. Lovely crest as well. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fa/Emblem_of_FC_Seoul.svg/200px-Emblem_of_FC_Seoul.svg.png

He can't have the Sports Direct signs on for the CL. I sincerely believe that's the reason he'd want no part of it

You know, sending out the reserves for the cup games wouldn't be too bad if we had actually bothered developing youth properly and had young players that weren't terrible.

His knees have given out. Was told by a doctor that he'd have three years to play at most during his last year at Man United.

"Enjoy it, Reds" South Korea appear to have already given up. Love the double exclamation point on England's, too. I think the idea is that we put these guys under ridiculous and healthy pressure every four years, so let's not do it this time.

You must also rate Jonas very highly too. Jonas was a poor man's Park at his peak, and I rate peak Jonas pretty highly. They are both good pros with a high degree of work rates but as footballers they are very much meh for the levels theyve played at for me. If Park was a meh player Alex Ferguson would not have kept him around for seven seasons. Obviously he's not Ronaldo or Rooney, but he was a very, very good player who's underrated because he always did what the manager asked and never agitated to get more minutes or more of the ball. He was a completely different player for the national team. Every single attacking move went through him. The one thing I dislike about him was that he was content to be a squad player at Man United instead of a star for a smaller club.

You must also rate Jonas very highly too. Jonas was a poor man's Park at his peak, and I rate peak Jonas pretty highly.

Jisung Park announces his retirement from football. He burst onto the scene right around when I started watching football and now I've seen out his entire career. Feels surreal that he's not playing anymore.

Had on. These c***s get bonus' because they were too s*** for is to sell? Yip - loyalty and that I wish I could be rewarded for being so s*** it my job no other company was willing to part with cash for me to work for them... You do, it's called severance pay. At the end of my current contract I'd be lucky to get a pat on the back if I was s*** at my job . Lucky I'm the sales equivalent of Lionel Messi really. The point being, it's not uncommon for people to be rewarded for not moving jobs. Loyalty bonuses for footballers have mostly replaced signing on fees anyway. It's not meant as a reward for playing well. Nah I get the point. It just stinks. I mean, yeah, I'm not a fan either Ashley will probably take it out of our transfer budget too

Had on. These c***s get bonus' because they were too s*** for is to sell? Yip - loyalty and that I wish I could be rewarded for being so s*** it my job no other company was willing to part with cash for me to work for them... You do, it's called severance pay. At the end of my current contract I'd be lucky to get a pat on the back if I was shit at my job . Lucky I'm the sales equivalent of Lionel Messi really. The point being, it's not uncommon for people to be rewarded for not moving jobs. Loyalty bonuses for footballers have mostly replaced signing on fees anyway. It's not meant as a reward for playing well.

Had on. These c***s get bonus' because they were too s*** for is to sell? Yip - loyalty and that I wish I could be rewarded for being so shit it my job no other company was willing to part with cash for me to work for them... You do, it's called severance pay.

Korea released their squad last week but I barely know most of these players so I don't expect anyone else to

I suppose he's better than nothing if we manage to sign nobody as expected.

Just saw a super-awkward beef jerkey commercial with Clint Dempsey and Stephen A. Smith. That was a life changing experience.

I sincerely don't understand the logic of giving him so much playing time when we were going to ditch him at the end of season anyway.

Haven't you played that game before?

I don't even know what would be more tragic. Not signing anyone or spending loads of money on decent players and watching them turn into utter crap. Marginally less likely to get relegated in the latter case I suppose.

Exactly how stupid do they think people are?

I'll try to spot Greg in the crowd while I'm watching

Of course we should try what else is there to do. I just don't find it appealing that all we have to look forward to is a small chance at the cups.

I think there's an error in conflating the exception with the norm. Atletico winning this year doesn't vindicate the fact that La Liga has been a two-club shop every year since Valencia torpedoed themselves. Obviously there's no such thing as a statistical impossibility, and there are all kinds of cups in every country so even smaller teams will win sometimes (that's probably why cups still exist), but I just happen to think that the disparity in prospects for success between a small subset of clubs and other clubs is too large. Of course you could think that while the disparity exists, it's still within reason. that's a subjective judgment call and entirely up to you. Haven't really followed this whole conversation, but two questions, firstly haven't football always been like this even without the mass influx of money into leagues? And secondly what do you suggest is the best way to go, what system would you have implemented? As to your first question, I think from a fan's perspective there's three key differences 1. The monopoly is stronger because it's reinforced by Champions League money. 2. The monopoly is more grating because it now includes teams who are not there for historical reasons but through money 3. As a result of 2, the monopoly is now harder to break into because 4~5 teams need to slip up ahead of you as opposed to just 2~3 I think the combination of these effects is apparent if you look to the list of league winners. Up to the early 90s, you see the same two names with a third name thrown in occasionally, but there was a lot of variation in the identity of the third name. In more recent years, it's essentially always been one of four teams (Three if you exclude those early wins by Arsenal.) As for solutions, I haven't the foggiest clue. The possibility for regulation is limited in that places like the Russian/Chinese/Qatari leagues are ready to step in and exploit any market inefficiencies. One thing that seem at least somewhat possible would be to force CL clubs to share part of their TV revenue with every other domestic professional club in their country. The share each club gets wouldn't be much, but it at least mitigates the distorting effect caused by the CL and allow CL qualification from small countries to create a trickle-down effect that strengthens the league as a whole. Alternatively, if the dreaded European Superleague ever becomes a reality, that might provide an impetus for the remaining domestic clubs to get together and reform the league in a more regulated model with salary caps and the like. That's all a bit pie in the sky though.

It's literally less complex than what I draw up on FM