leffe186

I can understand it, but actually, can we please break Wilshere with extra games?

I'm a little surprised at how much stick Pardew already seems to be getting for (possibly) not playing Ben Arfa. A long journey, a game on AstroTurf in -14C, then a long journey back? Sounds like the perfect first game after a hamstring injury.

The Crew have the Hudson St Hooligans who basically have a corner of the ground to congregate, get drunk, and sing in. It really is fun, in a considerably-safer-than-any-football-ground-ever kind of way. Frankie Hejduk, as the captain, used to go over to that end at the end of the match, somebody in the crowd would hand him a pint, and he'd down it. It was ace. I really hope they can keep that stuff going, because it's that that will keep/get people interested. There doesn't seem to be quite the same tradition of just singing all game as a group in other US sports.

That was the year we lost to Coventry - '87. Wasn't that one of the games you talk about the crush at - your potential Hillsborough? Every club has their stories from those days, man, it seemed rough at the time but completely insane looking back. QPR was one of ours I remember. Had to look up the league results tbh, I completely blanked on ours. Yeah, 1-1. I remember the year before rather better, not surprisingly . God, we played a lot of games that year, felt like we played Arsenal every week at one point.

Berbs for me, like. Would love to still have him tbh. Berba, VDV and Modric in the same team last year would have been lush to watch, even without the bonuses of Bale and Lennon. Might even have usurped Hoddle, Waddle, Ardiles, Hazard and Chiedozie as the most stylish Spurs team in my lifetime. The 86-87 Tottenham side is by far and away the best and most stylish I've seen. Pleat was a very under rated manager, his foresight , I believe he was the first,to play 4-5-1 produced some great football to watch. Hoddle, Waddle and Clive Allen in full flow were nigh on impossible to stop. I've said it many times - that year Allen scored 49, Lineker would have scored 80. We made so many chances. The biggest frustration was Richard Gough not settling, as he is still one of the top three centre-backs I can remember seeing. Anyway, I need to sign off. Just read through RAWK's match thread for our game yesterday, and I feel a little queasy.

Berbs for me, like. Would love to still have him tbh. Berba, VDV and Modric in the same team last year would have been lush to watch, even without the bonuses of Bale and Lennon. Might even have usurped Hoddle, Waddle, Ardiles, Hazard and Chiedozie as the most stylish Spurs team in my lifetime.

There are some "commercial" deals to kick in that are mentioned in the article, plus their wage bill, while still high, should have come down markedly. I mean, the longer they stay out of the CL the better, but I don't see them having any trouble getting the money down. As the Swiss Ramble article from last year (http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2012/05/liverpool-keep-car-running.html) suggests, their commercial income is massive. Seventh in Europe a couple of years ago, even without the new deals. He looks at the shirt sponsorship and kit manufacturer deals, and ranks them joint second in the world, level with Man U and behind only Barcelona. Ultimately, their financial position is being maintained by bullshit. Although they have not been great for a few years, and the Suarez stuff in particular looked embarrassing, they have managed to keep that brand ticking over. Rodgers is a very apt choice of manager.

A new one? There are so many possible pet hates in that picture .

Was thinking that myself. When was he last on/posting? I'm here. I've had lots of other non-football related stuff going on, but think I have emerged from it relatively unscathed. Hope so, good to hear from you. I'd suggest taking solace from the non-football stuff in football, but as with my Villa wife, that's not currently an option.

Was thinking that myself. When was he last on/posting?

It's a fair cop, I do this a lot . I try to avoid it on here though - it's really for Spurs-Spurs conversation only. Sort of like "Stevie G" or "Giggsy", should never, ever be uttered on someone else's board/by a commentator.

^^^^^^^^^^ Who's that negative fucking bastard, anyway? Football's great, isn't it?

Hmmm.

It's a change for us (Spurs and Newcastle Utd), because we're two teams that genuinely have a chance of being there or thereabouts if (a) FFP means a bit more than nothing (b) we actually succeed in building this stadium without bankrupting ourselves. As such, we have been insulated a bit from the way the game has been moving over the last few years. I get that fans of clubs like Leeds, Nottingham Forest, West Brom, even Aston Villa, have had to deal with the realities of being financially outgunned for years, not to mention nearly every single lower division and non-league club. I get that, and I respect their support of their clubs more than ever - I mean, it boils it down to supporting your city/town/suburb - after all, what else is left? I just think that to get so close, and to have it snatched away yet again, in such a way that is completely divorced from my ideals about football - that might be too much. And then I would have to deal with Arsenal fans - who are, in theory, just like me, and maybe even grew up in the same place (one or two of them, anyway) - trying to rub it in my face. What would be the point, both of them doing that and me taking it? Well done, you picked a team that has essentially infinite money, and your group of players each paid twice the amount my guys are paid did better. Fucking well done. Like I say, I feel a bit of a fraud because we've really ended up on the right side of the fence (barely). What right have I to walk away, when hundreds of thousands (millions?) of others didn't do so, under similar conditions? What kind of a football supporter am I? We've always had these arbitrary distinctions - certainly in London, where I went to school with lots of Gooners and Spurs fans, many plastic scousers, one or two Chelsea, West Ham and Orient fans and a renegade Man U fan (I'm looking at you, Tasos Anastasiou). There's always been this layer of self-delusion, where most of us supported their local team/family team through a sense of community, yet many others chose teams because of what? Their own personal inadequacy? Rejection of their community, or sociological norms? Pretty colours? Brummie made similar posts before - quite a few as I recall - and I knew my time might come. You know full well that he will be a Villa fan forever, and probably always go to a few games, maybe even take the children. It won't be the same. I feel somewhat childish in thinking that an Arsenal lottery win would be the final straw. I mean, I sucked up Chelsea and Man City, plus several years of missing the Premier League boat. Why am I allowed to throw my toys out of the pram now? I hope we go out there today and fucking destroy them, like I do every time. I expect to lose, like I do every time. We're even supposed to be favourites, although I think both teams are pretty even. I can take the piss out of Gooner mates or they can take the piss out of me, that's absolutely fine. I love football, and always will, even though my hamstrings are shot and I haven't been to a game all season for the first time since I was a child (the joys of living in the US). I just think that Arsenal getting financial doping will be the end. I get enough sporting support agony now, here in Cleveland, to keep me occupied.

The idea that you just stop for a month and a half then carry on is bullshit though. The last World Cup went on for about a month (a day over). The group stages took two weeks. Then you add in the prep time beforehand - let's say two weeks. Then you consider that you should probably have a break before that, because you'll have just played half a season. Let's say two weeks. Then you add in a break afterwards. Again, let's say two weeks. It's for argument's sake of course, but that's eight weeks even if you get knocked out immediately. The players involved will be f***ed - not to mention, many will be injured. Then what happens in July, when you have teams full of players who are absolutely shattered, who then have to go straight into pre-season training for the next season without a break? I mean, there will be ways to make it work, of course, but these are crazy lengths to go to.

So Merse was the closest, after all that.

The bribery scandal had essentially come out the moment they won. It's sort of hilarious, really. What a mess. Honestly, I'd love it if we just said no, and pulled out. Or sent our women's team. Of course, us pulling out wouldn't help you lot much

Fantastic result for the Crew. Even scored three goals, which is not usually in the plan. It was a surprising game in all, some great football, terrific goals, and good refereeing. Weird. Of course, we now have Higuain and Viana in the side (Federico and Agustin).

http://news.sky.com/story/1059397/world-cup-2022-could-be-moved-to-winter-fifa Da-daaa!

There's also no doubt that we all said this when it was first proposed, then we had all that guff about clouds cooling the stadia etc. Anyway, I'm off to resuscitate that thread...

It's bloody hard - I actually did it once. For one thing, it's actually a bloody long way to kick a ball in open play, you ideally need a bit of a run-up and you get closed down quickly. I think the ones that are scored usually involve a long pass for a breaking player to run on to, like the Atleti one, and the keeper still nearly caught the other guy. I did it on astro, which was much easier as the ball keeps going

Not read the article too closely, but I don't see it as completely unreasonable at all. Who else could they buy that would require less investment? That just seems like a weird thing to say. Their ground is one of the biggest and best in the world, the location is fantastic, the team have qualified for every CL for years. In fact, the more I think about it, the more bizarre your post sounds. I have to say, though, that if this happened I would be very, very tempted to just walk away. What's the point?

So glad that he's covered by an SEP field now.

Anyway, what do you think of that Alan Shitjew?

No. Put simply, we have the sixth biggest wage bill (IIRC). Therefore sixth is theoretically our level. Less than fourth would be a disappointment, of course, same as for any of the top clubs. Including Liverpool, amusingly. You can't say that it would necessarily be underachievement though, because there are so many variables. What if we get yet another critical injury (say, Lloris)? What if we have a player sent off again on Sunday? What if Arsenal go on a fantastic run? All I realistically asked of AVB was a solid season, signs of a plan both on and off the field, and a top six finish. In the medium term I want a challenge for the CL places every year, integration of the youth into the squad and the ability to challenge in the Europa if we don't qualify for the CL. He's managed that in his first season, when he was still arguably an unknown quantity in this league, and everything could have gone tits up. That's good enough for me. I'll judge him after at least one more season. Harry did a fantastic job, and I'm forever grateful, but I'm still glad he's not our manager now. I think a large number of Spirs fans share those sentiments, and a surprising number of other fans (and other Spurs fans too) seem to struggle to get their head round it.