Paullow

CSKA Sofia have a 100th minute pen awarded by VAR in their match against CSKA 1948. Currently 1-1. It will keep the title race in their hands if they score it. It was the last kick of the game but they put it wide, wow. Looking like a 12th title in a row for Ludogorets. Back in their hands.

Match held up in the CSKA vs CSKA match due to some crazy flares and smoke going off in the stands.

Ha, similar to an extent. I was meaning to ask, what time did you leave Wembley last week? I assume you would have missed the 83rd minute equaliser with there being a load of stoppage time in the first half which would have probably affected your timings heading to Stamford Bridge?

Ha, I'm enjoying following these leagues, and will very much be all over the qualifiers next month, but with us being in pot 4, there's pretty much no chance we play any of the real minnows, unless we both somehow end up 3rd in our respective groups and met in the Europa L32 / L16. There doesn't seem too much more to be decided now. Bulgarian title to be decided - Ludogorets have won 11 titles in a row, but that run might come to an end this season. They are 1 point behind the fairly newly formed / named 'CSKA Sofia' with 2 games to go. They don't play each other, but Sofia play the also newly formed CSKA (Sofia) 1948 today at 4pm, and then old traditional rivals Levski Sofia away on Wednesday. Belgian Pro League also not concluded yet and a 3 way title to be decided tomorrow. Antwerp on 46 points, Union SG also on 46 (they need to better Antwerp's points tally), and Genk on 45 - final day fixtures - Union SG vs 4th place Club Brugge (who are well out of contention on 33 points), and Genk vs Antwerp. Antwerp have it in their hands, but could quite easily finish 3rd and miss out altogether on CL - the league gets 2 CL qual spots, one in the 'Champions Route' and one in the 'League Route'. Shakhtar won yet another Ukrainian title and will be in the CL group stages, but there's still the 2nd place 'League Route' qual spot to be determined on the final day. Dynamo Kyiv are not in contention, so we definitely won't be playing them for a 5th time in the CL group stages, and it's down to either Dnipro-1, a reincarnation of the old FC Dnipro side who used to often be in Europe back in the day, or Zorya Luhansk. They are level on points but Dnipro have the better H2H, so Zorya will have to better their result tomorrow. I think they are the only things that need to be decided - one Bulgarian champion who will go into the first qual round, the Belgium champs who will go into the final play off round, the Belgium runners up who will enter the 2nd qual round, and the Ukrainian runners up who will also enter the 2nd qual round. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023–24_UEFA_Champions_League

But in all seriousness, I was going to ask the same Q as the Frogster. I'd prefer Man U not to win their double, or Man C not to win the treble - had the CL been first and Inter somehow won then I'd have wanted Man C to win the FA Cup, but as that's not the case, I'd probably prefer Man U to win, but I mainly just want a good game. I hope Man U score first. If Man C go 2-0 up early then it's game over, but if Man U went 2-0 up early, then it's still probably near enough 50/50, ha.

Frankfurt, CSKA 1948, and Antwerp.

He's 34 later this year. If he's interested in playing for another couple of years, and wants to return to the region, then if he's willing to take a significant pay cut, he could do worse than Carlisle. Get a house in Matfen or Corbridge or somewhere, possibly start his coaching badges etc. He probably could still do a job at a lower Championship club, but Sunderland and Boro will be beyond him now. He did spend 2 years at Ipswich and they are newly promoted, but I think their ambitions will also be above wor Jackie's level.

FC Urartu win 1-0 with a goal in the 93rd minute to take the title and avoid final day drama, and secure their place in the CL early rounds. 8 yellow cards in the second half, most of them late on

Still 0-0 in the big Yerevan derby that could decide the Armenian Premier League title. 15 to go.

I love managing in really small leagues on FM, much prefer that than any of the big 5 Euro leagues, although unfortunately, bar the likes of Ireland, N Ireland and Wales, Iceland too I guess, you can't manage in the proper minnow leagues. It's also great having more reason to actually follow what's going on in these lesser leagues. I was aware of the CSKA Sofia and Steaua Bucharest situations and new clubs now kicking about, but it's mad looking at the Bulgarian table and seeing who is 2nd and 3rd in the league: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_First_Professional_Football_League_(Bulgaria)#League_table Incidentally it's CSKA Sofia vs, er CSKA Sofia tomorrow

Yeah, was suspicious from the start. Just little things like no full stop after the second paragraph and 'Official Asian Betting Partner' didn't look right either. Edit - ah, just re-read that it actually was on the official site. Probably been hacked, or an intern up to no good

Where's this from? Are you sure it's not another Big Frank / Percy parody type?

Not too much of note, but some discussion from OB fans on their main forum https://forum.ob.dk/forum/club-ob-s-debatforum/odense-boldklub/315774-transfervinduet-sommeren-2023/page43#post319297

I've just realised that Viaplay Xtra is basically the old 'Freesports', so Leipzig vs Frankfurt German cup final on Saturday at 7pm will be widely available to most. Never knew that - Xtra is also showing Osasuna vs Girona on Sunday at 5.30pm and Betis vs Valencia at 8pm. The former could decide the final European place (Europa Conference) with Osasuna in poll position, and Valencia are obviously involved in that relegation madness, although unlikely to go down, so there is probably not as much need to buy a subscription, as I was mainly wanting to see the German cup final. I wonder what else I have missed on that channel these past few months when oblivious?

Tempted to sign up for a month. https://www.live-footballontv.com/live-football-on-viaplay-sports.html Not many matches on TV in June, and the very few that are seem to be on there - German cup final on Saturday evening, so a chance to see Szoboszlai (in possibly his final RBL match), La Liga final day on Sunday, a few other random playoffs, Nations League semi finals and finals, Euro 2024 qualifiers - by no means not must have, but probably just about worth the price when there's very little else on. I see you can get a year for £60, but can't really justify that, and if I did sign up and cancel they'd probably offer me deals anyway - can you watch it on multiple Sky boxes, can you just have it for a month, and would you need to cancel pretty much the same day like other services to give them a months notice?

Does anyone on here subscribe to Viaplay sports (or have previously had it)?

Yep, looking like a 6th successive season in the 2nd tier for them. Crazy. They surely need to score tonight.

Return leg at Hamburg on Sky on Monday with same KO time.

Possibly the English equivalent of Newcastle vs Aston Villa?

Two. Return leg Monday, although coverage has just confirmed that.

Stuttgart vs Hamburg coverage just started on Sky Sports Mix.

Looking like it could be Ange Postecoglu for Spurs.

I'm quite looking forward to the Stuttgart vs Hamburg relegation / promotion first leg on Sky tomorrow (or even today) at 7.45pm. It was discussed a few pages back about their plight, but if you look at Stuttgart's history from 1992/93 onwards, then it's pretty similar to us: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VfB_Stuttgart_seasons They did win the league in that time, instead of us blowing that big lead, and they did win the German Cup, as opposed to us just making a couple of FA Cup finals, but their league history was fairly similar, 3 CL campaigns and a number of UEFA / Europa campaigns and being in some sort of European competition most seasons, but a grim last 10 years or so, including 2 relegations and then bouncing back at the first attempt (like us), and a number of other seasons just hanging about the bottom half barely doing anything, or just surviving - there definitely are a lot of similarities with us prior to our takeover. And then there's European Cup winning Hamburg, who have now had 5 successive seasons in the second tier, and facing the prospect of a 6th. These are the premier clubs in Germany's second (2m popn) and sixth (600k+) largest cities, yet they've both had a really poor time of things of late - Hamburg haven't been in Europe since 2009/10, and the longer they stay down, the lower their stock will continue to fall. The fact that they are such prominent cities and were pretty good in recent memory does IMO make the tie a lot more intriguing to the neutral than say Bochum / Augsburg vs Darmstadt / Heidenheim. I can't find any tie odds, but the match odds tomorrow are around Stuttgart 4/6, Hamburg 4/1, so I suspect the former will be favourites to stay up this season.

Aye, that does make sense especially as it is actually the 'tickets' section, although it would have nice if they could have specified the actual Newcastle KO time to avoid idiots like me being confused