Still not worthy of a thread

[LFEE]

 

[Stifler]

Just now, LFEE said:

 

Uh oh, Italian football can’t afford another scandal.

[GeordieDazzler]

It's also just treating the elite players like battery hens. They will play full league seasons a world cup every 2 years with a Euros/Acon/Copa in the intervening one. There's a limit on how much the can and should play. 

 

Always thought Alexi Sanchez's drop off in his form was because he played like 3/4 seasons without a break. He's only just recovered from that. This would be like that but for like every single top level player. I know footballers are well paid but this is essentially exploitation of your labour force to make a bit extra dollar for the suits at the top.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by GeordieDazzler

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

2 hours ago, Foluwashola said:

Unaware of any football fan asking for this. As always the focus is on ways to make more money as opposed to genuinely improving the sport. Horrific. 

 

Youd like to think with the amount of players, managers and staff generally complaining about the amount of games they're forced to play that they'd combine their voices and speak up about it a bit more. Like you said as well no fans here are asking for this. So it'd surely be easy enough to combine player and club voices with fan voices. 

 

The only people asking for it are the people around the globe who dont interact with football as much as we do. Without the national games really I'd imagine. That's the market for it. More eyes to see ads on TV. 

[midds]

When are they supposed to actually qualify for these tournaments? Or will they just allow the top 20 selected nations automatic entry and have the minnows do the qualifying to make up the numbers? 

 

It's a shit idea and driven purely by greed, hope the players themselves object and refuse to play

[Wolfcastle]

5 hours ago, LFEE said:

Last thing this sport needs is more games. I would like it to be more creative like invite the Scottish league into the league cup and rebrand. Revert the ECL to champions only and winners of the domestic cup. Have 2-6 in a 2 Leg Europa KO Cup also. Scrap all International friendlies and League Of Nations. Then devise a tournament so I can watch NUFC away to Boca Juniors ?

 

For the league cup I'd like to see teams that are in Europe not play in it. Think that would suit everybody because they don't want to and everybody else would fancy their chances then. Not feeling like there's any chance of winning it until the CL teams are out takes the edge off it for me.

 

Internationally let the smaller nations play each and have the winners qualify to be cannon-fodder in the qualifiers instead of having multiple joke matches in every group that cost leagues blank weeks. Currently watching a compilation of Euro96 qualifiers and its just so much better than now.

 

Basically the way it was, was perfectly fine and the reason why football became so big and popular.

 

But you know the only thing that will get cut is the leagues.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Wolfcastle

[Hanshithispantz]

5 hours ago, LFEE said:

Last thing this sport needs is more games. I would like it to be more creative like invite the Scottish league into the league cup and rebrand. Revert the ECL to champions only and winners of the domestic cup. Have 2-6 in a 2 Leg Europa KO Cup also. Scrap all International friendlies and League Of Nations. Then devise a tournament so I can watch NUFC away to Boca Juniors ?

A British/Irish cup would actually be canny like. The League Cup has always felt a bit pointless.

[Raconteur]

2 hours ago, GeordieDazzler said:

It's also just treating the elite players like battery hens. They will play full league seasons a world cup every 2 years with a Euros/Acon/Copa in the intervening one. There's a limit on how much the can and should play. 

 

Always thought Alexi Sanchez's drop off in his form was because he played like 3/4 seasons without a break. He's only just recovered from that. This would be like that but for like every single top level player. I know footballers are well paid but this is essentially exploitation of your labour force to make a bit extra dollar for the suits at the top.

 

 

 

 

This is the crux for me - it means, at worst, international football three out of every four norther summers. Continental Championships become sideshows jammed into the calendar. Players who have played for three years straight are not going to be great at that last World Cup, diminishing the quality and defeating the purpose.

[Raconteur]

39 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

A British/Irish cup would actually be canny like. The League Cup has always felt a bit pointless.

 

This would have tremendous novelty value, but I wonder if smaller Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish clubs could afford it?

 

You'd think UEFA would be on board with England giving up one of its UEFA cup slots to a UK League Cup

[Pata]

1 hour ago, Wolfcastle said:

Internationally let the smaller nations play each and have the winners qualify to be cannon-fodder in the qualifiers instead of having multiple joke matches in every group that cost leagues blank weeks. Currently watching a compilation of Euro96 qualifiers and its just so much better than now.

 

It was the same as the current system, no? League of Nations replaced the pointless friendlies and is class, UEFA did great with that.

[Hanshithispantz]

9 hours ago, Raconteur said:

 

This would have tremendous novelty value, but I wonder if smaller Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish clubs could afford it?

 

You'd think UEFA would be on board with England giving up one of its UEFA cup slots to a UK League Cup

Aye there are probably a lot of issue I haven't thought of tbf 

[Yorkie]

I'd absolutely love to see the wider British region competing together in some meaningful way. Have said this before but I think it's quite incredible that you've got this economic beast at the very peak of the global league system, and then two immediately next door who might as well be in South East Asia. Feels like a waste of good geography on the behalfs of Scotland and Wales. I find it a bit of a shame that the success of the PL and FL isn't shared with the neighbours for what could be the betterment of everyone. 

 

I do remember somebody countering me on this last time I brought it up - with some very fair arguments - but I've forgotten them.

[number37]

It was always a bone of contention before the World Cup was expanded in the 90s (I think) that the whole of Africa would be allocated maybe 1 or 2 places but the UK alone was and still is allowed to enter 4 teams that could all qualify. No wonder we're sometimes accused of arrogance but it's a legacy of when we joined FIFA, they were so keen for legitimacy by having British involvement that they gave into our demand of four entries or no entries. Germany at the time weren't keen as they gave examples of having Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, etc as members but such cold logic was discarded. 

 

Anyway, anyway, that's done now. 

 

Having a British Cup would be great, personally. We could remove the UEFA problem by just not awarding a European spot to the winner and instead offer vast sums of cold, hard cash throughout - we've got a lot of that, somewhere, apparently. 

 

To help the less well off sides, we could regionalise things first so we'd still maintain the respective League Cups in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland but for the round before the quarter final of each, the winners instead progress into an open draw for the British Cup and continue on that path whereas the losers (non-winners) simply continue on the path of their respective domestic League Cup. Very similar in principle to how bowl/plate competitions work in rugby, if you're familiar with that kind of thing. There'll be no drop downs like in UEFA competitions, so if you get knocked out of the British Cup semi then you don't go back into the Scottish League Cup, for example. Once you're out, you're out. British Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, broadcast live for free on terrestrial television with Ally McCoist commentating.

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

They need some kind of European super league or something. 

[Hanshithispantz]

Where do we stand on the FA Cup winners being given a Champions League spot, then?

[Foluwashola]

All for it, anything to improve the appeal of the FA Cup. Also provides a small chance of Wigan in the Nou Camp. 

[Sima]

16 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

Where do we stand on the FA Cup winners being given a Champions League spot, then?

Approve.

[Kid Icarus]

In the cases of Wigan and Portsmouth it would be a bit like San Marino being in the WCQs, but if it brings money into those clubs while doing it, I'm all for it - particularly as there's been nothing put in place to replace the Cup Winners Cup. 

[Deuce]

40 minutes ago, Hanshithispantz said:

Where do we stand on the FA Cup winners being given a Champions League spot, then?

 League winners + domestic cup winners. A true “Champions” League.

[Ketsbaia]

I'd be up for it because I already don't give a shit about us in the cup and always see it as a write-off. Overnight, it becomes relevant.

[54]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-59754899

Quote

 

Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has been charged with a further count of rape.

The French international, of Prestbury in Cheshire, is now accused of seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to five women.

The 27-year-old was charged last week with the latest offence but it was subject to reporting restrictions.

These restrictions were lifted earlier as Mr Mendy appeared at Chester Crown Court for a hearing ahead of his trial.

The latest charge relates to a new complainant and is alleged to have taken place in July this year.

The earlier charges are alleged to have happened between October 2020 and August 2021.

The footballer, who has been in custody since his arrest in August, appeared alongside his co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie, 40, of Eccles in Greater Manchester.

He is accused of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.

Both men were remanded into custody at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool after the 40-minute hearing.

Their trial, which was scheduled for January, was also put back to later in the year.

Mr Mendy has played for last season's Premier League champions Manchester City since 2017, when he joined from Monaco for a reported £52m.

 

 

[Raconteur]

4 minutes ago, 54 said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-59754899

 

I’m no legal boffin, but how the hell do they get a jury together for that trial?

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

20 hours ago, Super Duper Branko Strupar said:

 

Youd like to think with the amount of players, managers and staff generally complaining about the amount of games they're forced to play that they'd combine their voices and speak up about it a bit more. Like you said as well no fans here are asking for this. So it'd surely be easy enough to combine player and club voices with fan voices. 

 

The only people asking for it are the people around the globe who dont interact with football as much as we do. Without the national games really I'd imagine. That's the market for it. More eyes to see ads on TV. 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/59750312

 

More and more needs to be made of this subject imo. Its just getting fucking silly and I dont see them slowing down. 

[gazza ladra]

9 hours ago, number37 said:

It was always a bone of contention before the World Cup was expanded in the 90s (I think) that the whole of Africa would be allocated maybe 1 or 2 places but the UK alone was and still is allowed to enter 4 teams that could all qualify. No wonder we're sometimes accused of arrogance but it's a legacy of when we joined FIFA, they were so keen for legitimacy by having British involvement that they gave into our demand of four entries or no entries. Germany at the time weren't keen as they gave examples of having Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, etc as members but such cold logic was discarded. 

Saxony, Bavaria, etc. were not independent nations, nor did they have a tradition of having separate national teams.  It wasn't arrogance, it was a political fact.  The composition of the UK is/was fundamentally different from that of Germany. A better analogy would be Austria-Hungary, which like the UK was a united kingdom, and which, prior to its dissolution, recognized the national sides of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia. Austrian and Hungarian sides competed independently in the Olympic Games.

 

Germany and Italy, Spain, and Russian Empire/Soviet Union did not acknowledge the independence of its constituent states or state FAs. It  wasn't politically viable. I don't think France recognized or allowed for an independent Algerian side either. And the same was certainly true of any the newly (relatively) independent African nations in the 20th century. National identity was/is a preeminate goal. Nigeria was't going to recognize/allow for a Biafran national side any more than Spain would a Basque one. Independent national sides would be viewed (rightly, I think) as the first step towards independence. The Soviet Union was never going to countenace the existence of independent Baltic FAs (Lithuania, etc.) either. They had their own nationals sides prior to occupation. (or, at least Lithuania did, unsure of the others)

 

But you do see that in Denmark (the Faroes) and, somewhat surprisingly to me at least, China  (Hong Kong & Macao). And the Netherlands allowed for an independent Indonesian side: World Cup (1938?), Independence (1945?).

 

[Guest Biggsbond14]

Think the chronicle Newcastle united feed on the app has the worst set of writers ever ,chronic (excuse the pun) articles generally using people with zero connection to us and stories dredged off stories from betting sites and talkshite, losing Chris Waugh was the beginning of the end and guess they have about 20 writers working from home and no wonder most of the comments are slagging it off or the unwashed trying to wind fans up