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Ha,Ha Ha.
Just heard Klopp's press conference and surprise, surprise, he is questioning Athletico Madrids style of play.
Someone else's fault again and not Liverpool's for not being able to score more goals or let less in.
It's not taken him long to catch that scouse disease of always blaming others when things go wrong.
I've always liked Klopp, in fact I was a fan of his before he was at Dortmund... but yes he does seem to get a little riled when things don't go his way... although that's hardly a unique trait in the world of football...!
Nuno Espirito Santo being the exception.Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
And Marcelo Bielsa.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
He is a breath of fresh air.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
I'm pleased that Wolves are doing well as I have a soft spot for them as they were my Dad's team.
He chose them because as a teenager they were the nearest top flight team to Mid-Wales and relatively easy to get to on the train. I think they were also pretty good!
I recall him taking me to see them at Molineux in the 70's and admiring the silky skills of Kenny Hibbitt, Derek Dougan, John Richards and Steve Daly.
I also recall there also being a steel stanchion blocking much of the view!
Well in the late 50s they were the best club in Britain (providing half the England team: Clamp, Broadbent, Flowers, Deeley, Slater, Wright) and one of the best in Europe. The fact that they could later plunge into the old 4th Division is a salutary example for other clubs who think the good times will never end. I may be wrong but I think they are the only club to fall so low and then recover to what they are today. But it has taken over 50 years and Chinese money!Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Sheffield United, who are level on points with Wolves but with a game in hand, were relegated into Division 4 in 1981.Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham Breeze
Indeed. Although I don't recall them being as great and all conquering as Wolves once were (when I was but a boy.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Muddy Retriever
League Honours
First Division/Premier League
Champions: 1953–54, 1957–58, 1958–59
Runners-up: 1937–38, 1938–39, 1949–50, 1954–55, 1959–60
Second Division/Championship
Champions: 1931–32, 1976–77, 2008–09
Runners-up: 1966–67, 1982–83
Play-off winners: 2003
Third Division/League One
Champions: 1923–24 (North), 1988–89, 2013–14
Fourth Division
Champions: 1987–88
Domestic Cups
FA Cup
Winners: 1893, 1908, 1949, 1960
Runners-up: 1889, 1896, 1921, 1939
Football League Cup
Winners: 1974, 1980
FA Charity Shield
Winners: 1949*, 1954*, 1959, 1960* (* joint holders)
Runners-up: 1958
Football League Trophy
Winners: 1988
European Cups
UEFA Cup
Runners-up: 1972
Texaco Cup
Winners: 1971
End the leagues now for this season.
All positions stand for promotion and relegation.
Only sensible thing to do.
It probably is the most sensible... however it is littered with pitfalls. What about the 3rd division where Wycombe are outside the playoffs but have played a game less, and a win could take them 3rd. Or Villa where I think their game in hand could take them out of the relegation zone.Quote:
Originally Posted by So Wood
Could arguably take the standings but do without titles/promotions/relegations being awarded... as amusing as it would be to see Liverpool not awarded the title, it would also mean my boys wouldn't get promoted (and in our current off-the-field circumstances, it could theoretically lead to the death of the club), so i'm not sure that's a great idea either!
I think the lawyers will be busy in the summer!
Interesting that Sturgeon has cancelled outdoor gatherings of 500 or more people in Scotland, starting on Monday.
The reason given is to free up emergency services.
Oh, there just happens to be an Old Firm match this weekend which, 4 times a year, is probably the biggest strain on those services.
Why wait till Monday?
As you say it is littered with pitfalls. I imagine that they might struggle on for a couple of weeks, moving to playing behind closed doors. But then it will grind to a halt as more and more players and coaches get the virus (Mikel Arteta and Callum Hudson-Odoi have just tested positive).Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
My gut feeling is that they will null and void the league this season. I think the football authorities will see this as the least worst option given the potential for litigation from some clubs, who will think they have been penalised unfairly if the current standings are taken.
Play the matches, they have deep squads. The peak isn't expected until June based on what the Government experts were saying yesterday and people will not wrap themselves up in cotton wool until July.Quote:
Originally Posted by Muddy Retriever
If Arteta was ill in other circumstances, they'd just play the game with the assistant manager in charge.
They have no reason not to play at this stage - public liability is not an issue as based on Government advise, they can keep going.
The vulnerable can stay away.
The Subscription channels could make a gesture of making matches free to view until end of season.
Crack on I say and get ready for a 2-3 week shut down around Whitsun.
and Dyche - he might sound angry, but that's just his normal voice :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Muddy Retriever
I agree completely but I just don't think that will happen. Look at the postponement of the Man City vs Arsenal game the other night. Ridiculous!Quote:
Originally Posted by Witton Park
There is an emergency Premier League meeting at 10:30 this morning. So it may all stop straight away.
Yes I can't see why Premier League teams can't (under most circumstances) continue regardless.
On a wider note, I don't necessarily think international weekends should prevent league fixtures from being played... should carry on regardless like in the rugby. If teams can afford the huge figures to sign international players, they should have sufficient resources to have enough of a back-up squad for a few fixtures a year.
Without going off on a rant/tangent, this kind of thing really cheeses me off with managers harping on about a winter break... usually foreign managers it has to be said... they know the lay of the land in this country before they take a (massively high paid) job, so don't then try to change the way fixtures are arranged because you don't like it...
This thread is officially suspended till...FKW!
Looks like a feisty local derby last night.
Two red cards with the Comets beating City 2-1 down under in Adelaide :cool:
A mate claims there is an FA rule that when 75% or more games of a season are played the results stand.
But what is the Prem and EFL rules???
Very interesting.
29 nine games in the premiership is the magic number.
BUT
A couple of teams have only played 28, all the rest are on 29
There is no way Liverpool will or should be named as Premier League Champions if the season is abandoned.
They have lost 4 of their last 6 matches and the 2 that they did win were with a lot of luck. If their current form continues there is no certainty that they would finish top of the tree.
It is unlikely the above will happen but the fat lady hasn't sung!
I have been watching a few of the Match of the Day Rewinds which include some classic FA Cup Semi-Finals. Really enjoyed some proper football played by proper players. None of this modern tippy tappy crap.
I had forgotten about some really great players like John Toshack, Kevin Davies, Nigel Martyn, Emlyn Hughes, Glyn Hodges (ha ha)etc and also the state of some of the pitches!
Will this virus see a change in football, and even be the 'beginning of the end' for the football/premier league/media gravy-train...?
Reports seeming to suggest that all league football will be available to view either on tv or online(you would assume this will be a free service).
Will this in turn lead to the watching public wondering why in normal years they pay hundreds of pounds to subscribe to Sky/BT/etc... and wondering if it is really necessary.
Will it spell an end to huge tv deals, inflated wages, and massive inequality?
I somehow doubt it, but i'd like to think it might bring about a bit of change.
Whilst it would overall be a good thing for football to see some sanity return, I think the short-term effects could potentially destroy a lot of clubs.
Kyle Walker.
Biggest turd in the premier league
I saw a re-run of the Coventry v Spurs FA Cup Final the other night on ITV. I had forgotten what a great match it was, probably one of the best FA Cup finals. It had everything, goals, proper tackles, defensive howlers, mullets, great commentary and the two most handsome goalies!
Were you there Travs?
PS. Whats Kyle Walker been up to, to deserve that accolade, Stagger?
1987, I was at the semi final at Hillsborough (in the Leppings Lane end) between Leeds and Coventry. It was an even better match than the final.Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-a9504966.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Firstly he invites prostitutes round for a party while under lockdown guidance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
Gets caught and claims it was an error of judgement.
Secondly travel's to his sister's in Sheffield to give her a birthday present and a hug
Thirdly he calls at his parents house to pick up food. (His mummy loves him)
Forthly he goes cycling with a friend from a different household.
And then claims he is being harassed.
Kyle Walker you are officially a TURD.
Those achievements might get him a nomination for SPOTY.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stagger
In my book he steps into the Sheffield Sporting Shits category alongside Jessica Ennis and Naseem Hamed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Llani Boy
I was not there as i was only 5 at the time. Didn't go to my first City match until i was 10. I vaguely remember it being on tv in the front room. My overriding memory of it is car aerials having Sky Blue ribbons tied to them in celebration, well into the 90's!
It was a great final though. As Muddy Retriever rightly says, the semi was even better.
As a kid the cup really meant something. The league wasn't so important to me, i couldn't quite understand the importance of the bread-and-butter slog of an entire season. But perhaps because of the 87 legend, the FA Cup was everything.
My biggest FA Cup memory came a decade later when we had a really strong "entertainers" team... we had a sraightforward 3rd round tie, then hammered Derby at home in the 4th... looking at the 5th round draw, we just seemed to know we were going to get Villa or Manchester United, and inevitably we got Villa, away.
In my era that was the big game and rivalry... Leicester/Wolves/etc were league(s) below and Villa were a successful side, we'd never beaten them away in 104 years. We totally deserved the win and should have been 3 or 4 up before we eventually got in front. Officially the away crowd was 8000... we had the traditional away end, then half the side stand. But when we scored, nearly all the family stand went up, and significant sections of the Holte End, it was chaos, there must've been 15000 city there.
That game was/is my single greatest memory as a city fan.
In the next round we were home to Sheff Utd who were division below. We couldn't do it at home and it went to a replay at Brammall Lane, and we conceded in the final minute and it went to a pen shoot-out. Inevitably we lost. It was the only time i can recall being in tears over a football match.
Really thought our name was on the cup that year. We'd have had Newcastle in the semi, who were were simply superior to at the time. Arsenal would have been the final, and on a one-off match i'd even have backed us against them. In fact that season we played them on a live Sky match on Boxing Day, when we beat their great side 3-2 in one of the best matches i witnessed at Highfield Road.
Such a shame that the cup has become so irrelevant nowadays.
And after the weekend he has apologised.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jez Hellewell
Too little too late son.
Your england career should be over.
One mistake is not good,
Two and your walking a tight rope
Three and OUT
Brighton must have some muppets on the books.
0.003% of the UK population have tested positive for CV.
7% of the first team squad have contracted it.
Natural selection
It would suit Brighton to the ground if this season didn't resume at all and eitherQuote:
Originally Posted by Witton Park
a) the season was voided; or
b) the season ended and final positions were based on current average points per game.
Either way they would avoid relegation, which would be a major threat to them if the season resumed.
Not saying these events are in anyway connected of course.
Don't they do a lot of holding hands in Brighton;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Witton Park
i'm sure the fact that Brighton, West Ham and Villa all appear to be the most vocal against finishing the season off, has absolutely nothing to do with their precarious positions in the table...!
My personal thoughts are to abandon it now, awarding promotions to teams in automatic spots(but not championship titles), and relegations, on a points per game basis.
I wouldn't award promotion to teams in top playoff spot. The playoffs are a lottery after all.
So it would be bad luck to Liverpool, teams in playoffs, and teams in relegation spots. I realise this is wholly unfair to those clubs, but i think it is the least unfair of all possible solutions.
Of course, with my team sitting clear at top of the table with a game in hand, it is easy for me to suggest this.
My utmost sympathy lies with teams like Atalanta who are having the greatest season in their history, quarter finals of European Cup... but i think cup and European cup competitions also need to be abandoned. Although i think their current position would allow them to be in the champions league next year.
Agree with most of that. The fact that my team is also sitting in a promotion spot has absolutely nothing to do with it mind:).Quote:
Originally Posted by Travs
The only thing I would take issue with is league titles, I would award them too. (Again nothing to do with my team being currently top!) I think it would be a travesty if Liverpool didn't win the Premier League.
There is an EFL meeting taking place today and it seems likely that Leagues 1 and 2 will not resume although I don't think a decision will be made yet on promotion/relegation or voiding the season. The costs of restarting due to tests etc. are thought to be too prohibitive when there is no income coming in from gate receipts. I think they do want the Championship to resume if at all possible.
I understand the point re Liverpool... and whilst they receive a lot of hostility, they have been by far the best team, as the table shows...
However a league title is not "essential".... they aren't going to go bust. They may have waited 30 years or whatever it is, but it's not necessarily going to affect the future life of the club. Would i say the same if this was 2017 and Leicester were prevented from claiming their rightful title, possibly a once in a lifetime event for their fans? I don't know but i like to think i'd be consistent... would they even want it "awarded" to them...?
But promotion and relegation are vital to the game... my team for instance are in a precarious state, and going up could see us returning to play in our home city and perhaps lead to the club having some kind of future. Not going up now really could have a huge negative impact on the club beyond the initial disappointment.
This season is now a massive anti-climax whatever is decided... we have waited since 1967 for a league title. Even if it was awarded to us it would be a washout.
Oi Snowflakes!
Come on you knoooowwww!
Why can't the Prem proceed 3-4 weeks from now, 2 matches per week? Finishing 1st week July. They don't need the crowd revenue, they need the TV revenue.
The lower divisions could then pick up and finish between mid July and Mid August and also pull in some TV money, but by then also maybe have some home fans in.
Then start the new season towards end September, cut out the League Cup and I daresay the European competitions will be either axed or have reduced fixtures so there should be room in the calendar.
I honestly cannot see any reason why that cannot happen.
Think of the improved public morale? We have people going back to work in factories, restaurants as well as probably 25 million who've worked throughout.
Are you really telling me that 22 people on a pitch kicking a ball about is not feasible?
It will keep people in to watch the matches, so reduce community distancing.
In terms of fairness, Brighton are 15th - but have you seen their fixtures? There's every chance one of 15th, 16th and 17th will drop in to the bottom 3.
It's far fairer to play the matches, than to freeze the season and relegate Villa who have a game in hand that could take them to 15th.