Football thread 2022/23

[Art Vandelay]

What I don't understand with VAR and I'm guessing never will, is why are some incidents analysed for 25 minutes with the sort of scrutiny reserved for the likes of the JFK assassination and others self evidently get waved away as we're instantly back playing again? The distinction appears completely arbitrary as to what warrants a second look and their insistence on making things as opaque as possible only leads to everyone getting the hump with it. I think when you couple that with a ref who's dished out seven yellows in a fairly innocuous game you do wonder if anyone knows what they're doing.

[SMD]

1 hour ago, Art Vandelay said:

The ref has completely lost the plot in the Arsenal game. Totally painting himself into the corner the daft bollocks.

 

he's fucking shite, one of the worst refs i've seen in the prem

[bradigor]

Just now, SMD said:

 

he's fucking shite, one of the worst refs i've seen in the prem

 

Paul Tierney by any chance?

[SMD]

Just now, bradigor said:

 

Paul Tierney by any chance?

 

somehow manages to be worse than tierney, it's andy madley and i've never seen him have a good game.

[bradigor]

2 minutes ago, SMD said:

 

somehow manages to be worse than tierney, it's andy madley and i've never seen him have a good game.

 

Oh Christ, yeah him and Tierney are beyond dreadful 

[Chindie]

 

[Shoes]

16 hours ago, dizogg said:

He is fucking brilliant though… anyone who thinks he hasn’t got the potential to be world class ‘doesn’t know ball’ as the kids say.

 

[Mr Do 71]

Lampard still manager of Everton. The club must have a death wish.

[Hamus]

11 hours ago, neoELITE said:

If Everton sack Lampard, I'll start worrying about losing our manager Stephen Schumacher. 

They will sack him. They have to. He's diabolical. I don't really know how he was appointed anywhere, let alone a perennial Premier League club. 

His stats are atrocious.

 

It seems Lampard DIDN'T ban Ketchup.

 

Perhaps that is the problem, his own girth and greed could be his own downfall.

 

AH WANT KETCHUP WIF THE LADS.

 

*Kloppsmilegif*

[davidcotton]

11 hours ago, SMD said:

 

somehow manages to be worse than tierney, it's andy madley and i've never seen him have a good game.

Nailed on for the next World Cup I reckon. 

[davidcotton]

28 minutes ago, Mr Do 71 said:

Lampard still manager of Everton. The club must have a death wish.

The day is young. Probably waiting for 10:00 am so they can do the breaking news bit on White and Jordan on talks*****. 

[SMD]

1 minute ago, davidcotton said:

Nailed on for the next World Cup I reckon. 

 

Presumably so he infuriates a Mexican cartel and is found across many different butchers around the country?

[dizogg]

3 hours ago, Shoes said:

 

He’s one of my favourite players. Our midfield, defence and general application this season though… has been wank by our standards. 
 

Would I like Nunez to have scored 30 goals already and been ripping up records like Haaland is? Yes!! But I enjoy the clubs success in the real world instead of magical oil/blood money WE MUST WIN EVERYTHING AND SIGN BELLINGHAM IN JANUARY OR WE ARE A FINISHED CLUB #KLOPPOUT one.

[Stoppy2000]

46 minutes ago, dizogg said:

He’s one of my favourite players. Our midfield, defence and general application this season though… has been wank by our standards. 
 

Would I like Nunez to have scored 30 goals already and been ripping up records like Haaland is? Yes!! But I enjoy the clubs success in the real world instead of magical oil/blood money WE MUST WIN EVERYTHING AND SIGN BELLINGHAM IN JANUARY OR WE ARE A FINISHED CLUB #KLOPPOUT one.

If you do get blood money owners then what? 

[neoELITE]

9 minutes ago, Stoppy2000 said:

If you do get blood money owners then what? 

 

Then it'll be fine. Or there will be a Tranmere Rovers mega-thread.

[Gabe]

15 minutes ago, Stoppy2000 said:

If you do get blood money owners then what? 

What do you think an appropriate response to that situation is? Boycott matches and not give the club any money (like the Man Utd green and gold stuff)? Accept it but try and ignore it (like Newcastle/City fans)? End your association with a club you may have supported for decades?

 

I don't know what the 'right' answer is. Certainly, my love of football in general has waned significantly over the past year or so to the effect that I haven't watched a full Liverpool game since about February (and I don't watch MotD either). I therefore think such a move would tip me over the edge and I could quite easily not give the club any of my money (either directly or via Sky), but if it had happened when I was much more emotionally invested in the club I'm not sure I would make that same choice.

[glb]

If a despicable despot of doom takes over I'm fully leaning into it, moving to Plymouth and putting up THIS MEANS MORE and MBAPPE 2023 banners everywhere.

[Shoes]

1 hour ago, dizogg said:

But I enjoy the clubs success in the real world instead of magical oil/blood money

 

You can't avoid it, tbh. Dark money is everywhere in Big Football. It's inescapable. 

[Shimmyhill]

I love the notion that Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham et al are financed by Saints and angel tears and are holier than thou unlike nasty oil money and bent regimes 😂

[Scruff]

Speaking of West Ham finance David Gold, one of our co-Chairmen has died. I wonder what that is going to do for his shares and the impending sale of the club when the embarrassment clause runs out in April.

 

Could get interesting.

[Chindie]

Speaking of Gold I wonder where he lands in the saints or sinners ownership debate? Made his money in the sex industry (notably Anne Summers and porn mags), and ran Small Heath (aka Birmingham City FC) for years, so not sure that puts him with the angels...

[bradigor]

I haven't a clue. Men's football is becoming less fun over the years as it becomes win or bust in every single game. 

 

I am so thankful we've got into the women's game over the last few years. It is so much purer and mistakes are allowed, as is fun. You see the togetherness between players and fans. It is just a joyous experience. 

 

We are traveling to Liverpool this month so Edith can go to the Man United away game on the supporters coach. The cost is low and the community is brilliant. She knows the players and the players know her. It is what football should be about. Breaking away from the stresses of a shit life for a short while. 

 

I'll still support because I've tried to break away before but I just can't. But I don't want us to go the oil money/sportwashing route. It feels inevitable though.

[Gabe]

16 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

I love the notion that Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, West Ham et al are financed by Saints and angel tears and are holier than thou unlike nasty oil money and bent regimes 😂

Are you planning a festival to celebrate that strawman?

 

Nobody thinks most owners are saints, but I think there is a definite difference between cutthroat owners making dodgy deals/being terrible people versus an being run by an actual regime and the power and reach that has.

[Chindie]

There's a difference between being run by a nation state as marketing/image device with the intention of masking true evils, and being a rich businessman's plaything.

[Shimmyhill]

3 minutes ago, Gabe said:

Are you planning a festival to celebrate that strawman?

 

Nobody thinks most owners are saints, but I think there is a definite difference between cutthroat owners making dodgy deals/being terrible people versus an being run by an actual regime and the power and reach that has.

 

I guess its easier to knock regimes sport washing (unless its a World Cup of course and then its ok) than companies who have so much excess money than can run football clubs (often a loss)  while they dont pay their employees a fair wage and pollute the earth through their business activities….

 

You can shout straw man and what about is as mush as you like, as long as you realise you’re a hypocrite when referring to your own club blind spot.

[dizogg]

Just now, Shimmyhill said:

 

I guess its easier to knock regimes sport washing (unless its a World Cup of course and then its ok)

Because nobody criticised the Qatar World Cup?! Am I missing something??

[SMD]

3 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

 

I guess its easier to knock regimes sport washing (unless its a World Cup of course and then its ok) than companies who have so much excess money than can run football clubs (often a loss)  while they dont pay their employees a fair wage and pollute the earth through their business activities….

 

You can shout straw man and what about is as mush as you like, as long as you realise you’re a hypocrite when referring to your own club blind spot.

 

i would put fsg down a meat grinder yesterday

[Gabe]

7 minutes ago, Shimmyhill said:

 

I guess its easier to knock regimes sport washing (unless its a World Cup of course and then its ok) than companies who have so much excess money than can run football clubs (often a loss)  while they dont pay their employees a fair wage and pollute the earth through their business activities….

 

You can shout straw man and what about is as mush as you like, as long as you realise you’re a hypocrite when referring to your own club blind spot.

This would be funny if you weren't talking about comparison to massive oil-producing states. I mean, jeez, by that metric perhaps we should just bin the whole sport unless it is played down the park with jumpers for goalposts!

 

Not that it really matters, but I've been vocal about FSG in the Liverpool thread too in the past, I'm no fan of theirs. But, more importantly, nobody supports a team because of who the owners are so there's no hypocrisy there unless you think I'm cheerleading for FSG in some way? I'd love for fans/communities to own clubs although - shock - a lot of fans are terrible people too. Where does it end?

 

Regardless, I refuse to believe you really are equating a regime that is linked to murdering & the suppressing of actual human rights of people on a daily basis to companies that quite obviously do some dodgy stuff to operate and are run by horrible people (yes, #notallowners) and making out that really we're the bad guys for not bringing them up in the same breath every time.

[Stopharage]

2 hours ago, Gabe said:

Nobody thinks most owners are saints, but I think there is a definite difference between cutthroat owners making dodgy deals/being terrible people versus an being run by an actual regime and the power and reach that has.

I’m pretty chuffed with Leicester’s owners. Pumped millions into the city, especially the hospital and even more into regenerating the area around the King Power. Think they spent £100m+ on our new training facility.  Every year they give the fans free food and drink (pints and mince pies at Xmas for example). Top also seems very well liked by the players and staff. 
 

Having said that, he’s a billionaire. And you don’t get to be one of those without screwing someone along the way, so I’m aware he’s not all sweetness and light. But he’s amongst the best in the Prem. 
 

 

[Fry Crayola]

2 hours ago, Gabe said:

we should just bin the whole sport unless it is played down the park with jumpers for goalposts!

 

Made in a sweatshop?!? You're basically indistinguishable from the people who killed Khashoggi.