cider-manc

Scored one for us against Sheffield united(?) Last game of a season... probably his last game for us as well. We lost I think.

There was an interesting article on the athletic about how foreign teams names don't tend to be about the location of the club. So the English press always added the location to the team name as the general public of the time didn't really know where they where. This wasn't just an English thing. German press used to add London to the likes of Chelsea/arsenal etc But as public knowledge grew its started to die off a bit. The strangest thing is how we don't translate some team names, half translate some team names (Bayern Munich), and fully translate others (Red star Belgrade... where the city is also added). Again this isn't just an English thing as the Italians used to say "Bayern Monaco" as their half translation. I can imagine that gets very confusing when they actually play Monaco....

I've never been a fan of VAR and things like this reinforces that feeling. If the incident in question is a turn over of the ball that directly leads to a goal... I don't understand what the point of VAR is. How does the distance from goal make any difference? It was similar to Frances goal against England at the world cup. Sure, the foul was at the other end of the pitch but walker had overlapped leaving mbappe unmarked to race down the pitch and assist... the only time mbappe got away from walker all game. Last nights was even worse... its literally 3 kicks of the ball later and it's a goal. It's all a nonsense.

Due to covid and seeing a lot of draws when i was able to attend.... I went 869 days without seeing a win at Ashton Gate.

Liverpool are in desperate need of a midfield refresh. They are linked with Scott, Mac Allister and Mount. Which if Scott takes to the premier league as well as he has the championship, sounds like a pretty good midfield 3 imo.

Bellingham is the closest example you will find. The majority of players signed for big money from the championship have at least some premier league experience and normally arent teenagers. Another close example is Ryan Sessegnon who was 19 and a championship player when spurs signed him. But Fulham had just been relegated so he had a year in the Premier league to his name. Other than that you have to include inflation, bale and oxlade-chamberlain were both teenagers with no prem experience who were bought for around 15 million. But both of those were over a decade ago.

QPR didn't give us the bottom tier the last time we were there for the final fixture of a season. It was a game with nothing riding on it and their fans sinvaded the pitch at full time. If they go down/stay up emotions will be even higher....I imagine it's a policing issue more than anything else.

No it's true. It's a shame that the name sounds so utterly ridiculous as the bloke has done it with the best of intentions in memory of his 1st wife. https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/23329739.bolton-wanderers-new-sponsor-dougie-mercer-signing/

I think everyone knows. The truth is that it shows the failings in the current FFP rules. While they were set up with the best intentions to prevent the next Portsmouth (perhaps....) and to have a level playing field, they essentially keep the status quo going unless the likes of manchester city cook the books a little. Manchester united (whilst always a huge club) were able to over spend in the late 80s early 90s to gain an advantage that they basically held onto for the next 25 ish years - They reap the financial benefit to this day as it coincided with the formation of the premier league. Their dominance was momentarily interrupted by arsenal but only really came under challenge when Chelsea and man city got bought out. Liverpool overspent in the late 70s/early 80s and did similar, and even the likes of forest were paying a million pound for a player at a time it was unheard of so they could retain the European Cup. Some of the clubs that were able to do this before FFP, turned themselves into some of the biggest clubs in the world. I've always thought it a little unfair that they held this historic advantage and think a lot of people feel that it's nice to see other clubs challenging the "elite". Which is probably why no-one apart from their fans particularly holds much ill will against manchester city at the moment.

Yeah.. on reading it fully manchester united would probably benefit just as much.... Double the reason not to strip man city of their titles!!

Nope. That would mean Liverpool would have at least 3 more and no one would ever hear the end of it!

I imagine it's a lot easier to steward a sell out crowd where everyone has a physical ticket. There will be loads of people sitting in the wrong seat, not knowing where they are going and the likes. Season ticket holders who purchase different seats and members (who's card won't have a seat printed on it at all) could cause problems at concourse steps if they are checking tickets there. I know they had problems at a recent cup game but the league cup games against the manchester clubs were also PDF tickets if memory serves.... so fingers crossed it all goes smoothly!

Personally, I'd suggest waiting until the player from the channel island runs rings round KDB. Pep - who's fuming at being turned over at ashton gate - pays 100 million for said player (100m as he will be an fa cup winner by May obvs).

Tbh I think the double winning team feel the same about him. Im pretty sure he was always in the holiday snaps they all used to post (even after some had left city) but after the incident in which he got flint sent off I dont remember him ever making another appearance in them. I might have imagined this mind.

Don't worry everybody. The last game i didn't attend at Deepdale.... was 2011. I've attended all our games there ever since. I cant attend Saturday..... 3 points are in the bag.

I cant wait for the confusion that will be caused by the fact it will be one ticket per season ticket holder/membership.

I have a soft spot for Manchester City as I used to get cheap tickets as a student (5 quid for a premier league game) and as their neighbours used to win everything. It's probably dwindled a bit as I haven't been able to get cheap tickets for the last 20 odd years and they are now the dominate force in English football! The club has obviously changed massively in that time, and obviously there is some dubious questions that can be asked about their owners actions both home and abroad. They have however transformed what was a run down part of the city (again its very questionable who they have actually done this for....) and their fan involvement etc is a great model. Their fans are a good bunch and do keep their sense of humour about everything, almost like they still expect it to go tits up at any moment. They also remember their history and all want to talk about goater or gow as soon as they find out who I support. The only thing that's changed with the fans is the expectancy levels at the games - I went to an FA cup tie there once and the fans were complaining about giving the ball away too much... they won 4-0 and had about 80% possession!

I keep seeing this kind of thing. But a 8 figure fee for a player who has delivered like AS has since that game at fulham is not so unbelievable. For this season and last he has a goal contribution of about 1 in 2 games. He tends to blow hot or cold, but he's getting better and better, is still relatively young, and is now a full international with world cup appearances to his name.

We would of got playoffs in 18/19 if Djuric had stayed - Easily worth 5 or 6 points a season off the bench when chasing games. This is a hill I'm willing to die on.

I went to the game last night and whilst i realise that the opposition were always going to offer little.... The bloke is outrageous - His movement is like something that I have never seen before. Everytime manchester city cross the ball the crowd is on the edge of their seats as they assume he is going to be on the end of it. Their reaction when he isnt is like that of a missed shot. (They also booed when he was subbed at HT.) It sounds mad but I don't think I've ever seen a player (who isn't a gk) get up off the floor as quickly as him. He almost bounces straight back up and carries on running in one motion. He looks absolutely massive on the pitch... I know he's hardly short at 6ft4... but he looks like a year 11 kid playing against primary school kids. He must scare the living daylights out of defenders just by his physical presence. Couple of side notes. They played a cover of you'll never walk alone at HT over the tanoy... bit odd if you ask me. Also Gundogan is some player. That he can't get a regular starting place there speaks volumes as to how good they actually are.

I havent been in nearly a decade but.... Barcelona used to have a system where season ticket holders could return games that they couldn't attend. It meant that closer to the game more tickets would be available on their official site. There also used to be multiple ticket selling booths on Las ramblas. If you want lower tier with a decent view you are probably looking in excess of 100 euros. If you get the chance try espanyol as well. Its a bit more if a pain to get to but the games tend to be more evenly matched and the atmosphere (despite being a fraction of the attendance) is so much better. Its also considerably cheaper. Think I paid 20 euros for it, but again this was a decade ago.... I saw barcelona beat real sociedad 4-1 (messi missed an open goal that night!) And saw espanyol beat Athletic Bilbao 3-2 in the space of 24hrs. Didn't see any trouble at either of them. Even with plenty of sociedad shirts in amongst the home fans.

Grandad on mums side wasn't really into football from what I remember. Grandad on dads side used to say arsenal but again, I dont think he really cares. Dad: City Mum: doesn't care. Would probably say City if pushed. Local: now its manchester united/salford (I'm equal distance between the two). Growing up it was Stoke City. Me: City Kid: he's only 4 and not really showing any interest yet....and lets be honest, living where we do I have a bit of a fight on my hands to stop him from supporting one of the two manchester clubs .. He already has 7 bristol city kits and knows the words to blackbird.... so I'm doing my best.

Don't normally have a preference on who comes down. But I would like to get to goodison before they knock it down. And for what it's worth... my mate worked at Chelsea tv for years. He tells me Lampard was an arrogant arsehole and he never understood the public perception that he was one of the nice guys.

I think this is what will happen and I totally agree with it. Mostly because we need to protect ourselves from CONVID19 as best as possible... but also a little bit due to it allowing Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford gettting to get 100% fit for next summer.

I thought Coronavirus is a group of viruses. Generally that causes respiratory tract infections. COVID-19 is a coronavirus. As is SARS, swine flu and the common cold. Either way Its actually annoyed me the way the media has kept calling it coronavirus as when the next one comes along lots of people are going to think it's the same one. The stats on this particular one are worrying. It's very sad. And sadly you are right. Many will only begin to care when it effects them directly, either by a friend/family member becoming I'll or like you say financially. The impact it could have on the nhs should also not be understated. Thousands more people showing up in need of urgent care to an already underfunded and overstretched service.