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WessexPest

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Everything posted by WessexPest

  1. Agree, although by the time they get around to actually making the draw we’ll all be part of the same smegging continent again…
  2. I don’t think that group is possible because there can’t be more than two UEFA teams to a group.
  3. Oh FIFA, you little jokesters, putting Scotland in the World Cup draw. Almost had me going there for a minute until I looked at the calendar. Fair play, it was a good one. ?
  4. For the UEFA qualification process in 2026, given there are 16 places available to European teams there’s a chance to streamline the process. There are 54 member associations (assuming those Russian butchers aren’t brought back into the fold by then) so I would propose a preliminary round where the weakest 12 countries according to their FIFA rankings play off in three groups of four. Top two in each group advance to the qualification tournament proper. Those 48 countries are divided into eight groups of six - top two in each group advance to the finals, no playoff nonsense and no pointless matches against San Marino and Gibraltar. Won’t hold my breath though.
  5. Dummy draw:- A: Qatar, Denmark, Morocco, Sco/Wal/UKR B: Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, UAE / Aus / Peru C France, Germany, Iran, C Rica / NZ D Argentina, USA, Serbia, S Arabia E: Belgium, Croatia, Senegal, Canada F: England, Uruguay, S. Korea, Ghana G: Brazil, Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon H: Portugal, Mexico, Poland, Ecuador Group A is the worst group since Bronski Beat! I’d certainly take that group for England, although the key is also how the knockouts pan out - draw’s been pretty favourable to us in that regard in recent years. Say toodlepip to the wonderfully symmetrical 32-team tournament that has worked so well since France ‘98 after this year… ? From 2026 it will be a positively elephantine 48-team affair with 16 groups of three and an additional knockout round. The quality will be seriously diluted with nine teams qualifying from CAF (African Federation, not City as **** ;)) and eight from AFC. That will presumably include Australia who somehow get to compete in the Asian confederation, and with OFC guaranteed a qualifier from 2026 that means New Zealand will likely be assured WC qualification in perpetuity - unless someone like the Cook Islands or New Caledonia can spring a surprise (unlikely, they’re almost as **** as Old Caledonia…) Will be interesting to see how that enforces change to the qualifying system - the CONMEBOL league of nine system is already ludicrous, but with 60% of its members qualifying in future it would be pointless. No guarantee yet that all three hosts (USA, Canada, Mexico) will automatically qualify, but I anticipate they will be. They’d probably have no problem qualifying anyway as CONCACAF gets six slots total. UEFA only gets a couple more slots so you could feasibly still have a big name miss out while the likes of Cape Verde, Bahamas or Oman make it. That might be “inclusive” but it isn’t conducive to a top-quality tournament. Plus with the three-team groups obviously not all teams will be playing their final group games simultaneously, massively increasing the potential for skullduggery, e.g. a repeat of the Disgrace of Gijon. This is a very bad development IMO - still, quantity over quality eh!
  6. It’ll be worth the irritation when it all goes Pete Tong for the Gash in the crucial run-in.
  7. It does get exasperating going over the same old ground again and again. The scum constantly cherry pick away attendances of ours (e.g. Barnsley the other week) as evidence we have a crap support, but it gives a distorted view - if you average out our away followings versus theirs ours is better. @Peter O Hanraha-hanrahanhas laid out the stats to back this up several times. Now, they will say they have a higher percentage who go away but to me all that signifies is how abysmal their home support is. For a team on an annoyingly decent run there have been a lot of gates beginning with a 7 this season. ?
  8. I’m reporting this post to Admin Well played ?
  9. Get in - have that you Gash vermin. Their peabrained fans have already got them promoted and playing us in 2023/24 despite the fact about 10 teams are in the L2 mix. Thank you, Carlisle!
  10. Since you asked… They were a middle-ranking team throughout their history that occasionally won trophies but also occasionally dipped into the second tier, until a shady billionaire oligarch sailed up the Thames on his megayacht and roided them up into a domestic and European powerhouse. Now that everything Russian is verboten, they will swiftly shrivel back into what they once were. I look forward to seeing them back at the Gate with a contemporary Dave Beassant being harried by contemporary Turner and Gavin in due course. ?
  11. They’re Staying Rome! Well I never - made my day, that has. Two consecutive World Cups missed, tis a modicum of recompense. Arrivederci, bastardos.
  12. I don’t think he’s right, but if he truly believes the players he’s picking are costing us time and again then yes, he should take a gamble on their understudies.
  13. I think there’s more chance of him chucking in the towel honestly and taking a walk than being shown the door. We need to persevere as today was for long periods about as good as we’ve had it all season, despite the hammer blow of conceding the umpteenth stoppage time goal of the campaign. His post-match remarks, however, seriously got my hackles up: “It’s the same players making the same mistakes.” So stop selecting them then.
  14. Unbelievable- but I’d’ve taken that after the midweek debacle.
  15. Whatever the outcome of this trial, Barton is incontrovertibly a massive dark stain on a pair of new white underpants and “Bristol” Rovers are a pox on humanity. In all my years of judging I have never heard before Of someone more deserving Of the full penalty of law To be exposed before your peers is my sentence Tear down the tents! Tear down the tents!
  16. I’ve never cared for them as their fans have always acted like d***s at the Gate, most notably during an FA Cup tie in 1995. Trip to Goodison would be good, though - would be first visit for City on league business (or any business for that matter) since 1979!
  17. During the Manchester Derby play was stopped for another medical emergency in the crowd. At the risk of sounding unfeeling, I’m not a fan of these increasing stoppages due to one fan taking ill. Of course, if there’s a genuine crowd safety issue then the game needs to be halted but where it’s one fan I’m not convinced it’s necessary. Of course get them the medical treatment they need ASAP. But no need to stop the game in a crowd of 50,000.
  18. We can breathe easy, at least temporarily. No relegation this season, although it’s a distinct possibility that we finish fourth from bottom and that the final table gives the impression we were in much bigger danger of the drop than we actually were. The worst thing from a BCFC fan’s viewpoint is we still have to sit through another 10 games of this. It’s been utterly excruciating. However, next season we are going down sure as eggs is eggs unless something changes dramatically. With our parlous financial position, the fact that we will likely be forced to cash in on our few stand-out performers from this season and Pearson showing precious little signs of being able to turn the tanker a year and more into the job, I just don’t see where that’s coming from.
  19. Although - our fans did not exactly cover themselves in glory that wet and windy day either. Our loon element were more than up for fighting with the Londoners. And an Eastenders actor who was wearing a Chelsea scarf was the victim of an unprovoked assault at the hands of a CSF hooligan. Yes, apparently Master Bates had difficulty understanding that electrocuting your customers is frowned upon.
  20. Too true. God I detest that putrid little club.
  21. I thought obnoxious people who are justifiably considered pariahs peddling laughably false propaganda was being clamped down upon in the current climate… ?
  22. Seeing the Rent Boys’ result slightly improved my mood this evening. Just a smidge mind. And Swindon’s injury-time winner puts a dent in their playoff hopes. Look what you’ve reduced me to, City, cheering on a Welsh team ? and being pleased about STFC winning at the death.
  23. Incredible that two of them came within two minutes - and that she wasn’t hooked off immediately after. No player’s confidence is going to survive that.
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