The Batman

1 minute ago, Lrrr said:

Need the PL to come out and say any club who wants to compete in the super league will not be welcome to be a member of the PL 

Absolutely but money talks. 

Villa loving it right now if that's the case. 

As for the same clubs being in the CL year after year, Liverpool ain't in it this year, Newcastle were. Earned the right to be there. Not always a given it will be the same clubs year after year. Gone are the mid 2000's where it was Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool every season. 

5 hours ago, Mr Popodopolous said:

Early goals also can assist with it, both in terms of perception and in terms of getting the crowd going which in turn pushes the side on.

Peak Mourinho mid 2000's. Go in front early, see out the game by being immensely organised as a defensive unit, hit on the counter and save energy for the next match. 

My first experience of Manning-ball tomorrow. Back home for the weekend so making most of it by watching City play. 

Mine renewed not too long ago. Was with them for many years. Never any issues. Went from 580 to about 900. Called them and explained I work in insurance industry, know how it all works etc, asked them what justification they had. May as well have asked her in Latin as she had no idea. 

Anyway, got an alternative around last years price, went with them. Called back my old insurers to lapse, they said there's no way they were that more expensive, gave them policy info. They said they'd look in to, told them not to bother, just let it lapse and call me next year with new quote. They said that was fine and low and behold, they auto renewed it . Be careful and check bank statements when it comes to renewal in case they do try renew it. At least they paid it back once they'd listened back to the call. Cheeky buggers asked me originally to prove I'd told them to lapse it. They're the ones with call recordings, can't expect the public to record the conversation.

2 hours ago, Swede said:

As much as it seems justified, for me it just goes to show how football finances are absolutely ruining the game.

If Man City, as an example, are found to be be in breach then presumably they are stripped of their titles/Champions League win? Does this mean that Arsenal or whoever are beaten finalists or runners up are retrospective champions & what a hollow feeling that would be for all concerned. It would be a complete and utter shambles.

Immediately I thought of the Juventus match fixing scandle from the mid 2000's. If you look at the league history, you'll see it says "not awarded". Probably because Milan finished 2nd and they were involved in it as well. 

However, the year after when Juventus were relegated despite finishing first, inter were awarded the title and the league will show juventus relegated on 91 points. That's a rarity. They didn't deduct points. The authorities just outright relegated them 

I watch the United Stand YouTube channel when they lose as Goldbridge does love a good rant. 

since Jan 2020, they've played 8 matches and the aggregate score is 25-7 to Liverpool. 

31 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

Like watching Petite and Vieira in their pomp. 

That's a hell of a stretch. But I'll take it. 

The thing that sprung to mind when reading this would get this topic locked and me barred but I don't think it'll take you lot long to realise what I'd like to ask about it. 

Oh to be a fly in the room when that kid grows up and asks why daddy's man utd career ended so quickly. 

Less is more. Leave it be. 

Same with Blackadder. 24 episodes, 1 Christmas carol and 2 one off specials. No need to do any more. Plus the end of Blackadder goes forth is the greatest TV ending in history. 

11 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Sky Sports rubbing their hands together. It's not a 'closed shop' anymore so it's all ok we can make our billions from tv rights. 'Not a closed shop anymore' so it's all ok.

Don't be fooled by the tv companies - they want this to happen. £££

Course they do. Vultures. 

How it'll work with sky's "green" campaign I have no idea. Good luck squaring that circle with all that extra travelling, flights, fuel etc that fans all over Europe will be doing. Even better if they hold these games in Singapore, Hong Kong, LA like the original plan was. 

That's the thing that I never understood was that if the 6 English clubs (I'm just using them as an example from the original plan) all made it to the "top division", how would the likes of Leicester, West ham, Newcastle () or whoever get to take part later on? In that event, it would be ring fenced as they surely wouldn't allow it to be filled with clubs from the same league. Do they need to keep a quota for certain countries taking part? 

7 hours ago, The Batman said:

Toffee TV fan channel on youtube has been great entertainment the last few weeks. 

They were that bored on deadline day they started naming a bald everton 11 at one point. They were so so depressed that they hadn't named anyone yet they may still sign Ayew on a free which none of them are the least bit excited about. 

Ayew has gone to Forest. 

So the free transfer they were after has turned them down too

1 minute ago, frenchred said:

 

However greenwoods "partner" is different the evidence was there and she refused to go forward with it. How must her family feel?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go back through this thread, you'll see what her dad said at the time about keeping it all hush hush. 

And as I said, he wouldn't be so forgiving if Mason greenwood worked at McDonald's on minimum wage. 

Her dad

Toffee TV fan channel on youtube has been great entertainment the last few weeks. 

They were that bored on deadline day they started naming a bald everton 11 at one point. They were so so depressed that they hadn't named anyone yet they may still sign Ayew on a free which none of them are the least bit excited about. 

Time to reopen this bad boy from last year. Any new traditions starting this year? 

Too many to mention on both counts. 

If I had to break it down to the thinnest of margins... 

. 

. 

Scrooge (1951)

Luitenant Kije. Troika. 

And Die Hard is definitely a Christmas film, as is Die Hard 2. And Batman Returns

4 minutes ago, petehinton said:

Maybe it’ll make me sleep at night but we’ve lost to the team who are gonna go back to back world champions for the first time ever. And we were the better team. 
 

Fact check - wrong.

Italy and Brazil have won back to back world cups. 

Granted not for a long long time. 

France will win this one, and the next one too. Huge strength in depth and phenomenonal young players coming through. 

15 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Was chatting to my mate the other day about this. Brazil, despite being famed for their flair, often had a great pair of defenders and a DM who never got enough praise. 

Solid defensive midfielders are always key. 

That brazil side had Gilberto Silva. A fantastic player who went so far under the radar in arsenal's invincible season, its unreal. 

As you say, for all the players in front of him like Ronaldo, Henry, Pires, Rivaldo etc, he was the reason they were allowed to play that way because of the safety net he provided. 

Same with Makelele with the teams he played for. 

Still not watched any of it, but the memes keep me updated as to what has happened. 

1 hour ago, ExiledAjax said:

It's now a legal case being arbitrated by CAS, and that can be discussed without dipping into the politics of the armband itself. I therefore think it is highly relevant to football matters and so see no need to restrict it to the Politics forum.

I guess the FA and FAW (and the Dutch and other FAs) have not suffered similar commercial consequences. No sponsors have left them (so far as I know) and so no money has been lost. They don't need to respond to the CAS case being brought by the DFB as they aren't party to it. Quite sensible for them to keep quiet.

As for a WC bid - we withdrew from 2030 IIRC. I thought we were concentrating on Euro 2028 instead?

I know I made a tounge in cheek comment in the other thread but on a proper note, I don't see what grounds they have. 

Fifa never authorised it. Had they done and backtracked then possibly, but even so, they can still wear it, just take a yellow card for the player wearing it. It's not an outright ban. 

Now if the German fa promised that they would wear in exchange for money / advertising etc then that's their problem. Not fifas. 

1 minute ago, italian dave said:

Mane out injured.

Diedhiou? 

I've just seen. Tainted it. I did hear he got injured in the last bayern match. Such a shame. One of my favourite players. 

Yeah Fammy. Why not

Know very little about form, who is playing who etc so this will be mega wrong. 

Winners - brazil

Top scorer - Mane 

England go out in round of 16.

1 minute ago, The Batman said:

Aaron Carter. 

Singer in his own right but known as younger bother of backstreet boy nick Carter. 

Died aged 34. 

 

This absolute belter from back in the day. 

Aaron Carter. 

Singer in his own right but known as younger bother of backstreet boy nick Carter. 

Died aged 34. 

 

This absolute belter from back in the day. 

No idea why it's done it twice

Aaron Carter. 

Singer in his own right but known as younger bother of backstreet boy nick Carter. 

Died aged 34. 

This absolute belter from back in the day. 

Aaron Carter. 

Singer in his own right but known as younger bother of backstreet boy nick Carter. 

Died aged 34. 

This absolute belter from back in the day. 

To be fair, I boo my old work colleague whenever I see him when we meet up. Thoroughly deserved

26 minutes ago, MarcusX said:

Innocent until proven guilty I guess initially, but football has no moral compass on these things, Ronaldo's had similar accusations and paid someone off and it never gets mentioned, Partey's another "current" situation that's being buried.

Agree Southgate has probably sussed him out as a person and doesn't want him around.

Absolutely. He's entitled to a fair trial to defend himself, as is everyone.