The Football Thread

[countjimmoriarty]

Originally Posted by victor meldrew

No televised games between 02.45 & 05.15 on a Saturday, with the FA Cup final being the exception. I don't remember when the 5pm KO started but I can only believe its to fall in line.
Bob Lord the Burnley chairman at the time convinced clubs & the powers that be after ITV showed Blackpool v Bolton, I think at 07.30 on Sat night (1960 or 61). The ground was at least half empty and the other live games were cancelled and ITV cancelled the contract when the FL wanted loads more money so clubs could be compensated if attendances dropped.

Simple really. The FA Cup Final kicks off at 5.30 because that's what the broadcasters want.

[victor meldrew]

Huddersfield are promoted and complete the 13 team forty point brigade for next season.

Joe Hart excess to requirements at City and the rumour mill is in full flow.
Along with several other keepers he is another one of our targets.
Rumours normally abound at this time of year, but at the moment we might well exceed our 25 man squad by about 35 - 40 players.

[footstep]

Very interesting Friendly next Tuesday England France.

[george anson]

Originally Posted by victor meldrew

Are Watford going to become another team appointing umpteen managers, 9 in the last six years, although might not be alone.

I think that we often get unfairly criticized in this regard. We were lambasted for the number of loan players in the Championship by Crystal Palace or more specifically Ian Holloway. It then emerged that Palace had a similar number of loanees.

And it's a decent way of doing business. If the player does well the offer a permanent contract. If they don't no need to pay off an expensive contract.

With regards to managers what club in the world does not remove their manager after often no more than two seasons ? The life expectancy of the manager is getting shorter barring extremely rare exceptions at all levels of the game. The era when you might see a manager govern a club for years is probably over.

And we also constantly get pundits talking about the multinational nature of our squad. But what team in the PL is not ? However we seem to get more focus on this as if we should be fielding a team of home grown players.

Personally I would like to see more local kids in the team. It would be better in the long run for the club (they will feel a bond to the team and the supporters likewise to them such as Brandon Mason) and national team. And it could be done with the right infrastructure and especially coaching from an early age.

One must realize that in this money saturated environment none of what is fondly looked back on as a golden age is ever likely to come back.

One other thing. The AFA did not pay for Sampaoli to be free of Sevilla. Sampaoli paid the money (£1.5M) himself. A rare gesture in these times. To paraphrase him he said ' my country needs me'.

With him in charge rather than Coco the clown Bauza Argentina and Messi will once more have a genuine chance to try and take a major trophy for the first time in twenty five years.

[snowy25]

I see the media has made it seem that Hart did not want to return to Torino. However it seems that maybe not the whole truth. In fact from what I have read online it seems Torino were not at all happy with him and so didn't want him to join them permanently. His wages were a sticking point but so were his performances for the club.

[ginny76]

Wasn't Hart also voted the worst foreign signing by Italian journalists? I'd rather have no keeper at all than that clown in goal.

[snowy25]

I don't know if that is true but it would not surprise me. What I do know is Hart was voted into the worst team of the season. The reason why is he made nine mistakes leading to shots and five mistakes leading to goals. Only the goalkeeper at already-relegated Palermo, Josip Posavec, has made more errors over the course of the season. However he is not the only ex PL star to make the team Thomas Vermalen also made it. Mainly due to his complete lack of fitness and the fact he injured one of his own team mates Salah who spent 3 weeks out of the side.

[buttsie]

Originally Posted by victor meldrew

Huddersfield are promoted and complete the 13 team forty point brigade for next season.

Joe Hart excess to requirements at City and the rumour mill is in full flow.
Along with several other keepers he is another one of our targets.
Rumours normally abound at this time of year, but at the moment we might well exceed our 25 man squad by about 35 - 40 players.

The play off winners in recent seasons have gone up and straight back down
40 points might be on the generous side

I cant recall the last time the 3-6 ranked championship play off team winner actually stayed in the EPL for more than 1 season

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFL_Ch...s#Past_winners




Pep is cleaning out the unwanted oldies like a hurricane and trying to
replace them with 22-25 year olds
- trying to avoid the Man U costly transfer mistakes - good luck

Willy Caballero, Jesus Navas, Gael Clichy & Bacary Sagna leave Man City

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40050107

Wily Caballero is one of five out-of-contract players already released by City.

Striker Kelechi Iheanacho has been the subject of a bid from West Ham and the futures of the four players that Guardiola allowed to leave Etihad Stadium on loan last season

- Joe Hart, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony and Eliaquim Mangala - is uncertain.

Ederson Moraes (age 22):
Manchester City close to signing Brazilian goalkeeper from Benfica for 33million

http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40080163

[snowy25]

The weird thing is that he will be the most expensive keeper in the world, but only in Pounds. In Euros it will still be Buffon who cost €53m back in 2001.

[gordian_knot]

The Championship, though as competitive as ever, was quite poor this season. Both Reading and Huddersfield massively over-achieved, which says something about their managers, but it also means that Huddersfield will be favourites to come straight back down. But they'll come down much richer if they don't squander it.

Reading might actually benefit from not going up if they can keep hold of Jaap Stam. They clearly weren't ready this season but Stam has got them playing the right way despite them not really being good enough for that style of football. If Stam stays, and they add some quality to the squad, then I can see them fighting it out for automatic promotion next season. None of the three coming down are obvious contenders and I can't see anyone running away it with next season the way Newcastle and Brighton did this.

However, I can see someone in the PL - maybe Southampton if they get rid of Puel - making Stam an offer he might not be able to refuse.