Wow, that would be a pretty unfortunate end to the story...but that's what happens sometimes in business, and what better illustration of the fact that football is now a business first and foremost?
It's a shame.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2010-2011 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
Wow, that would be a pretty unfortunate end to the story...but that's what happens sometimes in business, and what better illustration of the fact that football is now a business first and foremost?
It's a shame.
I'm afraid all sports is becoming more and more a business. I guess in reality it always has been. Just in these economic times and players asking for and getting more and more money, a kit sales, TV rights, luxury seating-it all has brought this side of the game being played into the forefront.
I would not be surprised if Rooney still left United, either this summer or in 2012. This deal is a win/win for both him and the club: United guarantees they'll get something back if they sell him on, and Rooney has a chance to better his form and improve his value again and put all the personal crap behind him.
I'm really sad for the Pompey fans. This is terrible.
I'm really sad for the Pompey fans. This is terrible.
The worst thing about it is that the issue with Gaydamak seems to be over a couple million pounds. Rooney's agent probably makes more money than that every time he goes to the toilet.
Owners come and go, players too of course – but supporters are there for the long haul. I've little sympathy for the club itself given the manner in which it has been run, but I've every sympathy for the Portsmouth supporters. Well, apart from that **** with the bell but that goes beyond saying.I'm really sad for the Pompey fans. This is terrible.
I have sympathy because there have been occasions where we've been playing in what's been billed as our 'last ever match' and it's not a pleasant situation to put it mildly. Thing is, those took place when we were scrabbling around the lower reaches of the bottom division – Portsmouth meanwhile were members of the self-styled richest League in the world only a matter of months ago.
There's a statement on our website saying that tomorrow's game will 'go ahead as scheduled'...
City's website said:
We'll see what happens after that. Clubs always seem to find a way to survive these things, one way or another...
That is true, and even were the worst to happen, a new club would be formed to replace the original. The supporters are still with the club, and they have to put up with all the heartburn of defeat, relegation, administration, liquidaton.
People tend to forget that football clubs are a business. They have shareholders, wages and bills to pay, (with a few exceptions) have to balance the books each year. (With a few exceptions) gone are the days of millionaire owners throwing money at the club. They need to have responsible management otherwise they'll go bankrupt. Those rules apply to any other company, just because a club has loyal customers doesn't mean they are immune. I, like many others, am rather addicted to Diet Coke, it doesn't mean Coca-Cola can mis-manage knowing that their addicts will bail them out.
I would still be sad to see it happen, but for the amount of money they owe it would be far better to liquidate and start again in the Blue Square.
That really bugs me. Portsmouth are in a bit more deep Dodo than Rooney earns, but many of the other teams lower down are struggling with annual gate receipts less than one premiership footballer would make in a week.
And Rooney's agent isn't a Gerry Maguire type, did he not turn out to be a nice guy changing the system from within? Or are you just talking about the 'Show me the money' scene?
Just watched the West Ham-Newcastle match. Andy Carroll's new living situation seems to have resulted in a very chummy partnership with Kevin Nolan, as they combined well on Newcastle's first goal. Carroll seemed to extend his body in Inspector-Gadget fashion for the header on the second.
West Ham were less comfortable on the ball and just didn't seem to want it as bad, Newcastle definitely seemed more comfortable on the ball. It was a fairly open game for long stretches though.
More and more editorials on the internet explaining why Rooney is a horrible, selfish person and demanding apologies to fans/Fergie/everyone else. Was it really so terrible that he wanted a transfer?
West Ham were less comfortable on the ball and just didn't seem to want it as bad, Newcastle definitely seemed more comfortable on the ball. It was a fairly open game for long stretches though.
More and more editorials on the internet explaining why Rooney is a horrible, selfish person and demanding apologies to fans/Fergie/everyone else. Was it really so terrible that he wanted a transfer?
It's got sit-com potential written all over it, that scenario.
Anyway, we predictably lost to Portsmouth so that should guarantee their survival for the time being. Had we won they'd have been liquidated by tea time and we would have had the three points taken off us quicker than you can say '**** with a bell'. He was there today, by the way, albeit without the bell.
Welcome (or welcome back?) to the thread.
No bell? He must have really fallen on hard times. Next think you know he'll have to sell his hat...maybe some day he'll sink so far as to be forced to sell pies at St. Mary's Stadium to make a living eh?
Thing is though, you wouldn't want to buy food off that fellow. I'd wager a shiny Pound that he stinks to high heaven.....maybe some day he'll sink so far as to be forced to sell pies at St. Mary's Stadium to make a living eh?
West Brom are doing well, aren't they. Especially after their first up 6-0 flogging by Chelsea. After 9 rounds they've played all the 'big' clubs now bar Man City and are safely ensconsed in the top 4 to 6 (depending on Sunday's results). Ironically the only team Liverpool has beaten so far, go figure.
The game which will decide the whole Premier League season is about to be played. If Man City defeat Arsenal, the two sugar-daddy clubs will break away with a clear lead into a two horse race to buy the title even before the end of October. Season over for the rest of the league. Man Utd maybe leading a tight but distant trailing pack for third and lower. Is this the way it's going to be for the next decade or so? Chelsea and Man City oil money turning the EPL into a two-team SPL just nine matches into every season? People complained a lot about the 'big four' up to now. How are they going to like the 'big two' for the next ten years?
Arsenal needs to at least draw to save this season so early on for everybody's sake.
The game which will decide the whole Premier League season is about to be played. If Man City defeat Arsenal, the two sugar-daddy clubs will break away with a clear lead into a two horse race to buy the title even before the end of October. Season over for the rest of the league. Man Utd maybe leading a tight but distant trailing pack for third and lower. Is this the way it's going to be for the next decade or so? Chelsea and Man City oil money turning the EPL into a two-team SPL just nine matches into every season? People complained a lot about the 'big four' up to now. How are they going to like the 'big two' for the next ten years?
Arsenal needs to at least draw to save this season so early on for everybody's sake.
Maybe i'm old-fashioned but isn't this premier league football and aren't we still just approaching the end of Oct, and doesn't the season end in May.
No way a premier league season is decided after nine matches. Although Chelsea look favorites, this is football, anything can happen.
No way a premier league season is decided after nine matches. Although Chelsea look favorites, this is football, anything can happen.
Accrington Stanley!
(Hehe, my first time!)
And in other news, looks like Portsmouth are safe after all, the previous owner was just using the press to give leverage to his money demands. Hmmm, sounds familiar, just like another recent story.
(Hehe, my first time!)
And in other news, looks like Portsmouth are safe after all, the previous owner was just using the press to give leverage to his money demands. Hmmm, sounds familiar, just like another recent story.
Seems to work just fine for the Spanish Primera Division.
Fuzzy14 said:
To be fair, the story started with a fear-mongering post at the club itself, and the media ran with it. Andronikou was clearly not happy with Gaydamak's wheeler-dealing, but he tried to dampen the fear a bit. It makes the media look bad though.
You're talking about the title being decided. I'm talking about the season being decided. The title can and probably will go down to the wire, maybe the very last game. Goal difference even. Could even be exciting maybe - for City or Chelsea supporters. Not for me.
I'm talking about the season itself being decided after just 9 matches, not the title. It will become abundantly clear after today whether the season and abovementioned title race will become a two horse race between the oil clubs for the next 6 months or not. This is what will be decided after Arsenal visits Manchester today, whether the rest of this season will play out as a two horse race or not, not which of those two horses will succeed in buying the title.
As you say though, anything can happen. One nil to the Arsenal.
Not for me. I don't follow it for exactly that reason. I couldn't tell you who is on top of the Primera Liga table at any point in time. I'll never be able to tell you without looking it up. Because I don't care. And I don't care because without even knowing or watching anything, I can guess and probably be absolutely correct - it's either Real Madrid or Barcelona. Every now and then another club busts a gut to give it a go, but it inevitably comes back to just those two. Rangers and Celtic. Predictable. Boring. The same predictable season every year. The same two predictable teams swapping musical chairs every season. So I don't care. Why do I need to follow a sport when I can guess the results? It's either A or B. Never C. Watch the 'los galacticos' ball skills as a fine example of the sport? The Harlem Globetrotters vs the Washington Generals isn't sport, it's entertainment.
The Premier league is barely any more competitive than La Liga.
43 clubs have contested the Premier league now, five have one it, three more than once and United has won ten. Competition? I'm laughing...though it is true that the league is set to become even less of a competition if Arsenal continue to fail to win trophies.
Now it will be just two. Seriously, as much as Bayern or Man Utd have dominated their respective leagues recently, they have been toppled every now and then. Or taken to the wire and have to fight for the title. They reigned for a period just like other clubs reigned for a time, Liverpool, Nott Forest etc. Newcastle, Arsenal, Blackburn, even your own beloved Liverpool took Utd to the wire a year or two ago. It's not and never has been a duopoly like Scotland and Spain as it's likely threatening to become within the next 12 hours...
One can only hope the new Chelsea / Man City duopoly reign will eventually end itself too one day and not go on forever like it does south of the Pyrenees and north of Hadrian's Wall.
Obi Wen-ger Nobi, you are our only hope... one nil to the Arsenal before this day is out or all as we know it is lost. No pressure. Just another game. Be the ball..
Our expert pundits have derided the idea of a competitive top flight many times over the years – the thinking seems to be that dominance by a small select number of clubs is proof of a strong league. And of course the same people who deride the 12-strong Scottish Premier due to the fact that only two teams can ever win it are usually the ones who hark on about the English top flight being 'The Greatest League In The World™', despite the fact that only three or four of its 20 clubs are going to have a chance of winning it in the foreseeable future.
It hasn't always been like that, of course. When we played Forest a while back, I mentioned that they got promoted to the top flight in the season when we last met (1976/77) and the next season they were Champions. The following two seasons after that they lifted the European Cup. Imagine West Brom winning the Premier League this season, and following it up with two Champions League wins over the following years. Could that happen now? Not a chance – the landscape of football has changed so much over the intervening years.
When I was a little Jaffa, it seemed that a club could achieve anything – in theory you could win the League and do well in Europe. Not through financially dominating an increasingly uncompetitive division, but by astute management, bringing in a sound youth policy, and developing players to their full potential rather than spending tens of millions per player. Youthful naivety perhaps, an overly romanticised view possibly. But can we even dream of that now? Unless there's a huge change in how the game is run here, we'll never win our domestic championship and we'll more than likely never win a major cup either. The best we – and every other club in the land other than a handful – can hope to achieve is becoming a middling Premier League club, finishing 10th-17th year on year and getting the odd cup semi-final appearance once the big clubs have lost interest (they're really not 'proper' trophies, see). There's nothing like ambition.
But it's The Greatest League In The World™ of course, so all is well. To be honest, I don't give two hoots who wins it, or how uncompetitive it's become – it's been made clear that the Premier League isn't for the likes of us or most other clubs in the country. Let them have it, and let the rest of us enjoy our supposedly inferior but far more competitive and unpredictable competitions.
It hasn't always been like that, of course. When we played Forest a while back, I mentioned that they got promoted to the top flight in the season when we last met (1976/77) and the next season they were Champions. The following two seasons after that they lifted the European Cup. Imagine West Brom winning the Premier League this season, and following it up with two Champions League wins over the following years. Could that happen now? Not a chance – the landscape of football has changed so much over the intervening years.
When I was a little Jaffa, it seemed that a club could achieve anything – in theory you could win the League and do well in Europe. Not through financially dominating an increasingly uncompetitive division, but by astute management, bringing in a sound youth policy, and developing players to their full potential rather than spending tens of millions per player. Youthful naivety perhaps, an overly romanticised view possibly. But can we even dream of that now? Unless there's a huge change in how the game is run here, we'll never win our domestic championship and we'll more than likely never win a major cup either. The best we – and every other club in the land other than a handful – can hope to achieve is becoming a middling Premier League club, finishing 10th-17th year on year and getting the odd cup semi-final appearance once the big clubs have lost interest (they're really not 'proper' trophies, see). There's nothing like ambition.
But it's The Greatest League In The World™ of course, so all is well. To be honest, I don't give two hoots who wins it, or how uncompetitive it's become – it's been made clear that the Premier League isn't for the likes of us or most other clubs in the country. Let them have it, and let the rest of us enjoy our supposedly inferior but far more competitive and unpredictable competitions.
^^ Were you doing a night shift? My kids were up early today and MotD wasn't on due to the Grand Prix!
Speaking of which, the top two SPL teams both have a 100% record this year, and they face each other this afternoon. I'm going for 2-2.
My eldest has also been banging onto me about taking him to a football match, I've been trying to keep him neutral (indeed he seemed to prefer the green and white team for a while). Now that I've looked into it, not as expensive as I thought it was going to cost me. Caley Thistle at Ibrox £23 for an adult and £7 for a kid.
Speaking of which, the top two SPL teams both have a 100% record this year, and they face each other this afternoon. I'm going for 2-2.
My eldest has also been banging onto me about taking him to a football match, I've been trying to keep him neutral (indeed he seemed to prefer the green and white team for a while). Now that I've looked into it, not as expensive as I thought it was going to cost me. Caley Thistle at Ibrox £23 for an adult and £7 for a kid.
Our daughter is at the age where she has no concept of time. I was up early this morning.
Anyway, Portsmouth. They're now out of administration, but things have taken a worrying turn for them with the news that wig-wearing wonga waster Paul Duffen is part of a consortium looking to buy the club.
It's no secret that he lives just outside Guildford, you know.
Don't go taking wee Fuzzy to the Riverside, that's all I'm saying.
Ah, now you know why they put MotD on at 7.30am on a Sunday.
Not planning to, my eldest is at school so they've stayed back up north. Incidentally I think I could wangle some tickets to the Riverside thanks to a chap I work beside (here he is about to lamp a photographer)
Fair enough but i'm still not convinced of City, they've only made it this far for one sole reason. Tevez. Without him they're markedly weaker and their defense can be just as bad as the Gunner's if not worse sometimes. They also lack that title winning experience. Top 5 team, yes, title winning team...not just yet.
United might be having troubles now but they're still a force to be reckoned with and are notorious for finding form in the latter stages of the competition.
Arsenal too have their moments, Tottenham too have started knocking, and I also still believe in an eventual Liverpool resurgence.
Bottom line is, it seems more like a top 5 race to me which will then break down into a 3-horse race. Chelsea, United then Arsenal, City or Tottenham and who ever loses the 3rd place race will get 4th. Then again this is football right. I could be waay off.
Today's match will defo be interesting. We should beat them but I doubt we will.
- Status