The 2013-2014 Football Thread

[oscillatewildly]

Although I'd rather see a more defensive player at Arsenal.

There are rumours of Vidal >>> Man U, which is horrible if true.

Signing Khedira's wife would be more exciting.

Disagree re Vidal, would be great. But the transfer gossip flying around, .

Cheers,
OW

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Further underlining the extent to which business and money underpins success in football these days, Man Utd have just signed a kit deal with Adidas that is worth three quarters of a billion pounds. That's more than nine Gareth Bales, or more than 21 Andy Carrolls and more money than Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City's kit deals combined.

Money, bloody hell.

 

[oscillatewildly]

1 It isn't Warrior

2 It isn't Warrior

3 It isn't Warrior

 

[Kariya]

Whoever signed the deal at Adidas should be fired. Whoever signed it at United should be promoted.

Meanwhile Cavani has apparently put himself on the market.

Problem is will anyone pay PSG £55m for him (if you do you're a mug). To me he's a £30-£35m forward on a good day. If he goes to United LVG will put him wide again, City have 3 strikers, Chelsea have Costa, leaving LFC and AFC. Liverpool would be the obvious fit since i don't see Wenger spending £50m+ on a player but i can see Chelsea muscling in.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

1 It isn't Warrior

2 It isn't Warrior

3 It isn't Warrior

It is Chevy though.

To be honest, at the moment I'm off club shirts. I'm sick and tired of the corporate sponsor logos. They are ugly, and remind us of the least palatable aspect of the sport. I have one Liverpool shirt, an 04-05 shirt, and every time I go to buy another I get turned off by the sponsor logos. I just can't bring myself to walk around with a Standard Chartered logo on my shirt.

At least I can buy national team shirts. No sponsors there - yet. And there are always retro shirts.

 

[mojolicious]

It is Chevy though.

The logo is particularly intrusive.

Haven't seen the details of the deal but there are snippets of rumour that United have sold Adidas a lot more of themselves than is customary, and have signed over large chunks of what would usually have been their own revenue in return for the guaranteed £70m a year.

Hopefully it will also have Brazil/Nike type clauses which require United to field a team of Adidas's own choosing in a never-ending sequence of long haul friendly matches in sweaty hellhole emerging markets.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Liverpool's Home and Away kits are uncontroversial, but the third kit is weird. Trying to do too much at once. Hoops + hoopy sash = mess.

 

[oscillatewildly]

It is Chevy though.

...

Heard the reply as I was typing.

Logos:

Edit - Liverpool kit - signify nonslip tread?

Cheers,
OW

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Gary Neville is sure that copying the German model won't bring success to England, though he won't say why or offer an alternative.

We are going to have to find our way of doing it because the system we have doesn’t allow us to adopt the German route in its entirety.

I would suggest that England have zero chance of ever appearing in another World Cup final as long as the Premier League continues to dominate the sport as it does, coupled with the incompetence of the FA. The current football leadership structure in England - FA, Premier League, Football League - operates like a dysfunctionally loose confederation of competing interests.

Given its size and population, not to mention history within the sport, England ought to be regularly outperforming the Netherlands and at least matching France in tournament football. But they seem nowhere close.

Edit - Liverpool kit - signify nonslip tread?

Naughty...

 

[oscillatewildly]

Coaching and facilities - numbers and quality. The money is there.

Probably a quicker way of adding stars is to capture Uruguay - South West England - and Italy - South East England; 9 times World Champions.

Cheers,
OW

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Probably a quicker way of adding stars is to capture Uruguay - South West England - and Italy - South East England; 9 times World Champions.

Cheers,
OW

Better yet, change the rules so that the Premier League Champions can be entered into the World Cup to represent England.

 

[Kariya]

Markovic...

 

[takao]

Better yet, change the rules so that the Premier League Champions can be entered into the World Cup to represent England.

you mean after Barcelona won 2010 and Bayern 2014 it's only fair.

At the end there were 7 Bayern player on the field.
4 former players (Klose, Demichelis, Hummels, Podolski) made the final as well

 

[Lord Blackadder]

So, summing up the 2013-14 season for me:

Liverpool were more exciting than I've seen since 2005, more exciting actually, but won nothing. Much greater challenges lie ahead. Can FSG and Rogers build and play a team that can maintain Champions League position going forward and perhaps win something? It's very competitive at the top now.

The World Cup was magnificent, surely one of the best of the modern era. It can't hide the fact that FIFA is rotten to the core. Blatter sitting with Putin at the final could hardly be more appropriate. Russian and Qatar are not going to be this good, this fair, this fun or this clean. Indeed, at least one of them probably won't happen as planned at all - maybe both if the global geopolitical situation continues to spiral...

USA World cup summation - Klinsmann vindicated in my mind (though there are plenty of doubters left), I feel we are heading in the right direction. Now we must focus on the Gold Cup, so we can beat Mexico to the next Confederations Cup.

Random list of significant events: Suarez biting, Man Utd collapse (and potential rapid rebirth?), Mourinho back at Castle Grayskull - er Chelsea FC, Not really much shakeup in the English league despite an exciting season - I bet the next one will be less exciting, Spain has a different champion for once, Germany ascendent and looking toward the Euros, Columbus Crew having a crap 2013 and meh 2014 season, more oligarchs in the game than ever, vanishing spray, concussions, Brazil crumble, Spain crumble, Blatter/Platini power struggle, 2 new MLS teams coming in 2015, followed by Beckham FC in Miami later...it's been an interesting year.

Oh, and Hull City AFC are still Hull City AFC. For now...

I see that Celtic are playing a Champions League match (In July!!!) in Iceland today. Time to start the 2014-2015 Football Thread?

 

[takao]

The World Cup was magnificent, surely one of the best of the modern era. It can't hide the fact that FIFA is rotten to the core. Blatter sitting with Putin at the final could hardly be more appropriate. Russian and Qatar are not going to be this good, this fair, this fun or this clean. Indeed, at least one of them probably won't happen as planned at all - maybe both if the global geopolitical situation continues to spiral...

it was the best grow postage since i was watching 1994. In terms of knock out games i would still rate 1998 higher for example Argentina vs Holland ? Argentina vs England ? Brazil versus Denmark ?
on the other side the brazil vs germany game will be a game we will tell our grandchildren 30 years from now.

I see that Celtic are playing a Champions League match (In July!!!) in Iceland today. Time to start the 2014-2015 Football Thread?

the Austrian Bundesliga starts on the 19.07. ... so thanks to world cup no football summer break here. After the world cup the austrian league feels more like watching pub teams fighting it out but it's something

 

[Jaffa Cake]

I see that Celtic are playing a Champions League match (In July!!!) in Iceland today. Time to start the 2014-2015 Football Thread?

The draw's being made now!

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