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The 2013-2014 Football Thread

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daneoni said:
Me thinks John Henry is like Wenger, slaps a valuation on a player and won't budge. Sure £11m shouldn't be too much for LFC. But i guess Chelsea offered more in wages (40k a week i hear)
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I somewhat agree, but as you say Chelsea can afford to outbid Liverpool on fees and wages anyway - if they want their man they'll get him, regardless of the cost. The only time they'd run into trouble would be if they were bidding against Man City or PSG, or perhaps Barca/Real.

From Liverpool's perspective, it is impossible to outbid top clubs for talent. The best that can be hoped for is that the club can pick up good players cheap and hold on to them when the oil barons come calling.

The failure of Financial Fair Play casts serious doubt on the ability of any club to grow big enough to truly challenge the PSGs, Man Citys and Chelseas in the transfer market. For the foreseeable future, those clubs have cemented their places on top through sheer financial might.

Happybunny said:
Sandro Rosell steps down as chairman of FC Barcelona.

The Spanish justice dept are looking at the transfer of Neymar this summer. Talk about illegal payments.

http://nos.nl/artikel/601277-barcapreses-rosell-treedt-af.html
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I wonder where this whole affair will end...Neymar's signing involved some Byzantine financial acrobatics. Somewhere along the line things probably got dodgy.
 
So, the pots for the Euro 2016 qualifying draw have been released, the draw is on Feb 23:

Pot 1: Spain (holders), Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Bosnia-Hercegovina
Pot 2 : Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland
Pot 3 : Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, Poland
Pot 4: Montenegro, Armenia, Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales, Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus
Pot 5 : Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Cyprus
Pot 6 : Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar

This will give 8 groups of six and 1 group of five.

Two interesting notes:
1) France (the hosts) will be added to the group of five, making a group of six. However, France's matches against the other five group members will be friendlies. The reason for this is that in the past Euro hosts have had a hard time finding friendly opponents.

2) The tournament is now 24 teams, so there are 23 places available in qualifying. Assuming the top two teams in each group automatically qualify, that would leave 5 spots left. My guess is that the best 3rd place team will automatically qualify and then the remaining 8 third placed teams will play-off for the 4 remaining spots.
 
Too many teams. Football tournaments have become so ponderous. There's just too much money to be made with bloated tournaments, FIFA/UEFA can't resist expanding the format over and over.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
Too many teams. Football tournaments have become so ponderous. There's just too much money to be made with bloated tournaments, FIFA/UEFA can't resist expanding the format over and over.
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the alternative would be have been to rework those ridiculous drawing pots

for 6 years or so Austria were in the 4. pot which made it really, really difficult to get out of just because you were the host 2 years ago and only had friendlies

in the world cup qualifiers Austria for example had to face 3 teams which played in the last euro cup, Switzerland ? none


also the last 20 years quite a few new FAs have been added to the Uefa
 
So Bundesliga started again, Bayern started winning again, stopped watching after 7mins...

Unrelated but just saw a Seinfeld episode where they couldn't stop talking about Pachyderm. Pachyderm was apparently dropping a pizza onto his face. ?
 
Monaco have made a one-off payment of 50m euros to maintain their tax-free status in the French league forever. What a bargain for Monaco!!! 50 million and they get to maintain a permanent financial advantage over all other teams. Complete nonsense. :rolleyes: Given how much more PSG are paying to get talent, Monaco's solution will pay for itself after one big signing.

AS Monaco said:
By making a voluntary, one-off, all-in contribution of €50m, which shall be payable in several instalments, Monaco demonstrates its attachment to French football and can pursue its project for the benefit of all stakeholders.

The shared history between French football and one of its most faithful representatives enabled common ground to be found, allowing the dispute to be resolved in a way that ensures it will not arise again.
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They should have been forced to pay French taxes or get kicked out of the league.

It will probably never happen, but the game is crying out for a system that limits the power of mega-wealthy tycoons and Middle Eastern royal families. At the moment club football is an absolute free-for-all if you have the money.

Rant over.
 
Not a total free-for-all, your Lordship - I read an article yesterday suggesting that should we somehow conspire to claim a Europa League place for next season we'd be barred from playing in the competition under FFP rules due to the debt the club has amassed over the past couple of seasons.

Of course, we're not going to win a European spot but that's not the point. For those whose heads aren't buried in the warm sands of a Premier League campaign the club's finances are something of a worry.

Anyway, onto happier matters - Southend away, you say? Aye, go on then.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Anyway, onto happier matters - Southend away, you say? Aye, go on then.
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Did you make the trip, Jaffa? Fryatt's already notched one, it's looking good for the tigers.

I take your point on the debt too. Maybe Allam should do what PSG did - make a 50m one-time payment to the FA in return for immunity from FFP in perpetuity. It's worth a shot. :rolleyes:

daneoni said:
City 2-0 down...at the Etihad.
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It can't happen, but come on Watford!!!
 
You just knew that Man City had plenty of goals in them of they decided to turn it on. Oh well, at least Watford made a game of it. I'm really not looking forward to Liverpool's next match against them.

Jaffa Cake said:
Yep, on the bus back now. Proper old little ground, Roots Hall.
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2-0 to Hull, job done, pop-bang-lovely. A solid Saturday by the sound of it. :)

The only downer was that we didn't see any upsets today.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
2-0 to Hull, job done, pop-bang-lovely. A solid Saturday by the sound of it. :)
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It was one of the acer away trips in recent years, that's for sure. Great away end, Tiger Nationals in full voice, plenty of 'No to Hull Tigers' scarves and flags on view, and we even conspired not to get knocked out by League Two opposition. All most pleasing.

Also, as well as a pre-match pint in an away friendly pub mere minutes from Roots Hall, I had the chance beforehand to have a stroll through a nearby park hoping to spot an interesting steamroller that had been converted into a climbing frame, as mentioned to me by a former Southend dwelling MacRumormonger. Unfortunately it was no longer there but it wasn't a wasted diversion as I saw some nice ornamental fish ponds and a most amusing sausage dog.

As you can tell, rolling with Jaffa's hardcore matchday firm isn't for the faint of heart. :p
 
Oh well...at least its another Home draw

FA CUP FIFTH-ROUND DRAW
Everton v Swansea

Sunderland v Southampton

Sheffield Wednesday v Charlton

Cardiff City v Wigan

Brighton v Hull

Arsenal v Liverpool

Sheffield United or Fulham v Nottingham Forest or Preston NE

Manchester City v Chelsea
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City will have to play Barca and Chelsea within 72hrs. Arguably their biggest tests yet. Should be fun to watch.

Ours will be harder, Liverpool x2, United and Bayern within 11 days. :rolleyes:
 
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Jaffa Cake said:
As you can tell, rolling with Jaffa's hardcore matchday firm isn't for the faint of heart. :p
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...And here I thought you'd be marching in protest from a pub you were drinking in anyway to the stadium you were going to anyway. :D

Truly, though, I'd probably be going to tour the local historical sites, so I'm not exactly a hooligan either.

daneoni said:
Oh well...at least its another Home draw
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Not a good draw for Liverpool fans! Hopefully it's a real contest.
 
Another day out for the Cakes!

Looking at the FA Cup draw again, I'm glad that the biggest four teams crew each other. Whoever wins it, I hope it's not Chelsea or Man City.
 
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