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The 2017-2018 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
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No, Arsenal.
They somehow contrived to lose a game they dominated and should have won; yes, the penalty was dodgy, but Arsenal should not have been clawing for a draw in a game they had mostly dominated by the end, when, inevitably, Something Stupid was going to happen, and, equally inevitably, it did.
Kudos to Watford.
Not too surprised by the dourness of the affair at Anfield. Both teams missing key players and coming off a pivotal international break. The schedule is going to get pretty tough for United and they're going to have to gut it out without Pogba and Fellaini. Here I am saying they'll miss Fellaini — what a world we're living in.
Zaha finally scored a goal for Palace. Them beating Chelsea is the shock result of the weekend for me.
Zaha finally scored a goal for Palace. Them beating Chelsea is the shock result of the weekend for me.
Today I woke up to every fan's worst nightmare. Anthony Precourt, owner of Columbus Crew SC, announced that unless the city of Columbus builds a new stadium located downtown, at the taxpayers' expense, he will move the team to Austin, Texas in 2019. There's really no room for a new stadium in the small downtown, nor is there the money to do it. Precourt knows this, so it's just a pretext to take the team away.
From the timing and context of events it is clear that this has been in the works for some time, but Precourt kept it quiet until he was able to get assurances from Austin that they would build him a stadium for free. Apparently those assurances have now been made.
As a Cleveland sports fan who has seen teams stolen away before, it's absolutely sickening. Made worse by the fact that The league couldn't care less that the original founding teams who allowed them to survive through the lean years are being killed off in favor of glossy, plastic new franchises that better represent their business model today.
I feel completely stabbed in the back, and the disturbing trend of sports owners extorting taxpayers for new stadium construction in the US continues.
If you read between the lines in MLS's official news piece about it, you can clearly see the league colluding here. Attendance is not keeping up with the league, so the team gets moved. Once MLS leaves Columbus us, they won't care if everyone there hates them.
Columbus has a claim to being the first club awarded an MLS franchise, so it is in a sense the oldest top-division club in the US. And the league is prepared to spirit it away in the dead of night to Texas, a state already hosting two teams.
From the timing and context of events it is clear that this has been in the works for some time, but Precourt kept it quiet until he was able to get assurances from Austin that they would build him a stadium for free. Apparently those assurances have now been made.
As a Cleveland sports fan who has seen teams stolen away before, it's absolutely sickening. Made worse by the fact that The league couldn't care less that the original founding teams who allowed them to survive through the lean years are being killed off in favor of glossy, plastic new franchises that better represent their business model today.
I feel completely stabbed in the back, and the disturbing trend of sports owners extorting taxpayers for new stadium construction in the US continues.
If you read between the lines in MLS's official news piece about it, you can clearly see the league colluding here. Attendance is not keeping up with the league, so the team gets moved. Once MLS leaves Columbus us, they won't care if everyone there hates them.
Columbus has a claim to being the first club awarded an MLS franchise, so it is in a sense the oldest top-division club in the US. And the league is prepared to spirit it away in the dead of night to Texas, a state already hosting two teams.
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That's completely miserable. This is such a difference in US sports vs. the rest of the world. MLS teams are not the "local home teams" present in their rest of the world.
B
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Reading about this, both sickens and saddens me. Unfortunately, it doesn't surprise me.
Another side of the Columbus story, from Texas.
I was wrong in suggesting that the stadium will be paid for with public funds. Precourt and the mayor of Austin both appear to be suggesting some form of private investment would be used build the stadium, though the details are unknown.
What IS clear for this is that Precourt is using every piece of leverage he can think of to get himself a shiny new stadium - ANYWHERE - without paying for it himself.
I'd like to say Precourt's relationship with the fans is now irreparable, but supporters can be fickle. If his ploy works and he somehow gets a stadium in Columbus, I can see things calming down to an uneasy truce. But he just lost all the capital he had been building since he took over, and we can see that everything - the investment, the rebranding, the big talk about identity, was just a smokescreen to distract us from a tremendous, carefully planned and ice-cold betrayal of an entire city fueled purely by greed and selfishness.
Regardless of what happens next this is a devastating thunderbolt from the blue for Columbus fans.
If this were the 18th century that ******* would be tarred, feathered, and run out of town this instant.
I was wrong in suggesting that the stadium will be paid for with public funds. Precourt and the mayor of Austin both appear to be suggesting some form of private investment would be used build the stadium, though the details are unknown.
What IS clear for this is that Precourt is using every piece of leverage he can think of to get himself a shiny new stadium - ANYWHERE - without paying for it himself.
I'd like to say Precourt's relationship with the fans is now irreparable, but supporters can be fickle. If his ploy works and he somehow gets a stadium in Columbus, I can see things calming down to an uneasy truce. But he just lost all the capital he had been building since he took over, and we can see that everything - the investment, the rebranding, the big talk about identity, was just a smokescreen to distract us from a tremendous, carefully planned and ice-cold betrayal of an entire city fueled purely by greed and selfishness.
Regardless of what happens next this is a devastating thunderbolt from the blue for Columbus fans.
If this were the 18th century that ******* would be tarred, feathered, and run out of town this instant.
Was out with my old boss so we stayed to watch the Man U match. Wasn't very pretty, but they got the job done due to some absolute shocking goal keeping!
Lol. Even my mate who's a big Man U fan said the same!Fixed that for you.
I've been to the Crew stadium several times and I'd always thought they could add on to it, no? I realize his main issue is location though.
Even the most diehard Columbus fans will admit the stadium is a bit basic and in a less-than-ideal location (though the pitch was and is always immaculate)...though it's still not far from downtown and right off the interstate. The big problem is that it's sited on the state fairground and the parking area, while capacious, leads to headaches coming and going.
Even with all that, I don't think the stadium is necessarily preventing people from coming. 15k average attendance is still not inconsiderable, and Columbus is NEVER going to compete with Seattle, for example; the problem is that the league's head has been turned by some of the newer clubs' big attendance numbers, and feel the need to "fix" the situation. And the solution is ALWAYS 1) force the construction of a new stadium or 2) move the team.
Columbus Crew Stadium was the first soccer specific stadium in the US. When it was built, many thought it would be a white elephant, and nobody else in the US bothered to take the plunge and do it - Not LA, not Chicago, not DC - all in bigger markets. Columbus DID take that risk, and it paid off. Many of the Johnny-Come-Lately Atlanta/Toronto/NY/NJ fans who are tossing out hate about Columbus on the internet weren't even born yet when the stadium was built. They've never gone to a match in a crappy college football stadium, and don't understand that if it wasn't for the success of CCS, MLS as we know it might not exist. But now the league treats CCS as if it were embarrassed to be associated with it.
A MNUFC-suporting friend passed along this thoughtful piece on why this stunt by Precourt has implications beyond Columbus. I think it's a worthy read.
Now I have to make do with F1 all weekend as I won't want to see MOTD tomorrow!
I think we'll be changing manager soon.
Not the first club (in the Premiership) to do so this season.......nor - by any means - the last....but, not terribly surprising if this does indeed come to pass......
Huddersfield defeat Manchester United by two goals to one.
Spurs-Liverpool should be an interesting match. Spurs have a killer striker in Kane, a much better defense and a much better keeper. Liverpool are best against teams who play a similar style (like Spurs) and will arguably be able to win more battles in the midfield, where the pressing game will be focused. Mane will be badly missed, so Liverpool will again rely on Salah for pace.
I'm not terribly confident, but these kind of matchups do work more to Liverpool's favor than those involving defensive teams. Hopefully it's a back-and-forth affair with goals in good supply.
A big result for Huddersfield, who started well this season but struggled a bit lately. I caught a little of the Premier League call-in show on Sirius in the car today, and there were a few Man Utd fans very unhappy with Mourinho's approach to this game.
This is one of those matches where I think Mourinho's boringly cautious tactics cost him all the points.
I'm not terribly confident, but these kind of matchups do work more to Liverpool's favor than those involving defensive teams. Hopefully it's a back-and-forth affair with goals in good supply.
A big result for Huddersfield, who started well this season but struggled a bit lately. I caught a little of the Premier League call-in show on Sirius in the car today, and there were a few Man Utd fans very unhappy with Mourinho's approach to this game.
This is one of those matches where I think Mourinho's boringly cautious tactics cost him all the points.
A big result for Huddersfield, but they deserved their points, and would have been robbed had United snatched an equaliser in extra time.
United were dreadful, and the usually graceless Mr Mourinho admitted that Huddersfield were the better team and fully deserved their victory.
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