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The 2019-2020 Football Thread
- Thread starter Lord Blackadder
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
A new business will be treating our sports withdrawal symptoms.
Well, yes.
I do hear you - I have to remind myself not to check to see how Arsenal have done when I return from the farmers' market, or steel myself for an afternoon game.
However, one of the things that has struck me about COVID-19, is that, like the medieval plague, (and I have seen some of those medieval images of the plague in ancient churches and cathedrals - death dancing, portrayed as a skeleton, dancing with lines of well dressed people - people from all walks of life and social classes, - the point being that this illness struck everyone - claiming farmers, ploughmen, priests, bishops, kings, merchants, - people of all ages and social backgrounds), it is not only the poor, or elderly and ill, who are succumbing to illness (and death) and who are victims of this condition.
For, the condition is also found among some among elites - people who would possibly have seen themselves as immune, or in a position to escape or avoid - or, to be able to ameliorate - the worst consequences of this condition.
Thus, in Europe, it has been reported that Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator, has the condition, while the German Chancellor, Dr Merkel, is in quarantine as of tonight, as her doctor, reportedly, has contracted the virus.
In the world of football, not only has Mikel Arteta become infected, but yesterday evening, it was reported that the former chairman of Real Madrid, Lorenzo Sanz, had actually died from COVID-19.
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Well, I do miss it as well, but I'm not going to complain about THE MASSIVE WEDNESDAY 2 week unbeaten streak!!!
Arsenal have announced that they are putting "an indefinite" hold on (team) training, saying that it would be "irresponsible" and "inappropriate" to resume training on Tuesday, March 24, the day when training had been due to resume at the conclusion of the 14 days quarantine observed by the club, and team, and staff, ever since Mikel Arteta had announced that he had contracted COVID-19.
Individual (customised) training will continue as players train by themselves and work remotely.
Individual (customised) training will continue as players train by themselves and work remotely.
It will be an interesting conclusion to the season. Players will come back. Some will be fit, others will be fat. Have to see when and if they deal with that. What if we get to August or later and still haven’t resumed?
To be honest, I doubt that many all be "fat", - these days, the top leagues are home to exceptionally fit and self-aware professionals, who look after themselves.
Moreover, the suspension of the season may well be of enormous benefit to injured players and those who were feeling burn-out as a consequence of having had to play too many games.
However, I have considerable sympathy for many of the clubs in the lower leagues, clubs with histories, and firmly rooted in their communities; the vast finances of football haven't trickled down to anything like the extent that they should have done, and a lengthy period without football (and its income streams) may well hurt them financially, some irreparably.
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I read that over the week-end some Manchester United and Manchester City players donated around £100,000 to food banks (and Gary Neville, who is an impressive human being, has made free accommodation in his hotels available to health workers, a decent gesture and one to be applauded).
Yes, a decent and necessary and very welcome gesture, but - frankly - very little, because the average salary per week in the PL is around £60,000, whereas the really high earners receive salaries of several multiples of that.
Nevertheless, it should be well within the means of top clubs and top players to donate a lot more than they have done to date.
Yes, a decent and necessary and very welcome gesture, but - frankly - very little, because the average salary per week in the PL is around £60,000, whereas the really high earners receive salaries of several multiples of that.
Nevertheless, it should be well within the means of top clubs and top players to donate a lot more than they have done to date.
A hole in one's Saturday afternoon routine, certainly, but a blessed lack of gnawing tension, as well.
Mind you, Nick Hornby has written (in Fever Pitch) that this gnawing tension is part of the (almost absurd) attraction of football for those who support it.
Indeed it is. I read an article this week about the lack of endorphins we would normally get from following sport.
Aw, sigh, @pachyderm.
This brings back memories.......I remember Subbuteo very well indeed, and even played it, on a few, rather rare, occasions..........my brother had a much loved set.
Actually, earlier, when I was even younger, my father had vetoed a planned purchase (from an entrepreneurially minded neighbour's child) on the grounds that the requested purchase price for a used Subbuteo set was far too high, and that I may have been taken advantage of.
(I think that he may have thought - or worried - that being bright, and clever at school, and wearing glasses, what would now be considered to be a very clichéd nerd, does not always mean wise in the ways of the world).
Granted, it was expensive (this was the very early 70s), at well over a pound (a fortune, in hard earned pocket money), but my argument and earnest protestations that this was an agreed exchange - hard cash for Subbuteo - by mutual consent rather than the daylight robbery that my father (who kept a commendably close eye on our toys, and had spotted the new interloper in the toy boxes/cupboard/compartment/department at once) suspected, fell on rather deaf ears.
However, the very fact that I can post about it many years, - ah, decades - later, tells its own sorry tale.
Candidly, I'd have been happy to pay the entrepreneur - in fact, I did pay the enterprising entrepreneur, and the exchange took place - but parental pressure (my father contacted his father and the pair of them combined to terminate this contract) led to the contract being revoked and the goods (a Subbuteo set, in very good condition) being returned (immediately) to the disappointed vendor.
This brings back memories.......I remember Subbuteo very well indeed, and even played it, on a few, rather rare, occasions..........my brother had a much loved set.
Actually, earlier, when I was even younger, my father had vetoed a planned purchase (from an entrepreneurially minded neighbour's child) on the grounds that the requested purchase price for a used Subbuteo set was far too high, and that I may have been taken advantage of.
(I think that he may have thought - or worried - that being bright, and clever at school, and wearing glasses, what would now be considered to be a very clichéd nerd, does not always mean wise in the ways of the world).
Granted, it was expensive (this was the very early 70s), at well over a pound (a fortune, in hard earned pocket money), but my argument and earnest protestations that this was an agreed exchange - hard cash for Subbuteo - by mutual consent rather than the daylight robbery that my father (who kept a commendably close eye on our toys, and had spotted the new interloper in the toy boxes/cupboard/compartment/department at once) suspected, fell on rather deaf ears.
However, the very fact that I can post about it many years, - ah, decades - later, tells its own sorry tale.
Candidly, I'd have been happy to pay the entrepreneur - in fact, I did pay the enterprising entrepreneur, and the exchange took place - but parental pressure (my father contacted his father and the pair of them combined to terminate this contract) led to the contract being revoked and the goods (a Subbuteo set, in very good condition) being returned (immediately) to the disappointed vendor.
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The trouble with Subbuteo as I recall was the size of the pitch and the tendency to kneel on the players. I recall breaking one or two.
I did have a very cheap table football set (fuze ball to you Americans) at some point to. But it wasn’t well made. It had no glass so the ball had a tendency to launch and could also get stuck.
I did have a very cheap table football set (fuze ball to you Americans) at some point to. But it wasn’t well made. It had no glass so the ball had a tendency to launch and could also get stuck.
Yeah we have ours sitting on top of our foosball table. I'll post a picture later today...
2nd pic: Arsenal, Hull City, Spurs, SWFC, Fulham away kit, Man U
L-R: Dortmund Goalie and field player, SFC, Man City's Balotelli and #2 whomever ithat was that season.
Fulham, Hull, Ipswich, Spur...
Too much clutter on the actual pitch to take a pic of that yet. We are in the midst of dusting it off.
We have the pitch clamped down on some sort of hard board. It's laying on top of our foosball table.
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Looks good. Enjoy the game when it finally kicks off.
Looks great; I want to see Arsenal on your table.....anyway, I look forward to reading further reports about your Subbuteo endeavours.
One hesitates to introduce the subject of cat videos to a football thread, but, for those who are housebound/isolated/and/or cocooning, I recommend taking a look at a wonderful video from Italy (Rome, apparently, it was shot in the hallway of an apartment in Rome) named "Gigi the goalkeeper cat"; there are PL teams who could do with the addition of that feline to their ranks.
Bruges is an absolutely beautiful city - I've been there a few times, and would love to pay a return visit at some stage.
Elsewhere, just noticed that Gary Lineker has decided to donate a couple of months' salary to the British Red Cross who are doing vital work for some of the most vulnerable during the Covid-19 crisis. Bravo, very well done, and an excellent example for others to follow.