The association football 2009/10 thread...

[Lofty]

all ready for the new season beatches...

[coatsy]

all ready for the new season beatches...

looking forward to it, bring it on.

[Hellsinkey]

How about the new fantasy teams? Here are last season's results. I don't know most, as people used their real names (I censored last names here). I did alright, considering I chose all Finns first and then what was left. Who won?

Metal Sludge League (Rank: 110,679 / 140,837) Overall
# Team Manager GW Total
1 FC Bosteros Chris N 37 1800
2 Cato St Conspiracy Matt H 35 1682
3 Bad AIDS Shocked the_monkey 25 1543
4 The Dogs of war Philip M 31 1519
5 Pullopojat Hells Inkey 46 1513
6 Crüe Alexandra Alex C 31 1403
7 Hellomoto Hello Moto 34 1388
8 Bottlestore FC Mike ABC 41 1368
9 Obi Wan - Kenobi Nil Luke H 23 1217

[Lofty]

Hmm mid-table last year. Not too bad.

Just to put things in perceptive for all those people that support premiership teams. My team is cork city. They are my local team and the ones that I go to games for whenever i can be they home or travelling. they were the first team that I went to see when I first took up an interest in Soccer. I may also support manchester united but that is something else entirely.

Cork currently owe approximately 360 K to the revenue in unpaid tax and whatever. This is primarily down to regimes that took over and sensing the opportunity that they had to make money when there was quite a lot going around the eircom league. We also had the reputation of promising young players that could be sold for a handy profit (case in point being Kevin Doyle but so many others as well). Unfortunately, when things started to get tougher and investment needed, such parties became to pull out.

The club has about 2 weeks to come up with this money or face a winding up order. We as fans have been through the mill constantly from owners and administrators that could not care less. There is a friendly coming up tomorrow against Roy keane's Ipswich side. To expect that the monies from this to be enough to satisfy the officials is optimistic to say the least. Laughable would be more appropriate. Hartlepool have had a bid accepted for 2 of our best players, one of whom Colin Healy has represented the Republic at least a dozen times scoring as well, and at a knock down price unfortunately.

It is hard for some people to comprehend the pressures and struggles of teams at this sort of level. Maybe, only those people who are fans of teams in league 1 or 2 can possibly understand. It is heartbreaking to think that our city could lose our local team

[MickeyG]

Could be a tough season for Scottish clubs thanks to the new shitty tv deal they've been forced to take from Sky thanks to Setantas collapse.

[coatsy]

Could be a tough season for Scottish clubs thanks to the new shitty tv deal they've been forced to take from Sky thanks to Setantas collapse.

barring aberdeen,rangers and our unwashed rivals from across the city they said not to go setanta. but the other clubs saw pound signs in their eyes.

[MickeyG]

Could be a tough season for Scottish clubs thanks to the new shitty tv deal they've been forced to take from Sky thanks to Setantas collapse.

barring aberdeen,rangers and our unwashed rivals from across the city they said not to go setanta. but the other clubs saw pound signs in their eyes.

I read that too. And so a deal that is worth half as much as what Sky offered last season has been accepted. I think Celtic said they will lose 12 mil over 4 seasons or something.

[coatsy]

Could be a tough season for Scottish clubs thanks to the new shitty tv deal they've been forced to take from Sky thanks to Setantas collapse.

barring aberdeen,rangers and our unwashed rivals from across the city they said not to go setanta. but the other clubs saw pound signs in their eyes.

I read that too. And so a deal that is worth half as much as what Sky offered last season has been accepted. I think Celtic said they will lose 12 mil over 4 seasons or something.

rangers and celtic will both lose millions. celtic have to pre-qualify for the champions league and they have an absolute bastard of a draw. which i'm happy about.

[Hellsinkey]

Adebayor is going to ManC. It's bench for Tevez.

[pieceofme]

Adebayor is going to ManC. It's bench for Tevez.

They have some very good strikers but Hughes can't play them all at once.

I can imagine keeping everyone relatively happy an impossible task, especially with the players they now have.

[MickeyG]

Just read a report of the Gerrard court case, he's the only one out of the accused not admitting affray.

But the CCTV cameras tell a different story.

[Hellsinkey]

Here's the theme for the coming season:

DON'T FEAR THE SWEEPER

Pissing down with rain on a Tuesday night,
I stood and watched my team play like a bag of shite
The goaly is a twit, the stiker is a twat,
The referee's a git and he's blinder than a bat
So what!? You scored? Well shut your fucking gobs!
You might have won, but we've got bigger knobs

Piss your pants! That deserves a booking!
Shit your bags! He played the bastard ball!
Fucking hell! These pies need cooking!
Coffee's shit and the bovril's cold

Get stuck in! You're playing like a weed!
We're free to be concentrating on the league
He's booked! Thank fuck! Let's bring on the sub,
He's got five minutes, then I'm going down the pub

Up your arse! A mile outside the box!
You might have won, but we've got bigger cocks!

Piss your pants! That's a bastard corner!
Chuck this pasty at the referee
Fuck off home it was a crap performance
And we should have had a penalty

Buy us ten pints, and we don't care

[MickeyG]

Fuck me, I can't believe Stevie Me got off. The other morons he was with must wish they hadn't admitted it now.

[pieceofme]

Fuck me, I can't believe Stevie Me got off. The other morons he was with must wish they hadn't admitted it now.

I can. He doesn't deserve to though, but i'm not surprised.

[MickeyG]

Fuck me, I can't believe Stevie Me got off. The other morons he was with must wish they hadn't admitted it now.

I can. He doesn't deserve to though, but i'm not surprised.

Well yeah, rich scouse footballer on trial in his own backyard. But seeing as the likes of Cantona, Woodgate, Bowyer and Joey Barton all received punishment of some kind, I thought Stevie Me would have been found guilty and then got a weak punishment.

[Hellsinkey]

They don't want to upset their golden boy before season.

In other news, ManC have offered 50 million for Terry and million a month in wages.

[Ugmo]

I would have been surprised if he'd been found guilty. Professional soccer players in Europe have carte blanche when it comes to acting like drunken, violent yobs without consequence. If Patrick Kluivert can kill someone while driving drunk, Gerrard isn't going to be punished for merely punching a guy's teeth out in a nightclub.

In other news, Beckham fined 1,000 bucks for trying to start a fight with a fan.

[MickeyG]

I disagree a little bit, Ugmo.

Bowyer, Woodgate and Barton didn't get away with what they all did. They got caught on camera just like Gerrard did.

In other news, Welbeck won a penalty in England U19's 2-2 draw with Ukraine, while Danny Drinkwater set up the second of England's goals.

Also, in the Serbia game Ljajic set up both of Serbia's goals against Spain.

I really hope these youngsters with the likes of Tosic and Macheda as well are given their chance for United more and more over the next 18 months or so. Ljajic is supposed to be joining up in January as he stayed at Partizan another year while Tosic moved straight away.

[Ugmo]

Bowyer, Woodgate and Barton didn't get away with what they all did. They got caught on camera just like Gerrard did.

My recollection was they did get away with it, and here's what wiki says:

Following an incident in Leeds in January 2000, in which an Asian student suffered severe injuries, Bowyer and teammate Jonathan Woodgate were charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and affray.[8] An initial trial collapsed in April 2001 after an article in a Sunday newspaper,[9] and following a second trial, which ended in December 2001, Bowyer was cleared of both charges while Woodgate was convicted of affray and sentenced to community service.

So Bowyer got away with it and Woodgate got a slap on the wrist.

[Hellsinkey]

I really hope these youngsters with the likes of Tosic and Macheda as well are given their chance for United more and more over the next 18 months or so.

Fergie has called Macheda the best finisher in the team, so I'd guess he'd be the fourth choice striker after Rooney, Berbatov and Owen.

[MickeyG]

Bowyer, Woodgate and Barton didn't get away with what they all did. They got caught on camera just like Gerrard did.

My recollection was they did get away with it, and here's what wiki says:

Following an incident in Leeds in January 2000, in which an Asian student suffered severe injuries, Bowyer and teammate Jonathan Woodgate were charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent and affray.[8] An initial trial collapsed in April 2001 after an article in a Sunday newspaper,[9] and following a second trial, which ended in December 2001, Bowyer was cleared of both charges while Woodgate was convicted of affray and sentenced to community service.

So Bowyer got away with it and Woodgate got a slap on the wrist.

My bad on Bowyer, I thought they both got the same.

Yes, not massive punishment for Woodgate, but a conviction nonetheless. I think the video evidence showed them in the crowd but you couldn't see much. In Gerrards case, the douche did admit to throwing 3 uppercuts but apparently in UK law even if you THINK you might get hit first you are allowed a pre-emptive attack.

It must be this law that Bush and Blair used to attack Iraq.

[SLASH1976]

I would have been surprised if he'd been found guilty. Professional soccer players in Europe have carte blanche when it comes to acting like drunken, violent yobs without consequence. If Patrick Kluivert can kill someone while driving drunk,

He got accused of rape as well

[Ugmo]

Honestly, this is going to sound harsh, but it's exactly the reason I hate English soccer. English footballers prove themselves again and again to be drunken, violent yobs. Whether it's a bunch of Leeds players kicking the crap out of a student, Gerrard punching a guy's teeth out in a nightclub, Wayne Rooney cheating on his girlfriend at the age of 17 with a prostitute (did I get the details right?), the drunken Chelsea players making complete fools of themselves in a hotel lobby full of American tourists on 9/11 - it's really difficult to cheer for a bunch of proles who are so incredibly dislikable. Which is not to say I have anything against England or the English in general (in fact I hold a British passport), but when an English team is playing I always cheer for the opponent. Sad but true.

[MickeyG]

LOL Ugmo, luckily most of the players in the Premier league are foreigners anyway so you won't be sullying your eyeballs too much by watching English soccer.

[Ugmo]

LOL Ugmo, luckily most of the players in the Premier league are foreigners anyway so you won't be sullying your eyeballs too much by watching English soccer.

I don't want to sound like a dick. It's not the style of play I don't like... that's fine. It's just, you have to admit a lot of these guys are intensely dislikable. And I know and like plenty of Englishmen ("Some of my best friends are English!" ). But English soccer players just tend to be the most yobbish of all, you know what I mean?

[shocked_the_monkey]

LOL Ugmo, luckily most of the players in the Premier league are foreigners anyway so you won't be sullying your eyeballs too much by watching English soccer.

I don't want to sound like a dick. It's not the style of play I don't like... that's fine. It's just, you have to admit a lot of these guys are intensely dislikable. And I know and like plenty of Englishmen ("Some of my best friends are English!" ). But English soccer players just tend to be the most yobbish of all, you know what I mean?

Yes, English footballers tend to be very stupid as well. You just have to listen to them speak. (U'know, yeah, um, the boys and the gaffer are pleased with the result, but we'll, y'know, take each game as it comes) Admittedly, I would struggle to come up with an interesting answer to some of those questions.

They're young guys who, after leaving school at 16, are idolised by a crowd which has a large proportion of stupid yobs in it as well.

Coupled with sycophantic newspaper reporters and interviewers (Garth Crookes), it's hardly surprising they feel they can behave how they want.

[Ugmo]

I have a friend here in Austria who deals closely with big clubs (not just English) when they come here for pre-season training camps. He's told me some really good stories. Such as when Ivan Campo knocked on his door in the middle of the night: "Ingo, we have to go find some girls!" So my friend took him to the brothel, and who should they meet there but Giovanni Trapatoni, arguing with the management because he didn't want to pay: "Don't you know who I am?" Or Guti, who sent him out on an errand to buy about 60 euros worth of hair care products, then refused to pay him when he got back with the loot!

He told me a story about an English player (can't remember who), who had a visit from his family and wanted my friend to go take an STD test so he could show the (presumably negative) result to his wife and pass it off as his own!

I asked my friend if any of these guys are actually decent family men and he said, "Yeah, so-and-so (an English player I'd never heard of) is a decent family man." So that's one out of dozens and dozens! I guess the point being a lot of these guys are complete jerks, but maybe the English players don't do as good of a job concealing it.

[SLASH1976]

Yes, English footballers tend to be very stupid as well.

Most footy players aren't exactly Mensa material. Most of em didn't even finish school

[CliffByford]

First off, who is this guy? This picture's been up on Football365 and I am going nuts trying to identify this presumably very famous footballer.

Secondly, Lofty - after QPR (who have been in the financial doldrums themselves) I follow Exeter City. Having been relegated from the then Third Division into the Conference, the money was gone. Debts were spiralling out of control and a successive parade of shysters (including Uri Geller's son) came in and lost more cash. A good board was finally put in place but debts remained seemingly insurmountable.

Then they got Manchester United in the FA Cup. Not only that, they drew the first leg at home, and go to play a replay at Old Trafford. That one stroke of luck saved them, and now they've just been promoted into League One. The fact is that sheer luck got the Grecians up and running again. Let's hope something happens to Cork City too. I hear the winding up order has been confirmed today. My family is originally from Cork, and we have a couple of Rebels amongst us.

[Lofty]

First off, who is this guy? This picture's been up on Football365 and I am going nuts trying to identify this presumably very famous footballer.

Secondly, Lofty - after QPR (who have been in the financial doldrums themselves) I follow Exeter City. Having been relegated from the then Third Division into the Conference, the money was gone. Debts were spiralling out of control and a successive parade of shysters (including Uri Geller's son) came in and lost more cash. A good board was finally put in place but debts remained seemingly insurmountable.

Then they got Manchester United in the FA Cup. Not only that, they drew the first leg at home, and go to play a replay at Old Trafford. That one stroke of luck saved them, and now they've just been promoted into League One. The fact is that sheer luck got the Grecians up and running again. Let's hope something happens to Cork City too. I hear the winding up order has been confirmed today. My family is originally from Cork, and we have a couple of Rebels amongst us.

Yeah, the announcement was made yesterday. Despite the sales of Colin Healy and Denis Behan and the monies made from the Ipswich friendly, the revenue made the decision that they wanted the full amount payable for 7.30 on friday night. That same night they are due to play a game at home against Bray wanderers. Supporters clubs have been frenetic since the announcement was made to try and put some money together to make up some of the difference but its a major ask.

If the holding company were to be folded, the main plan being banded around at the moment is to create a supporters owned club in the city. I know it has been incorporated in some British clubs to varying degrees of success. Barca obviously are the template