Football (real)

[nietzsche]

Barcafuckingwho?

I expected more noise here about Celtics' win over Barca.

[maxfaraday]

Barcafuckingwho?

I expected more noise here about Celtics' win over Barca.

[pmchugh]

Barcafuckingwho?

I expected more noise here about Celtics' win over Barca.

Honestly over the last few days I have had so many people congratulate me and ask what is was like to be there etc etc. And I cannot explain for they cannot understand, this was a not a fleeting affair, this was a special moment in the greatest of relationships, this is what love is and if your looking for more noise head on over to Celtic park on matchday





p.s. no I have not sobered up yet

[sam_levi_11]

f*ck being an Arsenal fan. Fucking shit. That is all.

[nietzsche]

f*ck being an Arsenal fan. Fucking shit. That is all.

You should do like Van Persie.

[2dimes]

Barcafuckingwho?

...Obama. It's the same guy as before he just basically kept his job. Not really a big deal in a way. No surprise you missed the whole thing over there.

[pmchugh]

Barcafuckingwho?

...Obama. It's the same guy as before he just basically kept his job. Not really a big deal in a way. No surprise you missed the whole thing over there.

Barca Obama?



Brought back down to earth this weekend with a draw against St Johnstone at home, this league might not be as easy as we thought...

[crispybits]

Just goes to show the Scottish league, even without Rangers, is tougher than the Spanish one

[sam_levi_11]

I now understand what it must be like to support tottenham, continual disapointment and anger.

[crispybits]

Not until you spend 2-3 decades down there you don't....

[betiko]

I now understand what it must be like to support tottenham, continual disapointment and anger.

well how long has it been since you guys won something? like half a decade at least? how is wenger still there?

[crispybits]

Depends who you believe.

The official record says it's 7 and a bit seasons now

Wenger thinks that 4th place is a trophy and he wins one every year

[sam_levi_11]

I used to defend Wenger, but honestly, it really is hard to this season...

A few plus sides today. Wilshere looked great, glad to see he is returning to form so fast from his injury. We didn't concede, which is always a plus. Cazorla, Arteta and Wilshere linked up well. No Aaron Ramsey.

Unfortunately, the fact we had to rely on two penalties is worrying. Cazorla's dive was worrying too. While Giroud held up play well, Gervinho looked poor again, and Podolski is too patchy of late.

[Pirlo]

I used to defend Wenger, but honestly, it really is hard to this season...

A few plus sides today. Wilshere looked great, glad to see he is returning to form so fast from his injury. We didn't concede, which is always a plus. Cazorla, Arteta and Wilshere linked up well. No Aaron Ramsey.

Unfortunately, the fact we had to rely on two penalties is worrying. Cazorla's dive was worrying too. While Giroud held up play well, Gervinho looked poor again, and Podolski is too patchy of late.

So can we summarize this with a "Wenger sucks!" phrase?

[GreecePwns]

The fans can yell all they want, Wenger is not going to leave anytime soon. He's doing the bidding of Kroenke and Gazidis, both of whom consider getting 4th place just as good as winning a trophy.

[Pirlo]

The fans can yell all they want, Wenger is not going to leave anytime soon. He's doing the bidding of Kroenke and Gazidis, both of whom consider getting 4th place just as good as winning a trophy.

I know right? He's making the club earn too much money to be sacked! I'm sure he's genius as a tactician, but the club will end losing a lot of fans (cash generators).

[GreecePwns]

Hah, they sell out every single game with the cheapest ticket being something like 600 pounds. If the locals won't buy tickets, tourists will. They're not worried about losing revenue to fans. Plus, the TV money for the Premier League just jumped by an astronomical amount.

I predict that Wenger will be at Arsenal until he retires, and that they won't win the Premier League or Champions League once from now until that time.

[Pirlo]

Hah, they sell out every single game with the cheapest ticket being something like 600 pounds. If the locals won't buy tickets, tourists will. They're not worried about losing revenue to fans. Plus, the TV money for the Premier League just jumped by an astronomical amount.

I predict that Wenger will be at Arsenal until he retires, and that they won't win the Premier League or Champions League once from now until that time.

hahaha legit... I can't disagree!

[betiko]

The fans can yell all they want, Wenger is not going to leave anytime soon. He's doing the bidding of Kroenke and Gazidis, both of whom consider getting 4th place just as good as winning a trophy.

I know right? He's making the club earn too much money to be sacked! I'm sure he's genius as a tactician, but the club will end losing a lot of fans (cash generators).

do you really think that english fans are like american fans who suck only the winners? omg arsenal isn't winning anything but is playing every year champion's league. i'm sure next year they will all support united! not really the way it goes mate!

[Pirlo]

The fans can yell all they want, Wenger is not going to leave anytime soon. He's doing the bidding of Kroenke and Gazidis, both of whom consider getting 4th place just as good as winning a trophy.

I know right? He's making the club earn too much money to be sacked! I'm sure he's genius as a tactician, but the club will end losing a lot of fans (cash generators).

do you really think that english fans are like american fans who suck only the winners? omg arsenal isn't winning anything but is playing every year champion's league. i'm sure next year they will all support united! not really the way it goes mate!

Fair enough. let the fans aside, Arsenal might be at risk of CL disqualification, which means a major part of their income could fade away. As for TV rights, it's pretty cleat EPL is being dethroned, to some extent. It is no longer the best with 2 of them failing to pass the group stage. Even Wenger himself pointed this out. We used to think La Liga was a bullshit competition with only 2 teams capable of winning, but all their 4 teams happened to qualify to the round of 16. Also, Bundesliga teams are getting stronger than ever. I think it's a natural rotation of power though. There came a time when Serie A was #1.

[GreecePwns]

La Liga is a bullshit competition with only 2 teams capable of winning. That Malaga and Valencia went through doesn't change it. Malaga is just another new money team that will do no better than 3rd in the league every year, and Valencia finished ahead of BATE and Lille.

Yeah, they're good teams, but the distance between RM + Barca and the rest is still atrocious. Until La Liga collectivizes TV rights instead of giving 50% to 2 teams and 50% to the other 18, then it will stop being a bullshit competition with only 2 teams capable of winning. Case in point, last year's standings:

Madrid 100 pts
Barcelona 91 pts
Valencia 61 pts

[betiko]

La Liga is a bullshit competition with only 2 teams capable of winning. That Malaga and Valencia went through doesn't change it. Malaga is just another new money team that will do no better than 3rd in the league every year, and Valencia finished ahead of BATE and Lille.

Yeah, they're good teams, but the distance between RM + Barca and the rest is still atrocious. Until La Liga collectivizes TV rights instead of giving 50% to 2 teams and 50% to the other 18, then it will stop being a bullshit competition with only 2 teams capable of winning. Case in point, last year's standings:

Madrid 100 pts
Barcelona 91 pts
Valencia 61 pts

and yet the atletico (2), valencia and sevilla (2) have won the eurpoa league in the past 10 years
Also have a little respect for my team, the real betis!!!

Anyway, they might have only 2 teams as you say, but both are far better than any team in premier league and if one of them was playing it it would win year after year easily. The big 4 would end up 15 points behind at the end of the year easy. but I agree, TV rights are just BS in spain, and the media coverage of the 2 giants is just ridiculous. Fans of smaller teams like myself are fed up of this bullcrap.

Also I'm pretty curious to see where the PSG can go in CL. They have a very decent team, and they will have Lucas Moura (42M euros) on top of that in January. I think they can make it next round vs any team except real madrid, let's see how teams will be paired for the last 16.

[Pirlo]

La Liga is a bullshit competition with only 2 teams capable of winning. That Malaga and Valencia went through doesn't change it. Malaga is just another new money team that will do no better than 3rd in the league every year, and Valencia finished ahead of BATE and Lille.

Yeah, they're good teams, but the distance between RM + Barca and the rest is still atrocious. Until La Liga collectivizes TV rights instead of giving 50% to 2 teams and 50% to the other 18, then it will stop being a bullshit competition with only 2 teams capable of winning. Case in point, last year's standings:

Madrid 100 pts
Barcelona 91 pts
Valencia 61 pts

and yet the atletico (2), valencia and sevilla (2) have won the eurpoa league in the past 10 years
Also have a little respect for my team, the real betis!!!

Anyway, they might have only 2 teams as you say, but both are far better than any team in premier league and if one of them was playing it it would win year after year easily. The big 4 would end up 15 points behind at the end of the year easy. but I agree, TV rights are just BS in spain, and the media coverage of the 2 giants is just ridiculous. Fans of smaller teams like myself are fed up of this bullcrap.

Also I'm pretty curious to see where the PSG can go in CL. They have a very decent team, and they will have Lucas Moura (42M euros) on top of that in January. I think they can make it next round vs any team except real madrid, let's see how teams will be paired for the last 16.

not sure, but I think the 2 giants get 60%, not 50%, which is even worse

As for media over-concentration on Real & Barca, it's necessary for business to prosper. Mourinho, Cristiano and Messi get the most attention. A shitty report about Cristiano could bring ya 15k page-views, and an excellently creative report about anything related to the other 18 teams may not exceed 1k, except Falcao who started getting some fair attention since he destroyed Chelsea!

[GreecePwns]

My post is not to put down the rest of La Liga's teams, which have a lot of quality players. It's more the fact that the competition itself is really a pointless one to watch when its fixed toward two teams, which is separate from their performance in Europe. FFP (a harsh destruction of any semblance of parity) will destroy a lot of the lower teams in Spain in terms of talent as well.

An interesting article I found today: http://www.360footballnews.com/premier- ... al-leagues

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell believes UEFA is coming round to the idea of expanding leagues beyond borders.

Lawwell revealed early proposals had already been mooted for regional leagues within Europe and that Celtic would be interested in exploring their potential.

Speaking in a club media interview screened at the SPL League champions' annual general meeting, Lawwell said: "We are committed to the SPL but nothing stays the same. There are initiatives in Europe. UEFA have opened their mind up to some form of regional leagues.

"I think they recognise the polarisation between the top leagues and the smaller leagues in terms of media values.

"There are very early proposals that may look at regional leagues."

Lawwell revealed Scandinavian countries as well as the Belgian and Dutch leagues were among those being looked at.

"Coming together to create bigger markets for media rights, they could try to close that gap," he added.

"Our job at Celtic is to maintain standards. We believe we are a top-class European football club in everything we do. Any changes in regard to the landscape of football in Europe, we would like to think we would be a part of that."

Lawwell also revealed that Celtic's Champions League run had already offset the financial impact of the loss of Rangers.

I think this could be a positive change to European football, as long as the regional leagues were not closed off from the rest of the teams in the national leagues below. FIBA (European basketball) has plenty of regional leagues which bring the best teams from a bunch of small countries together and they make for decent competitions. Something like a Scandinavian league or the old idea of the Atlantic League (Scotland, Netherlands, Portugal best teams) would be very interesting.

[Symmetry]

My post is not to put down the rest of La Liga's teams, which have a lot of quality players. It's more the fact that the competition itself is really a pointless one to watch when its fixed toward two teams, which is separate from their performance in Europe. FFP (a harsh destruction of any semblance of parity) will destroy a lot of the lower teams in Spain in terms of talent as well.

An interesting article I found today: http://www.360footballnews.com/premier- ... al-leagues

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell believes UEFA is coming round to the idea of expanding leagues beyond borders.

Lawwell revealed early proposals had already been mooted for regional leagues within Europe and that Celtic would be interested in exploring their potential.

Speaking in a club media interview screened at the SPL League champions' annual general meeting, Lawwell said: "We are committed to the SPL but nothing stays the same. There are initiatives in Europe. UEFA have opened their mind up to some form of regional leagues.

"I think they recognise the polarisation between the top leagues and the smaller leagues in terms of media values.

"There are very early proposals that may look at regional leagues."

Lawwell revealed Scandinavian countries as well as the Belgian and Dutch leagues were among those being looked at.

"Coming together to create bigger markets for media rights, they could try to close that gap," he added.

"Our job at Celtic is to maintain standards. We believe we are a top-class European football club in everything we do. Any changes in regard to the landscape of football in Europe, we would like to think we would be a part of that."

Lawwell also revealed that Celtic's Champions League run had already offset the financial impact of the loss of Rangers.

I think this could be a positive change to European football, as long as the regional leagues were not closed off from the rest of the teams in the national leagues below. FIBA (European basketball) has plenty of regional leagues which bring the best teams from a bunch of small countries together and they make for decent competitions. Something like a Scandinavian league or the old idea of the Atlantic League (Scotland, Netherlands, Portugal best teams) would be very interesting.

It's an idea that's been floating around for a long time. There are major problems with it though. I guess the big one is that supporters aren't interested. Uefa cup and the Champions League pull supporters in because they're interested, and it's a special occasion.

Plus Celtic isn't a great team.