Football

[Wolford6]

So why have Liverpool or Arsenal not done as well? They should have done.

 

 

Two seasons ago, Arsenal bleated about Samir Nasri going to Man City for more money. This season, Samir said that Arsenal's main shareholder actually wanted him out because of the transfer fee the club could get.

 

Daniel Finkelstein of the Times is a football stats man who judges Premiership managers by how their teams perform in comparison to the money laid out. On the telly tonight he said that, by his calculations, only 3 managers have regularly out performed their outlay ... Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Sam Allardyce.

[1976PMJwires]

lets just say everything comes easier with money, would he have got qpr promotion in the way warnock did? then stayed on and saw them survive the prem for 26 years? simple answer NOPE.

Money does help, money helped fergie set up the best academies with the best "local" lads

Neville x2 scholes, giggs, butt .....all in the 90's when setting up his legacy..... There have been many other great young players, one went onto captain his country, wasn't local but the scouting group fergie paid for,got the right players and still continues to.

Marquee players have come in, but remember when winning title after title I'm sure they are right to invest.

[Futtocks]

They've won all those trophies on the back of developing youth talent, shrewd purchases (as opposed to throwing money around like it's going out of fashion) and playing attractive, positive Football. So, there's a template for success... which nobody else in the English game appears to have recognised.

[Griff9of13]

They've won all those trophies on the back of developing youth talent, shrewd purchases (as opposed to throwing money around like it's going out of fashion) and playing attractive, positive Football. So, there's a template for success... which nobody else in the English game appears to have recognised.

 

Pretty much the same template employed by Liverpool in their pomp. 

[Futtocks]

Pretty much the same template employed by Liverpool in their pomp. 

Another good example, and I don't see many clubs learning this lesson in the modern era.

[Steve May]

Two seasons ago, Arsenal bleated about Samir Nasri going to Man City for more money. This season, Samir said that Arsenal's main shareholder actually wanted him out because of the transfer fee the club could get.

 

Daniel Finkelstein of the Times is a football stats man who judges Premiership managers by how their teams perform in comparison to the money laid out. On the telly tonight he said that, by his calculations, only 3 managers have regularly out performed their outlay ... Alex Ferguson, David Moyes and Sam Allardyce.

It was always the way. I think it's in the book Soccernomics that someone analyses the link between performance and amount spent on players salaries and found a very close correlation. The variance they put down to managerial ability. The one dot that stood off the line by a mile was Brian Clough at Notts Forest.

They also did a very neat analysis to prove that Everton underachieved for years because they were racist.

Terrific book. I expect Phil Clarke has it by his bedside!

[Steve May]

They've won all those trophies on the back of developing youth talent, shrewd purchases (as opposed to throwing money around like it's going out of fashion) and playing attractive, positive Football. So, there's a template for success... which nobody else in the English game appears to have recognised.

I think, and I'm as guilty of this as anyone, that it's easier to say that kind of thing than to do it.

[Steve May]

lets just say everything comes easier with money, would he have got qpr promotion in the way warnock did? then stayed on and saw them survive the prem for 26 years? simple answer NOPE.

He seems to have done pretty well at the Scottish clubs he managed.

I think we can say that he would have got promotion for QPR.

[gingerjon]

He seems to have done pretty well at the Scottish clubs he managed.

I think we can say that he would have got promotion for QPR.

The days of the New Firm in Scotland ... tell that to the youngsters these days and they'll look at you like, "Wait, they play football in Scotland?"

[Steve May]

tell that to the youngsters these days and they'll look at you like, "Wait, they play football in Scotland?"

When you see the odd game of Scottish football on TV you might think they have a point.

[WearyRhino]

The days of the New Firm in Scotland ... tell that to the youngsters these days and they'll look at you like, "Wait, they play football in Scotland?"

Well they have to have something to do during the caber tossing off season.

[Bleep1673]

When you see the odd game of Scottish football on TV you might think they have a point.

We were watching BBC Alba at work last year and they had Ross Co v Jocks Utd, or someone, and a colleague suggested that even though this was SPL, it was like watching English Conference football, and I had to admit it was much more tedious than normal English Football

[gingerjon]

When you see the odd game of Scottish football on TV you might think they have a point.

This is certainly true. It has gone downhill a lot - at least at Premier League level - since the 80s/90s. No idea about the lower level as I haven't seen a game in a very long time in those divisions. Always enjoyed the atmosphere in the grounds though.

[Wolford6]

Celtic beat Barcelona this season.

[Griff9of13]

Well done to the Latics today and congratulations to their fans. Not a fan of football myself but nice to see David beat Golieth now and again.

[Padge]

Well done Latics, I'm not @r£d about soccer, but good on yer.

[tonyXIII]

Gritted teeth mode on 

 

Well done, Wigan.

 

Gritted teeth mode off.

 

Seriously.

[gingerjon]

Celtic beat Barcelona this season.

And the celebrations were probably longer, louder and more emotional than when they won the European Cup.

[gingerjon]

Wigan do what Brighton could have done.

I'm assuming that Shrek of this parish is smiling *very* broadly.

[rockerlad]

Workington AFC for me

[bobbruce]

Hearing some reports on twitter that the FA cup commentator 'had a pop' at RL or Wigan RL. Anyone hear what he said if true?

Less of a pop at RL and more of a statement on how far Wigan athletic have come. He just said that the latics are now drawing bigger crowds than Wigan RL.

[Severus]

Hearing some reports on twitter that the FA cup commentator 'had a pop' at RL or Wigan RL. Anyone hear what he said if true?

He said something along the lines of Wigan RL 18 CC victories being eclipsed by the Latics win.

RL got more than a few mentions.

[Wolford6]

And the celebrations were probably longer, louder and more emotional than when they won the European Cup.

 

 

I think that's true of every sports achievement compared to a predecessor event fifty years ago.

 

Sport is presented, and regarded with way too much importance.

 

We used to despise the likes of Cuba and East Germany because they were tinpot countries who used professional sportspeople to gain propaganda by winning medals. It worked internationally and was intended to give a sense of pride to their citizens.

 

Nowadays, successive UK governments have used the same sporting-success policy to camouflage their allowing the decline of the country in terms of world importance and industrial power.

 

The UK's sports successes are presented with a smile rather than a stare, but its still bread and circuses.

[Saint Billinge]

First Swansea and now Wigan winning a major domestic cup for the first time in the same season and surely a first for the sport?

[Trojan]

I don't think one FA cup victory, as remarkable as it might be, equals that.

 

I read Paul Wilson, not one of my favourite people (see previous posts re Millenium Weekend) in yesterday's Guardian, damning RL with faint praise. Now that Wigan have won the FA Cup we'll never hear the last of "soccer taking over from RL in Wigan."  Speaking as someone who worked in Wigan for 15 years, soccer has always been bigger than RL, it's just that many Wiganers support Bolton, or Blackburn, or one of the Liverpool or Manchester clubs. If Wigan Athletic's crowds are higher than the RL club's crowds, could it be that a lot of them are away supporters from Liverpool etc. Stoke is not a million miles away either.