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28 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

Moderate ambition to have a cover photo on a football programme achieved ... although I'm pleased they tagged me to let me know as I'd forgotten taking that one

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Well done, mate.

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"I'm from a fishing family. Trawlermen are like pirates with biscuits." - Lucy Beaumont.

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The laste 80s was when I became disillusioned with football.

Those low crowds are not surprising. Hooliganism, poor quality, poor stadia.

This year non-league Notts County and Stockport have got over 10,000 - my team Chesterfield have gone over 5,000 every game, often with only 100-200 away fans. These teams probably had a third of that two divisions higher in 1988. 

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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I am unashamedly interested in football in other countries for a myriad of reasons.  Can also see that others on here are too so thought I’d do my own round-up of the stories of the season so far elsewhere imo.  Feel free to add to it anything you feel I might have missed:  

 

Spain:

The big story is in Seville this year.  Sevilla are 2nd in La Liga on 45 points (just 4 points behind league leaders Real Madrid) and Real Betis are 3rd in La Liga on 37 points with a four point gap over Atletico.  Sevilla are riding high on the back of the league’s stingiest defence, while Betis are ‘the entertainers’ so far thanks to Juanmi (12 goals) and the creative scheming of Nabil Fekir (4 goals, 4 assists).

We’ve heard a lot about the troubles affecting Barcelona and it’s still possible that they may not qualify for Champions League which would be unthinkable only a few years ago.  They currently sit in 6th in La Liga a point behind both Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid, they will need everything Ferran Torres can provide.

Elsewhere one of the ‘other’ Madrid clubs, Rayo Vallecano are 7th to contend for the European places with 35 year old Radamel Falcao rolling back the years.  No round-up would be complete without a mention of Raul de Tomas of Espanyol who has scored 11 goals in 20 games, been capped by Spain and has been linked with a move to England with a £60m release clause. 

 

Germany:

The kaisers of counter-culture in Germany are Union Berlin and St Pauli who are both more well known for their off the field community endeavours than trophy rooms.  But both are achieving fine seasons at the halfway stage (the top flight in particular is wide open for the last European places).

Union Berlin sit in 5th place in Bundesliga behind 4th placed Hoffenheim on goal difference and just one point off 3rd placed Bayer Leverkusen.  The goals of 24 year old Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi have been the catalyst, but even with him away at AFCON they have managed to dump bitter rivals Hertha Berlin out of the German Cup 3-2.

St Pauli (one of the few clubs I can think of whose traditional shirt colour is brown) currently sit top of a German second division that contains city rivals Hamburg, Werder Bremen and Schalke who were all much more fancied pre-season.  14 goals in a remarkable 19 games from Austrian veteran Guido Burgstaller has propelled them to the top.  Next up for them is the small matter of the Hamburg derby later today.

 

Italy:

The meteoric rise of Dusan Vlahovic is the story of the season so far in Serie A.  20 goals in 24 league and cup games in Italy have made the Fiorentina centre forward a target for every big club in Europe including the Premier League.  Remarkably the 21 year old Serb went to Florence for just €2m from Partizan Belgrade.

Before he goes in the summer it’ll be interesting to see if he can help 6th place Fiorentina finish above their hated rivals Juventus.  The Turin club lay fifth in the league and are in danger of missing out on the Champions League altogether.

After what seemed like an eternity of Juve dominance, the league itself is still fairly open at the top with a fair shout to Inter who have the best attack, best defence and have only lost once so far (despite losing Romelu Lukaku in the summer).  That said they’re still only 2 points clear and AC Milan, Napoli and even Atalanta will all believe they can have a say in the destination of the scudetto.

Edited by Gerrumonside ref
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Oldham have got a real uphill battle to avoid the drop now, Sheridan back as manager AGAIN, is this the last roll of the dice. How  many teams who have been relegated to the National League (Vauxhall Conference) have bounced straight back up. I thought Grimsby would come back at the first attempt but they have gone on a horrendous run. 

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On 21/01/2022 at 11:31, Gerrumonside ref said:

I am unashamedly interested in football in other countries for a myriad of reasons.  Can also see that others on here are too so thought I’d do my own round-up of the stories of the season so far elsewhere imo.  Feel free to add to it anything you feel I might have missed:  

 

Spain:

The big story is in Seville this year.  Sevilla are 2nd in La Liga on 45 points (just 4 points behind league leaders Real Madrid) and Real Betis are 3rd in La Liga on 37 points with a four point gap over Atletico.  Sevilla are riding high on the back of the league’s stingiest defence, while Betis are ‘the entertainers’ so far thanks to Juanmi (12 goals) and the creative scheming of Nabil Fekir (4 goals, 4 assists).

We’ve heard a lot about the troubles affecting Barcelona and it’s still possible that they may not qualify for Champions League which would be unthinkable only a few years ago.  They currently sit in 6th in La Liga a point behind both Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid, they will need everything Ferran Torres can provide.

Elsewhere one of the ‘other’ Madrid clubs, Rayo Vallecano are 7th to contend for the European places with 35 year old Radamel Falcao rolling back the years.  No round-up would be complete without a mention of Raul de Tomas of Espanyol who has scored 11 goals in 20 games, been capped by Spain and has been linked with a move to England with a £60m release clause. 

 

Germany:

The kaisers of counter-culture in Germany are Union Berlin and St Pauli who are both more well known for their off the field community endeavours than trophy rooms.  But both are achieving fine seasons at the halfway stage (the top flight in particular is wide open for the last European places).

Union Berlin sit in 5th place in Bundesliga behind 4th placed Hoffenheim on goal difference and just one point off 3rd placed Bayer Leverkusen.  The goals of 24 year old Nigerian striker Taiwo Awoniyi have been the catalyst, but even with him away at AFCON they have managed to dump bitter rivals Hertha Berlin out of the German Cup 3-2.

St Pauli (one of the few clubs I can think of whose traditional shirt colour is brown) currently sit top of a German second division that contains city rivals Hamburg, Werder Bremen and Schalke who were all much more fancied pre-season.  14 goals in a remarkable 19 games from Austrian veteran Guido Burgstaller has propelled them to the top.  Next up for them is the small matter of the Hamburg derby later today.

 

Italy:

The meteoric rise of Dusan Vlahovic is the story of the season so far in Serie A.  20 goals in 24 league and cup games in Italy have made the Fiorentina centre forward a target for every big club in Europe including the Premier League.  Remarkably the 21 year old Serb went to Florence for just €2m from Partizan Belgrade.

Before he goes in the summer it’ll be interesting to see if he can help 6th place Fiorentina finish above their hated rivals Juventus.  The Turin club lay fifth in the league and are in danger of missing out on the Champions League altogether.

After what seemed like an eternity of Juve dominance, the league itself is still fairly open at the top with a fair shout to Inter who have the best attack, best defence and have only lost once so far (despite losing Romelu Lukaku in the summer).  That said they’re still only 2 points clear and AC Milan, Napoli and even Atalanta will all believe they can have a say in the destination of the scudetto.

Its increadibly close between a huge number of clubs in the German Second division at the moment. I wonder how St Pauli would fair in the top flight.

Roma have been odd in Serie A this year, though it always seems to be "wait till year 2" for the real deal with Mourinho. I think he has gone into a club where he is bigger than the team and most players in it and so Roma are willing to bend to his view more than most.

Spain is far more interesting than it has been at any point over the past 10 years.

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1 hour ago, Tommygilf said:

Its increadibly close between a huge number of clubs in the German Second division at the moment.

As a lifelong supporter of Werder Bremen since the Bundesliga returned before the other leagues after lockdown, I am well aware of this.

Bit disappointed that Sky have taken the Bundesliga rights but aren't showing 2. Bundesliga matches as BT did when they had the rights.

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Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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The match that will probably see the end of Claudio Ranieri,  includes Josh Sargent's incredible scorpion kick goal. I can't even place my leg in that high position,  behind my head. 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Its increadibly close between a huge number of clubs in the German Second division at the moment. I wonder how St Pauli would fair in the top flight.

Roma have been odd in Serie A this year, though it always seems to be "wait till year 2" for the real deal with Mourinho. I think he has gone into a club where he is bigger than the team and most players in it and so Roma are willing to bend to his view more than most.

Spain is far more interesting than it has been at any point over the past 10 years.

St Pauli have a real opportunity for the first time in a long time to get to the Bundesliga despite the derby defeat to Hamburg.  They recently knocked out Borussia Dortmund from the DFB Pokal and the core of the team is in that 23-28 year old ‘prime’ phase - there’s definitely quality there.  I have some doubts though as to whether they could stay there.  The team’s success has been built around the goals of 32 year old Guido Burgstaller who previously struggled in the German top flight at Schalke.

I think their coach is talking up on field success in a way that hasn’t been heard for a long time.  As you know, St Pauli pride themselves on their values and I don’t we’ll see a shift from supporting causes and linking with other groups/teams.  They have a significant level of support (memberships) for this reason both in Germany and internationally, even if it doesn’t translate to large attendances or significant transfer spend

There’s probably a debate inside the club that doing better on the field could raise the profile of some of their causes and generally promote the club’s way of doing things.  Or are they happy being a 2.Bundesliga side? They will probably take some inspiration too from the success that peers such as Union Berlin are now having.  It’s an interesting time for sure.

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1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

As a lifelong supporter of Werder Bremen since the Bundesliga returned before the other leagues after lockdown, I am well aware of this.

Bit disappointed that Sky have taken the Bundesliga rights but aren't showing 2. Bundesliga matches as BT did when they had the rights.

I totally agree and I’ve been disappointed generally with what they’ve done with the Bundesliga in terms of coverage.  Annoyingly they seemed to have snaffled it from BT Sport with no real plan to grow it.

I do know the German Football YouTube channel does live third tier action every weekend and there are the likes of Kaiserslautern and 1860 Munich down there I think.

Best we can do is highlights on the 2. Bundesliga YouTube channel this year which is okay but not the same.

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I was watching The Big Match revisited on ITV4 last night and I noticed Billy Bremner making his debut for Hull City v Charlton in October 1976. I'd totally forgotten he played for anyone but Leeds United.

Fans invasion at the end reminded me of what it used to be like going in those days. 😬

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2 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I don't think there can be much doubt on guilt here tbh, the evidence is so damning

Yeah have heard about the video/recording but have no interest in watching it. All a bit sickening really. 

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A man has been arrested.  So I would recommend no further discussions about it for a while.  

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With the best, thats a good bit of PR, though I would say the Bedford team, theres, like, you know, 13 blokes who can get together at the weekend to have a game together, which doesnt point to expansion of the game. Point, yeah go on!

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45 minutes ago, Bedford Roughyed said:

A man has been arrested.  So I would recommend no further discussions about it for a while.  

And yet the BBC is still linking a name to the arrest....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60192303

The really important thing to remember is not to name the complainant, even though they reported it themselves on social media.

"I am the avenging angel; I come with wings unfurled, I come with claws extended from halfway round the world. I am the God Almighty, I am the howling wind. I care not for your family; I care not for your kin. I come in search of terror, though terror is my own; I come in search of vengeance for crimes and crimes unknown. I care not for your children, I care not for your wives, I care not for your country, I care not for your lives." - (c) Jim Boyes - "The Avenging Angel"

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2 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I don't think there can be much doubt on guilt here tbh, the evidence is so damning

And yet it appears that the women's own father would like to defend the man who has been arrested rather than his own daughter.

There are perspectives there that I can't even begin to fathom.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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20 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

And yet it appears that the women's own father would like to defend the man who has been arrested rather than his own daughter.

There are perspectives there that I can't even begin to fathom.

I think that is a bit harsh

I think he's trying to protect his daughter from the online world and media attention and is genuinely struggling to process how a person he has known as a member of the family could do something like that.

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9 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I think that is a bit harsh

I think he's trying to protect his daughter from the online world and media attention and is genuinely struggling to process how a person he has known as a member of the family could do something like that.

Looking at it again, I think it's easy to read several different ways TBH.

He would probably have been better advised to not say anything.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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1 minute ago, JohnM said:

I thought sub judice only applied once someone had been charged.

We need to wait for the Sue Gray report before commenting.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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Anyway, back to football.

Saw a goalie sent off yesterday. Not seen that in ages. This one was for deliberate handball outside the area.

And the match still only finished 1-0. Very disappointing.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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1 hour ago, JohnM said:

I thought sub judice only applied once someone had been charged.

I think contempt of court kicks in on arrest.  Though in this case everything is already out there.  She has right to anonymity and he shouldn’t be named unless he’s charged.

With the best, thats a good bit of PR, though I would say the Bedford team, theres, like, you know, 13 blokes who can get together at the weekend to have a game together, which doesnt point to expansion of the game. Point, yeah go on!

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Yes , back to football . Christian Eriksen to Brentford … wowzers . And soon Lampard will join the long queue of managers trying to stop Moshiri’s fantastic quest to waste the most amount of money ever in sport 

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7 minutes ago, DavidM said:

Yes , back to football . Christian Eriksen to Brentford … wowzers . And soon Lampard will join the long queue of managers trying to stop Moshiri’s fantastic quest to waste the most amount of money ever in sport 

Frank Lampard's Derby County's Frank Lampard ... to give him his proper name.

Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. (Terry Pratchett)

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