Football

[meast]

On 19/05/2023 at 19:24, HawkMan said:

Just for you, @OnStrike  CL has been  a treat this season. Possibly the best display by an English team in CL ever. City totally humiliation of Real Madrid.

 

English?

You mean Emirati?

They're just based in England.

Like so many PL clubs, there's nothing English about them anymore.

[meast]

5 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Anyone else see the dramatic climax to the Bundesliga title race?

Pure sporting drama with the title heading first to Dortmund, then to Bayern, then back to Dortmund, then back to Bayern with a late goal in normal time, then Dortmund just coming up short in injury time.

Word to the Dortmund fans who all stayed behind, despite their botched title bid on the last day, to lift their players.

 

German fans don't abandon their sides even in defeat, something British fans could learn from.

While on the subject of German football, Union Berlin qualified for the "champions" league by finishing 4th.

It will be the 3rd season in a row that the Unioner have played in Europe in only their 4th ever season in the German top flight.

I'm still waiting for them to face a British based team so I can go and join the fun!

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

3 hours ago, HawkMan said:

Luton Town have to pay £10m in stadium refurbishments to abide by Premier League rules

 

Kenilworth Road will become the smallest ground in the Premier League if Luton are promoted (Image credit: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

Luton have played at Kenilworth Road since 1905. It's a classic stadium in the mould of many at the time that seem to flummox foreigners when they see them for the first time: it's wedged tightly between terraced houses, can't be expanded without serious disruption to the neighbourhood and not much has architecturally changed over decades.

 

"There's rather a lot of work to do," chairman and chief executive Gary Sweet understated of the ground, which would become the smallest-ever in the Premier League – yes, even smaller than Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium. At the start of 2008, both teams were docked points in League Two – Luton -30, Bournemouth -17 – facing expulsion from the Football League altogether. Now, they could both be playing each other in the very stadiums in the top tier of English football.

I'm sure they'll find the money to upgrade Kenilworth Rd.

@Bedfordshire Bronco, happiest man in Luton? Er...probably not!!

It's going to be interesting to see how if it changes the vast number of Arsenal and Chelsea shirts we see around here

[The Hallucinating Goose]

7 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

It's going to be interesting to see how if it changes the vast number of Arsenal and Chelsea shirts we see around here

Talking of wearing inappropriate shirts, I was in town yesterday and I saw a dad with his son who was wearing an Argentina national team shirt! I was so close to stopping them and giving them a blow by blow history of the Falklands! I managed to stop myself though and just chucked some dog excrement at them instead! 

[Bedfordshire Bronco]

56 minutes ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Talking of wearing inappropriate shirts, I was in town yesterday and I saw a dad with his son who was wearing an Argentina national team shirt! I was so close to stopping them and giving them a blow by blow history of the Falklands! I managed to stop myself though and just chucked some dog excrement at them instead! 

It's good you didn't talk to them as you may have hit yourself in trouble.....I hope the dog poo was from an Alsation and not from a chihuahua 

[DavidM]

4 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Talking of wearing inappropriate shirts, I was in town yesterday and I saw a dad with his son who was wearing an Argentina national team shirt! I was so close to stopping them and giving them a blow by blow history of the Falklands! I managed to stop myself though and just chucked some dog excrement at them instead! 

That would have been good if it was Carlos Tevez

[The Hallucinating Goose]

3 hours ago, Bedfordshire Bronco said:

It's good you didn't talk to them as you may have hit yourself in trouble.....I hope the dog poo was from an Alsation and not from a chihuahua 

Great Dane mate, Great Dane. 

[meast]

4 hours ago, The Hallucinating Goose said:

Talking of wearing inappropriate shirts, I was in town yesterday and I saw a dad with his son who was wearing an Argentina national team shirt! I was so close to stopping them and giving them a blow by blow history of the Falklands! I managed to stop myself though and just chucked some dog excrement at them instead! 

Maybe he was Argentinian? or just liked Jorge Luis Brown?

[tonyXIII]

14 hours ago, meast said:

English?

You mean Emirati?

They're just based in England.

Like so many PL clubs, there's nothing English about them anymore.

Funny that that particular accusation is only ever levelled at City, though.

Jealousy? Heaven forbid.

[Gerrumonside ref]

@tonyXIII

I’m afraid being disliked by other fans is always the price that the top dog pays no matter how it’s justified at the time.

Bringing us all back to the stuff on the field that we all enjoy - what’s your verdict on the season so far for City?

Must be a good and equally nervous feeling going into the cup finals which will shape how City’s season will be defined?

Feeling confident?

Edited May 28, 2023 by Gerrumonside ref

[tonyXIII]

47 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

@tonyXIII

I’m afraid being disliked by other fans is always the price that the top dog pays no matter how it’s justified at the time.

Bringing us all back to the stuff on the field that we all enjoy - what’s your verdict on the season so far for City?

Must be a good and equally nervous feeling going into the cup finals which will shape how City’s season will be defined?

Feeling confident?

Thanks. You're right about the dislike thing.

What is "confident"? I'm still not convinced we'll win the league.

Obviously, it's been a good season, but if our neighbours manage to win next week (despite all the hype, it is still a distinct possibility - Ten Hag has transformed them) and Inter spoil the party the week after, then the season will have been a failure of sorts. Expectations have been raised, rightly so, which is why I don't like talk of a "triple" until the "double" has been done and dusted.

To answer your question honestly, I'm quietly confident of both the finals, but nervous as hell about both, too.

[Number 16]

What an afternoon at Wembley! Carlisle up to L1. Still buzzin'. 

[meast]

7 hours ago, tonyXIII said:

Funny that that particular accusation is only ever levelled at City, though.

Jealousy? Heaven forbid.

It's aimed at most PL clubs who are run solely for the benefit of global conglomerates and/or oil states.

I'm not jealous of "City" Stoke? Birmingham? no, I couldn't give a hoot about it to be honest, I enjoy lower league football now, where (generally) sporting prowess is still the basis of the sport and not financial doping to get to the top.

Manchester City may be powerful and successful now but they've had to sell their soul to get there, not for me.

Edited May 28, 2023 by meast

[JohnM]

What a bizarre and distorted representation of the actual position. You are of course free to support who you like at whatever level you like for whatever reason, but do it for your own reasons without imputing entirely false motives on those you choose not to support.

[Gerrumonside ref]

Spare a thought for fans of Hamburg SV today.

Their bid for automatic promotion to the Bundesliga via the second automatic spot looked to have succeeded when they won 1-0 away to the bottom side Sandhausen.

The stadium announcer even told the Hamburg fans they had clinched it and the away following proceeded to invade the pitch.

However the other team battling for the automatic spot, Heidenheim, managed to score two injury time goals and win 3-2 to pip Hamburg and claim a place in the top division in Germany.

Hamburg will now play VfB Stuttgart of the Bundesliga in a playoff for a place in top tier.

https://apnews.com/article/heidenheim-hamburger-sv-darmstadt-bundesliga-promotion-6e84469375e6acccd9e3e7ff047f4bec

Edited May 29, 2023 by Gerrumonside ref

[tonyXIII]

5 minutes ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

Spare a thought for fans of Hamburg SV today.

Their bid for automatic promotion to the Bundesliga via the second automatic spot looked to have succeeded when they won 1-0 away to the bottom side Sandhausen.

The stadium announcer even told the Hamburg fans they had clinched it and the away following proceeded to invade the pitch.

However the other team battling for the automatic spot, Heidenheim, managed to score two injury time goals and win 3-2 to pip Hamburg and claim a place in the top division in Germany.

Hamburg will now play VfB Stuttgart of the Bundesliga in a playoff for a place in top tier.

https://apnews.com/article/heidenheim-hamburger-sv-darmstadt-bundesliga-promotion-6e84469375e6acccd9e3e7ff047f4bec

That sounds similar to 2011(?), when United thought they'd won the PL until the 93rd minute and Aguerroooooo!

[DavidM]

14 hours ago, Number 16 said:

What an afternoon at Wembley! Carlisle up to L1. Still buzzin'. 

And a Maryport lad who came through the system scoring the winning penalty . Chuffed for them . Reds and Carlisle getting promoted 

[tonyXIII]

22 minutes ago, DavidM said:

And a Maryport lad who came through the system scoring the winning penalty . Chuffed for them . Reds and Carlisle getting promoted 

And, in case you've forgotten, Everton survived.

[DavidM]

5 minutes ago, tonyXIII said:

And, in case you've forgotten, Everton survived.

I might have noticed , totally stress free . Did I go through the ringer , no siree…

[Maximus Decimus]

3 hours ago, DavidM said:

I might have noticed , totally stress free . Did I go through the ringer , no siree…

I feel I can now say that it has to be one of the poorest Everton sides of my life. I've been convinced we were going down all year.

When all is said and done, I think it can't be underestimated how important that 5-1 win at Brighton was. Not only was it more than 1/7th of our total goal tally, it changed the whole narrative around who was likely to go down and piled the pressure on Leeds and Leicester.

[Number 16]

 

4 hours ago, DavidM said:

And a Maryport lad who came through the system scoring the winning penalty . Chuffed for them . Reds and Carlisle getting promoted 

And just ower the border wee Annan Athletic won promotion to Scottish 1.

Happy days 

Taylor Charters was immense when he came on. The twenty year old was super calm with the deciding penalty in front of the Stockport end. 

In all my years of following United, in fact, following sport, I've never felt emotion like I did yesterday. 

 

Edited May 29, 2023 by Number 16

[DavidM]

36 minutes ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I feel I can now say that it has to be one of the poorest Everton sides of my life. I've been convinced we were going down all year.

When all is said and done, I think it can't be underestimated how important that 5-1 win at Brighton was. Not only was it more than 1/7th of our total goal tally, it changed the whole narrative around who was likely to go down and piled the pressure on Leeds and Leicester.

I was thinking yesterday that , amid the relief , actually watching them play just lays bare the reality of how utterly depressingly poor they are

[bobbruce]

1 hour ago, Maximus Decimus said:

I feel I can now say that it has to be one of the poorest Everton sides of my life. I've been convinced we were going down all year.

When all is said and done, I think it can't be underestimated how important that 5-1 win at Brighton was. Not only was it more than 1/7th of our total goal tally, it changed the whole narrative around who was likely to go down and piled the pressure on Leeds and Leicester.

If they have the same sort of summer transfer window as they had last season  then they will drop next year. 

[Maximus Decimus]

5 hours ago, DavidM said:

I was thinking yesterday that , amid the relief , actually watching them play just lays bare the reality of how utterly depressingly poor they are

I can't believe how we've basically got through a season without an attack.

[bbfaz]

On 27/05/2023 at 18:22, Gerrumonside ref said:

One team that was always missing was Bayern Munich!  Haha.  I think in the end they twinned with St Pauli of Hamburg who did it out of awkwardness!

Bayern's "fan friends" are Bochum, which is handy because they are rivals with all the Ruhr clubs.