Football

[Gerrumonside ref]

15 hours ago, HawkMan said:

This is probably old news, but I've only just seen details of new Premier League deal with Sky and TNT. Staggering stuff;

 

The Premier League has agreed a new record £6.7bn UK TV rights deal with Sky Sports and TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport), to broadcast up to 270 live games a season.

The new deal will come into play from the 2025-26 season, and will cover four years. For the first time, all matches outside the Saturday 3.00pm blackout (a rule introduced in 1960 to prevent matches from being televised between 2.45pm and 5.25pm on that day) will be broadcast live.

Sky won four of the five packages to show a minimum of 215 matches a season, including all first pick matches. Sky Sports will therefore be the home of Saturday 5.30pm kick-offs, Sunday 2.00pm and 4.30pm kick-offs, plus Monday and Friday night fixtures and three midweek rounds.

TNT will show at least 52 matches a season, including all 12.30pm kick-offs and two midweek rounds.

Sky Sports will also broadcast all 10 matches live on the final day of the season, which the channel says should "create a real moment for fans."

Elsewhere, the BBC struck its own deal with the Premier League to extend its rights to the Premier League highlights.

This means the iconic free-to-air highlights programme Match Of The Day, which celebrates its 60th Anniversary in August 2024, will remain a staple of Saturday nights up to and including the 2028/29 season. The deal also includes MOTD2 and Football Focus.

Amazon, who currently show 20 matches per season in the existing deal, has not secured any of the new rights.

December 2023 wasn’t this announced?

Amazon are focused on the Champions League rights now which probably makes more sense for them.

They’ve had first pick every Tuesday of Champions League games.

Edited May 4 by Gerrumonside ref

[The Masked Poster]

16 hours ago, gingerjon said:

For the 56

 

I was supposed to be going out last night with a couple of Bradford City supporting friends. They are probably still out now! All I got was a phone call, absolute mayhem in the background and a lot of singing. Sounded crazy but pleased for the club and the city. 

[gingerjon]

Just shy of 9,000 in to watch Birmingham miss out on promotion to the WSL. Their visitors, London City Lionesses, one of only two standalone sides in the top two divisions, get the only promotion spot instead.

 

 

[GeordieSaint]

TAA now public enemy No1…

… not particularly pleased with the way this has happened. It feels like this was his intent all along…

… sad end. 

[Gerrumonside ref]

22 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

TAA now public enemy No1…

… not particularly pleased with the way this has happened. It feels like this was his intent all along…

… sad end. 

I know a lot of people are very disappointed and we’ll never know what the inner workings were like of dealing with TAA at the club, needless to say the club statement was bare bones in its thanks.

He’s played a big part in the recent success and no one can take that away from him.  But engineering to leave on a free will rankle with people for a long time to come.

There’ll be comparisons to McManaman (who the club had tried to sell to Barcelona previously souring relations) and Keegan way back (who netted a large fee from Hamburg used to bring in Dalglish).

I think because he is from Liverpool the sense of almost betrayal for some will be even greater.  There’s quite a good chance of a hot return to Anfield in next year’s Champions League.

[gingerjon]

43 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

TAA now public enemy No1…

… not particularly pleased with the way this has happened. It feels like this was his intent all along…

… sad end. 

Some fans really need to get over themselves.

[GeordieSaint]

3 hours ago, Gerrumonside ref said:

I know a lot of people are very disappointed and we’ll never know what the inner workings were like of dealing with TAA at the club, needless to say the club statement was bare bones in its thanks.

He’s played a big part in the recent success and no one can take that away from him.  But engineering to leave on a free will rankle with people for a long time to come.

There’ll be comparisons to McManaman (who the club had tried to sell to Barcelona previously souring relations) and Keegan way back (who netted a large fee from Hamburg used to bring in Dalglish).

I think because he is from Liverpool the sense of almost betrayal for some will be even greater.  There’s quite a good chance of a hot return to Anfield in next year’s Champions League.

Lots of displeasure from the fanbase. Plenty of rumours flying around about frequency and ultimately scale of the contracts offered to him. And he’s turned them all down. Definitely feels like he’s engineered it as Madrid would like not pay a big transfer fee for him. 

Hope Diaz and/or Gakpo destroy him in the Champions League next season.

[GeordieSaint]

This Inter-Barca tie has been rubbish…

[Gerrumonside ref]

39 minutes ago, GeordieSaint said:

This Inter-Barca tie has been rubbish…

What that game needed was a goal!

[OriginalMrC]

Incredible game. Inter did amazingly well to get the win as they looked dead on their feet when Barca took the lead. 

[OriginalMrC]

At least Arsenal still have the xG trophy  

Really don't like sportswashing projects but PSG have been phenomenal in the knockout rounds and have got to be favorites to win it.

[Josef K]

I only watched five mins of the PSG game but i was wondering why the stands are so far away from the pitch, especially behind the goal-hole ?. 

[OriginalMrC]

28 minutes ago, Josef K said:

I only watched five mins of the PSG game but i was wondering why the stands are so far away from the pitch, especially behind the goal-hole ?. 

I think the original stadium was a velodrome. France Rugby used to play in this stadium until the Stade De France was built 

[OriginalMrC]

So there'll be 6 (six) English teams in the CL next year! Though quite how Utd and Spurs have found themselves 1 game away from qualifying for it is beyond me. An El Crapico final! 

[Wolford6]

The press and the BBC are making a big thing about there being three English clubs in European finals. It seems to pass them by that there are hardly any British (let alone English!) players in the line-ups.

I'm not a great soccer fan but I hope Tottenham win. Ben Davieswill be able to take off his tracksuit to at the end of the game to collect his medal.

Edited May 9 by Wolford6

[HawkMan]

10 hours ago, OriginalMrC said:

So there'll be 6 (six) English teams in the CL next year! Though quite how Utd and Spurs have found themselves 1 game away from qualifying for it is beyond me. An El Crapico final! 

Qualification for the Europa League is of course based on previous year's league positions, and United and Spurs had good seasons last year,  relatively speaking. So that's why they and others who maybe going through difficult times this season are in it. So far so good, but I'm really surprised UEFA didn't make a rule that states 5 teams is the maximum number for a country in the champions league,  either the extra place for co- efficient points or winning the Europa League BUT NOT BOTH, 6 places seems ridiculous,  but as a Spurs fan I'll take it, however I'm expecting United to win it. Spurs squad is in a good place,we just need a manager capable of utilising it properly,   but United need a complete rebuild and failure to win the Europa for them will be catastrophic.

Edited May 9 by HawkMan

[JonM]

3 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

The press and the BBC are making a big thing about there being three English clubs in European finals. It seems to pass them by that there are hardly any British (let alone English!) players in the line-ups.

Same everywhere though. Not many French players in the PSG team - I think it was just one of the starting line-up against Arsenal. Inter had 4 Italians against Barcelona, but they usually have fewer. Man Utd are probably unusually high in having Maguire, Mason Mount,  Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo.

[The Hallucinating Goose]

5 hours ago, Wolford6 said:

The press and the BBC are making a big thing about there being three English clubs in European finals. It seems to pass them by that there are hardly any British (let alone English!) players in the line-ups.

So what? There's thousands and thousands of English players and if they were good enough they'd be playing for our top teams.

[Father Gascoigne]

On 09/05/2025 at 17:43, HawkMan said:

Qualification for the Europa League is of course based on previous year's league positions, and United and Spurs had good seasons last year,  relatively speaking. So that's why they and others who maybe going through difficult times this season are in it. So far so good, but I'm really surprised UEFA didn't make a rule that states 5 teams is the maximum number for a country in the champions league,  either the extra place for co- efficient points or winning the Europa League BUT NOT BOTH, 6 places seems ridiculous,  but as a Spurs fan I'll take it, however I'm expecting United to win it. Spurs squad is in a good place,we just need a manager capable of utilising it properly,   but United need a complete rebuild and failure to win the Europa for them will be catastrophic.

United don't need a complete rebuild. They're missing a top 5 playmaker/goalscorer hybrid in the league. MUFC lose games because they have no outstanding player who can create and score reliably (Fernandes included). If they get one, their fortunes will change, because the rest of the team isn't as bad as people make out. Quite often the difference between a good team and an average one is this one component. 

With Ferguson, you could name the player that made all his three great teams successful: Cantona, then Beckham, then Rooney. Every single one was a top 5 playmaker/goalscorer in the league. If you don't have such a player, you won't do anything. You won't necessarily come 16th, but you're still making up the numbers regardless. 

Every title-winning team going back to the creation of the PL has had had this lynchpin player: Ince, Cantona, Shearer, Beckham, Bergkamp, Henry, Lampard, Rooney, David Silva, Hazard, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Salah. 

The problem for United at the moment is that clubs like Brentford, with Wissa and Mbeumo, have better options than them. That's inexcusable. 

Just having better options than Brentford won't cut it, though. They need to go out and get a world-class forward. Easier said than done, but that's the avenue to success. Sure, they could wait to see if Garnacho or Amad become that player, but that's a big risk. 

On 09/05/2025 at 16:32, Wolford6 said:

The press and the BBC are making a big thing about there being three English clubs in European finals. It seems to pass them by that there are hardly any British (let alone English!) players in the line-ups.

I'm not a great soccer fan but I hope Tottenham win. Ben Davieswill be able to take off his tracksuit to at the end of the game to collect his medal.

The BBC are catering to their audience, which is fans of the clubs in question. No one genuinely cares if their team has English players. It's just one of those things people like to play up when they do have some local come up from the academy and make the first team. But they'd replace him in a heartbeat with a Bolivian mercenary who hates English food, weather and culture if it meant better results. 

[HawkMan]

Wrong thread.

Edited May 13 by HawkMan

[Father Gascoigne]

 

Quote

On VAR and offside: "It's an essential tool for everyone. No one can imagine today's football deprived of this technological support. But it is also an element to be handled with care, to prevent it from turning the game into something that sportsmen would not like to see. As for millimeter offside, the IFAB is experimenting to test a modification of the offside rules, which is no longer sufficient on any part of the body. Seeing a goal disallowed for three centimeters of foot or shoulder is something that is difficult to bear in terms of spirit of play. We will see what these experiments will lead to and if it will be possible in the future to have an offside no longer based on three centimeters but perhaps on a more significant part of the body."

Marchetti (UEFA): "The IFAB is considering changes to offside rules"

Hope this ends up going through. I used to be a traditionalist but with every passing year I'm more open to radical changes. 

 

[OriginalMrC]

12 minutes ago, Father Gascoigne said:

 

Marchetti (UEFA): "The IFAB is considering changes to offside rules"

Hope this ends up going through. I used to be a traditionalist but with every passing year I'm more open to radical changes. 

 

I think it should be on foot placement. This allows forwards to lean in and try to beat the offside trap. I also think the measurement on arm/shoulder is not always consistent or accurate.

[Eddie]

Sampdoria relegated to Serie C tonight, it doesn’t seem long since they were in the European Cup final at Wembley (though admittedly it is 32 years ago ). 

[Sidi Fidi Gold]

37 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Sampdoria relegated to Serie C tonight, it doesn’t seem long since they were in the European Cup final at Wembley (though admittedly it is 32 years ago ). 

Leeds United were relegated to the third tier (2007) 32 years after getting to the European cup final.

[gingerjon]

12 minutes ago, Sidi Fidi Gold said:

Leeds United were relegated to the third tier (2007) 32 years after getting to the European cup final.

Yes, but only Leeds fans think Leeds are a big club whereas all of Europe knows Sampdoria are a big club.