kaosmark2 Posted September 22, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2016 A big fuck off to Prem B teams and the old-firm in the proposed league restructure: Thank fuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 13 hours ago, kaosmark2 said: A big fuck off to Prem B teams and the old-firm in the proposed league restructure: Thank fuck. it makes me laugh how people in Scotland are so against a 'Team GB' footie team because it might undermine their FIFA status, but are then dead keen to see Rangers and Celtic in the Prem which would undermine their FIFA status. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big__phil Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 Anyone having a gamble this weekend? Where's your money going? Might be worth a punt on Guidolin in the sack race with all these Giggs stories going around. They've got City tomorrow... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsell Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 37 minutes ago, big__phil said: Anyone having a gamble this weekend? Where's your money going? Might be worth a punt on Guidolin in the sack race with all these Giggs stories going around. They've got City tomorrow... I think Guidolin has quietly done a very good job at Swansea whilst clearly having major restraints. When he came in they really were struggling but within a few weeks there wasnt much talk of Swansea being relagated anymore.They were bottom 3 at Christmas and finished 12th, and the squad they have is really not that good - with the exeption of Sigurdsson who i think is a classy player. However he always struck me as being a stop gap appointment that has done better than expected - so wouldnt be surprised if they are quick to move him on. What are people thinking in regards to Arsenal v Chelsea Saturday evening? I'm uncharacteristically confident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big__phil Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 27 minutes ago, mjsell said: What are people thinking in regards to Arsenal v Chelsea Saturday evening? I'm uncharacteristically confident. Don't know if you're an Arsenal fan (like me) or a Chelsea fan (like Robert Mugabe), but I'm feeling much better about things this time around than I would have a couple of weeks ago. Since they've signed David Luiz they've started conceding quite a few goals. Weird that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsell Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 (edited) 7 minutes ago, big__phil said: Don't know if you're an Arsenal fan (like me) or a Chelsea fan (like Robert Mugabe), but I'm feeling much better about things this time around than I would have a couple of weeks ago. Since they've signed David Luiz they've started conceding quite a few goals. Weird that... Yeah Arsenal fan. Not sure what it is but Chelsea still havent impressed me at all this season - even before David Luiz or the loss to Liverpool (I dont think Luiz is as bad as the media like to make out - certainly no worse than Cahill) I think if Arsenal play at a high enough tempo we can undo Chelsea - but thats always pot luck these days. Hope Sanchez doesnt start up top either. Edited September 23, 2016 by mjsell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big__phil Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 2 minutes ago, mjsell said: Yeah Arsenal fan. Not sure what it is but Chelsea still havent impressed me this season - even before David Luiz or the loss to Liverpool (I dont think Luiz is as bad as the media like to make out - certainly no worse than Cahill) I think if Arsenal play at a high enough tempo we can undo Chelsea - but thats always pot luck these days. Hope Sanchez doesnt start up top either. Yeah, they looked pretty average against Liverpool last week (although Liverpool were very good), and just couldn't really get in to the game. They do have Costa though, who seems to get away with anything on a football pitch and will love playing against us again. I agree about the tempo, and playing Xhaka will help with that. I do sadly think Sanchez will start up front though, especially with Walcott and Iwobi both having good games last week and Giroud just coming back. I'd drop Walcott and put Perez up top, but I'm not the boss (yet). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsell Posted September 23, 2016 Report Share Posted September 23, 2016 28 minutes ago, big__phil said: Yeah, they looked pretty average against Liverpool last week (although Liverpool were very good), and just couldn't really get in to the game. They do have Costa though, who seems to get away with anything on a football pitch and will love playing against us again. I agree about the tempo, and playing Xhaka will help with that. I do sadly think Sanchez will start up front though, especially with Walcott and Iwobi both having good games last week and Giroud just coming back. I'd drop Walcott and put Perez up top, but I'm not the boss (yet). Yeah Costa will be a good test of Mustafi - Havent been sold on him as yet but I think CB is the hardest position to hit the ground running at in the PL. Annoyingly cant see Xhaka starting - playing him midweek is pretty telling. Everything I have seen of him says he should be first choice centre mid. Coq isnt good enough to be in there for the big games. Strange how Xhaka is being 'eased' in and Mustafi isnt. I fancy quite a few away wins in the PL this weekend - minus United, Liverpool and Arsenal (hopefully) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comfy Bean Posted September 24, 2016 Report Share Posted September 24, 2016 On 9/23/2016 at 0:03 PM, big__phil said: Anyone having a gamble this weekend? Where's your money going? Arsenal 2 Chelsea 2 & Aberdeen 2 Rangers 2 * 2 singles and a double. * My predictions are always crap and normally more of a small bookie donation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comfy Bean Posted September 24, 2016 Report Share Posted September 24, 2016 On 9/23/2016 at 8:10 AM, eFestivals said: it makes me laugh how people in Scotland are so against a 'Team GB' footie team because it might undermine their FIFA status, but are then dead keen to see Rangers and Celtic in the Prem which would undermine their FIFA status. I`m not sure if this is accurate. I think you may be comparing apples and oranges. The old firm are huge clubs up here in a very small pond. They think the lack of competition and finance restricts their chances of success in Europe ( results would back this up ). I think, generally speaking, we all recently agreed that should they ever get a move South then they would eventually settle at either the bottom of the EPL or near the top of the Championship. I think, generally speaking, that we all agreed that a move South for them was unlikley. There is very little money in Scottish football and there would be even less without them but supporters of other clubs seem to welcome the opportunity of actually winning the league and would be happy to see them go ( for on and off field reasons ). The Scottish national side already contains a high number of players from the English championship. I can`t remember that last Rangers player who started for Scotland. I don`t see how the old firm moving would undermine our FIFA status ? IF...all the UK countries merged into one for the olympics into a Team Rule Brittania, was the concern not that Blatter ( at that time ) and all the other fine upstanding pillars of the community at FIFA would jump at the chance to strip the home nations of their places in the euros / world cup and hand us 1 place for Team Great Britain and give our spare places to someone else ? This would have deprived us , as an example, of the great run that Wales had in the summer and surely we would ALL rather support our own individual Countries at football ? ( I accept that some people don`t recognise Wales, Scotland etc as actually being Countries ). I enjoyed the games against Ireland last time round and Wales the tournament before. I would also hate to be deprived of our upcoming trip to Wembley in November * Surely it`s not just the Scots who would be against Team GB footy if these were the consequences ? * I`m heading down for this if anyone has a spare ticket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJS Posted September 24, 2016 Report Share Posted September 24, 2016 On 9/23/2016 at 8:10 AM, eFestivals said: it makes me laugh how people in Scotland are so against a 'Team GB' footie team because it might undermine their FIFA status, but are then dead keen to see Rangers and Celtic in the Prem which would undermine their FIFA status. How come? We already have an English team in the Scottish league, Welsh teams in the English league, Welsh & northern Irish teams in the Scottish challenge cup. You've even had a Scottish team it the F.A. cup final (twice) if you go back a few years. None of these have made any difference to anyone's FIFA status. All hypothetical, as we are not going to be able to dispose of our toxic waste by lobbing it over the wall into our neighbour's garden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaosmark2 Posted September 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2016 Lol Chelsea. Arsenal purring. We're looking impressive as well. When was the last time 2 CL winning managers faced off in the 2nd division? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 16 hours ago, LJS said: How come? We already have an English team in the Scottish league, Welsh teams in the English league, Welsh & northern Irish teams in the Scottish challenge cup. You've even had a Scottish team it the F.A. cup final (twice) if you go back a few years. None of these have made any difference to anyone's FIFA status. All hypothetical, as we are not going to be able to dispose of our toxic waste by lobbing it over the wall into our neighbour's garden. How come? Ask the SFA (and Welsh FA, and NI FA) as it's their line, nowt to do with the English. But basically, FIFA rules say that its members have to be sovereign nation states, and have to have their own internal leagues. It's because of this that Wales had to establish the League of Wales a few decades ago. But there's also a special exemption within FIFA rules that allows the UK's 'exceptionalism' of the rules - basically from our position of originators of the game - and that's also protected by the rules-of-the-game body (I forget its name) that sits above FIFA and also has special representation for the home nations. I can see the angle the SFA are coming from, but it seems more grievance than fact-driven, given the rule-protections that exist for the home nations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 (edited) 25 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said: I think the questionwas how would Celtic and Rangers joining EPL would undermine the FIFA status. If it wasn't, that is mine as I already know and understand the stuff about the different nationlities. That's what i was replying to. FIFA rules say that teams have to play in their own national league's completions. I know there's some anomilies - Berwick in Scotland, and Cardiff, Swansea & Newport in Wales (perhaps others, I'm not sure) - but they're long-standing anomilies, from when the UK ran world footie (up-til the early 70s, basically). FIFA accept those anomilies and allows them to continue, but they've made clear they'd take a different view towards any new changes. That doesn't guarantee the 'home nations' would lose their existing exemptions, but it does start to call the current UK footie structures into doubt. In theory, the Prem doesn't have an issue with taking Celtic and Rangers into it, but there's not just the theory. The Prem & FA's rejection of the idea is based around its bigger desire to maintain the current UK structures, as an act of friendliness towards the SFA who don't want them put at risk. If the SFA's views were different, the Prem and FA would consider things on a different basis. Edited September 25, 2016 by eFestivals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJS Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 31 minutes ago, eFestivals said: That's what i was replying to. FIFA rules say that teams have to play in their own national league's completions. Do they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 17 minutes ago, LJS said: Do they? yes they do. As I say, there's special exemptions for how the home nations and leagues are currently set-up, just because its a fact of history. But changing that set-up - as allowing Rangers & Celtic into the English leagues would be - is changing things, which runs the risk of those special exemptions being reviewed. A review of the exemptions could see an end of the home nation teams as individual FIFA members, as well as lose the UK the control of the game it has via the rule-making body. Some reading for you:-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFAhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Football_Association_Board Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJS Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 1 hour ago, eFestivals said: yes they do. As I say, there's special exemptions for how the home nations and leagues are currently set-up, just because its a fact of history. But changing that set-up - as allowing Rangers & Celtic into the English leagues would be - is changing things, which runs the risk of those special exemptions being reviewed. A review of the exemptions could see an end of the home nation teams as individual FIFA members, as well as lose the UK the control of the game it has via the rule-making body. Some reading for you:-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFAhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Football_Association_Board Too kind, but neither of your links supports your claim which I will remind you was " FIFA rules say that teams have to play in their own national league's completions." I wasn't being smart when I asked the questions. I genuinely don't know. My understanding was that Scotland Northern Ireland and Wales have always opposed any UK team (or GB & NI) team because they felt (whether rightly or wrongly) that FIFA would use this as a precedent and it would lead to the end of their independent teams. I suspect part of the motivation is that a UK squad would currently be unlikely to contain more than 2 non English players neither of whom would be from Scotland or Northern Ireland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pink_triangle Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 At least one team from San Marino plays in the Italian pyramid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LJS Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 11 minutes ago, pink_triangle said: At least one team from San Marino plays in the Italian pyramid. & the last I heard Monaco wasn't in France. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToffeePopcorn Posted September 25, 2016 Report Share Posted September 25, 2016 All I'm saying is it's a very hard time to be a West Ham fan right now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 (edited) 19 hours ago, LJS said: Too kind, but neither of your links supports your claim which I will remind you was " FIFA rules say that teams have to play in their own national league's completions." I wasn't being smart when I asked the questions. I genuinely don't know. I didn't give you an approved reading list which fully documented what I said, I gave you a pointer to a starting point from where you could start to gather the necessary knowledge of the facts. Quote My understanding was that Scotland Northern Ireland and Wales have always opposed any UK team (or GB & NI) team because they felt (whether rightly or wrongly) that FIFA would use this as a precedent and it would lead to the end of their independent teams. I suspect part of the motivation is that a UK squad would currently be unlikely to contain more than 2 non English players neither of whom would be from Scotland or Northern Ireland. FIFA could only do that if their rules allowed it. So those worries must come from the rules, no....? I was stating the fact that their rules do. Their rules are what I said - plus the exemptions that exist for the UK, exemptions which might be over-turned if the UK doesn't stick to what the exemptions allow. If the UK were to start acting to the more general FIFA rules - of having a (more) UK league, or having a UK national team - FIFA are likely to say the exemptions are no longer needed. There's actually quite a good parallel with the EU, where the UK has opt-outs - opt-outs that cease to be opt-outs once we opt in, exactly as was the case with the social chapter, the HRA, and other stuff. So overall the worries about the loss of the FIFA exemptions by the home nation FAs is pretty valid, tho there's also an amount of parochialism or paranoia (take your pick) too - such as around having a 'team GB' at the London Olympics, where FIFA gave an explicit guarantee that in that one instance they'd be no reconsideration or change of the home nations special status. Edited September 26, 2016 by eFestivals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big__phil Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 Sorry to interrupt, but can I gloat about Arsenal here please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 (edited) 9 minutes ago, big__phil said: Sorry to interrupt, but can I gloat about Arsenal here please? they were great! And Liverpool managed to avoid the banana skin of a lower team at the weekend too, and played some similarly-lovely stuff. And the world also finally realises that Rooney has been holding Utd back, too ... which would make it a perfect weekend, apart from the Moaniho getting a win. Edited September 26, 2016 by eFestivals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsell Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 31 minutes ago, big__phil said: Sorry to interrupt, but can I gloat about Arsenal here please? Haha, I was thinking the same. I annoyingly had to go out halfway through the second half which pregame had put me in a right mood. As it happened it worked out fairly well and managed to have a very nice meal out after as a consequence. I dont want to go too overboard with the performance, we were good but Chelsea were equally, if not more, terrible. It is the best Mustafi and Koscienly have played together though which I think was the most pleasing thing. Liverpool look fantastic - Klopp is the most likeable manager I have ever seen - and only wish Arsenal had taken the plunge for him a couple of years back. He was/is the only manager I would have wanted to replace Wenger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted September 26, 2016 Report Share Posted September 26, 2016 6 minutes ago, mjsell said: Liverpool look fantastic - Klopp is the most likeable manager I have ever seen - and only wish Arsenal had taken the plunge for him a couple of years back. He was/is the only manager I would have wanted to replace Wenger. they do, but they still have a shooting problem when you think about how much possession they have around the opponent's box. They've done really well with their games so far - particularly when you consider that's had Arsenal, Leicester, Spurs and Chelsea within it - but the bigger teams aren't where they have issues, as last season pretty much demonstrated. It's consistency &/or getting at the teams that sit back where their weaknesses have been, and I'm still not convinced they're over that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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