Football 2021/2022

[Punksnotdead]

Come on Boreham Wood!

[Punksnotdead]

3 minutes ago, Punksnotdead said:

Come on Boreham Wood!

Bollocks!

[DareToDibble]

11 hours ago, charlierc said:

World Cup qualifying: Ukraine seek play-off semi-final with Scotland postponement - BBC Sport

Scotland v Ukraine is due to be 3 weeks today... feels like that's not going to happen at this point.

There is talk of delaying Wales v Austria too. Not sure I agree with it but the argument is one of those 2 teams will know they’re in the final potentially months before Scotland or Ukraine so have more prep time which would be unfair.

In reality I highly doubt Scotland or Ukraine would care as players currently play a couple of games a week and I suspect there would be a 5-7 day gap for this final to take place.

[charlierc]

11 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

There is talk of delaying Wales v Austria too. Not sure I agree with it but the argument is one of those 2 teams will know they’re in the final potentially months before Scotland or Ukraine so have more prep time which would be unfair.

In reality I highly doubt Scotland or Ukraine would care as players currently play a couple of games a week and I suspect there would be a 5-7 day gap for this final to take place.

A lot of it is kinda at FIFA's call tbh. The World Cup draw is meant to be next month and UEFA's side of the draw clearly can't proceed as planned. Russia taking their expulsion to CAS even after all of Poland, Sweden and the Czechs have said they don't want to play them is another complication, depending on how long that case takes to proceed.

The Scotland v Ukraine game certainly looks like it can't proceed as planned, but what the rest of it means is difficult to really know. We're in some uncharted waters here.

[Neil]

HOPE YOU PEEPS HAVE BT SPORT, THERES A PROPER MATCH ON TODAY AT 5PM, ALDERSHOT, VS STOCKPORT COUNTY.

[Neil]

21 minutes ago, Neil said:

HOPE YOU PEEPS HAVE BT SPORT, THERES A PROPER MATCH ON TODAY AT 5PM, ALDERSHOT, VS STOCKPORT COUNTY.

its not going to go well..! i've just seen that Stockport are top of the league.

[Superunknown]

16 minutes ago, Neil said:

its not going to go well..! i've just seen that Stockport are top of the league.

Aldershot are also shit. They lost 4-1 to us at home and we’re terrible at home. 
 

Be great if Stockport lose though!

[Neil]

2 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

Aldershot are also shit.

its their defining feature.

when people ask me why i support Aldershot, i say someone has to support the shit teams.

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

its their defining feature.

when people ask me why i support Aldershot, i say someone has to support the shit teams.

Wrexham have played Aldershot 2.5 times this season and it's been pretty much the easiest games we have had. A win against Stockport would be nice though!

[WS_Jack_III]

Brighton the better team and yet Nufc have come away with a win again! Wow, what a turn around.

[thetime]

1 hour ago, WS_Jack_III said:

Brighton the better team and yet Nufc have come away with a win again! Wow, what a turn around.

Good day for you mate, even Brucie won. 

[Punksnotdead]

Chelsea fans chanting Abramovich's name during a minutes applause for Ukraine. They really are as thick as fucking pig shit aren't they?

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, Punksnotdead said:

Chelsea fans chanting Abramovich's name during a minutes applause for Ukraine. They really are as thick as fucking pig shit aren't they?

The Chelsea argument seems to be that he should be recognized for what he has done for the club, it really falls down when you ask why that recognition had to be that particular minute.

[rock the clock]

I was at the game and it didn’t feel like they were doing it in opposition to the applause for ukraine, as the whole away end did actually clap too. Like, I speak to a lot of fans and I’ve not met one person who had tried to justify anything that Putin is doing, but I guess a lot seem to think that after his statements in the last week that chanting his name is part of the support for ukraine. It was bizarre and completely misguided. I knew as soon as it happened that it would do the rounds in the media… got loads of messages about it too 

[lost]

7 hours ago, Punksnotdead said:

Chelsea fans chanting Abramovich's name during a minutes applause for Ukraine. They really are as thick as fucking pig shit aren't they?

Sadly this is what sport washing is about and the exact reason these people buy football clubs in the first place as fans sense of decency goes out the window. There are Everton supporters on the boards saying well Newcastle's owners have been bombing Yemen in the same way for 7 years so why are they involved in football but Usmanov now can't be.

Edited March 6, 2022 by lost

[Hugh Jass II]

Awful classless club, always have been.

Millwall with a bigger wallet.

[charlierc]

On 3/5/2022 at 9:36 AM, Neil said:

HOPE YOU PEEPS HAVE BT SPORT, THERES A PROPER MATCH ON TODAY AT 5PM, ALDERSHOT, VS STOCKPORT COUNTY.

It's weird to think in my football fandom lifetime that Stockport have been at Championship level and National League North level. But I'm aware that there was some monumental mismanagement along the way.

[charlierc]

16 hours ago, thetime said:

Good day for you mate, even Brucie won. 

Well he had to sooner or later. Seems like the damage is done for West Brom's hopes of getting back to the Premier League at the first attempt but then it is the Championship. If any division is going to have a team coming from 7 positions and 5 points back to swipe a play-off position right at the end, it's probably that one.

[charlierc]

10 hours ago, rock the clock said:

I was at the game and it didn’t feel like they were doing it in opposition to the applause for ukraine, as the whole away end did actually clap too. Like, I speak to a lot of fans and I’ve not met one person who had tried to justify anything that Putin is doing, but I guess a lot seem to think that after his statements in the last week that chanting his name is part of the support for ukraine. It was bizarre and completely misguided. I knew as soon as it happened that it would do the rounds in the media… got loads of messages about it too 

If it's that, it seems at best misguided. Thomas Tuchel has even said as such, saying in his post-match interview that he felt it was inappropriate, which yes, it was.

I don't think Chelsea fans have an easy answer to reconcile here. Roman absolutely did well in transforming them from merely being a dark horse that might win a trophy in a good year to front of the queue for silverware, but we're seeing a lot of the opaque politics behind this and it is not a pretty look. Hell, I saw an story from just after Roman arrived at Chelsea saying that he was the person that first introduced Putin to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, which, if true, might make him a spectacularly pivotal presence in how that succession happened.

[thetime]

32 minutes ago, charlierc said:

If it's that, it seems at best misguided. Thomas Tuchel has even said as such, saying in his post-match interview that he felt it was inappropriate, which yes, it was.

I don't think Chelsea fans have an easy answer to reconcile here. Roman absolutely did well in transforming them from merely being a dark horse that might win a trophy in a good year to front of the queue for silverware, but we're seeing a lot of the opaque politics behind this and it is not a pretty look. Hell, I saw an story from just after Roman arrived at Chelsea saying that he was the person that first introduced Putin to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, which, if true, might make him a spectacularly pivotal presence in how that succession happened.

The thing is chelsea were always primed for success and were succesfull to a point without his money. Winning FA cups and european trophies before his arrival, I am sure they qualified for the champions league just before he took over. 

Certainly less ground to make up to the top level than say city and newcastle, also had the pull of being in London.  Also in his favour was no FFP.

 

[lost]

I seem to remember something regarding how Ken Bates had structured the club with regards to offshore shell companies that people didn't realise they were sailing very close to the wind before Roman came in and bought them out. I'm sure Mathew Hardings death can't of helped either.

Edited March 6, 2022 by lost

[Neil]

its not often i'm wanting a Man Utd win, but today is that day, to open up the title race.

[rock the clock]

46 minutes ago, charlierc said:

If it's that, it seems at best misguided. Thomas Tuchel has even said as such, saying in his post-match interview that he felt it was inappropriate, which yes, it was.

I don't think Chelsea fans have an easy answer to reconcile here. Roman absolutely did well in transforming them from merely being a dark horse that might win a trophy in a good year to front of the queue for silverware, but we're seeing a lot of the opaque politics behind this and it is not a pretty look. Hell, I saw an story from just after Roman arrived at Chelsea saying that he was the person that first introduced Putin to his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, which, if true, might make him a spectacularly pivotal presence in how that succession happened.

I pretty much agree, yeah. But apart from an invasion that happened a couple of weeks ago, this is all stuff that’s been in the public knowledge for 20 years. 
 

me personally I don’t care that he’s leaving - I supported the club before him and will after him. He’s deeply problematic (as are all billionaires), but I’m also grateful that, aside from the trophies, he really invested in the club from the ground up, creating one of the best academies in the world and one of the best womens teams in the world. hopefully whoever comes in can carry that legacy on 

[Neil]

1 minute ago, rock the clock said:

I pretty much agree, yeah. But apart from an invasion that happened a couple of weeks ago, this is all stuff that’s been in the public knowledge for 20 years. 
 

me personally I don’t care that he’s leaving - I supported the club before him and will after him. He’s deeply problematic (as are all billionaires), but I’m also grateful that, aside from the trophies, he really invested in the club from the ground up, creating one of the best academies in the world and one of the best womens teams in the world. hopefully whoever comes in can carry that legacy on 

his money skewed football in a new way it'll take a while to re-settle  and for footy to be sustainable again.

[charlierc]

23 minutes ago, thetime said:

The thing is chelsea were always primed for success and were succesfull to a point without his money. Winning FA cups and european trophies before his arrival, I am sure they qualified for the champions league just before he took over. 

Certainly less ground to make up to the top level than say city and newcastle, also had the pull of being in London.  Also in his favour was no FFP.

 

I don't think the pre-Roman Chelsea were ever quite as good as their potential. To me they look like a slightly better version of the current Spurs team - unlike Spurs they were able to snap up the odd trophy, like the 1997 and 2000 FA Cup titles, but they were also capable of some properly humiliating results like 3 successive seasons of early exits to relative minnows in the UEFA Cup.

Financially they were in trouble - it's said the club were at genuine risk of bankruptcy or even insolvency near the end of the 2002/03 season, which is what made winning that final game in May 2003 against Liverpool and taking 4th big just for keeping the lights on, nevermind attracting a Russian billionaire who fancied buying a Champions League club.

Independent article from the time said, "The takeover comes at a crucial time for Chelsea, because the group is burdened with a £97m bank debt. Of this it has an £80m bond which needs to be repaid shortly. The high borrowings of the parent company have forced the football club in the past couple of years to pare back its expenditure and to consider selling some of its best players." - so you know, not great. Though yes, I agree it was a much smoother path for him with no FFP and less competition than it will be for the Saudis to try and turn Newcastle into PL title winners (took me 4 seasons and £750million in incoming signings on FM22).

Edited March 6, 2022 by charlierc