Football 2023/24

[Neil]

congrats to Scotland for their famous victory tonight that sees them qualify for euro 2024, lets hope they get their world cup final against England.

[Comfy Bean]

20 hours ago, Neil said:

congrats to Scotland for their famous victory tonight that sees them qualify for euro 2024, lets hope they get their world cup final against England.

Thanks Neil. Incredible scenes to qualify with 2 games to spare. Most unlike us. Steve Clarke has done a brilliant job 👏

Hopefully we will avoid England in the Group draw.
A game or 2 against teams that don’t carry huge support would be useful on the ticket front 🤞

[pink_triangle]

I have to admit I have taken to the nations league. I didn’t care when wales got promoted, nor did I care when we got relegated. To add to that it makes the play offs very contrived and hard to follow.

Now to add to my dislike of the competition, I hear that Republic of Ireland are more likely to qualify for the euros if they lose their next game than win it. Surely this completely ruins the integrity of the game.

[pink_triangle]

6 minutes ago, Comfy Bean said:

Thanks Neil. Incredible scenes to qualify with 2 games to spare. Most unlike us. Steve Clarke has done a brilliant job 👏

Hopefully we will avoid England in the Group draw.
A game or 2 against teams that don’t carry huge support would be useful on the ticket front 🤞

Wales have got England in 2 of the last 3 international tournament, it’s a duff draw and hope we never play them again! I hope that Scotland get through the group, seeing Wales beat Belgium is one of my favourite football moments and hope Scotland get a moment like that. I also hope you will join us Welsh and Irish fans in dismissing Southgate not wanting the hosts to get automatic qualification for euro 2028, as a Welsh fan we can’t be picky!

On a connected note after years of seeing Wrexham get every duff Scottish player going, in Stephen Fletcher we finally have a good one!!

[thetime]

Tonali looks like a long ban, rest of season? 

[charlierc]

15 hours ago, thetime said:

Tonali looks like a long ban, rest of season? 

Following it remotely on Twitter (or whatever Elon wants to call it) was confusing but it's not looking good. Max three years but likely one due to co-operation.

I think the club is doing the right thing in not immediately firing him, and offering to help support him, but Christ. It certainly gives us a messier look to our transfer dealings given Harvey Barnes is out until Christmas while our other signings are just bench-bound.

[charlierc]

I didn't watch Liverpool v Everton live but I've seen suggestions Konate should've been sent off, which has lead to one person texting the BBC live blog, "The only fair thing to do is replay the game! Let's see what Mr Klopp has to say after this game..."

The cloud of stink from that incident which generated a lot of debate is gonna follow them around for years yet isn't it?

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, charlierc said:

I didn't watch Liverpool v Everton live but I've seen suggestions Konate should've been sent off, which has lead to one person texting the BBC live blog, "The only fair thing to do is replay the game! Let's see what Mr Klopp has to say after this game..."

The cloud of stink from that incident which generated a lot of debate is gonna follow them around for years yet isn't it?

probably could have been a second yellow but there we go ... I wasn't calling for a replay 

[charlierc]

3 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

probably could have been a second yellow but there we go ... I wasn't calling for a replay 

Maybe it's only the chronically online who get that into the weeds with this stuff doing so.

[Punksnotdead]

RIP Bobby Charlton. My Dad's favourite player & the reason I became a United fan.

[thetime]

15 minutes ago, Punksnotdead said:

RIP Bobby Charlton. My Dad's favourite player & the reason I became a United fan.

Mr Manchester United. 

RIP Sir Bobby. 

[Neil]

RIP Bobby Charlton .

Remember watching Bobby as a kid, no passing back then - run the whole pitch then take a shot. Very different game.

[kaosmark2]

23 hours ago, charlierc said:

I didn't watch Liverpool v Everton live but I've seen suggestions Konate should've been sent off, which has lead to one person texting the BBC live blog, "The only fair thing to do is replay the game! Let's see what Mr Klopp has to say after this game..."

The cloud of stink from that incident which generated a lot of debate is gonna follow them around for years yet isn't it?

Damn right! It also should do given how much Klopp loves a whine.

3rd time this season a Liverpool player hasn't got a deserved 2nd yellow by my count. TAA in the Newcastle game, someone in the West Ham game, and now Konate.

[Neil]

Are Man utd a bit confused?

Charlton wasn't Scottish so why the bagpipes?

[thetime]

10 month ban then. 

[Neil]

On 10/25/2023 at 8:00 AM, Neil said:

Are Man utd a bit confused?

Charlton wasn't Scottish so why the bagpipes?

apparently nothumbrian pipes different to the scottish ones.

[kaosmark2]

23 hours ago, thetime said:

10 month ban then. 

Seems harsh compared to Toney betting on his own team, but you gotta accept these things tbh. It's just a bit gutting.

[Skip997]

1 hour ago, kaosmark2 said:

Seems harsh compared to Toney betting on his own team, but you gotta accept these things tbh. It's just a bit gutting.

Karma

[kaosmark2]

18 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Karma

It's to do with the different regulations of Italy - which has had much bigger betting/gambling scandals - therefore stricter punishments.

If you want to try and argue for the Western misappropriation of Karma into some sort of cosmic vengeance, then Liverpool would get 3 players falsely sent off over the next few weeks, along with several incorrectly awarded penalties against them. And one of their wins turned into a forced replay.

[Ommadawn]

On 10/26/2023 at 7:47 PM, Neil said:

apparently nothumbrian pipes different to the scottish ones.

They're both painful to the ears.
There used be a bloke who played the bagpipes in Glastonbury High Street. Went on for hours. In the end people used to creep up behind him drop chips down the pipes.

[thetime]

Newcastle playing in the Saudi colours. 😃

[kaosmark2]

41 minutes ago, thetime said:

Newcastle playing in the Saudi colours. 😃

I know. This away kit is hideous, and a reminder of the blood money.

There's been uglier ones aesthetically, not sure about overall.

[thetime]

4 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

along with several incorrectly awarded penalties against them. 

Bit early to comment on incorrect penalty decisions. Wolves are getting the very rough end of the VAR stick this season.

[charlierc]

On 10/26/2023 at 7:30 PM, thetime said:

10 month ban then. 

I was surprised Howe said in yesterday's pre-game presser that they might be able to play Tonali in this one. But apparently not.

Squad depth is a concern - Barnes was already out with an injury suffered at Sheffield United, Anderson did his back before the Dortmund game, Murphy and Isak got injured during the Dortmund game, and then Tonali verdict. The bench today had 2 goalkeepers and no strikers.

A point tbf is more than Man City got at Wolves.

On 10/27/2023 at 7:06 PM, kaosmark2 said:

Seems harsh compared to Toney betting on his own team, but you gotta accept these things tbh. It's just a bit gutting.

I thought the story was that Tonali was betting on his own team while playing for AC Milan, as part of a scandal where a number of players in Italy were caught gambling on illegal sites including on football games.

It's one thing people fixated on him getting applauded off after last week's Palace game while surrounded by billboards for 3 different gambling firms, but this seems to be a problem in general. Hell, while I gather a lot of his bets came when he was at Newcastle, Toney plays for a team sponsored by a gambling firm owned by a professional gambler, while Forest had a player who was very lucky not to get a ban for similar offences.

[charlierc]

2 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

I know. This away kit is hideous, and a reminder of the blood money.

There's been uglier ones aesthetically, not sure about overall.

There's an orange one of similar front design that Puma came up with a few years back that was similarly crap.

Curiously I had a neutral fan tell me they like this one.