Football Season 2008/2009

[Gizmo]

Thats another thing - if we were in the EPL, we would definately attract a higher calibre manager.

[darksnowman]

Just out of curiosity (this might come across as me being a dick): where do you scottish fans imagine Celtic and Rangers would finish if they joined the English leagues??

 

The Gers would be pushing into top four territory and the Celts would be relegated!

[flameboy]

The Gers would be pushing into top four territory and the Celts would be relegated!

 

I reckon thats a bit harsh lol! I think they would be 5th-10th. Can't see them out gunning the top 4 and reckon most of the midtable premiership teams would give them a run for their money.

[GothicPlague]

If Celtic and Rangers were to join the English leagues they should start from the very bottom in my opinion of course if that happened they probably wouldn't want to join. Of course this wouldn't happen and the FA would make a complete mockery of every single English team and allow them straight into the premier league if they were to join because of the extra money to be made.

[Ramar]

If Celtic and Rangers were to join the English leagues they should start from the very bottom in my opinion of course if that happened they probably wouldn't want to join. Of course this wouldn't happen and the FA would make a complete mockery of every single English team and allow them straight into the premier league if they were to join because of the extra money to be made.

 

That's how it should be done.

 

Think about teams like AFC Wimbledon, they're now in the conference, one step away from being a league team. Why should they have to sweat it out and work their socks off to become a professional outfit, and teams outside our Association be able to swan into our league.

 

Personally don't like the idea of Celtic and Rangers joining our leagues or this stupid hybrid European league I keep hearing about.

 

Other than too much money in the game, I can't see whats wrong with football as it is.

[flameboy]

That's how it should be done.

 

Think about teams like AFC Wimbledon, they're now in the conference, one step away from being a league team. Why should they have to sweat it out and work their socks off to become a professional outfit, and teams outside our Association be able to swan into our league.

 

Personally don't like the idea of Celtic and Rangers joining our leagues or this stupid hybrid European league I keep hearing about.

 

Other than too much money in the game, I can't see whats wrong with football as it is.

 

It'll happen in some form sooner or later...we live in a global world now so expanding in such a way is bound to happen for better or worse.

 

People may dismiss such things as bad ideas now but when the Champions League was first announced it was much derided now look at it, arguably the most lucrative, viewed and wealth club tournament in the world, yes it has its problems but theres no denying its success.

[Ramar]

How can football expand when the rest of the world is tightening its pocket. A global or european league would only drive fans away.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Happy Champions League Final Day, Guys.

[DuD]

Best of luck to United tonight.

 

Heres hoping tomorrows headlines are about the football rather than the refereeing.

 

 

 

How can football expand when the rest of the world is tightening its pocket. A global or european league would only drive fans away.

I agree with this (from the hardcore fans perspective), however I also think that greed and the amount of money this idea could generate is what will eventually see it happen.

The money involved in football is ridiculous and its just going to get worse.

Edited May 27, 2009 by DuD
Automerged Doublepost

[Fierce_LiNk]

There is always being more money pumped into football, and I read a post somewhere (not sure if it's a few posts up or on another forum) that said the only way to bridge the gap between the English big four and the rest is to pump money into the other clubs, or investment, etc.

 

The post may not be wrong. But, what you also need to think about is the fact that...imo...the value of players is being ridiculous. Craig Bellamy for 12 million, Berbatov for around 30, and there's many more where that came from. If you rewind back to maybe 5 or so years ago, or even 10, would the same players have cost this much? I think that's part and parcel of where football is at the moment, it's very money driven and has been that way for quite some time.

 

It's all about expanding, I guess. And, with anything, if there's money to be made, then the idea will get the go-ahead. A global or European league, as Ramar says, is going against the rest of the world at this time. It's not viable, right now. But, I do think that some strides will be made towards this over the coming years. Whether or not it's a good thing for football, I don't know.

 

About Rangers and Celtic going the English Premier League: I just checked the AA Roadplanner, and it's nigh on 7 hours to travel from Arsenal's ground to Celtic's ground. Haha, that'd be one hell of a journey.

[Noodleman]

7 hours is nothing really There are loads of leagues that have a much bigger gap between teams. When Zenith St. Petersburg play FC Amkar Perm. They have to travel almost halfway round the world. St. Petersburg to Vladivostok is 10,000 KM.

 

Pretty sure when Plymouth played Carlisle, when they where in the same league it must have been around a 7 hour trip as well.

[Gizmo]

Bilic is apparently interested in the Celtic job.

[DuD]

The post may not be wrong. But, what you also need to think about is the fact that...imo...the value of players is being ridiculous. Craig Bellamy for 12 million, Berbatov for around 30, and there's many more where that came from. If you rewind back to maybe 5 or so years ago, or even 10, would the same players have cost this much? I think that's part and parcel of where football is at the moment, it's very money driven and has been that way for quite some time.

I completely agree with this, but its one of the only ways smaller clubs can try and get money in. The sale of Bellamy to the "richest club in the world" helped ease the financial pressure building at Upton Park. Theres no arguing City paid over-the-odds, but thats the thing, they paid it. We can't really blame teams like West Ham for asking over-the-odds prices when clubs like City are willing to pay it.

On the other end of the scale (this is a bad example if you know how Everton placed the season with Rooney, and the next season without) when smaller clubs do manage to unearth a genuine talent that could potentially help them achieve a higher status, teams with the money can come in and make offers that the smaller clubs simply can't refuse. I'm using Rooney at Everton and United here as my example. After a real stuggle (for Everton) to retain their premier league status, United came in with an offer for Rooney worth £25.6m. Thats not really a figure that a team finding itself in 17th can turn down....... so these high prices work both ways.

 

As I said the money in football is ridiculous, and I can't see this situation being relieved anytime soon. The only way to stop it is to enforce a capping on money within the game, however bringing in wage/transfer fee caps will only result in our leagues best players packing their bags and plying their trade in the foreign leagues and (obviously) no-one wants this to happen.... so what is there to do??? Cap the money in all leagues??? At some point something will have to be done..?

 

Just to help show the difference in money available to clubs (that were ) in the same league, here are the starting line-ups from Manchester City's 4-2 win over West Brom at Eastlands:

I'm not even going to bother using a top four club for the example

 

Man City:

Given, Zabaleta, Bridge, Onuoha, Dunne, Kompany, Elano, Ireland, de Jong £~17m, Caicedo, Robinho

 

West Brom:

Carson £3.25m, Meite £2m, Zuiverloon £3.2m, Olsson £800000, Robinson £375000, Morrison £1.5m, Greening £1.25m, Brunt £3m, Koren £-Free, Dorrans £100000, Fortune £-On loan........... Total £15.475m

 

That gives one Man City player as being more expensive than our whole team, and I didn't even need to pick Robinho to prove this point.

Can the smaller teams in the league really compete with this????

 

For a final thought.... How do people feel about the whole 'you must field more English players' ideas?? I believe this argument comes back to what FLiNk said about prices being too high... How can the FA expect teams to pay an extra so-many million only because the player in question is English, when a manager could pick up a foreign player of the same calibur for considerably less???

 

Sorry for the lot of text. Anyone that reads it (thank you ) what are your thoughts?

[Jon]

I completely agree with this, but its one of the only ways smaller clubs can try and get money in. The sale of Bellamy to the "richest club in the world" helped ease the financial pressure building at Upton Park. Theres no arguing City paid over-the-odds, but thats the thing, they paid it. We can't really blame teams like West Ham for asking over-the-odds prices when clubs like City are willing to pay it.

On the other end of the scale (this is a bad example if you know how Everton placed the season with Rooney, and the next season without) when smaller clubs do manage to unearth a genuine talent that could potentially help them achieve a higher status, teams with the money can come in and make offers that the smaller clubs simply can't refuse. I'm using Rooney at Everton and United here as my example. After a real stuggle (for Everton) to retain their premier league status, United came in with an offer for Rooney worth £25.6m. Thats not really a figure that a team finding itself in 17th can turn down....... so these high prices work both ways.

 

As I said the money in football is ridiculous, and I can't see this situation being relieved anytime soon. The only way to stop it is to enforce a capping on money within the game, however bringing in wage/transfer fee caps will only result in our leagues best players packing their bags and plying their trade in the foreign leagues and (obviously) no-one wants this to happen.... so what is there to do??? Cap the money in all leagues??? At some point something will have to be done..?

 

Just to help show the difference in money available to clubs (that were ) in the same league, here are the starting line-ups from Manchester City's 4-2 win over West Brom at Eastlands:

I'm not even going to bother using a top four club for the example

 

Man City:

Given, Zabaleta, Bridge, Onuoha, Dunne, Kompany, Elano, Ireland, de Jong £~17m, Caicedo, Robinho

 

West Brom:

Carson £3.25m, Meite £2m, Zuiverloon £3.2m, Olsson £800000, Robinson £375000, Morrison £1.5m, Greening £1.25m, Brunt £3m, Koren £-Free, Dorrans £100000, Fortune £-On loan........... Total £15.475m

 

That gives one Man City player as being more expensive than our whole team, and I didn't even need to pick Robinho to prove this point.

Can the smaller teams in the league really compete with this????

 

For a final thought.... How do people feel about the whole 'you must field more English players' ideas?? I believe this argument comes back to what FLiNk said about prices being too high... How can the FA expect teams to pay an extra so-many million only because the player in question is English, when a manager could pick up a foreign player of the same calibur for considerably less???

 

Sorry for the lot of text. Anyone that reads it (thank you ) what are your thoughts?

 

I agree, you can't really blame the small clubs for asking over-the-odds prices for their young stars. In someway it's inevitable when they unearth these players they're gonna be off to bigger clubs, so they might as well recoup some of the time and money they've spent on them over the years. This is one of the things that the 'sugardaddy' culture of football, this will only happen more and more.

 

To me there is still nothing better than a club picking up a player for a couple million (or whatever) that you've never heard off and by the end of the season he's a club hero. I'm a Celtic supporter and it's something we've been quite good at over the years. Viduka, Moravcik, Agathe, Boruc, Petrov and of course the legend that is Larsson. Of course it doesn't always work out and you're gonna uncover some duds, Brattback, Zurawski, Rafael Scheidt, etc but it's always worth the risk to uncover that one great player.

[GothicPlague]

For a final thought.... How do people feel about the whole 'you must field more English players' ideas?? I believe this argument comes back to what FLiNk said about prices being too high... How can the FA expect teams to pay an extra so-many million only because the player in question is English, when a manager could pick up a foreign player of the same calibur for considerably less???

 

I think it's ridiculous especially as it's meant to be a way of helping create better English players isn't it? When all it will do is make average English players worth stupid money.

 

Instead of making the English leagues weaker by implementing this (god knows how playing against weaker opposition is meant to make our country's players better) they should invest more time and money youth systems.

[kyletherobot]

Owen Coyle is set to become Celtic boss according to this:

 

BBC

 

Gutted for Burnley if its true. They have to be massive favourites for relegation already and this isn't going to help.

Edited May 27, 2009 by kyletherobot

[Gizmo]

Seems strange to me that he would leave the team he just got promoted, Celtic supporter or not.

[khilafah]

Seems strange to me that he would leave the team he just got promoted, Celtic supporter or not.

 

I think he may be feeling that this may be the only chance he gets to manage celtic. no disrespect to burnley but it is a no contest when comparing both clubs. Yeah SPL is not great but celtic gives owen coyle european football.

 

sounds like a typical move by the celtic board though to be honest. Get another yes man like strachan and someone not too expensive.

 

Only worry for celtic fans is that owen coyle may look at players he has been around so celtic could end up with championship players. These are not good enough and would be bad purchases.

 

I think Celtic have to speak to Slaven Billic now he has expressed interest. It would do no harm to see what Bilic has to offer. Bilic will know plenty of untapped Eastern Europe talent which would be good for celtic. Croatian/Estern European players tend to be very good technically.

 

Bilic plays fast attacking football with croatia with full back who attack. Celic would be crazy to just ignore this guy.

Edited May 27, 2009 by khilafah

[Jon]

Props for what Coyle has done but I'd rather have a higher calibre man in charge. I'd be up for Bilic, always liked him as a player and now as a manager.

[Charlie]

That's how it should be done.

 

Think about teams like AFC Wimbledon, they're now in the conference, one step away from being a league team. Why should they have to sweat it out and work their socks off to become a professional outfit, and teams outside our Association be able to swan into our league.

 

Personally don't like the idea of Celtic and Rangers joining our leagues or this stupid hybrid European league I keep hearing about.

 

Other than too much money in the game, I can't see whats wrong with football as it is.

 

What are your views on Cardiff then? They're not an English team yet still play in the EPL.

 

 

And as for the new Celtic manager, looks like Mowbray is out of the picture thankfully. Even though Billic has expressed interest although I'd love him to take it, I don't think he will. Looks like Owen Coyle will be getting it which I'm most pleased about.

[khilafah]

Props for what Coyle has done but I'd rather have a higher calibre man in charge. I'd be up for Bilic, always liked him as a player and now as a manager.

 

The celtic board will show there true ambition if they dont even talk to bilic..

[Noodleman]

Billic hasn't actually expressed any interest. Just his agent who is basically doing his job if he wants his 10%

[flameboy]

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11674_5351258,00.html

 

Portsmouth have confirmed owner Alexandre Gaydamak has accepted an offer from Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim to buy the club.

 

The Dubai-based billionaire - known as the 'Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi' - previously helped broker the deal that saw Manchester City bought by Sheikh Mansour.

 

Al-Fahim is also on the board of Abu Dhabi United Group - the group which bought City.

 

But now Al-Fahim looks to be going on his own after concluding talks with executive chairman Peter Storrie, who was negotiating on behalf of Gaydamak.

 

Now the club are entering a formal period of due diligence as the two parties look to conclude the deal.

 

Statement

 

Portsmouth confirmed the deal had been agreed on their official website and released the following statement: "Portsmouth football club can confirm that it has accepted an offer from Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim to buy the club.

 

"This follows initial due diligence and negotiations with Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie on behalf of club owner Alexandre Gaydamak.

 

"Peter Storrie concluded the deal with Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim in Rome on Tuesday night.

 

"A period of formal legal and financial due diligence will commence next week so that the transaction can be completed as soon as possible.

 

"The club cannot make any further comment on the future structure of the club until this period has been completed."

 

GET IN!!!! We aren't going bankrupt anymore! Get that VAT bill paid! Heard rumblings for a while now that Peter Storrie our Chief Executive had something big in the offing but when its with regards to him its usually a load of horse shit, but for once he has come with the odds... Now the Champs League Final takes an interesting context its one big shop window.

[Roostophe]

Whoops.

[Daft]

Can United please win this.