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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

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On the Beckham thing, I know I'll watch at least one match just to see how he's doing over there. It won't actually directly bring MLS any money, as I'll be watching it free online unless someone actually feels like broadcasting it over here, but at the least they have a chance of impressing me and then word of mouth takes over.

We've had salary caps before, but they haven't lasted. Pretty sure they'd be illegal too, if taken to the courts.

I don't blame the players though, they're not taking more than the clubs can afford. The Premiership is appallingly rich and popular, and to a massive extent that's down to these top players. Now it'd be nice to believe that if these players didn't get such high wages then ticket prices would go down sharply, but I highly doubt that. Clubs will charge whatever they think is the right balance between bringing in the right amount of fans and getting the right amount of money, and that won't change because players earn less. The money saved would probably just go straight into the pockets of the owners.

So basically, so long as players aren't harming their clubs with their wage demands, it's justified.

Of course, in an ideal world doctors and nurses and firemen etc. would be on much higher wages and footballers would just get a decent amount, but it's just unrealistic. When the public start paying £30 to watch operations, they'll earn the obscene wages.

hadareud said:
edit: uuh at the savage picture. For some reason it looks to me like he's wearing a diaper. Of course, some people would pay money to see that.
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And some people just use their charm.
 
As an EPL/English football fan, I'm more concerned about the distribution of money from the top to bottom, rather than the amount of money being thrown around. The top clubs are increasingly untouchable to a large extent because of their financial resources, and it's tough for anyone else to compete. I'm not sure to what extent revenue sharing trickles down to the teams placed lower in the league and the lower divisions.
 
I have no idea what that outfit is all about. Unitard? Extra long shirt after removing his pants? I first saw the pic when I was reading an Italy preview guide for the last world cup because the US was going up against them. My friends and I sat there in stunned silence trying to figure out wtf was going on. One of those images where you want to look away but you can't.
 
I can't see his eyes! I need to see his eyes! Why doesn't he ever look at me when we're making love?

As an EPL/English football fan, I'm more concerned about the distribution of money from the top to bottom, rather than the amount of money being thrown around. The top clubs are increasingly untouchable to a large extent because of their financial resources, and it's tough for anyone else to compete. I'm not sure to what extent revenue sharing trickles down to the teams placed lower in the league and the lower divisions.
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Well, I posted this a bit earlier in the thread, but TV revenue is split like this: 50% split equally between clubs, 25% is split depending on how many of your games are shown on TV, 25% split depending on final league position.

It's about as fair as it can get, it's estimated that next year you'll get about £50m for winning the league, and the very bottom club, and I mean relegated not just bottom of those staying up, will earn £30m. It's the leagues where they can sell there own TV rights where there's the worry, as Barcelona and Real get way more money from it than anyone else in La Liga (and more than the top Premiership sides).

Of course, top clubs generally have better investment, higher attendances, higher ticket sales, more money from sponsors etc...but that's the benefits of success. We can't expect Chelsea to share their shirt sales with Watford.
 
Mama - if that's the case, then it seems like there's a reasonable split on the tv money. It's very hard to find a balance in this day and age where the system is fair and everyone has a shot. It's interesting to look at how the different US pro sports take care of it - some of them strive for extreme parity (NFL) whereas others let you more or less spend what you want (MLB). The problem with the former case is that successful teams aren't around for very long as their continuously being knocked back by the league, and the problem with the latter is that the bigger spenders have a serious competitive advantage and you can't really win without money. I guess for me the ideal situation is somewhere in between, but there are good arguments for either side.
 
The lack of championshipo in the championship is what makes it quite an interesting league. Unlike the premiership, which is divided into sub groups that saty the same wach season, the championship is quite unpredictable. Most of the teams are evenly matched. Obviously the problem is the quality of football, but there its a lot more unpredictable than the premiership.
 
the only US sport I am interested in is Hockey, and they have a system that has good a bad sides to it.

They actually do have a working salary cap, which is to be commended. Of course it came at the cost of a year long strike with no hockey being played at all.
The draft system more or less makes sure that the teams are at relative even strength.
Nothing to do with it - but I really like how the use television replays.

There's however so many strange and bad things about the system that I don't even know where to start.
 
hadareud said:
They actually do have a working salary cap, which is to be commended. Of course it came at the cost of a year long strike with no hockey being played at all.
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Yeah...the year I was in Canada! I actually like Ice Hockey, it's almost football on ice. Instead I had to go see f*cking Candian American Football WHICH WAS ONE OF THE WORST NIGHTS OF MY LIFE!
 
:lol

that's a real shame. I'd love to see an NHL game in person, the atmosphere seems fantastic and it's an incredibly intense sport. My girlfriend is not too happy that I'm watching a couple of games a week till 3 in the morning though.
 
Mama Smurf said:
Yeah...the year I was in Canada! I actually like Ice Hockey, it's almost football on ice. Instead I had to go see f*cking Candian American Football WHICH WAS ONE OF THE WORST NIGHTS OF MY LIFE!
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Cant have been as bad as English Ice Hockey, I almost cried it was so dull.
 
You don't live in Slough do you, hadareud?

Hey, we could form a shitty towns to live in club. I've got Swindon, so we're well on our way.
 
hadareud said:
is it really that bad? I was considering to go and watch Slough at some point soon.
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Well London Arena no longer exists, i can only assume that the boredom caused by the ice hockey game some how created a hole in space time that sucked it into some unfortunate alternative reality.
 
psycho_snake said:
The lack of championshipo in the championship is what makes it quite an interesting league. Unlike the premiership, which is divided into sub groups that saty the same wach season, the championship is quite unpredictable. Most of the teams are evenly matched. Obviously the problem is the quality of football, but there its a lot more unpredictable than the premiership.
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Although I agree with most of your points I would have to say at least one thing is predictable about the Championship. Wolves will always finish 6th or 7th :lol :lol
 
I like how at like 25 seconds he just completely loses it....brain meltdown.

It's almost as if his brain can't handle the overload of joy he is feeling..:lol AWESOME ....
 
Wenger speaks. Not sure what else he could/would say...

Fabregas might be out on Saturday. :(

Sky Sports said:
Wenger quashes future fears
By Chris Stanton - Created on 19 Apr 2007

Arsene Wenger has reiterated his commitment to Arsenal following the shock exit of The Gunners' vice-chairman David Dein.

Dein left Arsenal on Wednesday citing irreconcilable differences with the club's board and the exit immediately prompted speculation over the future of Wenger, given the close relationship between the Frenchman and his champion.

Wenger admits Dein's departure 'is a sad day for the club' but was keen to reassure Gunners supporters over his own future.

"It is a sad day for Arsenal Football Club," Wenger told Arsenal's official website.

"It is a huge disappointment because we worked very closely together. David has contributed highly to the success of the club in the last 10 years and even before that as well. Red and white are the colours of his heart."

Wenger, though, insists his relationship with the Arsenal board remains a healthy one.

"My position is that I am linked with the club very strongly. The relationship with the rest [of the Board] has always been very good and we try always to have a good understanding."

The news will come as a major boost to the club ahead of Saturday's North London derby against Tottenham.

Cesc Fabregas is a major doubt for the clash, with Wenger admitting the virus-ridden midfielder is only '50-50' to take part.

"Cesc has a little sickness. He will have a test tomorrow to see how he feels. As it stand he is 50-50 today [Thursday]. We will not gamble on him. He is not injured but he has caught a virus."
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From the this is probably bullshit but I'm posting it anyway file:
A friend of mine that works in a soccer shop in Utah just said that Nick Rimando was just in and mentioned that an announcement is being made this evening about Zidane going to play for the LA Galaxy. My friend seems to think he was telling the truth. I guess we'll find out in a few hours... :lol
 
Cornballer said:
From the this is probably bullshit but I'm posting it anyway file:
A friend of mine that works in a soccer shop in Utah just said that Nick Rimando was just in and mentioned that an announcement is being made this evening about Zidane going to play for the LA Galaxy. My friend seems to think he was telling the truth. I guess we'll find out in a few hours... :lol
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Such ****ing bullshit if true.

They have exactly ONE DP slot right now going to Beckham, and another they'll need to find next year for Landyboy. So they're going to field a team consisting of 3 dp's having just 1 slot. What's the point of rules if a team can just, oh i don't know, bypass them?
 
Outdoor Miner said:
Such ****ing bullshit if true.

They have exactly ONE DP slot right now going to Beckham, and another they'll need to find next year for Landyboy. So they're going to field a team consisting of 3 dp's having just 1 slot. What's the point of rules if a team can just, oh i don't know, bypass them?
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Yeah, I'm trying to figure out how they'd work the DP slots if it happened. Doesn't add up by my math. LA has always been a favorite son of MLS management, but this is ridiculous. Maybe Rimando was just f**king with him and this will be a non-issue.
 
Mama Smurf said:
You don't live in Slough do you, hadareud?

Hey, we could form a shitty towns to live in club. I've got Swindon, so we're well on our way.
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no, thank god I don't. I actually live in a small village outside Reading, but Slough is only about 20 minutes away by train. I used to work there for a couple of years though, it truly is a shitty place.

I did however live in Dover once - so I think I am entitled to a life long membership of the shitty town club.

edit: I heard about the Zidane thing yesterday on the Radio btw. I didn't pay much attention because I thought it's bullshit, but you never know.
 
hadareud said:
:lol

that's a real shame. I'd love to see an NHL game in person, the atmosphere seems fantastic and it's an incredibly intense sport. My girlfriend is not too happy that I'm watching a couple of games a week till 3 in the morning though.
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Did you get tickets to the 2 games being played at the O2 Arena? It's the Ducks vs. Kings but it's still an NHL game that actually counts and it's being played in London.
 
Cornballer said:
From the this is probably bullshit but I'm posting it anyway file:
A friend of mine that works in a soccer shop in Utah just said that Nick Rimando was just in and mentioned that an announcement is being made this evening about Zidane going to play for the LA Galaxy. My friend seems to think he was telling the truth. I guess we'll find out in a few hours... :lol
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We got Reyna and Angel and the Galaxy got Beckham and Zidane? Something's not right.
 
Dunno if this has been mentioned yet, but for those interested, MLS is on in High-Definition again tonight on ESPN 2 (6pm central). New England Revolution at Columbus Crew.

t-15 minutes
 
today's rumours:

Arsenal are considering a summer move for Birmingham keeper Colin Doyle. (Daily Mirror)

Chelsea are battling with Bolton to sign Oldham striker Danny Philliskirk - son of former player Tony. (Daily Mirror)

Portsmouth striker Kanu wants a new two-year deal, so he can buy a house on the south coast and stop his daily commute from London. (Daily Mirror)

Portsmouth striker Lomana LuaLua has snubbed a multi-million move to Qatar to prove he can still cut it in the Premiership. (Daily Star)

Watford boss Aidy Boothroyd is ready to offload Clarke Carlisle and Steve Kabba. (Daily Mirror)

Darren Purse will snub a move to Sheffield United and will commit his future to Cardiff instead. (Daily Star)

Tell us your transfer rumours

Arsene Wenger is considering whether to quit Arsenal following David Dein's resignation from the club. (Various)

And, if the Frenchman leaves, a host of stars including Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and Emmanuel Adebayor will follow. (The Sun)

Meanwhile, Spurs boss Martin Jol has upped the stakes ahead of this weekend's north London derby by saying he's surprised at the praise Wenger has received this season, despite winning nothing. (Various)

Kilmarnock fans have vetoed plans for Celtic to bring their own DJ to Sunday's match at Rugby Park - with the Bhoys likely to clinch the title by the time of the game. (Daily Record)

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is ready to compromise with owner Roman Abramovich in order to stay at the club. (The Sun)

Meanwhile, the Blues are trying to gag Mourinho to prevent him talking about details of his feud with Abramovich. (Daily Express)

Portsmouth goalkeeper David James says players should be docked cash for bad performances - in a bid to bring them closer to the fans. (Daily Mirror)

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says Alan Smith should be recalled to the England squad. (The Sun)

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez says his players should try to emulate the old "Crazy Gang" style of long-ball football pioneered by Wimbledon in the 1980s in order to save their season. (The Sun)

LA Galaxy have already made more than £6m in shirt sales, endorsements and sponsorships on the back of the signing of David Beckham. (Daily Telegraph)

St Mirren are closing in on a deal which will see them sell their Love Street stadium, build a new ground and wipe out their debt. (Daily Record)

Ajax will retire the number 14 jersey of Johan Cruyff to mark the Dutch legend's 60th birthday. (Daily Mirror)
Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn claims the club's success under Roy Keane has boosted the city's economy - as happy workers are so full of energy. (Various)

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is eyeing a £150m week-long holiday - on the moon. (The Sun)

Composer and theatre producer Andrew Lloyd Webber says he will only attend this week's edition of Any Dream Will Do - in which budding musical actors bid to win a leading role in the West End - unless the BBC fly him back from his beloved Leyton Orient's away match with Bradford. (The Sun)
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meanwhile:

Arsenal chief will fight US bid

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood has hit out at the American influence on the Premiership and moved to fight any potential takeover at the club.

Vice-chairman David Dein left the club as US billionaire Stan Kroenke bought a 9.9% interest in Arsenal.

Hill-Wood said: "Why don't we want the American at our club? Call me old-fashioned, but we don't need his money and we don't want his sort.

"Our objective is keep Arsenal English, albeit with a lot of foreign players."

Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester United have been bought by American owners, but Hill-Wood is determined Arsenal will not fall into US hands.

He said: "Americans are buying up chunks of the Premiership football clubs and not because of their love of football but because they see an opportunity to make money.

"They know absolutely sweet FA about our football and we don't want these type of people involved."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has spoken of his "huge disappointment" after vice-chairman Dein's departure.

Dein, credited with bringing Wenger to Arsenal in 1996, left Arsenal on Wednesday because of "irreconcilable differences" with the board.

Wenger told Arsenal TV Online: "It's a huge disappointment because we worked very closely together."

The Frenchman, whose contract runs out in May next year, attended an Arsenal board meeting on Thursday.

Wenger said he was on good terms with the other club directors, but gave no clue as to whether he intends to extend his contract.

"My position is that I am linked with the club very strongly," added Wenger.

"The relationship with the rest of the board has always been very good and we try always to have a good understanding."

Earlier on Thursday Arsenal chairman Hill-Wood had reassured fans that Wenger would stay at the club.

"The relationship that Arsene has with the board is good," said Hill-Wood.

"He is on contract until 2008 and we hope he will extend beyond that."

Hill-Wood added: "It's well known that Arsene and David have got on very well over the past 10 years and I am certain that Arsene will miss him."
Dein, 63, who holds 14% of shares in the parent company of the Gunners, will cease to be a director after leaving because of differences concerning the direction and ownership at the club.

He was thought to be in favour of Kroenke's involvement, and that has put him at odds with Hill-Wood.

But the chairman has been keen to stress that Dein's departure was not due to a lack of transfer funds available to Wenger.

"We've always made funds available to Arsene, he attends the board meetings, he understands the financial position," said Hill-Wood.

"I can assure supporters that we will continue to provide funds when Arsene requires them.

"We have a very good squad - young, maybe, but developing well - and if Arsene wants to strengthen it we have the money to provide him with any reasonable purchases he wants to make."
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I hate the uncertainty and the field day the newspapers are having with it. I am really looking forward to hearing Wenger's press conference and yesterdays interview this afternoon.

I do love this quote though:

Hill-Wood said: "Why don't we want the American at our club? Call me old-fashioned, but we don't need his money and we don't want his sort.
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:lol
 
Tomorrow's our match against Stuttgart

lahm500500iv4.jpg


It's the most important game of the season because our champions league qualification depends on this game!
 
looks like a massive fixture, away with Stuttgart 2 points ahead. I suppose Bayern are gonna win it, that's what they do.




The weekly betting update:
A very difficult weekend for predictions, with a bit of bad luck I could lose everything that I won again.

With a bit of luck there could be a massive profit though. I think the latter is very unlikely.

I added a new tactic, I am using the fink tank for the accumulator bet (thanks again Mama). I am only putting games with over 60 % on there, the accumulator is of course a bit on the low side, but the chances should be better. I used all English league games for it and got to an accumulator of around 115 for 11 games. For 3 pounds this could be massive.
 
exciting news!!
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151837

Sports Interactive announce brand new massively multiplayer online football management game

LONDON (April 20th, 2007) –SEGA® Europe Ltd today announced the future release of Football Manager™ Live, a brand new massively multiplayer online game from acclaimed developers Sports Interactive. Scheduled for release in Spring 2008, Football Manager Live has its roots set in the best-selling and award-winning Football Manager™ series, but has been designed specifically as a massively multiplayer online game.

Football Manager Live is a brand new concept in football management and allows you to build a club from scratch to compete against friends and rivals online for the ultimate in Football Manager bragging rights. It’s the definitive test of football management skills, allowing you to set-up mini-leagues amongst your friends, bid in player auctions and compete in live matches 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Matches take place in real-time with a range of tactical options for managers to control as they follow all the action via the realistic 2D match engine. In addition, the in-game chat option means managers can exchange comments on the virtual touchline, whilst other aspiring managers can view their competitors and learn their tactics.

Away from the stadium, users will need to control their club in a host of different ways. This ranges from the basics of choosing your club name, colours, badge and pitch size; right through to the nitty-gritty of balancing the finances and improving their squad by buying and selling players using an auction style transfer system.

The game is the brainchild of Sports Interactive co-founder, Oliver Collyer and is designed for a whole new audience of football gamers, as well as existing Sports Interactive fans.

“With Football Manager Live, we're ripping up the script that says how online football management games should work" says Oliver Collyer. "We're creating something that is fun, challenging and sociable.”

“Imagine a cross between Football Manager, fantasy sports and auctions sites and you are part of the way to understanding Football Manager Live” commented Miles Jacobson, Managing Director of Sports Interactive. “It’s great to be able to announce the game, and we can’t wait to see the reaction to the beta when it launches next month.”

Football Manager Live is due for release in spring 2008, with a beta test set to launch in May 2007. To find out more about participating in the test and to receive updates on Football Manager Live visit the official websites at www.footballmanagerlive.com or www.sigames.com



Pictures here:
http://www.level7.nu/spel/spel.php?id=3425
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we have to do a league!
 
hadareud said:
no, thank god I don't. I actually live in a small village outside Reading, but Slough is only about 20 minutes away by train. I used to work there for a couple of years though, it truly is a shitty place.

I did however live in Dover once - so I think I am entitled to a life long membership of the shitty town club.

edit: I heard about the Zidane thing yesterday on the Radio btw. I didn't pay much attention because I thought it's bullshit, but you never know.
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Since I lived in stockport I should be part of this club too. Stockport was a shithole, its a horrible place. My street was quite nice, but the street around the corner was a death trap. I dont live there anymore, I live in dubai now. Its ****ing brilliant out here, but in a year and a half Ive got to go back to england for uni :(

Anyway back to football. That rumour about Wenger leaving and taking arsenals best players is a load of bullshit. Arsenal will not let wenger walk away and take his favourite squad members with him. If arsene goes, he'll be the only one that goes.
 
hadareud said:
exciting news!!
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151837



we have to do a league!
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And no more life. Seriously, when this game gets released, im going to be sitting on my ass playing this all day. Ive got football manager 2007, but Ive stopped myself from playing that because when i do start playing it I get horribly addicted. There are times when I'll spend 8-10 hours playing that dujring one day.
 
I'll play, so long as my PC can handle it.

I don't like betting on the non-Premiership games, I'm never sure if the data is being collected as accurately. It probably is, but I can tell with Premiership games as I can tell if the Premiership games look about right. I don't really know if it's realistic for Rochdale to have have a 60.7% chance of beating Macclesfield, for example.

Accumulators are cool but hard to get the big payouts. Betfair only goes up to £50,000, but I think you can go into ridiculously high figures with normal bookies. I probably wouldn't be betting on things beyond £50,000 anyway, you're really going for ridiculously unlikely things after that.

Some fixture can just screw you up, when everything else goes right. I've got 18 of 21 bets right on the over 60% games, an impressive figure, but 2 of the 3 I've gotten wrong are really high percentages. One is Blackburn v West Ham, which was 76.3%, and the other Arsenal vs West Ham, 85%. Sure, the former was lost controversially and the latter a complete fluke which on any other day would have been an easy win...but controversial decisions/flukes are commonplace, if you're betting on enough games, so accumulators are easily screwed up.

I sometimes think it might be better to bet on a couple of unlikely results together rather than a whole load of likely ones. For example, I could back Wigan to beat Liverpool and Middlesbrough to beat United this weekend, both unlikely but still with better odds than I think is justified, and if I throw in Chelsea beating Newcastle I could win £630 off a £3 bet.

Hill-Wood said: "Why don't we want the American at our club? Call me old-fashioned, but we don't need his money and we don't want his sort.
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Hmmm, "his sort". That kind of bothers me. I was once talking to my aunt, who's quite old and not necessarily p.c., and she was talking about my cousin's new boyfriend. I asked what he looked like, said something like "Is he blonde, brunette, tall, short, white, black..." and she immediately went "Of course he's white, she wouldn't want any of that sort."

...I wasn't happy. Hill-Wood probably meant someone who sees football as a pure business opportunity rather than anything racist, but I just can't stand the phrase "his sort".
 
I know what you mean, when I first read that line it gave me a bit of an odd feeling. But then I had to chuckle, because this line should really shut all speculation down, for now at least.

I really think he meant the sort of deal it would be and that Kroenke did not officially approach them though.

I agree with only betting on Premiership games, but I thought I'd give it a go and see how accurate they are. There were quite a few games in the leagues that the fink tank really had quite different from the bookies, so I thought that's a good opportunity to find out more about it. 3 pounds is not too much of a stake either. Let's see how it goes, I could do with 340 pounds though.
 
I don't get why Wenger would leave at this stage. Will he suddenly have less power at the club with Dein's departure? I doubt it. And he's got as much power as any manager at any top football club in the world, with a young base of players, and a crop of future grads waiting to come out of the Arsenal academy that he established several years ago. Why would he leave all of that now? And moreover, where the hell would he go to? He's turned down Real Madrid more times then I could count because the structure there gives him little power. Beyond that, who could give him a better deal?

It's not like I discount the possibility of Wenger leaving, but you need to bring a stronger argument then "because Dein did!!" to develop any sort of case.

Wenger's smart enough to know that one board member leaving, regardless of how close he was to him and how influential he was, can happen, and doesn't mean the entire thing is about to become unglued. The fact that Wenger has been on record several times in being opposed to a foreign-based takeover (something that Dein allegedly supports and is the root of his resignation) means that Wenger would frankly feel more comfortable about the situation, with Hill-Wood telling Kroenke to piss off.

Anyway, I'm more concerned about Fabregas' status tomorrow...hopefully he's able to recover from his virus in time for kick off at White Fart Lane.
 
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