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Official Football Thread 2007/2008 (Soccer)

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In order to facilitate rapid advancement to coitus
Certain lies were spake
This in and of itself is nothing unusual
Because I'm a snake

She's in love with an ideal
Not the real me
That is quite ugly
And can't be concealed with potpourri

Frequent separation would not impede a relationship
To this I will acquiesce
The truth however will
And she will be hurt nevertheless

Cornballer said:
More like Care-akand, amirite?
Click to expand...
You son of a bitch, take that back RIGHT NOW.

P.S. This is why I didn't tell you guys about the girl that got me banned for 3 days. -_-
 
Fucking sales freaks, forced me to watch an hour of Bella on Supernatural.

....yeah, ok.

You gotta commit, kara. I don't mean commit to her, you getta commit to one side or the other. You can be the bastard and get laid a lot, but there's no feeling bad when you hurt her. Or you can be honest and get laid less, but actually might want to stay with the girl who wants to be with real you.

This middle ground isn't doing anyone any good.
 
Usually I don't feel bad. That's what makes this even more annoying. :(

edit: There were extenuating circumstances RE the chick that got me banned.
 
Unless you dated Dragona and presumably refused to wear this during sex, I dunno how a girlfriend could get you banned.

Or she posted using your account.
 
Mama Smurf said:
Unless you dated Dragona and presumably refused to wear this during sex, I dunno how a girlfriend could get you banned.

Or she posted using your account.
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OH MY GOD THE SEX I COULD HAVE IN THAT THING YOU HAVE NO IDEA

I bet she told him to use the f word. No, not the f word which you can't say on TV. The f word you can't say on gaf.
 
Citeh approached Ivan Gazidis (MLS) about coming over to do some chairman work. OK... (He turned it down.)

Youth squad on to the elite 8 of the FA Youth Cup. (Sturridge got a goal too!) Hopefully they're more 2006 than 1986, don't want to end that drought now that it can finally purchase alcohol in the States.

El Diablo is back in practice too. You know you want back on the bandwagon now, bean breath!
 
woodchuck said:
Did you tell her
you are a United fan?
When in fact you are
a Citeh man?
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He wouldn't do it
he is a bruin
he could have sex in los angeles
but that road leads to ruin
 
Mama Smurf said:
Unless you dated Dragona and presumably refused to wear this during sex, I dunno how a girlfriend could get you banned.

Or she posted using your account.
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I was recouping from my appendectomy (which QVT can attest to is depressing in and of itself) and I got hit with a chain of events that culminated in something that tugged the Catholic guilt strings hardcore.

Being the sensible man that I am I crawled into a bottle for 2 or 3 days to deal and said something stupid on GAF that got me banned.

woodchuck said:
Did you tell her
you are a United fan?
When in fact you are
a Citeh man?
Click to expand...
Even the lowliest of men
Must live by a scruple
"Honor among thieves"
For the Blues I'd gladly be a Rene Goupil
 
Karakand said:
Citeh approached Ivan Gazidis (MLS) about coming over to do some chairman work. OK... (He turned it down.)
Click to expand...
There were some rumors swirling around today that Garber is leaving soon, and the only reason why Gazidis didn't take the Citeh job was because he's going to take over MLS soon. Not sure if that's complete bs or if there's something to it.
 
Actually, the appendix does have a function, it retains useful bacteria when ill and you have diarrhea, for example. Probably won't matter unless you're visiting a country with seriously under-developed sanitization though.

Back to football, Alves seems to really, really want to leave Sevilla. I doubt Chelsea even want him anymore, they have the right back position sorted now with Ivanovic (he hasn't played yet, but he joined during Russia's off-season, needs to get back to full match fitness). There's the whole Ramos connection at Spurs, but they've got an abundance of right backs already, a couple of which they only just bought.

So he'll probably go to Madrid or Barca if they bid, but there's a chance he could come to Liverpool or Man Utd. I dunno if Liverpool's owners would be willing to pay for him, not if they're going to spend elsewhere, but even as a right back he would add more creativity to the team. And we all know United are in the hunt for a right back, though I haven't actually seen them linked with Alves. Ferguson might want someone more defensive minded, Bosingwa seems to be leading the way, but if Alves is available then you never know.
 
TRANSFER RUMOURS

Chelsea and Tottenham have been put on red alert after Daniel Alves admitted he is desperate to quit Sevilla. (Daily Star)

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill is planning a £9m summer swoop for Peter Crouch but Liverpool have opened contract talks with the striker to ward off interest. (Daily Mirror)

Everton boss David Moyes will have to come up with £4.5m for Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley. (Daily Mirror)

Motherwell striker Ross McCormack is to sign a pre-contract agreement with Wigan in the next 48 hours but it will have an escape clause - if the Latics are relegated. (Various)

Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has dismissed reports linking striker Kanu with a move to Australia. (The Independent)

Manchester City head a list of Premier League clubs chasing £4m-rated Cameroon international Stephane Mbia, who plays for Rennes. (Daily Star)

Stoke will battle with Championship promotion rivals West Brom in the race to sign Aston Villa striker Luke Moore on a loan deal. (Star)

Back to top

OTHER GOSSIP

Midfielder Cesc Fabregas' proposed new deal with Arsenal could be worth £33m. (Various)

Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is confident defender Richard Dunne will agree a new deal and not quit Manchester City at the end of the season. (Daily Star)

Reading have held preliminary talks with Nicky Shorey over extending the defender's contract. (The Independent)

Coventry chairman Ray Ranson is ready to name his former Birmingham team-mate Steve Wigley as Iain Dowie's successor. Dowie was sacked as manager on Monday. (The Sun)

But the Sky Blues chairman has also been linked with Wigan number two Eric Black. (Daily Mirror)

Manager Kevin Keegan has warned striker Shola Ameobi he has to take his next chance at Newcastle or leave. (Daily Mirror)

Sheffield Wednesday are on the verge of a £15m takeover by a group of British-based Asian businessmen. (Daily Mirror)

Leicester City chairman Milan Mandaric has revealed he spent £11m in his first year in charge at the Walkers Stadium. "It has not been easy," he said. (The Independent)

Sir Trevor Brooking, who is the Football Association's development director, has won his battle for fresh funding for grassroots football, with an extra £6m a year being injected into the amateur game. (The Guardian)

Albion Rovers boss John McCormack believes Hearts' interim manager Stevie Frail should be the club's next head coach. (Daily Record)

Back to top

AND FINALLY

Baa-rmy Sunderland players had to pretend to be sheep, while a fellow Black Cat took the role of shepherd in a penning exercise in the Lake District aimed at building trust. (The Sun)
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Give me some Bradley pliiiz
 
The closer the Manyoo game gets, the more excited I become.

At first I didn't really care, but now I really want to win it. I think we should go to Wembley.

Of course, if we lose that game it never mattered anyway.
 
Someone explain to me why I should be interested in the Bristol Rovers - Southampton game tomorrow. The BBC obviously think I should be, but I'm not sure I can even be bothered switching the TV on to have it in the background.
 
That's Bristol City, Bristol Rovers are League One and staying there.

There can only be one top flight Rovers.

highlander.jpg
 
I was just thinking about what would have happened if Togo qualified for the ACN. Togo not qualiying turned out to be a huge blessing. Without adebayor, arsenal would have to be relying on Bendtner, Eduardo and Walcott. They're ok strikers, but none of them are anywhere near as good as ade has been this season. If togo did qualify, then arsenal and united might have swapped places.
 
Wenger seems to like the extra game plan:

"There's two things I like about it.

"First there is a desire to innovate and be the strongest league in the world and the second thing is to do something for the fans abroad."
Click to expand...
"When I came to Japan in 1995 we had to play 20% of our games at a neutral ground," he added.

"At the start I thought it was completely crazy, but it worked tremendously well and games were sold out everywhere we played.

"Just look back, for example, at Wembley and everyone celebrated the Americans playing an American Football game at Wembley.

"It was exactly the same idea. It's nothing different, which is why it is too early to speak against it."
Click to expand...

Benitez is against it:
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez has voiced his opposition to the overseas games plan, saying: "To play another game in another country is not right.

"You must play here in England with the same opportunities for every team."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7246314.stm
 
Wenger said that he's not against innovation and that it would be a good idea to do something for the fans abroad.

But he also said that the most important thing would be the competition and for the competition to remain fair. So no to a 39th game.

If they want to play a game abroad they can go ahead in my opinion, that's fine. But a 39th game is the most ludicrous idea I have ever heard. It actually makes me angry only thinking about it.

If they play one game abroad and pass the extra income on to the fans with decreased ticket prices, then fine. That's not going to happen though.
 
Everton don't really need a central midfielder either, they already have Cahill, Arteta, Carsley, Pienaar, Gravesen, Neville, Fernandes...

Blackburn need a central midfielder.
 
hadareud said:
Wenger said that he's not against innovation and that it would be a good idea to do something for the fans abroad.

But he also said that the most important thing would be the competition and for the competition to remain fair. So no to a 39th game.

If they want to play a game abroad they can go ahead in my opinion, that's fine. But a 39th game is the most ludicrous idea I have ever heard. It actually makes me angry only thinking about it.

If they play one game abroad and pass the extra income on to the fans with decreased ticket prices, then fine. That's not going to happen though.
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BRING EPL TO AMERICA!!!
 
Even playing 1 of the 38 games abroad seems unfair to me. That means one team loses their home fixture, and there's a strong statistical correlation between playing at home and positive results. You could maybe have the same fixture (Arsenal v Blackburn, Blackburn v Arsenal) abroad twice.

But then, who the hell's gonna be supporting Blackburn? That might as well just be two home games for Arsenal, that's who all the fans will have turned out to see.
 
The EPL games abroad is the worst idea I've heard in a long time. I fucking hate it.

The way I see it, this move will only make the rich clubs richer and wont do so much for anyone outside the top 4. Who the hell in asia that doesnt follow the EPL properly is going to watch Reading vs Wigan?
 
Mama Smurf said:
Even playing 1 of the 38 games abroad seems unfair to me. That means one team loses their home fixture, and there's a strong statistical correlation between playing at home and positive results. You could maybe have the same fixture (Arsenal v Blackburn, Blackburn v Arsenal) abroad twice.

But then, who the hell's gonna be supporting Blackburn? That might as well just be two home games for Arsenal, that's who all the fans will have turned out to see.
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true, but if everyone signs up and each club gets an extra 5 or 10 million that's a fair trade off.

It's obvious that they want to do it and it's also obvious that if they don't another league will. Listening to the debate over the last week I was highly amused how naive people were.

And it is true that the clubs should give something back to their fans abroad who spend millions on buying shirts and merchandise and watch every game. Obviously it's not going to make the local fans happy, but such is life.
 
psycho_snake said:
The EPL games abroad is the worst idea I've heard in a long time. I fucking hate it.

The way I see it, this move will only make the rich clubs richer and wont do so much for anyone outside the top 4. Who the hell in asia that doesnt follow the EPL properly is going to watch Reading vs Wigan?
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I like how Middlesbrough's chairman (or someone high up) came out and directly said he supports it just for the money. Like Premiership clubs aren't rich enough. Apparently the extra £5m a year it might bring would help Middlesbrough enormously.

Now...hmmm. I think I might see a flaw in that little plan. Wouldn't every Premiership team get an extra £5m? So in the end it makes fuck all difference?
 
Mama Smurf said:
I like how Middlesbrough's chairman (or someone high up) came out and directly said he supports it just for the money. Like Premiership clubs aren't rich enough. Apparently the extra £5m a year it might bring would help Middlesbrough enormously.

Now...hmmm. I think I might see a flaw in that little plan. Wouldn't every Premiership team get an extra £5m? So in the end it makes fuck all difference?
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yeah, every club would get the same money from it.

5 million buys one club a Van Persie, a Toure, a Clichy and a few more players. Another club might get the right testicle of Darren Bent.
 
hadareud said:
It's obvious that they want to do it and it's also obvious that if they don't another league will.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that's true. There's already mass opposition around the world. Most footballing bodies don't want it in their countries, they want people to support their teams, not Premiership sides, that does them no good at all. FIFA don't want it, UEFA don't want it, most of the fans in this country don't seem to want it, it's pretty split between the clubs, it would likely end any hopes of a world cup coming to England anytime soon...just don't see it happening. The hurdles are too big.
 
to be fair, people are against everything that's new when it comes to something as traditional. It's human nature.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have it as it is now as well.

In Spain there are already discussions about doing the same thing btw
 
Mama Smurf said:
I like how Middlesbrough's chairman (or someone high up) came out and directly said he supports it just for the money. Like Premiership clubs aren't rich enough. Apparently the extra £5m a year it might bring would help Middlesbrough enormously.

Now...hmmm. I think I might see a flaw in that little plan. Wouldn't every Premiership team get an extra £5m? So in the end it makes fuck all difference?
Click to expand...
Each team gets £5m. I actually thought that clubs would divide the money from the ticket receipts, because if that was the case then there's no guarantee that the lower placed clubs would make much money because not many people will go and watch those clubs.

Even if all the teams get £5 million for the 39th game, it could end up more damaging for clubs live borough. Lets say they have to play United in the 39th game and they lose, which as a result gets the relegated. They're going to end up losing money because they wont get the money for EPL tv rights.
 
hadareud said:
to be fair, people are against everything that's new when it comes to something as traditional. It's human nature.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have it as it is now as well.

In Spain there are already discussions about doing the same thing btw
Click to expand...
I reckon it'll eventually happen in all the big leagues. Football has already turned into a big business. This is just another way to make some more money.
 
Well it'd be pointless in South America, they have their own football, I think it'd be pointless in the rest of Europe for the same reason. The Asian federation say they're against it as do Australia, I dunno if they have any control over whether their countries could bid for games or not. I suppose they could throw teams from that country out of continental games at the very least. You saw how angry Asia were at United simply playing friendlies when they had a competition on.

African cities might want it, but I'm not sure how many African cities could actually afford to bid for a game. Seems like you'd run out soon. And I think the US would feel the same way Asia/Australia do, it'd just take attention away from the MLS. I suppose Canada has such poor soccer development that there's really no teams there to hurt by hosting a game, it'd just promote the sport.

Not a massive selection of places to go.
 
I think both Asia and the US will come around to the idea.

I wouldn't be disappointed if they didn't though. But I could eventually see all the big leagues playing a game there. Money talks.
 
The US Soccer president made some comments about the plan last week.

"We've been reluctant to have official games played in the U.S.," Gulati said. "We'll be guided by FIFA on this matter. But if it's not in line with its rules then we won't sanction it.

"We had a similar proposal 10 years ago when a team playing in Los Angeles wanted to play in the Mexican league. We didn't let that happen and CONCACAF said no."

Gulati understands the ambition to globalize what has become the most popular league in the world in terms of TV coverage, but he feels he has a duty to protect the growth of soccer in his own country.

"We understand it's a global sport, but it's about nurturing the home game," he said.

"If FIFA said, 'OK, it's up to the relevant FAs,' then we would look at it. We have got a great relationship with the English FA and there's a lot of good reasons to look at it. But there are also some issues that we have got which would cause us to be very hesitant."
Click to expand...
 
But they'd be paying to host a game that will divert attention away from their own leagues. Now, presumably they'd expect to make more money back than they put down, but it's still a bizarre concept. Maybe they'll have to pay their own federation too for it to happen, split the profits or something, as they really don't get anything from it otherwise.
 
I think it's the bidding to host games part that really confuses me. I don't understand why they would bid. Surely the benefit to them is the money they'd make from it, and the benefit to the clubs is the promotion of their side and the Premiership as the whole around the world. Why do they have to pay on top of that, like it's some massive honour for them to get a game?
 
Cornballer said:
Does Man City need a central midfielder? I think Everton would be a good fit for him, but it'll be interesting to see where he ends up.
Click to expand...

We need a backup for der Kaiser.
a backup for Gelson when Kaiser retires

Also, I don't rate our central midfielders THAT high. People suddenly take Johnson as the next Scholes or whatever, and then we have Elano which, well, sucks right now (or: semi-worthless after teams understood that they should mark him). Castillo will never be worth the money to actually buy him next winter, and Ireland only plays well when he is insulted. He will score 10 days the day someone on the pitch rips of his tupé.

Of course, they are good and all and good players for any mid-table team, but I'm not sure we have found a Lampard/Gerrard/Cahill yet, as Elano is struggling now. He gets so pissed off in every game that Sven has to take him off, he went out at half-time the last game he played.
And well, Bradley probably isn't the next Lampard, but from what I've seen of him 4 mil is a steal.
 
Let me solve the "we want to go abroad but don't want to screw up the fairness of the league" for you guys.

The Carling Cup. If you have a tournament that actually counts for something play one or two rounds in those 5 cities they want to play in, and then the winner gets a spot in Europe in the middle of Los Angeles, that will fix the problem.

It doesn't have to be a league game. Play the 5th round of the FA cup abroad.
 
I said something similar back when it was announced. The League Cup is a useless competition, it's just the FA Cup but worse (it's the gift voucher to money of the footballing world). Just remove the Premiership teams from that, leaving the lower division sides a cup they might actually win, and have a new cup around the world for the top sides. Maybe it could be the 3 promoted sides and the bottom 5 sides from the previous year (which seems fair to me, they won't have as many games later in the season as the better sides do) playing off for 4 places, than the top 12 and those 4 would go into a 16 team cup and play around the world.
 
hadareud said:
yeah I was thinking about that the other day actually. the carling cup would be a good idea.
Click to expand...

I said that like a week ago. None of you idiots ever listen to me :lol
 
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