quote:

Originally posted by Adamo Ummm...no they spent all that money so that they can BUILD a squad that will qualify for the CL every year. 3 trophies in 2 years and qualification into the CL is a great improvement and their only getting better. ONLY WIN THE EPL? Is that a joke?! Both years in the CL they were in the group of death and both years they fell out playing like shit. But they'll be there again next year...and the year after that. Will Arsenal? Will Chelsea? I have my doubts.

Errrrrrm yeah ...

Arsenal has a longstanding tradition of winning, and unlike Shit-eh and Chelsea they've been at the top throughout their history and they will be back. I'm not too worried about them. The teams that should worry are the nouveau riche plastic clubs like City and Chelsea whom after their rich owners decide they are bored of funding their clubs with obscene amounts of money, will fall back into the relative obscurity where they belong. Battling the likes of Sunderland for mid-table glory. Take a look at Malaga in a couple of seasons after they are done completely gutting their team and you will see what is in store for City + Chelsea.

quote:

Originally posted by Adamo Please tell me when any English team has done that. Arsenal invicibles? All bought too. Do you know anything about the massive youth academy training complex being built and plethora of money being poured into the city? Of course not. Move along.

Lol wtf are you talking about, back when Man U were really tearing it up it was all pretty much due to their academy players as mentioned above. They have fallen back the last few years because they aren't producing anything noteworthy domestically. Just like pretty much all EPL sides which is reflected in how ON THE WHOLE English teams have been doing in Europe the last couple of seasons, and really in how shit the English national team is.

ps. Lol @ the shit-eh academy. Call me when they have some notable graduates. Daniel Sturridge lol ...

Last edited by Special K on Dec-06-2012 at 04:49

quote:

Originally posted by LightsOut Also, what's the deal with everyone calling La Liga the "best" league in Europe? I've been hearing this for years and never understood it. With the exception of obviously Barca & Madrid, and maybe the 3-6 placed teams, I've never found La Liga to be anything special.

I know that the most common knock on La Liga is the competitiveness after the top 2 spots, but really if you throw Barca + Real Madrid in any other league they are finishing 1+2. I still think that their clubs top to bottom are the best in the world right now and you see it in the European results (which is reflected in their coefficient). And really, if you look at the EPL or Bundesliga you have Bayern or Man U winning 10+++ titles in the last 20 years or so as well. It's not as if there is a different champion every year in those leagues. It's usually the same 3-4 teams up at the top of the table with little variance (to a lesser extent in Germany, but Bayern is always at the top).

I'd much rather watch a match with 2 mid-table Spanish sides than any other league. They play good attractive / technical football.

Second best for now is the Bundesliga, but I can def see it overtaking La Liga soon. They are the best run out of all of the leagues, have the best fans and again top to bottom for the most part they play good attacking / fast paced / technical football which is easy on the eyes. It also stands to benefit most from FFP since their clubs are already the most financially stable.

quote:

Euro 2020 to be multi-nation UEFA will stage the Euro 2020 tournament in a number of cities across the continent, European football's governing body has announced. The decision was announced following a meeting of UEFA's executive committee in Lausanne on Thursday. UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told a press conference after the meeting: "Some important decisions have been taken. "UEFA Euro 2020 will be staged across the continent, in various major cities, following a decision taken today. A Euro for Europe follows an initial idea by UEFA president Michel Platini. "The response has been extremely positive from all the national associations." The format and number of host cities that will be involved in the tournament, which will feature 24 teams, will be decided by UEFA's national teams committee with the bidding process to begin in March. A final announcement is expected in the spring of 2014 with the Football Association having already put Wembley forward as a possible venue for the final. Turkey had initially bid to host Euro 2020 and the nation's representative, Senes Erzik, opposed the decision. UEFA also announced that the 2013/14 European women's under-17 tournament will be hosted in England.

Such a stupid decision imo, Platini needs to go. And then in 2022 we're going to Qatar in the summer, Blatter is an even bigger idiot.

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Last edited by LightsOut on Dec-06-2012 at 18:41

Sounds kinda cool, I mean, Europe isn't really all that massive anyways to do the traveling etc.

It WOULD take very careful logistics and analysis of various scenarios to optimize the scheduling and locations of matches. But it could work if done correctly.

My only concern is, as the article states, massive cities or venues getting all the major games by either favoritism, $$$ influence, population, politics etc.

I would love cities to perhaps bid on the games in the finals, giving smaller cities a chance to bid on a quarter final match, or something along those lines.

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My main issues are about how it would effect the fans.

If someones team gets through to the semi's or finals, these fans will have to travel to as much as 4-5 different counties if they want to follow all the way through. Trains and Airlines will have a field day with this and no doubt charge ridiculous prices.

One of the awesome things about Euros is you get to stay in a country for two+ weeks and really get to know it, and traveling around inside that country is pretty easy and efficient. This just goes out the window with the new plan, people will be in and out so quickly.

It also creates a huge issue with training facilities and establishing a home base, knowing that your games will be all over the place. Plus Euros was always so great because it was such a small tournament, in terms of quantity of teams, now they're expanding it to 24 teams and diluting the quality.

I get they want to try and bring this tourney to the smaller countries, but this isn't the way to do it imo. If these smaller countries don't have the infrastructure in place for something on this scale, they can split the costs with a neighbor and co-host, which has worked well in the past and even though it isn't ideal, it's easy enough for the teams and fans to work around.

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And with translations for those 'brit slang' impaired...

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Last edited by Mach X on Dec-08-2012 at 06:34

quote:

Originally posted by Mach X And with translations for those 'brit slang' impaired...

I don't think they could have picked more stereotypical Mancs.

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Reports out of Quebec suggest Jesse Marsch has been made an offer to become head coach at TFC. While I don't necessarily think he's the best candidate available for the job, with Payne on board now and overseeing everything, I'm satisfied that this is at the minimum a move in the right direction. TFC is in the process of hopefully turning over a new leaf,and Mariner had to go in order to do that. Hoping these reports are accurate.


UPDATE: John Molinaro tweets that Kevin Payne says the report is "a complete fabrication".

Damn.

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• Matt Nordstrom - Lucky Drawls (Mark Brooms No Rave Stab Mix)

Last edited by LightsOut on Dec-08-2012 at 17:34

quote:

Originally posted by LightsOut Reports out of Quebec suggest Jesse Marsch has been made an offer to become head coach at TFC. While I don't necessarily think he's the best candidate available for the job, with Payne on board now and overseeing everything, I'm satisfied that this is at the minimum a move in the right direction. TFC is in the process of hopefully turning over a new leaf,and Mariner had to go in order to do that. Hoping these reports are accurate. UPDATE: John Molinaro tweets that Kevin Payne says the report is "a complete fabrication". Damn.

I don't think getting rid of Mariner is the problem. He inherited a rather injury-laden team. He's had successes elsewhere and I still think he deserves a chance at the better portion of a seasion. If it starts going tits up, then by all means he should go.

TFC were tits up long before Mariner got into the picture. Danny Koevermans going down did us no favours, along with Frei and our German captain being hurt too. The issue is there's no supporting players. They're either young and inexperienced, or older and injury-prone. There's no supporting cast.

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Fully agree that the problems are with a lack of quality players, the thing though is that a good deal of those players are ones Mariner signed off on as GM. While he may be a decent GM/Assistant in the right circumstances, he's actually never been a successful head coach. This is only the second time he's been given a shot, the previous was with Plymouth and they were relegated.

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MATTY |

• Ambivalent - R U OK (Kasper is OK Mix)
  
• Do Santos - Menina
  
• Heartthrob - Baby Kate (Magda's "Where Is My Baby's Daddy" Mix)
  
• Danton Eeprom - To The Bone (Jamie Jones Deep Sea Dub Mix)
  
• Matt Nordstrom - Lucky Drawls (Mark Brooms No Rave Stab Mix)

TFC fires Paul Mariner and hires Ryan Nelsen as manager

http://www.soccerbyives.net/2013/01...head-coach.html

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quote:

Originally posted by chinamon not true. i say "ugh" but i am a tranny.

quote:

Originally posted by kotsy lol colour me retarded

wow. what a mess. Ryan Nelsen is as of right now still going to play for QPR

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quote:

Originally posted by chinamon not true. i say "ugh" but i am a tranny.

quote:

Originally posted by kotsy lol colour me retarded