red devil

Congratulations on being top of a pile of shit...FC Zurich my arse!..

Yeah, come on Mick, set up an application form filled in with your recommendation and membership details, so that we can download it and send it off, where's your civic spirit?!...

No mention of typos? tut tut...or was that post-modern irony?...

Anna, all the seeded teams get so called inferior opposition in the group stage, just like any major championship like the World Cup, I personally think the group stage is a waste of time and is just a money making scam dreamt up by UEFA, once you get past the group stage and into the last 16 it's a proper knock-out competition, and generally there are no easy games, you'd have to be extremely lucky to win the Champions League without playing at least 2 or 3 high quality teams...

Lyon have been French champions for 7 years years running, does that make them a top side in Europe?, it's all relative, they would struggle to finish in the top half of the Premiership...admittedly you can only beat what is put in front of you, but Platini was a diamond in a crappy pile of crappiness, who soon high-tailed it to Italy once the lure of the Lira called, ironic wouldn't you say considering his views on the Premier League?.. I'd argue that they weren't since they got beat in both finals, nor did they even manage to win the European Championship until the end of the 80's (see below)... exactly, because of the dearth of quality it was easy for a half decent team to dominate; since the Champions League was formed no team has successfully defended their crown because of the number of high quality teams that compete, great European clubs like Real Madrid, Barca, Milan have all failed, I mean Notts Forest won it by beating Malmo and retained it by beating Hamburg, c'mon... this was at the end of the 80's and was a precursor of the way football was about to change, numerous foreign imports, huge squads, and a meglomaniac owner throwing money at a club...as I stated in an earlier post this coincided with English clubs being banned for 5 years and then having to play catch up for the next 5 years... the scariest thing about playing an Iron Curtain side then was the flight on Aeroflot and what was on the menu not the team sheet...nowadays the top european teams include the top players from eastern europe as well as the cream of south/central america and africa, there is no comparison in the overall quality... what has Utd got to do with it?, we were shit then, and 'generally considered' by who, one-eyed red-tinted-glasses wearing mickey mousers?.. Mr R is that a silent se on the end of your name?..

Big Mouth Strikes Again - The Smiths

matthew123 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Liverpool won the League Cup in '84 which was > certainly a lot more prestigious and competitive > in those days than the FA Cup has been for the > last 10 years. Bollocks!, talking of 'prestigious and competive' cups, the European cup was a pile of shit in the 70's and 80's, for instance in 76/77 'pool had to beat the 'cream of Europe' in Crusaders of Belfast, Trabanzor, Saint Etienne (QF), FC Zurich (SF) and Borussia Moenchangladbach in the final...quality!

Landlord's perspective - new tenants at the end of Feb, had to accept a reduction on rent of around 15%, but previous rent was well above going rate and only had a one week void; on a tracker mortgage so overall probably better off with recent drop in interest rates; I take the view that interest rates will rise when general housing market picks up, and expect rents to rise accordingly...

Ajax did the double 'double', winning their league and the then European Cup in consecutive seasons; that'll be the plastic treble..;-)

English football suffered in the mid-80's to mid 90's, not because of the likes of Wimbledon, but because of the 5 year European ban imposed as a result of Heysel. It took us another 5 years to eventually catch up with the Europeans...it's laughable that people think the face and style of football will change because of a novelty long throw-in...

walk

:)...are there any 'big' clubs left?...Villa?

I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses

Bed

L'Arse?..

Winalot

All Around My Hat - Steeleye Span

Good to see Burnley get to Wembley, thought they were really unlucky to lose to Spurs in the Carling and they play decent football...can't agree with the anti-stoke/bolton/wigan etc comments, I don't blame these teams having to play to their strengths, I'm sure they'd love to be able to go out and buy a ?15-25 million player, it's up to the so-called better teams to break them down, there's an art to defending as well as attacking...

Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel - Tavares

Chelsea?..

Wanno buy DVD?..

Does Posh Spice caddy?..

Manchild - Neneh Cherry

I'm lucky I don't look my age, or act it;-)

Painter Man - Boney M