Football Focus

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Man Utd

Liverpool

Arsenal

West Ham

Hull

Sunderland

Watford

What?!

[Parkdrive]

1.Arsenal

2.City

3.Chelsea

4.Mourinhos ego

['bout now]

titch juicy Wrote:

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> I had the same conversation with an Orient fan-

> who accused West Ham of selling their soul etc.

>

> As a Spurs fan I feel - without wishing to sound

> patronising - that once you are challenging top

> 4/6/8 of the Premier League, your decisions as a

> club aren't just made on retaining character and

> atmosphere; they're focused on financial

> betterment, success, playing in competitions

> against the very best teams and atmosphere &

> character. For better or worse.

>

> I think all clubs in West Ham's position would've

> bitten hands off to take the Olympic Stadium, at

> the price being offered.

I agree with all this. Football, or rather The PL has changed everything from the game that I hark back to. It's showtime now, lead by TV on a global level and to be honest atmosphere be damned as it's all about the audience in America or Asia. The sums add up, if you have a global audience willing to pay ?1 in pay per view (which with the way TV is being consumed in a "pick what you want" model) for say Man utd V Arsenal and that audience is 500 million, that's half a billion revenue per game.

It's mad and it goes to show why teams are so desperate to stay in the premier league. Coming next a European super league, it's in negotiation, I think it will happen and Television money drives this, not the fan who pays his entry fee on match day, sadly.

[titch juicy]

I'm not sure it will happen. It takes away one of the fundamental things that makes European sport great and separates it from the US way of doing things. Promotion and relegation.

I just can't see enough clubs agreeing to it.

Also, the Premier League is such a massive money spinner in it's current form. The new super-league would have to be at least as equally lucrative to the premier league clubs and even then it would be taking away the huge financial advantage they have over the other European leagues. I just can't see the big premier league clubs giving up that advantage.

[red devil]

I thought it was the big European clubs alone that were agitating for it because of the PL's financial muscle, which sort of makes sense. The bottom club in the PL will receive more money than Bayern Munich will for winning the Bundesliga. Utd have usurped Madrid by signing Pogba, a sign of things to come whereby PL clubs can now go out and get the best players...

[????]

Don't think it would work that well -

European Football is more boring on the whole, though technically better

Atmosphere would be diluted as - far less away fans for weekly fixtures & novelty would wear thin, gates are already poor in many countries until KO stages and, crucially, in most leagues the paying fans would rather their domestic leagues d rivals

Premiership doing too good as RD said

[Otta]

They've been talking about a Euro League for at least 20 years. I can't see it happening.

[red devil]

We've sort of got one already with the Champions League. That format works, whereas as Quids says, can't see a permanent league working because of fans/traditional rivalries/travel etc...

[Otta]

Unless they combined the CL with the Europa, and had a bigger league section at the start before knockout stages.

I do think it would be good to just have one European cup.

[red devil]

East Dulwich Angst Wrote:

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> --------------------------

> EDF Premier League

> --------------------------

>

> I have once again re-activated the fantasy footy

> league

>

> We had quite a few teams last year so why not try

> your luck again.

>

> If you use the same email as last year to register

> you should automatically join the league,

>

> so just go to...

>

> http://fantasy.premierleague.com

>

> create a team & join,

>

> Code to join this league: 355704-108123

Bumping this up as it's the big kick-off tomorrow...

[????]

In

[titch juicy]

Otta Wrote:

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> Unless they combined the CL with the Europa, and

> had a bigger league section at the start before

> knockout stages.

>

> I do think it would be good to just have one

> European cup.

I'd be all up for the going back to the old format. Only the Champions playing in the 'Champions' league and everyone else in the Europa. The UEFA Cup used to be such a fantastic tournament. Today's is a pale imitation.

[????]

Cup Winners Cup was always my favourite :)

[Jah Lush]

???? Wrote:

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> Cup Winners Cup was always my favourite :)

That was a terrific competition. Spurs were the first British club to win it. Also, the first British club to win anything in Europe. ;-)

[????]

...and who was the second? :)

[Jah Lush]

Always in our shadow ????.

[Alan Medic]

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/how-real-madrid-helped-to-rebuild-manchester-united-after-munich-air-disaster-8492422.html

United were 'offered' the European Cup by Madrid in 58. They declined but this is a great story anyway.

[Alan Medic]

Good luck Dundalk. You'll probably need it.

[????]

only saw this today, made me laugh (Spuds especially)

https://youtu.be/N1-hDFv1UbA

[Mick Mac]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/23/celtic-fans-have-you-donated-money-to-palestinian-charities

There are lots of angles here.

Politics and sport shouldn't be mixed. But anti apartheid protests at sport played a big role

Celtic fans have sported occasional Palestinian flags for years

Its a lot of money for the palestinian refugee charity

Its a motivation to the Isreali team for tonight

Its not going to go down well with the Islreali support, so there could be trouble

Uefa might lodge a bigger fine as the charitable donation is now high profile

[Jah Lush]

Fair play to the Celtic fans. Good on 'em. I think it's great what they are doing. Free Palestine from Israeli brutality and bollocks to UEFA.

[Alan Medic]

Agreed. I'm unable to think of another set of football fans doing anything similar anytime, anywhere. Football fans tend to be a bit insular don't they?

[Mick Mac]

The fund is now over ?100k.

[Mick Mac]

But its not just Celtic fans now. Some of the comments are interesting: one here from a rangers fan

Josh Mainka

I might support the team from the other side of the city, but having spent time in Gaza and Palestine I'm more than happy to contribute to your great cause. Total respect to Celtic fans for taking a stand

https://www.gofundme.com/matchfinepalestine

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