Cod Eye

He's going to have to quit the Wales job isn't he, or be sacked for bringing the game into disrepute?

Although he's only been charged at this point, and not convicted, you would think this is a massive weight to have on his shoulders, which will effect his job performance.

9 minutes ago, PowerButchi said:

London teams in general other than Chelsea and Palace next season? Up to you lads.

Can we not just ring-fence all Premier League clubs into their own thread so we can talk about real football?*

Unless Barnsley win the playoffs, then the Premier League is the realest of real football...

1 minute ago, PunkStep said:

BritWres!

Christ, just found out he's only 29. That's quite depressing. 

It's worse than I could have possibly imagined!

13 minutes ago, neil said:

Any non-league match and 3 goals only mate

9 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

When I worked out the sweet spot (just the other side of the penalty spot) I was unstoppable. Plus if your name was first in the FOTY nominations, you were guaranteed to win it. In your weird face, Beardsley!

I used to always dribble right to the edge of the screen, then go for the far post. Worked about 90% of the time, as long as you didn't get a chance where there was 2 defenders.

And that pot luck game thing where you purchased chance like cards in the hope of getting some money or free goal cards. The amount of time I did that whilst at a team at the top of a league, and dropped on the dreaded "You have been transferred" message. Gutting!

6 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

Spurs and Arsenal are NXT UK guys getting the call up to RAW to be jobbers to the stars. 

Hahahah, So what does that make the likes of Barnsley and the other top 6 in the Championship that will be replacing them in the promised land?

4 minutes ago, PunkStep said:

Just over 10 years ago PSG and Atletico were finishing mid-table and weren't the powerhouses they have since become, City had never played in the CL and Leipzig had barely formed. Not long before then you had the brilliant Sevilla side spearheaded by Kanoute and Luis Fabiano, the Riquelme-inspired Villarreal underdogs that almost reached the final, Hiddink's impressive PSV side. Going back a bit further and Leverkusen and Valencia were genuine contenders. Think about the occasions as well like Celtic beating Barcelona and Galatasaray welcoming Man Utd to hell.

 

This is the big problem for me. Man City, as an example, will be given the preferential treatment and be guaranteed a place in perpetuity. What if the owners sell up, and they can't attract or afford someone like Pep or the expensive transfers? Or, what if someone buys a club of similar size, let's say Leeds. A club that like pre-oil money City also has its core support of around 35,000 and has been down the leagues, but fought its way back. If someone buys Leeds and turns them into a proper world class team? Why shouldn't they get that guaranteed spot? 

I've been thinking, and I don't think I would be so opposed to it if they just made their own version of the Champion's League, to remove the UEFA governance. Stick with a similar(if nor tweaked)format, but let the clubs involved own the competition and vote on the rules, like they do with the Premier League. If you qualify, you get your share and vote for that season, if you don't your share and vote goes elsewhere.

I'd also be willing to accept it if they said the founding clubs would be guaranteed a place for the next, say 5 years as a perk for being one of the first clubs to take the plunge, and to mitigate any short term risk. Once that period is over though, it's every man for themselves. Again, it wouldn't be ideal, but a lot better than the shit on the table now...

3 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

Highly rumoured to be DAZN.

Saw earlier that DAZN had distanced themselves from it. I know it doesn't mean they are telling the truth, but it's something, I suppose.

Edit: Disney, Amazon and Facebook all rumoured to have held preliminary talks...

3 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Presented with no further comment.

Ian Holloway on Talk Shite this morning has said that the ESL is a betrayal of the memory of Prince Philip. 

 

I'm not saying this to namedrop, but because I think it's relevant. I had a few meals out with Holloway when he was in charge of Millwall, as my (now ex)brother-in-law played under him there. 

I've got to say, he will be pissing himself at his comment, as he is very self-aware. He told me he had a huge book at home that he would write bullshit in to use in interviews to amuse himself.

n.b. I have not heard the comment mentioned though, so if he really was serious, fair enough!

23 minutes ago, stewdogg said:

None of these clubs are in it for their history, Spurs are a well known brand, Daniel Levy has got a dual stadium to have an NFL franchise in. COVID aside this is going to be almost nailed on with a European Super League. Levy is a very clever businessman, I love him for making us fairly sustainable, bring us Champions League football and having the possibility to expand into the hugely exciting and rich NFL market. I also hate him for sacking Poch, not spending money consistently and for treating us like a business (which ultimately it is, but I feel like I am going to be priced out of going soon).

Arsenal are a HUGE club, as Factotum said outside of Man U and Liverpool they are the next most successful team, they are also a recognised brand, they have a huge stadium and bring in massive revenues.

3 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Please, not so loud.

According to Forbes, they're valued at number 10 in the world. I don't disagree with you by the way (I think 'big club' criteria is an awful argument mostly and Spurs aren't as successful as other clubs have been in the past) but I can genuinely see why they're included to be honest. 

This has NOTHING to do with how many titles you've won, but then we all know that.

I'd just wrote out another huge fucking rant, but at the end of the day I think we are all of the same opinion that it's a complete piss take.

I do get that Spurs are a famous name, though. I was at Wembley for the 2 FA Cup matches in '91, and the support was unreal, to be fair. i think that's part of why I'm so angry and hurt by it all. Matches like that feel legendary. The Gazza freekick, for instance. Would it have felt as special if it was just in a normal match? Or him going down in the final for being off his head. It sticks out in my head because if felt huge due to the fact it was in the FA Cup final. If it was in a dead rubber towards the end of the season then, what does it really mean?

Just now, Factotum said:

Liverpool were pretty terrible for large portions of the 90s and 2000s but their name and stature remained huge.

Did they? From what I remember it, they were considered a "best of the rest" type team until Benitez had that season they won all the knock out competitions. Same with Spurs. The name itself was always well known, but I can't imagine they were selling many shirts worldwide in the period they were battling relegation.

Where I live is a pretty good barometer of who the "big" clubs are. You go in the town center, and and pubs on a Saturday afternoon and you have a mix of Barnsley, Wednesday shirts and whoever is the fashionable clubs at that time. Up until about 10,15 years ago, it was almost exclusively Man Utd and Arsenal, then Arsenal slowly started being replaced with Chelsea and now Chelsea are being replaced with Liverpool. But I can't ever remember seeing a Liverpool shirt in that period when they had the likes of Phil Babb and Jamie Redknapp. 

3 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

I think the opposite is true. Settling for fourth kills the season. I’ve often maintained a drop in the coefficient league would be great for the domestic game. Dropping a CL place will fire up competition. 
 

Regarding grounds being empty, isn’t it a case that ticket sales aren’t the premium revenue stream? I’m sure I remember reading about a top club who still would’ve turned a profit had they had zero fans at every game?  I think the super league would adopt their own TV. It would be like the NFL or NBA where you view any game of your choosing. The MLB coverage is the best sports coverage I’ve ever seen. 

I saw that report too. But clubs have been bleating that having empty grounds is putting their futures at risk, so in reality, I'd be willing to bet it's somewhere inbetween...

2 minutes ago, Factotum said:

Arsenal are the biggest club in London, and third in terms of history and fans around the world. The support in America alone is big. Its not about form or what they are now, its that they generate money for any Super League. Hence why its bollocks

And in 15 years, when they have not finished above 6th, those world wide fans will be supporting the team that has won the most. 

That's where the biggest mistake in this plan is. With local fans, your hardcore will still be there and attending week in, week out. Even if they are finishing 7th, 10th or 15th, they will still have enough people buying tickets to fill the stadium of some Premier League clubs. The long distance African, American or Asian fans that everyone seems to crave and think are an untapped goldmine, well they won't be there. They will jump on another bandwagon and stop buying the shirts(and PPV's if they are goig down that route) and other merch.

It's just a step too far, is this league idea. Americanised bullshit that wont go down with the fans over here.

54 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

So you don't like the Champions League then, because that is pretty much the same teams every year contesting the latter stages. The German clubs aside the last time a Champions League final was won by a team outside the proposed Super League teams was 2003. 

It's not just about the actual Champion's League competition. I hate the thing personally. I've always wanted them to back to the old 1 team per country, no seed 2 leg knockout format(but know why it would never happen). But Ive got to admit having 4 spots up for grab has energised the Premier League. Every year, there are less and less dead rubbers in the league, as teams close the gap on the top 5 or 6, or have the season of their lives like Leicester, or their best season in years like West Ham are doing. There is enough jeopardy to put the fear of god up the bigger teams, and that is pushing the quality up and up.

If they close the door to that, a Premier League season could be over for 14 clubs by Christmas. Last year, only 2 clubs had a realistic chance of winning it by the New Year, but that race for the top 4(and the Euro Cup spots to be fair), kept up the interest to the very end.

As for the teams that have signed up, I'm baffled. Man Utd, fair enough. They are one of the 3 biggest teams in the world, even taking their recent form into consideration. Liverpool same. City and Chelsea? Would you call them historically big teams? Man City, despite having a solid hardcore fanbase were nothing until the oil money was thrown about. I'd say that about Chelsea too. And both could be in deep shit if the money dries up.

But Spurs and Arsenal? Now I've always had a soft spot for Spurs. I've said that on here before. I used to buy the shirts, and hero worshipped players like Gazza and Klinsmann. But they have won the league twice. Everton have 9, Villa have 7. Even Sunderland have 6(same as both City and Chelsea). So barring the stadium and the Champion's League final the other year, why are they considered a part of the biggest 12 clubs in Europe? 

Arsenal can at least argue that in terms on league title, they are only behind  United and Liverpool. But what have they done recently? They are what, 9th now(and could drop even further if other teams win their games in hand). 

Sorry for ranting, but it's really got my back up. What the above rant does show though, is that no team should be in any competition by reputation or history. Only on merit. Even the biggest teams can't keep the success going forever.

4 minutes ago, neil said:

This super league just means that playing "Footballer Of The Year" on the speccy is more realistic. I'm all for it.

I fucking loved footballer of the year! The frustration of having to manage your goal cards was worth the effort, without a doubt!

1 hour ago, jazzygeofferz said:

If they brought Page in with the specific purpose of teaming him with Sky then I don't get it. Sky was already part of a team. They could have kept him and Kazarian going as SCU while Daniels managed them. They seem obsessed with Sky as a big star, or they did at one point when he pinned Jericho and had that mini feud with him. Did he even leave SCU or has he just decided that he's teaming with Ethan Page instead? I'm guessing it leads to Sky & Page Vs Daniels & Kaz at some point and the former ends up beating and retiring the latter. 

I'm a bit like the Dynamite Kid, I just don't get Sky(sorry!). He's ok in the ring, seems to have an ok amount of charisma, but he's nothing special. He's not someone who stands out from the first moment you see them like Jungle Boy, for example. He just comes across as a solid, mid-carder who can act as a jobber to the stars when needed. 

14 hours ago, mim731 said:

30 second demolition. Darby is a big enough star to easily rehabilitate, but that sort of surprise squash could make Miro in AEW (as per, some smart arse will now presumably tell me this is an awful idea without offering a better alternative)

Awful idea. And I'm not offering a better alternative!

Nobody should dethrone Reigns. Not for a long, long time anyway. Give his a massive run on top where he just ploughs through all the challengers(throw in a few where he has to scrape past them by the skin of his teeth too) while giving someone a long term build away from him, to face him way down the line. With the right person, beating him after a long build and title reign, it could be star making. 

But we all know WWE will bring a part-timer back for a nostalgia run and take the belt from him in a month or two...

15 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Massive win for the forum’s favourite in the six pointer against Rotherham. We would’ve won by more had their keeper not played a blinding first half. 

I'd say that puts you more or less safe. I can't see Rotherham winning both the games in hand, so that would put you 6 clear with 15 to play for. I just can't see them winning 2 more games than you from the final 5. Same with Wednesday(Hope Darren Moore gets well soon, btw) and Wybombe...

37 minutes ago, PowerButchi said:

Kids still do walk to school don't they? Unless there's a load of kids every morning catching a bus outside what evidently used to be a school but is no longer up the road from me to take them to another one?

I can only talk for up here. My old house was at the top of a road, which had a primary school at the bottom. At drop off/pick up time, it's like wacky races with all the cars jostling for position, and very few parents walk to get the kids.

Secondary schools are a bit better, but all the new schools they have built have massive car parks that are full at 3.30 pm, so I'm assuming they are picking the kids up too...

8 hours ago, BomberPat said:

it's astonishing that "walking to school" has become a generational badge of honour across multiple generations. You're as likely to see it from idiots in their 30s as idiots in their 60s.

I must be honest, I've said it myself many a time. Not in a "my generation is better than yours" way though. My reasoning is in a world where childhood obesity and climate change are big issues, having kids actually walking to school rather than being driven could help fight both issues.

I've seen Umaga and Rusev mentioned as having the potential to be huge if they were around in the ate 70/80's. I don't agree though. In those days, it felt like every territory had their own "Samoan Savage" and evil foreigner gimmicks, and I think they would have both got lost in the shuffle. They stood out to us at the time as it had been a while since we had the Headshrinkers(for example) or an evil Russian to boo. 

 I do like the Matt Bourne "Bourne Again" gimmick idea, though. Slot him in at the tail end of the Attitude Era, and I think he would be a solid mid-card/upper mid act. 

Finley would have been a brilliant fit in Bill Watts Mid-South territory. Just a no-frills double hard bastard putting on hard hitting matches would have ben right up Cowboy Bill's street.

Have they ever had a wrestler that is less comfortable in the ring as Lana? It's like she's doing everything for the first time... 

Vlad was just there, enjoying himself watching the wrestling. You noticed him, but you noticed hm because he looked so happy to be there. The new "breed" of front row wankers go because they want to be seen. The green T-shirt nob doesn't even look like he is enjoying himself. He just sits there with a face like a smacked arse. If you're going to spunk the amount of money it takes to fly around the 'States, paying for front row tickets, then fucking enjoy yourself. 

8 hours ago, BomberPat said:

https://twitter.com/TripleH/status/1381030090872647682?s=19

You know what that means though. Even more sad sacks with too much time and money like green shirt perv will buy up the front row of every show in the hope of geing an official "Superfan".

9 minutes ago, deathrey said:

I guess this is a little bit of an insight in to how all shit will break loose when the Queen dies. They have been married 73 years, I wonder how she'll get on without him.

Wouldn't be surprised if she abdicated. or at least started to put plans into place to step down. By all accounts his support kept her going for years. 

Just now, gmoney said:

 

Did you have a bet on he'd go tomorrow? 

He was part of an accy, yes...