25/26 Football thread DEAD, USE A NEW ONE

[Devon Malcolm]

That 'Respect the ball' stuff always reminded me of this for some reason.

[RedTwoster]

2 hours ago, Rossman said:

No way he will get another Premier League job. Last 5 PL games, lost every game and not scored a single, solitary goal. The players only showed what they could do when they battered Port Vale 7-0 in the FA Cup otherwise they would have devalued their own worth.

Plenty of utter duffers have got job after job in the top flight - Rosenior’s track record outside of Chelsea was also pretty good. I’d put money on someone else taking a chance on him for that very moment. I don’t think it’s possible to say one way or the other that he was out of his depth, but I do think he was at the wrong club at the wrong time. But we’ll see. Perhaps I’m being generous.

[Briefcase]

Wouldn't surprise me if he goes to Celtic. 

3 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

PSR is the least of their worries. I read some analysis the other day (can't bloody find it now) that outlined their loan/debt repayments to their investors and what's going to be due soon, and if that's accurate (and it was a reputable source like Swiss Ramble) they are absolutely done for. They won't be able to afford it at all.

And good. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of cunts.

Edit: found it. Well worth a read.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7200540/2026/04/21/blueco-chelsea-finance-loan-bookkeeper/

I read this last night and they look like they will be in big trouble, but will find a loophole in taking their Uefa ban if they end up in the conference league to save them being banned if they somehow make it back into the CL next season.

Clubs need to stick together and not help bail them out by signing their players this summer but Arsenal will probably sign Garnacho & Jackson for £80m. 

[air_raid]

On 4/23/2026 at 3:21 AM, Ralphy said:

but have the song title about respecting your balls or something 

[Ironic Indie Lad]

On 4/22/2026 at 10:20 PM, Cousin Jim Bob said:

 

 

Quite happy to respect the ball but clearly no respect for the bald.

 

[tiger_rick]

I like Liam a lot, unsurprisingly, given he was an excellent play for us and a good manager. He's an incredibly decent person and a very good coach. He's thorough, he's clear. He has a set way of playing. He has a desire to improve players. He has and sets incredible standards. He is ambitious and believes in the people under him to acheive great things.

He's a very good leader and communicator. There's no wonder at all that he did so well here and at Strasbourg. He had players who looked up to him, trusted him and bought into everything he asked of them. He probably underacheived at Hull City, finishing 7th with a very good first XI - albeit a bit of a shit squad overall - but if you look at those players, Liam Delap, Jacob Greaves, Jaden Philogene, Fabio Carvalho and Tyler Morton all made their clubs a lot of money and played their best football under Liam. 

I get why anyone would move to Chelsea. It's a huge job and you get a massive pay-off even if you fail but, I feared for him going in. It's a different world. Players who don't give a fuck who you are or what you want because they know they'll outlast you. An environment with huge pressure where you're in front of the media every other day, every word and action is pored over and shared all over social media by shit football accounts and braindead fans. Chelsea are a mess of a club with a ridiculously talented squad but one that has been thrown together and lacks cohesion and leadership.

Ultimately, I just think it needs a huge name to go in there and demand the respect from the players and the support from the board to get the right signings. Even if Rosenior had done a reasonable job like Carrick is doing, he'd still have been handed another 15 teenagers from all over the world in the summer and being tasked with trying to turn them into something.

The PL is back to 1/20 non-white managers too (and 0/24 in the Championship unless I'm missing something), which just isn't great for anyone. Except Reform types.

[Carbomb]

12 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

I like Liam a lot, unsurprisingly, given he was an excellent play for us and a good manager. He's an incredibly decent person and a very good coach. He's thorough, he's clear. He has a set way of playing. He has a desire to improve players. He has and sets incredible standards. He is ambitious and believes in the people under him to acheive great things.

He's a very good leader and communicator. There's no wonder at all that he did so well here and at Strasbourg. He had players who looked up to him, trusted him and bought into everything he asked of them. He probably underacheived at Hull City, finishing 7th with a very good first XI - albeit a bit of a shit squad overall - but if you look at those players, Liam Delap, Jacob Greaves, Jaden Philogene, Fabio Carvalho and Tyler Morton all made their clubs a lot of money and played their best football under Liam. 

I get why anyone would move to Chelsea. It's a huge job and you get a massive pay-off even if you fail but, I feared for him going in. It's a different world. Players who don't give a fuck who you are or what you want because they know they'll outlast you. An environment with huge pressure where you're in front of the media every other day, every word and action is pored over and shared all over social media by shit football accounts and braindead fans. Chelsea are a mess of a club with a ridiculously talented squad but one that has been thrown together and lacks cohesion and leadership.

Ultimately, I just think it needs a huge name to go in there and demand the respect from the players and the support from the board to get the right signings. Even if Rosenior had done a reasonable job like Carrick is doing, he'd still have been handed another 15 teenagers from all over the world in the summer and being tasked with trying to turn them into something.

The PL is back to 1/20 non-white managers too (and 0/24 in the Championship unless I'm missing something), which just isn't great for anyone. Except Reform types.

I would hope, given how much a poisoned chalice Chelsea (Chelice?) have become and are now generally perceived to be, that it doesn't affect a manager's employability after being fired from there moving forward. Rosenior's a talented young manager, and I'd like to see him go on to bigger and better things. And yes, he's of black heritage - I make no apology for the fact that I especially want to see him successful in a sport which has a huge percentage of black players yet fails to see the overwhelming majority continue in a managerial capacity at the top level.

Edited April 24 by Carbomb
Leroy Rosenior

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

West Brom deducted 2 points for a PSR breach. 3 of the bottom 5 in the Champo now been deducted points this season. I suppose Oxford and Charlton are just shite. 

[CleetusVanDamme]

I'll never understand why otherwise arrogant/confident managers snatch at jobs like this, tbh, it almost immediately makes them look desperate and small time, like they think this is the only point in their career where their stock is going to be high enough. I understand it for the likes of a Lampard, who might feel duty-bound. 

On 4/22/2026 at 9:44 PM, SuperBacon said:

PSR is the least of their worries. I read some analysis the other day (can't bloody find it now) that outlined their loan/debt repayments to their investors and what's going to be due soon, and if that's accurate (and it was a reputable source like Swiss Ramble) they are absolutely done for. They won't be able to afford it at all.

And good. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of cunts.

Edit: found it. Well worth a read.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7200540/2026/04/21/blueco-chelsea-finance-loan-bookkeeper/

You're mistaking BlueCo's entire debt for Chelsea's. It's not Chelsea's debt to pay right now, might not ever be (and some parts aren't related to Chelsea at all). And even if it was, you can forget about the total loan repayment part straight away, that's just bad fantasy booking. Sure the debt might be "up" soon, but that will have been/and will again in the future be true of Man Utd's debt too, for example. These things always get restructured/refinanced, it's best for both parties. 

It's not going to happen but we're just four years off the last apocalyptic scenario people had for Chelsea. We know there's many people who'd spray billions at the drop of a hat if the club got into that kind of trouble again. Probably no Ratcliffe this time though, he accidentally won United.

On 4/23/2026 at 1:13 AM, Briefcase said:

I read this last night and they look like they will be in big trouble, but will find a loophole in taking their Uefa ban if they end up in the conference league to save them being banned if they somehow make it back into the CL next season.

While I love the "simple maths" loophole, where people get irate that Chelsea selling players they didn't pay a fee for looks better on the books than selling ones they spent a lot of money on, especially when it's followed with "something should be done about it!" and act like it's some obscure law written in the small print on page 3214 in the PL rulebook. This one has got to be up there. You've really came in here with a straight face and got mad that a team might hypothetically get banned from a competition they've qualified for and not one that they haven't. Classic.

[SuperBacon]

19 minutes ago, CleetusVanDamme said:

Sure the debt might be "up" soon, but that will have been/and will again in the future be true of Man Utd's debt too, for example. These things always get restructured/refinanced, it's best for both parties. 

It's not going to happen but we're just four years off the last apocalyptic scenario people had for Chelsea.

Absolutely, but never underestimate the propensity for massive businesses to be mismanaged financially. 

At the end of the day I'm sure Chelsea will be fine, but it's surely a not sustainable to run a football club in this way, but then again I suppose you could say that for lots of clubs can't you?

🎵 BlueCo is the colour, loan repayments is the game 🎵 and all that.

[Frankie Crisp]

Football is brilliant.

What looked like an injury-time winner resulted in a pitch invasion from the home fans. Still a minute to play and the fans eventually got off the pitch, only for York to nick it with the last kick of the game.

The match had already been hyped because of the top two playing it out for glory in the final game, but bloody hell this was some ending.

Particularly enjoyable when you see Rochdale fans goading York players during the invasion, only to be sat on all twelve fingers moments later.

Edited April 25 by Frankie Crisp

[NeverYield]

That idiot fan who jumped on the pitch to do the L dance at a York player must feel a right div now. Whats that boys, last knockings goal to get promoted, have that.

And get in Callum Wilson, nearly fell over when Everton equalised, I was expecting a draw today tbh but over the moon with that goal in extra time. 

[Devon Malcolm]

1 hour ago, Frankie Crisp said:

Football is brilliant.

What looked like an injury-time winner resulted in a pitch invasion from the home fans. Still a minute to play and the fans eventually got off the pitch, only for York to nick it with the last kick of the game.

The match had already been hyped because of the top two playing it out for glory in the final game, but bloody hell this was some ending.

Particularly enjoyable when you see Rochdale fans goading York players during the invasion, only to be sat on all twelve fingers moments later.

 

[Rossman]

Heard the reports on 5 Live, the 5 Live commentator at the game blew his beans when Rochdale scored. Then when York scored, he couldn't comprehend it and barely said anything. 

Then you've got the commentator at BBC Radio York who you could say, was very happy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/videos/ce8j7kngw3go

 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Its amazing and what football is really all about. The passion and despair in equal measures in a league that hasn't been ruined by mercenaries and money-grabbing tossers stealing a living. 

 

Also, I hope a number of yellows were dished out for all the shirts being removed...