Haha, nice, Nike is really good at this usually. It really captures how much often hangs on a single shot or tackle or save, etc. in football. btw. time to open a World Cup thread, eh? "UEFA" football pretty much ends tonight until next season.
Yeh I meant to do one friday but spent that day at a friends and only got back today so will kick one off later today or tommorow.
I'll be the first to offer my commiserations to HappyDayRiot.... Bad luck mate, I'm sure the fact that it was a great game for the neutral will meaning nothing to you at the moment, but it was. Chin up mate, next season.
Aww thanks. It was truly horrible I must admit. I wanted to be the good loser and stay for Blackpool's crowning, but I just couldn't do it. They deserved it, but I thought we could have at least forced ET. That said, by about 80 minutes I couldn't take any more. I think I had my head in my programme at one point. Hit the post twice, micro-offside goal, about 10 minutes of non-stop pressure... It's gutwrenching to even think about at the moment. Knew it was going to be an uphill struggle as soon as Bothroyd went off. It's an incredible occasion to be a part of to be fair. I watched the CL final as well and it was rubbish in comparison. I'm glad we get to send Etuhu back to Citeh now and hopefully ship out some others. I imagine we'll fade like all play-off losers next season and finish top 10 or so, so I'm prepared for an unexceptional season. Saving grace is that next season's Championship is quite weak - only Burnley are a well set-up relegatee and they have a dodgy manager. I'm thinking Reading, Boro, Forest and maybe Doncaster and Ipswich will be the ones to watch out for. Right now, my main thought is that we have the chance to smash Leeds. It's not the £90m price, it may not happen, but my god if it does... Oh and probably Swansea. I genuinely forgot about them until this very moment!
Bad luck, been there and losing a playoff final's never a pleasant event. Be very interesting to see how Holloway's attacking mentality goes down in the Prem... As for Cardiff, will Jones stay and where does this leave you financially?
My side split, the only thing that you will want to watch Forest for is to learn from the masters of SCREWING UP so you don't repeat our same mistakes we commit yea in year out. I think I would say 12th place next year for us.
^ I was being generous. I'm only worried about Reading frankly, but Forest and Doncaster overachieved this year and sometimes that spurs teams on and they do it again. And Boro will be playing for their lives as it's their second year of parachutes. Will Dave Jones stay now? I hope so. But if he keeps making subs like Paul Quinn and Kelvin Etuhu, and playing Hudson instead of Gerrard, and not using McCormack, maybe I wouldn't mind some new blood. After a setback like this, maybe new blood is the best way forward. If it weren't for the weakness of the league next year, I might have considered that DJ won't repeat this feat, he's taken as far as he can, say thank you and let him leave if he wanted to. But... I'd rather keep him for now.
I've got memories of winning and losing at Wembley. Felt sick all the way through both of them. Losing's bad enough, but we managed to lose to one of our closest rivals, after going ahead and frankly dominating the majority of the game. Paul 'fcuking' Williams suddenly forgot how to head a ball and that was it, we'd lost. Still, beating WBA a few years ago was unbelievable. Sadly, it turned out to be a false dawn, and ended up being more trouble than it's worth. Next year does look pretty weak. Personally I think that Norwich could do well, and I hate to say it, but so could Leeds. Steady rebuilding for us again over the summer so we'd do well to sneak into the playoffs, but to be honest I think midtable. Forest, I don't really expect Davies to be there still come the new season. Love him or loathe him he does know how to build competitive championship teams. Without him, I think you'll struggle. This season just gone was a bit of a gamble with Doughty throwing more money in that he really wanted to. Failing to gain promotion was a bitter blow, it'll be interesting to see what he does now. More money or cut his losses.
Yeah the 94 Play Off final was annoying. Josie thought he was being clever cos he obviously planned to flick the ball over the bar...instead it sailed over his head! I was at uni and in the middle of my exams...not a great aid to revision that! I predict Derby to finish anywhere between mid table and the bottom of the playoffs next season! Defensively we look more solid, if we can get a bit more creativity and certain players can stay fit (I'm looking at you Kris!) then it's possible.
The world cup thread is up and running so I guess this thread will be quiet for the next few weeks so I'll see you all in there. Once again great talking to all you lot over the last season and I can't believe this thread is still going after I started it back on... April 1 2008 spawning off from the bi weekly threads I used to put up. See you back here after the Rainbow nation throws us an World Cup party
That's because of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF_uOgyBK1c Always a pleasure. See you on the 11th.
Well thought I'd perk this up again to mention that Rafa is leaving Liverpool. About time I think, amazed he's lasted this long. I just don't get the reaction of Liverpool fans who seem gutted. I mean I know he gave them the Champions league, but other than that and an FA cup what has he delivered? And it isn't like he hasn't spent shit loads of money with little end product. Who do people think will get the job? The BBC were listing Mark Hughes and Hodgson as possibilities and I'd like to see either of them get it. Be nice to see a British manager get one of the top jobs for once...
Hodgson would be an excellent choice imo, but does he have a high enough profile for that job? He's spent the overwhelming majority of his career managing smallish clubs in smallish leagues - by Premier League standards.
Like Inter Milan? You're right though, Malmo, Blackburn, Fulham...but having said that next year Liverpool will be a smaller team. Lack of funds, no Champions league football, a squad that clearly isn't good enough...frankly they could do with a man used to working and performing miracles on a budget!
Yeah, Inter is the exception. Btw he's still very highly regarded in Switzerland and basically credited with the impressive improvement of Swiss football - both the league and the national team - in the last decade.
How about Pelligrini, just to pluck a name out of the air? Could certainly help him show Real Madrid they were wrong to let him go. And let's be fair - they were.
A Champions League, another Champions League Final, an FA Cup and a couple of Community/Super Cups wins. His total spend - £230m was over 6 seasons His total recieved - £156m So it works out at around £12.5m per year net - shit loads, eh? Couple this with being lied to and undermined, having monies promised and then taken away, CEO's buying players against your wishes, owners going behind your back to meet other managers, owners putting the club £351m in debt - despite promising no debt on the club, etc etc etc... I think he did a top job, taking over from Houllier's inept squad and making Liverpool a side to be respected in Europe and domestically once more. Yes, things went wrong in the final season (injuries to key players, and having no money for adequate replacements), but the reason as to why many Liverpool fans are so upset that he has left is that he understood the fans, and made the club better than when he arrived. We'll remember his overall record - not just this last season.
Well with the World Cup behind us its time to look forward to the new season of football which begins next month. However I would like to put some ideas forward with changes that I feel should be made to football in the near future. We keep hearing about England excuses but there are flaws in our set up in Football so I was wodnering what you guys feel about these ideas... * Premier League lowered to 18 teams * Winter Break * PL teams do not enter the FA cup till round 4. * FA Cup replays scrapped after 5th round * 5th Round and 1/8 final have single leg. Also No extra time for rounds 1-4 in replay legs. * Semi Final and Final retain extra time before pens but with changes. 1st half of Extra time Silver Goal with 2nd half being Golden Goal, making Extra time more exciting and something different from the standard 90. * League Cup rebranded for Football League only so no PL teams. * Scrap the new rules about players from youth team and introduce a different rule stating 10 of your 25 squad must be eligible to play for England. * Rule above would encourage more English players in academy anyway but also bring in rule stating 70% of Academy must be eligible to play for England. * Pearce made full time ENG asst. manager with Paul Ince made U21 coach or 2nd choice Southgate...Given contract length till the 2013 Euro 21 championships. * We need a European rule by UEFA with support from FIFA ideally about a wage cap. * Also I feel you shouldn't be able to sign a mega deal till over 23, too many young players millionaires by 18-22 and lose hunger for game. Just some ideas am sick of the weak FA we have and the ego of the PL who needs reminding of football is supposed to be about the game not £££. Also I personally love the idea of Silver/Golden Goal extra time split and feel it woudl add exictment if brought into all levels of the game.