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Well, someone has to start the thread. I think Arsenal might do it this year & I do reckon Pep might go at the end.
If they keep Alvarez, Citeh to win the Prem again and Pep to walk off into the sunset smoking a big cigar
Curses! I'd managed to blank out all thoughts of next season. I'd like to think it can't possibly be worse than last season, but I have zero confience in that being the case 🙁
Arsenal and Citeh to scrap it out in a 2 horse race, with Citeh to win. Again.
Reading will only get docked 12 points this year and manage to stay up in the market town league. We'll get new owners towards the end of the season fully vetted by the league; a Mr V Putin and Mr S. Leader of Iran
Curses! I’d managed to blank out all thoughts of next season. I’d like to think it can’t possibly be worse than last season, but I have zero confience in that being the case 🙁
Arsenal and Citeh to scrap it out in a 2 horse race, with Citeh to win. Again.
I see ManU doing ok this season, think top 4 at least for them, maybe having a proper battle with Arsenal as well. I know it's all negativity and such, but the squad ManU has is impressive, it just needs someone in the middle to orchestrate it on the field, might be worth giving Kroos a call to see if he's actually enjoying retirement!
As for Pep, where does he go now, he's done Spain, Germany and England, can't see him enjoying Italy, and he doesn't strike me as someone vying for an international job, will be interesting to see, can't see Saudi drawing him either, he has more money than he can spend already and likes a proper challenge.
Some things in life are inevitable. Yawn…
Your relentless positivity is one of them ?
Birmingham fans to go onto the season with an overwhelming sense of confidence that turns to howls of outrage on social media and calls for the manager's head when we only get four points from our first three games. 🙂
Until transfer window shuts it's a bit early to judge even potential isn't it? Although it seems quiet on that front....I'd hoped spurs would have done some business early for once....I always hope that..... pointlessly. Well we have picked up a couple of young prospects.... not the star CF we could use though. Hmm
I'm hoping someone will challenge city and Woolwich but not sure who has it in them.
As for Pep, where does he go now, he’s done Spain, Germany and England
He's done it when he's had a massive transfer budget, I'd like to see how he faired without the ability to sign everyone he wants and instead had to improve players/teams through actual coaching for a smaller club than the 3 he's managed so far, can't see it happening tho
Yeah, can’t see Pep managing a mid-table club. Say what you like about the budget he’s had, but he improves and develops players for sure. He’s an amazing coach.
How long we giving Ten Hag? I’m going for Gareth replacing him by January. And I see United’s new centre half messiah is crocked already.
Steve McClaren is the new Jamaica boss
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cm5241yd1r7o
I wonder if his accent will change in a comedy style?
I eagerly await his first press conference where he goes full ‘Cool Runnings’ 😀
Steve McClaren is the new Jamaica boss
that has documentary (mockumentary) written all over it - Ted Lasso 2.
BBC report: Atletico agree £81.5m deal for Man City's Alvarez. Bit of a surprise that.
Pretty good for a squad player! Not kicked on enough to be an automatic starter, albeit a quality player.
It is still far from being a done deal, it's just in Alverez's court now. City want him to stay, but if he does want to leave Atletico have an acceptable offer on the table.
As a City fan I am ok with Alvarez leaving for the fee that was received. He was never going to play in front of Haaland and looked uncomfortable at times when covering for KdB in attacking midfield when the latter was out. The effort was always there and he scored some important goals but didn't look comfortable in the way that KdB, Gundogan, Silvas x 2 and Foden do.
City have a few young players who can potentially do well in the AM role. Oscar Bobb is the standout and he looked amazing on the pre-season US tour. I have high hopes for James McAtee too having followed him since the under 18s.
I know many fans get giddy about youth team prospects but I think City have some genuine potential first teamers on the verge of breaking through.
The old school City fan in me is expecting Haaland to get crocked in the Community Shield on Saturday and we will be playing a false nine system until Xmas.
The old school City fan in me is expecting Haaland to get crocked in the Community Shield on Saturday and we will be playing a false nine system until Xmas.
An old school City fan would be wary of City losing the Charity Shield if they had a 3-0 lead with 2 minutes left. Spurs being Spursy is simply how City played for most of the late 70s, 80s and 90s.
So how many keepers do you need? Maybe three, in case of injury to have a decent sub goalie?
Nah, eight will do it. Guess which club!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cn5rz5kvqk7o
Nice to see us starting this season exactly like the last one… with our entire defence out injured including our two new signings.
The one that really pisses me off is Shaw. He had been out injured since February and hadn’t played a minute for us, Southgate takes him to the World Cup where he plays, picks up another injury and he’s out of the squad and on the treatment table yet again. FFS!
So what's the long term plan with Chelsea? If I've got this right, the max players you can loan out is 7? So you've got a huge amount of young, but inexperienced players, many of which won't be playing that often.
If it's being run like a business, how are they going to improve and increase the value of these "assets" if they're not playing?
And how do you get rid of the Mudryks on 8 years contracts and high wages?
Or are they just taking a gamble that inflation means most players can just be kept for a couple of years and sold at a profit?
Can anyone explain to me what their plan is?
And now Neto for £51m plus extras.. He's missed 102 games in the last 3 years, is a crazy risk.
One day we’ll all end up on the books at Chelsea. It’s the football equivalent of being a guitar player in The Fall
Professor Green isn't aging well
Vaguely football related; RW rioters could be banned from watching their teams, either by central banning orders or clubs individually deciding who they allow onto their property.
Apart from Sunderland fans, who instead will be forced to go and watch them.
Seriously, I do doubt there's much of a correlation between those that riot and those that attend football. That's a bit snobby.
Seriously, I do doubt there’s much of a correlation between those that riot and those that attend football. That’s a bit snobby.
The senior copper who was interviewed the other day indicated there was a high proportion of rioters arrested with football related prior convictions iirc. Heard it on a 5 Live news article.
I suspect but don't know, that there will be a correlation between football fans and either RW or RW rioters - just by the weight of numbers. Football is the UK's biggest spectator sport by far - over a million going each weekend. It has become more inclusive, and the teams undoubtedly are very ethnically diverse, at the same time it's still male dominated (ca 70%) and predominantly white, with a share of knuckleheads. Given most of the RW / RW rioters are also white male knuckleheads, that's a lot of 'potential RW rioters' even if football's not a cause of it.
There's also a substantial number of the RW rioters who aren't really committed RW - IMHO they're either being badly informed and misled, and/or just there for the robbing and looting rather than 'the cause'. And they're the sort that do use football as vehicle for that. You don't have to search far on SM to find footage of kids with scarves over their faces fronting up to each other, but generally they do some sort of strange dancing sort of fighting and then run away when some grown ups or the police arrive. Whereas last week strength in numbers and (or so they thought) no chance of getting a shoeing or caught meant they could actually live out their hard man fantasies for once.
I'm just get little fed up with football being a scapegoat for societal ills. My views are wholly anecdotal but no one I know who goes to football has a part-time rioting job.
I suppose rioting scrotes wouldn't be F1 fans as that requires activity.
I absolutely don't mean to scapegoat. It's just there's so many that go to watch, still mainly white men, that any Venn diagram of 'people that go to football' and 'people that like a beer and scrap' will have if not a large percentage overlap, a large absolute number in the intersection.
Football doesn't cause it - it's a convenient vehicle; replace it over the summer with a race riot and there's another overlap that can be made. As I said, I don't even think half of them believe in the cause, they're there for the looting.
anyway. Back to the opening day and some cracking matches so far.
Back to the football. I'm watching a filler before the real action occurs at 5:30. Look out Birmingham, Reading's in town.
at this point, although we haven't had much transfer activity I've been impressed enough with what I saw (PSF A at Woking) and read about other games that we might not be a basket case. Towards end of last season we were playoff form in ppg, and only got into a relegation scrap due to being shit earlier on and FFP/FSR deductions.
I've bought some merch in the last season clearance sale and might even be tempted by the 3rd shirt. Which my son will then nick.
Dear god, the charity shield gets more woeful every year, it's basically a Wembley friendly, real stuff only a week away thankfully, but it'll be fun to see what teams start challenging early, a few teams have strengthened, still time in the window to see some moves, think ManU could really do with a proper forward like Osimhen, as without Hojland they look a bit light up front
Birmingham fans to go onto the season with an overwhelming sense of confidence that turns to howls of outrage on social media and calls for the manager’s head when we only get four points from our first three games. 🙂
1-0 down at halftime to the mighty R's and I think I heard boos as the players left the pitch. After 45 mins.....
As a Norwich fan I fear this is going to be a very long and depressing season!!
Dear god, the charity shield gets more woeful every year
Probably even more pointless than an Engerland friendly. Life’s too short for watching that nonsense
I actually fell asleep during that charity shield, which was the best part.
Awful penalty decision that Birmingham won. 2 metres away and arm by his side.
Yep. I'd have taken a point at the start and we were on the ropes but a sense of feeling robbed and a lot to feel positive about.
We've even got 3 decent kits this year, normally one is horrific
Feels very odd that football has restarted while the Olympics is still on.
Feels very odd that football has restarted while the Olympics is still on.
Yea, it's too early. September would be fine.
^ Agreed; the season didn’t start until you’d got your copy of Shoot with the league ladder and tried not to tear the 92 tabs in setting it up ready for Saturday.
#jumpersforgoalposts
Can anyone tell me what Chelsea's recruitment strategy is? They can only pick 25 and have 7 loaned? Are they stocking up under 21s that don't count? How are any of them going to increase in value if they're only playing every 4th game?
As a Norwich fan I fear this is going to be a very long and depressing season!!
Waves from Portman Road....
At the arse end of the football league, Bradford took an unexpected 3 points from MK Dons today. Been a very long time since Bradford had an opening day win. Happy days 🙂
1-0 down at halftime to the mighty R’s and I think I heard boos as the players left the pitch. After 45 mins…..
I believe you did. Our fans are so classy - the irony of our song being about keeping right on to the end of the road... 🙂
I went to watch Wrexham v Wycombe yesterday which was entertaining. Next 2 away games are Bolton and Birmingham which will be tough.
I expect City to win the league.
But am more interested in the outcome of their case against the prem lge, and the 115 charges against them.
Incisive comment on 5Live this morning:
Reporter: Wayne Rooney has expressed surprised after his new team got hammered in their opening game....
Host: I wonder how surprised Birmingham fans are....
There seems to be a lot of discussion on which of the 'Golden Generation' who was a great player has made the worst manager... Rooney, Lampard or Gerrard?
I kind of liked Rooney for sticking with Derby and what he achieved given the mess they were in as a club at the time, but him and Lampard were definitely managing way out of their ability levels too soon.
They’re the new Pardew/Bruce/Hughes managerial merry go round. Just waiting for brave John Terry to have a shot at it.
Incisive comment on 5Live this morning:
Reporter: Wayne Rooney has expressed surprised after his new team got hammered in their opening game….
Host: I wonder how surprised Birmingham fans are….
Plymouth are never likely to get the to the Premier league - but appointing Rooney seems that their ambition lies in League One.
Just heard that Keir Starmer is looking at getting Chelsea a transfer ban to help the UK achieve their immigration target!
Plenty of similar memes going about! I’ll give Maresca until November.
Looks like ETH is halfway now to assembling his old Ajax side.
scratchFree Member
Can anyone tell me what Chelsea’s recruitment strategy is? They can only pick 25 and have 7 loaned? Are they stocking up under 21s that don’t count? How are any of them going to increase in value if they’re only playing every 4th game?
It's an absolute shambles. They've let Gallagher go for peanuts*, supposedly are trying to force Chalobah out the door... and are now looking to add Joao Felix to the squad, at great expense. I mean, there's being the team we can all enjoy laughing it, and then there's whatever this is.
*sounds like the deal may be at risk, but they desperately need it go through
I'm just enjoying the novelty of having an owner who's looked at the Glazers totally scattergun recruitment policy over the last ten years and instead of seeing it for the total shambles its been, instead says 'hold my pint...'
An insight into Chelsea's squad:
wouldn't it be easier to name professional footballers who are not in the chelsea squad?
They now have a squad of over 50 players and they’re trying to sign more, taking their spending to over 1.5 billion since Ted Lasso turned up.
I can’t see how they conceivably be staying within the FFP rules. What’s the wage bill per week for that lot?
Still, I suppose they could maybe improve on last season and finish 5th? Good luck to any manager trying to put a starting line up together with 50 overpaid prima donnas most of whom have never met each other before.
Absolute insanity. It makes our transfer dealings look sane and rational. Quite an achievement.
Looks like Gallagher move has collapsed. Time for Levy to have another half baked try.
I know we don't like twitter links but this has me so excited for the start of the season. And even if you're a Saudi sportswash hater, it's a genius bit of marketing. Can you spot all the ex-players.....
Eddie and Jason is particularly brilliant, as is Murphy waving them off (direct copy of the Southampton sending off incident)
binnersFull Member
They now have a squad of over 50 players and they’re trying to sign more, taking their spending to over 1.5 billion since Ted Lasso turned up.
And the fact that they've got a Lidl-version Pep is so perfectly in keeping too.
The only vaguely plausible explanation I've read for their excessive signings is that they've realised a transfer ban is likely for their alleged financial irregularities under Abramovich, and so have bought a huge amount of young talent to carry them through that period.
Either way, Poch clearly knew the chaos that was coming and jumped ship.
Looks like Gallagher is on his way back to London, to club that have told him they don't want him, after a few days in a hotel room in Madrid, Alan Partidge style
Isn't this the point in proceedings where we have an interview with Harry Rednapp, leaning out of the window of a Range Rover?
Peter Odemwingie springs to mind.
Cole Palmer has just signed a contract with Chelsea for 9 years.
Do you reckon players agents are just sending contracts through and they’re just signing them off without reading them?
binnersFull Member
Cole Palmer has just signed a contract with Chelsea for 9 years.Do you reckon players agents are just sending contracts through and they’re just signing them off without reading them?
Pretty much! the hedge fund clowns (not Boehly, the other guys who binned Poch) basically just see the players as assets, so longer contract = greater asset value, in their minds. How tf you get a squad of 55 players into a manageable team is beyond them
Palmer had a brilliant season, but ultimately his 22 PL goals included 9 penalties (so 13 non Pens, 11 assists). As good a player as he is, in recent years we've sadly seen with the likes of Dele (17 non Pens, 8 assists in 16/17) that brilliance at a young age doesn't always continue for a multitude of reasons. Another massive risk by Chelsea.
Who the hell would want that job?
Heres 50 players you don’t know who’ve never met each other before, the league starts on Saturday, but we may buy a few more before then. If you could pick a starting 11 out of that lot and try and keep the rest of them happy, that’d be great
Are we taking bets on the first manager to be sacked?
What is this wet spam kit? Are they trying to convince AWB he's actually signed for Woolwich?
Looking forward to seeing the squad numbers on the Chelsea shirts, have we reached 3 figures yet?
What on earth is the point of the carry on cup? Season is just a week old and a domestic cup has begun.
You know here well @neilnevill. I'm sure she'll have a punt on them and will enthusistically support them through the course of the match.
We've got a few mates coming round for the footy later. Its going to be interesting to see what squad TH puts out. We appear to have a completely borked defence again and no striker 🙁
@binners - apparently ETH said you're not ready for Fulham
How the mighty have fallen !
?
Spurs have signed a guy from Burnley, Odobert. I know nothing about him so I look forward to seeing how he does.
Still no sign of Gallagher or Eze.. hmm.