The European football thread

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

Id like to see the soccer world go to a summer schedule though if I were the Footie King.

How would you play the World Cup or Euro Championships ?

[bababui]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

How would you play the World Cup or Euro Championships ?

Either right before or right after league seasons. A warm summer evening is such a great environment for sport.

[ukhotstove]

Also some game times think nothing of the fans, a prime example last season when Wigan played against Portsmouth, the game kicked of at something like 5.30pm because of TV but the last train back to Wigan was at 5pm so Wigan fans either couldn't go, spend more time travelling in cars or coaches or pay more money and spend the night in Portsmouth, no thought about the fans.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by Sdpm100

Yeah I guess so. Because Mark Teixeira = cool. IMO of course.

Besides Crouch, who is your favorite football player?

[bababui]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

Also some game times think nothing of the fans, a prime example last season when Wigan played against Portsmouth, the game kicked of at something like 5.30pm because of TV but the last train back to Wigan was at 5pm so Wigan fans either couldn't go, spend more time travelling in cars or coaches or pay more money and spend the night in Portsmouth, no thought about the fans.

I guess its impossible to come up with a system that pleases everyone. Maybe half the games could start at 3 saturday and the other half sunday at 3 with a monday night match?

[zoraster]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

You don't rate Ferguson as one of the great managers ? I can't stand the bloke, I can't stand United he should have quit a couple years ago and United are suffering because of that, also don't think he should have been knighted but his record speaks for itself.

No his record doesn’t speak for itself, it misleads. That is the trouble, he has been granted this status purely on that record. Put in context though and his record looks very different. Fergie is a great manager only if you just look at lists of honours. In context his record is much more debateable.

Anyway I get the sense you don’t want to debate this one, so I’ll leave it bar asking one question. Why should we dismiss it as coincidence that all his United success has come when he has been in a position of total economic dominance? Before he was lamentable, since Abramovich has arrived he hasn’t been remotely close.

At Aberdeen he won trophies with another mans team, in the international arena he was pathetic, at United he has failed whenever given competition, and has just a 50% success rate in knockout ties in Europe. Is this truly the stuff of greatness? There are hundreds who meet those criteria. Being in the right place at the right time doesn’t make you great. Moreover the simplistic test of a manager (does he leave the club in a better/same state that he found it) has Fergie down as a negative effect at Aberdeen, and allowing for the changes in the game it looks like the same will be said about United.

[Sdpm100]

Originally Posted by bababui

I agree with most except the starting times. I think its a good thing that game times are staggered so more games can be seen by more people.

Id like to see the soccer world go to a summer schedule though if I were the Footie King.

We have cricket in the summer. Pictured here at Cheltenham College, home of the only two week cricket festival left in England.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

Either right before or right after league seasons. A warm summer evening is such a great environment for sport.

The football season in England last from August to May so it would take up all summer to play so you'd end up with the World Cup being played in winter, and I will always say that the best time to go watch a game is mid week kick off 7:30pm on a November evening in the rain, my idea of heaven.

[zoraster]

Originally Posted by Sdpm100

Also one team will move into the Olympic Stadium after 2012, don't believe anyone that says it will remain as an athletics only facility. It's not financially viable.

This is London we are talking about... compared to the Millennium Dome this project just oozes long term financial viability Care with taxpayers money has never exactly featured at the top of the list of priorities.

I wouldn’t take a football future as read Paul. Negotiations are ongoing, but the plan has always been to build the stadium with mainly temporary seating. It is being built first and foremost as the home of British Athletics, and once the Olympics are over will be reduced to a 25k capacity venue. If a football club was going to come in they couldn’t do a Manchester City style job and replace the running track after the event, so I would suggest that pretty much rules out any chance of it becoming a football venue unless they struggle to get funding over the next few years.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by Sdpm100

We have cricket in the summer. Pictured here at Cheltenham College, home of the only two week cricket festival left in England.

Attachment 56230

Why is cricket dying in England?

[Sdpm100]

Originally Posted by bababui

If you have to twist your toungue into a ypga position to pronounce his name, can he really be cool??

I guess not. I'm just weird for liking the dude.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

The football season in England last from August to May so it would take up all summer to play so you'd end up with the World Cup being played in winter, and I will always say that the best time to go watch a game is mid week kick off 7:30pm on a November evening in the rain, my idea of heaven.

Although once you hit 60 that rainy November night might well lead to your death..well, if the cigs havent gotten you first.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by zoraster

Anyway I get the sense you don’t want to debate this one.

hmm ok

[bababui]

Originally Posted by Sdpm100

I guess not. I'm just weird for liking the dude.

Somebody has to like him.

[Sdpm100]

Originally Posted by zoraster

This is London we are talking about... compared to the Millennium Dome this project just oozes long term financial viability Care with taxpayers money has never exactly featured at the top of the list of priorities.

I wouldn’t take a football future as read Paul. Negotiations are ongoing, but the plan has always been to build the stadium with mainly temporary seating. It is being built first and foremost as the home of British Athletics, and once the Olympics are over will be reduced to a 25k capacity venue. If a football club was going to come in they couldn’t do a Manchester City style job and replace the running track after the event, so I would suggest that pretty much rules out any chance of it becoming a football venue unless they struggle to get funding over the next few years.

The way I look at it is that London can only host one international athletics event a year (+ maybe the international challenge match that was held in Manchester, the warmup track for the Commonwealth Games), which is the one that is held at Crystal Palace atm. So what is it going to do for the other 11 1/2 months of the year to be able to keep it financially afloat?

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

Although once you hit 60 that rainy November night might well lead to your death..well, if the cigs havent gotten you first.

I quit smoking years ago, yes but if they got rid of those bs all seater stadiums you would keep warm by being pressed against thousands of other fans.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

I quit smoking years ago, yes but if they got rid of those bs all seater stadiums you would keep warm by being pressed against thousands of other fans.

Id be the unlucky one pressed up against George Michael.

[zoraster]

Originally Posted by bababui

Why is cricket dying in England?

Time. A game that requires thirty hours to play a single match properly is not exactly in place with modern living. The new versions of the game introduced over the last three decades have been the final nail in the coffin of the great game.

The new style cricket is proving very popular though and will no doubt thrive in future years... it isn't cricket though and I'd much rather baseball than the daft one day game or odious 20/20.

[Sdpm100]

Originally Posted by bababui

Somebody has to like him.

No they don't. I'm just a weirdo for liking a BASEBALL PLAYER.

[ukhotstove]

West Ham or Spurs for the Olympic stadium ? To be honest I have no idea where it's being built in London and couldn't care less until the Olympics get here which London teams ground is nearest to the Olympic stadium ?