Football (Soccer) Thread

[Sheilbh]

Big news this week is the first gay player in 30 years coming out. Young Blackpool guy.

Bodes well for the future I think. Already saw signs of this with the current England squad. The super macho youth football of the past which would have worked to filter out any gay players seems to have been firmly put to rest.
I wouldn't be surprised if we get a near representative number of gay players in the not too distant future.

Yeah I do find it kind of incredible that it's a 17 year old kid at the start of his career. I mean coing out at that age in your normal life is brave and confident. In football as the first openly gay professional player is beyond brave - and what a year: first professional contract, first first team appearance and coming out to the world.

In my head the first coming out was likely to be a relatively established player. But maybe it won't - maybe it will just be the next generation.

One other slightly impressive and nice part of this is that Sky Sports and Blackpool have been aware for a few months. He'd already told his team-mates - slightly drip-fed apparently so speaking to the captain and a few close friends first, then the wider team. But it didn't leak and it never became an outing, instead the team and Sky Sports (and Stonewall) kept it tight and worked with Jake to manage it in the way he wanted. Apparently he'd also spoken with a openly gay non-league player-manager and others so they also had put the right protections in place on his social media etc.

There's lots of people who knew along the way and they all did their bit to manage it how Jake wanted which is really great to see. And a very positive reaction from everyone so far - I'm sure there are dickheads on social media, but there will be dickheads always.

[Jacob]

Saw a social media thing where Newcastle FC's offical account did a "we're all behind you" supportive message, with a reply quoting some Saudi anti-gay fatwa. Not the best look.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah I think this is what it's going to be like for Newcastle now - they were last Premier League team to respond and everyone noticed. They send a supportive message and everyone will point out the hypocrisy (which also applies to Man City).

Damned if they do, damned if they don't - but definitely damned after that deal.

[Zoupa]

I was incredibly conflicted during that Newcastle-Arsenal game for that very reason.

I'm afraid chauvinism won out in the end, as I cheered when Newcastle scored. 

[FunkMonk]

Newcastle will be laughing at Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal in a couple years as they overtake all three.

[Jacob]

Newcastle will be laughing at Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal in a couple years as they overtake all three.

Of course. That's the upside to selling your soul.

[Sheilbh]

Well Chelsea have less than a fortnight to sort out their sale/the Abramovich loans

[FunkMonk]

Well Chelsea have less than a fortnight to sort out their sale/the Abramovich loans

Roman is laughing at Chelsea fans who think he loves the club so much he won't ask for his money back 

[Jacob]

The Europa League Final - Glasgow Rangers vs Eintracht Frankfurt - is kind of cool.

[Josquius]

Newcastle will be laughing at Chelsea, Tottenham, and Arsenal in a couple years as they overtake all three.

I do think (/hope) Newcastle have missed this train and are a bit late to the party. Getting dodgy foreign money pumped in just as that starts to become distinctly uncool and the football bubble is cracking.

[Josephus]

Liverpool looking tired of late. Scraping wins against Villa and Southampton. They may be in trouble for R. Madrid.

[Gups]

Liverpool looking tired of late. Scraping wins against Villa and Southampton. They may be in trouble for R. Madrid.

That was pretty much their 2nd team last night

Alisson; Gomez; Matip; Konate; Tsimikas; Elliott; Milner; Jones; Minamino; Firmino; Jota

Compare with the the FA Cup final line up only Alisson and Konate played both (and Konate will brobably be benched for Madrid)

Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Keita, Henderson, Thiago; Salah, Mane, Diaz.

[Josephus]

Liverpool looking tired of late. Scraping wins against Villa and Southampton. They may be in trouble for R. Madrid.

That was pretty much their 2nd team last night

Yes. I am aware. But they been looking tired for a while, scraping a 2-1 v. Aston Villa. Almost blowing their first game lead v. Villareal, draw with Spurs and another 1-0 scrap v. Newcastle. Not to mention needing penalties against Chelsea. Offesnively they've been looking tired.

[Admiral Yi]

That was pretty much their 2nd team last night

Alisson; Gomez; Matip; Konate; Tsimikas; Elliott; Milner; Jones; Minamino; Firmino; Jota

Firmino is 2nd string?  To this noobs eyes he's the real stud on the front line.

[Josquius]

That was pretty much their 2nd team last night

Alisson; Gomez; Matip; Konate; Tsimikas; Elliott; Milner; Jones; Minamino; Firmino; Jota

Firmino is 2nd string?  To this noobs eyes he's the real stud on the front line.

Well, he said pretty much. You virtually never find every single player swapped out, even when it's a cup game against semi amateur rovers you usually get a handful of the first team with the kids.