Football (Soccer) Thread

[PDH]

I thought the top drawer, aka the "sock drawer," was where my ex-wife used to hide my socks so I couldn't find them.

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, Clandestino should be happy, Sporting won against Besiktas! 4-1

As for me, Porto played Milan AC and won at home 1-0. A game dominated by Porto, at least in the first half though the winning goal is not exactly stellar with a confused situation in the box.

I see PSG keeps on playing not so well and yet winning.  This time 3-2 vs Rasenball Leipzig.

[Sheilbh]

Steve Bruce has, as expected, been fired by Newcastle. I was pretty sympathetic and thinking it's brutal and feeling for him when I was reading this - until the last bit when I was roaring with laughter

Fabrizio Romano
@FabrizioRomano
Steve Bruce to @lukeedwardstele: "I think it might be my last job. It has been very, very tough. To never really be wanted, to feel that people wanted me to fail & saying I would fail, that I was useless, a fat waste of space, a tactically inept cabbage head".

[Josquius]

By all accounts he is a complete arse hole.
Though hopefully he will have more time to work on his career as an author!

[The Larch]

What is Newcastle going to do now? Sign a big name coach to replace him and start their moneybags stage on stride?

[Sheilbh]

By all accounts he is a complete arse hole.
Though hopefully he will have more time to work on his career as an author!

I have an amazon alert on his novels. They're not easy to come by.

What is Newcastle going to do now? Sign a big name coach to replace him and start their moneybags stage on stride?

I'm not sure who the odds are is going to replace. I assume they've got someone lined up if they're firing him now - but big money doesn't always equal sensible decision making (see Everton for the last five years ). I also don't think Newcastle is quite ready to do that - at the minute the job is making sure they don't get relegated this season and then spending the big money to start building a squad that can "challenge".

I could be wrong but I suspect they may appoint a manager who's probably better suited for the building a good team/going places stage of things rather than the "making sure we don't get relegated" stage which may cause problems.

We also don't know about structure. Like Chelsea have put a clear structure in place in terms of recruitment and who's in charge, similarly City brought in their structure that was designed around eventually getting Pep - it's not clear what Newcastle are going to do. But I think most clubs with a sudden load of money make a lot of mistakes and given Newcastle's inherent ability to make mistakes I am quite looking forward to it

[Tamas]

It was far more sad to see Ranieri sacked after the Abramovich takeover.

Oh the good old days when a Russian oligarch was the worst person to use the Premier League as a fig leaf and money launder machine.

[celedhring]

It was far more sad to see Ranieri sacked after the Abramovich takeover.

Oh the good old days when a Russian oligarch was the worst person to use the Premier League as a fig leaf and money launder machine.

The football gods repaid him years later when Leicester won the league. What a story that was.

[Sheilbh]

Does anyone in FIFA like football?

Rob Harris
@RobHarris
FIFA to explore proposal that teams can't play in consecutive World Cups if the event is held every 2 years

[Jacob]

It's incredible, but FIFA is making UEFA, the club leagues, and even the Olympic Committee look good by comparison

[Josquius]

Some wealthy corrupt shit at football nation REALLY wants to win the world Cup.

Though hey. That's an alternative.
Real world Cup remains every 4 years.
Special world Cup cripple fight evenly spaced between those.

[celedhring]

There's this really weird race in football where everybody tries to be the biggest villain. Project Big Picture, the Superleague, FIFA, UEFA...

[Liep]

Does anyone in FIFA like football?

Rob Harris
@RobHarris
FIFA to explore proposal that teams can't play in consecutive World Cups if the event is held every 2 years

What a shit idea.

Some wealthy corrupt shit at football nation REALLY wants to win the world Cup.

Though hey. That's an alternative.
Real world Cup remains every 4 years.
Special world Cup cripple fight evenly spaced between those.

Except you'll be stuck in the cripple WC if you lose out of the real one once like Italy and Holland did last time.

[Tamas]

I feel sorry for those having to do the doublethink of seeing all that FIFA and UEFA are doing but yet still attribute some moral value to football, as opposed to seeing it as a form of entertainment.

[Duque de Bragança]

Gianni Infantino really manages to out-Blatter Blatter.  João Havelange will in time be seen as virtuous.