Football (Soccer) Thread

[Norgy]

He did beat Brian Clough's record in one respect. Being sacked after 39 days.

I feel for Ange, although I do not think he was a good fit with the squad nor the supporters.
Whatever comes next, I have no idea. Sean Dyche or Roberto Mancini? Neither instill much confidence in me for Forest's season.

[Josquius]

It's early enough in the season too that whoever comes next could find themselves sacked too

[Zoupa]

I agree that Ange was a poor fit. That owner is ridiculous though. Good luck to whoever comes next. You have a grand total of 8 games to prove yourself.

[Syt]

The Austrian football association ÖFB is getting a new logo.

Old:



New:

[HVC]

Gonna confuse some Koreans.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Hopefully it means, or at least looks like, something hilarious in Korean 

[Josquius]

From what I can gather it basically means H-23 in Korean.
OFB->Hisam

[Grey Fox]

Looks like it should be right side up reading mIIIO.

[Syt]

I actually like its techno-futuristic (Korean) design, which is a rarity with modern logos these days.

Best variation I've seen:

[Zoupa]

Spurs lost 1 nil to Chelsea. xG of 0.05 for Spurs, the lowest recorded ever.

Can we bring back big Ange please? I remember a game against Chelsea 2 years ago. Spurs got 2 red cards and were still playing the high line, offensive as hell, runs in behind, Ange forbidding the back passes. We lost 4-1 and the whole crowd was cheering at the end, praising the guys and coach for the performance and singing "we've got our Tottenham back".

Give me that anyday compared to this snooze fest.

[Threviel]

One game left in the Swedish league and it's a season of sensations. Minnows Mjällby has taken it and they have obliterated the previous record in points, truly a football saga.

But the second most impressive thing is my team, GAIS. They'll finish third and qualify for European play, the first time that's happened since 1989. Local competitors IFK Göteborg still has a shot at fourth place, their best finish in ten years, I think they're triggering each other.

GAIS best player, Gustav Lundgren, has been picked for the national team for the coming qualifiers, making his debut at age 30 having never played for any national side before.

GAIS have deliberately modelled themselves after Bodö/Glimt in the Norwegian league and so far they follow them at about the same trajectory. If it continues it'll be a very nice decade ahead.

[Josquius]

Wow, a town of 1200 won the league

Is the Swedish league that bad or some wacky stuff going on there?

[Valmy]

Everybody can only play 11 guys

And maybe that town is really in the metro area of Stockholm or something?

[Threviel]

Wow, a town of 1200 won the league

Is the Swedish league that bad or some wacky stuff going on there?

The Swedish league is quite bad football wise. For reference GAIS and Mjällby have a budget of about 7 million euros, the bigger teams about 20-40 million. 2 or 3 times a decade a team qualifies for the Champions League. Last season one team went to the semi-finals of the conference league and lost to Chelsea. That's the first semi-final for a Swedish team in a European cup since 1987.

Mjällby have built up a very good scouting system and they have been able to build up a team, a bit under the radar, for a few years. They have an idea of the game and the player group understands it and follows it. They also have a core of very good local players. They are well worth the win and they earned it by themselves, not because of weakness in the other teams.

Mjällby is not in the Metro area of Stockholm. It is out of the way countryside with no big cities in reasonable distance. The stadium lies on a field, next to a camping site outside of Mjällby proper, 1200 inhabitants.

[Syt]

Recently I was crossing Karlsplatz on the way to the subway and there were tons of police everywhere ... was confused till I saw one of the police vans having a sign on top greeting the fans of Fiorentina (they were playing against Vienna in a European competition). Didn't see a single Fiorentina fan.

A few months before that there was zero police but hundreds of drunk happy Swedes in the same area - Djurgarden fans in town for a European match. I guess one group has a different reputation than the other.