Football (Soccer) Thread

[Gups]

Is the Brighton stadium in the middle of nowhere?

Sort of. It's right next to a university halls of residence and has a train station but not much else. Takes a 15-20 min train journey from Brighton to get there. Nice stadium though. Was one of my favourite away days when my team were in the same league as them.

Brighton had all kinds of trouble getting a new stadium after they were forced to sell their old one (which was a shithole from what I remember form my one visit there) for redevelopment to clear debts and were in division 4 (managed to avoid non-league on the last day of the season). They then had to groundshare with Gillingham (which is miles away) then shared a non-league stadium with a capacity of less than 1,500 for a few years while they tried to get planning permission for the Amex. 

[Gups]

It's also curious that the two next stadiums in terms of "isolation" are from two London clubs, Fulham and Brentford. I always assumed that London clubs were more "in the thick of it", so to speak.

Neither are at all isolated (though Fulham's is bordered by a park on one side and the river on another and is largely residential on the other sides). They just don't have a fish and chip shop that close, apparently.

Fulham is another great away day. Wonderful, historic stadium. Haven't been to Brentford's new place since they moved. The old one was famous for having a pub on every corner of the ground.

[The Larch]

Neither are at all isolated (though Fulham's is bordered by a park on one side and the river on another and is largely residential on the other sides). They just don't have a fish and chip shop that close, apparently.

Yeah, maybe the fish & chip metric is not that precise. 

[Syt]

Neither are at all isolated (though Fulham's is bordered by a park on one side and the river on another and is largely residential on the other sides). They just don't have a fish and chip shop that close, apparently.

Yeah, maybe the fish & chip metric is not that precise. 

Well, I find his "2 minutes to get out of/into stadium" a bit optimistic - hard to imagine you can get from your seat to the exit in 2 minutes reliably, especially at the half time mark when everyone heads to the food/drink stalls, bathrooms etc.

[Admiral Yi]

Do fodbol stadiums have any on site food?

[The Larch]

Neither are at all isolated (though Fulham's is bordered by a park on one side and the river on another and is largely residential on the other sides). They just don't have a fish and chip shop that close, apparently.

Yeah, maybe the fish & chip metric is not that precise. 

Well, I find his "2 minutes to get out of/into stadium" a bit optimistic - hard to imagine you can get from your seat to the exit in 2 minutes reliably, especially at the half time mark when everyone heads to the food/drink stalls, bathrooms etc.

Yeah, that's also wildly optimistic. In larger stadiums it will take you much more than that just to get out of your part of the stands, let alone being out of the gate by then.

And anyway, I thought that it was meat pies what people normally had at half time in English stadiums, not fish & chips.

[Sheilbh]

Incidentally UEFA panel has finished their investigation into the problems at the final, which is pretty damning:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/feb/13/champions-league-final-report-uefa-primary-responsibility-chaos-paris-liverpool-real-madrid

[Jacob]

Refreshing to see a UEFA investigation place the blame on UEFA.

But will there any consequences beyond "oh we are sorry" and "we promise to do better next time"?

[Josquius]

Refreshing to see a UEFA investigation place the blame on UEFA.

But will there any consequences beyond "oh we are sorry" and "we promise to do better next time"?

UEFA fines UEFA?

[FunkMonk]

Apparently Qatar are on the verge of acquiring Manchester United

https://twitter.com/Qatari/status/1626257324128993281?t=Sq5u7ZTTCFZQu8JsRbr4XQ&s=19

After the intransigence of Liverpool's owners and their refusal to give a percentage exceeding 49% (a controlling percentage in which decision-making takes place), the compass changed completely for Manchester United, very simple steps to announce the acquisition of United

I thought there was a UEFA rule that you can't own more than one club but I guess the Qataris know the rules don't apply to them. 

[Grey Fox]

Shouldn't have disapproved of the Super League.

Reap what you sowed.

[Jacob]

"... the intransigence of Liverpool's owners and their refusal to give a percentage exceeding 49%"?

Was Qatar somehow under the impression that Liverpool's owners are obligated to give up control of the team?

[Sheilbh]

Here's to hoping Qatar and other sports-washing petrostates have to get used to such intransigence as people saying "no".

I don't have much hope for that, mind

[FunkMonk]

I think they firmly believe they can do anything they want after the success of the World Cup. And they're probably right.

[Valmy]

I think they firmly believe they can do anything they want after the success of the World Cup. And they're probably right.

Was it a success? Seems like it sucked to me.

Which of the previous World Cups wasn't a success? Is just successfully enabling each game to be played peacefully all it takes?