English Premier League and La Liga Football

[Andaluz]

I understand the antipathy, tinged with a lot of envy, that supporters of other, less wealthy clubs have for the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, however I don't remember feeling such disdain when Chelsea were bought by the corrupt Russian billionaire, or when Manchester United were paying record fees season-in, season-out with billionaires' money throughout the 90s and 00s.

I think there may be a degree of anti-Arab racism involved in current criticisms given that City is just one of ten English Premiership clubs owned by foreigners, indeed all but two English represenatives in this season's European competitions are majority foreign-owned, even Birmingham City.

City have drawn a difficult CL group, perhaps not as difficult as Arsenal's or Real Madrid's, but tough. That was always likely given the strange seeding system. I still think we have the ability and the strength-in-depth to win the group. None of the other three teams won their respective national leagues.

'Mansour City' will surprise a lot of people. I'm hoping to be able to purloin a ticket for the Villareal-City match up in Valencia.

'Tampa Bay United' have the easiest draw, I think.

'CSKA Chelski' have also a fairly easy group with only the penniless Valencia likely to give them a hard time. It'll be interesting to see how Mata performs against his old club.

'Colorado Arsenal' will be lucky to make it out of their group with Dortmund and Marseilles having had much better domestic seasons last year.

I think we're unlikely to hear very much about Groups B and G. Neither has a single club that any neutral will be aching to see. I also notice that there's not a single Scandinavian club represented in either the CL or the Europa League. That's a shame.

Clearly game of the group stages is going to be Barca-AC Milan. That sounds more like a final line-up than an opening fixture, however this seasons CL Final will be a Manchester derby. How great would that be?

the envy comes from the fact that an extremely well managed club like bayern munich has to compete with clubs that have a sugar daddy who will buy them any player for any price.

i don't care if the sugar daddy is chinese, arab, german or a kalmyk.

the lol's come when those clubs crash and burn.

Why Bayern Munich?

Why not Bavaria München?

Reasonable question.

Why Real Madrid and not Royal Madrid?

 

[L.K.Eder]

I understand the antipathy, tinged with a lot of envy, that supporters of other, less wealthy clubs have for the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, however I don't remember feeling such disdain when Chelsea were bought by the corrupt Russian billionaire, or when Manchester United were paying record fees season-in, season-out with billionaires' money throughout the 90s and 00s.

I think there may be a degree of anti-Arab racism involved in current criticisms given that City is just one of ten English Premiership clubs owned by foreigners, indeed all but two English represenatives in this season's European competitions are majority foreign-owned, even Birmingham City.

City have drawn a difficult CL group, perhaps not as difficult as Arsenal's or Real Madrid's, but tough. That was always likely given the strange seeding system. I still think we have the ability and the strength-in-depth to win the group. None of the other three teams won their respective national leagues.

'Mansour City' will surprise a lot of people. I'm hoping to be able to purloin a ticket for the Villareal-City match up in Valencia.

'Tampa Bay United' have the easiest draw, I think.

'CSKA Chelski' have also a fairly easy group with only the penniless Valencia likely to give them a hard time. It'll be interesting to see how Mata performs against his old club.

'Colorado Arsenal' will be lucky to make it out of their group with Dortmund and Marseilles having had much better domestic seasons last year.

I think we're unlikely to hear very much about Groups B and G. Neither has a single club that any neutral will be aching to see. I also notice that there's not a single Scandinavian club represented in either the CL or the Europa League. That's a shame.

Clearly game of the group stages is going to be Barca-AC Milan. That sounds more like a final line-up than an opening fixture, however this seasons CL Final will be a Manchester derby. How great would that be?

the envy comes from the fact that an extremely well managed club like bayern munich has to compete with clubs that have a sugar daddy who will buy them any player for any price.

i don't care if the sugar daddy is chinese, arab, german or a kalmyk.

the lol's come when those clubs crash and burn.

Why Bayern Munich?

Why not Bavaria München?

usually only the part of the name of the club, which specifies the city of origin, is translated to other languages. the rest stands.

ssc napoli, ssc naples, ssc neapel.

 

[Andaluz]

mansour city will face bayern munich

I understand the antipathy, tinged with a lot of envy, that supporters of other, less wealthy clubs have for the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, however I don't remember feeling such disdain when Chelsea were bought by the corrupt Russian billionaire, or when Manchester United were paying record fees season-in, season-out with billionaires' money throughout the 90s and 00s.

I think there may be a degree of anti-Arab racism involved in current criticisms given that City is just one of ten English Premiership clubs owned by foreigners, indeed all but two English represenatives in this season's European competitions are majority foreign-owned, even Birmingham City.

City have drawn a difficult CL group, perhaps not as difficult as Arsenal's or Real Madrid's, but tough. That was always likely given the strange seeding system. I still think we have the ability and the strength-in-depth to win the group. None of the other three teams won their respective national leagues.

'Mansour City' will surprise a lot of people. I'm hoping to be able to purloin a ticket for the Villareal-City match up in Valencia.

'Tampa Bay United' have the easiest draw, I think.

'CSKA Chelski' have also a fairly easy group with only the penniless Valencia likely to give them a hard time. It'll be interesting to see how Mata performs against his old club.

'Colorado Arsenal' will be lucky to make it out of their group with Dortmund and Marseilles having had much better domestic seasons last year.

I think we're unlikely to hear very much about Groups B and G. Neither has a single club that any neutral will be aching to see. I also notice that there's not a single Scandinavian club represented in either the CL or the Europa League. That's a shame.

Clearly game of the group stages is going to be Barca-AC Milan. That sounds more like a final line-up than an opening fixture, however this seasons CL Final will be a Manchester derby. How great would that be?

the envy comes from the fact that an extremely well managed club like bayern munich has to compete with clubs that have a sugar daddy who will buy them any player for any price.

i don't care if the sugar daddy is chinese, arab, german or a kalmyk.

the lol's come when those clubs crash and burn.

The lol's (sic) might come if and when one of those clubs goes bankrupt. So far, that hasn't happened anywhere, as far as I'm aware.

I am as cognisant as anyone that should Sheikh Mansour get tired of his plaything he'll be off and the club will return to it more straitened circumstances with which we had all become familiar, although not quite. City have a huge following. They hold the record for the highest attendance at any club game in England and even when we were in the thrid division (1998-1999) still managed an average attendance higher than half of the Premiership teams. This shows that loyalty to the club exists irrespective of success in competition. If you knew any die-hard City fans you would be aware of the realistic and sceptical attitude they have towards the owners. We are enjoying the current set-up a lot, enjoying being one of the big boys, but no one has any illusions; it is a situation that could change at any moment. If and when it does, we'll still be City fans.

I'm guessing that you might be a Bayern fan as you seem to be anticipating a lot of schadenfreude.

Bayern are a terrific club with an awesome history. Everyone at City will feel it an honour to be facing them in the CL for the first time, win, lose or draw. None of your snipes at our owners will take the shine off that.

 

[Andaluz]

the envy comes from the fact that an extremely well managed club like bayern munich has to compete with clubs that have a sugar daddy who will buy them any player for any price.

i don't care if the sugar daddy is chinese, arab, german or a kalmyk.

the lol's come when those clubs crash and burn.

Why Bayern Munich?

Why not Bavaria München?

usually only the part of the name of the club, which specifies the city of origin, is translated to other languages. the rest stands.

ssc napoli, ssc naples, ssc neapel.

There's no consistency in this. Why do we always refer to Deportivo La Coruña? and not Deportivo Corunna? What about Torino FC? Why not Turin? Why not AS Rome? It's merely a question of custom and practice. A form becomes adopted, without rhyme or reason, and it sticks. There are no rules and no logic to apply. It has always seemed strange to me why British media always refer to Barca's stadium as the Nou Camp, when everyone in Spain knows it as Camp Nou - (tr.) New Field.

 

[Unkotare]

Why the hell did anyone think it was a good idea to start a thread about soccer?

 

[L.K.Eder]

I understand the antipathy, tinged with a lot of envy, that supporters of other, less wealthy clubs have for the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, however I don't remember feeling such disdain when Chelsea were bought by the corrupt Russian billionaire, or when Manchester United were paying record fees season-in, season-out with billionaires' money throughout the 90s and 00s.

I think there may be a degree of anti-Arab racism involved in current criticisms given that City is just one of ten English Premiership clubs owned by foreigners, indeed all but two English represenatives in this season's European competitions are majority foreign-owned, even Birmingham City.

City have drawn a difficult CL group, perhaps not as difficult as Arsenal's or Real Madrid's, but tough. That was always likely given the strange seeding system. I still think we have the ability and the strength-in-depth to win the group. None of the other three teams won their respective national leagues.

'Mansour City' will surprise a lot of people. I'm hoping to be able to purloin a ticket for the Villareal-City match up in Valencia.

'Tampa Bay United' have the easiest draw, I think.

'CSKA Chelski' have also a fairly easy group with only the penniless Valencia likely to give them a hard time. It'll be interesting to see how Mata performs against his old club.

'Colorado Arsenal' will be lucky to make it out of their group with Dortmund and Marseilles having had much better domestic seasons last year.

I think we're unlikely to hear very much about Groups B and G. Neither has a single club that any neutral will be aching to see. I also notice that there's not a single Scandinavian club represented in either the CL or the Europa League. That's a shame.

Clearly game of the group stages is going to be Barca-AC Milan. That sounds more like a final line-up than an opening fixture, however this seasons CL Final will be a Manchester derby. How great would that be?

the envy comes from the fact that an extremely well managed club like bayern munich has to compete with clubs that have a sugar daddy who will buy them any player for any price.

i don't care if the sugar daddy is chinese, arab, german or a kalmyk.

the lol's come when those clubs crash and burn.

The lol's (sic) might come if and when one of those clubs goes bankrupt. So far, that hasn't happened anywhere, as far as I'm aware.

I am as cognisant as anyone that should Sheikh Mansour get tired of his plaything he'll be off and the club will return to it more straitened circumstances with which we had all become familiar, although not quite. City have a huge following. They hold the record for the highest attendance at any club game in England and even when we were in the thrid division (1998-1999) still managed an average attendance higher than half of the Premiership teams. This shows that loyalty to the club exists irrespective of success in competition. If you knew any die-hard City fans you would be aware of the realistic and sceptical attitude they have towards the owners. We are enjoying the current set-up a lot, enjoying being one of the big boys, but no one has any illusions; it is a situation that could change at any moment. If and when it does, we'll still be City fans.

I'm guessing that you might be a Bayern fan as you seem to be anticipating a lot of schadenfreude.

Bayern are a terrific club with an awesome history. Everyone at City will feel it an honour to be facing them in the CL for the first time, win, lose or draw. None of your snipes at our owners will take the shine off that.

you seem to be very defensive.

i am a bayern supporter, but i am also a realist.
if bayern survives this group, i am happy.

 

[Toro]

the envy comes from the fact that an extremely well managed club like bayern munich has to compete with clubs that have a sugar daddy who will buy them any player for any price.

i don't care if the sugar daddy is chinese, arab, german or a kalmyk.

the lol's come when those clubs crash and burn.

I agree.

I don't begrudge Man City's fans. Or Chelsea's fans. (Does Chelsea have fans?) But clubs like Manchester United (I hate to admit, YNWA) and Barcelona do it within the confines of budgets that come from their fans, not from someone who wants to play Football Manager with living people.

On the other hand, the clubs say that by investing in such talent, they are investing in the brand of their club for the long-term. Man City could be fun to watch this year (though with an Italian coaching, we'll see!) That's why I have no problem with the Financial Fair Play rules. And if Man City is able to skirt those rules if they continue spending as they have been by bringing in money-losing airlines owned by other royal family cousins as sponsors, then FFP is meaningless. But with Platini in charge, its hard to see them getting away with it.

 

[Andaluz]

Why the hell did anyone think it was a good idea to start a thread about soccer?

We didn't. This is a thread about football. If you want to talk 'soccer', start your own.

 

[Andaluz]

you seem to be very defensive.

i am a bayern supporter, but i am also a realist.
if bayern survives this group, i am happy.

Not defensive, realistic. We've had many false dawns before. This is a particularly bright one, but I'm not so stupid as to believe that a rich man can't tire of his plaything. I just hope that the club has developed its commercial activity and revenue-building strategies to cope when the Sheikh gets bored.

I agree.

I don't begrudge Man City's fans. Or Chelsea's fans. (Does Chelsea have fans?) But clubs like Manchester United (I hate to admit, YNWA) and Barcelona do it within the confines of budgets that come from their fans, not from someone who wants to play Football Manager with living people.

On the other hand, the clubs say that by investing in such talent, they are investing in the brand of their club for the long-term. Man City could be fun to watch this year (though with an Italian coaching, we'll see!) That's why I have no problem with the Financial Fair Play rules. And if Man City is able to skirt those rules if they continue spending as they have been by bringing in money-losing airlines owned by other royal family cousins as sponsors, then FFP is meaningless. But with Platini in charge, its hard to see them getting away with it.

Well, just to correct you. Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid have ALL got far, far greater debts than Manchester City. Were the Sheikh to pull out immediately, then we'd see our debts rise rapidly, but if he sticks around for a few years more, and why wouldn't he?, the club's finances will remain entirely manageable.

Check this out. Manchester City don't even make the Top 10 most indebted clubs in Europe.

A statement like this: "Manchester United (I hate to admit, YNWA) and Barcelona do it within the confines of budgets that come from their fans" is a myth confirmed by the facts that show those clubs taking out huge loans because they don't earn enough from their fans.

 

[Andaluz]

Oh, and just a quick note. I want to wish good luck to Granada CF for their first Primera División fixture in many, many years. Granada is my local team and everyone here is very excited and very nervous about the coming season. ¡Vamos El Graná! A home tie against also-promoted Betis is as good an intro to the top flight as you could wish. I hope it's successful!

 

[Toro]

you seem to be very defensive.

i am a bayern supporter, but i am also a realist.
if bayern survives this group, i am happy.

Not defensive, realistic. We've had many false dawns before. This is a particularly bright one, but I'm not so stupid as to believe that a rich man can't tire of his plaything. I just hope that the club has developed its commercial activity and revenue-building strategies to cope when the Sheikh gets bored.

I agree.

I don't begrudge Man City's fans. Or Chelsea's fans. (Does Chelsea have fans?) But clubs like Manchester United (I hate to admit, YNWA) and Barcelona do it within the confines of budgets that come from their fans, not from someone who wants to play Football Manager with living people.

On the other hand, the clubs say that by investing in such talent, they are investing in the brand of their club for the long-term. Man City could be fun to watch this year (though with an Italian coaching, we'll see!) That's why I have no problem with the Financial Fair Play rules. And if Man City is able to skirt those rules if they continue spending as they have been by bringing in money-losing airlines owned by other royal family cousins as sponsors, then FFP is meaningless. But with Platini in charge, its hard to see them getting away with it.

Well, just to correct you. Man Utd, Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid have ALL got far, far greater debts than Manchester City. Were the Sheikh to pull out immediately, then we'd see our debts rise rapidly, but if he sticks around for a few years more, and why wouldn't he?, the club's finances will remain entirely manageable.

Check this out. Manchester City don't even make the Top 10 most indebted clubs in Europe.

A statement like this: "Manchester United (I hate to admit, YNWA) and Barcelona do it within the confines of budgets that come from their fans" is a myth confirmed by the facts that show those clubs taking out huge loans because they don't earn enough from their fans.

Both ManU and Liverpool don't have big debts because of losses incurred at the clubs. They have - or had in Liverpool's case since the club absolved it's debts through the courts - large debts because their owners foisted a huge amount of debt on the clubs to buy them. It wasn't because they were taking on big debts to fund losses to buy players with reckless abandon like ManCity and Chelsea. At the operating level, both Liverpool and ManU generated profits - £30 million and £50 million respectively. Chelsea have yet to make a profit since Roman bought the club, incurring losses of about £300 million in total. ManCity lost something like £100 million last year. ManCity has no debt because the sugar daddy owner eats the losses. The debts at Chelsea are to Roman himself, who will just write them off.

It is what it is, but the FFP rules came into being precisely because of firms like Chelsea and ManCity.

 

[Unkotare]

Why the hell did anyone think it was a good idea to start a thread about soccer?

We didn't. This is a thread about football. If you want to talk 'soccer', start your own.

It's 'soccer' here, and it's boring as hell. All this "beautiful game" nonsense is pure bullshit. Nothing 'beautiful' about some people jogging for two hours, pretending to get knocked down now and then, and maybe - MAYBE - scoring once during the whole time. No wonder the Europeans are always rioting at these 'games,' they've got nothing else to occupy their attention.

 

[L.K.Eder]

Why the hell did anyone think it was a good idea to start a thread about soccer?

We didn't. This is a thread about football. If you want to talk 'soccer', start your own.

It's 'soccer' here, and it's boring as hell. All this "beautiful game" nonsense is pure bullshit. Nothing 'beautiful' about some people jogging for two hours, pretending to get knocked down now and then, and maybe - MAYBE - scoring once during the whole time. No wonder the Europeans are always rioting at these 'games,' they've got nothing else to occupy their attention.

fuck off

 

[Toro]

Why the hell did anyone think it was a good idea to start a thread about soccer?

We didn't. This is a thread about football. If you want to talk 'soccer', start your own.

It's 'soccer' here, and it's boring as hell. All this "beautiful game" nonsense is pure bullshit. Nothing 'beautiful' about some people jogging for two hours, pretending to get knocked down now and then, and maybe - MAYBE - scoring once during the whole time. No wonder the Europeans are always rioting at these 'games,' they've got nothing else to occupy their attention.

Nobody cares if you think soccer is boring.

 

[Unkotare]

Oh, look at the "beautiful" way they pretend to fall down in dramatic agony! Look at the "beautiful" way no one scores a single fucking point in two hours! Note the "beautiful" way they jog back and forth pointlessly! It's all just...just...so "beautifu!"


Gimme a break.

 

[L.K.Eder]

Oh, look at the "beautiful" way they pretend to fall down in dramatic agony! Look at the "beautiful" way no one scores a single fucking point in two hours! Note the "beautiful" way they jog back and forth pointlessly! It's all just...just...so "beautifu!"


Gimme a break.

no break given.

there are enough other threads where you can inject your biting commentary.

 

[Toro]

Oh, look at the "beautiful" way they pretend to fall down in dramatic agony! Look at the "beautiful" way no one scores a single fucking point in two hours! Note the "beautiful" way they jog back and forth pointlessly! It's all just...just...so "beautifu!"


Gimme a break.

Who cares? You think its boring. BFD. Nobody cares.

You know what's boring? An American saying "soccer is boring."

 

[L.K.Eder]

Oh, look at the "beautiful" way they pretend to fall down in dramatic agony! Look at the "beautiful" way no one scores a single fucking point in two hours! Note the "beautiful" way they jog back and forth pointlessly! It's all just...just...so "beautifu!"


Gimme a break.

Who cares? You think its boring. BFD. Nobody cares.

You know what's boring? An American saying "soccer is boring."

and now for something quite different.

la liga is back in business.

but serie a is on strike.

ha!

bundesliga is on schedule.

 

[Toro]

la liga is back in business.

but serie a is on strike.

ha!

bundesliga is on schedule.

I enjoy the bundesliga.

Good to see la liga will be playing again.

Serie A can stay on strike indefinitely...

 

[L.K.Eder]

la liga is back in business.

but serie a is on strike.

ha!

bundesliga is on schedule.

I enjoy the bundesliga.

Good to see la liga will be playing again.

Serie A can stay on strike indefinitely...

i agree. a lot.