English Premier League and La Liga Football

[Andaluz]

Phew! That was a bit closer than I'd have liked - City beating Bolton, in Bolton, by 2-3. City looked great going forward, 30+ attempts on goal I believe, but left gaps at the back and Bolton are no mugs; they took their chances. Agüero was marked out of much of the game but still had two clear chances; he should have scored both. Tévez came on and looked a bit lacking in match fitness. Happy with the win, but it should have been a little more emphatic.

Bolton look like the good side I thought they were. Mark my words, they will end the season challenging for the Europa League places. I predict 7th place for them.

 

[L.K.Eder]

 

[Andaluz]

Thanks for the photo. Shows a nice image of the club and its owners, doesn't it? I shall be flying Etihad at every future opportunity knowing that my ticket price is going to help my team achieve the sporting success its grand history deserves.

 

[Toro]

I wonder what's going to happen when ManCity gets booted from the CL for violating UEFA's financial fair play thing?

 

[PeteEU]

Phew! That was a bit closer than I'd have liked - City beating Bolton, in Bolton, by 2-3. City looked great going forward, 30+ attempts on goal I believe, but left gaps at the back and Bolton are no mugs; they took their chances. Agüero was marked out of much of the game but still had two clear chances; he should have scored both. Tévez came on and looked a bit lacking in match fitness. Happy with the win, but it should have been a little more emphatic.

Bolton look like the good side I thought they were. Mark my words, they will end the season challenging for the Europa League places. I predict 7th place for them.

Was a great game to watch, but City have to fix those defensive issues (like I said last year ) or be forced to score 3+ goals a game. Kun looked tired and the close marking did not help.

 

[PeteEU]

I wonder what's going to happen when ManCity gets booted from the CL for violating UEFA's financial fair play thing?

Doubt that will happen... they might have to pay a fine or something for the stadium renaming deal though.

Oh and the funny thing is that the name the stadium is getting means United in Arabic hihihihih

 

[Toro]

I wonder what's going to happen when ManCity gets booted from the CL for violating UEFA's financial fair play thing?

Doubt that will happen... they might have to pay a fine or something for the stadium renaming deal though.

Oh and the funny thing is that the name the stadium is getting means United in Arabic hihihihih

That is funny.

I thought the FFP rules stated that if a club is over the losses, it is barred from playing in the CL. And all transactions are to be at arms length. It's hard to believe that the airlines deal passes muster.

They were fun to watch against Bolton though, not something one often says about a Mancini side.

 

[PeteEU]

I wonder what's going to happen when ManCity gets booted from the CL for violating UEFA's financial fair play thing?

Doubt that will happen... they might have to pay a fine or something for the stadium renaming deal though.

Oh and the funny thing is that the name the stadium is getting means United in Arabic hihihihih

That is funny.

I thought the FFP rules stated that if a club is over the losses, it is barred from playing in the CL. And all transactions are to be at arms length. It's hard to believe that the airlines deal passes muster.

They were fun to watch against Bolton though, not something one often says about a Mancini side.

Well the rules are first off very new and only being implemented in phases. The financial sound part is from next season I believe or the season after that. But with Man City it is not a problem, since they can do a Chealski and just cancel the debt they have. A bigger problem for the English clubs is meeting the home grown rules and possibly a change in those rules as well, requiring a certain number of English players. We shall see.

As for the airline deal, it is under investigation by the FA and UEFA because other clubs are crying foul and frankly they are right. The airline is owned by a brother to the chairman and the deal is far far higher than any similar deal in history.

 

[Toro]

FFP requires that clubs balance their books in three years, I believe, and the cumulative sum of the losses can't be above a certain amount. I believe that the clock started ticking this summer, so over the next three years, clubs are going to have financial restraints. If they are above the cumulative losses, they lose their license to play in the CL in 14-15 I believe. I don't think the amount of debt is the problem. However, the interest on the debt will be counted in the club's operating accounts. I haven't looked at this closely but I think that is the basis of the rules. Thus clubs can't continuously run huge deficits like Chelsea and Man City have in the past.

 

[Andaluz]

I wonder what's going to happen when ManCity gets booted from the CL for violating UEFA's financial fair play thing?

Doubt that will happen... they might have to pay a fine or something for the stadium renaming deal though.

Oh and the funny thing is that the name the stadium is getting means United in Arabic hihihihih

The finances will have been sorted out by the time the new rule comes in (2013) and, despite it making a good joke for all who want a cheap laugh, Eithad means 'unified', not 'united'.

 

[ekrem]

At 22:30 German time you can watch Real-Madrid vs. Galatasaray on this link as a stream
LIVE Bernabeu Trophy: Real Madrid - Galatasaray Ist. ::: Free Sport Video Live Streaming

It is totally free. It begins in about 105 minutes for people not in German time-zone.
They say, that Nuri Sahin will make his first game in Real Madrid dress after his injury.

 

[ginscpy]

The English league is excellent in terms of the quality of the football, but then it is an international league these days, not really a domestic league at all.

England's national team are very average and that is probably because players, like most English football fans, are much more interested in playing the club sport. If you asked many, if not most, English footie fans whether they'd prefer to see England win the WC or their own team to win the CL, I reckon most would take the CL. I know I would. Man City champions of Europe? I'd take losing to the Germans in a penalty shoot-out (again) if that happened.

England proper just simply doesn't have the athletes.

They don't play basketball, they don't play baseball, they don't play American football, they don't play ice hockey- they are really out of the loop not playing sports most of the rest of the world plays. - they haven't had a male tennis player win Wimbledon since the 1930s, they don't do well in the Summer or Winter Olympcs - not even in golf (N.Ireland gets all the glory there.)

And England -by itself - isn't that great in soccer either.

Don't follow cricket or rugby - does England do well in those?

That's a very US-centric view on the world of sport. You could say the same of the US and it's non-participation in several of the most popular sports on the planet - cricket is played by far more nations than is baseball. Formula One racing has a greater reach and audience (by far) than any US form of motor racing. Rugby is more widely played than ice hockey, and please don't try to compare the world's most popular sport with American Football, that's like comparing Shakespeare with Peanuts. Check this out.

Great Britain was fourth in the 2008 summer Olympics medal table ahead of Germany, Japan, France and Italy all of whom have bigger populations. If you adjust the figures for population size, GB came second to Australia. True, they don't perform well at the winter games, but that's because the UK gets snow for about one week a year and has no ski resorts, no sled-runs, few ice rinks and doesn't play ice hockey. Brazil doesn't do too well at the winter olympics either.

As for football, the league played in England is the most successful football league in the world in terms of audience and income. The English national team is much less successful. I think I covered that in my earlier post.

Oh, and by the way, currently the top two golfers in the world by the Official World Ranking System are English.

Brits can't stand to play sports that were developed by Americans - basketball, baseball and American football.

Thats why they don't play them.

BTW - the top 2 ranked golfers in the world are from Northern Ireland- not England.

America took up a sport the rest of the world plays - soccer.......

 

[Andaluz]

Brits can't stand to play sports that were developed by Americans - basketball, baseball and American football.

Thats why they don't play them.

That's a fairly silly bit of playground logic. Brits don't play those sports much because they have become accustomed to and enamoured of the other sports we've already mentioned, sports that they know better, have played longer and have evolved a following. It has nothing to do with this sport or that sport being 'better' than another.

BTW - the top 2 ranked golfers in the world are from Northern Ireland- not England.

No, you're wrong. The top two are Luke Donald, born Hemel Hempstead, England and based in England, Florida and Illinois; and Lee Westwood, born Nottingham, England and still living there. Neither have any connection with Northern Ireland.

Are you just flaming for the sake of it? I provided you with the direct link to the info. Here it is again.

America took up a sport the rest of the world plays - soccer.......

Yes, and the US plays football quite well, despite the indifference of the US sports broadcasters.

 

[ginscpy]

Brits can't stand to play sports that were developed by Americans - basketball, baseball and American football.

Thats why they don't play them.

That's a fairly silly bit of playground logic. Brits don't play those sports much because they have become accustomed to and enamoured of the other sports we've already mentioned, sports that they know better, have played longer and have evolved a following. It has nothing to do with this sport or that sport being 'better' than another.

BTW - the top 2 ranked golfers in the world are from Northern Ireland- not England.

No, you're wrong. The top two are Luke Donald, born Hemel Hempstead, England and based in England, Florida and Illinois; and Lee Westwood, born Nottingham, England and still living there. Neither have any connection with Northern Ireland.

Are you just flaming for the sake of it? I provided you with the direct link to the info. Here it is again.

America took up a sport the rest of the world plays - soccer.......

Yes, and the US plays football quite well, despite the indifference of the US sports broadcasters.

You got me on the English golfers thing.

Donald and Lee Westwood - who still has yet to win a major.

Post Tiger era..............

 

[PeteEU]

Brits can't stand to play sports that were developed by Americans - basketball, baseball and American football.

Well... Basketball yea was an American. Although the idea of throwing a round object through a round circle has been around for a very long time... the Aztecs played something similar.

However Baseball not so much. It can be debated if it was the French (Shock horror) or the British/Irish. Rounders has been around since 1400s in one form or another... but the principle is the same, even many of the basic rules.

As for American football... again not so much. Rugby has been around since 1823 and like it or not, American football is directly linked to Rugby....but yes, the modern version of American football was invented by an American by taking bits of different rules for different versions and making it into one.

Thats why they don't play them.

They do play them...there was/is a professional European NFL league (dunno if it is stopped again) with several British teams. Baseball is played all the time.. it is just called Round ball and the UK does have a semi-professional basketball league last I looked. They are just not as popular as football, cricket, rugby, athletics, swimming, running, F1, and pretty much every other sport.

BTW - the top 2 ranked golfers in the world are from Northern Ireland- not England.

You are mixing up the last two major winners who both were from Northern Ireland.. the two on the top of the ranks are English... but they all are British.

America took up a sport the rest of the world plays - soccer.......

Actually there are some claims that American's invented the game of football.. although the purists say that this is bullshit since the rules we know today was invented by the British and promoted by the French.

 

[L.K.Eder]

in the next hour the groups for the champions league will be determined

fenerbahce was disqualified, trabzonspor is in, for the time being.

maybe tonight hannover can kick out sevilla. that would be confusingly awesome. if they fail, it looks like the europa league group stage will start without a german team.

 

[L.K.Eder]

mansour city will face bayern munich

 

[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?

 

[L.K.Eder]

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.

 

[elvis]

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.

Why Bayern Munich?

Why not Bavaria München?