I think there's two strands to it. The one we can absolutely agree on is that there is a clear and undeniable financial disparity. That's clear from your example about Moise Kean, and will be clear from finances of Palace v everyone that they played in the Conference League. The second, which I might not convince you about but will put my best case forward, is that the Premier League status comes with this fear factor that remaining in the Premier League is more prestigious than winning things. The way top 4 (now top 5!) is celebrated is so hollow. I think that this then feeds in to English attitude and fanbase attitude that something like the Conference League is beneath them because they play in a 'high level' competition domestically. I absolutely agree with you the tag of 'Champions of Europe' should not be used for anything other than Champions League - its a scale after all! I think naturally I feel resentful towards the Premier League because Scotland has to qualify for these competitions at all times. Teams like Palace, Brighton, Bournemouth - they're all riding off the coattails of a good country coefficient that grants automatic qualification into tournaments when they have zero club coefficient themselves so would naturally have to qualify in a 'fairer' system. However, what I would say is that whilst you say you want to win something with more meaning - what's more meaningful than gaining automatic entry to the higher competition to work your way up the European football ladder. Something you could do with finishing 6-7th or you could do it by winning trophies, visiting places you probably never would (Bosnia, Cyprus, Finland and Ireland for Palace this season) and have a guaranteed crack to do it all again the following season against 'better' opposition? Sounds great if that's the competition you find yourself in! I wouldn't want Celtic to be in it but that's because I have higher aspiration for us but if we were in it? Winning it would mean something to me.
Yeah, not sure how it’ll all play out. I’m torn on the Vuskovic decision. But I think I’ve ultimately landed on, give him a pay bump and let him go off to Hamburg one more season. One, it rewards him for an outstanding season. Two, it keeps him happy and hopefully makes him feel valued. Three, he’s still 19 years old and could probably benefit greatly from another year in a top league like that. He will only come back stronger and more experienced. As much as I want him now, it could be best in the long run for his development. And I think it keeps the relationship/trust between him and Spurs strong. If that does happen, combined with Romero leaving, we’re gonna have to bring in another CB even after Senesi though.
That’s not a great look… But tbf, Barcelona are absolute pros at tapping players up. I’ll never forgive them for Cesc.
Speaking of Cesc, what he's doing at Como is exceptional. He's probably gonna end up at Barca after Flick, if I had to guess.
Gordon off to Barcelona and his RB partner at Newcastle off to Wolverhampton. Polar. Will join sometime this week!
I'm only a casual in this thread but I follow along. Can I join? It's okay if ya'll have a tight group and don't want basically randos popping in.
I did my initial run through it and came out with some interesting knockout matchups. England v Scotland was one of them.
With the R32 permutations, it's going to be so hard to get that initial knock out round right. I imagine someone will rise to the top with getting the 8 / 4 right assuming there are few upsets.
I got semi finals of France vs Spain and Argentina vs Brazil in my first attempt. Imagine the chaos of that second one lol.
I have France vs Spain and Argentina vs England for my semis, which is probably about as fun. Don't have it in me to vote against us, or it would've been Argentina vs Brazil too though.
Will I need to log in at stupid o'clock in later rounds? Now I know how the Americans feel in FPL lol
CHORUS FM FOOTY THREAD CHARITY DRAW Rules: 12 Members, one per group drawn by random draw (I will do the draw the day before the tournament) $5 Buy In Everyone is guaranteed 2 teams in the knockouts. Winner of the tournament chooses the charity we all donate $5 each to. In order to make it a little more fun(ny), please quote me with the charity you’d pick to officially join. That way, we can say shit like “I can’t believe you’re rooting against ending child hunger” when we’re actually rooting against Portugal.
I agree with this statement. Why couldn’t they just release this and bypass the attempt at trolling? No one will take you seriously after those cringe posts lol
My charity of choice is Bridge Refugee Services which helps refugees in East Tennessee acquire jobs, training, housing, and clothing, as well as legal services (I work in the legal field, if you didn’t know). I attempted to donate clothing earlier this year and ended up talking to their donation coordinator and Trump has really fucked over most refugee services (shocker), so it’s a good way to help my local population and stick it to him. Home - Bridge Refugees
Anthony Gordon's Spanish is pretty good according to Sid Lowe. I was half expecting full Joey Barton in France for some reason.
I think they're 100% right to say all of this, and yet it's also funny that it's like "agents live for this... it's Barca doing it!" Pretty good chance it's also the agents!