The 2015-16 World Fitba Thread!

Exactly. I'm glad Arsenal keep their books clean. I also understand that it's a business. It's not just any business though. Sport is about competition, not just for the players but for the fans.

There is also a difference between a fan and a customer. That seems to be largely lost in the EPL.

 

Great point. Roy Keane made it a few years ago when he spoke about the "Prawn Sandwich Brigade".

 

"50 + 1" > Sheik Al Oil for 99% of the players, the clubs, and supporters.

 

The status quo is equally terrifying. You have clubs like Newcastle United whose stated playing strategy is to not win anything, or to even try. Ashley has only said what most other clubs are actually thinking. People can only be fooled through loyalty or by hype for so long - eventually, the penny will drop that there is no fucking point watching 90% of teams playing professional football as they are not even bothering to compete in the competitions they have entered. It's fucking pointless.

MTF

 

Not in this country anymore there isn't.

MTF

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tor-The-Story-German-Football/dp/095401345X

 

Agreed, it's where my 50+1 came from.

 

It's even better than that though. They've linked the success of your club to YOUR success.


Follow a winning club...you are a winning person.

A loser club? Well you are obviously a loser person.

Football clubs are like status symbols.......Morons are "Man United" fans because it made "winners" of them. They "won" routinely.

Like a stock or an option, they were always on the up, always an upward trend. Everyone else was a loser. It's not too much different to the "Desolate North West" comments of Osbornes daddy-in-law.

Live outside London? Loser. Really far outside London? Real loser.

 

"Tor? Tor? Sure isn't he your man from the movie?"

 

"You got L.A. and you got New York. And anybody who lives in between those two places is a FUCKIN' FARMER!" -Andrew "Dice" Clay

 

To be a farmer in England is to be a scorned, disgraced, less-than-worthless sort who DOESN'T GET the "URBAN" scene.

Non-Londoners are basically regarded as some sort of quaint, out-of-touch Ewoks.

It's a Country within a Country.

As for Andrew Dice Clay, that guy is a fucking moron.

"Hickory Dickory Dock, Some Chick Was Sucking My Cock"......is actually one of his jokes.

 

I was at Arsenal-Everton eleven days after Thatcher died. That was a very strange environment. The Everton fans weren't singing about Everton before the match. It was all anti-Thatcher and just daring anyone to object. The Arsenal fans stood and stared. One of them actually spoke up. He was quickly surrounded by Scousers shouting at him and asking about his family in the 80s. He quickly backed down and said he agreed with them. No one else spoke up against the demonstration. I don't recall ever seeing anything like that in the US.

As for Dice Clay, he's a washed up 80's character. To say that his one of his "jokes" though is to miss the point of his act. He is/was playing a brash, perverted, politically incorrect, loudmouthed, chauvinist, dense racist. All of his jokes fit into an "act." Funny at first, dreadfully unfunny after that.

 

English fight and soccer fans definitely have a far keener political sense, IMHO.

 

This was just one group going through. There were many groups of fans all around Emirates doing this before the match. You can't see the reactions of the Arsenal fans and the other Londoners walking by. I heard one lady say "Did you hear what they're singing?"

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IngBIdbstRk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

:: ::

 

"weel behrner ferr free" ::

 

There was never any political tie-ins with sports teams in America... At best a regional identity or philosophy but never anything political... There's no "Irish" baseball team (though some delusional thick massholes like to pretend there is with the Red Sox, whose support was traditionally blue blood New Englanders, not fucking micks) or "Black" baseball team... There's not a "left wing" NFL team or a "right wing" one... It's just the Cowboys look queer and their fans are band wagoners or the Steelers rule, etc... Rivalries are fierce but have nothing to do with anything essential like race or politics but rather simple flag waving, color identification ... Imagine the Old Firm if it were simply down to Green and White looks koo, blue and white looks queer, etc... Jimmy Johnstone > Derek Johnstone... That's American sports... I tried explaining Celtic/Rangers, Barca/Real, etc to friends and they were dumbfounded

 

Everton are mostly non-political these days. It's just that the entire city of Liverpool is left wing. LFC also had anti-Thatcher chants and parties at their matches. Last I checked their entire city council was Labor. And it's not just that. When it comes to an issue like Thatcher, I'm told that the city went through so much grief when she was in power. It's a very emotional subject. Something beyond my understanding. They're not just singing about Thatcher to be funny. There is hatred in their eyes. Young guys that were born in the 80s. Their families still talk about those days.

 

Awesome.

 

What rubbish.

There was truth to it when they were paying of the stadium debt. Every season it seemed like Arsenal were happy to sell their best players and not replace them.

In the past two seasons Arsenal have spent money AND kept their best players.

 

And not made it past the last 16, make that three seasons in a row actually

 

That will happen when you continually sell your best players, although losing to likes of Bayern and Barca isnt the worst thing.

 

A clearer photo.

 

Presumably that was Legia. I do sympathise a little with their cause, although they broke the rules in the dumbest way possible. Celtic might come out as a bad guy here, but Celtic are once-great club which have been bled dry, they are now a feeder club for lower tier EPL clubs or second/third tier continental clubs, no wonder they were desperate to scramble to a champions league place however possible. And still they couln't draw against Maribor at home.

 

Three will be a champions league predictions league again this season. I am aiming to defend my title.

 

It's not as if Celtic haven't been on the other end of that stick... See the 1984-85 Cup Winners Cup where Rapid Wien were given an outrageous second chance at a neutral site (Old Trafford) despite losing 4-3 on aggregate all because some idiot threw a bottle on to the pitch

 

Furthermore, UEFA took action against Legia of it's own accord... Celtic had fuck all to do with the decision

 

Celtic shouldnt be blamed in the slightest.