The 2015-16 World Fitba Thread!

I only saw parts of the match (and the highlights later) but it wasn't that bad a result. Germany fielded an experimental back line so it's not surprising they got lit up against an attacking trio of Aguero, Di Maria and Lamela. Even so Argentina's goals were well taken. Particularly Lamela's volley. On the other hand Germany created some excellent chances, especially for Mario Gomez who blew two of them. All in all it was a pretty good match for a friendly.

 

Chelsea has two types of supporters, predominantly

1) Far right-wing lunatics
2) Glory hunters who decided to support them once they managed to win things

 

That has nothing to do with anything.

 

Prestige has absolutely zero to do with quality of youth academies. The fact that players jump to leave to Chelsea is an indication of prestige. And Brentford certainly could become prestigious if they started getting consistent results, getting CL slots, winning cups and league titles for over a decade. That's generally how reputation develops.

As far as Chelsea goes, they are a rich club now that generates revenue, if they are sold it will be to another rich guy and they will continue to thrive.

 

http://weaintgotnohistory.sbnation....p-earnings-set-to-increase-30-percent-to-340m


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...d-300m-kit-deal-sportswear-giants-adidas.html


Without the billionaire surely Chelsea will relegate!

Chelsea by the by was in full compliance with the Financial Fair Play rules, so there's that theory.

 

It does to actual football fans.

 

It's an indication of having an endless pot of Russian money, not prestige. Anybody who has grown up with football knows that the likes of Chelsea and Man City are killing the game as the price of players gets inflated so only the mega-rich could possibly afford them. Back in the 90's, provincial clubs like Norwich were able to build a team from their own youth system and actually mount a serious challenge for the Premiership crown. That could never happen now as Chelsea or City will tempt anybody who shows the slightest bit of promise away with ridiculous sums of money. It has ruined the competitive nature of the league, I don't know how anybody who is a fan of the game could actually think that's a good thing.

 

That has zero to do with their international reputation. I had heard of and even watched Chelsea FC as kid...an American non-fan over a decade ago when football wasn't as popular here(especially not to the extent where you can actually watch every game on the internet and through semi-premium cable packages.,,back then you got a few games per year on ESPN2 and they were only the biggest of the big matches). I could name you maybe 5 or 6 teams in all of Europe and Chelsea was one of them.

The fact that they make a lot of money off of football and spend it to have continued success does not make them of fraudulent repute

 

Also if they are tempting these players away with huge money the other teams should perhaps more properly reinvest the transfer fees they receive from Uncle Chelsea.


Secondly, Chelsea have not poached any players from lesser English sides. The only move they made was grabbing Remy who is hardly a "promising" player at aged 27.

Chelsea barely even have any English players how exactly are they stopping Norwich from building through their youth system

 

See, it's happening already: the last generation who grew up when football was football getting dismissed and derided as dinosaurs and 'elitists' when they try to explain what the sport's been to the people who sustained it for 100+ years. 'Shut up grampa, nobody cares about football's connection with working class culture in England- there are 13 million MUTV subscribers in Indonesia!'.

 

Even Manchester City has been attracting "fans". It's no magic formula that teams with recent success get bandwagoning plastic fans. I hope United finish 7th again. The club would be ruined.

 

There was a bleck American street magician on Buchanan street today who was most jackson. Read people's minds, made marked cards appear in other people's handbags, threw a playing card onto a 6th floor window ledge. He was like David Blaine or Dynamo except not a chode. In fact his patter was hilarious too, he had me LOLing about 10 times. I gave him a tenner and my thanks. The end.

 

Can he make Chelsea disappear?

 

Those "plastic" fans put tons of money in those clubs' bank account that allows them to "buy" championships. If the "real" fans aren't putting a dime in the clubs pockets I think the clubs would rather have 13 million plastic bandwagoning fans many times over before the so called "real" football fans that support blue collar teams that never win anything because they are "pure and free from corporate scum."


United will be fine, by the way. But everyone knows that.

 

Fuck off, Silent.

 

:dunno: No need for brashness.

Football is evolving like everything else on planet Earth. You either adapt or perish.

Deriding a team's merits and accomplishments with nonsense like "they have fake bandwagon fans" or "their politics are questionable" is exactly that. As if this fantastic team from manager to players to staff is somehow invalidated if and when they win the league title this year because of some off-the-cuff fabrication such at that.

And the thing with Chelsea of course is they have been good for a long enough time to have honest fans in their ranks. Teens/kids that grow up watching this team, etc..Londoners or international fans that had no previous affiliation, etc.

City is newer on the scene but according to this information they had 30k in attendance in the second division in the 90s....and they place nice football, it isn't shocking they have tons of supporters. They would probably be my second choice if anything.

 

Italy opens the scoring against the Netherlands. Usually I wouldn't cheer for an Italian goal but i like this one as it was Dortmund's summer signing Ciro Immobile who netted it.

 

Netherlands now down to 10 men and 2 goals within 10 minutes. They also don't have Arjen Robben. This could get ugly for the Dutch.

Spain and France starts in a couple of minutes. That one could be interesting.

 

I thought those were just friendlies. I'll watch though just to see how Diego Costa performs.

 

It has everything to do with everything to people who actually follow the sport and aren't doing so purely as a message board windup

 

They are, but they're partly warm ups for Euro 2016 qualifying.

 

Whatever you say...

 

LFC TV, the official Channel of Liverpool Football Club, have a series of documentaries charting the major triumphs of the club.

One such programmed covered the 1977 European Cup Final between Liverpool and B'M'Gladbach, which Liverpool won 3-1.

At 2-1, Liverpool won a penalty.

Interviewed in 2006, one of the fans, who was at the game, in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, said of the moment Phil Neal stepped up take the penalty....


"...I said a prayer, that he would score, I said..."Please God, for me dad, he's been watching them all his life"

Thats a big club.

Chelsea is fuck all. Citeh is fuck all. A club whose fans were in the Olympic Stadium in Rome in 1977, saying prayers not for their sake or their clubs sake but their elderly parents sake....is a big club.

 

Long story short, old = important.


Sure.

 

Chelsea have a great team currently but it comes from one single rea$on.

Abromovich is their real MVP.

 

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Having a great owner is understated in pro sports, but it also helps they have the best collection of talent, the best team and the best manager in England. Maybe Europe. We shall see.

 

Jesus wept

 

This mook is either stupid or thinks we are.

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France deservedly won 1-0 in a disappointing game. (even for a friendly)

Spain were underwhelming today to put it mildly. Even the consistently underachieving sides of the past were at least fun to watch. Now they're not dominant or entertaining. I know some of their key players are well past their best, but the side is still loaded with talent. If they keep playing with this approach we'll be "treated" to 1-0 results along with some Diego Costa dives thrown into the mix. Yay.