SEE YOU! A brand spanking new modern fitba thread 2021/22

I have to fuck off out for a walk. I can't take this anymore.

 

Can't imagine why you're doing this to yourself

 

As a still novice fan, I'm just now learning there's a club Shamrock Rovers, as they're playing Hibs in the CL qualifying.

My question - why is that the Ireland First Division is nowhere near the level of the Scottish Prem, and why is a club like Shamrock nowhere near the level of Celtic?

 

Levels. It's like minor league baseball compared to major league. Players and teams progress up and down. The 3rd place playoff for the English championship is worth about 40 million dollars to the winner when they make it to the Premier League and the loser stays in the Championship division. Shit gets serious then.

 

Ireland's best young players are systematically siphoned off from a young age, 14,15,16 by English clubs who have intensive scouting networks in Ireland. Those guys never develop in Ireland and if they do they get snatched up for pennies.

Kevin Doyle and Seamus Coleman were bought for £160,000 and as part of the Doyle transfer Shane Long was thrown in for FREE, he was a sweetner.

Since then, 2007, Long has racked up transfer fees in excess of £20m. The vast vast majority of profits made on those transactions was made by English clubs and agents, not the Irish clubs who farmed him.

That's why we don't have a strong domestic league, our players, since a half century, have been siphoned off. It's hugely lucrative and Ireland can't compete with the weight of the Premier League.

Whereas, in Scotland, they developed their big clubs decades before Ireland even became an independent country.....it's only in the past few years Ireland's population has matched Scotland's but the economic incursions of foreign clubs are MANY times stronger today than before.

Domestic Irish clubs cannot compete. Just can't do it.

 

Sub 10 minute Mile today. I'm looking to be doing a sixer by next Summer. Probably have to start doing fast quarters and halves to get that right

You don't run at the same pace. You basically maintain a basic pace then leave it all out there over the last 10%. You can't leave anything out there if you're trying to make a certain time.



No sure about those calories. This watch belonged to a very heavy person and I've not reset it yet.

 

Was it Shelbourne or Shamrock Rovers who came extremely close to qualifying for the Champions League proper a while back? They reached the third QF round and put in a great performance against Deportivo before falling short. I imagine loads of their players are in the English top 2 divisions now.

 

In all honesty, if you take away Celtic & Rangers Im not sure how big the difference would be between the Irish & Scottish leagues, at this stage. But basically football wasnt adopted in Ireland to the same extent during its formative years, largely because it was seen as an English/British sport. So by the time it started becoming more popular in the second half of c20 - largely due to television - there were a huge starting deficit in terms of local outfits & even infrastructure. So the attention more or less stayed focused on the uk games on tv. A bit like east asia now

Whereas here, as with most football mad places whether its the North of england, dortmund, marseile, Buenos aires, bilbao, the clubs really got woven into the fabric of life during industrialisation and mass immigration. Guys worked in the factories or yards until 12pm saturday and their outlet was the game at 3pm. It might as well have been year zero for social/ cultural life for these guys and this thing arrived to fill a vaccuum. I dont know that you could ever expect to recreate the deranged significance football clubs took on in places like Glasgow if you set out to do it in different decades and different circumstance.

 

Shelbourne. Should have made it too.... Had chances. But they went broke a few years later after the Celtic Tiger died.

 

Didn't shamrock rovers make the europa group stages recently and get a couple of respectable results?

 

Cool. Thats the insight I was lookin for.

 

I read a a book about the history of German football and the sentiment was similar with many people many years ago. "That's an English game".

 

And the English skipped out on the first THREE World Cups cos that was a "foreign fancy"

Went to the fourth one in 1950, got beat by....the USA.

 

Retro art was just so much better....

 

They did. But they also got battered in that group by Spurs.....

 

Lolz at fuckin Spurs in that group.

Also z at Partisan Belgrade. They got knocked out by Rovers.

Partimers Disgrace is what they should cal themselves ...

 

Look at this....



Sterling 20 or more LEAGUE goals is 10/1

Ugly Brute Haaland is 2.5/1 to score 25 or more

 

I hope he doesn't but if Haaland avoids injury he is capable of breaking Salah's 32-goal season record.

 

I'm hearing now that if you eat chips and are fucked up in some way that this company called McCains will come in and fix your problem and then put you in an ad. Is this true?

 

I hope he realizes how ugly he is and becomes a recluse and won't leave the house.

I'm hoping for a lot of things.

I just think this Haaland situation is very problematic and the media will all be on board ready to jerk him and Pep off.

 

I think Haaland will be a bust

 

Rooney grows up an Everton fan. Starts becoming a great player at his club. Sorry son, you're too good now. Off to United you go.

Andy Carroll, same thing at Newcastle.

God forbid they stay at the clubs they love and help them try to win something.

 

I hope you're right

 

Yep. Albeit Shearer tried to address that. Gerrard and Fowler stayed as long as they could. But those are exceptions.

 

I think you might be going all the way to Le Tissier for the last guy to knowingly forgo much brighter lights

 

...... And he's still at it in retirement too.

 

Can't see it to be honest. He's an elite finisher, in the best side in the league, which will dominate possession and chances. He'll get too many opportunities to be a bust, the amount of teams which just pathetically roll over for City these days means it's practically nailed-on for him to be a success.

 

Legit 5k today in the heat, very impressed with my effort.

 

Yep. No question.

My only hope is that he unbalances them, somehow