Re: The Football Topic

Rest in Peace Bobby.

One of the ' Old School'.

Jeff

To Live's To Fly

Re: The Football Topic

Have only just discovered this sad news. Sir Bobby was a true gent and a fixture in the game for decades. He will be greatly missed.

RIP Sir Bobby

RIP Iron Man

Rock On and keep the Faith

Re: The Football Topic

So sad that Sir Bobby has left us.

As many have said, he was a true gentleman of the footballing world.

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

Re: The Football Topic

Fantasy Football.....................?

I mentioned this on here not long after this thread started.
I'm sure a few of you will be familiar with the concept of fantasy football - is anyone interested in setting up our own private league so we can compete against each other - just adding to the fun of the forum?

For the uninitiated, fantasy football is a game where you select and manage your own team of "real" English Premier League players, who are awarded fantasy league points on their performances week by week in the Premier League matches. The game is played over the whole season, and the team with the most points wins (ok - that bit was obvious I suppose roll )

I am happy to set a league up for us, based on the Budweiser Barclays Premier League web based game. I have played this game for a few years now, and have to say it is addictive - and great fun if you are interested in footie at all. So all you will need to do is click on http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ , register - select your players, and let me know you want to join in our own league.

It's less than two weeks now 'till the start of the season, so we can't hang around. And don't think just because you live outside the UK, you can't join in - the game attracts players from all over the world.

So.............. anyone interested?

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

23 (edited by Tripod 2009-08-02 21:24:30)

Re: The Football Topic

[img]http://participacion.elpais.com.uy/futbol/files/2009/07/veron-libertadores.jpg[/img]


[img]http://www.diarioshow.com/imgs_notas/2009/07/16/14580_181557_650x420.jpg[/img]

Re: The Football Topic

Icon wrote:

Fantasy Football.....................?

I mentioned this on here not long after this thread started.
I'm sure a few of you will be familiar with the concept of fantasy football - is anyone interested in setting up our own private league so we can compete against each other - just adding to the fun of the forum?

For the uninitiated, fantasy football is a game where you select and manage your own team of "real" English Premier League players, who are awarded fantasy league points on their performances week by week in the Premier League matches. The game is played over the whole season, and the team with the most points wins (ok - that bit was obvious I suppose roll )

I am happy to set a league up for us, based on the Budweiser Barclays Premier League web based game. I have played this game for a few years now, and have to say it is addictive - and great fun if you are interested in footie at all. So all you will need to do is click on http://fantasy.premierleague.com/ , register - select your players, and let me know you want to join in our own league.

It's less than two weeks now 'till the start of the season, so we can't hang around. And don't think just because you live outside the UK, you can't join in - the game attracts players from all over the world.

So.............. anyone interested?

Ian

Sorry Ian, but I thought the real thing WAS fantasy football. 200 grand a week, Bentley Turbo's at 18, Manchester City a top 5 contender? Seventeen million quid for Glen Johnson? Sorry mate but whats the point in playing it?

Fantasy football for real starts in the next couple of weeks. Personally I'm backing my team for an incredible run this year. Yes, West Ham are going to stay up, retain their manager (providing Chelsea do well) and - this is the big one - hopefully do the double over Spurs. And that, I suppose will be about it. What more can any fan of any team in the division other than the present top 4 expect? With exception of Manchester City I suppose.

Sorry for the cynicism. Blimey, and it hasn't even started yet! Still, it could be worse. I could be a Spurs fans with a deadly addiction to optimism. What a heady combination that is........

No Hits, No Hype.......................Classic Rock Jan 2012

Re: The Football Topic

Dinamo Moscow 0 Celtic 2 - I'm a happy man - one large step towards the champions league! smile

"The recently formed Edinburgh Blues Club has identified an appetite for the personal communication between musicians and audience that the blues long ago perfected." The Herald Newspaper (Scotland)
http://www.edinburgh-blues.uk

Re: The Football Topic

hansamike wrote:

Sorry Ian, but I thought the real thing WAS fantasy football. 200 grand a week, Bentley Turbo's at 18, Manchester City a top 5 contender? Seventeen million quid for Glen Johnson? Sorry mate but whats the point in playing it?

Fantasy football for real starts in the next couple of weeks. Personally I'm backing my team for an incredible run this year. Yes, West Ham are going to stay up, retain their manager (providing Chelsea do well) and - this is the big one - hopefully do the double over Spurs. And that, I suppose will be about it. What more can any fan of any team in the division other than the present top 4 expect? With exception of Manchester City I suppose.

Sorry for the cynicism. Blimey, and it hasn't even started yet! Still, it could be worse. I could be a Spurs fans with a deadly addiction to optimism. What a heady combination that is........

Too many apologies there - even for a cynic smile (like me lol)

I've always had a liking for West Ham - probably something to do with the World Cup in '66, so good luck for the coming season. Just so long as you don't mind losing your fist game that is! tongue (Therein lies a clue to my allegiances - and the liking for Joe's choice of black trim on his signature Les Paul)

You're right of course - these guys get paid far too much for what they do. Sky money has elevated them to Rock Star lifestyle (and above) and it is ruining the game.

As for Fantasy football - I've been playing it against friends and colleagues for around 10 years now, and I guess I'm an addict. I just find it so much fun, and it helped re-kindle my interest in the real game after several years when I just couldn't be bothered. Still - no takers so far on here but I dont mind - I just thought it might be worth a try.

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

Re: The Football Topic

Ian,

Its great to see Wolves back, hopefully to stay. Back where they belong if you are any kind of fan.

I've always liked the club. I was attracted to 'old gold' for my very first plastic subbuteo team purchase. Now, there was a game!

Seriously though, Wolves were our first home game after the death of Bobby Moore. I shall always remember 2 wolves fans walking into the centre circle from the away end with a Wolves shirt on a cross. It was very moving and such a mark of respect from opposing fans for a player who had transcended normal club rivalry.

It goes without saying I would have done the same for someone like Derek Dougan.

Best wishes for the season. It won't be easy but the rest of us are only playing for 6th place and a cup win so what does it really matter?

No Hits, No Hype.......................Classic Rock Jan 2012

Re: The Football Topic

Robert Plant to be inducted as vice president of Wolverhampton Wanderers before kick off tomorrow!

Yes - that Robert Plant! He's a lifelong fan (dazed and confused no doubt - like the rest of us lol ) and I've spotted him more than once munching on a pre match burger leaning against the back of the stand.

Maybe the team will be running out to the strains of "Rock and Roll" tomorrow against West Ham?

Perhaps Percy could enlist Joe as a Wolves fan? I mean - they even play in the same colours as Joe's signature Les Paul.

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

Re: The Football Topic

Brack wrote:
Icon wrote:

Robert Plant to be inducted as vice president of Wolverhampton Wanderers before kick off tomorrow!

Yes - that Robert Plant! He's a lifelong fan (dazed and confused no doubt - like the rest of us lol ) and I've spotted him more than once munching on a pre match burger leaning against the back of the stand.

Maybe the team will be running out to the strains of "Rock and Roll" tomorrow against West Ham?

Perhaps Percy could enlist Joe as a Wolves fan? I mean - they even play in the same colours as Joe's signature Les Paul.

Ian

Errrr...... kind of stretching at straws, comes to mind, Icon. We who follow a particular team, could all come up with reasons why Joe should follow his, or her team.
I have mine, ready and waiting! smile)))
~ Brack ~

Well Brack, you know how Joe sticks up for the underdog, and champions the working class hero - not the prawn sandwich brigade. tongue  (ouch!)

I jest - of course.........all's fair in love and football (when it comes to winding up rival supporters).

Rest assured that if the "big four" were the only teams in the land I would be on your side Brack.
Good luck for the new season.

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

Re: The Football Topic

Thanks Ian, good luck to you this season, we are going for, 4 in a row, what are your goals for the season ?
~ Brack ~

They have to be modest now that Real Madrid and Mancester City have taken player prices and wages to obscene levels, so anything above 18th would be good - oh, and to beat Manchester United as we did in our last Premier League season. tongue

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

Re: The Football Topic

Icon wrote:

Thanks Ian, good luck to you this season, we are going for, 4 in a row, what are your goals for the season ?
~ Brack ~

They have to be modest now that Real Madrid and Mancester City have taken player prices and wages to obscene levels, so anything above 18th would be good - oh, and to beat Manchester United as we did in our last Premier League season. tongue

Ian

Ian, I take no pleasure in the victory today but the three points are priceless. I nearly answered Brack when I read his comments about '4 in a row'. Of course, he shouldn't have to apologise for supporting a club that is SO sucessful now. Nevertheless, as I have said here before, the predictability of the Premiership will ultimately polarize support.

Your club and mine will be playing for survival this year. After the top 4 (plus City - eventually), then maybe its Everton, Villa, Spurs, and possibly even Sunderland this year, I think Bruce is an excellent manager, so that leaves the rest of us scrabbling for 10th.

We are all just makeweights and given how expensive its becoming, unless the wealth is spread around more evenly the makeweights will make way. Lets face it, the Top 4 could just play each other and decide the Premiership over a couple of weeks. Trouble is they couldn't milk that for all the money they need to sustain the cartel they've got going.

I'm not jealous, I support West Ham and we are not made that way. I want to see a fair shake thats all. For Wolves, Stoke, West Ham, Bolton, you name them.

I live in Germany for the moment. I don't hold up the Bundesliga as the template for football everywhere. Even so, Wolfsburg won it last year after being 10th at the half way stage. Despite Bayern Munich's advantages the league is so unpredictable just now no one knows who can win it. Wolfsburg are not a big club. But under shrewd management in a topsy turvy league they came through for an unlikely triumph.

Yeah, I'm damn sure United and L'pool and the others don't want that kind of insecurity, but thats what the true fans want.

One of the most successful sports in the world is NASCAR. Love it or hate it you can't deny its success.  A couple of years ago, to avoid one driver running away with championship at an early stage they introduce 'The Chase'. At a predetermined point in the season the top dozen or so drivers in the standings go for the title over the remaining races. They all start from zero again. Is it sport? Dunno, but its definately entertainment. NASCAR saw that single driver domination was a turn off. So they changed the rules to stop it.

You can understand the logic. I guess a Manchester United fan could never grasp the concept now of being just a makeweight. My team either survives in mediocrity or goes down and goes bust probably. Its not much of a prospect to be honest.

As I have said before, if a sport like F1 can honestly believe it can operate to a predetermined budget in the future to save itself, then football should and could do the same. Change the rules, save the game. If the loadsofmoney clubs don't like it they should start their own breakaway league. But they don't have to, as they will still have advantages other clubs don't. The best will still be the best probably, BUT NOT ALL THE TIME.

Football needs a revolution. Cap on salaries, cap on foreign players, cap on transfers. Forget free market rubbish. This is a regulated sport. The administrators could do what they want, if they so wanted. But will they? Hmm, too often they have got their noses in the same trough. Vested interests, as ever, manipulate the sport. Look how clubs that fall out of the Champions league are parachuted into the old UEFA cup or whatever its called now. The makeweights play 10 games qualifying only to find themselves against some top side that couldn't cut it with the cream of Europe this year. Complete joke devised to provide a revenue stream in a bad year for the elite.

Well,I'll bring this rant to an end. Football. It just gets to you it really does - and my team won today and I'm still not happy! 4 in a row Brack? Enjoy it while you can. There's gonna be a reckoning. What was it Peter Finch said in 'Network'

something like "Open your windows and just shout out - We're not going to take it anymore!"

OK nurse, I promise I'll take the medication as prescribed. No excitement as well? OK then I'll become a Newastle fan....:(

No Hits, No Hype.......................Classic Rock Jan 2012

Re: The Football Topic

Mike - A rant, yes, but I'm sure most self respecting football fans would agree with a lot of it. I enjoyed reading that too.

You're right about the European cup competitions - the "Europa" Cup seeing an extension this season - more games = more money, but also more pressure on the domestic leagues to fit it all in - qualifying teams needing bigger squads = greater costs.
What I really find hard to stomach is the amount of money being paid for players and to players. Is it right that a Premier League footballer earns in a week roughly what the British Prime Minister gets paid in a year?

Sadly - the money aspect is now ruining my enjoyment of the sport, and before long it may drive me away in the same way that hooliganism did for a while.

Meanwhile, I am proud to be supporting a local team, as my family did before me, and my son after me. It dismays me to see so many youngsters in these parts wearing the shirts of the so called big four - their parents unwittingly feeding the cash cow that will, unchecked, only end in the loss of some famous old clubs. That outcome is inevitable - it's now just a case of which club is first.

On a different note - you deserved the 3 points yesterday - if only for taking your chances. I think we probably had more, but our guys failed to take advantage. Such is life. Still, there was a great atmosphere in the ground (even if - as our fans pointed out on more than one occasion - you've only got one song wink )

Ian

Please be in no doubt that this is the REAL ME! Beware imposters........................

33 (edited by hansamike 2009-08-16 20:17:49)

Re: The Football Topic

Guys, what can I say? I was totally off it yesterday evening. I only wanted to offer Ian some commiserations for the result and my thinking took a complete left turn.

Just goes to show what a bottle of rustic cider can do for you tongue

Bracks right of course, I tried to hint at it as well. The cream will always rise to the top, but if it stays there 'ad infinitum' it will curdle everything.

I agree with all you said too Ian, and as a supporter of my local boyhood club we probably share a similar outlook. Far away fans of the 'Big Four' should take a leaf out of Nick Hornbys book (literally). I mean. the bloke is a rabid Gooner, but when he was at Uni he religously supported Cambridge United. Ultimately, he supports football which I find a wholesome trait.

As a teen and in my 20's, when West Ham were away and we couldn't or didn't want to go we would always go to Orient, as did many hundreds of other WH fans. In those days Orient were so cash strapped they would have people bringing buckets round collecting cash to keep them going. In my group we used to call it "going deep sea diving". It was a deep sea diver (fiver) to get in and a deep sea diver in the bucket.

In some way I would welcome Premiership clubs affiliating with lower division clubs. I know there are complications, but I'm sure they could be addressed. Would do the wealthy good to share a little around. Maybe the players should be levied some of their cash, after all, at the top they are getting soooo much from the game.

Anyway, no more rants - 'til the next time. I shall be looking for Wolves results regularly and hoping for the best for them. I like Mick McCarthy. Top bloke in my book. Not the best start to have, but like Stoke last year, you need to make Molyneux a fortress. Don't lose at home! You are allowed one, so thanks very much for that!

Mike

PS - yes, you are right about the one song - but it is ours - and will only ever be associated with us. Fits us perfectly which is why we can laugh at ourselves. We fade and die regularly. It used to be why we would always have to get our points before Christmas, because West Ham always come down with Xmas lights! Twas ever thus.........

No Hits, No Hype.......................Classic Rock Jan 2012

Re: The Football Topic

NFC North prediction:

Green Bay 10-6
Minnesota 9-7 (with favre)
Detroit 7-9
Chicago 6-10 (with cutler)

cool

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool

Re: The Football Topic

Finally, someone with a voice in the British game is stating what will have to happen.

Arsene Wenger publicly commented this week that a Euro 'Super League' is inevitable. He maintains though that this league should also be subject to relegation and promotion. Where he differs from my view is that this league would have to run a longside clubs national league committments. As he said himself 'this would effectively mean having 2 sides'.

That I can't see. Playing national games at weekends and then super league games midweek. Sorry but that would kill the game. Fans couldn't justify the outlay. Maybe Wenger fears that losing the Big 4 would kill the English game. It wouldn't. As long as there is something to play for and aspire to the game here would survive and thrive.

I would love to have the lure of my club playing for a Championship title and then a season in the EuroSuperLiga. We couldn't compete with the established mega rich clubs but we can't now anyway. But a season of playing Real, Barca, AC & Inter, Ajax and Bayern. Now that would be something to tell the grandkids..........

No Hits, No Hype.......................Classic Rock Jan 2012

Re: The Football Topic

NPB_EST.1979 wrote:

NFC North prediction:

Green Bay 10-6
Minnesota 9-7 (with favre)
Detroit 7-9
Chicago 6-10 (with cutler)

cool

lol
Go 'Fins!
tongue

Rock On & Keep the FAITH
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