The Real Football Thread

[The Hitch]

I see that Paraguay managed to get to the final of copa last time despite not winning a game all competition. They got invited just for existing, drew all their group games to come 3d and get a wildcard, then went to penalties in qf and sf. This year they already won one penalties too. Football should imo find a better way to decide games at knockout tournaments. Even a round of attackers vs defenders would be better, penalties are so much about luck.

Also is Wikipedia trolling me or are they for real having the next copa America next year already and in the USA

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Was watching the halftime of copa yesterday and they showed players in preseason camp and I'm like - wtf. Shows what is wrong with this sport. The champions league final was 3 weeks ago. Some players like messi went straight from there to the copa America and are still in the 2015 season. And the new season is already beginning. Football transfers are the number 1 stories. Pff. Kimmage was right, there is just too much football.

Yes the champions league final was only 3 weeks ago but you are talking about a very miniscule portion of players that were involved there, for example my local pro team Kidderminster who play in the 5th tier of English football finished the first week of May, they have now returned pre-season training as the new season is less than 6 weeks away, Same goes for championship, league 1 clubs ect. For many fans who support 'smaller' clubs they have already had 2 months off from supporting their teams.

 

[l.Harm]

Re: Re:

Was watching the halftime of copa yesterday and they showed players in preseason camp and I'm like - wtf. Shows what is wrong with this sport. The champions league final was 3 weeks ago. Some players like messi went straight from there to the copa America and are still in the 2015 season. And the new season is already beginning. Football transfers are the number 1 stories. Pff. Kimmage was right, there is just too much football.

Yes the champions league final was only 3 weeks ago but you are talking about a very miniscule portion of players that were involved there, for example my local pro team Kidderminster who play in the 5th tier of English football finished the first week of May, they have now returned pre-season training as the new season is less than 6 weeks away, Same goes for championship, league 1 clubs ect. For many fans who support 'smaller' clubs they have already had 2 months off from supporting their teams.

Yes, the centennial. 'Extra' edition of the Copa. Will include several CONCACAF members as well.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Re:

I see that Paraguay managed to get to the final of copa last time despite not winning a game all competition. They got invited just for existing, drew all their group games to come 3d and get a wildcard, then went to penalties in qf and sf. This year they already won one penalties too. Football should imo find a better way to decide games at knockout tournaments. Even a round of attackers vs defenders would be better, penalties are so much about luck.

Also is Wikipedia trolling me or are they for real having the next copa America next year already and in the USA

Disagree about penalties, luck playes much less of a part in them than you're seemingly thinking. They're mostly about mental strenght, players ability to cope with extreme tension. That has very little to do with random luck.

 

[DBotero]

Chelsea confirm season-long loan deal for Monaco’s Radamel Falcao.
Hopefully Mourinho will bring him back to his top level.

 

[gooner]

IMO, past his best.

Another huge expensive loan deal. The genius of Jorge Mendes once again.

 

[jmdirt]

I was at a local Brew Pub last night watching USA vs. Guatemala, and the lady sitting at the table behind me said to my wife, "soccer is so weird, they run up and down the field for three hours, and the score is only like two to one. At least in real football there are more points to make it exciting." Keep in mind that I really enjoy watching the NFL. I told her that the NFL probably isn't viewed as "the real" football by the world, and told her that a 14 to 7 NFL game is basically the same as a two to one Futball game. She laughed and said, "I never really thought of it that way. Can you see those fat guys running all day?" Her boyfriend added, "she doesn't really understand sports, she just likes to drink beer and cheer." I'll drink to that!

 

[Põhja Konn]

So, who wins the Copa tonight?

I think its Argentina's turn this time around. Chile has the home advantage, but Argentina have looked a class apart this tournament with only wastefulness in front of goal preventing more blow-outs like in the semis. Can't see Chiles defence stopping an attack like Argentinas now that Messi and co have clearly clicked.

 

[Gigs_98]

Not the best years to be argentina fan

 

[DBotero]

Viva Chile!

On another note all the roads go to Turkey these days.Eto'o signed with Antalyaspor and Ronaldinho is keen to join him there.Podolski joined Galatasaray.Fenerbahce signed Nani and BBC says that Van Persie will join him there.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Happy for Chile, they had been waiting for this a long time. Although I was thinking about Argentina as the favourites, Chile were able to raise their game enough to not only win on penalties, but be a better side for most of the match.
For Argentina and Messi, their waiting goes on.
Its been a good season for football, with two of the biggest finals both being excellent and open games instead of dull and nervous affairs the matches of such magnitude often are. Yesterdays Copa final showed once again that even with no goals scored, a game can be a wonderful and absorbing occasion. Womens final tonight has a lot to live up to.

 

[gunara]

Re: Re:

Was watching the halftime of copa yesterday and they showed players in preseason camp and I'm like - wtf. Shows what is wrong with this sport. The champions league final was 3 weeks ago. Some players like messi went straight from there to the copa America and are still in the 2015 season. And the new season is already beginning. Football transfers are the number 1 stories. Pff. Kimmage was right, there is just too much football.

Yes the champions league final was only 3 weeks ago but you are talking about a very miniscule portion of players that were involved there, for example my local pro team Kidderminster who play in the 5th tier of English football finished the first week of May, they have now returned pre-season training as the new season is less than 6 weeks away, Same goes for championship, league 1 clubs ect. For many fans who support 'smaller' clubs they have already had 2 months off from supporting their teams.

Pricey, can you describe how English 5th to 8th level football club support themselves? What are the business models like? The conference - and to lesser extent the regional premier and first divisions - always look peculiar to me, I don't know other country who has a nationwide league at level 5, plus level 6 to 8 that cover such relatively large areas. I don't know every league system in the world, of course, but at least AFAIK comparable nations like Spain, France, or Italy have their pyramids more immediately branch out into regions than England (i.e. Spain with 4 groups already at 3rd level and 18 at 4th), so the travel costs for smaller clubs are more understandable.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Hi Gunara, sorry I don't check this side of the forum very much.

Ok so in England my club Kidderminster is in the 5th tier, it is the lowest league consisting of full time teams, although there are 2/3 teams that are part time in our league too. The 5th tier is also the lowest league where it is completly national, so from tier 6 downwards it is split into regional divisions. Starting with a North/South split. From step 7 it becomes even more regionalised and goes North-west, North-East ect.

I don't know the business models of every lower league club so I can only tell you what my club Kidderminster is like as I used to help out a lot on match days and my friend is the media officer. The club employs 7 people full time that are not players. These are a manager (coach), assistant manager, physio, groundsman, receptionist, media officer and secretary. This is boosted by casual staff who work match days. I believe our wage budget for last season was around £400,000 although we recorded a loss so it may drop this season. We mainly rely on cup runs and player sales to turn a profit, 2 years ago we reached the FA cup 4th round, narrowly losing 1-0 away at premier league side Sunderland, the cup run gained us around £700,000. It was a lot of money for us considering there are teams in our league with wage budgets approaching £1 million per year, so as you can see we are not the wealthiest of teams. Infact our whole outgoings totalled less than £1 million for the tax year.

Average crowds in our league are around the 1,500 mark, we are slightly above that and average around 1,800 per game. In step 6 where clubs are part time and regionalised crowds are around the 700 mark, however they have much lower wage budgets due to their players being part time and having other jobs.

I'm not sure what else you wish to know but if there is just ask, I'm more than happy to answer any questions.

 

[gunara]

Many thanks, Pricey, there are many things I'd like to know, but I think I limit myself to more general questions in this thread. Those numbers are very interesting and give me clearer picture about how the league is like. Although the near 1M wage budget is much larger than I thought, while less than 2,000 average attendance is smaller than I thought, it's still quite a league.
If I'm not mistaken, Harriers' were in league football several years back, what is the big difference in regards of how the club operates between then and now? (since the English always use the term 'league' and 'non-league', I assume the differences are rather significance, or maybe not)

 

[Pricey_sky]

Yes we were a league 2 side for several seasons before being relegated in 2005. I've found the gap between non-league and the football league (league 2) to be shrinking as the years go on. The conference is a very competitive league now full of ex league teams.

When we got relegated the biggest loss was of sponsorship and TV money, the Premier league money trickles down to league 2 but the non-league sides receive none of this. We also lost a lot of tv money as Sky and BBC of course show games and highlights down to league 2. At least from last season BT SPORT secured the rights to the conference but the money is poor compared to what we use to get. I was told the exact figure of the total loss of income that relegation cost us in terms of gate receipts and sponsor money ect but I can't remember the exact figure, I believe it was almost £500,000 per season in lost revenue.

To be honest I'm surprised more teams in our league aren't part time, I find it very strange how teams can be full time on average crowds of 1,000. There were talks that Harriers may have to go part time but in the end we are able to start next season just with a reduced budget. We will have to rely on our manager finding some young lower league players who turn out to be very useful.

 

[gunara]

A lot of new informations for me in there, really appreciate your willingness to share. I'll be back with more questions after the league starts for sure Wish Harriers a good and succesful season, I'll keep track of them from now on.

 

[Pricey_sky]

A lot of new informations for me in there, really appreciate your willingness to share. I'll be back with more questions after the league starts for sure Wish Harriers a good and succesful season, I'll keep track of them from now on.

Thanks Gunara, I'm looking forward to the new season. First game I can go to is a lovely 4-hour trip to Dover on a Tuesday night in August, probably one of our longest away trips of the season!

I'm also a part-time Aston Villa fan, so I'm a sucker for punishment

 

[ebandit]

villa

A lot of new informations for me in there, really appreciate your willingness to share. I'll be back with more questions after the league starts for sure Wish Harriers a good and succesful season, I'll keep track of them from now on.

I'm also a part-time Aston Villa fan, so I'm a sucker for punishment

don't worry! it can only get better.......................one day

up 'til 1969 i lived in birmingham villa were my favourite team for years right up to

the european cup win

now i follow wor local team........likewise it can only get better..........one day

Mark L

 

[gunara]

A lot of new informations for me in there, really appreciate your willingness to share. I'll be back with more questions after the league starts for sure Wish Harriers a good and succesful season, I'll keep track of them from now on.

Thanks Gunara, I'm looking forward to the new season. First game I can go to is a lovely 4-hour trip to Dover on a Tuesday night in August, probably one of our longest away trips of the season!

I'm also a part-time Aston Villa fan, so I'm a sucker for punishment

Good then, 4-hour trip sounds nice enough. Guernsey won't make it to 6th or 5th level too soon, I believe. Top tier clubs in my country makes 6 hour flight for less revenue (However all leagues are stopped this season with the FIFA suspension)

 

[DBotero]

Raheem Sterling moving to City for £44m+£5m due in add-ons

 

[Rechtschreibfehl3r]

Raheem Sterling moving to City for £44m+£5m due in add-ons

I very much doubt that this is going to make him happy...
In the end it's the best end vor Liverpool I think, it was impossible to go on working with Sterling and they got a nice trasfer fee out of him. Hope he doesn't *** up his career, he actually has a lot of talent, but of course also still a lot of flaws, and he's not necessarily making the impression that he cares to work on himself....

Hope Liverpool put the money to good use.

 

[l.Harm]

He's good, but not amazingly good. Lot of pace, but limited shooting technique, passing technique and vision.

 

[jmdirt]

Today is the Basque Soccer Friendly here is Boise with Club Tijuana playing Athletic Bilbao. My brown brothers are very happy to have this event in town! Before anyone gets excited about my "brown bother" comment, that is a direct quote from one of them! I was drinking some beers with fans, and one of the Tijuana fans hugged me and called me his white brother. He followed that by asking me if I even knew that I had brown brothers. I told him that if was truly my brother he would get me a cold beer. He quickly handed me a cold beer! I guess we are brothers!

 

[gooner]

Understood where James McClean being a Derry man, was coming from when he refused to wear the poppy, especially with particular reference to Bloody Sunday. He clarified his positon at the time saying it was nothing to do with being anti-British and in fact would have worn one had it been more about the World Wars.

His latest behaviour goes against his comments saying it was never about an anti-British vibe as it was an insult to a nation as a whole.

I want a united Ireland myself and never agreed with British involvement in Ireland but would never feel the need to disrespect the country in general or paint all British people with the same brush. Plenty of British people would have been disgusted and deplored by what happened in Bloody Sunday for example.

If he has such an issue with this, why even play in the country. Why not come back to the Airtricity League where he played for Derry or go elsewhere for that matter? Oh no the riches of the Premiership money in England appeals to him where he wouldn't earn the same elsewhere.

 

[gooner]

I think Mourinho has even hit a new low with his latest comment.