Champions League 2018-2019

[Claytons Left Boot]

On 09/05/2019 at 19:57, bazza said:

How many are Catalan?

Well, I was going to say just the club cat but all five of those in the squad of 24 are Catalan (I couldn’t be bothered checking the players out on loan ?).

[Stuart]

Just now, roversfan99 said:

It would decrease the quality of the football massively if the likes of Liverpool, Spurs, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid etc were replaced by champions from more obscure leagues,

This year’s Champions of Champions across the whole of Europe didn’t even win their domestic league last season.

The money involved in the CL makes your statement self-fulfilling. If the Red Bull Salzburg had CL money for the last 10 years they would be able to improve their quality by attracting better players. Celtic have won 8 title on a row and can no longer even compete with the fourth placed English side. That’s not what this competition used to be about.

Like I said, the money-men won.

[SBlue]

Just now, Stuart said:

This year’s Champions of Champions across the whole of Europe didn’t even win their domestic league last season.

The money involved in the CL makes your statement self-fulfilling. If the Red Bull Salzburg had CL money for the last 10 years they would be able to improve their quality by attracting better players. Celtic have won 8 title on a row and can no longer even compete with the fourth placed English side. That’s not what this competition used to be about.

Like I said, the money-men won.

A very good point, have to say I never thought of it that way.

I just get blinded by how exciting it usually is in the knockout rounds, and tbh it feels like I'm watching a different sport with these clubs now - I find it really hard to care too much about the structure or what the gods of money have in store for the format.

I'm cynical enough to just assume the rich will still get richer and apathetically enjoy the ride.

Better than watching PL on Sky anyway

Edited May 10, 2019 by S8 & Blue

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Liverpool and Spuds ticket allocation just 16,000 each.

Chelsea and Arsenal just,wait for it...6,000 each.

UEFA reaction : BLOODY ENGLISH!!!! 

 

[Husky]

Just now, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Liverpool and Spuds ticket allocation just 16,000 each.

Chelsea and Arsenal just,wait for it...6,000 each.

UEFA reaction : BLOODY ENGLISH!!!! 

 

Well, the CL is about super money. So i guess having to pay thousands for a ticket on a pikey ticket resale site is keeping with that.?

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Yep,tickets already selling for 5k+

[jim mk2]

1 hour ago, S8 & Blue said:

A very good point, have to say I never thought of it that way.

I just get blinded by how exciting it usually is in the knockout rounds, and tbh it feels like I'm watching a different sport with these clubs now - I find it really hard to care too much about the structure or what the gods of money have in store for the format.

I'm cynical enough to just assume the rich will still get richer and apathetically enjoy the ride.

Better than watching PL on Sky anyway

With "fans" like this, football and clubs such as Rovers are doomed. 

[SBlue]

Just now, jim mk2 said:

With "fans" like this, football and clubs such as Rovers are doomed. 

Yep, it isn't pretty. Pure apathy towards the unstoppable machine. A content consumer of the "elite" level game and realistic enough to know that nothing will stop it's progress.

But to infer that I won't attend when I can, I won't buy the shirts and scarves, that I won't follow the club through thick and through very thin is massively wide of the mark and just an unnecessary dig.

Clubs like us will always survive, but the game is changed, Championship clubs WILL HAVE to change their model in face of this brewing hegemony.

[jim mk2]

Just now, S8 & Blue said:

Yep, it isn't pretty. Pure apathy towards the unstoppable machine. A content consumer of the "elite" level game and realistic enough to know that nothing will stop it's progress.

But to infer that I won't attend when I can, I won't buy the shirts and scarves, that I won't follow the club through thick and through very thin is massively wide of the mark and just an unnecessary dig.

Clubs like us will always survive, but the game is changed, Championship clubs WILL HAVE to change their model in face of this brewing hegemony.

Where is the inference?  None at all. 

Clubs across Europe like Rovers will survive but will be stuck in an underclass from which they can never emerge, excluded from the very top by money, wealth and power of the wealthiest.  Rather like living in Tory Britain in fact. Uefa's latest plan to expand the Champions League to 2 divisions and enable the elite clubs to stay in the CL indefinitely will make the inequality worse.

Fans can shrug their shoulders and accept it or they can vote with their feet by staying away because the whole exercise of supporting a club that will never have any hope of getting a sniff of the top is pointless. I suspect many will do the latter. I've already voted with my feet - I do not subscribe to any pay per view sport on TV  and rarely watch football on TV at all these days. 

 

[SBlue]

9 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Where is the inference?  None at all. 

Apologies - must have misinterpreted the "'fans' like this".

Quote

Clubs across Europe like Rovers will survive but will be stuck in an underclass from which they can never emerge, excluded from the very top by money, wealth and power of the wealthiest.  Rather like living in Tory Britain in fact. Uefa's latest plan to expand the Champions League to 2 divisions and enable the elite clubs to stay in the CL indefinitely will make the inequality worse.

I'd say this is already the case. Clubs gambling their futures to pay even average players £500k a year to even dream of being top 10 in a division above.

Look at Bolton. Look at us.

We're only just keeping the doors open due to questionable charity from suspicious and disinterested owners.

The game needs a root and stem reform - the mega-clubs will not be involved in this. They will pull up the ladder further.

Quote

Fans can shrug their shoulders and accept it or they can vote with their feet by staying away because the whole exercise of supporting a club that will never have any hope of getting a sniff of the top is pointless. I suspect many will do the latter. I've already voted with my feet - I do not subscribe to any pay per view sport on TV  and rarely watch football on TV at all these days. 

Fair play. I can't get enough personally, and although I do believe in the difference a small moral protest can make - they've completely got me by the bollocks now because I'm (weakly) addicted and BT are the only company offering decent value broadband in my area.

So I feed the beast.

It's a fantastic product.

I don't think pay per view TV money will matter for long though. The distribution will soon have to be free and completely ubiquitous (due to streams/internet etc) -but then the advertising and sponsorship revenue will increase even more. The VAR will be sponsored, the ball boys will wear placards, the referee will wear boots made of Continental tyres: because the world will be watching.

Every ounce of money will be milked - and it's inevitable that it will be a closed shop.

It's a problem with capitalism, and not with the actual football, which is bloody enjoyable when you turn your brain off.

Rambling!

The crux of it all is probably a discussion for elsewhere!

Edited May 10, 2019 by S8 & Blue

[joey_big_nose]

9 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Where is the inference?  None at all. 

Clubs across Europe like Rovers will survive but will be stuck in an underclass from which they can never emerge, excluded from the very top by money, wealth and power of the wealthiest.  Rather like living in Tory Britain in fact. Uefa's latest plan to expand the Champions League to 2 divisions and enable the elite clubs to stay in the CL indefinitely will make the inequality worse.

Fans can shrug their shoulders and accept it or they can vote with their feet by staying away because the whole exercise of supporting a club that will never have any hope of getting a sniff of the top is pointless. I suspect many will do the latter. I've already voted with my feet - I do not subscribe to any pay per view sport on TV  and rarely watch football on TV at all these days. 

 

There is a certain level of realism required. How on earth do you level the playing field? One option is to close down the CL and the PL and actively force away viewers somehow as they are the ones who are generating ever escalating mountains of cash soaked up by the big leagues. Other option is to tax the big leagues and give it to smaller teams. That's already happening to an extent but it needs to be hugely extended. But which turkeys are going to vote for that Christmas?

It's only a matter of time before we see the drawbridge go up and a European Super League is formed relegation free. The sad fact is it would be quite self sufficient and successful. Some fans would be sad to be playing Ajax or Milan every Saturday rather than Everton or Wolves but they'd get over it.

I suppose other side of the coin is would we and the other 85 league clubs be that devastated if we lost the top six but had a more competitive domestic league? I think it could be better personally as it's so predictable (that one Leicester season aside) who gets in the CL anyway.

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by joey_big_nose

[Paul]

10 hours ago, Stuart said:

If Chelsea win the Europa, what happens to the Champions League place given they’ve already qualified through third place?

I think this will answer your question. I did lose the will to live about halfway through it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48218727

 

[Stuart]

10 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

Yep,tickets already selling for 5k+

This is why I switch off when I hear the phrase “integrity of the game”.

Genuine fans priced out or in debt because UEFA prefer to give rich glory hunters the chance to go, closely followed by the touts. Brown envelopes much?

Priority should be to fans who have bought CL game tickets this season - and offered at a similar price. Corporate seats on the same basis.

[HowieFive0]

1 hour ago, Stuart said:

This is why I switch off when I hear the phrase “integrity of the game”.

Genuine fans priced out or in debt because UEFA prefer to give rich glory hunters the chance to go, closely followed by the touts. Brown envelopes much?

Priority should be to fans who have bought CL game tickets this season - and offered at a similar price. Corporate seats on the same basis.

what I find even more staggering in 2019 and in a brand new purpose stadium that not only are the prices extortionate for a ticket but that some tickets are restricted views ??!

[Husky]

13 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

Fans can shrug their shoulders and accept it or they can vote with their feet by staying away because the whole exercise of supporting a club that will never have any hope of getting a sniff of the top is pointless. I suspect many will do the latter. I've already voted with my feet - I do not subscribe to any pay per view sport on TV  and rarely watch football on TV at all these days. 

 

I'm more likely to subscribe for the cricket channel these days.

Only then because it's harder to find decent rivers for that particular sport.

 

 

[Stuart]

1 hour ago, HowieFive0 said:

what I find even more staggering in 2019 and in a brand new purpose stadium that not only are the prices extortionate for a ticket but that some tickets are restricted views ??!

Profiteering once more though. The engineering, even for exits or safety rails, will necessitate some kind of structural obstruction.

”Stick some seats in there anyway”.

[philipl]

18 hours ago, Stuart said:

If Chelsea win the Europa, what happens to the Champions League place given they’ve already qualified through third place?

Nothing, it is lost to English football and the qualifying stages are arranged for another club to get in to the League stage.

Valletta FC are rooting for Chelsea....

[philipl]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2019/may/10/great-english-football-moment-champions-league-forged-overseas?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0d1YXJkaWFuVG9kYXlVS19XZWVrZW5kLTE5MDUxMQ%3D%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&CMP=GTUK_email

[matt83]

6 hours ago, HowieFive0 said:

what I find even more staggering in 2019 and in a brand new purpose stadium that not only are the prices extortionate for a ticket but that some tickets are restricted views ??!

Also in a 70,000 seater stadium the respective allocations are 16,613. So just the 35,000 men in grey suits with no particular allegiance to either side. 

[HowieFive0]

Just now, matt83 said:

Also in a 70,000 seater stadium the respective allocations are 16,613. So just the 35,000 men in grey suits with no particular allegiance to either side. 

Including all the" competition winners" 2-300 ? from 40 odd European countries for Global companies TV stations and sponsors .

[matt83]

Just now, HowieFive0 said:

Including all the" competition winners" 2-300 ? from 40 odd European countries for Global companies TV stations and sponsors .

Event junkies. 

[HowieFive0]

Just now, matt83 said:

Event junkies. 

Sigh ..afraid so ..but you can soon see where tickets disappear  so so wrong .

[Oldgregg86]

not champions league but didn't know where to put it.

Loftus cheek was injured last night and left the stadium on crutches in a friendly against New England revolution in America and now misses the Europa league final.

What on Earth are they doing playing a friendly at the other side of the world a week before a major final 

[Bigdoggsteel]

Some disaster if city get banned allowed united to sneak into CL. United need to struggle for a few years and not get an easy ride like this. 

Obviously what city did is bad too, but... 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Bigdoggsteel

[Give 'Em the Axe]

18 minutes ago, Bigdoggsteel said:

Some disaster if city get banned allowed united to sneak into CL. United need to styrrggke for a few years and not get an easy ride like this. 

Obviously what city did is bad too, but... 

Given how your Americanised spelling of 'defence' caused such a farrago, I am styrrggking to imagine what is going to happen with this monstrosity.