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Post by staggerstag on Jul 29, 2022 22:07:41 GMT
11 Days.
The FA Community Shield is tomorrow, Saturday, and who knew it? Not me, until a few hours ago. The continuous cycle of football spins on. It never stops.
It's Liverpool v Man City. Liverpool start as outsiders at nearly 2/1 with the other team in at 11/8 and 5/2 the stalemate in 90 minutes.
Man City's most recent game, versus Bayern Munich in the US, saw Haaland netting on his debut in a one-nothing victory, and, whatever the relevance of the CS nowadays, all eyes will be on the just-turned 22 year old Yorkshireman/Norwegian should he play.
Eyes will also be on Liverpool's close season signing Darwin Núñez, 4-goal-potter v Leipzig recently where he looked every inch the threat.
It goes off at 5pm at Leicester's stadium.
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Post by DrKrippen on Jul 29, 2022 22:15:40 GMT
11 Days. The FA Community Shield is tomorrow, Only on ESPN+ in the States tomorrow, so it's stream time. I'll check it out. 
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Post by staggerstag on Jul 31, 2022 21:19:41 GMT
10 Days.
Further to the earlier Ronaldo story, he played the first half of Man Utd's friendly today (Sunday 31st) but left the Old Trafford stadium during the second half, and was spotted and photographed outside it before the final whistle.
It was his first appearance under Ten Hag. Despite enquiries to Man Utd, the club could not offer clarification if Ronaldo had been given permission to leave early or if he had simply done a runner.
A second string United drew the match with Rayo Vallecano.
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 1, 2022 23:39:49 GMT
9 Days. EPL captains were today in a second meeting over the future of teams 'taking the knee' before games, the first meeting reaching no firm decision. With the first game on Friday, Crystal Palace v Arsenal, one player who won't be kneeling is Palace's Ivorian Coast international Wilfred Zaha, below, who stopped making the gesture eighteen months ago. He said at the time, “I feel like taking a knee is degrading. Growing up, my parents just let me know that I should just be proud to be black, no matter what, and I just think we should stand tall. I think the meaning behind the whole thing is becoming something that we just do now. That’s not enough. I’m not going to take the knee.” Brentford and Bournemouth, now Premier League clubs, stopped taking the knee whilst in the Championship along with Derby and QPR. Brentford took the knee last season as a Premier League club. A third meeting of captains is planned after all their teammates have been consulted. The Premier League has confirmed it will follow the players' lead. We should know the outcome before Friday's game.  |
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 1, 2022 23:50:18 GMT
8 Days. And following on from that, I also have to write about something else we should get rid of for the new season. Yes, pitch invasions, yes, online match programs, yes, Martin Tyler, but most of all... This...      No, you can't. Bah Humbug. Go away. |
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 2, 2022 0:10:55 GMT
7 Days.
Televised :
Crystal Palace v Arsenal Fri
Fulham v Liverpool Sat
Everton v Chelsea Sat
Man Utd v Brighton Sun
West Ham v Man City Sun
Everything else : Onemanandhistransmitterindeepestnigeria.com
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 2, 2022 15:43:55 GMT
6 Days.
'No Shit, Miss Marple' Thread Award :
MAGUIRE AND RONALDO MOST ABUSED PLAYERS ON TWATTER
(fong)
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 2, 2022 23:08:41 GMT
5 Days.
Further to the 9 Days story, Bournemouth has become the first EPL club to confirm a 'no kneelin' policy this coming season.
The Club first stopped the gesture as a Championship club in February 2021 and, unlike Brentford who also stood down that month but resumed the knee-taking upon arrival in the EPL, Bournemouth will continue the policy regardless of their new top-flight status.
A club statement back in 2021 read :
'Fighting all forms of discrimination and creating an equal, inclusive society is something that we feel very passionately about. At all levels, this club prides itself on its work around equality, diversity and inclusion and as a group of players we fully embrace this. We all strive to ensure that AFC Bournemouth is a club which welcomes anyone, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality or religion. But that is defined by much more than a gesture, which we feel has run its course and is no longer having the effect it first did eight months ago." [which would have been June 2020 when pre-season kneeling first began, to be continued into season 20-21 proper]
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 3, 2022 10:11:26 GMT
4 Days.
Per above. Decision made. Kneeling will take place at certain fixtures only, such as cup finals or during the Festive Frenzy.
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 3, 2022 23:23:18 GMT
3 Days.
2022/23 Stadium capacities
Man Utd 74,310
Tottenham 63,850
Arsenal 60,704
West Ham 60,000
Man City 53,400
Liverpool 53,394
Newcastle 52,305
Aston Villa 42,657
Chelsea 40,343
Everton 39,414
Leeds 37,608
Wolves 32,750
Southampton 32,384
Leicester 32,262
Brighton 31,780
Nottm Forest 30,332
Crystal Palace 25,486
Fulham 22,384
Brentford 17,250
Bournemouth 11,307
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Post by DrKrippen on Aug 3, 2022 23:58:55 GMT
Real Madrid-Juventus draws 93,702 attendance at Rose BowlAugust 1, 2022 The Soccer Champions Tour exhibition game between Real Madrid and Juventus at the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, California, on June 30 drew an announced crowd of 93,702. It was the biggest attendance for a soccer game in the United States since July 2018 when 101,254 fans attended Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to watch Liverpool take on Manchester United in Relevent Sports' International Champions Cup. www.sportbusiness.com/news/real-madrid-juventus-draws-93702-attendance-at-rose-bowl/Tonight, at SoFi (home of the L.A. Rams), Mexico's Club America and Chivas will play LAFC and The Galaxy in a double header. Organizers said Tuesday that more than 70,000 tickets have been distributed and the doubleheader is sold out. www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/story/2022-08-02/club-america-lafc-chivas-galaxy-sofi-stadium-exhibitionDoesn't really mean anything, I'm just talkin' out loud.
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 4, 2022 1:38:24 GMT
2 Days.
Which is the only club in the Premier League - indeed in Europe's top five top-flights - not to have made an incoming deal in the summer transfer market?
It's Leicester City. They've offloaded a few, most recently goalkeeper of eleven years Kasper Schmeichel, to OSG Nice.
As replacement they have Danny Ward, 29, but he only made five appearances last season. Their two other keepers, Swiss Eldin Jakupović and American Chituru Odunze, played zero games last season for Leicester. In fact Jaupović has played twice in five years and Odunze has only trained with the squad in three years.
So what's the plan? Love him or hate him, Schmeichel, for me at least, has been as synonymous with Leicester as Jamie Vardy. You never thought he would leave. Like his old man whilst at United, you could never see him switching clubs.
Brendan Rodgers said a few weeks ago he had his eye on five or six players but hasn't yet forked out on any of them. Several phone calls to try to contact Brendan for exclusive info have resulted in my being call barred from his personal device. Is there some FFP issue going on? Has the club gone bankrupt? Why aren't they buying? What's going on? And more importantly, do we really care?
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 4, 2022 1:39:37 GMT
1 Day.
The Festive Frenzy this year will consist of three full cards (30 games) in a 7 day period. The EPL schedule will be stopped in the second week of November (12th and 13th) and will be resumed on the 26th of December. Two more cards will be played on December 31st and on January 2nd, followed by a two week international break.
The planned card for 28th December has been dropped.
Such is the hellishly congested world of modern football that, as you can see, a full round will now be played on New Year's Eve.
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 7, 2022 11:39:16 GMT
0 Days.
The countdown is over. We're here. That's it. At least until they all fly off to Dubai for a winter world cup (deliberately all small letters)
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 10, 2022 13:53:46 GMT
Well, there's still three weeks of the transfer window open but Leicester still haven't used it.
Brentford has. They've just brought in Danish midfielder Mikkel Damsgaard from Sampdoria for £15m. He's expected to start at least on the bench against Man Utd on Saturday. What an inspired signing that could be. Not quite as central as the departed Eriksen but if anyone can slot him in it's Thomas Frank. It's surely only a matter of time before Danepak take over as the club's official sponsor. You may recall Damsgaard's free-kick goal v England in the semi-finals of Euro 22 when he whipped it in on the half-hour mark for 0-1 Denmark, eventually 2-1 England who went on to lose to Italy.
Timo Werner has followed Lukaku back to mainland Europe and leaves Chelsea with no recognized striker to speak of, because you can't count (on) Sterling.
Wolves signed up winger Gonçalo Guedes on Monday. He'll team up nicely with fellow Portugese coach Bruno Lage.
Bournemouth snapped up Barcelona stopper Neto on Sunday to help him "fulfil my dream of playing in the Premier League."
Leeds have said goodbye to winger Hélder Costa who flew out on Monday to Saudi Arabia to rejoin his old Wolves manager Nuno Espírito Santos at Al-Ittihad. Yes, remember old Nunos? Last seen wearing weekly baffled expressions at Tottenham. He's now seen the light. And the cash.
Who else has been busy? Well, just about everyone except Brendan Rodgers. (And I've just discovered Hamza Choudhury has been farmed out to Watford)
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 12, 2022 8:22:41 GMT
West Ham featured in our post on horrible stadium grub earlier and they're at it again with booze. They can claim the highest price for a pint of beer in the EPL. But in the latest twist the club is set to sue the owners of the London Stadium for breach of something called the Comparable Clubs clause in West Ham's contract with caterers Delaware North, who say they cannot reduce prices without the owners' say-so. The club, like most in the EPL, does not set prices of consumables in the stadiums.
The club will take legal action against the Greater London Authority if the price of ale isn't reduced by August 19th.
This season a few clubs have frozen prices to last season's, including Man Utd, Bournemouth and Chelsea. Newcastle is alone in actually reducing the cost of beer from last season.
Price of cheapest pint of beer 2022/23 :
Man United £3.00
Liverpool £3.30
Bournemouth £4.25
Everton £4.55
Man City £4.60
Newcastle £4.90
Brighton £4.95
Wolves £5.00
Leeds United £5.00
Crystal Palace £5.00
Tottenham £5.19
Nottingham Forest £5.20
Aston Villa £5.20
Brentford £5.25
Southampton £5.50
Chelsea £5.70
Leicester £5.80
Fulham £5.80
Arsenal £6.35
West Ham £7.30
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Post by Carl LaFong on Aug 12, 2022 9:37:48 GMT
Surprised at low low some of those beer prices are, especially Utd and LFC.
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Post by DrKrippen on Aug 12, 2022 16:04:48 GMT
Not too bad for a beer.
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Post by staggerstag on Aug 19, 2022 0:53:21 GMT
The frantic search for a new home for Cristiano Ronaldo steam-rolls on. Agent Jorge Mendes is charging his cell phone battery every 70 minutes as he continuously scours the clubs of Europe looking for takers. I understand that Mendes recently offered the services of his client to Borussia Dortmund but had the phone put down on him. That didn't stop him from knocking at Sporting Lisbon's door where President Frederico Varandas quite liked the idea of taking Ronny - except that he wouldn't pay United anything for him. I spoke earlier this evening to Agent Mendes to try to clarify things : "Who is this?"
"Hello there, my name is Arnold Layne, from Balls And Bras R Us Online And Off It. I wanted to talk to you -""How you get this number. How you - " "Your secretary, er, Mariana, she - ""Who?" "Marina. Maria - ""Who are - "
"Margarida - er, Madelina, is it?... Marilise. No, wait, Mirena. Come on, you know who I mean. Merilda - no, wait - Miguelina. Morgana? Maristela? I've got it - Mariazinha!""You mean Betty?" "Betty! That's it. It was on the tip of my tongue, I knew I'd get there. How is dear, uhm - Betty? Does her mother still work in the ceramics shop? That's a wonderful little shop, you have to say - "
"Listen, who are you calling from - "
"No, it's okay, George, I'm one of your own. I'm in the game. I - ""What game you are in?"
"Come on, George, I had tea with Gary Lineker only the other day. I'll tell you something about him, George - ""My name is Jorge! HOR-HAI!!!"
"Bless you! Got a little touch of flu, eh? Never mind - I want to know the latest on one of your clients -"
"That's enough, please go away, whoever you are - " "I'm Arnold Layne from Balls And Bras R Us Online And Off It. We do the transfer market too. We do everything so you don't have to. I heard Dortmund turned you down and Sporting won't fork out for the transfer fee - George? George?"The game's up. He's cut me off..  Jorge (Hor-hai) Mendes terminates my call earlier this evening as Ronaldo looks on. To be continued? You bet your ass. I'm not giving up. |
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Post by staggerstag on Sept 15, 2022 23:56:03 GMT
Bournemouth look set to become the 11th current EPL side to receive heavy US investment. There are other ten clubs with either majority or minority North American shareholders. Can you name them?
Let's go.
Chelsea.
Manchester United.
Manchester City.
Arsenal.
Aston Villa.
West Ham.
Crystal Palace.
Fulham.
Leeds.
Liverpool.
The money possibly on its way to Bournemouth is out of Vegas where a consortium is preparing a $170m deal.
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