Football – 2023/24 Season

Have to say, one of my favourite things is listening to Goldbridge after a ManU defeat, which invariably starts and ends with some rant about McTominay, i get the feeling he really doesn’t like him, i think i heard the words ‘what does he do when he comes into the team apart from score’ in last nights rant 🤣 

In reality though, a must win home game and one shot on target, which was a 20 yarder from Shaw straight at the goalie, that is the issue, you also get the feeling a few players just aren’t up for it, with some picking up ‘illnesses’ before the game, maybe they are not 100%, but you do get a feeling they’re not desperate to get back into the fight to try and help the team.

you also get the feeling a few players just aren’t up for it, with some picking up ‘illnesses’ before the game, maybe they are not 100%, but you do get a feeling they’re not desperate to get back into the fight to try and help the team.

Its entirely plausible that our club captain got himself deliberately booked against Bournmouth to pick up a ban that keeps him out of the mauling we’re going to get at Anfield this weekend

Ah, doubt it, Bruno is probably the one who would play no matter what, how he acts on the pitch when the chips are down is another thing though, but he definitely will take to the pitch if he can every week.

Iirc, The prem will get 5 cl slots next season  IF prem sides perform well enough this season.  What I don’t know is how the scoring outs done and if it includes past seasons like club seedlings do.  Does any body know and with manu bottom of the group what do we need from the other teams? Who do we need to beat/ what other leagues are in the battle?  As a spurs fan I’m still deluded and hopeful we might achieve 5th ish!

Newcastle’s European dream ended tonight, hopefully they can get to January and get some reinforcements in, looks like that 5th CL spot might be gone now with the two early exits from Europe for ManU and NUFC.

Yeah Man U and Newcastle finishing bottom has hurt the chances of getting the 5th spot.
It will need City and Arsenal to go deep into the competition and also for the 3 EL teams to win their groups and then go as far as possible. Link below explains how the scoring works and which leagues are favourites

https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/39054486/the-race-five-places-next-seasons-champions-league

Good link muggo, thanks.  Oh dear,  prem not looking likely to get the extra spot after all!

It’s mental to think 25% of the premiership could be playing in the ‘Champions’ League next season 🤔

Man U stuffing it up for the foreseeable for everyone else as well as themselves. I hope they finish fifth in perpetuity.

Injuries, exhaustion, and not a small amount of naivety against the big boys with more experience and Newcastle’s dream is over – for this season at least. But for that dodgy pen for PSG, they’d have gone through despite all the above.

Still miles ahead of the schedule that they’ll have set themselves 2 years ago, and now with having seen what can be achieved even more desire. I’m trying to kid myself that all three outcomes last night were positive – CL progression of course, Europa league so a semblance of the dream continues, or now a steely resolve to get fit again and get back to business in the domestic challenges.

“It’s Not Beyond Our Wildest Dreams Because We Did Have Some Wild Dreams”

Off to Brighton vs Marseille tonight.

Who would have thought European football at plucky little Brighton and Hove Albion!

Might even get home from the Amex  before Christmas

Nicely rounding the circle here – I’m a Newcastle fan because that’s where my mum came from, and the first games I saw were with my Grandad at SJP in the 70’s and 80’s, later on when I was at Uni up there. My Dad’s from Worthing and his brothers in particular (Dad joined the Merchant fleet at 16 and went to sea) were/are big Brighton fans. (I’m also a Reading fan because that’s where I’m from. It’s never been easy, having those two to follow)
Mum died a few weeks ago and the family on both sides dug out old boxes of photos and whatever of the times both halves of the family were together – not often (weddings mainly) because, well, 350 miles in the 70’s and 80’s was a long way.
And then, in one of these boxes my Uncle found a ticket he’d saved from 5/5/79. Brighton played at Newcastle and needed a result to secure promotion to the First Division (as was) for I think the first time. My Grandad got tickets for my Dad and Uncles and a few others, in the Newcastle end of course (seats mind!!) and we watched Brighton beat Newcastle 3-1 and go up. I was only 9 but remember one of my uncles being told to behave by a policeman but when the third went in he couldn’t contain any more. I think a certain amount of tolerance was allowed by the surrounding geordies because of the presence of kids (me and my cousins) and also because if they’d beaten Brighton, Sunderland could have been the beneficiaries. And well, if Newcastle had nothing to play for then **** the Mackems up was still a decent result 😉 (and if you watch the goals on youtube, one has more than a touch of the Segers)

£2. Wouldn’t buy you a bottle of water at the ground nowadays.
If i could work out how to do photos I’d post one.

Man U stuffing it up for the foreseeable for everyone else as well as themselves. I hope they finish fifth in perpetuity.

I admire your optimism in thinking this present clown circus of a club will finish as high as fifth

I suppose it could be 5th from bottom or 5th from the middle – relative term.

What a night that was, the joy and relief when Pedro scored was something else. For Brighton to finish top of a group containing Ajax, Marseille and AEK Athens is absolutely nuts.

Off to the Emirates on Sunday hope we have something left in the tank for that one. 

Brighton, West Ham and Villa topping their groups has put us back in the chase for the 5th spot too.

https://x.com/dalejohnsonespn/status/1735423459537092752?s=46

Uefa and the Champions League are just a massive money laundering cartel now. The sad thing is the trickle down affect which ruins domestic leagues too. Celtic received about £35 million for their dire efforts this year, Aberdeen received £4-5 million for the Conference league. The rich get richer on repeat.

Hence the Superleague proposal

The rich club owners want the future of football to be a closed shop with guaranteed revenue streams (exclusively for themselves) without any of the inconvenient stuff like actually being pretty crap at the football bit. See also Manchester United in the Champions League this season

I don’t believe for a second that the Superleague idea is dead, given the people involved. They’re simply regrouping in order to have another pop at completely ruining the game

I don’t believe for a second that the Superleague idea is dead, given the people involved. They’re simply regrouping in order to have another pop at completely ruining the game

Thewy may have another pop but I doubt they will succeed.

The fallout from fans was massive and despite the other revenue streams, they still needs to attend.

Personally I found the lock down football basically unwatchable.

The increase in CL teams next year is a direct result of the Euro League, i think in 10 years we’ll have that type of league, but it’ll include Saudi teams as well, with PIF throwing a few billion at the start up.

Can’t see the EPL disappearing though, has to be some midweek style league to start, it’s just not going to be easy to fit it around everything, FIFA and UEFA are getting greedy with international football as well, more teams, more comps and no care about when they host tournaments or where, the amount of injuries you see these days is not a good sign for the future.

As a fan of a smaller team it’s depressing to see your goal is basically bringing in money. Your lucky if you get to enjoy a really good player for more than a couple of seasons. If you offered our fans the choice of a cup win or guaranteed European group stage I reckon it might be a 50/50 split. It’s sad that competitions like the FA cup have been so devalued.

Thewy may have another pop but I doubt they will succeed.

They’ve been trying for years to turn UK/European football into something like the American franchise model, and to take it away from its working class roots. They’ve been successful to a point but there’s still just enough connection between the clubs and their communities, and most importantly the makeup and cultures of the fanbases to resist stuff like the ESL or other crackpot ideas like league matches in other countries. Money talks, but the billionaires know that the tribal, aggressive and confrontational atmosphere within the grounds is what gives football the edge over other sports, and they won’t want to lose that, so I doubt much will change.

muggomagic

What a night that was, the joy and relief when Pedro scored was something else. For Brighton to finish top of a group containing Ajax, Marseille and AEK Athens is absolutely nuts.

Off to the Emirates on Sunday hope we have something left in the tank for that one.

Always had a soft spot for Brighton after helping us in our hour of need link

All the suffering of ground sharing with Gillingham which is 70 odd miles away and then playing in an athletics stadium really resonated with the Brighton fans and they wanted to make sure it didn’t happen to anyone else. Chapeau to Brighton fans.

Great stuff. 

Hope Brighton can stay Brighton if you see what I mean. 

Money talks, it always has, and the biggest/richest clubs in England have dominated for 50 years plus, with occasional wins by other clubs (Derby, Villa, Forest, Leicester, Blackburn, although they spent big). I don’t mind the Champions League to be honest, although the group stages can be very predictable. Quarter finals onwards the standard is great, far better than international football, and if it helps delay a super league so be it. 

I don’t believe for a second that the Superleague idea is dead, given the people involved. They’re simply regrouping in order to have another pop at completely ruining the game

There is a reason why the Premier League is prepared to dock Everton points within months of an infraction, but seems reluctant to go after Man City and Chelsea quite so swiftly.

They have charged city, but it is a much more complex case, and disputed by the club. Everton’s case was quite a simple slam dunk.

From what I can see chelsea haven’t broken any rules yet, the PL has just this week changed the rules on the length of time a player purchase can be spread over, so they won’t be able to pull the same accounting trick in the future. However if they continue on the pitch as they have. then the multi trillion spend is going to be an anchor around their necks for years, the accounting trick to spread the costs over nearly a decade is likely to have the adverse affect of crippling their spending for a decade. It should also be noted that the new tv deal is less than the last one allowing for inflation, so they are not in a good position even before lack of success leads to lack of revenue leads to being charged for FFP breaches.

Always had a soft spot for Brighton after helping us in our hour of need link

Fans United was the brainchild of a Plymouth supporter who came up with it as a way of highlighting our plight when our former owner Bill Archer sold the Goldstone Ground whilst also removing the FA clause which stated owners couldn’t profit from the club going out of business. I was at the Goldstone that day and it was actually quite emotional.

It was a crazy time to be a Brighton supporter, so many times I thought it was all over during that season but we somehow managed to keep the fight going which makes what is happening right now so so special. Being able to share these good times with my eldest daughter and son makes it even more so. I like to remind them of how lucky they are and that it’s never been this good 😄

I think we’ve been pretty good as a group of supporters in remembering where we came from and trying to do our bit to repay some of the help we got from other supporter groups.

Definitely muggo, our europa league teams have kept that 5th spot alive, 👌 🤞🤞🤞

Citey going all spursey and miss of the season at the bridge (open goal central 2 yards out missed to side the cross came from ! ) 8)

Milner marking Saka at the moment. Feels like a type of bloodsport! 

Fair play to Milner, playing 1st team PL at 37.

Easily could went to Saudi on silly money.

I’ve always really liked James Milner. Probably one of the most underrated players ever. You could probably stick him in goal and he’d be happy enough to do it and still put a shift in

He’s also one of the safest bets in football. The master of the tactical foul is presently 2/1 to get a yellow card whenever he sets foot on the pitch

I’ve got my scouse mate coming round in an hour or so. God only knows why I’m putting myself through this. He’s under strict instructions that he can only start properly taking the piss when they get into double figures

He was lucky not to get one after that foul on Saka.

Proper old school, “don’t keep taking the piss out of me son”!

Utd best priced 8.5 to win at Anfield. Go on binners, you know you want to.

I may stick a few quid on Liverpool on the basis that all my bets are like the kiss of death

My Liverpool-supporting dad reckons they’re going to struggle today. Clearly he’s not watched us this season

This made me laugh

lol. Staking £10 on Liverpool gives £4 profit so not great value. The draw at ~6.0 is not bad value.

We’re not going to get a draw. I reckon we’ll do something mad like score in the first ten minutes, then Liverpool go up a gear, we collapse and get absolutely monstered like last year

If anyone does acca bets including fouls and the like – just been reading about how slippery some of the Betting sites are. Punter had an Acca that was denied because the ref played advantage on the foul…… which sounds fair enough, but then went back and booked the player. And then, was advised by VAR to review and upgraded the yellow to a red. How you can’t call that a foul……

I’ve also heard of bets being denied in time added on, only to 45:00 in each half. Where so many games are having large amounts of added time – bear that in mind if cashing out bets, don’t hang on for a late corner because they might not count it. Check and know your T&C’s……

Accas are a mugs game, that’s why so many adverts are for accas/bet builders. Maybe if you have an acca syndicate with some mates that’s ok but I like the look of Lebom who let you bet against your mates not the bookies.

Mrs Binners had her account restricted (by Skybet IIRC) to small bets because she kept winning, including some big ones. She just downloaded another app and took another bookies money instead