Football – 2023/24 Season

United in camouflage trackie tops!

Predictions? City 2-0, a suffocating, dull watch.

Got the Old Firm final on too, which should be closer.

I’m not sure I can watch this

No need to worry Binners.

A win for your lot means they screw over Newcastle.

They always hurt us.

Knew it.

I’m finding this quite confusing

Wow. City been on the lash all week?

Football…. Bloody hell!

Mainoo and Garnacho were both superb! Nice to have an actual defence for a change. So good to have Martinez back

Probably the most optimistic bet I’ve put on this season …

Excellent, no Thursday nights in Lithuania for Newcastle next season. Time to concentrate on the league and a domestic cup.

argee – you’ve mentioned United’s great squad a few times. Seriously? As soon as there’s a few injuries it shows the lack of depth.

😁

City vs Utd like a choice between firing squad and hanging.

But happy to settle for the destruction of the sense of entitlement. Congratulations Binners.

ETH still sacked in the morning?

Fair enough @argee Funny old game eh, United to storm the league next year under ETH’s tactical genius. Maybe.

Ah, just at the wind up, i think this result gives ETH a sniff of another year, which is great for me as a non ManU fan 🤣

The record books will state ManU won the FA Cup in 2024, but that was Man City completely throwing it away, gift of an opener, all three of their big game players (Haaland, Foden & De Bruyne) were horrific today, they had possibly the worst side to side football as well today trying to break down ManU, at the end of this season you have to wonder what will keep Guardiola hungry to try again, he looks as tired as Klopp has!

You know, I wondered that too. Contract is up at the end of next season, I assumed he would definitely do next season, now I can see him walking. Done it all, nothing to prove. Except maybe making a shite team great.

You know, I wondered that too. Contract is up at the end of next season, I assumed he would definitely do next season, now I can see him walking. Done it all, nothing to prove. Except maybe making a shite team great.

Spurs is the challenge for greatness 🤣

Well if Newcastle can keep their key players, strengthen in a few areas and get rid of some of the aging squad, it could be a massive season.

A lot of if’s mind!

They can’t though, can they? To comply with financial fair play they need to sell I think, maybe even one of Guimares or Isak? And they can’t just go and spend to change the squad make up. Keep more players fit and aim for top four again would be a success next season I think.

Bump for saints edging it so far. It’s a strange feeling wanting your team to win so they can lose most of their games next season. Plenty more goals in this game I reckon, for both sides. Here’s hoping the “Loch Ness Drogba” (🙄) gets to do the fairytale ending thing..

Leeds looking a bit toothless – another year in the snake pit, bekons.

A lifetime as a saints fan means that at 91 minutes in I still expect us to lose

😇

I bought a new TV so I could watch the new Premier League season in super wide HD OLED – cost me a fortune and it’s going to have to go back, because there’s no leads included.

Well, as an Albion fan the play offs went about as well as expected. To be fair, Saints blew us off the pitch both league fixtures, and while we just about held on during the play off first leg they properly turned up for the second.

I thought Leeds would edge them though, the way they took Norwich apart in their second leg made me realise that we were going to lose the final even if we managed to get there.

Been a good season overall, new owners, starting to move the ball about a bit better…but the gulf between the prem and championship seems to get wider each season. I hope Ipswich smash it, and I guess we can look forward to playing Leeds again next time round.

I hope Ipswich smash it,

So do I, but I’d settle for replacing Norwich as the yo-yo club!

Europa conference final on discovery plus now if anyone needs a football fix. Free to watch, but you need to register for a free account 👍

They’ll spend most of the time simulating, so I’ll pass.

Predictions for tonight??

I’ll go 2-1 Real. Dortmund get an early lead, Real equalise in the last quarter after some shithousery but then Bellingham scores the winner in the 93rd minute

His stars have all signed this year. Fair play to him

To comply with financial fair play they need to sell I think, maybe even one of Guimares or Isak?

Watch Isak be sold to a Saudi club for a world record fee then loaned back to Newcastle on the cheap.

All eyes will be on Jude but maybe it’ll be another England player on the other side who will perform on the night. Would make a great story, especially since that Southgate hasn’t named Sancho in his squad, and his fallout with Ten Hag.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/jun/11/erik-ten-hag-to-continue-manchester-united-manager-after-season-review

Thanks to all the geniuses at Man Utd for another fine lesson in Strong And Stable Government 😄

staying on AND an extended contract….this is excellent news

Mixed feelings about it really. We need some continuity and to stop changing managers, but we went backwards last season under TH and it was difficult to see what he was trying to do.

We had a ridiculous amount of injuries but the players he signed were awful, Antony, spectacularly so. I suspect things will be a lot different with the new team behind the scenes which I think has been more of the problem than TH. There’s going to need to be one hell of a clear out and some shrewder signings

“We had a ridiculous amount of injuries but the players he signed were awful “

Does TH have any say in who is signed then? I had this conversation with a Leicester City Employee around 8 years ago, just before they won the League. I said Claudio Ranieri was the best thing to happen to Leicester, he said not really, it was Nigel Pearson who had built the team in the previous season, but it was Steve Walsh (iirc, the Football Director) who had made all the signings. He’d go to Nigel Pearson, we have this guy ready to sign, I think he’ll fit in well here, any objections, no, he’s ours, and the deal was done. Nigel Pearson, or Cladio Ranieri, had little involvment in buying, or selling Players, they were there to make the Clubs Players into a Team, that was their role, they had nothing to do with negotiating for Players, or choosing who they wanted, that was all decided above them by the Director of Football.
Things have changed since Fergie and Cloughie etc ruled the Clubs, its a lot bigger business now, and the Managers are just expendable Employees who have one task, to get the Players playing as a team.

I suspect things will be a lot different with the new team behind the scenes which I think has been more of the problem than TH.

I wouldn’t be so confident, some of the stuff Ratcliff has done in assembling a new management team was much needed, but he has also done some self important business twattery, he looks to be another leader who doesn’t really understand teamwork, who thinks it is the leaders who drive success by abusing lower employees. I think that looking at how he is treating employees who aren’t in the management team, the divisions that have been shown between the playing squad and TH, are likely to spread throughout the organisation.

If you look at what City and Liverpool have done over the past 5-10 years, they have created incredibly supportive environments, I don’t think “supportive environments” are part of Radcliff’s mind set. I wouldn’t be surprised if some potential managers turned united down in preliminary discussions and they decided to stick with TH before it got even more embarrassing.

I wouldn’t be so confident

I’m a United fan. That’s a word I’m wholly unfamiliar with 😂

Could be a double-edged sword for Ten Hag, with Radcliffe in charge he wont be able to work from home.

It’s great news. They need to sell I think to raise funds, otherwise they’re at risk of breaking FFP rules. So unless they get a daft offer from Saudi for Casemiro and others, who’s going to buy their existing players, given the wages and under performance? And who’s going to sign given no champions league – the allure of playing for United  is waning.

Can’t see many, even in Saudi, making daft offers for the likes of Casemiro, they know ManU are a selling club this summer, as does everyone else, and the players on massive salaries like Casemiro will be hard to shift, i think Casemiro, Varane and Rashford are on a combined £1 million a week for the ManU wage bill, as for selling, there’s a few they can get funds for, but do they start a wholesale change, do you write some players off for a bad year, or keep the faith, it’s a lot of things to do and responsibility for Ten Hag to get that team to challenge again.

Man U to cut 250 jobs !!

The review has concluded, structure-wise, the size and shape of the club does not reflect the current football performance and they have more staff than they need.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c3grq5w2j55o