Football – 2023/24 Season

Todd Boehly must’ve strangled a whole flock of Albatrosses or something.

I went to Wrexham 5-5 Swindon Town yesterday. Bonkers game but hugely enjoyable.

And I trailed to Morecambe to watch Bradford get a shoeing off the Shrimps.  Made all the worse by seeing our former manager (Derek Adams) looking absolutely smug as **** afterwards. Tw*t 😁

League 2 is going to be a real bunfight this season. Before the season started Nigel Clough (Mansfield) reckoned 16 teams could easily make a case for making the playoffs and the results so far are bearing this out. Gillingham have spent big and look the team to beat so far. We’ve got the biggest budget but any transfer targets now come with a Wrexham tax.

Great Chelsea debut for Caceido 😂

I almost felt sorry for him but then I remembered that the reason he’s had no preseason is cos he was throwing his toys out the pram cos Brighton wouldn’t sell him for £75m

i was at Wolves Saturday and was fully expecting it to be a really tough game after seeing the performance Wolves put in against Man Utd. We just pulled them apart with Welbeck and Enciso linking up really well. Mitoma’s goal was brilliant and good to see him start the season so well.
If the 4-1 win and going top (albeit after only 2 games) wasn’t enough, then witnessing this wolves supporter completely lose his shit in the exec boxes behind the away end really did top off a great day out 😀

https://x.com/danherrington_/status/1692932583712071709?s=46&t=Yiq2PKLGzfnI4wmhLCFhzQ

Laporte is going to Saudi for 25m, which seams low compared to some of the other deals that have been done. When west ham did a 30m deal for Maquire, it is a bit surprising that no PL team made an offer for Laporte.

No PL team will be able to match the wages on offer

Laporte is going to Saudi for 25m, which seams low compared to some of the other deals that have been done.

How much will he be on a week though? Maybe Citeh thought its a good chance to get someone off the payroll

When west ham did a 30m deal for Maquire

We want a good few players off the payroll but the owners have put ludicrous expectations on what they’re worth and no club will match their wages, so we’re stuck with them. I’d be happy to see an exodus from Old Trafford to Saudi but no such luck. Curses!

Can see a fair few loans with compulsory buys coming in the last 24 hours of the window!

Hopefully. Unfortunately I think we’ll be more likely to see the thick end of a million quid a week sat warming the bench for the entire season, doing absolutely nothing.

We’ve ended up with a squad full of Phil Jones’s

Newsthump have absolutely nailed it about the whole Mason Greenwood farce….

NEWS! Man United confirm final decision on Mason Greenwood will be made as soon they work out which option will cost them the most money https://t.co/uHsbzdGhuD pic.twitter.com/llziypzv9U

— NewsThump (@newsthump) August 21, 2023

Well, seems United have decided to do the right thing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66554874

Well, seems United have decided to do the right least financially damaging thing.

FTFY

A big sponsor must have had a word. Now we all get to guess which club will take him on, because in the morality-free world of football you can bet your arse somebody will. He’s probably got a load of offers in already

His statement was as graceless and self-pitying as you’d expect. Almost Johnson-esque

Yes, that wasn’t a statement of someone desperate to find a harbour to find salvation and work on being a better human being. He knows where he’s going next.

If he finds himself on a plane to Saudi in the next 48hrs it will just complete the picture of a moral vacuum (player and nation).

Don’t want him at Reading. Spartak Moscow might suit him.

From the BBC report, it also doesn’t sound like they have terminated his contract.

Greenwood, whose contract Old Trafford runs until 2025, could now be sold or loaned to another club for the remainder of his contract.

I know we’re struggling for goals, I’ve just been on a Wolves forum and some fans are talking about us getting him in?? WTF!!
They are talking about Gazza beating up his missus and still being England’s golden boy and asking what’s the difference.

The fact he’s on full pay whilst he gets to sort his future out suggests they don’t have the most robust hr department…

Dread to think where he’ll surface again…

Manchester United Ownership in Yet Another Car Crash Shocka!

They literally couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery. Guaranteed to misjudge every situation and get it wrong every single time. They’ve finally ended up doing the right thing but for all the wrong reasons. That’s an improvement on the usual of doing the wrong thing for all the wrong reasons, usually money.

Seeing as it looks like they haven’t actually terminated his contract, I expect they’ll now put a valuation of 100 million on him or do something even worse just in case anyone hasn’t yet noticed what a gang of vampires they are

****ing parasites!

NEWS! Saudi clubs reluctant to sign Mason Greenwood as his attitudes to women considered 'too liberal' https://t.co/7Elvwlnhu5 pic.twitter.com/MQ1ae8wHnS

— NewsThump (@newsthump) August 21, 2023

Levy is always out for a bargain and we’ve a no10 shirt free.  I hope he doesn’t do something stupid.

In reality, will anyone touch greenwood? Where is Ched Evans now?

Ched Evans moved around the lower leagues for a bit didn’t he… Was he at Chester or somewhere and then Preston?

No idea who’d touch Greenwood. Can’t see it being any club in the UK…

Meanwhile, anyone see Tomyashu’s sending off last night? A yellow for time wasting (those of you who didn’t see it, I think Jorginho had the ball for a throw in for about 15 seconds and then gave it to Tomyashu who held it for 8 seconds and was given a yellow for time wasting… Then a few minutes later brushes his arm down Ayew’s back (and everyone knows Ayew likes to spend more time on the floor than Neymar), Ayew goes down, another yellow… Both really, REALLY soft…

Yellow for timewasting, everybody has been warned and better than just keeping adding the time on at the end IMO. I didn’t watch the match so can’t comment on the other incident, but nobody should be whining about getting a card for timewasting with the publicity is is currently getting, and then you put yourself at risk.

Yeah, the timewasting yellow is just a case of whoever has the ball when the whistle blows, it was pure timewasting and he got stung for it.  The second yellow was Ayew making a meal out of it, but having been booked 5 minutes earlier, you’d hope to have your full back a little smarter than going in tight on a player like that.

It’s going to be a funny season with yellows being given out for things like timewasting and asking for other players to be booked, think two arsenal players got away with that yesterday, think it all evened itself out as well, the penalty arsenal got was for the same amount of contact that the Palace player got in the box as well, hate those penalties where the player overruns the ball and then sticks his foot into the keeper and throws themselves down, it happens all the time and is just a bit too ‘clever’.

Tonali at Newcastle got a yellow for “time wasting” when he was subbed off in injury time, with his team 5 – 1 up. Ridiculous.

Ched Evans moved around the lower leagues for a bit didn’t he… Was he at Chester or somewhere and then Preston?

IIRC It was Oldham who signed him initially

I didn’t see the match last night, but I’m more than happy with this new standard of refereeing as it seems to be consistent, especially the card waving business. I hate seeing players do that (and before anyone chips in, I know Fernandez is regularly guilty of it for us)

The players have all been warned and know the score, so they can’t moan about it now. Trent Alexander Arnold was booked against Chelsea for timewasting and protested, but he’d sauntered over to take a throw at the speed of a 90 year old arthritic, obviously trying to give the team a breather as they were getting battered at the time, so he was rightfully booked for it. It’ll certainly make players think twice about fannying around if they’re already on yellows, and I’d imagine you’d be in for a proper hairdryering off the manager if you got yourself sent off for it.

Seems like a good answer to the increasing Mourinho-isation of football over successive Premier League seasons.

I noticed they’re also clamping down on the keeper trying to grab the ball after a goal to slow down the restart. That tactic really boils my piss. Swindon keeper thought about grabbing the ball after we scored a pen to make it 2-4 on Saturday but then stopped himself which was amusing to see.

I’m glad they’re clamping down on time wasting but the referee’s are going to have to be careful about applying it. If someone gets booked for taking 10 seconds for a throw in in the 85th minute then you can bet that loads of people will be showing examples of other throw ins that took longer earlier in the game. Do we need a dead ball shot clock?

Yeah, the timewasting yellow is just a case of whoever has the ball when the whistle blows, it was pure timewasting and he got stung for it.  The second yellow was Ayew making a meal out of it, but having been booked 5 minutes earlier, you’d hope to have your full back a little smarter than going in tight on a player like that.

That’s also been done since time immemorial by referees. When the tackles are flying in and it’s all going a bit too far, eventually it gets to the point where the next one gets done irrespective of how many others came before. You can’t allow all 22 players two lives and still keep control, and players won’t control themselves.

It would be interesting for technical offences like timewasting, dissent, etc. – for these to have a team yellow. And after say every 2 team yellows then your opposition get given a free kick to be taken from wherever they choose. Maybe If you get 5 yellows in a game then that is migrated to a penalty. Stopping the smart behaviour where 6 blokes can all waste time but no-one actually pays a material price.

It also partly addresses the unfair issue where if a player gets a ban for totting up then they miss the next game – so you don’t get any benefit as the team that were wasted against, but next week’s opponents don’t have to face a star player.

Tonali at Newcastle got a yellow for “time wasting” when he was subbed off in injury time, with his team 5 – 1 up. Ridiculous.

Agree – that’ll be a ban in another 15 games time, as a combative midfielder he’ll get some proper yellows (got another this week for a foul) and then get a ban through totting up. Should have just got off the pitch and not burned one that he’ll regret.

Do we need a dead ball shot clock?

Yes. Maybe not a yellow for that but 10s and then throw in goes the other way. Anyone can take the throw in that time, they choose not to because no-one’s got free, mainly because no-one’s trying to get free because the players on the pitch are wasting time just as much as the thrower.

You can’t allow all 22 players two lives and still keep control, and players won’t control themselves.

When it does happen it can be very entertaining though. Remember the legendary ‘Battle of Stamford Bridge’ which has to be one of the most insane games of football I’ve ever watched. The ref had completely lost control after about 5 minutes, and from then on it was elbows flying everywhere, two footed lunges, hands up in faces, players squaring up to one another,studs up legbreakers, loads of handbags. It was ace! I think every player had been carded, but unbelievably nobody got sent off. There should have been nobody left on the pitch!

This is absolutely bonkers! 😳

Who would get the time wasting yellow, if no one goes to take a throw in?

The captain.

There couldn’t be a “throw in clock”.

It would never work, when would it start? If a ball goes out of, there are loads of variables outside of their control, before a player can get into a position to actually take the throw.

The captain

👍

I saw two Arsenal players signal for a card last night – no yellows given, so the dilution of the rules has already started, it’ll be back to normal shitehousery in a couple of weeks.

That Battle of the Bridge game was mental! The whole highlights were of foul after foul after foul!

Top start by Man Utd !!

I just burst out laughing by the side of a busy swimming pool in Spain.

And Leeds suddenly 2-1 up after going one-down against top of the league Ipswich.

Now Manyuu scored – it’s going to be one of those afternoons…