2023-24 Football season

[mr.bluesky]

I would imagine a couple of quality defenders would be on Eddie Howe's shopping list for next season then.

[daviemac]

I would imagine a couple of quality defenders would be on Eddie Howe's shopping list for next season then.

We've got 2 lined up.   

Forgot to say as well we've had 20 different goalscorers in the PL this season, not sure if that's some kind of record or not.

[Blackpool Rock]

We've got 2 lined up.   

Forgot to say as well we've had 20 different goalscorers in the PL this season, not sure if that's some kind of record or not.

I initially misread that as 20 different goalkeepers and thought   

[Thephoenix]

I remember in the days of cloth caps, rattles and everyone smoking on the terraces, the crowd all singing 'Abide With Me' was a great part of the F.A. cup final.

Hardly anyone bothers now and the Christian hymn is meaningless to many of the supporters.
It's all a bit pointless and embarrassing.

As is the national anthem, when it applies to so few players and club staff.

Apart from John Stones and Gareth Southgate, I couldn't see anyone else singing it, even any supporters.

[ulstersubbie]

As is the national anthem, when it applies to so few players and club staff.

Apart from John Stones and Gareth Southgate, I couldn't see anyone else singing it, even any supporters.

Same with the Scotland team, very few supporters know all the lines to "Flower Of Scotland" when it's sung at Hampden before international games. We have English born players and a kangaroo in the national side, realistically what does FOS mean to them, absolutely nothing. The world has changed a great deal since you were a lad Phoenix.   

[Stevelondon]

Man U got the tactics right and I have to say. They looked up for it. City played the way they usually play and it didn’t pay of this time. Congrats to the reds.

As for The Toon. As Davie says. If you’re relying on others to shape where you finish in the league or if you make European competition or not. Then you’re simply not good enough.
But I still believe we can come back next season stronger and more efficient.

[chrishornx]

great start for Southampton

[daviemac]

great start for Southampton

Not for the Toon though, bloody 700 mile round trip to Southampton compared to 200 for Leeds. You can guarantee it'll be on a Monday night as well.

[chrishornx]

Not for the Toon though, bloody 700 mile round trip to Southampton compared to 200 for Leeds. You can guarantee it'll be on a Monday night as well.

Ah true that would be rather a long day out.

[Stevelondon]

Ah true that would be rather a long day out.

Oh I dunno. Won’t take me too long to get to the South Coas………… ahhhh.
I see what you’re getting at. 

[timsussex]

Not for the Toon though, bloody 700 mile round trip to Southampton compared to 200 for Leeds. You can guarantee it'll be on a Monday night as well.

and it might be a Geordie (Armstrong) that puts Southampton up

[chrishornx]

well done Southampton terrific for them

[mr.bluesky]

Congratulations to the Saints who go marching on back to the Premier league after one season absence
(Commiserations webbie, play off curse strikes again.)  So three of last seasons teams promoted to the Premier league get relegated and two out of three of the relegated teams get promoted.  Ipswich being the party poopers.
Must be tough for a team to finish 3rd in the table to fall short in the play offs but it is what it is.

[chrishornx]

Congratulations to the Saints who go marching on back to the Premier league after one season absence
(Commiserations webbie, play off curse strikes again.)  So three of last seasons teams promoted to the Premier league get relegated and two out of three of the relegated teams get promoted.  Ipswich being the party poopers.
Must be tough for a team to finish 3rd in the table to fall short in the play offs but it is what it is.

and a big thanks to Webbie, he was so negative about Leeds chances he encouraged me to have a bet on the result and came out a winner

Keep trying Leeds one year you will make it

[timsussex]

Saints definately the better team on the day but can they survive in the Premiership ?

Its tough on promoted teams esp with financial constraints
If your whole  squad value is £200 million how can expect to compete with teams that spend that on 2 or 3 players ?
Perhaps a change to allow newly promoted clubs to meet targets over 5 years rather than 3 ?

[radioman33]

Defended well Soton.good to see them back as big club,Leeds should never been in the playoffs lottery.

[mr.bluesky]

Saints definately the better team on the day but can they survive in the Premiership ?

Its tough on promoted teams esp with financial constraints
If your whole  squad value is £200 million how can expect to compete with teams that spend that on 2 or 3 players ?
Perhaps a change to allow newly promoted clubs to meet targets over 5 years rather than 3 ?

You would have to worry about Leicester and Ipswich too especially if Leicester have to start the season with a points deduction which may come about. Ipswich have done remarkably well to gain back to back promotions but will need to strengthen the squad with some Premiership quality players to last more than a season as Sheffield Utd, Luton and Burnley have found out.

[stampjones]

Every time something like this comes up (every season) I just think it’s often so unfair to the team in 3rd to lose promotion to a team who did a fair bit worse over the course of the season (not sure what the diff was between leeds snd soton).

I get why there are playoffs (squeeze more money out of it) but spirting consideration has to be an issue too. Someone suggested the highest placed team gets home advantage in the single round playoff. I also think there should be some kind of goal offset too. For example if the difference is 3 points or less they start even but for every 3 points difference over that, the higher team gets a goal of a start. Makes it more like a two leg thing where the actual league was the first leg so the lower finishing team gets a disadvantage but still a chance. Anyway they need to do something to make it more fair imo

[timsussex]

IIRC - (and my memory is not what it was) Portsmouth hold the unluckiest 3rd place record
Losing out on 2nd place and automatic promotion by goal difference, 10 points clear of the rest and 12 points clear of the team eventually promoted to the top tier

[radioman33]

Soton were beaten 5-0 by Leicester in April,they went on a good run to get in the playoffs,that’s why it’s a good thing unless you’re Leeds as they never win them.

[timsussex]

Soton were beaten 5-0 by Leicester in April,they went on a good run to get in the playoffs,that’s why it’s a good thing unless you’re Leeds as they never win them.

the other good thing is that as Portsmouth won promotion to the championship we will be spared the bloodbath of a local derby with Soton.
Believe me the police in both towns are very grateful

[JontyR]

Football is much better with the play offs. Teams were potentially on the beach from January. And their impact on the season was so much more questionable when they had nothing in itself to go for.

Back in the day the telly when they had the tables on only used to have the top 6 and bottom 6, that was all that was required. Your club could be for months in the limbo of mid table and you needed to buy a paper to find out which half of the table you were.

[timsussex]

Football is much better with the play offs. Teams were potentially on the beach from January. And their impact on the season was so much more questionable when they had nothing in itself to go for.

Back in the day the telly when they had the tables on only used to have the top 6 and bottom 6, that was all that was required. Your club could be for months in the limbo of mid table and you needed to buy a paper to find out which half of the table you were.

So I suppose we should extend and have relegation play-offs as well ?
We could have every club involved in one or the other - I only write this secure in the knowledge that none of the FA blazer brigade read this or the £££££ signs would be flashing

[chrishornx]

Where is Webbie?

[mr.bluesky]

Every time something like this comes up (every season) I just think it’s often so unfair to the team in 3rd to lose promotion to a team who did a fair bit worse over the course of the season (not sure what the diff was between leeds snd soton).

I get why there are playoffs (squeeze more money out of it) but spirting consideration has to be an issue too. Someone suggested the highest placed team gets home advantage in the single round playoff. I also think there should be some kind of goal offset too. For example if the difference is 3 points or less they start even but for every 3 points difference over that, the higher team gets a goal of a start. Makes it more like a two leg thing where the actual league was the first leg so the lower finishing team gets a disadvantage but still a chance. Anyway they need to do something to make it more fair imo

Only 3 points separated Leeds and Southampton in the final league table. 90 points for Leeds 87 for Southampton so not much to choose between them.
In the 2020/21 season 90 points would have been enough for a top two finish.

[Fac51]

Where is Webbie?

Probably just got back home from Wembley an unhappy chap 

Better luck next season fella

And to quote him, let's hope we can all laugh at "Wankchester" for another season with another dire showing from them in the Prem 

[mr.bluesky]

Where is Webbie?

Not a good weekend for webbie,  Wankchester Utd winning the FA cup and Leeds loosing the play off final all in one weekend, probably been all too much for him, I hope my fellow Wankchester hating buddy is OK 👍
Alternatively perhaps him and shed have eloped off to Gretna Green to tie the knot, they have been getting on famously recently 

[Blackpool Rock]

So I suppose we should extend and have relegation play-offs as well ?
We could have every club involved in one or the other - I only write this secure in the knowledge that none of the FA blazer brigade read this or the £££££ signs would be flashing

When the play off's were 1st introduced I thought there were also relegation play off's but i'm struggling to find any info on it.
There is something for a couple of seasons about the 3 teams below automatic promotion and the 1 team from the division above who were just above automatic relegation contending the play off's

Didn't realise this started all the way back in 87, thought it was later around 92 when the Prem started -
The play-offs were brought in at the end of the 1986–87 Football League season.[6] They were initially introduced for two years, with the provision that if they were successful with the general public they would be retained permanently

During the first two stagings of the play-offs in 1987 and 1988, the four teams involved were the three clubs that finished directly below the automatic promotions positions, plus the club which finished directly above the automatic relegation places in the division above, similar to the Football League test matches of the 1890s.

This was part of the league's two-season-long restructuring that would reduce the number of teams in the top tier (from 22 to 20) while increasing them in the lower divisions (creating three divisions of 24 clubs);

External Link/Members Only.

[southcoastpunter]

Congratulations to the Saints who go marching on back to the Premier league after one season absence

thanks!

Saints definately the better team on the day but can they survive in the Premiership ?

that is the big question (for all three promoted teams) - and no, not with the squad we have. def need to strength it. And our (managers) obsession with "possession football" (although we didn't always play that way yesterday) and "playing out from the back" will be really tested in the PL.

Soton were beaten 5-0 by Leicester in April,they went on a good run to get in the playoffs,

we played really well for much of the season but also a few occasions really badly. we had 4 consecutive losses earlier in the season, then went on a brilliant unbeaten run, had a few bad losses including 5-0 to Leicester but pulled it back in time to ensure we stayed in the playoffs but not enough to get automatic promotion.

Only 3 points separated Leeds and Southampton in the final league table. 90 points for Leeds 87 for Southampton so not much to choose between them.

no but we played Leeds 3 times this season and won all 3! But i thought Leeds were def good enough to go up. Ipswich were the surprise package!

[chrishornx]

Not a good weekend for webbie,  Wankchester Utd winning the FA cup and Leeds loosing the play off final all in one weekend, probably been all too much for him, I hope my fellow Wankchester hating buddy is OK 👍
Alternatively perhaps him and shed have eloped off to Gretna Green to tie the knot, they have been getting on famously recently 

the perfect storm for Webbie. We will have to cheer him up

[WARSZAWA16]

Just bought a new telly to watch the Premier League on next season and I've opened the box to find there's no Leeds.

[mr.bluesky]

Just bought a new telly to watch the Premier League on next season and I've opened the box to find there's no Leeds.

He will be OK the Championship has signed a new deal with sky who will be showing even more Championship games in fact each club can expect at least half of their games to be covered by Sky.
The Championship is a more exciting league than the Premiership anyway. There's probably 6 teams who are capable of winning the league , in the Premiership There's only Man City or Arsenal  ( maybe Liverpool) 

[Punterperson1971]

He will be OK the Championship has signed a new deal with sky who will be showing even more Championship games in fact each club can expect at least half of their games to be covered by Sky.
The Championship is a more exciting league than the Premiership anyway. There's probably 6 teams who are capable of winning the league , in the Premiership There's only Man City or Arsenal  ( maybe Liverpool) 

I ageee I love watching lower league football especially league 1 & 2 I’d pay to see the football I don’t think I’d pay to watch premier league football

[webpunter]

Probably just got back home from Wembley an unhappy chap 

Better luck next season fella

And to quote him, let's hope we can all laugh at "Wankchester" for another season with another dire showing from them in the Prem 

 
I did go to the match
Leeds didnt turn up
A bit unlucky, hit the bar & Saints had two shots on goal one of which went in
[i think this is how many on target they had havent watched it again, obvs]
They ripped Norwich to pieces tho i would have preferred scraping it in that match
& turn in a pukka performance @ Wembley

I knew soon as they tried their hardest to get into the playoffs that we were doomed
The wheels fell orf after the international break
& if any lingering thoughts of going up via the playoffs it was five & zero, its now six & zero

I was home earlier than expected, didnt much fancy drinking in central london
Had it been the reverse result it would have been crack on
I knew a pub where leeds fans were congregating pre match
& post match if winning
& it would have been a R&T today [with some noshing] to get rid of the inevitable hangover horn & to celebrate going up
Instead i ended up cutting the grass 

[webpunter]

Just bought a new telly to watch the Premier League on next season and I've opened the box to find there's no Leeds.

Very good
Make sure you post this belter on the jokes thread

[chrishornx]

welcome back Webbie.

sorry your lot didn't make it to the promised land. 7th time lucky maybe

[webpunter]

He will be OK the Championship has signed a new deal with sky who will be showing even more Championship games in fact each club can expect at least half of their games to be covered by Sky.
The Championship is a more exciting league than the Premiership anyway. There's probably 6 teams who are capable of winning the league , in the Premiership There's only Man City or Arsenal  ( maybe Liverpool) 

Thats good news on the coverage
Of course i dont know what VPN means 

Likely that City will have punishments dished out this coming season
Add in final year of Peps contract & he could be orf, especially if City get hammered

I reck Arsenal could be clsoing in as their squad matures
Even Havertz has shrugged off his Bamford styley

Chelsea too if it wasnt for yet another change of manager
& FFP like to mean further squad weakening
No surprises having blown a £billion on players
They didnt help themselves selling players like Hudson Odoi to Forest for £3m + £2m in add ons & buying Mudryk for £89m 

[WARSZAWA16]

Hidden Image/Members Only

[mr.bluesky]

England U17's currently playing Spain U17's on the BBC red button in the Under 17's European Championships.  England take an early 1-0 lead. England started the tournament with an emphatic 4-0 win over France but lost their second game 4-1 to Portugal

[shed]

Come to the red side Webby. You know it's in your blood, just accept it. Those cunts at bell end are finished, won't get another chance.  Maybe Phillips will re join , get red cards, give away penalties and help you to division one were you belong. Good riddance. I am a Greta Green, where are you ?





Hidden Image/Members Only

[Jumping Jack Flash]

Unai Emery has signed a new five year contract at Aston Villa, that’s fantastic news. The guy is a genius.

[shed]

Unai Emery has signed a new five year contract at Aston Villa, that’s fantastic news. The guy is a genius.

Have to agree. He should have been manager of the season with the way he turned Villa around into top four place.

[webpunter]

Come to the red side Webby. You know it's in your blood, just accept it. Those cunts at bell end are finished, won't get another chance.  Maybe Phillips will re join , get red cards, give away penalties and help you to division one were you belong. Good riddance. I am a Greta Green, where are you ?





Hidden Image/Members Only

Would have thought you would be in a better mood with the unexpected win at the w/e
Did you manage to make it to Wembley ?

I'd rather be a batty than be on the red side
Having to be coy when someone down the boozer asks who do you support ?
& thats just the start of it

It would be a good start if KP made it onto the pitch to have the opportunity of getting a red card 

I was at Wembley yesterday
Gretna a long ways away

I was thinking good that the wheels came off the Citeh train
I might have to adjust my outlook
Then again best if ETH stays at the wheel

Some footy players like being with their fans
KP:  External Link/Members Only
Sheeerah:   External Link/Members Only
Your closeted bunch of tosspots wouldn't dream of it
Apart from maybe Rooney

If you want to see a cast off who is doing rather well there's an opportunity for you
CL final
Sat 1st June, save the date

TTFN
MOT




Hidden Image/Members Only

[mr.bluesky]

Every time something like this comes up (every season) I just think it’s often so unfair to the team in 3rd to lose promotion to a team who did a fair bit worse over the course of the season (not sure what the diff was between leeds snd soton).

I watched the Bundesliga play offs last night. Fortuna Dusseldorf  who finished 3rd in Bundesliga 2 played Bochum who finished 3rd from bottom in Bundesliga 1.
Bochum lost their home leg 3-0 so Fortuna were strong favourites going into their home leg but they lost 0-3 meaning the game went to extra time and penalties.  Bochum winning the match 6-5 on a penalty shoot out so retaining their Bundesliga place. The commentator said that eleven times in the last twelve years the team who finished 3rd from bottom had retained their place in the Bundesliga.  One of the few leagues in Europe settle their final promotion position this way .

[stampjones]

I watched the Bundesliga play offs last night. Fortuna Dusseldorf  who finished 3rd in Bundesliga 2 played Bochum who finished 3rd from bottom in Bundesliga 1.
Bochum lost their home leg 3-0 so Fortuna were strong favourites going into their home leg but they lost 0-3 meaning the game went to extra time and penalties.  Bochum winning the match 6-5 on a penalty shoot out so retaining their Bundesliga place. The commentator said that eleven times in the last twelve years the team who finished 3rd from bottom had retained their place in the Bundesliga.  One of the few leagues in Europe settle their final promotion position this way .

I dont mind that set up. Its completely fair imo. They do something similar in scotland too

[mr.bluesky]

I dont mind that set up. Its completely fair imo. They do something similar in scotland too

Yes , I saw that Ross County beat Raith Rovers over 2 legs to retain their place in the Scottish Premier league

[webpunter]

Hidden Image/Members Only

[mr.bluesky]

So I see on the news a lot of Premier league clubs have announced their new season ticket prices  with some massive increases by some clubs like Nottingham Forest and Wolves who have particularly hiked up their prices. Some clubs are also going to do away with concession prices for OAP's. So once again the loyal fan have been kicked in the bollocks.  No doubt many Championship and football league clubs will follow suit.

[shed]

Hidden Image/Members Only

Nice one and totally agree. Klopp for me was hugely overrated. The premier league title is the top trophy to win. It's a marathon and doesn't depend on the luck of the draw like cup competitions. He only won one COVID premier title in nine years. Giggsy is one of us. Loves shagging women.

[webpunter]

So I see on the news a lot of Premier league clubs have announced their new season ticket prices  with some massive increases by some clubs like Nottingham Forest and Wolves who have particularly hiked up their prices. Some clubs are also going to do away with concession prices for OAP's. So once again the loyal fan have been kicked in the bollocks.  No doubt many Championship and football league clubs will follow suit.

Forest have to try & cover a pretty much disastrous recruitment programme
I'd be surprised if the manager can remember who the players all are
Let alone know if they are any good & how to mould them into a team

On TalkSport a couple of months ago there was a comedian cant remember who being interviewed
A lifelong Spurs fan & getting on a bit
He mentioned that Spurs were re-categorizing ticket prices & moving where fans were to be sitting around the stadium
Those most affected were OAP fans, some of whom had been seeing Spurs for five decades or more
The re-categorizing & move of where the seats are amazingly was accompanied by a price increase & crappier view
His observation was that Spurs were trying to:
1/ increase ticket prices overall [obvs] &
2/ shift the demographic of the fans attending
On point two the person being interviewed observed that it appeared Spurs didn't want lifelong OAP fans because younger fans would be more likely to spend money in the stadium on drinks & food 
What a bunch of cunts they are

& there was commentary that student discounts were being scrapped @ Forest
With some ticket prices effectively doubling
Difficult for student fans to afford the increase so some were bailing out
What a brilliant marketing plan this is 
So the club disenfranchise student fans going to home [& maybe away] matches & once they stop going thats pretty much it
Some of them will think what the f**k was i doing wasting every other Saturday afternoon & a pile of cash on going to matches

More & more matches are being televised & fans get to the point where they cant justify the time & expense to go to them
Watch most of the matches on the box & maybe go to a few if you can get tickets if you cant whatevva
Maybe pay a bit over the odds, however when going just now & again it doesnt make any material difference