The FA Cup Thread

[rockabilly]

Bye Bye Scousers.

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[valspoodle]

I'll bet Jurgen is still wondering how Tiago got out of the way of that free kick from Fernandes.

Shame the all conquering 'Pool are out, they bring excitement and flair to the Cup.

On the other hand.....

[Raymondo Ponte']

Fuck 'em off.

[Carlos]

Fuck 'em off.

Talking my language now Raymond!!

[Fitzcarraldo]

Funny reading the absolutely diabolical and heated exchanges on FB between associates in opposite camps i.e. Manure and the scum. Obviously, not one of the fuckers is from either city. Lad from Kent lambasting a lad from Oxford for never having been to OT although he claims to be 'die hard'. 'And when was the last time you were at Anfield?' No response as yet.

[valspoodle]

Chap who cleaned our septic tank out was covered in Liverpool tattoos and had the shirt on, but had never been to Anfield. Something even I have done, though I had to hold my nose whilst doing so.

[Statto]

Chap who cleaned our septic tank out was covered in Liverpool tattoos and had the shirt on, but had never been to Anfield. Something even I have done, though I had to hold my nose whilst doing so.

Your septic tank must have stank...

[valspoodle]

I'll have you know our septic tank was perfume compared to Anfield.

[Statto]

I'll have you know our septic tank was perfume compared to Anfield.

Anfield makes diarrhoea smell like chanel though

[redforest]

The game at Anfield after we had just won the league was one of the worst experiences of my life following Forest -septic tank? It was like a fully laden sewer with loads of scouse rats running round all over the place - still didn’t lose though!

[Ravi]

Swans 0 Man C 3

If City win this they will set a record for most consecutive wins by a top flight team - fifteen. 15!

[adam09]

I was talking to my Prem team supporting work colleagues and said it’s pointless. Look since 2000, the 3 main trophies have only been won by non ‘big clubs’ 8 times. Leicester in the PL, Portsmouth and Wigan in the FA Cup and then 5 times in the League Cup and they were mostly ages ago now.

Professional football as a sport is almost completely pointless.

[Ravi]

I was talking to my Prem team supporting work colleagues and said it’s pointless. Look since 2000, the 3 main trophies have only been won by non ‘big clubs’ 8 times. Leicester in the PL, Portsmouth and Wigan in the FA Cup and then 5 times in the League Cup and they were mostly ages ago now.

Professional football as a sport is almost completely pointless.

The big clubs have always dominated, with the occasional interloper. We did see a brand new winner of the Premier League last season...

Football is more competitive in England than in the other top leagues where usually only one or two clubs dominate. It's also better now than back in the 90's and early 00s when Man U and Arsenal used to win every year. We’ve had 5 different EPL winners in the past decade.

[adam09]

Having a quick look, it seems it started around the 80s. Though between 80-2000 there were 13 different League cup winners.

The point really is the gulf is massive and these top teams can win trophies with their reserves. It was hard before but there is very little chance for anybody else now.

24 winners of the English championship throughout history but aside from Leicester it's going to be 1 of 5 now (I know it was a while for Liverpool but they've always been up there).

And I agree it's the same for other leagues. I just think it's a bit sad.

[Francis Benali (on loan)]

Unlucky for Spurs when the year ends in one again. Out the cup, 8th in the league.

Spurs should probably cut their losses before Mourinho sees Dele Alli out the door. Appoint somebody who doesn't need to pick a fight with a star player everywhere he goes to to prove he's in charge.

[Ravi]

Having a quick look, it seems it started around the 80s. Though between 80-2000 there were 13 different League cup winners.

The point really is the gulf is massive and these top teams can win trophies with their reserves. It was hard before but there is very little chance for anybody else now.

24 winners of the English championship throughout history but aside from Leicester it's going to be 1 of 5 now (I know it was a while for Liverpool but they've always been up there).

And I agree it's the same for other leagues. I just think it's a bit sad.

It’s not the same for other leagues. They have fewer clubs capable of competing in their leagues. In the EPL we have Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs who all have the financial resources and infrastructure to consistently mount a challenge for major honours. In addition the latest tv deal means that there is a second group who are amongst the richest clubs in world football.

I do agree though, those elite clubs are massive compared to anything below the Premier League now. In 2021 the gap between one of those elite clubs and a second tier club like Forest is far greater than the gap between the top first division and bottom fourth division clubs thirty to forty years ago.

[Eddie Yates]

The big clubs have always dominated, with the occasional interloper. We did see a brand new winner of the Premier League last season...

Football is more competitive in England than in the other top leagues where usually only one or two clubs dominate. It's also better now than back in the 90's and early 00s when Man U and Arsenal used to win every year. We’ve had 5 different EPL winners in the past decade.

It wasn't a brand new league winner last season Rav, it was Liverpool's 19th title

[Ravi]

It wasn't a brand new league winner last season Rav, it was Liverpool's 19th title

Thr Premier League is a different competition as you well know Eddie

[Eddie Yates]

Thr Premier League is a different competition as you well know Eddie

No not aving it

I absolutely refuse to acknowledge a football creation date of 1992

Although I will acknowledge that greedy people fucked around with football in 1992 and ruined it

[Ravi]

On a serious note, this is why people wishing for a breakaway European super league 'so the big teams fuck off and we can get back to proper football' is a bit like turkeys hoping for Christmas. The Premier League was once a breakaway league. The big clubs had been threatening to create an English super league for a while, and although it was strongly resisted by the football league, actually didn't change the league structure that much other than the top clubs keeping the TV money for themselves. The top division clubs joined the new league, the football league rebranded itself and made the old second division into the top league, now the Championship, but to most fans it looked the same, because so little had changed. In principle a club could still be promoted from the lower football leagues to the new breakaway Premier League. The big change has been financial, with the richer-getting-richer top league clubs and the rest.

Something similar would likely happen with a European breakaway super league. Most fans wouldnt notice much of a difference in terms of the league structure, but the financial gap between the top clubs and the rest would widen even further.

[Carlos]

On a serious note, this is why people wishing for a breakaway European super league 'so the big teams fuck off and we can get back to proper football' is a bit like turkeys hoping for Christmas. The Premier League was once a breakaway league. The big clubs had been threatening to create an English super league for a while, and although it was strongly resisted by the football league, actually didn't change the league structure that much other than the top clubs keeping the TV money for themselves. The top division clubs joined the new league, the football league rebranded itself and made the old second division into the top league, now the Championship, but to most fans it looked the same, because so little had changed. In principle a club could still be promoted from the lower football leagues to the new breakaway Premier League. The big change has been financial, with the richer-getting-richer top league clubs and the rest.

Something similar would likely happen with a European breakaway super league. Most fans wouldnt notice much of a difference in terms of the league structure, but the financial gap between the top clubs and the rest would widen even further.

Plus say for example a team wins the new top tier multiple times, how long will it be before they want in on the Super euro league? It like you say would just be a redo of the system now

[valspoodle]

Unlucky for Spurs when the year ends in one again. Out the cup, 8th in the league.

Spurs should probably cut their losses before Mourinho sees Dele Alli out the door. Appoint somebody who doesn't need to pick a fight with a star player everywhere he goes to to prove he's in charge.

They were making the same point this morning on the radio whilst talking about the non-appearance of Gareth Bale recently. And Mourinho's rambling explanation of that virtual anonymity since his return.

[RealRed85]

On a serious note, this is why people wishing for a breakaway European super league 'so the big teams fuck off and we can get back to proper football' is a bit like turkeys hoping for Christmas. The Premier League was once a breakaway league. The big clubs had been threatening to create an English super league for a while, and although it was strongly resisted by the football league, actually didn't change the league structure that much other than the top clubs keeping the TV money for themselves. The top division clubs joined the new league, the football league rebranded itself and made the old second division into the top league, now the Championship, but to most fans it looked the same, because so little had changed. In principle a club could still be promoted from the lower football leagues to the new breakaway Premier League. The big change has been financial, with the richer-getting-richer top league clubs and the rest.

Something similar would likely happen with a European breakaway super league. Most fans wouldnt notice much of a difference in terms of the league structure, but the financial gap between the top clubs and the rest would widen even further.

No chance they’re having relegation once they get their super league. No chance at all. They’re already talking about guaranteed CL places as it is now.

They want a closed shop like American sports so they can:

A) be guaranteed to keep all the money themselves
and
B) stop any pesky newcomers like Man City rocking up with billionaire owners

The closest they might come to it is a relegation playoff between the bottom club and the “other” league’s best team, but only after 5 or 6 years so that the super league clubs are miles and miles better than everyone else.

Even then they’d get a bent ref in anyway.


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[Ravi]

No chance they’re having relegation once they get their super league. No chance at all. They’re already talking about guaranteed CL places as it is now.

They want a closed shop like American sports so they can:

A) be guaranteed to keep all the money themselves
and
B) stop any pesky newcomers like Man City rocking up with billionaire owners

The closest they might come to it is a relegation playoff between the bottom club and the “other” league’s best team, but only after 5 or 6 years so that the super league clubs are miles and miles better than everyone else.

Even then they’d get a bent ref in anyway.


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Maybe, but people said similar about the Premier League. The main driver is the TV revenue and to get the most number of viewers the fans of the lower clubs need to feel they have a stake in the competition, however tenuous. The counter to that, is as you point out, the US model, and I imagine the American owners in the EPL are pushing for a closed system.

[duncanmckenzie]

Two things, Jimmy Armfield said that football changed forever when the home teams took all of the cash from their home games whereas it used to be 50% for the home team and 25% to the away team and 25% to the football league and a mate of mine in Pompey told me that they played Man City in the youth cup a few years ago and the City team flew down to Pompey. And you can bet your life they've never cleaned a boot or swept a terrace in their lives