2011-12 EPL Thread

[Twodogs]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

Unbelievable drama, most gripping finale' I've ever seen!

Michael Thomas says hi.


In all seriousness that's a great write up TCD. My 13 yo got special permission to stay up and take it all last night. I'm glad I let him, it was an unbelievable sporting experience.

[LostDoggy]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

Michael Thomas says hi.
.

This.

Still pretty good though. Pretty gutted that City Cashbags won it in the end -- it really is a money-buys-success league now in England, with Chelsea and now City winning stuff after foreign owners throw billions at their teams. I'm no United fan but they've been the only top team with their integrity relatively intact that has managed to stand up against these multi-million dollar propositions (yes I know they have foreign owners too and have spent a lot of money too, but at least they were good before then -- Chelsea and City were rubbish until the oil billions started arriving). Arsenal haven't been able to compete with moneybags, and today was another nail in the coffin of traditional tribal football: that wasn't Citeh winning their first title in 44 years, the original Manchester City (like the original Chelsea) simply doesn't exist anymore. That was a completely new franchise created by Middle Eastern oil money that hijacked the EPL by buying an old floundering club and making it their plaything.

ps. If you don't believe me go to Stamford Bridge or City of Manchester stadium -- 50% of their 'fans' are new converts who have Newcastle or Blackburn or Manchester United or Liverpool jerseys in their closets and just follow the latest successful team and don't understand the sport at all ie. Roy Keane's famous corporate 'prawn sandwich' types, or else 10 year olds who don't give a crap being dragged along by their rich parents to watch the latest 'big' team. The crowds at Stamford Bridge are the quietest I've ever heard in all my time as a soccer fanatic (not at City of Manchester stadium today, obviously.. I don't begrudge old Man City fans hanging on to the coattails of this new abomination, 44 years is a long time to wait and I guess anything is better than nothing.)

pps. On a personal note, Sheffield Wednesday won direct promotion to the Championship after finishing 2nd in League 1 (the old third division), ahead of Sheffield United who finished 3rd and has to go into the playoffs.

[Eastdog]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

This.

Still pretty good though. Pretty gutted that City Cashbags won it in the end -- it really is a money-buys-success league now in England, with Chelsea and now City winning stuff after foreign owners throw billions at their teams. I'm no United fan but they've been the only top team with their integrity relatively intact that has managed to stand up against these multi-million dollar propositions (yes I know they have foreign owners too and have spent a lot of money too, but at least they were good before then -- Chelsea and City were rubbish until the oil billions started arriving). Arsenal haven't been able to compete with moneybags, and today was another nail in the coffin of traditional tribal football: that wasn't Citeh winning their first title in 44 years, the original Manchester City (like the original Chelsea) simply doesn't exist anymore. That was a completely new franchise created by Middle Eastern oil money that hijacked the EPL by buying an old floundering club and making it their plaything.

ps. If you don't believe me go to Stamford Bridge or City of Manchester stadium -- 50% of their 'fans' are new converts who have Newcastle or Blackburn or Manchester United or Liverpool jerseys in their closets and just follow the latest successful team and don't understand the sport at all ie. Roy Keane's famous corporate 'prawn sandwich' types, or else 10 year olds who don't give a crap being dragged along by their rich parents to watch the latest 'big' team. The crowds at Stamford Bridge are the quietest I've ever heard in all my time as a soccer fanatic (not at City of Manchester stadium today, obviously.. I don't begrudge old Man City fans hanging on to the coattails of this new abomination, 44 years is a long time to wait and I guess anything is better than nothing.)

pps. On a personal note, Sheffield Wednesday won direct promotion to the Championship after finishing 2nd in League 1 (the old third division), ahead of Sheffield United who finished 3rd and has to go into the playoffs.

A lot of the EPL clubs now are privately owned. Before that several club were on the stock exchange and people had shares in them. As there isn't a salary cap you always get the same teams up there each year. I agree though with my team Man U they have spent a lot of money and won titles but Chelsea and City have spent way more and before those owners came in they both were quite average.

[chef]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

This.

Still pretty good though. Pretty gutted that City Cashbags won it in the end -- it really is a money-buys-success league now in England, with Chelsea and now City winning stuff after foreign owners throw billions at their teams. I'm no United fan but they've been the only top team with their integrity relatively intact that has managed to stand up against these multi-million dollar propositions (yes I know they have foreign owners too and have spent a lot of money too, but at least they were good before then -- Chelsea and City were rubbish until the oil billions started arriving). Arsenal haven't been able to compete with moneybags, and today was another nail in the coffin of traditional tribal football: that wasn't Citeh winning their first title in 44 years, the original Manchester City (like the original Chelsea) simply doesn't exist anymore. That was a completely new franchise created by Middle Eastern oil money that hijacked the EPL by buying an old floundering club and making it their plaything.

ps. If you don't believe me go to Stamford Bridge or City of Manchester stadium -- 50% of their 'fans' are new converts who have Newcastle or Blackburn or Manchester United or Liverpool jerseys in their closets and just follow the latest successful team and don't understand the sport at all ie. Roy Keane's famous corporate 'prawn sandwich' types, or else 10 year olds who don't give a crap being dragged along by their rich parents to watch the latest 'big' team. The crowds at Stamford Bridge are the quietest I've ever heard in all my time as a soccer fanatic (not at City of Manchester stadium today, obviously.. I don't begrudge old Man City fans hanging on to the coattails of this new abomination, 44 years is a long time to wait and I guess anything is better than nothing.)

pps. On a personal note, Sheffield Wednesday won direct promotion to the Championship after finishing 2nd in League 1 (the old third division), ahead of Sheffield United who finished 3rd and has to go into the playoffs.

Maybe to you(and I can understand that). To me and all other long time Chelsea supporters Roman is god and he hasn't killed our team, he's made it one of the top 5 or 6 in the world.

I watch every Chelsea game religiously and we produce a pretty good noise considering we can only fit in 35,000 fans(the second leg against Napoli was apparently the noisiest match ever at the bridge according to some who go regularly). Once our new stadium is finished I'm sure we are going to be as noisy as the other big clubs.

[chef]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

A lot of the EPL clubs now are privately owned. Before that several club were on the stock exchange and people had shares in them. As there isn't a salary cap you always get the same teams up there each year. I agree though with my team Man U they have spent a lot of money and won titles but Chelsea and City have spent way more and before those owners came in they both were quite average.

City spent more over the last 2 years than Roman has over the last decade(around the same amount as ManU). I'm glad now that MU now have some competition as if it wasn't for Citeh and Chelski it would be a rather boring title chase.

[Eastdog]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

Maybe to you.

I watch every Chelsea game religiously and we produce a pretty good noise considering we can only fit in 35,000 fans. Once our new stadium is finished I'm sure we are going to be as noisy as the other big clubs.

I would say watching it on TV all the crowds are passionate and vocal about there teams. I remember when Portsmouth were in the EPL and their ground Fratton Park even though it held 20,000 made a lot of noise.

[Eastdog]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

City spent more over the last 2 years than Roman has over the last decade(around the same amount as ManU). I'm glad now that MU now have some competition as if it wasn't for Citeh and Chelski it would be a rather boring title chase.

That is a good thing for the EPL. It is a bit like Australian Cricket for many years - we dominated until we got some competition.

[chef]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

That is a good thing for the EPL. It is a bit like Australian Cricket for many years - we dominated until we got some competition.

It is and Citeh won't be the last team to transformed by foreign ownership. But I guess it's only alright to have it if you've been successful in a previous era.

[LostDoggy]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

Not bagging you chef -- I understand that you've always been a passionate Chelsea fan and understand your loyalty to the team.

But you can't tell me that City is the same team as the one even a year or two ago. It's soulless. The same way the Spice Girls are soulless but Radiohead, for all their commercial success, is not. Surely you can understand the difference between something that is constructed artificially and one that is not.

I'm not a United fan and I actually hate them, but they have been successful 'in a previous era' because of doing things the right way ie. grassroots support, success, growth etc. meaning that it was very organic. They went through a lot of disappointment before building this success, which was basically built on the stability of Ferguson. They also went for years without winning, but started winning when they started investing in youth etc. Even today with their money they tend to buy players for a lot less money than they end up selling them (Ronaldo etc.) because they buy them raw and develop them further. City and Chelsea buy players at top dollar, letting other clubs do the developing for them, and then sell them to Chinese clubs for $2 when they are old and useless -- they don't have the imperative for profit or good financial management because they are bankrolled by a bottomless pit of dirty money (your Roman 'God' is wanted on criminal charges and lives in England because he'll be arrested the moment he steps on Russian soil).

By all means enjoy your success but I can't believe anyone can be under any illusions of what the difference between a proud old club and what a shiny new soulless plaything is. The best thing I can say about Chelsea is that at least Roman has stayed as long as he has, which almost counts as a new culture in itself. Citeh has been prostituting itself to the highest bidder for the last ten years.

ps. don't take my word for it about the soullessness -- go and watch a game at Stamford Bridge yourself (not go by the noise on TV -- they place the crowd microphones in the noisiest bits of the stadium). There are more corporate members there than old school, died in the wool Chelsea people, who could never afford the ridiculous ticket prices anyway.

pps. We're all Dogs fans. We know what the club stands for. Would anyone here be happy if we were bought by Roman tomorrow and became the richest club in the AFL overnight and got every gun player from every other club by outbidding them and inflating the salary cap (by influencing AFL HQ with all our new money), and if we raised our ticket/membership prices by a factor of 50x so that none of the old core fans (ie. WOOF posters) could ever afford it, and make our money by selling corporate boxes and exclusive seating to every B-grade celebrity in town who has suddenly become Dogs fans overnight because we are suddenly fashionable and the biggest in-thing and sexy to be supported? What if we won the premiership that way the very next year? Could you honestly tell me that we would have earned it? That it would even be the same club, that we would be the same Bulldogs that we've followed for the past 5 decades? How would we be any different from Gold Coast or GWS?

[chef]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

ps. don't take my word for it about the soullessness -- go and watch a game at Stamford Bridge yourself (not go by the noise on TV -- they place the crowd microphones in the noisiest bits of the stadium). There are more corporate members there than old school, died in the wool Chelsea people, who could never afford the ridiculous ticket prices anyway.

I'm going by seasoned members who go there every week who I chat online with every day. Your opinion is fair enough, but I don't agree with it(I don't like disagreeing with you). Ticket prices aren't that high, it's just they are in very short demand with our boutique stadium. Luckily Battersea is probably going to solve this issue.

[chef]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

City and Chelsea buy players at top dollar, letting other clubs do the developing for them, and then sell them to Chinese clubs for $2 when they are old and useless -- they don't have the imperative for profit or good financial management because they are bankrolled by a bottomless pit of dirty money (your Roman 'God' is wanted on criminal charges and lives in England because he'll be arrested the moment he steps on Russian soil).

Do you know much about our academy set up?

[chef]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

By all means enjoy your success but I can't believe anyone can be under any illusions of what the difference between a proud old club and what a shiny new soulless plaything is. The best thing I can say about Chelsea is that at least Roman has stayed as long as he has, which almost counts as a new culture in itself. Citeh has been prostituting itself to the highest bidder for the last ten years.

This I can agree with. He has turned the place around.

I still think we are a proud old club and think our European performances have shown our players have a lot of pride in our jersey.

[LostDoggy]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

Do you know much about our academy set up?

I actually do! I'm sorry I've sounded like an old sourpuss about Chelsea, and I actually know that they've got some great kids coming through. Also, on the purchases side, Ramires is a younger player that has definitely blossomed since coming across. Di Matteo also shows a strong link to the older jumper, but I think that has been a bit by accident -- Roman kept hiring these expensive coaches and RDM has been a surprise success.

Man City was Chelsea of ten years ago -- However, Chelsea have really built a culture since then, but I don't think Man City has and I don't like them buying success so immediately, just as Roman did all those years ago. Ironically, since Chelsea has become a 'real' club again (like you said, with a lot of pride in the jumper), they haven't had as much league success!

I've just lumped them together because they're the most recent case of 'buying' success prior to City. I'm sure we would have felt the same way about Blackburn if they won on Venky money. I'm okay with teams getting big investments and building up to success, but the scale of Man City investment has just been at such a ridiculous level, and the fact that they won so immediately just devalues the competition I feel, because it really does show that, at the end of the day, football is just about buying the best players at inflated prices.

[LostDoggy]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

I'm going by seasoned members who go there every week who I chat online with every day. Your opinion is fair enough, but I don't agree with it(I don't like disagreeing with you). Ticket prices aren't that high, it's just they are in very short demand with our boutique stadium. Luckily Battersea is probably going to solve this issue.

Hey I'm cool with you disagreeing with me! That's what a forum is for, and you've always been very fair. Like I said, sorry for being a sourpuss -- I'm a bit of a romantic about sport (aren't all Bulldogs fans?) and get a bit grumpy when the reality of commercial sport smacks me in the face in such an overt manner. City winning was just another nail in the coffin of my old-fashioned faith in fair sporting contests and what jumpers/jerseys stand for.

[Remi Moses]

Re: 2011-12 EPL Thread

Michael Thomas says hi.


In all seriousness that's a great write up TCD. My 13 yo got special permission to stay up and take it all last night. I'm glad I let him, it was an unbelievable sporting experience.

Beat me to it! CD's getting alzheimers .
94/ 95 season was dramatic with Utd needing to win at West Ham and Rovers needing a point at of all places Liverpool! Needless to say Utd only got a point at Upton Park and ironically Liverpool defeated Blackburn.
Think Arsenals win at Liverpool was more meritorious as they needed to win by two goals!