The Football Thread - Season 2014/2015

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https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blog...gic-of-fa-cup-for-bargain-hunt-142809353.html

What chance has the world's oldest Cup competition got when the BBC decide to shoehorn the 12:45 kick-off between Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City onto BBC Two Wales with millions wondering where they could watch the match.

What did the BBC have on instead? Classic BBC midweek fare Bargain Hunt and Homes Under The Hammer. On a Saturday afternoon. It was, effectively, a 'hidden match', according to many fans.
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Gunners still in. Good show from Brighton in the 2nd half, what a finish from Rosicky ! Brighton's 2nd was classy...
 
redhed17 said:
Great result for Blackburn, but very disappointing to see virtually empty stands, and less than 6K people at the game. :(
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new2me said:
Is the Blackburn community having a particularly hard time financially or something? I thought that attendance was shocking! To think, 20 years ago a certain notorious event led to them winning the Premiership.
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Few reasons. At QPR, and most clubs, FA Cup 3rd round everyone looked forward to - you'd get great crowds at all games. Ultimately the competition has now been de-valued so it is not seen at it was before, and how many I think would like it to be. There are numerous reasons for this, some of which are:

1) The F.A. who I have a lot of time for unlike most on here, allowed Man Utd not to compete one year in order to try and get some brownie points with FIFA when they were bidding for the World Cup, so let them play in the Continental Champions competition (can't remember the name).
2) Many managers have not taken it seriously, playing virtual second string teams and coming out with quotes like 'the league is all that matters'
3) Champions League footage and general saturation of football on TV
4) Expense. For those that go to football, it is increasingly expensive. When you have that and the above, it's not a recipe for a big crowd. IF you support QPR you know you are almost guaranteed to see your team lose in hopeless fashion
5) I'm not sure if this is the case, but are discounted tickets allowed for FA Cup matches i.e £5 for Adults, £1 for kids, as that is what should actually happen at a lot of clubs
6) Season tickets possibly don't include FA Cup matches
7) We are a long way from the post Euro 96 euphoria with full stadiums everywhere.

and plenty more reasons I'm sure....
 
akr said:
6) Season tickets possibly don't include FA Cup matches

and plenty more reasons I'm sure....
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Arsenal season tickets include 7 cup games, generally for the FA cup & Champions league. Most clubs don't include cup rounds or European games. I know Arsenal are meant to have the highest priced season tickets, but the do cover up to 26 games, not just 19 home EPL fixtures.

Football does need to be cheaper below the EPL though. Most Premier league sides can get near capacity crowds every week, more competitive pricing I reckon you will get bigger crowds at the smaller clubs.
 
akr said:
1) The F.A. REQUESTED Man Utd not to compete one year ...
5) I'm not sure if this is the case, but are discounted tickets allowed for FA Cup matches i.e £5 for Adults, £1 for kids, as that is what should actually happen at a lot of clubs
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1) I heard a lower league manager mention that the other day and felt a bit sad that it does still come up from time to time.
5) Apparently Blackburn dropped their price to £20/15 adults/concessions, so they made some effort.
 
new2me said:
1) I heard a lower league manager mention that the other day and felt a bit sad that it does still come up from time to time.
5) Apparently Blackburn dropped their price to £20/15 adults/concessions, so they made some effort.
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RE point 1, I was not blaming Man Utd I thought I was being clear this was The F.A.'s doing. Only mentioned it as for me it was a pivotal moment for the F.A. Cup.

RE Blackburn prices, for me that's not enough. It might have worked better for them revenue wise, but attendance wise you need to get kids in really cheap, an nominal £1 always seems to work. And of course the kids as the fans of the future. But as I said I don't know if they are allowed to do this as revenue is split for cup ties.
 
Jelster said:
Arsenal season tickets include 7 cup games, generally for the FA cup & Champions league. Most clubs don't include cup rounds or European games. I know Arsenal are meant to have the highest priced season tickets, but the do cover up to 26 games, not just 19 home EPL fixtures.

Football does need to be cheaper below the EPL though. Most Premier league sides can get near capacity crowds every week, more competitive pricing I reckon you will get bigger crowds at the smaller clubs.
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I think football needs to be cheaper in the Premier League. I have not looked recently but I don't get the impression all grounds are full all the time as they were before.

As for below the Premier League well yes as well, but I'm not convinced supporters of teams like QPR are that excited by the Premier League compared to the Championship or League one. I don't think people believed me when I said I didn't mind the Championship vs the Premier League, and I've not been to a single game this year, which is it continues will be the first time that's happened since the mid-80s.....I will admit to having watched a couple of games online.
 
Thing is, Saturday is the best we have played in a long time. Still can't keep a clean sheet for toffee, though. And we rested a lot of first team players. Good result.
Not sure why attendance was that low, but that was shockingly low. Interestingly, I managed to get tickets for the away game at Vicarage Road next month - first time I've had the luck to get a London away game.
 
FA cup draw tonight at 7:00pm on the One Show

1. Crystal Palace
2. Cambridge United or Manchester United
3. Blackburn Rovers
4. Bradford City
5. Derby County
6. Preston North End or Sheffield United
7. West Bromwich Albion
8. Aston Villa
9. Reading
10. Liverpool or Bolton
11. Leicester City
12. Arsenal
13. Rochdale or Stoke City
14. Sunderland or Fulham
15. West Ham
16. Middlesbrough
 
Crystal Palace - Liverpool/Bolton
Arsenal - Middlesbrough
Aston Villa - Leicester
West Brom - West Ham
Bradford - Sunderland/Fulham
Blackburn - Rochdale/Stoke
Derby - Reading
Preston/Sheffield United - Cambridge/Man Utd
 
Watching Manchester United v Liverpool (U21/Reserves) at the moment.

Funny seeing Valdez in a fixture light this.
 
For some reason, on Sunday morning I awoke with a strong feeling that Villa will win the cup this year :wacky:
 
redhed17 said:
I'd pace yourself the night before.
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I've no idea what brought it on and there was no drink involved what so ever :) I even looked up the odds (as much as 50/1) and I'm not even a betting man.
 
PMK said:
I think: Blackburn vs. Arsenal
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Just have this feeling it's Big Sam's year. Playing some good football which I never in my life thought I would ever be saying about one of Fat Sam's teams.
 
Forgot it was the 2nd leg between Chelsea & Liverpool tonight.

Always nice knowing whatever the result I'll enjoy watching either of them loose. ;)

As for the FA Cup - If I was betting for real I'd perhaps go for West Ham.
 
Best 0:0 (at 90 mins) game I've seen in ages. Chelsea probably deserved the 1:0 aet on the night.

Costa was a bit naughty on a couple of occasions and I suspect there may be some retrospective action to follow on that front.

That said I thought Chelsea should have had a penalty and there were probably a few players who could have been sent off.

All in all a good whole hearted game which at least made it a good watch for somebody who doesn't support either side.
 
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Was having a bit if banter with my lfc mate tonight.

What's the difference between balotelli and a bucket of sh*t?

The bucket.

:exit:
 
Should have added - I thought Mignolet was good tonight after some difficult times.
 
dinners said:
Best 0:0 (at 90 mins) game I've seen in ages. Chelsea probably deserved the 1:0 aet on the night.
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It was a good game that didn't really drop in intensity. :) Although I would have preferred a different result. ;)

I think a draw would have been a fair result though. Not much quality in front of goal from either team. They still would have won with 0-0 anyway, so no big thing.

Balotelli is going to get Rodgers the sack if he persists in playing him, or at least harm Liverpool's season. Waste of space. Who is going to try the hardest, a lazy forward, or a Liverpool Fan in a Semi Final? :rolleyes: :mad: :banghead: Saying that, I would have put Lallana on for Markovic. ;)
 
dinners said:
Should have added - I thought Mignolet was good tonight after some difficult times.
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Thing is, Courtois will be lauded, but Mignolet who had the better game won't get the credit because of his reputation. Neither will the Liverpool defence, again because of their reputation. In two games they gave Chel$ki very few chances, indeed I think the only shot they had on target in the 1st game was the penalty. :rolleyes: A team that had score 13 in their previous 4 league games too. ;)
 
Zaha might be coming back permanently to palace for 3 million. Great business for us....utd essentially giving us 7 million for a season's loan!!
 
redhed17 said:
Costa is turning into a nasty piece of work. If that had been a certain Senor Suarez, imagine how big a story it would be. :rolleyes:
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Give it time it's early days.

For a lot of people, that will be the first time they've seen that side of Costa's game.

Suarez got away with a lot of similar things in the early days but he did it in such a slimy way - often acting the injured party and he was good at it.

It caught up with him in the end though. By the time we'd seen stamping, eye gauging, kicking, racial abuse, hair pulling, biting - he was always going to be under the microscope from every fan, camera, newspaper and pundit and once everybody watched him closely, that was that.

As for Costa tonight (and the game in general) there was obviously some bad blood carried over from the handbags of the 1st tie.

You have to look at the refs performance as he must take some responsibility for allowing some of it to continue though as the players clearly felt some slack. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is another debate but they all seemed up for a good old battle and it made good viewing.
 
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Sir SR said:
Zaha might be coming back permanently to palace for 3 million. Great business for us....utd essentially giving us 7 million for a season's loan!!
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Fergie brought him in and then Moyes didn't really like the idea.

As for the finances I was reading about this today

United paid £10m up front to Palace - the higher fee (£15m or so add ons) was based on performances so never materialised. United supposedly got £3.5m from Cardiff for his services. United to sell back to Palace for £3m but there will be add ons the other way and a future sell on fee. There's a good chance United will break even on this plus get him off the books.

Whatever the finances - he's been messed about and it will be nice to see him sorted out.
 
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dinners said:
Fergie brought him in and then Moyes didn't really like the idea.
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And seemingly van Gaal didn't like the idea of keeping him either. :(

dinners said:
There's a good chance United will break even on this plus get him off the books.
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I doubt it. He hasn't exactly slipped back to the player that he was before Utd bought him, even though he has gone back to the same place, which you would assume would make it all easier to get the form back. And any clauses will not be for winning Leagues or Cups, which you would imagine were in the original Utd deal. there will probably be a cut of any sale, but having failed at Utd, there is less chance of him being sold for big money. I'm sure Utd can afford the loss though.

Imagine the hit Liverpool will have to take on Balotelli. :( ;) :LOL:

dinners said:
Whatever the finances - he's been messed about and it will be nice to see him sorted out.
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It would be nice for him to get back to where he was before. He's lost a couple of years though.
 
dinners said:
Give it time it's early days.

For a lot of people, that will be the first time they've seen that side of Costa's game.

Suarez got away with a lot of similar things in the early days but he did it in such a slimy way - often acting the injured party and he was good at it.

It caught up with him in the end though. By the time we'd seen stamping, eye gauging, kicking, racial abuse, hair pulling, biting - he was always going to be under the microscope from every fan, camera, newspaper and pundit and once everybody watched him closely, that was that.

As for Costa tonight (and the game in general) there was obviously some bad blood carried over from the handbags of the 1st tie.

You have to look at the refs performance as he must take some responsibility for allowing some of it to continue though as the players clearly felt some slack. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is another debate but they all seemed up for a good old battle and it made good viewing.
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Ref was shocking, but then he had a very poor game where find spurs last. Let's a lot go until the game gets out of control then tries to make up for it with a flurry of silly yellow cards. Always seems like he's out his depth.

Costa should have had two yellows, but then so should nhenderson for his deliberate handball. Costa should have had a penalty, skirt all could have been off for some of his fouls,
 
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Man United team for today.

United XI: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Rojo, Shaw, Blind, Januzaj, Di Maria, Rooney, van Persie, Falcao.

Depends on the formation but that's a very attacking selection.
 
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robphotographer said:
Come on Leicester
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You wont be saying that next year when Leicester return to the Championship .... oh actually, you might, as leeds look perilously close to slipping into division 1 ;)


dinners said:
Depends on the formation but that's a very attacking selection.
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Seems to be working ... they cant throw this game away, surely :cautious:
 
Great to see Sturridge back doing what he does best. Excellent finish.
 
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