Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [ARCHIVED] Soccer • Page 791

Like, it kinda irks me when fans of those two clubs say stuff like “Spurs and Arsenal in the Super League LOL” when the only reason they have a claim to be “super” is literally because of the same greedy assholes who tried to make the SL happen haha

 

I was absolutely taking the piss, but I basically agree with all of this and your post afterwards.

Yesterday Man City overtook you in terms of trophies to become the 6th most successful English club. I refer you to my post yesterday after the final where you can see 13 of those have been since the takeover.

City are not historically THAT big. If you're naming the biggest clubs in England since shall we say the end of WWII, it's Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, Spurs, Chelsea and Villa. The truth is, Man City and Chelsea got in before the penny TRULY dropped, and their fans are far too loyal to ever want their owners out.

It's another reason the Super League is bullshit. Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland. These are all HUGE clubs who have fallen down the order. Then you have something like Leicester, who were in the third tier not that long ago. The facts teams can rise and fall is fantastic and is why the sport is so great. You can't take a snapshot of a singular moment in time and allow those big clubs immunity from becoming also rans. It should be on merit and if Arsenal or Spurs become mid table or worse, they only have themselves to blame.

 

However, I do want to point out, I get it. I hate the Kroenkes, to the point that almost any owners look pretty attractive right now. So I don't blame Newcastle fans, or City fans. It's a difficult place to be in, having to make that choice.

 

Yeah, I don’t disagree with this either. I think what kinda triggered me with all of it is how the media is painting this perspective that City and Chelsea are like the darlings of this whole thing and that they were so hesitant to do it etc. They still did it. They’re just as guilty as everyone else involved. Don’t try to sell me on that crap lol especially when it’s those two clubs.

 

No Chelsea fan would be particularly triggered by that imo. It is worth noting a few things though:

Chelsea were a 'top 6' team for 7 straight seasons before Abramovich took over, their highest league position in those 7 seasons being 3rd in 1998/99, and of course famously qualified for the CL the season before Abramovich took over when they beat Liverpool . They'd won 6 trophies, including 2 European trophies (the European Super Cup and also the Cup Winners Cup!) since I started watching football in 1994/95, and in the late 90's they were attracting players like Zola, Vialli, Gullit, Desailly and Deschamps who were all high-calibre European players.

I genuinely believe they were at the same standard then as an overall club than Arsenal or Tottenham are right now. Arsenal had some great league wins under a genius, once-in-a-lifetime manager who changed not just their club but had an impact on the whole of English top-flight football, but they have declined to probably a worse standard than late-90's Chelsea. And Spurs' recent history is one you would know far better than me, but I think their only trophies since 1994/95 were the league cup 2x, which Chelsea won twice before Abramovich.

We obviously will never know what would have happened if they had not been taken over by the billionaire! But to me they were very clearly on the rise and establishing themselves as a mainstay at the top of the table so it would not be totally out of the question to assume they could have kept progressing to the point that they could perhaps win a title without billionaire backing.

Sorry for the wall of text, but honestly this is about 25% of what I could say on this overall topic! I haven't even touched on my opinions that it's all kinda Manchester United's fault this all happened anyway (Lmao, jk)

 

This must be how Spurs fans feel. A long, well written post, I’m sitting here nodding along and agreeing and then you hit me with this...

 

Btw...I don’t disagree when people question why Spurs were invited when we haven’t really won shit in over a decade. But that’s not why we were invited lol it’s the brand. Somehow, despite the endless disappointment, Spurs brand is still huge.

 

I’ve got a whole thing about being a City fan in regards to Chelsea. But I honestly don’t think I have enough time to articulate it well.

Essentially we know City/Chelsea owners love $$$$ but they’d be idiots to not take the invite for the ESl. At the end of the day missing out is a bad business decision which would go against everything they’ve done since taking over.

and the takeovers have happened because of the creation of the Premier League and Champions League in its current form.

 

Yeah, it was before my time as a fan but from what I understand, the creation of the PL wasn’t exactly innocent

 

Hahaha, sorry. It's a troll opinion I have that I use against my friend who is a United fan, and it's basically just saying that if United didn't do so well in establishing themselves as a global brand/business off the back of their continued sporting success then no billionaires would be interested in taking over football clubs in the first place. Then I can say obnoxious shit like "Was 98/99 worth the very soul of football" with the most punchable face to really wind him up

 

Both Sky commentators have now separately, minutes apart from each other, called Timothy Castange "Thomas". Neither acknowledged it either time.

 

AC Milan have gone from a title challenge to struggling to get top 4. They’re losing to Lazio now and three teams are on 66 points with Atalanta on 68 in second

 

Just to reiterate, as a person who comes from a London family divided between Chelsea and Arsenal, I always considered Chelsea bigger than Spurs (not meant as a slight on Spurs btw).

To be honest, growing up I never really cared about Spurs anywhere near as much as Chelsea. So I do always think it’s a bit disingenuous when people suggest Chelsea were also-rans before Abramovich. Chelsea won things occasionally and always pushed for European spots.

City is perhaps a different matter but as I have said, I really don’t blame the fans for it, after what they went through I remember thinking it was nice they would now see success. I don’t blame the fans of any club who has their team taken over, they are entirely powerless and as much as we all like to think we would have some moral super power, the truth is these clubs are often intrinsically linked to us and they know that.

 

It’s a shame Inter are running away with it, cause Atalanta winning Serie A would be unbelievable when you look at their transfer budget, wage bill, history and infrastructure.
Not only that, but the way they play football is so fun.

Edit: I say Serie A deduct 10 pts from the ESL clubs just for fun. It would leave Inter on 69, Atalanta on 68, Napoli on 66, Lazio on 61, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus on 55 and Sassuolo on 52. Crazy.

 

Juventus could miss out on UCL for the first time in a decade if things continue. Pretty wild.

 

CR7 back to United rumor time

 

Won’t happen, as I said above Milan are self destructing.

 

The Southgate rumors won’t go away and I hate it

 

There’s no way it’ll be Southgate

 

They'll do it to try and appease Kane. Please, please, please lol

 

What a fucking hit

 

Mourinho to England.

 

Even thought I've rode the Mourinho rollercoaster before, I wouldn't be mad at this.

 

It is intriguing that they both still have to play each other and Atalanta (Juventus in the Coppa) in the final stretch.

 

Iheanacho is a really talented player. Touch, mobility, link-up play, finishing. This Leicester setup is good for him, with Vardy taking defenders away and midfield runners supporting.