2014/15 Football (aka soccer)

[John Ossie]

Good game last night.

[JaggedFel]

Juve spent too much time complaining about the no call on Pogba and let Barca get off the counter attack. Personally I think its a Penalty and Neymar's Goal was rightly disallowed clearly off his arm, I dont think he did it intentionally but the rules say no arms and hands.

[weetomuncher]

I didn't really mention what happened with Rangers up here in Scotland but they failed to be promoted and Rangers have been talking to potential new managers and it looks like Mark Warburton, who was at Brentford is looking likely to get the job.

Vitor Perreira of Olympiakos spoke to the club but his interest seems to have faded after the club were not promoted but there is talk of him being fired because he spoke to Rangers. He has only been in Greece since January!

Warburton seems to be odds on to get the job now with former Rangers captain Davie Weir as his assistant and there is talk of former Scottish Football Association Technical Director Mark Wotte, a Dutchman with a good record, taking over in a similar capacity at Ibrox.

There was talk of a bid for Scott Allan of Hibernian being rejected but the club is likely to push further in an attempt to get the boyhood Rangers fan to the club, although the fact that he is at the biggest rivals in the current division could be a problem.

Dave King, the South African based chairman, who has now been fully cleared to hold a directorship due to his past tax history in South Africa, is said to be coming over to Scotland in a few days, likely to name a new manager.

The failure to get promotion was a shock, especially as it came in the form of a 6-1 aggregate defeat to Motherwell and the club got rid of about 16 players last week. Only a handful of the main squad remain and it will be a massive rebuilding process.

Some of the players that were at the club were maybe OK for the lowest reaches of the Scottish League but when pitted against the two Edinburgh sides and then against Motherwell, the cracks were showing and sadly the ball was going through most of them as the defence was shocking at times.

The club will be looking for a fairly straightforward promotion season next season but that was meant to happen this year, with the side that had went unbeaten in the league, winning 33 and drawing 3 in the league, winning it by 39 points and reached the Scottish Cup semi final the season before.

Adding Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd to the mix on paper looked like adding a cutting edge to Rangers and Hearts, who had been through a financial meltdown of their own, going through administration but not liquidation and they had a very young team with a few new faces added and Hibernian, who built a team of young players that played an entertaining brand of football. Both these sides finished ahead of Rangers, which was a shock alone and Hearts had the league wrapped up long before the end.

Rangers had another round of financial insecurity and the board were making pathetic decisions early in the season. It took a while but the takeover was completed and the tyrants were largely deposed, although Mike Ashley, the owner of Sports Direct, a major UK sportswear chain and Newcastle United, has been sticking his fingers in the Rangers pie too, with the club owing a £5m loan to him and he has huge financial control of the Rangers retail wing, getting 75% of profits. He has already been punished by the football authorities for having undue influence at the club as owning Newcastle United, an English Premier League club means he cannot own or have undue control over another British club, even in a different league.

Generally, you are not allowed to own 2 clubs in the same country and while the UK is four seperate and independent football nations, it is legally one nation as the UK. While Ashley is not the owner of Rangers and holds less than 10% of the club, his influence was causing huge headaches. The current board isn't being bullied by him to the same extent.

One other issue, which a lot of people don't realise but isn't specificially important to this situation due to the current playing levels of the clubs is that two clubs with shared ownership can't play in the same tournament in Europe in the same season. There is a limit to the percentage of ownership that can be held before it is considered ownership and not just investment. I believe it is 40% or so but it might be less than this. Also I think because Champions League teams can drop down to the Europa League, it is no longer allowed to have one of each as potentially a Champions League side could play a Europa League team in the latter competition if they 'drop out' of the CL into the EL.

It wouldn't have been an issue at the current time but going back a few years both teams regularly competed in Europe.

[dzub]

Yeah, that's the problem with the Premier League, a young player can get too much to soon. Shame though he could've been a legend at the club but now it looks like he'll be one of those players who get booed when they come back with their new club due to the manner in which he left.

it's his agent who's influencing him for a higher wage.
at least that's what i got from reading about the whole saga.
well..least he did'nt leave on a free like mcmanaman :P

They're tax evaders. So is Messi. Speaking as guy who's been born and has liven in Barcelona for his entire life, they did not deserve to win. But that's just my opinion and it probably bugs me how my fellow citizens adore the club and Messi even though they always complain about fiscal delicts.

Anyway, good luck to Luis Enrique. Even now, he's not going to make it. What Messi wants, he gets it.

tax evaders beat the mafia !

Barca's forward line is scary, mind you even with Messi for cheap, the other two cost at least £160 million between them.

it's way way , in gaming terms , overpowered.
122 goals combined with 50 odd assists between them.
it's like having 3 beyonders on your team

[dzub]

Ings to Liverpool.
as Anfield Hub said on twitter, we want signings, not sign ings!

XD

jokes aside, it's a smart signing.
on a free transfer too!
BR's transfer strategy is great IMO but not everyone performs like Coutinho or Sturridge.
that's especially true this season where all the new signings kinda floundered

[John Ossie]

it's his agent who's influencing him for a higher wage.
at least that's what i got from reading about the whole saga.
well..least he did'nt leave on a free like mcmanaman :P

He hasn't left yet though and apparently we're going to try and force him to see out his contract so he might leave for free in the end like McManaman did.

Ings to Liverpool.
as Anfield Hub said on twitter, we want signings, not sign ings!

XD

jokes aside, it's a smart signing.
on a free transfer too!
BR's transfer strategy is great IMO but not everyone performs like Coutinho or Sturridge.
that's especially true this season where all the new signings kinda floundered

I'm reserving judgement on Ings. I wasn't totally impressed with what I saw of him last season to be honest. He seemed very wasteful infront of goal last season. He works hard though I'll give him that which is more than I can say for Balotelli. Hope he works out. I do like that we've got him for free though Burnley are going to get some compensation for it. I like that we've got Milner though I think he'll be a good signing.

[DebkoX]

Liverpool can have Ings, I am not in the least bit upset he chose you over us.

Of course I am, any promising player is enough for me.

[dzub]

I'm reserving judgement on Ings. I wasn't totally impressed with what I saw of him last season to be honest. He seemed very wasteful infront of goal last season. He works hard though I'll give him that which is more than I can say for Balotelli. Hope he works out. I do like that we've got him for free though Burnley are going to get some compensation for it. I like that we've got Milner though I think he'll be a good signing.

he's still 22 and on a free transfer, it's not much of a risk
and he also scored more than anyone from pool last year :P

Sami Khedira goes to Juventus

[John Ossie]

he's still 22 and on a free transfer, it's not much of a risk
and he also scored more than anyone from pool last year :P

Sami Khedira goes to Juventus

Well, Sterling scored the same amount and Gerrard scored more so technically that's not true about him getting more than everyone LOL. Like I said previously though I'm reserving judgement

[John Ossie]

Forgot to mention that I think Khedira is a decent signing for Juventus.

[dzub]

Forgot to mention that I think Khedira is a decent signing for Juventus.

he should've gone to the BPL..would do well at any top 4 team (except chelsea)

[DebkoX]

Surprised Arsenal didn't move for him, or City even.

[dzub]

Surprised Arsenal didn't move for him, or City even.

he would be perfect at arsenal, they could do with a real hard man in midfield who's not flamini

[DebkoX]

Might have been the difference between 3rd and 1st.

[John Ossie]

he should've gone to the BPL..would do well at any top 4 team (except chelsea)

Guess Juventus was to big to turn down?

Surprised Arsenal didn't move for him, or City even.

I heard a rumour about a year or two back that Arsenal were trying to get him. Don't know what happened or even if it was true.

Fixture lists came out today for next season and we're going back to Stoke for the opening day, which should mean 3 points for us

Anyhow, it looks like we've got that Gomes kid from Charlton, never seen him so can't judge but he is only a teenager so I wouldn't be surprised if we loaned him out for the season. And well, we've got Bogdan as a back-up for Mignolet and I think that's about it for Liverpool LOL.