Football 16-17

[TheGayTent]

12 minutes ago, big__phil said:

As ever with Arsenal it's all very hush-hush, but the rumours are that a contract is ready for him to sign (if he hasn't already). You have to remember that the owner is a businessman, who runs all his teams to make a profit. As long as Wenger keeps getting in the CL he'll keep making a profit. The owner doesn't give a shit if we win the league or not.

That's what I thought. In which case, why are people thinking it's his last season? Unless they think Wenger has had enough? Possible I guess. 

[DareToDibble]

10 minutes ago, big__phil said:

Even if it is time for Wenger to go, it's not as easy as that. Nobody in the club has any experience of hiring a new manager, nor do they have any experience beyond the boardroom when it comes to running a football club. How would they even go about drawing up a list of candidates? Who within the club knows enough about the game, on a world scale, to make those decisions? Nobody. This is a bigger concern, to me at least, than who is manager.

I did hear on talkSport this morning that Wenger is likely to stay on at boardroom level if he does leave as manager, which I guess could solve the problem you mentioned.

I think if he does leave he needs to leave completely, though. It can't be easy for a new manager with Wenger watching from the stands every week. Much like Ferguson at United.

[big__phil]

22 minutes ago, TheGayTent said:

That's what I thought. In which case, why are people thinking it's his last season? Unless they think Wenger has had enough? Possible I guess. 

He's always said he'd walk away when he feels he can take the club no further.

21 minutes ago, DareToDibble said:

I did hear on talkSport this morning that Wenger is likely to stay on at boardroom level if he does leave as manager, which I guess could solve the problem you mentioned.

I think if he does leave he needs to leave completely, though. It can't be easy for a new manager with Wenger watching from the stands every week. Much like Ferguson at United.

Your point about Fergie is a good one, but I seem to remember Arsene saying that he wouldn't have a hand in hiring the new manager after seeing the problems that they had up the M6.

I'm not against him moving upstairs in some capacity, but I still think you need younger members on the board, and at least one or two with genuine football experience.

The ages of the members of the board are 77, 52, 82, 74, and 69. Frankly, this stinks of poor succession planning, which is poor for any successful company, let alone one in such a competitive industry. Adding Wenger to this lot would probably help with a top-down vision of how the club should be run, but at 67 he's hardly going to reduce the average age. (From a personal view as well, the lack of diversity in the boardroom is pretty striking, but that's just my view.)

I could rant on, but I'll save it for the next crisis.

Edited February 7, 2017 by big__phil

[eFestivals]

25 minutes ago, big__phil said:

The ages of the members of the board are 77, 52, 82, 74, and 69. Frankly, this stinks of poor succession planning

nah. It's much more to do with the age of those who own the shares. There's little of that type of planning at board level for any type of company.

[big__phil]

Not sure if Leicester winning last night is a good thing for them or not. On one hand any win is nice when you're going through a tough patch, but on the other they could probably do without the extra match(es) and focus on trying to stay up.

Edited February 9, 2017 by big__phil

[eFestivals]

8 minutes ago, big__phil said:

Not sure if Leicester winning last night is a good thing for them or not. On one hand any win is nice when you're going through a tough patch, but on the other they could probably do without the extra match(es) and focus on trying to stay up.

two lovely goals there, tho.

[Hugh Jass]

28 minutes ago, big__phil said:

Not sure if Leicester winning last night is a good thing for them or not. On one hand any win is nice when you're going through a tough patch, but on the other they could probably do without the extra match(es) and focus on trying to stay up.

i didn't watch it but didn't they rest everyone anyway?

[big__phil]

28 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

How would leicester fans feel about winning FA cup and getting relegated the season after winning the league? Would they take that over survival? Obviously the money men wouldn't, but I dunno about the fans.

Ask Wigan fans. Any Wigan fans around here?

Oh wait...there's no Wigan fans in Wigan.

[philipsteak]

21 minutes ago, big__phil said:

Ask Wigan fans. Any Wigan fans around here?

Oh wait...there's no Wigan fans in Wigan.

Good friend of mine is a Wigan fan, and he's adamant that he'd take the current situation over no FA cup and staying up. It was one of the best days of his life that he got to enjoy with his Wigan crazy family and was something he never thought could possibly happen. Prior to that, the best he could hope for was not getting stuck in a relegation fight, or more likely, getting stuck in a relegation fight and staying up. He's realistic about who and what the club are, knows they were bloody lucky to stay up as long as they did, and has followed them when they were lower down than this before

[The Nal]

1 hour ago, philipsteak said:

Good friend of mine is a Wigan fan, and he's adamant that he'd take the current situation over no FA cup and staying up. It was one of the best days of his life that he got to enjoy with his Wigan crazy family and was something he never thought could possibly happen. Prior to that, the best he could hope for was not getting stuck in a relegation fight, or more likely, getting stuck in a relegation fight and staying up. He's realistic about who and what the club are, knows they were bloody lucky to stay up as long as they did, and has followed them when they were lower down than this before

He'll be back to supporting them in League 1 next season.

[TheGayTent]

5 hours ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

I disagree. 

I agree with you, can't see any disadvantages personally. 

[big__phil]

3 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

It's like when fans of teams in the Championship (Leeds) say "don't want to go up - it's too early we'll not stay up we're not good enough yet" when there is no disadvantage financially to going up, getting a parachute payment and coming back down.

What they mean is "we still think we're too big for this league but actually know we're not good enough to get promoted so we're getting our excuses in prematurely."  

Burnley are a pretty good model for this actually. When they did go back up they then knew what to expect, and had the experience from last time with a similar group of players. Looks like they might stay up this time as well.

[pink_triangle]

2 hours ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

yes. And if not, they haven't got a silly wage bill to take back down with them. And if they get established  for a few seasons, then they can look to increase player salary and improve their squad. 

At what point does it all get a bit dull though. For all the talk about seeing some of the worlds best players, I'm not convinced I could stay excited for many seasons aiming to finish in the middle of a league.

[TheGayTent]

4 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

At what point does it all get a bit dull though. For all the talk about seeing some of the worlds best players, I'm not convinced I could stay excited for many seasons aiming to finish in the middle of a league.

Does it get dull aiming for promotion from the isthmian southern division? It's all relative. 

[pink_triangle]

8 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

Does it get dull aiming for promotion from the isthmian southern division? It's all relative. 

I think for most teams in the lower league you start the season with aspirations of achieving something whether winning the league or promotion, especially in a league like league 2 where 1/6 of the teams go up every season.

I don't know if I could get excited about going into a season hoping to finish 10th/12th.  I think I'd rather be a yo-yo team at least having seasons of success mixed in with the middling. It's not something I am ever likely to experience, so I will never find out!

[Hugh Jass]

Match of the weekend? 

Swansea - Leicester. Huge.

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

I agree. But if fans are saying they don't want promotion, aren't they then saying that they're aiming to finish at best in the middle of the league below?

I don't think I have ever heard a fan saying they don't want a promotion.

[mjsell]

Just been reading up on the Governments increasing desire for intervention in changing how the FA is run.

The figures really do not look good for the FA at all. 122 members of the Council - 114 men, 8 women - 4 ethnic minorities, 92 over the age of 60.

But despite that it was the interview with one of the 25 life vice-presidents that really hit it home.:

"It is pity that the MPs have got nothing better to do. I would have thought with the state of the NHS, the lack of building, too many people living in boxes, not enough cash for defence, that some people would put energy into that not the organisation of football... I have heard people say supporters aren't represented but that is not true. They have one representative."

That's just an incredible way of trying to defend their system.

[pink_triangle]

For all the criticism of the FA, I wonder whether the way football is run in different countries is significantly different in terms of who holds the power and how they are run. Does anyone know?

[mjsell]

32 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

For all the criticism of the FA, I wonder whether the way football is run in different countries is significantly different in terms of who holds the power and how they are run. Does anyone know?

But is it right to just look at other countries and say 'lets just do it the way they are'. I'd like to think we should be one of the more progressive of footballing nations.

But in response to your question, and with absolutely no knowledge of other nations set ups, I would imagine Germany include far more fan representation than we have. They definitely do at club level. Which is why all of the hatred towards RB Leipzip is a major issue in the Bundesliga at the moment.

[pink_triangle]

Just now, mjsell said:

But is it right to just look at other countries and say 'lets just do it the way they are'. I'd like to think we should be one of the more progressive of footballing nations.

But in response to your question, and with absolutely no knowledge of other nations set ups, I would imagine Germany include far more fan representation than we have. They definitely do at club level. Which is why all of the hatred towards RB Leipzip is a major issue in the Bundesliga at the moment.

I agree, there is no reason a national organisation shouldn't look to be innovative and progressive. My main point is that if England had been successful over recent tournaments, I doubt people would give a crap about the composition of the FA 

Maybe England being crap is a result of  the composition of the FA. I suspect countries who have been more successful are also stuffed with establishment types, but that's pure guesswork on my part.

[ThomThomDrum]

Happy to see LFC kicking the Sun out............

[eFestivals]

1 hour ago, ThomThomDrum said:

Happy to see LFC kicking the Sun out............

it only begs the question: why only now, after all these years?

I'm pleased to see it happen, but I don't get why it's not happened long before.

[zahidf]

3 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

it only begs the question: why only now, after all these years?

I'm pleased to see it happen, but I don't get why it's not happened long before.

When did they rehire kelvin mackenzie?

 

Also, maybe it something suggested to boost morale with the fanbase?

[pink_triangle]

Playing devils advocate but should they ban the times and sky as well?