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Reply | The Game Has Jumped The Shark
at 00:23 8 Apr 2024
When Forest played Everton as recently as December, their fans took great delight in slagging off the Toffees with chants of "Cheat, cheat".
"As ye sow, so shall ye reap..." |
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Reply | Swimming pool at Craven Cottage
at 00:15 8 Apr 2024
"Except that they're offering the product for free"
To start with.
The thinking presumably being that (a ) they have to offer a gimmick like this to have any chance of getting off the ground; and (b ) once it's done so, and it has screwed UEFA and the CL etc, then they start charging.
Pure desperation. |
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Reply | Swimming pool at Craven Cottage
at 16:15 28 Mar 2024
The ECJ has merely said that they may carry on, not that it will carry on.
Think about it. Where is the money supposed to come from?
Answer: from massive American venture capitalists (who, incidentally, must be a lot more cautious now than when they calculated the initial figures).
And where were they going to get it back, with profit?
Answer, from TV, media, streaming rights and sponsorship etc.
Which probably looked a safe bet when they were offering the cream of European football to viewers and subscribers. But now you're talking Real, Barca, Juve and a supporting cast of eg Ajax, Benfica, Copenhagen and Celtic/Rangers etc, how many people are going to tune into that? Every. Bloody. Season.
All of which is before you consider the counter attractions of UEFA's latest revamped competitions, the Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga etc, not to mention the ever more dominant EPL.
And look too, to the failure of the Chinese Super League, plus the present struggles of the Saudis. That is, even with all their money and resources, they couldn't challenge the existing football establishment.
If I thought I'd live long enough, I'd be willing to make a 50 year bet that the ESL as envisaged, whether Version 1.0, 2.0 or whatever, won't ever see the light of day, |
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Reply | Swimming pool at Craven Cottage
at 15:56 28 Mar 2024
"Does the FA have enough power to stop it happening? "
When the original "Big Five" (and their 17 little chums, including Luton ha ha) originally went to break away from the EFL, they wanted complete autonomy to do whatever they liked. Yet in the end, they were forced to get the say-so from the FA, who insisted inter alia that P & R be included in the scheme.
And the new PL had to go along with that, since without the FA's approval, they were never going to get UEFA's approval. And all that's before you consider the new Government Regulator. Faced with the anger of thousands of fans (i.e. voters) of half the 72 EFL clubs who reckon they could make the PL one day, what way do you reckon he/she will go?
And as for these owners, esp American, who would undoubtedly love to scrap relegation, think back to the likes of Kronke, Henry and the Glazers when the ESL fell apart.
Not only did they back off, but they all released a grovelling public apology to boot, something which those billionaire bastards have never done before, at least since they became filthy rich.
And if they were forced to learn that hard lesson, we may expect that the others following in their trail will have taken note, too. |
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Reply | Swimming pool at Craven Cottage
at 00:06 28 Mar 2024
@VancouverHoop
"The end-game for (most) Prem clubs though is never having to play the likes of Rotherham again. They're looking for a closed league with club parity to satisfy the international football tourist who care nothing about club history."
Whilst I agree completely with the gist of your overall post, and accept that some of the owners would like a closed shop, they're never going to get it (imo).
Remember, it was fans of the so-called Big Six who killed the last such proposal (European Super League) stone dead. And that was only a part of the shop - the rest (i.e. PL) was meant to carry on as before, if with reduced "importance".
Add to that the opposition from the all the other clubs (PL/EFL/NL), the FA, UEFA and the new Regulator etc, and I really can't see it applying in England.
(Aside from that, some great comments generally on this thread) |
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Reply | Film Night
at 23:41 25 Mar 2024
Stumbled upon this film on TV the other day, tuned in and couldn't stop watching:
Title: Ghostbusters (the 1984 original)
Genre: Comedy
Actors/Directors: Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramos & Rick Moranis. Directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Ackroyd and Ramos.
Why you should watch it... Absolutely hilarious - Murray, perfectly cast, has never been better and Weaver - well wow!  (Very fine actress too, as it happens.
And to think that it only got two Oscar nominations, neither of which won - I can only think the voters were all on drugs! |
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Reply | Budapest
at 23:30 20 Mar 2024
Not quite - I assume you're referring to this song from My Fair Lady:
https://www.streetdirectory.com/lyricadvisor/song/eouepu/you_did_it/
Meanwhile back on topic, went to Budapest for a few days with the lads in 2015 and the Ruin Bars were (then, at least) fantastic - hope they haven't been, er, ruined since by tourism etc.
There was also a fabulous kebab-style resto/take-away, "Gyros", half way down the hill from our favourite bar. For 3(?) successive nights I visited on the way back to hotel at around 3 or 4 in the morning - solid food was a life-saver.
Anyhow, out of curiosity I went back again during the day when sober(ish), and amazingly the food was every bit as good!
(Also was in Budapest for a few days in the 80's i.e. before the Berlin Wall fell etc. Everything was grey and totally crap.) |
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Reply | Whisper it quietly but...
at 20:15 7 Feb 2024
That chant was nothing to do with Millwall or Fulham, rather it was "Meeeeeeeeeeeeee", as in Ben Mee (CB). Though it was probably nicked off Burnley. More generally, 90% of songs sung at every club, incl QPR, will have been invented somewhere else.
As for the "manufactured rivalry with Fulham", I remember chatting to a Bees fan around 1990 (?) about an upcoming Fulham game, when his old Dad, probably born around 1910, chipped in to point out that traditionally, Bees' local rivals are QPR.
This caused me to check the periods when Bees have played QPR and Fulham.
Bees v QPR (78 games in total)
1920-1932 - 26 games
1933-1945 - 0
1946-1966 - 33
1967-2000 - 0
2001-2004 - 6
2005-2014 - 0
2015-2021 - 13
Bees v Fulham (65 games total)
1928-1954 - 21
1954-1979 - 0
1980-1998 - 28
1999-2013 - 0
2014-2024 - 16
The point being that these things are in part generational i.e. which teams you were playing when you first started supporting a team defines who you see as your "rivals".
I mean, the rivalry in Nottingham should theoretically be between Forest and County, but despite playing each other 96 times, they've only met once in the last 30 years (League Cup), or 22 times since 1957, mostly in the 1970's and 80's. |
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Reply | Whisper it quietly but...
at 17:32 4 Feb 2024
If you look at Bees next 7 games, we're not likely to pick up many (any?) points:
Man City (H), Wolves (A), Liverpool (H), Man City (A), WHU (A), Chelsea (H) and Arsenal (A).
Those games could see us drop to 18th, esp if Luton keep bombing on. But our last 10 fixtures are much easier and assuming we get injured players back by then, I remain very confident we'll pick up the points needed to finish above 18th place (Burnley and Sheff U are certs for relegation).
And that's before you factor in possible points deductions for Everton and Forest. Or even an 80 points deduction for Man City  |
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 18:40 23 Jan 2024
Now you have nothing left but playing the man rather than the ball - and on your own thread at that(!) - I'd say that is "embarrassing" and "desperate".
I'll leave it there. |
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 22:17 22 Jan 2024
I've since found another house, so it's all right.
I wonder will I still be in it when next we lose to you  [Post edited 22 Jan 22:19]
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 21:40 22 Jan 2024
@100percent: "Still find it absolutely incredible that not only the poor behaviour of Toney is being called out by brentford fans, but the fact it's actually being excused and accepted is completely unreal."
NB: Nowhere did I say it was excused - he shouldn't have said it. But it happened, I daresay he apologised to the manager, it didn't harm anyone outside of BFC, while (far) worse things are happening all the time - Barton, Henderson, Everton/Forest/City cheating FFP etc, his own gambling even.
But yeah, even months later we should continue to get all agitated about this bolleaux...
@100percent:"Also, just for 'context' here - one thing that myself and any other QPR fan was not doing whilst we were 'riding high' in the bottom half of the premier league, was going onto the brentford forum and chasing interaction and engagement - we took very little or no notice of you - ever."
NB: But now that you're not 'riding so high', you open a thread on a Bees player which gets 25-odd replies before I ever even came near. And now it's on page 4, with 6.5k views. Oh poor, dear QPR, how has it come to this?
@100percent: "I think at QPR we are going through a poor period, but this will pass"
NB: Just as BFC current good period will also pass.
@100percent: "For your sake, I hope the brentford system is more sustainable than the wimbledon/milton keynes model...."
NB: Whether it is sustainable or not, it bears precisely ZERO comparison with that of Wimbledon/MK Dons.
(Not moving 50 miles to our new stadium should have been a clue ) |
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 19:14 22 Jan 2024
I don't pretend to understand the yoof of today, but I do know that mixing 'Celebrity'+Money+Sex+Social Media doesn't usually end very well.
But still the Earth turns...  |
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 18:37 22 Jan 2024
Oh ffs!
He was off-duty - suspended from duty actually - and was being egged on by a fit young bird, probably a Man U fan or somesuch, who he was looking to get into bed back in his 5 star hotel. So he gave her a two second selfie to impress her friends back home, without even thinking she'd put it on TikTok. Even though it was always going to happen.
And he certainly never imagined that QPR and Fulham fans would be getting outraged on behalf of Brentford - thanks for thinking of us btw.
Anyhow, it was puerile/unwise/embarrassing/whatever - but who here never engaged cock before brain at his age? (Might even have been a few drinks involved.)
Meanwhile, after 135 years of existence, I remain hopeful that BFC will somehow withstand this devastating blow to its reputation and self-esteem... [Post edited 22 Jan 18:38]
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Reply | A Tale of Two Football Clubs
at 15:53 22 Jan 2024
While in my limited experience the food/drink at the Gtech is better than at Griffin Park (or Loftus Road?), I'm still not persuaded that it's as good (quality/value/consistency) as it should be for a brand new stadium.
Then again like 'Boston', I don't usually go to football stadia to eat, only doing so when absolutely desperate.
Speaking of which, when I went to WHU's new stadium a couple of seasons ago, it was a night match and I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so I had a Hot Dog. It was £9 (ouch!), but here's the thing: it was nearly a foot long, well cooked in a nice, fresh roll and the sausage itself, advertised as being from a local "artisan" supplier etc, was very tasty.
Certainly it was light years away from your deep-frozen Iceland jobbie and I didn't really mind the cost - far better nine quid for something you enjoy than half that for something you can't even finish.
But everything else about WHU is toilet, mind. |
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 15:04 22 Jan 2024
No, I'm not particularly bothered, since I have long since grown up from imagining that all footballers really "love" their club, when the majority are just badge-kissers, constantly looking for the next move which will boost their career/bank balance etc.
It's how the professional game works, indeed how it has long worked. Or do you imagine eg that Johnny Haynes would have stayed at Fulham after the maximum wage was dropped, had they not made him the country's first £100 a week player?
Quite honestly, it's a short career which could stop at any time, so I don't blame any player for keeping an eye out for the main chance - esp a late developer like Toney (27), who has never earned the big money which most top PL players get.
As for the "Fcuk Brentford" video, of course that was pretty pathetic, but it's not as if he has been going on strike or angling for a move from Day One; employing some scuzzy agent to rush things along; inventing injuries, disrupting the dressing room and planting "stories" in the Press etc like manys another. Nor is he running his contract down so as to get a huge signing on fee, never mind moving to Saudi Arabia.
Instead he just wants to play for a big club which qualifies for Europe etc, will boost his England prospects and quadruple his wages into the bargain. What an awful human being, eh?
And maybe you think it perverse, or lacking in self-respect, but since players come and go, I personally am really only concerned with how he trains, plays and conducts himself generally while he's still at the club. And in that respect he always gives 100%. All of which I say about the worst players at the club, not just the best ones.
As for the gambling:
"The commission found that 29 bets related to the club Toney was registered with or on loan with at the time. These included 13 bets on his own club to lose, although Toney was not involved in those games. In 11 cases the bets were against Newcastle while he was on loan elsewhere and the other two relate to a Wigan v Aston Villa match while he was on loan at Wigan but not in the squad."
Which is not to condone any of that, but it's not like eg Harry Toffalo:
"The Nottingham Forest defender was given a suspended five-month ban after admitting 375 breaches of betting rules, having placed 40 historical bets involving his own team - 15 of those against his own team.
There were also two spot bets placed by the player on events which involved himself, occurring between January 2014 and March 2017."
Nor am I saying that the (8 month) Toney ban was too strict, or the Toffalo (5 month suspended) ban was too lenient - I leave those things to the Commission, who know a great deal more than you or I. Instead I'm just glad that that I don't suffer from the addiction that those two clearly have.
While as a Bees fan, neither have I ever rushed to other fans' websites to condemn eg Keiran Tripper, Daniel Sturridge, Matt Le Tissier or Keith Gillespie etc for their gambling offences, never mind lesser known cases like Lincoln's Bradley Wood (google him).
Now what was it you were saying about "context"? |
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 13:37 22 Jan 2024
PTSD.
Oh and a bastard of a house move, which meant I wasn't even posting on Bees sites until it was sorted. |
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 13:34 22 Jan 2024
"Front" is it?
Here's what happened:
1. QPR site opens thread about Bees player (fair enough, it's your site, your rules etc);
2. Passing Bees fans responds (well it is about a Bees player after all);
3. Angry Fulham fan weighs in with post about a Bees player on a QPR site.
Which is the odd-one-out? [Post edited 22 Jan 13:37]
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Reply | Ivan Toney w@nk fest
at 23:36 21 Jan 2024
The difference being that one's a kid, whereas the other is a grown-up.
But hey, you got a draw. At home. Against a Bus Stop in Hounslow.
Break out the Asti Spumante! |
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