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The 2024-2025 Football Thread
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Man United have bought Bayern Munich defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui and I read a comment made by Paul Scholes specifically on the purchase of de Ligt:
‘When you’re bringing in players for £40m, £50m just because he’s played for him two or three years ago. Juventus got rid of him, he wasn’t good enough there and he obviously hasn’t been good enough at Bayern Munich.
‘He’s coming to us almost like a second-rate defender.’
That was class from Scholes, de Ligt failed at Juventus, he has failed at Bayern and United have bought him not because he is a world class defender but because he played for ETH 2-3 years ago lol.
‘When you’re bringing in players for £40m, £50m just because he’s played for him two or three years ago. Juventus got rid of him, he wasn’t good enough there and he obviously hasn’t been good enough at Bayern Munich.
‘He’s coming to us almost like a second-rate defender.’
That was class from Scholes, de Ligt failed at Juventus, he has failed at Bayern and United have bought him not because he is a world class defender but because he played for ETH 2-3 years ago lol.
This must be one of the fastest sackings at the official start of the football season (pre-season does not count)
1st game of the season and Preston sack their manager
1st game of the season and Preston sack their manager
Ryan Lowe: Preston part company with manager after opening match
Preston North End and manager Ryan Lowe part company after losing their opening game of the new Championship season.
www.bbc.co.uk
Odds are probably quite high he kicked off towards the board blaming them for not backing him.This must be one of the fastest sackings at the official start of the football season (pre-season does not count)
1st game of the season and Preston sack their manager
Ryan Lowe: Preston part company with manager after opening match
Preston North End and manager Ryan Lowe part company after losing their opening game of the new Championship season.www.bbc.co.uk
It still hasn't set in that we (Ipswich) will be playing a Premier League game this weekend for the first time in 22 years. I can't wait to be at Portman Road on Saturday. Honestly not expecting to get anything from Liverpool but we shall see.
It's going to be extremely emotional come 12:25pm when the teams walk out onto the pitch, after all the dark days we've been through during the past 2 decades, we're officially back.
It's going to be extremely emotional come 12:25pm when the teams walk out onto the pitch, after all the dark days we've been through during the past 2 decades, we're officially back.
I didn't watch the Community Shield match live, but from the clips I've seen, United's play was fairly encouraging. They did pretty well despite numerous absences from the squad. The problem is finishing: if they can't put the ball in the net after creating good chances, all the good defending and build-up play is for nought.
As for Matthijs de Ligt: a few weeks ago I read a long article about him (probably in The Athletic) detailing his time at Juve and Bayern, listing his positive contributions at those clubs along with the reasons why it didn't work out long term. In both cases the manager preferred to go with other central defenders: it was a case of good competition rather than glaringly poor play by de Ligt. At United, presumably he'd be third choice behind Licha and Yoro, but Licha always gets injured and Yoro will miss a couple of months, so he'll get his opportunities. If he's better than Maguire and Lindelöf, which seems very likely, that's a welcome upgrade.
Hopefully Mazraoui proves to be an upgrade over the now-departed AWB. He's a more versatile player, but apparently is injury prone.
As for Matthijs de Ligt: a few weeks ago I read a long article about him (probably in The Athletic) detailing his time at Juve and Bayern, listing his positive contributions at those clubs along with the reasons why it didn't work out long term. In both cases the manager preferred to go with other central defenders: it was a case of good competition rather than glaringly poor play by de Ligt. At United, presumably he'd be third choice behind Licha and Yoro, but Licha always gets injured and Yoro will miss a couple of months, so he'll get his opportunities. If he's better than Maguire and Lindelöf, which seems very likely, that's a welcome upgrade.
Hopefully Mazraoui proves to be an upgrade over the now-departed AWB. He's a more versatile player, but apparently is injury prone.
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Poor old Shrek! It’s like he doesn’t know what he’s doing!4 - 0
Good luck. I always prefer to see one team from East Anglia in the Prem.
Hopefully you don’t sign Phillips from City. He won’t do you any favours.
It's certainly an interesting one. He's had a torrid 2 years, the move to City really didn't work. But he would instantly improve us in midfield once he can get match fit. If it happens, it will only be a loan, no way we can afford him permanently.
It looks like Man City's 115 charges will be heard in September
metro.co.uk
Whilst there have been team's around the world that have had their titles removed due to rules breaches of various kinds, there have only been 3 in Europe's top leagues:
1: Marseille 1992-1993 Match fixing/bribery
2: Genoa 2004-2005 Match fixing/corruption
3: Juventus 2004-2005, 2005-2006. Match fixing
Man City are not facing the same kind of charges. All they are facing is breaching various financial fair play rules which are always points reductions. Everton got hit with the 6 point reduction (reduced from 10 I think it was) because contrary to what Everton said, Everton were not fully co-operative with the investigators. This is something observers have noticed with the investigation into City, they have been less than co-operative with the investigators.
So, if Everton got 6 points deduction for not fully co-operating and those same rules are applied to Man City. If City were to be found guilty of all 115 charges against them they could face the possibility of 690 points deduction (115 x 6).
If you were to take the end of season 2023-2024 points of each of the league winners, EPL 91, Champ 97, EFL 1 97 EFL 2 92 (91+97+97+92) that makes 377 points. So if the premier league were to deduct 690 points from City, it would instantly put them into non league football and beyond.
Obviously what I have written about City and points deduction is hypothetical but with Everton being given the points deduction for ONE breach of the rules for not fully co-operating with the premier league and City have also done the same, you can see why it stands to reason Everton and others would be expecting City to be given the same amount of points deduction for every charge they are found guilty off.
Take a look at Nottingham Forrest's points deduction. They were given 4 for ONE breach of the rules with the premier league praising them for how co-operative they were.
Now even if City were to be give 4 points, if they are found guilty of all 115 charges, the total amount of deduction points would still see them end up in non league football.
Question is does the premier league have the guts to do this and if they did, how long would the appeals process be because City would appeal and if they appeal and kept on appealing, would they still be allowed to play in the premier league.
Date set for hearing into Man City's 115 Financial Fair Play charges
We're only a few weeks away...
metro.co.uk
Whilst there have been team's around the world that have had their titles removed due to rules breaches of various kinds, there have only been 3 in Europe's top leagues:
1: Marseille 1992-1993 Match fixing/bribery
2: Genoa 2004-2005 Match fixing/corruption
3: Juventus 2004-2005, 2005-2006. Match fixing
Man City are not facing the same kind of charges. All they are facing is breaching various financial fair play rules which are always points reductions. Everton got hit with the 6 point reduction (reduced from 10 I think it was) because contrary to what Everton said, Everton were not fully co-operative with the investigators. This is something observers have noticed with the investigation into City, they have been less than co-operative with the investigators.
So, if Everton got 6 points deduction for not fully co-operating and those same rules are applied to Man City. If City were to be found guilty of all 115 charges against them they could face the possibility of 690 points deduction (115 x 6).
If you were to take the end of season 2023-2024 points of each of the league winners, EPL 91, Champ 97, EFL 1 97 EFL 2 92 (91+97+97+92) that makes 377 points. So if the premier league were to deduct 690 points from City, it would instantly put them into non league football and beyond.
Obviously what I have written about City and points deduction is hypothetical but with Everton being given the points deduction for ONE breach of the rules for not fully co-operating with the premier league and City have also done the same, you can see why it stands to reason Everton and others would be expecting City to be given the same amount of points deduction for every charge they are found guilty off.
Take a look at Nottingham Forrest's points deduction. They were given 4 for ONE breach of the rules with the premier league praising them for how co-operative they were.
Now even if City were to be give 4 points, if they are found guilty of all 115 charges, the total amount of deduction points would still see them end up in non league football.
Question is does the premier league have the guts to do this and if they did, how long would the appeals process be because City would appeal and if they appeal and kept on appealing, would they still be allowed to play in the premier league.
I feel a hefty fine and slap on the wrist is more likely and there's little the rest of the league will do. City is the EPL's golden goose afterall
There's even a possibility that City are acquitted altogether.
Meanwhile, Chelsea's transfer strategy continues to amaze me. How they're getting away with spending £1.5bn and counting is beyond me.
The original premise was that the squad was bloated and needed trimming. Yet they've gone and brought in 12 more players, and planning to buy 2 more, and now looking to sell NINE players
Even the players are looking fatigued from having to take on every new manager's style of play. Its just...
Utd continue the theme of signing players ETH has worked with in the past in De Ligt and Mazraoui. They'll likely be upgrades over Maguire and AWB.
But there's also a risk they struggle. After all both didn't make it in Bundesliga which is less competitive.
Liverpool can't catch a break, although i'm not surprised Zubimendi rejected them. He's developed a reputation as being hard to convince to leave Spain (rejected Bayern, Arsenal, Barcelona).
Also he was told by Sociedad he'd have to pay the €50m clause himself which seems underhanded. But i guess they didn't want to lose both Merino and Zubimendi.
As a result, still no incoming for Liverpool which is strange. Maybe FSG are waiting to see what Slot does with the existing squad
There's even a possibility that City are acquitted altogether.
Meanwhile, Chelsea's transfer strategy continues to amaze me. How they're getting away with spending £1.5bn and counting is beyond me.
The original premise was that the squad was bloated and needed trimming. Yet they've gone and brought in 12 more players, and planning to buy 2 more, and now looking to sell NINE players
Even the players are looking fatigued from having to take on every new manager's style of play. Its just...
Utd continue the theme of signing players ETH has worked with in the past in De Ligt and Mazraoui. They'll likely be upgrades over Maguire and AWB.
But there's also a risk they struggle. After all both didn't make it in Bundesliga which is less competitive.
Liverpool can't catch a break, although i'm not surprised Zubimendi rejected them. He's developed a reputation as being hard to convince to leave Spain (rejected Bayern, Arsenal, Barcelona).
Also he was told by Sociedad he'd have to pay the €50m clause himself which seems underhanded. But i guess they didn't want to lose both Merino and Zubimendi.
As a result, still no incoming for Liverpool which is strange. Maybe FSG are waiting to see what Slot does with the existing squad
Not unless his form has improved since we took him on loan. He was poor. Cost us a few points.
Chelsea will have to sell because otherwise they will fail the premier leagues financial fair play rules. This is why United are being very cagey with their transfers because they know they are close to failing the rules if they do not sell more players.I feel a hefty fine and slap on the wrist is more likely and there's little the rest of the league will do. City is the EPL's golden goose afterall
There's even a possibility that City are acquitted altogether.
Meanwhile, Chelsea's transfer strategy continues to amaze me. How they're getting away with spending £1.5bn and counting is beyond me.
The original premise was that the squad was bloated and needed trimming. Yet they've gone and brought in 12 more players, and planning to buy 2 more, and now looking to sell NINE players
Even the players are looking fatigued from having to take on every new manager's style of play. Its just...
Utd continue the theme of signing players ETH has worked with in the past in De Ligt and Mazraoui. They'll likely be upgrades over Maguire and AWB.
But there's also a risk they struggle. After all both didn't make it in Bundesliga which is less competitive.
Liverpool can't catch a break, although i'm not surprised Zubimendi rejected them. He's developed a reputation as being hard to convince to leave Spain (rejected Bayern, Arsenal, Barcelona).
Also he was told by Sociedad he'd have to pay the €50m clause himself which seems underhanded. But i guess they didn't want to lose both Merino and Zubimendi.
As a result, still no incoming for Liverpool which is strange. Maybe FSG are waiting to see what Slot does with the existing squad
As for United, they will end being called Pre-Ajax United because ETH seems adamant in wanting players from both the youth team and the senior team during his time at Ajax.
Liverpool already have an excellent squad. Klopp left the team in good standing. If Slot cannot work with the team he has got then that say's more about him than the players. This where I agree with you about FSG. I think they will wait to see how Slot does with the existing squad and then use the January transfer window to changes things is it's not worked out prior to the transfer window.
The young and very talented Rosa Kafaji, from Häcken,Sweden, signs for Arsenal - for 2,5 milj SEK - a 'bit less' then Messi's last contract 😉
But she's happy and gets to play with a lot of other Swedes there plus have the Swedish trainer Jonas Eidevall. Very good for her, and her progress I think 👍🏼
But she's happy and gets to play with a lot of other Swedes there plus have the Swedish trainer Jonas Eidevall. Very good for her, and her progress I think 👍🏼
The weird thing I find about Rooney is that when given the Derby County job, Derby was up the crapper already. They were in administration, couldn't pay the players wages on time, many first team players leaving so having to use youth team players. Team had many injuries and many players who just gave up, didn't try , everything was going against Rooney and yet whilst stuttering a bit he did an outstanding job in my opinion. But give him a job at a club that is not struggling to the depths that Derby did, he struggles badly. He did a poor job at DC United, and even worse job at Birmingham and first game in charge at Plymouth they get hammered 4-0. Sacked by Christmas I think if he does not turn things around.
Man United women have signed very talented Sweden international defender Anna Sandberg. Got champions league experience from BK Haken and finished 3rd in the 2023 Women's World Cup
Sandberg and Kafaji were team mates in Häcken, and I've heard of her signing too, but it didn't get that much attention here. Kafaji are consideref a much larger talent.Man United women have signed very talented Sweden international defender Anna Sandberg. Got champions league experience from BK Haken and finished 3rd in the 2023 Women's World Cup
But they both have debuted in the National team already.
Thanks, and good that you keep yourself informed of Women's Football, and the talented young Swede's whereabouts 👍🏼
West Ham have got their man
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: West Ham sign Manchester United defender for £15m
Aaron Wan-Bissaka completes a £15m move to West Ham from Manchester United.
www.bbc.co.uk
Took a while to go through that one. Also Zoomas move to Saudi looks to be off.West Ham have got their man
Aaron Wan-Bissaka: West Ham sign Manchester United defender for £15m
Aaron Wan-Bissaka completes a £15m move to West Ham from Manchester United.www.bbc.co.uk
Wan-Bissaka is a very good defender. Is just a shame that ETH did not value him much.
Yes, I thought he’d been pretty reliable for United. Out with the old, in with the new, it seems, however. I hope the defence and midfield is sorted properly for this season.