Football

I have a big enough sample size now to safely say the BT Sport Bundesliga commentator, hyper at the best of the times, needs to take it down several notches for games in our new reality. Set an example in your chosen field, you over eager dafty, by not smothering me with endless inane babbling or forcing Owen Hargreaves' dreary cadence upon my ears when he clearly wants to be left alone, let me bathe in the echoes and silence from time to time, let me hear the benches and the on pitch shouting and see if my knowledge of German swear words is improving. Thank you.    

Not that there are any good options for a restart, only a choice of least bad I suppose, but when faced with financial catastrophe unless the league continues, resuming with empty stadia and safety measures in place does seem like the best option available.

I don't think it's just the absence of crowds that's important though, it's the disturbance of the narrative and the lack of hype and noise surrounding the game that will make things completely different. Let it be sterile and strange if it has to be, the greater the attempts at manufacturing some sort of artificial normality, the weirder things will undoubtedly get.

Perhaps needless to say, one wonders why Hargreaves even bothers. He doesn't appear to get any particular enjoyment out of it and goodness knows he's not bringing much to the table. 

Played reasonably well against a decent team who arguably humiliated us in the reverse fixture, such was the gulf in ability. But golly gee, I don't think I have the stomach for all these games, ours or anyone else's.

13 minutes ago, Frederick said:

Played reasonably well against a decent team who arguably humiliated us in the reverse fixture, such was the gulf in ability. But golly gee, I don't think I have the stomach for all these games, ours or anyone else's.

If we must have games played in empty stadiums, at least give it a bit of authenticity by allowing one old bloke to stand by the touchline with his dog.

Christian Purslow has the gift of the gab to the extent that he could probably convince me that my legs are in fact made of candle wax, but we are so thunderously pants as a footballing entity it begs belief. Bruce may as well have laid out a red carpet and said "we can't be bothered today, go beat us" but no, we started playing with five minutes to go, but not before being out thought by a mutton chopped 76 year-old Andy Carroll. League games against Coventry beckon and I tell ya, I ain't ready for it!

I hope Wigan's situation is unique and not one of many.

On 7/4/2020 at 1:44 AM, jkjk said:

I hope Wigan's situation is unique and not one of many.

Even without the gambling allegations, the current predicament at Wigan is one of the biggest scandals in British footballing history. If in fact there is an EFL "fit and proper persons test" it probably resembles a two by two sudoku puzzle with half the squares already filled in.

I fear we may be along to join them before too long, though. The recent announcement regarding the club not paying furlough top-up money was the clearest message yet that we're absolutely flipping brassic.

6 minutes ago, Michael* said:

Even without the gambling allegations, the current predicament at Wigan is one of the biggest scandals in British footballing history. If in fact there is an EFL "fit and proper persons test" it probably resembles a two by two sudoku puzzle with half the squares already filled in.

 

I fear we may be along to join them before too long, though. The recent announcement regarding the club not paying furlough top-up money was the clearest message yet that we're absolutely flipping brassic.

I was thinking many clubs could be in trouble because of the virus and the reduction in income that came with it. I would think most clubs spend much of their income for competitive reasons and were not prepared for any disruptions.

It seems like the Wigan's punishment should be more than the normal 12 points. I'm sure the process will take a very long time since there is more going on than just money problems/bankruptcy.

21 hours ago, jkjk said:

I was thinking many clubs could be in trouble because of the virus and the reduction in income that came with it. I would think most clubs spend much of their income for competitive reasons and were not prepared for any disruptions.

 

It seems like the Wigan's punishment should be more than the normal 12 points. I'm sure the process will take a very long time since there is more going on than just money problems/bankruptcy.

I would think so. The biggest concern of the EFL will probably be less about their duty of care, more the fact that it'll be near impossible to have a sensible league competition if half the clubs in the lower divisions have to start a new season on minus twelve points, but I'd imagine they'll exercise caution as a result. At least for the time being.

Champions League draw and what have you.

August will be an interesting month, to be sure.

Big friggin surprise that Man City's 2 year UCL ban was overturned. UEFA lacks consistency and only punishes the smaller clubs while the bigger ones get a slap on the wrist. I guess it depends on how much cash you have for bribes.

UEFA is just as corrupt as FIFA.

While the European ban for Man City has been overturned of course, they do remain under investigation by the Premier League. £500 fine incoming.

Who am I kidding, the Premier League would probably settle for a packet of crisps and a can of Fanta.

On 7/6/2020 at 9:52 PM, Michael* said:

 

I would think so. The biggest concern of the EFL will probably be less about their duty of care, more the fact that it'll be near impossible to have a sensible league competition if half the clubs in the lower divisions have to start a new season on minus twelve points, but I'd imagine they'll exercise caution as a result. At least for the time being.

Presumably Wigan are the first club to go into administration and win a game 8-0 less than two weeks later.

A banner at every empty stadium demanding the reinstatement of Clive Tydesley as ITV's number one commentator? Seems the least 'we' can do. Matterface? More like Getouttamyface!

9 hours ago, Frederick said:

Presumably Wigan are the first club to go into administration and win a game 8-0 less than two weeks later.

Looking at the current Championship table, it would appear that any such deduction would be a virtual guarantee of outright demise for two thirds of the clubs in it. It would be particularly galling though for Hull to stay up at Wigan's expense after a stuffing like that one.

9 hours ago, Frederick said:

A banner at every empty stadium demanding the reinstatement of Clive Tydesley as ITV's number one commentator? Seems the least 'we' can do. Matterface? More like Getouttamyface!

It sounds like ITV owe Tyldesley and us at least some sort of explanation. Perhaps needless to say though, if it doesn't involve a potential free transfer to Sky and the possibility of a bellowed reveal by Martin Tyler of "and it's Clive!" then I'm not listening.

12 hours ago, Michael* said:

 

It sounds like ITV owe Tyldesley and us at least some sort of explanation. Perhaps needless to say though, if it doesn't involve a potential free transfer to Sky and the possibility of a bellowed reveal by Martin Tyler of "and it's Clive!" then I'm not listening.

Tyler, who always seemed so robustly competent, has definitely morphed into a dottier specimen over the last ten or so years, which might just be age related (74!), though I'm a believer commentators should be at least 60 anyway as only fair weather Twitter types, the kind who rush to make photoshop mock ups of their team's supposed transfer targets wearing the club kit, would want a wee tyke on the mic during a game that had anything riding on it. I also suspect the reaction to the primal Aguero howl went to Martin's head a bit, did the dreaded catchphrase start before or after that? 

10 hours ago, Frederick said:

Tyler, who always seemed so robustly competent, has definitely morphed into a dottier specimen over the last ten or so years, which might just be age related (74!), though I'm a believer commentators should be at least 60 anyway as only fair weather Twitter types, the kind who rush to make photoshop mock ups of their team's supposed transfer targets wearing the club kit, would want a wee tyke on the mic during a game that had anything riding on it. I also suspect the reaction to the primal Aguero howl went to Martin's head a bit, did the dreaded catchphrase start before or after that? 

I think post-Aguero was probably when the catchphrase started to feel really contrived. Tyler's commentary has gotten increasingly bizarre as of late though, the solid minute spent explaining a joke he'd made about Dani Ceballos and hairdressers culminating in an attempt to mimic Alan Smith's accent the other night was a particular low point.

In fairness, I was never the biggest Tyldesley devotee either. The cringe comedy factor of his partnership with Andy Townsend was entertaining at times, but his overly romanticised view of the mighty England, even when the team was playing drab football and struggling to win qualifiers against Macedonia (which of course, was most of the time), had long been a source of irritation for me.

With all that said, while wanting to appeal to a younger audience isn't inherently a bad thing, it would be downright naive to think the next generation wouldn't get or listen to an experienced voice. A middle-aged person's idea of what younger people want is almost always how we end up with things like "Fletch and Macca" on BT.

On 7/13/2020 at 12:56 PM, Michael* said:

While the European ban for Man City has been overturned of course, they do remain under investigation by the Premier League. £500 fine incoming.

 

Who am I kidding, the Premier League would probably settle for a packet of crisps and a can of Fanta.

Yep no standards in football unless they're screwing over small clubs.