General Discussion: Sport

[xLegioNx]

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ProjectVRD wrote:

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xLegioNx wrote:

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Tilly-uk wrote:

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xLegioNx wrote:

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englishgolfer wrote:
not for wanting to sound like arsenalmark but my gosh! that ref and his decision making was woeful. arsenal should have had 2 penalities, and norwich 1.

still what a game!

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I'm glad you said it instead of me, would've just sounded like sore losing otherwise. Arsenal haven't had a single penalty at The Emirates this season. I'll leave it at that.

Still, quite an intense game. I have to cheer on Man City and whoever Spurs play tomorrow now. And Bayern Munich

Oh and by the way, we have another broken leg as a result of this game. Finishing the season way we started. Yay.

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How dare you!

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That was before today If Arsneal win their next game I'll be back on your side again

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I'm hoping Arsenal win their next game, if they beat West Brom and Swansea beat Liverpool then we move into 7th spot. But at the same time I hoping Man Utd beat Sunderland as that would mean we move into 10th position.

Swansea finishing in the Top 10. Unthinkable 8 months ago! But considering Sunderland and West Brom are up against two great teams, and both are likely to be playing for something (United in the hope City stumble and Arsenal to keep their place in the UCL spots) it could be done... besides, Swansea beating Liverpool? Stranger things have happened this season.

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I'd love it if things played out that way. Swansea deserve to be there. I was really impressed at how they out-passed us. Not something we're used to seeing at The Emirates It's a pretty high finish for the first season, especially as most people had you going back down at the start. If things end this way I'll be a happy man.

[phep]

Would like to see us beat Everton, WBA to beat Arsenal and Fulham to beat or get a draw against Spurs. Third place guarenteed for us in that case If not, at least us winning and one of those two others happening would also be nice. How important does that last minute Vermaelen goal against us look now? If it was unthinkable for Swansea to be in the top 10 8 months ago, what about Newcastle being where they are?

[englishgolfer]

what's more shocking is that liverpool have knocked in (at the time of writing) 3 goals at home. at home!

[phep]

Thank you Liverpool No worse than 5th for us now

[ProjectVRD]

Swans fans could set a new world record on the weekend if they get more than the 645 Elvis impersonators that attended the Aria Hotel in Las Vegas on November 23 2010. Brendon Rogers has called upon fans to dress up as the legendary singer in response to a bookmaker stating "there is more chance of seeing Elvis alive than Swansea avoiding relegation" before the season began.

[englishgolfer]

^^ well project - best start finding an elvis suit for you!

[ProjectVRD]

All I can manage so far is a cardboard Elvis mask and a wig. I have tried phoning little independent stores across south wales and they are all either bought or rented out already.

[ProjectVRD]

Financial advisors from accountancy firm say Cardiff needs to wake up to reality if the club is to survive economically, with the Malaysian owners now all but pulling it's investment plans off the table.

This week the owners scrapped plans for a change in shirt colour from the traditional blue to red, which is a colour seen as being lucky in Asia and thus would increase profit possibilities outside of the European continent. Such a move is seen as absolutely necessary to the future of the club which is still is heavy debt and continues to lose money, and now with the rich Malaysian owners virtually withdrawing it's £100M investment it could see the club slip towards administration should the owners decide to leave.

Not all Cardiff supporters are club suicidal though, the idea of destroying all of the clubs tradition was not lost on some sections of the 'Soul Crew' faithful and even the head spokesman for the 30,000 weekly Soul Crew affiliates admitted that the health of the club was more important than the history which would not go away anyway no matter the colour of the home kit. Economic experts would agree with this notion as would ProjectVRD as the violent history of Cardiff City FC and it's fans would always be preserved no matter the branding of the club.

For now, it looks as though the club from South East Wales has a lot of work to do to turnaround it's finance books and there are very real fears that if the leaks cannot be plugged then Asian buyers would pull the rug from under this well known and somewhat much loved (in Cardiff) football established. The very existence of the might hinge on a successful campaign to join the Top 20 level of English football by finally winning a game in the Championship Play-Offs. The Bluebirds have an unwanted distinction of losing with the attempts in a row and having narrowly missed out on Premier League football three seasons ago when being decimiated in front of the world at the hands of Blackpool, whose is quadrupled every summer by the arrival of the elderly on day visits funded by a years attendance of coffee mornings.

This turn of events comes in stark contrast to that of bitter rivals Swansea City FC who have survived the first season in the Premier League, while also doing so in a style that has won them much praise not only from within the nation of Wales but also England and many other corners of the world. With all Swansea matches sceeened live in Holland and 75% screened live in Australia the Jacks have slowly started building a cult following on the premise of the a David versus Goliath story. Originally slated for instant relegation, Cardiff's bitter rivals have managed to steer themselves onto the precipice of a Top 10 finish in what is arguable the hardest league on the planet using nothing more than a shoestring budget.

Swansea's financial performance for the 2011/2012 season is not expected to be announced until April 2013, much like all other Premier League teams, and the premilimary results due in October should give a rough insight in those upcoming audits. It is expect that Swansea will be on of only 5 Premier League clubs to post a profit and initial estimates suggest in excess of £20M, enough to pay off half of Cardiff City's total debt.

Swansea earlier this season announced using profits to build a £10M Youth Academy to train youngsters from all over the United Kingdom to play it's aesthetically pleasing style from a very young age, while also investing in a state of the art Senior Training Facility to better compete in immediate short term and attrack better players. There are also plans to expand the Liberty Stadium to approximately 35% above it's current capacity, eventually housing 30,000 supporters and providing another major boost to it's bi-weekly earnings from match day revenues.

This decision was undertaken after analysis by the Swansea County Council conducted a study that revealed that Swansea City Season Tickets were in demand to the tune of over the 30,000 desired stadium size before the 2011-2012 season began, with an estimated extra 10,000 wanting to buy tickets for individual games on match day. Swansea is one of the only teams in a Top 5 European league where the home fan attendance in the home stadium was consistently above 99.2%. In comparison, desite their ever presence in the Championship Play-Off positions, bitter rivals Cardiff only managed an average of 93.4% of home fan attendance in the home stadium.

Unless Cardiff City FC can find a way of copying it's more illustrious neighbour's plans on and off the field, then there may only be one team from Wales that could realistically represent the nation of Wales in the Premier League. Ultimately yet another season of failed expectation could lead to a mass exodus from a team considered already depleted of depth, but not depleted of talent. Only time will tell if the club located in the Welsh capital can pull itself through a potential re-entry into the quagmire, but it would appear that relies on it's fans who may have to make a bold decision to say goodbye to 'Bluebird' monika, and embrace the new nickname 'Dragons'.

[Gawge]

A guide to criticising Roy Hodgson's squad selection:

Captain: if someone who has been captain before, "predictable". If not, "wrong".

Average age of squad over 26: too old, over-reliance on the failed so-called "golden generation".

Average age of squad under 26: inexperienced/ruining our chances for the Olympics (I forget whether we care about this or not).

Goalkeepers:

Joe Hart: obvious choice and deserves no credit.

Rob Green: plays for a championship club. Only selected due to failure to persuade anyone else out of retirement, ergo poor man-management.

Ben Foster: nepotism.

Right back:

Failure to take all of Micah Richards, Glen Johnson, Kyle Walker, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling constitutes a decision, and therefore automatically a risky/wrong one.

Left back:

Ashley Cole: obvious, deserves no credit. If a back-up is selected: unnecessary, waste of a squad place (cf. Stephen Warnock). If not: short-sighted.

Centre back:

Failure to persuade Rio and Terry to play together is poor man-management. Success is "too risky".

Central Midfield:

Gerrard: make reference to Hodgson's time at Liverpool and cast doubt on ability to get a performance out of him.

Lampard: too similar to Gerrard. If not picked, make unflattering AVB comparisons.

Scott Parker: would certainly perform better if 'Arry was manager

Carrick/Barry: boring.

Scholes: if picked, desperate. If not picked, a missed opportunity

Anyone else: an unknown quantity.

Wings:

Joe Cole: if not picked, point out that he has been playing brilliantly in France. If picked, point out that he has been rubbish in France. No-one will bother to check either way.

Ashley Young: if picked, diver that will not fool continental referees, therefore a waste of space. If not picked, point to past goalscoring form and ability to win penalties.

Adam Johnson: if picked, has hardly played for Man City this season. If not picked, has hardly played for Man City this season and would have bought much-needed freshness to the squad.

Walcott: if picked, has only ever performed that one time against Croatia. If not picked, performed that one time against Croatia.

Stewart Downing: if picked, 0 goals 0 assists. If not picked, bemoan lack of natural left-footers in the squad.

Anyone who plays for Swansea: if picked, they play for Swansea, a small club. If not, harshly overlooked.

Strikers:

Rooney: if picked, waste of a squad place. We'll be out after 2 games anyway. If not picked, have "ROO-DICULOUS!!!" headlines on standby.

Andy Carroll: if picked, has been rubbish all season. If not, has been brilliant for the last two games.

Defoe: if picked, has not played all season. If not, gifted finisher, adds freshness to the squad, 'Arry would have picked him.

Crouch: if picked, exposes England's dearth of strikers. If not, think of the wonder-goal.

Sturridge/Welbeck: if picked, inexperienced. If not, robbing the future of English football of valuable tournament experience.

(Source)

[martyn__gibbs]

"Manchester City deserve to win the title"

Really?