We don't want to achieve anything! (1 Viewer)

[Moods For Mallards]

Say mediocre English clubs:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/apr/24/europa-league-spurs-west-ham-fulham

This is part of the reason that I think the overwhelming success of the Premier League as a product is ruining top-level football.
There is only a handful of teams who can conceive of winning things right now, but beyond that nobody even wants to win anything anymore. The pathetic 'target' of avoiding relegation is the only thing that concerns 75% of the Premier League. THey play weakened teams in competitions they possibly could win and bemoan the amount of games it might take to win a European trophy.
Losers, all of them.
Isn't sport about glory and big days and trophies? If so, I posit that the English Premier League clubs are no longer involved in sporting competition.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Furthermore, I think German football is in a far healthier state than that of England, and might be a good model for anyone over yonder who wants to save the sport in the long term.
Sure, they're not winning Champions Leagues and only Bayern seem to be determined to get in on the action, but they have a massively popular, competitive, affordable league with clubs that appreciate and strive for the trophies they can win (witness the rollicking atmosphere for Hamburg's home game against City recently).

 

[Franco]

It's bullshit. Spurs and Villa throwing the towel in this season was pathetic.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

The Champions League has done to the EUFA cup what the Premiership has done to the English League.
Dried the marrow from the bone, so to speak.

I mean does everybody really prefer the CL to the European Cup?

Fuck it, three lines in and I'm rambling.

I agree with all the points so far.

 

[Froog]

premiership is a yawn fest alright. like the most excitement is how close will someone get to united? same top four every year. yawn.

 

[Froog]

i like the draft system in the states, like the worst teams get first pick of fresh talent, no bidding wars allowed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_(sports)

 

[ratmonkey]

I mean does everybody really prefer the CL to the European Cup?

The mid 90s version maybe, champions only. Possibly 2nd place at a pinch. It's really killed the UEFA cup as a competition worthy of any note at all though.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

i like the draft system in the states, like the worst teams get first pick of fresh talent, no bidding wars allowed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_(sports)

You have to combine that with a salary cap for it to work.
Decide a level of total salary and let the market take care of the rest. It's been proven to work.

I'm not always a fan of sending the very best young players to the complete shittest teams.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

The mid 90s version maybe, champions only. Possibly 2nd place at a pinch. It's really killed the UEFA cup as a competition worthy of any note at all though.

Yup.

 

[Vinnie]

The Eredevisie has become a much healthier competition too and has also coincided with the decline of Dutch football in Europe. I totally agree that this is not a bad thing in that it means that the Champions League is not the be all and end all at the expense of the domestic league

Furthermore, I think German football is in a far healthier state than that of England, and might be a good model for anyone over yonder who wants to save the sport in the long term.
Sure, they're not winning Champions Leagues and only Bayern seem to be determined to get in on the action, but they have a massively popular, competitive, affordable league with clubs that appreciate and strive for the trophies they can win (witness the rollicking atmosphere for Hamburg's home game against City recently).

 

[CinnamonBoy]

I don't get it. There's top 4 in England and top 16-20 in Europe. Surely there's enough good players floating around with the other teams for someone to collect them together and challenge, no? Spurs have spent a fucking fortune over the last few years. A bit more canniness and they could be challenging for the Champions League.

It's not a closed shop.

I'd say if Brian Clough came around now he would relish the task of building up a team to challenge the "big boys".

 

[Moods For Mallards]

I don't get it. There's top 4 in England and top 16-20 in Europe. Surely there's enough good players floating around with the other teams for someone to collect them together and challenge, no? Spurs have spent a fucking fortune over the last few years. A bit more canniness and they could be challenging for the Champions League.

It's not a closed shop.

I'd say if Brian Clough came around now he would relish the task of building up a team to challenge the "big boys".

Manchester United's reserve team would be in the Top 4. The gap is enormous. The best players are all concentrated among a few clubs now, with the odd exception. Anyone who appears to be particualrly good outside that group is soon snapped up. That didn't used to happen to anytihng approaching the same extent.
Spurs sold their two best players last summer, not because they had to, but because any player that wants to win things believes (understandably) that they have to go to one of 4 teams.
The culture of sporting competition has been destroyed. The smaller businesses in the league are content to stay where they are, terrified of losing TV money, unwilling to take any risk to win 'distraction' silverware ahead of maintaining a cosy PL spot.
Clough would be disgusted, but of course in real life he'd have been conditioned by the prevailing culture.

As Vinnie notes, the Dutch have, like the Germans, adapted to the circumstances by valuing a competitive national championship and not allowing their inability to really compete in the CL anymore to have a negative impact on the game as a whole there.

 

[Moods For Mallards]

Also, Clough would simple have to attach himself to a club that had been bought by some frivolous billionaire.
That's the worst thing about it, in my opinion. Everyone hopes that an Abramovich-style rich dude will choose their club and raise it up into the Top 4. It's pathetic.
Clough's achievements were not bankrolled by a sugar daddy. He and Taylor bought clever, bought cheap, bought relatively expensive every now and then if they really fancied someone, and they dragged 2 middling clubs to great success against a big bunch of other guys tryign to do exactly the same thing, because they were just better.

 

[It Will Never Last]

I was fucked off more than most of you with Spurs throwing the Wafer games vs Donetsk seeing as I went to the 2nd leg, and would have gone to the 1st only my mum nearly died over Xmas and I decided to spend some time with her while she was recovering from serious surgery.

The think is, fielding a weakened side isn't a problem, its fielding a weakened side and telling them not to bother that annoys me more than anything. Once we scored at home I knew we weren't going to chase a goal to equalise on aggregate, and that is unforgivable IMO.

The problem is, if we finish 7th and qualify for the Europa League next year, we have to play 19 games to win it. That's half a league season... Four of those games are because Uefa want to give the CL dropouts another bite of the cherry.

You've laos got to look at the makup of the Uefa SFs this year, two Ukraine and two German sides. No Italian, English or Spanish sides...shows what all the big leagues think of it.

Fuck it though, there's enough players on the books for Spurs to compete:

1st XI

Gomes
Corluka
King
Woodgate
BAE
Lennon
Palacios
Jenas
Modric
Keane
Bent

2nd XI

Cudicini
Hutton
Dawson
Chimbonda
Bale
Bentley
Zokora
Huddlestone
O'Hara
Defoe
Pavlyuchenko

3rd XI

Alnwick
Gunter
Rocha
Dervitte
Gilberto
Taarabt
Parrett
Bostock
dos Santos
Obika
Campbell

That's only 4 players from our Acadamey.

There's also Caulker, Smith, Rose, Townsend, M'Puku who could step up from the Acadamey and play Carling Cup.

Sort it out Redknapp you twitchy cunt.

 

[It Will Never Last]

Clough's achievements were not bankrolled by a sugar daddy. He and Taylor bought clever, bought cheap, bought relatively expensive every now and then if they really fancied someone, and they dragged 2 middling clubs to great success against a big bunch of other guys tryign to do exactly the same thing, because they were just better.

You're not comparing like with like though.

A few years before Clough won his 1st title at Forest Spurs were relegated. A young Glenn Hoddle shone in the old 2nd division and we cam back up at the 1st attempt...can you imagine a player of Hoddle's ability staying at a relegated club these days?

 

[CinnamonBoy]

Taarabt
.

ISASOS, what's the criac with this Adel Taarabt lad? I recall Redknapp saying he'd never seen a player with such ability before and that they just needed to try and get him playing. That was about 6 months. Is he a lazy cunt or just not interested or actually crap or what?

 

[It Will Never Last]

ISASOS, what's the criac with this Adel Taarabt lad? I recall Redknapp saying he'd never seen a player with such ability before and that they just needed to try and get him playing. That was about 6 months. Is he a lazy cunt or just not interested or actually crap or what?

Out on loan at the Rs init?

Supposed to be having a jolly old time.

He's fond of a stepover and no mistaking, he's a tricky little fucker but is lacking in direction. That's the coaches job to instill I suppose.