very surprised at only 26,000 at Sunderland in the first leg of their play-off with Pompey. After watching the two games I understand why. To say they are average is an understatement
was impressed with Donny last night, have a few decent players, unlucky to miss out. Taylor of Charlton decent too
FA Cup Final today. It used to be a major sporting event when I was growing up and probably was until Man U withdrew from it in 2000 and therefore devaluing it. However unlikely it may be, I'm hoping for Watford to lift the trophy this evening. Did you know that Man City have already booked their Wembley/London hotel for both the FA Cup and League Cup Finals next season?
Used to be a great all-day affair, with the bus rides into Wembley and loads of fans shows on.....now it barely gets a mention. Used to go down the pub to watch it all when I was old enough too - I didn't even realise it was on today. Be great for Watford to emulate what Wigan did a few years ago and beat Citeh.
Gone are the days when a club doing the League and Cup double was a historic achievement, only happened twice before money ruined everything and only a select few clubs won everything due to money being thrown at them.......TBH I'm not bothered about the game today although it would be nice to see a Watford win as City as a club are everything that is wrong with football these days although they do play some good football to be fair.....
If they're that cocky why haven't they booked their hotels for next season's Champions League Final? Oops, probably won't be in it, about time their sponsorship scam was outlawed here as well...
The only way out of this farce is strictly enforced UEFA wide squad wage caps, like rugby and US sports. If PSG want to spend £200m on Neymar and pay him his weight in gold great, but the other players in the squad won’t be so happy.
Tell it to the Beeb. They've been talking it up all season or should that be mimicking black gangsta rap' to get over the message just how brilliant a competition it still is. I'll believe it if David slays Goliath this afternoon. It would be seriously good if Watford could do it. On a more serious note, it shows a serious lack of imagination when the Beeb advertises every single showcase sporting event in its calendar by someone pretending to rap a couple of badly rhyming clichés. It's getting a bit irritating and probably deters more people than it attracts to watch the sporting feast
In a clinical efficient way you admire but they don't excite the way Liverpool do when they are on fire. There is no real passion or soul. Nobody watching Citeh grind out yet another easy win and sub three payers each worth more than £60 million with another three comes away thinking "It's games like that which make you fall in love with football."
For all their quality this is not what a proper Cup Final should be like. When one team could field their reserves and win by three or four the competition you need for a great game is non-existent. Taking the piss out of your opponents simply because you can buy the best players for each position is as much fun to watch as paint drying. They may be the greatest team we have seen in English football but they have simply bought it and will never be admired in the same way as teams that have triumphed from a level financial playing field...
I have a lot of sympathy for the sentiment expressed on here regarding the money Citeh has at its disposal to buy the best in every position, including manager, but I have to ask what we'd have thought had the millions Fat Tony spaffed on ****bags like Cesar, Boswanker and all the other Harlem Globecunters a few years ago resulted in league and/or cup success. Before reality bit, I'm happy to admit that I was quite excited; weren't you?
Not really. The identity of my club changed. I was someone who was used to watching his team try to win games even away from home. That changed to watching a bunch of prima donnas some of whom I had never heard of before but was assured they were brilliant 'cos they're from Real Madrid, you know' or 'they're got that winning mentality because they happened to be bit part players in a team that had won the Champions league'. Well that all changed. Suddenly I had a team who never managed a shot but the manager telling us how good we'd been because we had all that possession . He (Hughes) rarely mentioned the fact that we never even came close to having a shot on target. Then Redknapp setting us up not to be humiliated. Quality.
Money is one thing but making a team as good as City is a major achievement imo Having the insight to buy these players is a major skill and he is a remarkable manager
Yes, when it turned out we were crap and they (the players) didn't care, we all felt the same. But, can you really say that you wouldn't have loved it had we become world-beaters? I'd have enjoyed the ride.
Only just seen the score. 6-0! Another nail in the coffin of the FA Cup. Glad I didn’t make an effort to find a bar to watch it in. Roll on the European Super League so the rest of us can get on with things.