What do people think of this proposal to overhaul the friendlies. UEFA are suggesting a 9 division 54 league with promotion and relegation. Sounds interesting and would add a competitive edge. Something needs to be done to draw crowds back! http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/oct/10/uefa-internationals-nations-league-friendlies
Sounds like an exciting idea. I always follow England and this type of arrangement might invigorate international football. It might also convince some players - and the manager - that all England games need to be taken seriously.
I don't think there's that much interest in international football anymore. How many on here are going to Brazil in the summer for the biggest sporting competition in the world? How many will go to Duisburg on a wet Wednesday in February to see us get beaten by Germany for the fourth time in 2 years? They should play less of it, not more.
I agree there is a loss of interest and from me too however most will turn out to pubs and games with a competitive element. The promotion / relegation aspect should ensure some of these and at least make more of a spectacle.
But how would that enable them to generate even more revenue? At what point does the Golden Goose get killed?
The big clubs might see this as a direct challenge to the Champion's League, they're already pissed off with the demands for the International calendar encroaching evermore into their season and the injuries that their star players can suffer (we lost Rowly to one). This might push them towards a breakaway that would scupper world football altogether, the G14 already have a framework in place, all they need is the push...
Sounds like a good idea on one hand to improve the friendlies. But, it then removes the possibility of friendlies against higher (for a tougher test) and lower class opposition (to test new players/tactics), and restricts the variation in opponents.
Completely agree, Stan. I'm sure part of it is me growing older, but little for me matches the excitement of the Home International Championships they held every year as a season finale. Friendlies? Unless it's Germany, Brazil or the Argies I'm seldom interested; certainly can't be arsed to actually go, although made it to a few Rous Cup games in the 90s.
Apparently they retain a number of free dates to allow for showcase friendlies, home nation type games etc at discretion of individual nations.
To be honest Stan, talking as an England fan who followed the national side for over 10 years, the crappier and more far out fixtures were the ones we looked forward to most. Albania was one of the best trips i had, was always a laugh when going to Poland and we never had a bad time when visiting Germany (Gutted they cancelled the trip to Germany in April one year 'cos it was some nutty p***** birthday that day) But true, maybe it wasn't just the football we went for in those days and from what i've heard, times have changed
10 days in Sardinia with a bunch of English, Irish and Dutch fans, a boatload of Egyptian navy sailors all in uniform and about 30,000 carabinieri was a fabulous experience back in 1990, and believe me, the football was mainly crap. I think I've just lost the feeling, though I don't blame England for that, just part of the relentless over commercialization and exploitation of everything. Brazilians are planning to charge fans £100 a night to share a room in a favela in the summer - I don't blame them, but its hardly the people's game anymore.
i like the initial idea, but just cant see it working. Big clubs are still not going to release thier employees so another company can borrow them and get them injured. Not sure how this would help us "blood" new young talent either. paying a full international against Argentina isnt exactly a way into the national set up Are the players really going to take this seriously or will all new contracts in the next few years have get out clauses for internationals? Finally and most importantly, this could make certain countries (predominantly British) look extremely bad. In reality, if this was in place 10 years ago, what division do you think England would be in now? ..Id say about Div 4 with a bit of luck. Dont see it generating that much money TBH. I think a lot of followers have become less intrested in Int footy due to the lack of commitment by players, ridiculous wages & costs, the clowns running our national team from top to bottom & the fact that we just aint very good anymore. Like i said its a great idea, esp for the hardcore England fans, just have my doubts whether it would actually work. For eg, could you have seen SAF, Wenger or Jose releasing thier star players to play a full competitive international during the league run in?....me neither!
That was the World Cup 1990 i presume ?? My first away match was Turin that WC, where Gazza broke down and we got tear gassed by locals, the police AND the Germans Agree totally mate. I used to love it and got umpteen memories of our trips abroad, from being protected by the Russian mafia after our bar was attacked in Slovakia to spending the night after our famous 5-1 win in Munich, in a brothel with a load of English lads i had never met, with no money but still getting absolutely wasted as they wouldn't let me buy anything. Made some really good friends and miss the good old days (God i sound old ) I did think it was starting to go wrong when they starting charging you s***loads of cash to join the England Travel Club just to have the chance to go in a ballot to get tickets for away matches, when i'd joined in 1990 and was one of the top 23 England fans to travel and used to get tickets whenever i wanted (including 4 for every home game).
Not sure I agree with that. England fans have reportedly bought a total of 51,000 tickets for the games in Brazil already. The National side will get huge support at each game from the travelling England fans. I'm sure thousands will go to Germany in February too.
Friendlies are a complete waste of time. I never bother to even watch them on the tv anymore. Something must change!
You're probably right, it may just be a personal thing. 51,000 is an impressive number, the estimate is 2,000 - 5,000 travelling England fans (was 10,000 in South Africa). but 51,000 tickets sold would indicate more than 5,000 to me I'm assuming if you go all that way you will want to see at least the 3 England group games and a couple of others, but if 5k go they would be seeing 10 games each....... That was one of the joys of seeing a World Cup in Europe, always easy to hop on a train to go and see a game at short notice. They'll need to be a bit more organized in Brazil. I just hope they go to have a laugh, enjoy the country and not get too wound up about how England perform.
The same thing they're going to do when the England/Lithuania qualifying game comes round at the end of March next year?
