Rupert Murdoch has been hiding in FERGIES cupboards trying to give him a fatal heart attack, as he is looking to collect on his soul....
Erm, yes. I watched it on NWT about five hours ago. Why, do you think it's another ref / FA inspired conspiracy theory to help Utd to world domination?
Shock he complained about playing Euro ties close to weekend fixtures... IMO no-one on 100k+ per week should be complaining about how close they play 90 minutes of football to each other.
What has money got to do with it? This is to do with the body recovering in time. Do you not learn anything at Cockney ****er school? Go listen to The LORD again, and listen to his word very carefully.
Have you not been following football for the last decade and a half? Pretty much every manager who's been involved in European football to any serious degree: Benitez, Wenger, Mourinho, Ancelotti, Mancini, and even Moyes and Grant, has complained about the fixture congestion involved. And if they're all complaining...there's probably something to complain about...
I don't really think they have grounds for complaint. If it's such an issue, then why not withdraw from European competition?! The fixtures have to be fulfilled and it's not like anyone can come up with a solution where you don't still have to play 2 games a week, apart from making a season last 2 years, or something equally ludicrous.
That's not the point though is it? It's about how best to accomodate them so if United/Chelsea/City or whoever have a CL game scheduled for a Tuesday then sky shouldn't be putting them on live at 4.00pm the Sunday before. Or if the CL game is Wednesday, then they shouldn't be live at 12.45 the following Saturday. Pretty simple really, Sky/premier league should be as helpful as possible to space the games out and they aren't.
They do tend to accommodate it in a reasonable manner. You'll never see an English team play a league game on a Sunday, then a CL tie on a Tuesday, for instance. With 2 games a week, I don't think there can be too many complaints about a 3 day break between games. It is annoying when you have a Wednesday night game, followed by a 12.45 match on the Saturday, admittedly, but that is inevitable if you are going to be reaching the latter stages of the CL.
I don't think it has to be inevitable - you could easily shift the teams playing in the CL on Wednesday to the 5:30pm Saturday KO, or even the Sunday lunchtime KO if their next game isn't till Wednesday evening. After all, if your Wednesday evening game is away from home and a four or five hour flight away then you are going to spend Wednesday night in a hotel and most of Thursday travelling back. So you only have one training session on Friday to prepare for a Saturday KO which is bound to cause injuries to crop up. I know this will always be the problem when a top club is playing in Europe, but it does seem like more consideration could be given to the players when they are travelling long distances in Europe.
I couldn't give a toss who complains, they have no right . How do other occupations cope with 8 hours per day of all things involved in a construction trade and people who work on farms? For 100k a week nobody should be complaining because they have to play 3 hours of football in a week . This isn't just a pop at SAF, it's a pop at any manager who complains or makes excuses.
If a builder or farmer gets injured at work it's generally a major incident with forms to be filled, reports to be made and often compensation to be paid. If a footballer gets injured during a match everyone generally just takes it in their stride and it's seen as a fairly regular occurrence. Given that, I think it's probably fair to assume that football is fundamentally a more risky occupation than many others, and thus more care should be taken to try and prevent injuries.
Well yes of course, that has to do with convenience though. It is MORE convenient to play Tuesday then Sunday rather than Wednesday then Saturday but it's still not the point I'm making, I'm saying no manage should really complain they have to do it. Especially teams like United, Chelsea, City who spend big money to have more depth in their squads due to European fixtures in the week
