The General Football Thread

BT have finally updated their schedule, so the Saints v Shrewsbury game is confirmed as 20:00 on Saturday 9 January, on BT Sport Extra 2.

 

RIP Gerard Houllier

 

Very sad. Always struck me as a decent gentleman. 73 is no age these days

 

I was saddened to hear this news. He always struck me as being a gent and his tenure reflected well on a club that I find difficult to like. For ages, Houllier looked like taking Liverpool as far as they could go at a time when they were still under the shadow of the likes of Chelsea and especially Manchester United. I would have to say that few Frenchmen involved in the English game have got near Houllier's ability to truly understand how much the game matters to people in this country. I think that he really grasped this in a manner which resonated with fans and the Liverpool supporter's in particular.

 

Lovren

 

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. Larf I nearly **** myself.

 

Love how he looks for someone else to blame!

 

Portsmouth lead 2-0 at Hull despite not having a single shot on target.

 

Schalke has fired their manager, and their predicament is increasingly looking like a death spiral. They're in rough financial shape, and through 12 matches they have 4 points (no wins) while getting outscored by a rather astonishing margin of 35-8.

Wasn't terribly long ago that they were consistent qualifiers from the CL group stages, and we're only a decade removed from their semi-final appearance, and now they could be in legitimate danger of going bust: 200m€+ in debt and a spot in the not-at-all-lucrative second division could be fatal.

 

That's it! Portsmouth.

Somebody was saying we had this foe, always had a bone to pick, hair-brained schemes, friendly with fish, wore blue, very unusual physiology; all I could think of was "Skeletor"

 

Watford sack another manager after just 5 months ... he won manager of the month last month fgs

 

Though, a good stint in the Championship will purge them of the gains from their premiership stay. With it's owners, not a club I would like to see back anytime soon.

 

As of January 1st, British clubs will no longer be able to sign EU youngsters, before they reach the age of 18, and then subject to FIFA (?) regulations about international appearances etc.
Have we just signed a 17 year old Spanish kid, to get around this?

 

I have to say that the Amazon Prime football experience has been very enjoyable, with good in depth analysis after the game, without the chat being hijacked by “next up on Sky/BT” etc .
One thing though. White on a very light blue background doesn’t work. I literally had to walk up to the tv screen to see how many minutes had been added, yesterday. Maybe that last bit is just me, but I have nothing against them continuing to show football, especially as it doesn’t cost anything more than I am paying for Prime.

 

Brandon Haunstrup was sent off today for Kilmarnock in a defeat to Aberdeen. Tut-tut, he must have learned bad habits at his previous club

 

League cup final moved to end of April in hope of more fans being able to attend.

 

I know it's easy to say this now, but makes it all the more silly they crammed the first 3 rounds into 3 consecutive weeks right back at the start of the season.

 

Probably would have got away with it if it had been a substantial meal and not just a bite.

 

Why has it taken a month and a half to be charged?