Can someone confirm the KO time? For some reason I thought it was a late afternoon one (5.00pm), but the OWS and the BBC Sport websites say 2.05pm.
Remember folks, if we want to try and guarantee European football next season it has to be an Italian job on them.
Speaking of holidays I'm ****ing glad I had a proper brainfuck when letting the mrs book a long weekend in Spain. I thought the last game of the season was the bank holiday weekend before forgetting the premier league finishes a week later. Had I actually bothered to look I'd have missed the FA cup final. Someone, somewhere, was watching over me that day.
We call our owner disrespectful to the fans but he has nothing on ****ing Sky. Three different kick off times for the Arsenal game we've had spread over two days,just to please Sky. A lot of people now can't make the game because of it changing to Easter Sunday. Days out booked, families organised then they decide to cock it up, absolutely no respect for fans at all.
It's not Sky who have dictated the last change. It's Chelsea being in CL semi final that has meant Sky have had to change it as Chelsea can't play Sunday pm and Tuesday night.
Yes they can. 48 hours between games is the minimum period, there's more than 48 hours between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday evening. It's just to be convenient for them.
And of course they never thought about contacting UEFA to swap Chelsea's game to Wednesday - the other CL night. Which should have been a very viable possibility.
It is about giving our teams a better chance. Just like they do in Spain, Germany etc where games for clubs in Europe are routinely altered. Who is the "they" that should have contacted UEFA? Why do you think they would alter a Wednesday game to Tuesday ? There are a lot of TV companies in a number of countries who pay a lot of money for televising these games. In any case why would 2 teams from other countries agree to switch dates with thousands of away fans travelling to save Hull City fans being put out. It is time some fans started living in the real big wide world that exists outside of Hull.
Exactly, unfortunate for us but such is life. We're a tiny fish in a huge pond now we're in the spotlight performing with some of the worlds elite, we don't have much bargaining power when it comes to these thigns. Besides, in other countries often game are moved to Friday nights to accommodate their teams playing european competition the midweek following.
It was only a thought that it doesn't have to be us that is inconvenienced. I wasn't saying it was definitely the best solution. All I thought was that if Chelsea's domestic game was Sunday, 'they' (that being the clubs involved, the PL, UEFA etc) could have considered moving their CL game to the Weds night and moving another one forward a day and thus giving them three days between matches. If the truth be known, I think I'm sick of these 'massive' 'money-spinning' European nights running roughshod and causing inconvenience to everything. Even though I hypocritically hope we do qualify for the Europa League.
What about the other game? Real Madrid v Bayern Munich? Bring that forward a day at short notice? Given how many of our fans find it an almost insurmountable task to travel 214 miles to London and back on a Sunday how do you think it would be for Bayern fans travelling a lot further to Madrid, a journey of 1,220 miles for a game which doesn't kick off until 9pm local time during the working week, having to change the travel arrangements involved? Not to mention Madrid and Munich maybe having to alter their league games?
Alright, chill man! It was a spontaneous response I wrote within 10 seconds of reading Hat's comment. I didn't analyse it with any thought - it was just something to ponder. Thanks for pondering it! My thoughts on the European competitions remain the same however. I hate them in their over-bloated domineering format. My opinion is that an FA Cup style unseeded knock-out competition of 256 or 512 teams with one-legged ties would be brilliant for football fans. But I know it'll never happen.
Or, more simply, just half the number of teams in it, get rid of the groups, and have it as a straight knockout competition like before.
I think it would be brilliant if we had just one straight forward European Competition that all teams in the PL, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, Eredivisie etc compete in, along with a good number of teams from the rest of Europe - hence my suggestion of 256 or 512 teams. You'd still need UEFA co-efficients to determine who qualified but I think it would be great for bringing FA Cup style romance Euro-wide. Unseeded one legged ties - you could get Barcelona v Bayern Munich drawn in Round 1. Similarly, your team could be forced to go to east Azerbaijan in the middle of winter. It's probably a totally impractical idea and even if wasn't, there's little money to be made so it will never happen.
A knock out competition like before would be good but as you say it will never happen. The money generated makes it so. Having said that the old European Cup could be won by playing a team of part timers from Ireland, a team from Malta, some team from a smaller country and then the first hard game in the semi final. The Fairs, later EUFA Cup was often harder as you could meet the second or third team from Italy, Germany, Spain etc at any stage not to mention some decent state sponsored sides from behind the iron curtain.
