General Football Thread

Think my mates swinging me corporate tickets for this game.

I will raise a prawn sandwich to you all below me!

 

Grabban is winning this pole!

Pukki is second!

Get to it!!!!

 

If only Pukki had got his hat-trick (which he deserved) on Saturday!!!!
I can’t believe the change in Grabban and you can bet he’ll be doing his darndest to score on Boxing Day!!!

 

I see Middleton starts for ‘Gers tonight.
As much as I hoped to see him become part of the first team squad, I guess when we let him leave in January, plans were already in place to sign Bendy and with Hernandez already here, it made perfect sense.

 

JM scores for LCFC. #again

 

He certainly got some target practice in against Ipswich last week

 

So 10-man Aberdeen beat 10-man 'Gers at Ibrvx

Aberdeen have failed to defeat Rangers in four consecutive meetings, and this win was built on resolve and perseverance.
McKenna's early strike established a foundation to build on, and the visitors were well organised and disciplined enough to thwart Rangers' attacking intent.
Morelos sent a header wide in the first half and another over the bar, while Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis saved from Glenn Middleton,

 

Love it!

Build! Build! Build!

 

Grim times off the pitch - as well as on it!

The latest set of finances showed the (ITFC) wage bill rose from rose from £17.8m to £18.5m, while gate receipts fell from £5.1m to £4.7m.
Season ticket sales dropped by almost 2,000 for the second year in a row (12,022 down to 10,144), though there was only a slight drop in average league attendances (16,271 compared to 16,980).
In what is a continuation of general themes during Marcus Evans’ decade-plus ownership, a pre-tax loss of £5.2m was posted and the debt – owed exclusively to 87.5% majority shareholder Evans – increased to £95.5m.

 

Should hit a nice round £100m next year. Could he even sell the club with such enormous debt? No way he gets £95.5m for that shower of a club. They don't even own there own ground! They are saddled with him for the forseeable and there is no glimmer of hope in the distance. I could genuinely see them become a fixture in league 1 or worse!

Bah!

 

There are actually some decent teams in league 1 and their current team won't find it easy to get out of. Poor management and ownership can really drive teams into downward spirals that are really hard to pull out of... Chesterfield is a good example, the Spirites were in the LG 1 playoff finals 3 years ago and are now struggling to stay in the National league, largely due to mismanagement

 

That Brighton Vs Palace game!

A Brighton player kicks the leg of a Palace player, and goes down and gets given a Penalty. Then a corner that wasn't a corner to Brighton. Goal. 2-0 up.

Ridiculous.

 

Surely you are not insinuating that match officials are incompetent?

 

Some of them....

 

Sadly it has become so common that I was not surprised by the decisions

 

Hopefully VAR will eradicate most poor decisions from next season

 

Reading sack Clement.

I know they have been poor, but I thought they would stick by him, at least until after Christmas.

 

If they can muster up a "New Manager bounce" for the Sheffield United and Middlesbrough games, that'd be grand.

 

Don’t know if anyone listens to the “At The Match” podcast. I was just listening to the “Dortmund 2 Freiburg 1” episode from Monday. Talking to a guy about the German league, Dortmund as a club and brand, the supporters.

I found it pretty interesting in relating to where Farke comes from.

The section I loved was:

“We will never have a Messi or Ronaldo here. We are not a player league. We are a fans league”

Hearing about the league and the supporters etc, it’s hard to remember seeing that much from Farke last Season. Maybe first big job, new country, new league, new City. Maybe he kept reserved.

The way he in engaging with the fans this season, coming over to us after the games. This is what the guy on the pod was referring to. Hopefully as Farke has settled, he’s bringing that fan spirit and connection to the surface.

 

As a BTTV subscriber I watch a lot of the Bundesliga and needless to say BVB are my adopted team. That yellow wall is immense, if only we had that at Carrow Road