Football

[Slim]

Looks like Leeds are on the slippery slope to the relegation places.. dire run of results recently. The two teams immediately below them in the league have two games in hand and if both of them get two points from their two games, Leeds will be in the bottom three.

Would be sad to see them drop back down again. I'm not a fan but there's a certain nostalgic appeal in seeing fixtures like Leeds vs United, Leeds vs Liverpool etc.

By the way at one point this afternoon Leeds had conceded 22 goals in 7 games, roughly an average of π goals per game.

[Matt2112]

Too many Championship standard players in the Leeds squad, I fear - the money splashed on Rodrigo and Firpo looks a spectacular waste of resources; they've been atrocious signings.

[Slim]

Well - as you'll have heard, Bielsa's gone now. Will be interesting to see if a New Manager Bounce can propel them up the table a couple of places. Looks like that will be Jesse Marsch's job.

[Slim]

FIFA have now suspended all Russian clubs and national teams from all competitions. Pleased to see this because their earlier pronouncement that the Russians would be able to compete without their flag and as the "Football Union of Russia" was IMO a ridiculous half-baked measure.

But it was never going to fly when some of the national sides said they wouldn't play against them in any circumstances.

[dom]

Does anyone have any sympathy for Chelsea?

I really don't. I think they've had a trophy laden 20 years solely because they were taken over by an oligarch.

I don't want them to go bust or anything but I'll be happy for them to head back into the doldrums for a while.  When I developed an interest in football they were a bit of a yoyo club.  Not good enough for the first division but too good for the second.

Looks like Newcastle will replace them at the top table

[Slim]

I think Chelsea's flirtation with the Champions' League and the upper reaches of the Premier League is over now. No sympathy either really, but the whole league has been shaken up by massive injections of money, especially at Chelsea and Man City. You mention Newcastle and of course there are some big ethical questions there, as well.

[dom]

Agreed! Maybe its time for football authorities and even the government to look at the running of football clubs and how they are owned and managed.

Multi billionaires shouldn't be allowed to take sole ownrrship of clubs as a pr/money laundering exercise.

A few years ago Usamov seemed pretty close to taking over Arsenal. Huge bullet avoided there. And to think, at the time, I would have been delighted with that happening.

[David L]

I think Chelsea's flirtation with the Champions' League and the upper reaches of the Premier League is over now. No sympathy either really, but the whole league has been shaken up by massive injections of money, especially at Chelsea and Man City. You mention Newcastle and of course there are some big ethical questions there, as well.

££££££££££££££££££££
Hypocrisy everywhere you look, including top level sport

[dom]

Sporting integrity?  Deep irony there me thinks!

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2022/03/15/middlesbrough-ticket-update?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=orgsoc&utm_campaign=none

It is important for the competition that the match against Middlesbrough goes ahead, however it is with extreme reluctance that we are asking the FA board to direct that the game be played behind closed doors for matters of sporting integrity.

[dom]

Great response from Middlesbrough...

Given the reasons for these sanctions, for Chelsea to seek to invoke sporting "integrity" as reason for the game being played behind closed doors is ironic in the extreme.

https://www.mfc.co.uk/news/a-statement-from-middlesbrough-fc

[Slim]

I can sort of understand it, I don't think it was a bizarre request really. On balance it wasn't a good idea but it would have meant a fairer fixture.

Anyway Chelsea have withdrawn their request now. The thought occurred to me that they could have sold all the tickets they wanted if they'd channeled all the proceeds into a charity, so why don't they do that?

[Rufus_the_dawg]

not usually snarky, but I do laugh at Man U fan complaining about not winning anything.

Sometimes the arrogance of them is astounding .we should win this we should win that its our right to win everything.

99% of football fan don't win anything big.

[Slim]

But Manchester United is the biggest football club in the world. They aren't in the 99%.

[Rufus_the_dawg]

brilliant comment.

[Ali]

Another quality header by Diogo Jota to help Portugal beat Turkey tonight.

That's 5 goals he's scored in this World Cup Qualification campaign - all of them headers.

For an average height chap, his aerial prowess for both club and country is phenomenal 👏