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No

You misunderstand and for the record I've got nothing agianst watching Liverpool Play its just that after 13 minutes its 0-0,Ace says its 0-0 at fulltime

So no point in watching a lot of passing,tackling,diving,acting & heading
which results in no goals

As the (Uncultured ) Aussie Comentators said it was the sort of match you'd wished you hadn't bought tickets to "As a Spectacle"

Again the threat of MONEY lost by not getting to the next round meant the winner was always going to be he who didn't make a mistake as opposed to he who created

I wouldn't write off Liverpool against Chelsea either

We saw what happened to the unbeatable Arsenal not that long ago in the Quarterfinals by an English rival

Attacking prowess they have in abundance but defensive frailities(Forget the EPL)are all too evident

cheers
B....OZ

Not the point I was making, Woody. And sorry if I left Joe Cole out of the equation. It would have been the same story if (however unlikely) one of our teams got into the semis. Celtic made it to a final a couple of seasons ago, but it just meant that their mercenaries were better than almost everyone else's at the time.

I keep trying to point out the inherent dangers in a) buying success and b) bringing in a player from Europe or South America when you have equally good players here. Buy a Thierry Henry by all means; just remember that not every import is up to his standard.

We tried this up north, and all that happened is that poor clubs almost went bust trying to keep up with the bigger teams, and young players that might have got first team experience were kept out by journeymen trying (and who can blame them) to make some money for playing in a pisspoor league. England may have enough big teams to survive the "spend lots and spend silly" ethos, and the gradual slide in the world rankings that has been our lot in the last 15 years.

Whatever you think, it isn't sour grapes. I am worried that a game that used to feel as though to belonged to us (the ordinary fans) is at the mercy of money men who believe that bringing in expensive players will boost the club's share value, that they can gouge whatever they wish from Joe Public by way of season ticket and merchandising, and that some animals are more equal than others (if Millwall fans had done a tenth of what the Inter thugs did the other night, the club would be crucified, and the team would probably have to play its home games behind closed doors for the rest of the season).

There's a huge smelly something wrong with the system.

Of course theres something wrong

TOO MUCH MONEY which is making the game unsustainable for many of the lesser Clubs

Any knew talent that is produced by smaller or less financially viable clubs are bought up by the ULTRA RICH Businesses/clubs

Perish the thought that a Man U might actually produce a crop of star young players of their own like they did 15 years ago.Why bother when you can just cherry pick every year be it pre,mid or post season

cheers
B....OZ

what are the odds of it being shades of 1981, prince charles marries, ken and deirdre marry, a new dr who and liverpool win the european cup !

hmm... uefa cup winning manager vs champions league winning manager... gotta go with the seemingly unbeatable chelsea, and i know they lost to bayern but who cares. balls to all this televised shite, do you reckon the mighty robins of altrincham are gonna make the conference north play-offs and easily win that to get back into the nationwide where we belong?

So I take it that you would supprt Michelle Platini to be the next boss of Uefa then?

He is against big business and the way he says that football has lost it's soul. He was also behind a radical revamp of the European Cup a few years back which got thrown out but he still says it is on the table if he gets elected.

The problem he will have if he does decide to alter the current format of the Champs Lge is that the big clubs will band together and threaten a breakaway like they did before. Remember the Champs Lge in it's current format was virtually decided by G14 as Uefa were scared shitless that they would breakaway and hence Uefa would lose and therefore couldn't control the TV revenue.

I personally feel that the Uefa delegates will play the safe card and vote for Franz Beckenbeuer to succeed Lenart Johanson but you never know.

It would certainly not be boring if Platini was in charge.

When the red red robin goes bob-bob-bobbing along... Shoot the bastard, shoot the bastard, shoot the, shoot the, shoot the bastard!

Chubbs - is the Moss Lane chippy still open - great curry sauce! Also, when did they make it a no right / left turn into the Alty end of Moss Lane. Got in a right pickle the other week, I can tell you!

The Love Walrus, ex-Hale, ex Alty Grammar.
x

PS - As a Man Utd fan I can only hope that Liverpool lose, but if they do make the final then I hope that their 11 good Englishmen (?) beat Johnny Foreigner.

The fact that Platini is even threatening to derail the gravy train is enough to ensure he won't get the job. Johanson, and his FIFA superior Septic Bladder, is just happy to lord it, be feted wherever he goes.

I cannot understand the thinking of some football fans. They see the danger to the game, but so long as their team is prospering they ignore it. And I get the impression they don't care where the money comes from to bankroll their side (organised crime, Serbian warlords, whatever) so long as it comes.

The moral side of the game has been raised a number of times---child labour being used to make replica strips or footballs, for example. Has it changed anything? Has it hell.

An SPL team last week announced that, having emerged from administration last year, it was now in a position to offer its creditors a staggering 2 and a half pence in the ?. If this was any business other than a football team, there'd have been an outcry. Never mind the small firms that may have gone bust due to not being paid, so long as a football club survives.

There's a lot wrong with the game, and a new figurehead at the top of UEFA won't cure even a tenth of it.

I'm not so sure that Platini won't win. It is widely believed that Beckenbeuer will succeed and it is the so called power clubs that are looking for him to do so and he has been hand picked by them. Quite crafty picking a respected footballing figure who's not going to rock the boat of big business.

Indeed Lenart Johanson is said to privately support "the kaiser".

The problem they have is that Platini is Sepp Blatter's right hand man and it is Blatter who has the most power in the world game. For all Blatter's cranky statements he is a clever man and a very astute judge when it comes to elections. Indeed he hammered Lenart Johanson in a Fifa ballot so time ago.

That said most of Blatter's power is outside of Europe and the way he has grabbed the votes of the smaller confederations.

I would expect Uefa to band together and ensure that Beckenbeuer wins as they see Blatter as the enemy and the last thing that want is his 2.I.C in charge. The german may or may not prevail but it will be closer than people think.

On to your other topics then one of the reasons why the lower leagues in England (and I believe Scotland has the same problem) is that the clubs aren't realistic in there valuation of a player.

My point is when a Premiership Club comes knocking they start asking stupid money. That club then looks abroad for a cheaper option. But if the potential selling club were more realstic then the deal would be done and they could then themselves buy from the lower leagues (to replace the player) and the money then filters down through the system.

Unfortunately they aren't realistic and the money goes abroad and out of our game.

I agree with many of your points about big business and the soul of a sport being lost. But smaller clubs do need to look at themselves as well for there own ills.

I'll be interested to see which of the world's great players gets the top job at UEFA.

The big clubs should bear in mind that there is a symbiotic relationship with the smaller clubs. Many of the best players England produced came from small clubs, which survived by being rewarded with transfer fees for their young talent. It also allows the players a chance to develop, with none of the pressure of being in the spotlight of a big team.

If we're talking silly, then look at wages. Some clubs are shelling out more in a month to players than they are willing to pay in transfer fees for domestic signings. It doesn't make economic sense to me.

Think we're pretty much in agreement, though, Eduardo.