General Football Thread

[FestiveJack]

Poll was a Premier League ref from 93/94 to 06/07 and reffed Wimbledon 24 times in the league.

I think a deeper study would be revealing tbh. Whilst the bottom 3 teams were strugglers like Watford, 29th 30th and 31st (out of 36) are Spurs, Man City and Everton in that order. Arsenal and Liverpool are 7th and 9th but above them are Forest, Leeds and Southampton.

[Matt]

Well Leeds isn't particularly surprising since we were a top 6 side regularly until our final 2 seasons and City were very average until what, 2007? Spurs were very much midtable too. Liverpool were pretty spotty in the 90s too. 

 

I would like to see the comparison of points per game generally compared to when he refereed but I reckon most will probably be no more than .2/.3 either side

[9 to 5]

Also, you know, the best teams tend to win anyway.

[Rich]

Also, you know, the best teams tend to win anyway.

Then why don't Liverpool win all the things?

[Twist]

Also, you know, the best teams tend to win anyway.

Then why don't Liverpool win all the things?

Graham Poll. 

[Rich]

Then how does that explain 2007 to now?

[Gazz]

Graham Poll's Voodoo curse.

[Rich]

New Tag Team name selected

[Gazz]

I've found my nirvana.

http://www.football365.com/news/mediawatch-sanchez-excellent-or-out-of-sorts

Slight difference of opinion #1

‘Alexis Sanchez – Another excellent performance from Sanchez, who made as great a player as Philipp Lahm look supremely average. Wherever, whenever he just ran at defenders, creating opportunities aplenty in the process’ – Independent.

‘Alexis Sanchez – Played under Pep Guardiola previously and showed why he was so valued by the former Barcelona manager. His willingness to run at Bayern ensured he was involved in just about all of Arsenal’s best attacks’ – Daily Telegraph.

‘Alexis Sanchez – Looked out of sorts for once and gave the ball away a lot’ – Daily Mirror.

[Lineker]

Graham Poll's Voodoo curse.

@Skummy had a great run as their bass player.

[Rafael]

Imagine if Alexis Sanchez was english....

[Colly]

He'd be playing 5 a side reasonably well somewhere.

[Colly]

@Lineker Are the MOTD Facebook clickbait articles really put together by someone at the Beeb? They're bizarre, ones just popped up on mine saying 'England could be forced to play away from Wembley', but it links to a skeleton article that just says that the FA have arranged a financing deal that could allow them to stop being forced to play AT Wembley. It's fairly subtle, but completely different, and surprisingly enough is just full of north/south flamebait.

[9 to 5]

Imagine if Alexis Sanchez was english...

He would have been kicked out of the game by age 12.

[Lineker]

@Lineker Are the MOTD Facebook clickbait articles really put together by someone at the Beeb? They're bizarre, ones just popped up on mine saying 'England could be forced to play away from Wembley', but it links to a skeleton article that just says that the FA have arranged a financing deal that could allow them to stop being forced to play AT Wembley. It's fairly subtle, but completely different, and surprisingly enough is just full of north/south flamebait.

No idea.

[Rafael]

Imagine if Alexis Sanchez was english...

He would have been kicked out of the game by age 12.

Sad.

[Benji]

Are the MOTD Facebook clickbait articles really put together by someone at the Beeb? They're bizarre, ones just popped up on mine saying 'England could be forced to play away from Wembley', but it links to a skeleton article that just says that the FA have arranged a financing deal that could allow them to stop being forced to play AT Wembley. It's fairly subtle, but completely different, and surprisingly enough is just full of north/south flamebait.

I've noticed a hugely increasing amount of that kind of shitty stuff from BBC's various Facebook groups over the last few months. Someone must've given out a memo or something because it's not even subtle.

[FestiveJack]

Speaking of, this is actually a decent article from them: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34594952

Ten days in hiding with police protection. Security guards at his place of work. 16,000 emails in one hour and the Prime Minister saying you made a wrong call.
That's the price Swiss football referee Urs Meier paid when his contact details and address were published in English newspapers after he disallowed a Sol Campbell goal as England were knocked out of Euro 2004 by Portugal.
Following rugby union referee Craig Joubert being criticised for awarding Australia a late match-winning penalty in Sunday's World Cup quarter-final against Scotland and then running off the pitch, Meier has been remembering the abuse he received.

'The whole of England was against me'

With Meier the scapegoat for another England exit from a major tournament, things started turning ugly.
"I was on the front page of the Sun for three or four days. Journalists came to my home town, asking people questions about me," said Meier, who also claimed his children were offered Premier League match tickets to speak to reporters.
"In the first day, there were more than 5,000 phone calls from England in my office. In the first hour, I got more than 16,000 emails. I had to cancel the address.
"The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said on television that I had made a wrong decision. The whole of England was against me!
"The police in Switzerland were afraid that English supporters would come to my office, or that something would happen with my employees or my family. I had two armed security men in front of my business for a week."

'I had no contact with my family for 10 days'

Meier flew back to Switzerland after the tournament, but his homeland offered no respite.
He was kept on the aeroplane by police, taken to a garage in a city 20km away from his home town and told to change his car. He was going undercover for 10 days.
"It was a hard time," said Meier. "I had no contact with my family or with my friends - the police forbade it. I went to the French part of Switzerland in the woods, far away from anything.
"My family was really under pressure. At school, my children were attacked by their class-mates. My 14-year-old son was told 'your father made a terrible mistake - he is a bad referee'. It was not an easy time for him."

'Associations have a duty to protect referees'

Some pundits have suggested the very public censure of Joubert marks a turning point in rugby away from the total respect officials usually command - not helped by World Rugby's controversial statement.
For his part, Meier said he was desperate for public support from Uefa. To this day, he stands by his decision to disallow Campbell's goal.
"If Uefa had made a statement saying 'look, it's a clear foul', I think the campaign against me would have ended after one or two days," he said. "But they said nothing.
"The association have to help the referee. He is the long arm of the association on the field. They have a duty and a responsibility to protect referees, but there was no protection in my case"

'Have a holiday - far away'

Joubert has been backed by his compatriots, including former South Africa captain Bobby Skinstad.
But switching off from both the good and the bad might be the best option for Joubert, says Meier.
"Don't read any newspapers, any emails, or watch any television. Have a holiday for a week, far away, and try to forget what's happened," Meier advised.
"It's a hard time for the whole family, but it's a hard time for him, too. It's a difficult time because you have no support.
"I just hope that he gets some support from the referees' committee."

One of the things Meier's son was asked by reporters was if he had ever abused him.

[Monkey D. Lars]

I don't know where to put this but, Johan Cruyff has been diagnosed with long cancer

 

I hope he will fight through it

[Baddar]

Just seen an ad for "Class of 92 - out of their League". It's a documentary on Salford City. It's a two parter which starts on BBC1 on Thursday at 9. Could be a decent watch for United fans in particular.