Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[Matt]

Ugh, I'd rather have it the other way around. I'd like to sit in front of the tele and watch a premiership game after Soccer Saturday, not too fussed about it on monday as I'll probably end up watching it on the PC either way.

[therockbox]

3pm matches aren't shown in England because of the negative effect it could have on attendances in the lower leagues. It's a shame because all it does is force people to seek out Streams and stuff to watch it illegally.

[Thrilla]

Are there really that many people out there watching streams though? I watch a lot of football and spend a lot of time online and wouldn't even know where to start looking for such things.

[Matt]

Are there really that many people out there watching streams though? I watch a lot of football and spend a lot of time online and wouldn't even know where to start looking for such things.

Yes, there are.

[IAceI]

Googles probably a useful point of start you'd imagine.

But I doubt there's enough people watching a stream online to do anything major or owt like that. I have been known to get the odd Sunderland match, I can't get to the matches and I'd like to watch them so sometimes I have a look for them and just watch what I'm given all the other times.

[therockbox]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ja...egal-broadcasts

Enough people are doing it for the Premier League to start worrying about it.

[nabeel]

Look at it this way.

Back in Pakistan, I had a LOT of channels with each broadcasting a different match on Saturday. ESPN (Asia), Star Sports, SuperSports3, and ShowSports. SuperSports actually had two or three of its channels offering different matches ( I still remember watching the relegation dogfight b/w Crystal Palace, Southampton, West Brom, and Norwich I think from a few years back )

While here in Canada, I have basic cable from Rogers so it's Channel 22 (I forgot what it's called) on Saturday and Channel 50 sumthing on Sundays with only one live match at a time

[HailtotheYo]

You could live in the US and (without satellite) be privy to one live match at a time if you're lucky.

FoxSoccer is it and they don't get carried by everyone. GolTV only carries German/Italy/Argentinian etc (basically not the English soccer). So I only get two matches on Saturday live, and one on Sunday (every now and again two on Sunday).

[Dynamite]

I wish Sky bought the late Saturday game. It's annoying as hell when your team plays at that time on Setanta seeing as Sky don't show that game on Football First and then briefly brush over it on Goals on Sunday because they don't have someone commentating it.

[-A-]

It's weird how things sometimes work internationally. I'm sure I read that some Middle-Eastern countries get more live matches than the UK because of the 3pm rule. It's similar with NFL I think - because of interactive coverage on Sky we get more live matches than the US.

Edited February 7, 2009 by -A-

[The Future]

I get loads of live matches since I live in Bangladesh. Like nabeel mentioned I have ESPN,Star Sports,Supersport,Neo Sport,Zee Sports who show English,Spanish,German football and the really big Italian matches.

[Baddar]

For the record, I don't really care whether Setanta has just one package and Sky has the other 5. I still have both channels. As said above, I just want the 3pm game and I'll be happy.

This lower league attentance thing though is a strange one. If they're REALLY supporters of the club, surely they'll go to watch their team play than watch Utd or Arsenal on at 3pm? I dunno. Maybe there's quite a few who wouldn't, making the reasoning understandable.

Balls. As much as I like Soccer Saturday, I'd still prefer to be watching a game and then be kept up-to-speed with all the other action along the bottom.

[Matt]

For the record, I don't really care whether Setanta has just one package and Sky has the other 5. I still have both channels. As said above, I just want the 3pm game and I'll be happy.

This lower league attentance thing though is a strange one. If they're REALLY supporters of the club, surely they'll go to watch their team play than watch Utd or Arsenal on at 3pm? I dunno. Maybe there's quite a few who wouldn't, making the reasoning understandable.

Balls. As much as I like Soccer Saturday, I'd still prefer to be watching a game and then be kept up-to-speed with all the other action along the bottom.

Since when has the PL cared about the lower leagues? I'm pretty sure there are no games on at 3pm because there are less football fans at home and thus, a smaller audience.

[-A-]

No, it's a UEFA or FIFA regulation that the Premier League's force to abide by. I'm sure they don't give a fuck as you say, they'd definitely put every single game on TV if they could.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I pay fifteen quid a month to get the sports channels here in Japan. Most of the time they're showing NBA, Japanese football or rugby, ice skating or whatever but I also get all three WWE shows (a few weeks behind however) AND they show English Premiership. Usually two or three games on Saturday (two 3pm games and a 5 o clock...) and then a couple of the Sunday games. They'll repeat them numerous times during the week as well so you could easily watch all five if you wanted.

Spurs are generally on every two or three weeks. Chelsea and Man Utd are every week.

So tomorrow night, 10pm, Robbie Keane's return - Spurs vs Arsenal LIVE on my tellybox! Whooop!

Ahh brilliant "eng" has just started - basically Football Focus for the Japanese with less coverage but more comedy. Genius.

EDIT: I get to watch more live Premiership football in Japan than England! We never had Sky Sports so I got to enjoy Football Focus, radio coverage and MOTD...That was it.

I long for the Sunday afternoon match back on BBC. I have plenty of happy memories as a kid in the dark winter months watching the old Division 1 matches. I remember a particularly cool Spurs/Norwich match in the snow with an orange ball which Spurs won by a couple of goals YEARS ago. Beautiful. Zero adverts as well.

Edited February 7, 2009 by ReneArtoisAteMyHamster

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Bwahahah they're working through a list of the worst 50 things in football or something.

Highlights included:

33 is Craig Bellamy

32 is Joey Barton. The only English I heard was "Joey Barton, Scum"

31 is the Kaka saga

30 is The phrase "By Mutual Consent"

29 is Electronic pitchside advertising boards

10 is goal celebration music

1 is television as "the monster that ate football"...

edit: Brilliant, a segment on Ginola's time at Tottenham as a "cult hero".

Edited February 7, 2009 by ReneArtoisAteMyHamster

[-A-]

That's a list from The Times, those dirty thieves!

It's written in a deeply annoying way as well:

50. Technical areas

Did Bob Paisley need a technical area when Liverpool won three European Cups and six league titles? Did Alf Ramsey need a technical area when England won the World Cup?

Who gives a shit about technical areas?

[Baddar]

Manchester United soccer star Carlos Tevez has had his £140,000 Bentley seized because he does not have a full UK driving licence, police said.

The 25-year-old Argentina international was stopped by traffic officers on the M60 near Stretford, Greater Manchester. His car has been impounded.

Police said they pulled his car over, suspecting the tinting on its windows was too dark.

Tests at the roadside showed the tint was illegal, police said.

"Shortly after 0920 GMT on Friday officers pulled over a Bentley close to junction 7 of the M60," said a police spokesman.

"The officers were concerned certain windows were illegally tinted. They were tested and found to be too dark so a prohibition notice was issued to the driver.

"When asked to provide his documentation, it was discovered the driver did not have a full UK driving licence and was advised to arrange removal of the car. "As he could not arrange this, the car was removed under Section 165 of Road Traffic Act 1988."

The real question is: Why did they pass on the opportunity to use "Car-los" as the title?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Manchester United soccer star Carlos Tevez has had his £140,000 Bentley seized because he does not have a full UK driving licence, police said.

The 25-year-old Argentina international was stopped by traffic officers on the M60 near Stretford, Greater Manchester. His car has been impounded.

Police said they pulled his car over, suspecting the tinting on its windows was too dark.

Tests at the roadside showed the tint was illegal, police said.

"Shortly after 0920 GMT on Friday officers pulled over a Bentley close to junction 7 of the M60," said a police spokesman.

"The officers were concerned certain windows were illegally tinted. They were tested and found to be too dark so a prohibition notice was issued to the driver.

"When asked to provide his documentation, it was discovered the driver did not have a full UK driving licence and was advised to arrange removal of the car. "As he could not arrange this, the car was removed under Section 165 of Road Traffic Act 1988."

The real question is: Why did they pass on the opportunity to use "Car-los" as the title?

You're hired.

Love,

Rupert Murdoch

[Baddar]

Yus.