Official Premiership 2008/09 thread

[Grounded Wingman]

I don't know, but it's fucking tedious.

It's also not great that we'd be getting Ancelotti in at about the same time that we need to be thinking about replacing some of the older members of the squad. Because, you know, he'll keep playing them all until they're 38.

Has Ancelotti been in charge of transfer dealings at Milan (or has it been one of Leonardo, Galliani or Berlusconi)? Will he be in charge of transfer dealings at Chelsea? Remember, Hiddink didn't have a transfer window in which to fall out with Kenyon or Abramovich.

It's unfair to have a go at a manager for his selection of players if he isn't the man making the decisions as to who is bought and sold, unless he does something daft like drop Mikel for Miniero.

[Crybaby Bunting]

On the plus side, of course he's going to want to come to Chelsea, over at Milan the squad, bar Kaka has aged horribly

On the negative side, he built that team.

But seriously, I was just reminded by IAceI that technically Ramos isn't Real Madrid's manager, as he only ever signed a contract that ran until the end of the season. Could Ancelotti be about to pull the biggest swerve since Ronaldiniho?

[Adam]

His place in the squad has gone to Aston Villa winger James Milner, with the 23-year-old being promoted from England's Under-21 squad.

This is a quote from the article saying Carrick is out of the World Cup qualifiers. I know this isn't strictly about the Prem, but why is Milner, a 23 year old, in the under-21 squad? Is it a typo, or what? I know there's a ruling and it means that if youre 21 at the start of the year or something like that, youre eligible, but he can't have been if he's 23 now.

[AJ]

This team is for English players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old.

That'll be why I guess.

[EddieG]

Same thing goes with Wayne Rooney being eligible for the Under 23 squad at the Olympics in 2012.. when he'll be 26

[Adam]

Ah that does make sense. Thanks.

[Baddar]

I don't think that's the case as they won't have to go through a qualifying process. Rooney being there is because they can pick 2 players over the age of 23 and it's assumed he'll be one of them, I'm guessing.

[EddieG]

No, Rooney is there because he is eligible.

They don't have to qualify, but as to not put them at a disadvantage, players aged 23 at the start of the qualification process, whether they have to qualify or not, are eligible to play.

[Adam]

Actually, there's reports that FIFA are gonna change it from an Under-23 tournament to an Under-21 tournament for the Olympics to bring it in line with all the FIFA competitions.

[Bigal]

And Steve Bruce is Sunderland manager.

[TheArsenal]

Actually, there's reports that FIFA are gonna change it from an Under-23 tournament to an Under-21 tournament for the Olympics to bring it in line with all the FIFA competitions.

FIFA can't change it. The Olympics doesn't fall under their jurisdiction. That's why for the last Olympic games, FIFA said that they couldn't force clubs to release players to play in the Olympics like they could for regular internationals, after a couple of South Americans (maybe Messi and Ronaldinho??) found that their clubs were unwilling to release them to go and play (although I think they did in the end....)

[Adam]

It must just be the Olympic guys then, I definitely read it in one of the articles about the proposed Team GB.

And yeah, I remember the issue with Messi and Rafinha not being released by their clubs to play for their countries, FIFA had no jurisdiction and in the end I believe they were allowed to play.

[nabeel]

This was the first premiership season in the last five years that I couldn't follow properly and I blame Canadian cable for that

On that note, I'm thinking about getting Arsenal TV Online for the next year. I'm mostly on campus and busy with union stuff and what have you and I really don't get time to come home and watch TV. I was thinking about getting Setanta but my busy schedule means that it won't be worth it.

I just wanted some input from those of you who have friends or coworkers who have Arsenal TV Online to see if its worth it or not and whether I should seriously consider getting a subscription or not.

[Lowerdeck]

I couldn't really keep up with the league this year either. We get one game a week, generally during the week on a Tuesday or Wednesday, is frequently pre-empted for reruns of Boston Celtics games.

And then half the time it's Manchester United or Chelsea anyway.

[TCO]

I haven't checked but between Sky and Setanta, almost all of United's game were shown on TV, which is kind of ridicolous. I remember their game against Newcastle away wasn't though, so it's max 37.

[Sam]

I think it was 27 games that were shown of United last year not 37 and to be honest you would expect more coverage of them as they were the Champions and also Chapions of Europe plus they had rescheduled fixtures due to the club world championships which TV coverage picked up.

[Adam]

I'd like to see how many games they got televised in comparison with everyone else, as I can't imagine the likes of WBA and Wigan getting too many games.

[Ben E.]

So, anyone with a season ticket get their renewal letter(or however your club handles it) yet? If so, have the prices been reduced much? Haven't got mine yet, but the rumor is they haven't cut the prices down at all. I'm unsure how I feel about it. Sure. there's 4 more games to go and see, but we're in the Championship, so I expected at least a small cut.

I should wait until I actually get the renewal letter before I start bitching though...

[Matt]

You have no grounds to bitch about prices until you're paying £500 in division 3... hopefully that won't be long.

But yeah, don't expect a price cut, if anything expect an increase. You have huge wages, clubs will rip you off for the players you sell, your owner wants to up and leave and you've just lost a guaranteed 30m in TV money... And if you're still in the Championship in two years time, it'll be even worse.

[cmb211087]

So, anyone with a season ticket get their renewal letter(or however your club handles it) yet? If so, have the prices been reduced much? Haven't got mine yet, but the rumor is they haven't cut the prices down at all. I'm unsure how I feel about it. Sure. there's 4 more games to go and see, but we're in the Championship, so I expected at least a small cut.

I should wait until I actually get the renewal letter before I start bitching though...

Not reduced much, just from around £300 to £129 for a 16-21, or £199 for over 21. Not reduced much at all.....