MoS Posted May 2, 2016 Report Share Posted May 2, 2016 For all intents and purposes, this is like that time when Santino almost won the world title. Except Leicester have actually won the world title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship Canal Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Ranieri ascending to the Mount Rushmore of babyface managers alongside Cloughie. An absolutely astounding achievement in today's game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Some time ago, some big-shot American corporate dude said that it is not a good thing financially for clubs like Leicester to play in the Champions' League; that it would be more prudent if the old powerhouses kept on qualifying. All I have is anecdotal evidence, but here in India, I have never seen as much interest in Football as I have seen in this dream run for the Foxes. Football is pretty popular in India, but this season has been incredible in terms of people talking about it. Speaking of managers, it would be interesting to see who is more polarising: Wenger or Mourinho. Both have rabid fans and sworn haters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 It is one of the most historic achievements in sport, period. The sort of thing we didn't think was possible any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 It is one of the most historic achievements in sport, period. The sort of thing we didn't think was possible any more. Agreed. I am actually struggling to think of a recent example that comes close to this. People qere convinced as late as a couple of months ago that this was a fluke, and that there was no way they could actually win this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteF3 Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 I'm no soccer expert, but for the other Americans here wondering just how big a deal this is: picture UAB, who are restarting their football program in 2017, going undefeated and rolling through the college football playoff. And the other playoff teams are, like, Northwestern, Cal, and NC State. While Alabama, Ohio State, Florida State, and USC all finish with 6 wins or less. That's the closest equivalent I can come up with for an American parallel, because there's nothing in real life that compares. Coming with even a hypothetical pro equivalent is impossible because the EPL has no draft, no salary cap, and with the Champions League berths at the top and relegation at the bottom is practically designed to keep the haves and have-nots separated. The Browns or 76ers or Padres are orders of magnitude closer to a title than Leicester City was at the start of the season. The Saskatchewan Roughriders would have to enter the NFL and then go 14-2 and bulldoze through everyone on their way to the Super Bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ship Canal Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Hell, I'm a lifelong Manchester City fan, season ticket holder for decades at the old Maine Road and CoMS/Etihad while I still lived in my hometown and even I was saying to people last week: if you gave me the option right now of Leicester winning the league or us winning the Champions League, I'd happily choose Leicester winning the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 I'm a Tottenham fan so I'm taking a painful second place finish here and even I have no ill will toward Leicester City whatsoever. What an amazing story this is. Did they catch a weird sequence of breaks for this to be possible? Yes, but they've absolutely taken all those chances and hung on with both hands. Something no other team in England this year has even remotely looked like doing, frankly. I hope the party lasts a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 It's not when you're standing in the rain with no cover on a Tuesday night in Grimsby or somewhere freezing to death watching your team capitulate to a grim 2-0 defeat while burning your mouth on an atomically warmed Chicken Balti pie, all the while knowing you're not going to get home until after 3am. Football is hell. Too many times I've got up at 5 or 6 in the morning on a Saturday to watch Tottenham draw with fucking West Brom or find a way to get ahead and lose to some other vile club. Sports are dumb why do we hurt ourselves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 I'd like to hear from an angry NotJayTabb for balance, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotJayTabb Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 Obviously, Leicester winning the league is the worst thing that could possibly happen in football. A "fairytale" story that starts with a racist orgy, and ends with a transphobe, a racist and a convicted wife-beater lifting the league title? Forgive me if I don't read that one to my (non-existent) kids. A club who famously declared administration after their relegation was confirmed to avoid the impact of being docked points, avoiding paying £6m in tax, forcing the company building their stadium to write of £5.5million and leaving them in financial peril (which had the knock-on of causing huge delays to a far more splendid stadium, the Ricoh Arena, down the better end of the M69). These aren't the heroic underdogs that people think they should be cheering. In the interests of full disclosure, I should admit that as a Coventry fan, I'm partly bias because of them being our local rivals and I'm sick of people asking me why I'm not happy for them (as if Liverpool fans would be happy if Everton won the league, or Cardiff fans would celebrate if it was Swansea). But still, Leicester are a vile, vile club and them winning the league was like a punch to the gut that I'm still recovering from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutenberger Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 It is one of the most historic achievements in sport, period. The sort of thing we didn't think was possible any more. Agreed. I am actually struggling to think of a recent example that comes close to this. People qere convinced as late as a couple of months ago that this was a fluke, and that there was no way they could actually win this. In Germany in the year 1998 Kaiserslautern became champions, who had just ascended from a league below. So yeah, that was a pretty big deal, but in terms of recent... It's been 18 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conker8 Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 In France, we had Montpellier who won the league and beat the Paris bought by QSI in 2012. But I guess it's minor league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 Thoughts on the Euro's so far anyone? Personally, as a Welshman, I'm quite pleased. The poor performances of Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale on Saturday in a 2-1 victory against a team that's turned over some big names as of late has really geed me up, putting to bed the "One man team" myth Wales have been carrying around. Gareth Bale doesn't play center half, but we only conceded 4 and kept 6 clean sheets in the group stage. Now the world at large has seen that. Also, our fans behaviour has been impeccable. Real ambassadorial stuff. Good to see Italy derail the Belguim bollocks train today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSR Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 From an English point of view I thought it was the best we had played in a tournament for quite some time (probably going back to Euro '96 or maybe the Argentina match in France '98), so to concede a goal so late was pretty deflating. The Russian keeper made two very good saves from Rooney and Lallana but we had enough chances to be out of sight. My main concerns were Sterling who for all his pace has zero end product (my mate was saying he's becoming more and more like Tony Daley every day) and what on earth was Harry Kane doing taking all the corners? If he had a decent delivery I could 'maybe' understand it, but he doesn't and rarely found a man. When you've got one centre forward on the pitch, and one who is good in the air, why on earth isn't he in the box? The Rooney substitution was a strange one as not only is he our most experienced player by some way, but he was also having a good game. I also felt the game was crying out for Vardy (I would have replaced Sterling with him) but good old Roy left him on the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 I can't wait until it's over. Glad I'm not living in a city center right now, I'd probably end up killing some neighbours too. Hopefully France gets eliminated quickly so I can have a coffee/beer in a quite environment again. At least weather is shitty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 A day after I post that the Welsh fans have been getting plaudits int the press, they would fucking go and take on Russia in a handicap match, tagging up with our neighbours to the east. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted June 14, 2016 Report Share Posted June 14, 2016 what on earth was Harry Kane doing taking all the corners? If he had a decent delivery I could 'maybe' understand it, but he doesn't and rarely found a man. When you've got one centre forward on the pitch, and one who is good in the air, why on earth isn't he in the box? The Grauniad made light of this last week in a comic strip. He's about 6'1? 6'2? He should be a towering presence around the 6 yarder for set pieces. Not taking them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Death From Above Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Roy Hodgson is that guy that isn't happy unless he's trying to eat soup with a knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Copa has seen some fun stuff as well. Messi's freekick was a thing of beauty. That own goal by Ireland was really weird. I get what he was trying to do, but there was just one way of defending which could have made an own goal absolutely certain, and the dude did exactly that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutenberger Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 How great is it that Iceland, in their first ever Euro game, getting a draw from Portugal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyPulis'Cap Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Thoughts on the Euro's so far anyone? Personally, as a Welshman, I'm quite pleased. The poor performances of Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale on Saturday in a 2-1 victory against a team that's turned over some big names as of late has really geed me up, putting to bed the "One man team" myth Wales have been carrying around. Gareth Bale doesn't play center half, but we only conceded 4 and kept 6 clean sheets in the group stage. Now the world at large has seen that. Also, our fans behaviour has been impeccable. Real ambassadorial stuff. Good to see Italy derail the Belguim bollocks train today. Totally with you on the Italy/Belgium front - loved that classic Italian performance and Belgium are basically England circa 2006 - 08 - much vaunted individual reputations basically built on the fact they play in the Premier League. Was impressed by Wales in the main on Sat, although I thought after Slovakia scored, they looked the more likely. The fact Slovakia have just beaten Russia shows what a good result that was. I agree, thought Ramsey was arguably the worst performer which is saying something about the standards some of the others performed at. As a Crystal Palace fan, was really happy to see Jonny Williams play so well, given he's barely been given a game for us in the past two years. With three Palace players in the Welsh squad I'm looking out for them, although hoping that Hennessey brings his Palace form for much of this season into the game with England tomorrow! Oh, and the Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko would make a brilliant heel manager for Rusev. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoS Posted June 15, 2016 Report Share Posted June 15, 2016 Ronaldo saying Iceland have a small mind for being defence-oriented is like Triple H saying RoH are losers for not aggressively competing with WWE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gutenberger Posted June 16, 2016 Report Share Posted June 16, 2016 Ronaldo is an egotistical prick. I hate that guy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ButchReedMark Posted June 21, 2016 Report Share Posted June 21, 2016 Thoughts on the Euro's so far anyone? Personally, as a Welshman, I'm quite pleased. The poor performances of Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale on Saturday in a 2-1 victory against a team that's turned over some big names as of late has really geed me up, putting to bed the "One man team" myth Wales have been carrying around. Gareth Bale doesn't play center half, but we only conceded 4 and kept 6 clean sheets in the group stage. Now the world at large has seen that. Also, our fans behaviour has been impeccable. Real ambassadorial stuff. Good to see Italy derail the Belguim bollocks train today. Totally with you on the Italy/Belgium front - loved that classic Italian performance and Belgium are basically England circa 2006 - 08 - much vaunted individual reputations basically built on the fact they play in the Premier League. Was impressed by Wales in the main on Sat, although I thought after Slovakia scored, they looked the more likely. The fact Slovakia have just beaten Russia shows what a good result that was. I agree, thought Ramsey was arguably the worst performer which is saying something about the standards some of the others performed at. As a Crystal Palace fan, was really happy to see Jonny Williams play so well, given he's barely been given a game for us in the past two years. With three Palace players in the Welsh squad I'm looking out for them, although hoping that Hennessey brings his Palace form for much of this season into the game with England tomorrow! Oh, and the Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko would make a brilliant heel manager for Rusev. Joniesta is awesome, though I think he has Nwanko Kanu birth certificate issues, he's never 22. Anyway, I could hit one of the "I conquered the crystal maze" consolation prizes with my cock right now and cut it in two. Probably the greatest Welsh performance I've ever seen, especially on the back of Thursday. And then to finish top? Double hard on. Also, loving how the much maligned in the Premier Joe Allen has quietly been one of the finest players in the tournament so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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