blonde poker forum

COME ON YOU HAMMERS


Party time at highbury for the last game woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Absolute magic


least wqe saved spurs some cash on legal procedings now, enjoy the UEFA cup


what a great season BRING ON BARCA

Congratulations  :)up

You do realise that Barce are going to wipe the floor with your @ss!

C'Mon the peoples team!

BARCA....BARCA....BARCA!

Why are Barce the people's team? Apart from Spurs fans aren't we all behind them now?

Congratulations to Arsenal, but also well done to Spurs. It would be easy for them to be downhearted, but they are going to be in Europe for the first time in a while and should still celebrate this achievement.

As for my boys (City) I dream of a mid table finish next year.  :D

Nope.

Firstly I don'tw ant to see any English team doingw ell in Europe - unless I have money on them  :D

Secondly the King of Kings plays for Barca.

Thirdly if Arsenal win the CL then celtic have to play a qualifier and thats not fair.  So really in the interest of fairness we want Barca to win.

Why Scottish people show an interest in football is very confusing.

 ;ifm;

Celtic should play a qualifier, they are a poor team in the cl and better teams don't get in.

chuckles and agrees :D

Don't talk nonsesne.

Celtic are the champions of their country and therefore shoudl rightly be in the Champions league.  They shouldn't miss out at the expense of a a team who can't win thier own domestic league who have struggled to make 4th.

Should Total Network Solutions go straight to the group stages too?

If they are champions of their domestic league then they have more right to be in the group stages that a team that finnish 2nd, 3rd of 4th in their domestic league.

The champions league is a money making venture for big capitalist clubs but it devalues the idea that its a competition of champions.

Well done Arsenal - here's hoping they put on a good performance agaisnt Barcelona...

Life of a Tottenham fan...

I have stopped watching the champions league since they got rid of the 2nd group stage.

Before then it was class, so many matches where you see Juve vs Man UTD, Milan vs Real etc. I don't care what its called but the top comp in Europe should have the top teams ONLY. Not some teams who get in because they have a piss easy domestic league.

Like Porto  ::)

Porto won the competition under the current format. Flushie is on about the 2 group stages, I think Milan won it last under that format in 2003.

With the new format, any team can win the competition(Porto, Liverpool and Arsenal). However, under the old format, the more financially successful, historically bigger clubs would win the competition. Therefore, I like the new format.

2005   Liverpool   3-2  AC Milan
2004   FC Porto   3-0 AS Monaco FC
2003   AC Milan   3-2 Juventus
2002   Real Madrid CF   2-1   Bayer Leverkusen
2001   FC Bayern München   5-4 penalties
2000   Real Madrid CF   3-0   Valencia CF
1999   Manchester United FC   2-1   FC Bayern München
1998   Real Madrid CF   3-0   Valencia CF
1997   Borussia Dortmund   3-1   Juventus FC
1996   Juventus FC   4-2 Ajax
1995   AFC Ajax   1-0   AC Milan
1994   AC Milan   4-0   FC Barcelona
1993   Olympique de Marseille   1-0   AC Milan

4 teams from 1 country is a farce, don't get me started on this!

Its all about the money & you know it.

Obviously. But, for the sake of meltdown and to save the game and stop the G14 breaking away and starting their own league, they had to introduced 4 teams.

Not if those 4 teams are miles better than the champions of another country. The neutral would much rather see Real Madrid vs Milan than TNS vs Brondby next season.

Thank you for re emphasising my point, its all about the money.

4th placed teams winning the CHAMPIONS League is farcical

It is all about the money yes, agreed, but to say it is a farce is comical.

A group consisting of Real Madrid, Milan, Man U and Dortmund or a group of TNS, Brondby, Shakthar Donetsk and Celtic?

Hmmm tough choice. Now, which one is the farce?

Its easy to solve.. just dont get too hung up on the name... They could of renamed it once more than the champions were allowed in but I suppose by then they had built a brand...

We all want to see our teams play the likes of Milan and Barca so I wont be complaining about the 4 PL teams being entered...now all they have to do is get in the top 4!!

Intertoto is the New Champions League anyways! :D

What they need to do is make the UEFA Cup the exact format the Champs League is.

Anyone know why UEFA hasn't done this?

having just got back from highbury - what a day and what a send off to Highbury.

Unlucky Spurs - but over 38 games the better team has finished in 4th position.

Now just 10 days to my trip to Paris and i am just counting down now with so much excitement.

The amount of games boro have played in that competition is a joke... they are degrading it with its current format...dare I say intentionally to ensure they maximise the revenue from the CL to keep G14 clubs happy?

If they made the UEFA Cup the same format, it would close the gap on the big 4 and make our leagues more competitive.

The first one obviously as they couldn't all be in the same group DUH!
In fact both as the second lot couldn't be in the same group either DOUBLE DUH!

Come back when you understand how the competion works!

The Uefa would be a better comp if if the CL was restricted to 2 max from each country as it would be a much stronger comp ie Liverpool, Arsenal, Inter etc would all be in it from the start.

 ;iagree;

By all means have a premier European competition with all the top big money clubs from the big money leagues.

Just don't call it the "Champions" League coz it's fookin not.

Not really a League either come to think of it, it's well daft.

What can we call it next year instead, any ideas?

I would say fixture lists also play a part but primarily Rooky is correct. TV rights and money.

End of the day Celtic are a far bigger club that anyone in the premiership apart from Man U.

Celtic should be in there ahead of any club that finnishes 4th in a domestic league.  Its not the fault of Celtic Football club or our fans that we play in a piss poor domestic league!

Its not all about being a big club...its about being a good enough team too....

DUH! (Thanks for that by the way) I think you missed the pont.

What would people rather see? Winners of countries with weaker teams teams or decent matches between clubs of equal strength? Uncertainty of outcome and competitve balance are relevant to keep interest.

I have been here with every deluded Celtic fan and this simply isn't true. In the Asian markets, no one cares about Celtic & Rangers. Arsenal are bigger than Rangers and Celtic COMBINED! More fans worldwide and from next season Arsenal will have over DOUBLE Celtic's turnover and nearly 3 times Rangers turnover.


10-15 years ago the Old Firm were most probably the 3rd and 4th biggest teams in Britain, not anymore.

Good post.

What day is this?

You're talking pisch.

Celtic may have a case, but don't dilute it by talking trite.
You've comfortably won the domestic title, but that's one on the trot. If it was a piss poor league, how come you've not won 15 in a row??????

If you're not a big club, you will always be grinded down, once the good players move on and you don't build on your success like Arsenal have done and like Deportivo and Parma haven't. That is why the UEFA Cup has to be restructured, so it gives the 'lucky' smaller clubs the parachute of tyring and failing to compete with the 'big boys'

 :goodpost: ;iagree;

Celtic would struggle in the English Premier League. 

At the end of the day Scottish football is pretty poor compared to other European nations.

Still, you're good at curling and wearing skirts.

Mr Moves, I'm very, very disappointed with you!

You forgot to mention Elephant Polo.  ;goodvevil;

You know what that means


 ;yellowcard;

 rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao rotflmfao

Three words to sum up the difference... Jean Alain Boumsong!! I thought he looked top class at Auxerre and Rangers, seems to have been found out in the PL, though he must now be playing on zero confidence.

I think Celtic might do very well in the English league, don't get me wrong. They just wouldn't be top 4 contenders for their first couple of seasons. Quality oppostion week in/week out would strengten them and they would have the support base to really contend after a few years there.
There is not an English Premiership side that would be rubbing their hands at the prospect of playing Celtic, it would not be an easy game.

I wouldn't want it to happen though, the only thing worse for the SPL than the old firm would be not having the old firm.

Good post for so many reasons.

Exactly, i stopped wacthing it because its crap, i want to see the BEST players, playing for the BEST teams chasing the BEST tittle in club football.

Give me a European super-league PLEASE!!!! The game might be good once again.


Made me chuckle.

Put Celtic in the EPL and i will wager any money they dont make the top 10, let alone Europe

Sorry to bring this one up again but....

The Deloitte Football Money League – 2003/04 season


Rank (Prior year) Club Income (In millions)
1 (1)
Manchester United
€259.0

2 (4)
Real Madrid
236.0

3 (3)
AC Milan
222.3

4 (10)
Chelsea
217.0

5 (2)
Juventus
215.0

6 (7)
Arsenal
173.6

7 (13)
Barcelona
169.2

8 (6)
Internazionale
166.5

9 (5)
Bayern Munich
166.3

10 ( 8 )
Liverpool
139.5

11 (9)
Newcastle United
136.6

12 (11)
AS Roma
108.8

13 (18)
Celtic
104.2

14 (16)
Tottenham Hotspur
100.1

15 (15)
SS Lazio
99.4

16 (n/a)
Manchester City
93.5

17 (14)
Schalke 04
91.4

18 (n/a)
Olympique Marseille
88.0

19 (n/a)
Rangers
86.2

20 (n/a)
Aston Villa
84.4

Source: Deloitte Football Money League

I'm sure they'd have a hell of a home record in the first few years... the fans and the team would have so much to play for. Having said that the current set of players would probably level off in the 7-10 area... I think they would develop into a very good opposition though.

If you put Celtic current best starting 11/squad in the EPL they would be battling relegation.

In recent years a Scottish side has made the final of the UEFA cup and the final knockout stages of the Champions League. Quite good for the size of population.


Nothing wrong with a bit of ribbing. Lay it on about Curling, Elephant Polo (and other recent trivial successes such as the World Snooker title) as much as you wish.

Please don't belittle our national dress in the same breath though. We are proud of our history and will remain so.

Like I said I think they're home record would carry them...If they create that scary old firm game atmosphere against each team they wouldnt lose or draw many!

They would be tough to travel too, no doubt. In the same way Southampton were tough to play against. They still would get destroyed away

good post tank, thanks

Similar to Pompey, but Celtic have worst players.

I honestly dont believe you can compare Celtic park to Fratton Park! the chimes do go through me but it doesnt strike fear which they WOULD do.... Not that thats ever going to happen so its pretty irrelevant....

I wouldn't say it strikes fear, but I had to quote your post so it got the "atmosphere" bit in.

You know what I mean. You hear all the players/managers saying that Fratton park is very intimidating, especial with Redknapp there.

Pompey are a good example IMO but their form since Harry came back has been sensational.

Top half next year for sure.

Revenue (€m) 04/05

1 (2) Real Madrid 186.2  275.7

2 (1) Manchester United 166.4 246.43

(3) AC Milan 158.0 234.0

4 (5) Juventus 154.9 229.4

5 (4) Chelsea 149.1 220.8

6 (7) FC Barcelona 140.4 207.9

7 (9) Bayern Munich 128.0 189.5

8 (10) Liverpool 122.4 181.2

9 (8) Internazionale 119.7 177.2

10 (6) Arsenal 115.7 171.3

11 (12) AS Roma 89.0 131.8

12 (11) Newcastle United 87.1 128.9

13 (14) Tottenham Hotspur 70.6 104.5

14 (17) Schalke 04 65.8 97.4

15 (n/a) Olympique Lyonnais 62.7 92.9

16 (13) Celtic 62.6 92.7

17 (16) Manchester City 60.9 90.1

18 (n/a) Everton 60.0 88.8

19 (n/a) Valencia 57.2 84.6

20 (15) SS Lazio 56.1 83.1

On the note of atmosphere St James' Park was rocking today... Stephen 'the fattest arse in football' Carr getting sent off helped it, I just hope he never gets the chance to do it again in a black and white shirt... Tottenham must have been laughing to of offloaded him.

Why is it the jocks get all worked up about footie??
You all know that the SPL is rubbish, the standard is so bad it's rediculous yet you seem to think that the best teams in it can compete at a higher standard!!
If Celtic were allowed to play in a real league i actually think they would do ok, top 7 maybe but Blues would still win it and promotion back to the premiership :D

Before his knee injury in 2002 he was the best RB in the EPL and arguably rivaling Cafu and Thrum as best in the world.

The grass isn't always greener Mr Carr.

You been smoking again mate?  :D

Hee was voted RB in the end of season EPL team of the season  3/4 years

LOL... I didnt see too much of him pre his move so wont comment on that... He has shown no commitment to get himself in a condition to play football for 90 minutes this year... I cant believe about half the ground applauded him off after his sending off today... he is a disgrace, it is far worse than Bellamy's against inter Milan under the circumstances.

He was good, as Steve Finnan is good for us, very consistent too, but world class?

Sami Hyypia was Opta central defender of the year 4 years running, is he as good as Maldini, Nesta, Terry etc?

Believe me Carr in his prime did things Finnan could only dream of. Hence why Carr was 1st choice when Kelly and Finnan were vying for Irish RB.

Forget about them OPTA stats bollocks. I'm talking about he was voted best RB by his peers in 3/4 season in the late 90's early 00's

Might also be to do with the fact the Finnan was at a club which couldn't defend. Finnan now vs Carr then is no contest. Finnan would be no 1 every time.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why do I put myself through this every 3/4 months when this same debate always crops up.

I will not post on this subject again as I cannot bear to "debate" this same issue with ignorant, patronising armchair football "fans" who can't see past anything the overhyped overrated EPL.

Baron stop being so precious re DUH!

Nem, stop the shit stirring you should know better!

Right I'm off before I cop a ban  :)

If you looked at the league tables in the early 00's you would see that Spurs and Fulham were finishing around the same places. You cannot compare them now. Carr had a 'Gazza' knee injury and Finnan plays for the European Champions. But if you compare them both in their prime, IOM Carr wipes the floor with Finnan.

I'll pinch a line from another thread, Form is temporary, class is permanent... sadly for NUFC i think his haydays were the form part... There is no doubt he wont be playing top flight into his mid to late 30's ala Maldini and Thuram... If NUFc managed to off load him it would be to Division 1 now!

So him being voted the best 3 out of 4 seasons makes him as good as Thuram and Cafu? Behave!

If Shay Given had been voted keeper of the year this year would that make him as good as Buffon/Casillas?

Truth hurts... ::) ;)

Obviously.

Don't believe the hype!

If Reina is voted keeper of the year for the next 4 years he would be classed as one of the worlds best.

The EPL is massively overrated, Serie A is the best league by a country mile! And the best to watch, unless you think lots of goals means it was a good game, even if they come from a wack it and hope stratergy.

I would love Carr back at Spurs, maybe cos he was SOOOO good a few years back.

Casillas (over rated because of the team he plays for) yes... Buffon probably not... There aren't too many better shot stopers and he has the advantage of not being 'european' in his approach to crosses, though not as strong as other parts of his game.

The Spanish and EPL are the best leagues followed by Serie A

Who do you rate as the best 3 keepers in the EPL? 1st 2nd 3rd?

As a former keeper I would have to say Casillas and Buffon are LIGHT YEARS ahead of any other keeper. If it wasn't for Casillas Real would be even worse at the back if that is possible. Technically they are more proficient than anyone.

Serie A is nowhere near the EPL in terms of quality these days.

Its too hard to rank them because they have so many different qualities and weaknesses...

Cech, Robinson, Given and Reina (the latter agin I have only seen him on sky a few times and SJP once) but there are a few more that are close...

A lot of hype surrounds the keepers you just mentioned. Your great manager Benitez rated Reina the best keeper in Spain, rightly so?

I put Robinson, Cech and Reina in the best in the world category

There is nothing wrong with this thread as long as we stay away from the name calling. I dont believe anyone here is ignorant or patronising although we may not always agree. :)

I think Given makes more world class saves than many in the league... but then again he has too! :D

Top 3 EPL keepers are Cech, Robinson and Given IMO. Haven't seen enough of Reina yet - he is very well protected. Dudek had an amazing first year with us, look at him now.

Some of youa re a touchy bunch.  Most are seriously deluded. 

I can't believe thet some of you reckon Celtic owuld be relagation material in the EPL.  Apsrtf rom the top 4/5 clubs your league is p**h.
 
I mean you only have to look at the stats over the past number of years, only Man U have actually won the league and built something Blackburn and Chelsea bought it  Newcastle tried to buy it and failed and Arsenal well they had a few good seasons.

Regards the 3 best goalies in your league well some of them are decent but thats as far as it goes. 

Cech
Given (and he graduated from the celtic reserves)
Warner (he used to play with celtic he has to be in there as well)

Celtic, Celtic, Celtic. Your once great club are not the force they were, you need a reality check mate. How can anyone take you seriously when you put a Fulham reserve GK as the 3rd best goalkeeper in the strongest league in the world.

Deluded you really believe that yous have the greatest league in the world nothing to beat good old English arrogance no wonder us "jocks" want to see you out of every tourney you enter and that includes one ticket raffles!!

Up until the Arsenal Invincibles I always said the Spanish league was the best in the world. However that Arsenal side and Chelsea have raised the bar.

The fact that the last two Champions League finals have contained our fourth placed teams speaks volumes. Add to this the fact that Middlesboro are in the Uefa Cup final and I think it's obvious our league is stronger than any other at present.

Serie A is a duopoly (due to the TV revshare of Milan and Juve) and La Liga is a one horse race these days.

Now if we're talking revenue no league comes remotely close to England.

So I'm not sure which league is meant to be bigger/better than the EPL?

Yes it goes to show that its a crap idea to get rid of the 2nd league stage. It's like missing out the 200-400/300-600/400-800 levels, removes the skill level even more.

You can't beat a little English/Scottish hostility.   ;D

All half decent Scottish players move south of the border to play in a proper league.  English players move north to top up their pensions.

Celtic would be an above average team, similar to the likes of Bolton, in the Prem'.  IMO.

I would love to see a European super league as flushy mentions.  Celtic would find it a very tough league though, just as Bolton would.

Celtic would not be in it!!

Bolton might make it though.  ;goodvevil;

Well it would hardly be a super league then if it never contained the best team in the British Isles not to mention the best supported!

Gretna?

Nemesis is dilluded?

I have to admit to being part of the camp that wonders why football is still being played in Scotland?

One thing that really puzzles me is why Scotland no longer seems to produce many top class players.

In my youth I remember dozens of Scottish players plying their trade in the old first division.

Not only that, but they were labelled Anglo-Scots and not selected for the Scottish national team for years.

These days Scots playing in the EPL are few and far between.

Why and how did the production line dry up ?

Because the Labour councills all over scotland sold of football pitches to private property developers.

David Murray invested far to geavily in 2nd rate foreigners to take level to the next level this in turn forced other clubs to ditch promising youth policies.

Between Celtic and Rangers they pillaged other clubs for their promising youngsters only to let them rot in reserve football.

The Bosman rulling is another thing, their is little or no benefit in a club now bringing through their own talent only to have it snatched away.

As well as the fact that the international regime still talked about players in their mid to late 20's being for the future instead of giving them a chance when they where playing well.

Thats just a few of the reasons.

Look at Holland.

Similar culture, similar population. But they have a very strong national team, 4/5 strong(ish) clubs (well better than the rubbish in the SPL). They have plenty of homegrown talent overseas and plenty of homegrown talent in their top teams like Ajax PSV and Feyenoord.

You been smoking the weed that comes from holland mate?

Holland has a population 4 x that of Scotland.  Our cultures are not alike.

Holland also has many migrants from north african countries who turn out to be very good players flooding in every year.

they also have a better professional set up and clubs like Ajax have fantastic youth set ups.

My mistake. Hollands population is 16 million Scotlands is 6million.

scotlands population is under 5 million

I honestly fail to see how Celtic can be compared to Bolton, a team with an average attendance of around 25K, with Celtic, average attendance of 58K in a crap league.

With bigger television revenues, bigger signings, and playing in a bigger league, Celtic would need to join Man Utd in increasing capacity to around 80K.

SCOTLAND'S population has increased for the third year in a row to almost 5.1 million, official figures revealed today27/4/06. (source: scotmans.com)

I rounded it up to 6 million with all the illegal immigrants ::) ;)

hopefully some of those imigrants kids will be playing for celtic soon

Other things we should be looking at when we talk about the Celtic support are our numbers that travel to away games in any part of the world.  There is no club that takes such numbers as we do.

You only have to look at the numbers that will travel to England this week for Keane and Shearers testimonials we would take that to every away game in the EPL.