*Official* English Football Season 2013-14

[Furball]

Yeah, I'm not sure they should either. There's a bit of a trade-off to be made because if the national team was the only priority you would want an exclusive focus on the top-tier clubs at the expense of everyone else. It's more or less what you have in Spain, it doesn't matter if it compromises the competitiveness of the lower leagues as long as it's good for Barca and Real (and, as a result, the national team). I mean, I'm not saying it's worse the way they do things. But there's a unique depth to English footballing culture that needs to be preserved.

Germany has a similar depth. You seem to be making the assumption that lots of B sides would wind up at the level below the senior side. In reality most B sides would struggle to get out of the conference.

 

[MW1304]

BBC Sport - One Direction's Louis Tomlinson to get Gabriel Agbonlahor apology

Yes Gabby. The man is cleverer than he looks or sounds, he clearly nailed him bad enough to make him sick but not do the guy an injury.

 

[Pothas]

Germany has a similar depth. You seem to be making the assumption that lots of B sides would wind up at the level below the senior side. In reality most B sides would struggle to get out of the conference.

I would hate to have B sides, really really hate them. Would ruin the whole integrity of lower league football for me.

 

[Ikki]

Nah this is arse gravy. The parent club invests vastly more time and energy into a player's development than the club they're loaned to. Game time more or less is the only aspect of development that the club they're loaned to provides, and they only even provide it because they get a quality player in return.

That happens when you're talking about a player who spent their formative years at the club. Look at what the top clubs are starting to do: buy young players, play them a little and then start loaning them out. Those players do come back as better players, but there is an opportunity cost. For me, the club that is willing to seriously involve a youth player in the senior squad will do far more benefit for developing that player than them playing in League One.

But clubs in general don't do that because they're not willing to take that risk. They'd rather keep an established player who is more useful to them now than keep the young player who may be inferior at that moment, but will be better than that established player in the future.

And game time is incredibly important at that age. It's not something you just gloss over. It's that 16-20 age range where the big part of development occurs - learning to play with elite players; adjusting to football as an occupation than a hobby, etc. Keeping a kid in the academy as a teen is nothing compared to the kind of faith it takes to play young kids at the top level. Liverpool may have suffered last year for playing so many kids but those guys in that one year have made a big leap. It didn't phase me at all to see Wisdom or Sterling playing against United, and they're 20 and 19 respectively.

It's become a very streamlined and somewhat safe way of developing talent (in terms of risks taken and money considerations) but it doesn't help build players as much as it keeps the level of football very high, all the time. It's akin to economic doping; wanting to always maintain a growth; when it may be natural that the level come down for a period before it can go up again.

 

[BoyBrumby]

BBC Sport - One Direction's Louis Tomlinson to get Gabriel Agbonlahor apology

Yes Gabby. The man is cleverer than he looks or sounds, he clearly nailed him bad enough to make him sick but not do the guy an injury.

Lol. WAG. "Conditions, ref."

Sincerely hope Agbonlahor got up doing the diving mime or making a circle to suggest he got the ball.

 

[Pothas]

Forgot the other two obsessions, an engine and pace.

Have to have 'bite' as well.

It is so frutstratng because there is nothing fans like more than seeing a youngster come through but a couple of mistakes and they want them out the side. There is of course a need for experienced players, we don't up want a youth league but agree it is such an anoying attitude.

 

[Ikki]

Have to have 'bite' as well.

It is so frutstratng because there is nothing fans like more than seeing a youngster come through but a couple of mistakes and they want them out the side. There is of course a need for experienced players, we don't up want a youth league but agree it is such an anoying attitude.

It's not just an English trait either. We're in the instant gratification generation.

 

[MW1304]

Lol. WAG. "Conditions, ref."

Sincerely hope Agbonlahor got up doing the diving mime or making a circle to suggest he got the ball.

Okay this is less fun because it was actually a pretty standard tackle.

What a soft little bastard. The death threats his fans sent to Gabby's twitter are hilarious, all the more so because it's a fake account.

 

[Uppercut]

Lol. WAG. "Conditions, ref."

Sincerely hope Agbonlahor got up doing the diving mime or making a circle to suggest he got the ball.

I was hoping for a Keano-esque "take that you ****".

 

[sledger]

It does seem odd that he would actually throw up from a tackle like that. It's not like his head took a serious bump or anything.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Flagrant soft-****ery, tbh.

Also ironic how the thread went from decrying the British veneration of strength over technique to everyone enjoying Gabby smushing the 1D no-mark.

We are what we are & we know what we like, us Brits.

 

[sledger]

Tbf, there probably isn't a person over the age of 17 worldwide who wouldn't enjoy seeing the members of One Direction get a beating.

*awaits for VM wall to be bombarded with death threats*

 

[Cabinet96]

The stories overblown obviously. Did a quick search on twitter, found about 100 people saying it was hilarious and didn't find any threats.

 

[grecian]

Honestly what is with all this Kyle walker stuff, it's ****ing ridiculous, what he did isn't illegal in anyway. Drugs shame FFS.

I'm all for a nice little witch-hunt over the brain-deadedness of Prem footballers, but this one seems surreal. Honestly think it would have hardly been mentioned if we had had a full set of Prem fixtures this weekend.

 

[BoyBrumby]

His crossing does suggest someone who's under the influence of psychotropics, tbf.

Meanwhile, apparently England are trying to get Tiago Ilori, the centre-half yer Scousers have just acquired from Sporting, to change his allegiance to us. Was born in London to a Nigerian father and a Portuguese mother.

 

[sledger]

Honestly what is with all this Kyle walker stuff, it's ****ing ridiculous, what he did isn't illegal in anyway. Drugs shame FFS.

I'm all for a nice little witch-hunt over the brain-deadedness of Prem footballers, but this one seems surreal. Honestly think it would have hardly been mentioned if we had had a full set of Prem fixtures this weekend.

Just the usual idiots trying to create a moral panic. Yawn.

One suspects playing football is actually more hazardous to one's health than inhaling laughing gas. Or whatever it was.

 

[sledger]

The stories overblown obviously. Did a quick search on twitter, found about 100 people saying it was hilarious and didn't find any threats.

Yeah, it's no doubt a non-story really. With no football top flight games of any note on over the weekend it was obvs a slow news day.

That said, the weirdness of some One Direction fans is pretty crazy. I don't doubt that there are a number of seriously obsessed followers of theirs out there, especially if that documentary on them that aired a few weeks back is anything to be believed.

 

[Uppercut]

Honestly what is with all this Kyle walker stuff, it's ****ing ridiculous, what he did isn't illegal in anyway. Drugs shame FFS.

I'm all for a nice little witch-hunt over the brain-deadedness of Prem footballers, but this one seems surreal. Honestly think it would have hardly been mentioned if we had had a full set of Prem fixtures this weekend.

Haha I thought it was hilarious. "My Laughing Gas Shame", next we'll be seeing concerned mothers picketing dentists. And they called it "hippy crack" it's one step away from "footballer caught on camera enjoying spell of petrol at garage".

 

[superkingdave]

Ffs daylight robbery again

Oh well we played the best football ive seen us play for a while - 62% possession away from home, crap loads of attempts, hopefully it will come for us soon

 

[GIMH]

B teams would be an atrocious concept in the English league. Could and should never happen.