Football Thread No. 9

@hks article I think the author is incorrect in saying we haven't had excellent german players in our league, Klinssman is excellent, we are just greedy and want to see moar! Personally I cannot wait to watch Podolski bang in the goals for Arsenal on match of the day (as long as it isn't against my beloved southampton). I really wish Klose would join an EPL club too, I think his style of play would suit the EPL:p

Ozil in the EPL would be just..mouthwatering, but thats never gonna happen ; /
 
Real Madrid celebrating last night

Spoiler :

Javi Martinez (by his own admission apparently) came by to call him hijo de puta. Ronaldo basically replied the same thing but in sign language. ;) Nothing to see here really.

Otoh...

San Mames did not have a good behaviour to Cristiano Ronaldo last night (with very strong language) and he answered with prepotency and haughtiness.

Ronaldo shouldn't behave like an idiot towards the fans. However, fans that spend half the match singing what are essentially xenophobic chants (Ese portugués, que hijo de puta és) quite frankly deserve it.

(Ronaldo's still a bit of a prick of course, but everyone already knows that anyway)
 
Javi Martinez (by his own admission apparently) came by to call him hijo de puta. Ronaldo basically replied the same thing but in sign language. ;) Nothing to see here really.

Otoh...

That's not fairly true. Javi Martinez told him that he should go to celebrate the Liga to Madrid. This behaviour was not OK.
Javi Martinez was pissed because before the end of the match Ronaldo made some gestures to the fans, such as show 3 fingers (saying that they had scored 3). Ronaldo was pissed as well because of the chants you have mentioned. And the fans in Bilbao were pissed because Ronaldo shot a fault which hit in a Athletic Club player, who felt. Ronaldo stayed in the place he already was.... Smiling. This Smile was not liked in San Mames.
I do not undestand why some media is interested in saying that Javi Martinez called him Hijo de puta, there is more than one and two interviews in which Martinez recognizes what he did and says that he is not prowd of what he did. Ok, to say the truth I understand pretty well.
Real Madrid managers are saying tha Ronaldo was trying to roll up the shirt.


Ronaldo shouldn't behave like an idiot towards the fans. However, fans that spend half the match singing what are essentially xenophobic chants (Ese portugués, que hijo de puta és) quite frankly deserve it.

(Ronaldo's still a bit of a prick of course, but everyone already knows that anyway)

Nothing to add here, agree :) I felt a little embarrashed about it. However I would not say that they are xenophobic, people is not calling him hijo de puta because of being portuguese, it is because of being him. Which, I insist, It can not be justified in any case.
One correction more, "es" dosn't have ´ simbol ;)

EDIT: I have just read another interview, Javi Martinez did not said what I wrote, it seems that the media is now saying that Ronaldo was saying to the fans that they were the champions and Martinez told him that he is World champion. He denies it. He says that he does not remember the situation properly because he was very pissed off and that he does not discard calling him hijo de puta.

This is the first row he has with another team's player since he arrived to Athletic Club in 2006, I wish it does not happen again.
 
It's a minor incident really. Like you say:

he does not discard calling him hijo de puta.

In other words, after that prior exchange of words, he did just that, and Ronaldo replied in the same manner. All a minor a thing. We're just talking about it because...

I do not undestand why some media is interested in saying that Javi Martinez called him Hijo de puta, there is more than one and two interviews in which Martinez recognizes what he did and says that he is not prowd of what he did. Ok, to say the truth I understand pretty well.

...this works both ways and it's what the press wants.


Nothing to add here, agree :) I felt a little embarrashed about it. However I would not say that they are xenophobic, people is not calling him hijo de puta because of being portuguese, it is because of being him. Which, I insist, It can not be justified in any case.
One correction more, "es" dosn't have ´ simbol ;)

Thanks for the correction. :)
They are not xenophobic tout court - and the fact that it rhymes gives it a "practical" justification - but they carry xenophobic overtones: it's an acephalous chant that singles its target out as "other" and not one of "us". More importantly, it will be then, and is being already, recycled to insult other players or persons of the same nationality, clearly making the demonym an object of contempt.
(Besides, maybe they'd do it in Bilbao :p but I doubt in Almeria or Granada they'd chant 'ese español' to some other player. And if they did it in Bilbao, it's because it was being used with a derogatory intention, which is my point exactly)

Still, and despite these posts, I don't really care a lot about it. Just sayin' that if Ronaldo is supposed to take it like a man, so are the other protagonists when it comes back at them (public and Javi).
Ideally they should all cut the cr*p though. :)

And the San Mamés is still awesome otherwise. And wish they didn't have to move to a new stadium, as this is one of the few that still connects directly with the roots of football. I was never there though, so what do I know? :p
 
If someone shows any amount of fingers that somehow correspond to the number of goals scored in a match then it's grounds for a red card here. Especially if you're doing it against the home fans.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/may/04/chelsea-offer-buy-battersea-power-station

holy crap, they're really doing it...
Chelsea submit offer to buy Battersea power station in new ground plan
Ah-ha! Now the question is: can Chelski really get a 60-70 thousand people crowd? Or would this be a white elephant?

That said, back to the poaching. Where are me eggs?
 
The Argentine division's settings have been changed again, now only the last three teams in the average table will be relegated and to hell with everything else.
Also, the five teams to qualify for the next Copa Libertadores will be the two champions of 2012 (neither the 2011-12 season nore the 2012-13 season count towards this), the best two teams out of the same calendar year, and the team that goes the furthest in the 2012 Copa Sudamericana. So, you're playing in four tables all at once: the immediate 19-match tournament you're playing at the moment, the table generated by the adding together of the two tournaments in the calendar year to qualify for the Libertadores, the season year table to qualify for the Sudamericana, and the average table composed of the last three seasons. It's head-shattering.
And, also, there will now be two tournaments and the two winners will qualify for the title playoffs. If we had a table such as this again:
Spoiler :
Team|P|W|D|L|Gf|Ga|Pts|2007-08 League
Boca|38|20|10|8|65|33|70
Estudiantes|38|19|12|7|56|35|69
RIVER PLATE|38|19|9|10|60|46|66|Clausura Champions
San Lorenzo|38|19|7|12|59|48|64
Argentinos|38|18|7|13|52|44|61
Independiente|38|16|11|11|58|38|59
Vélez|38|17|8|13|49|42|59
LANÚS|38|16|8|14|60|60|56|Apertura Champions
Newell's|38|16|8|14|37|41|56
Tigre|38|16|8|14|52|57|56
Banfield|38|16|6|16|58|57|54
Huracán|38|13|13|12|39|39|52
Arsenal|38|14|9|15|41|49|51
Colón|38|12|9|17|44|49|45
Olimpo|38|12|6|20|39|56|42
RosarioCentral|38|9|14|15|47|56|41
Racing|38|9|13|16|37|46|40
Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)|38|9|9|20|34|53|36
Gimnasia y Esgrima (J)|38|7|14|17|42|59|35
SanMartín|38|10|5|23|38|59|35
Then we're up the creek without a paddle. Anyone winning a few matches in a row can win either round and win a seasonal 'yearlong' title. :cringe:

Also, we're more or less screwed since the government now officially backs hooliganism and will bring down any club officials who try to cut down on the free transportation+tickets combo the gangs are used to getting.
 
Ronaldo shouldn't behave like an idiot towards the fans. However, fans that spend half the match singing what are essentially xenophobic chants (Ese portugués, que hijo de puta és) quite frankly deserve it.

(Ronaldo's still a bit of a prick of course, but everyone already knows that anyway)

Españololes, what else?
 
I(Besides, maybe they'd do it in Bilbao :p but I doubt in Almeria or Granada they'd chant 'ese español' to some other player. And if they did it in Bilbao, it's because it was being used with a derogatory intention, which is my point exactly)
I would say that this is not an exclusive chant in Bilbao. Unfortunatelly it happens in more fields while Ronaldo is playing, And if I remember properly the chant is quite old because it was dedicated first time to Paolo Futre. I can not make it certain, but I think I read it somewhere.


And the San Mamés is still awesome otherwise. And wish they didn't have to move to a new stadium, as this is one of the few that still connects directly with the roots of football. I was never there though, so what do I know? :p

We have to move. Because of 2 reasons:
1) And most important: security reason. If (I whish it never happens) the stadium needs to be evacuated a disgrace will happen. Furthermore, the stadium has areas in which the colums and ceiling are not safe.
2) Economic and full member reason. Right now about 40.000 people can attend to a match. About 35.000 are club's full members. The club can not admit more full members because in this case there won't be tickets for sale. There is a list over 10.000 people waiting for becoming full members. On the other hand if we want to keep values like Llorente, Martinez or Muniain we have to increase the money incomes. It is not going to happen though TV because Barcelona and Madrid are controling the TV Mafia. TV's are not making public how many people watches each team and they are distributing the 55% of money for Barcelona and Madrid. The other 45% must be distributed among clubs on La Liga and second division. I am pretty sure that Athletic Club is one of the 5 most watched on tv clubs in La Liga
 
aaand, arsenal could yet miss out on champs league.

(by virtue of newcastle and tottenham finishing on top of them -> united winning the league OR tottenham finishing 3rd and chelsea winning the champs league)



edit: even chelsea would yet finish above them on GD if they lose their last one and chelsea win both. (chelsea'd need to win one game by two if arsenal lose theirs by one)
 
He's rather magnanimous, isn't he? :rolleyes:

:lol:

A possible translation from johnterryish to english: "He's black, just like his brother, ok, but for England I'll give it a go. Oh, can I have my armband back?"

Arsenal... :splat:
Could be reduced to cheering for Bayern in 2 weeks time or not even that.


It is not going to happen though TV because Barcelona and Madrid are controling the TV Mafia. TV's are not making public how many people watches each team and they are distributing the 55% of money for Barcelona and Madrid. The other 45% must be distributed among clubs on La Liga and second division. I am pretty sure that Athletic Club is one of the 5 most watched on tv clubs in La Liga

The problem is in this day and age I imagine there are more people watching from abroad than in Spain, and those people probably only care for Real Madrid and Barcelona. A self reinforced process as those 2 clubs become more and more powerful...
 
maybe it wasnt in, but what i was saying is that we were playing them because they were awarded a goal under similar circumstances in the semi-final.
 
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