comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 1 hour, 7 minutes ago
comment by Peks Targaryen - zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor ("a dragon is not a slave"(U6618)
posted about 2 hours ago
comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 2 hours, 4 minutes ago
Looks like Girona have blown their chances of finishing 2nd after beating Barça. Last night's home defeat to Villarreal means Barça could move 4 points clear if they win away at bottom-placed Almería tomorrow.

Too bad. Never paid that much attention to them, but my paternal grandad was from Girona province, so I guess I ought to like them. They also play a nice, well-oiled brand of football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
a. was he a separatist ?
b. you must have a Catalan surname (I think you've mentioned this before)
c. have you taken a 23andme or Ancestry DNA genetic test? I'd be interested to see your y-chromosome & mtdna haplogroups . You're a 1/4 Basque aswell aren't you
----------------------------------------------------------------------
a. No. He was only 2 when his family moved to Madrid, which would've been around the turn of the 19th/20th century, and as far as I know they were a pretty conservative family.

b. Catalan-Madrileño on my dad's side and Basque-Asturian on my mum's.

I think there was a spot of German in the Catalan branch. Probably some Semitic/Sephardic background there too.

Don't know much about the Madrileño part.

Basque bit was very, very Basque - from the inland valleys of Gipuzkoa.

Asturian part I don't know much about either, but my grandma was from a small village on the fringes of Gijón.

c. Don't be ridiculous. Sapiens as far as I know or care.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think there was a spot of German in the Catalan branch....Catalans have a small amount of Frankish blood

Anyone's guess as to how long Simeone will stay. He certainly won't need the money at this point. I think it's probably more of a case now of how much longer it motivates him enough to continue.

I’m surprised he’s stuck around with them this long. I thought he’d have wanted a new challenge by now.

Yeah, I guess that's been the money, as you pointed out. But I imagine there comes a point where it ceases to be the deciding factor.

Perhaps what keeps him going is that he still entertains the idea of being the first manager to win them a European Cup, and even then he must realise that it could be a long time before they come across another opportunity like this year's.

comment by Peks Targaryen - zaldrīzes buzdari iksos daor... (U6618)
posted 4 hours, 22 minutes ago
comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 2 hours, 4 minutes ago
Looks like Girona have blown their chances of finishing 2nd after beating Barça. Last night's home defeat to Villarreal means Barça could move 4 points clear if they win away at bottom-placed Almería tomorrow.

Too bad. Never paid that much attention to them, but my paternal grandad was from Girona province, so I guess I ought to like them. They also play a nice, well-oiled brand of football.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
a. was he a separatist ?
b. you must have a Catalan surname (I think you've mentioned this before)
c. have you taken a 23andme or Ancestry DNA genetic test? I'd be interested to see your y-chromosome & mtdna haplogroups . You're a 1/4 Basque aswell aren't you
----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Signs in

* Reads this

* Signs out

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 12 minutes ago
Yeah, I guess that's been the money, as you pointed out. But I imagine there comes a point where it ceases to be the deciding factor.

Perhaps what keeps him going is that he still entertains the idea of being the first manager to win them a European Cup, and even then he must realise that it could be a long time before they come across another opportunity like this year's.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah I think you could be right about the CL being a motivating factor. Does seem to have become a bit stale there, however. Might be he gives it one last shot then calls it quits and moved to Inter.

Yeah. I think he could be tempted by the Inter job, but it doesn't look like it's going to be available unless the current incumbent decides he wants a new challenge himself.

I agree Atleti have become a bit stale. They could still add to their Liga titles whenever the other two both have a below-par season, but Simeone's old formula doesn't look like working well enough in Europe any more, and he doesn't seem capable of coaching them well enough in a more attacking style either.

I reckon Atleti should be keeping their eyes peeled for managers with the potential to take over. They're in a good place in that they aren't really pushed to replace him, but I do think they ought to be ruthless if the opportunity were to arise.

yeah my twin brother really wants Simeone gone from Atleti

Have to say. Carlo has been a much better manager than I gave him credit for initially.

I always respect his European legacy, but felt he'd somewhat underachieved domestically, especially at Milan where he only won 1 league in 8 years. Wasn't overly impressed with his time at PSG and Bayern, where he'd won the league, but his teams seemed pretty uninspiring.

Then went to Napoli, where he did OK but not spectacular, and Everton, where he did pretty well all things considered and they were in contention for a European spot, but ended up finishing 10th. Either way, it felt like he was on his way out of the game based on the clubs he was managing.

However, his second stint at Real has impressed me a lot, especially when it comes to recruitment, game management and dealing with adversity.

Top manager.

Portogese Dave n I just bean lookin at new CL. 4mat, espeshully the qualification paths n seedings

Whutta clownshoe of a turnament

Happy Napoli r boycotting it

https://twitter.com/HarryEnfield6/status/1790658691122835811

comment by #4zA (U22472)
posted 2 hours, 47 minutes ago
Portogese Dave n I just bean lookin at new CL. 4mat, espeshully the qualification paths n seedings

Whutta clownshoe of a turnament

Happy Napoli r boycotting it
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah it’s a complete mess.

comment by Samir (U2630)
posted 3 hours, 9 minutes ago
Have to say. Carlo has been a much better manager than I gave him credit for initially.

I always respect his European legacy, but felt he'd somewhat underachieved domestically, especially at Milan where he only won 1 league in 8 years. Wasn't overly impressed with his time at PSG and Bayern, where he'd won the league, but his teams seemed pretty uninspiring.

Then went to Napoli, where he did OK but not spectacular, and Everton, where he did pretty well all things considered and they were in contention for a European spot, but ended up finishing 10th. Either way, it felt like he was on his way out of the game based on the clubs he was managing.

However, his second stint at Real has impressed me a lot, especially when it comes to recruitment, game management and dealing with adversity.

Top manager.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Samir. Missed you the other day, hope things are going well.

On Carlo, yeah, I've been very impressed too. The only caveat would be that I don't know how much influence he actually has in recruitment. Madrid seem to mostly take care of that upstairs. The manager's task seems to be more to acquiesce and hammer whatever he's given into a team.

That won't be to say he has zero input, but I'm not sure it's really all that much.

Take the CB crisis this season for example. It's hard to say whether he told the suits he didn't need anyone, or whether they told him there were no funds and he just agreed not to make a fuss and get on with it.

Either way, managing the club relationships upwards is also definitely a skill a Madrid manager needs. More than one -Schuster or Pellegrini immediately spring to mind- was given short shrift precisely for falling foul of this unwritten rule.

I cannot even be bothered to look into the new format in detail. It sounds like such a totally stupid, counterintuitive way of running a 'league'.

Gonna b sooooo many meaningless games

It all about the €€€ tho so who cares?

I do wonder what would happen if Pep and Ancelotti swapped clubs for one season. No transfers in or out.

Other news today is that FIFA is preparing to amend some rule or other to allow domestic games to be taken abroad.

Hopefully that means I get to see a Mysterious Dwarfs vs Uncle T game, complete with juju shenanigans, live in Tenerife.

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 6 minutes ago
Other news today is that FIFA is preparing to amend some rule or other to allow domestic games to be taken abroad.

Hopefully that means I get to see a Mysterious Dwarfs vs Uncle T game, complete with juju shenanigans, live in Tenerife.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

comment by it'sonlyagame (U6426)
posted 6 minutes ago
Other news today is that FIFA is preparing to amend some rule or other to allow domestic games to be taken abroad.

Hopefully that means I get to see a Mysterious Dwarfs vs Uncle T game, complete with juju shenanigans, live in Tenerife.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

England and Spain have qualified for the women's U17 Euros final.

Spain tonked France 6-1. The six goals came in the opening 31 minutes.

Elsewhere, the contenders are playing out the penultimate round in the Greek league right now.

Olympiacos leading AEK 1-0, and PAOK 2-0 up vs Panathinaikos. Less than 10 minute plus stoppage time left.

The current scores would leave PAOK top by 2 points ahead of AEK. The other two would be out of the running.

That would set up a fascinating final day. AEK's game against Lamia looks like a gimme, but PAOK have the Thessalonika derby away to Aris, who they've been unable to beat this season (1D, 2L).

My prediction: flares, fires, riots, 16 dead, 400 injured and 1,800 arrests.

My prediction: flares, fires, riots, 16 dead, 400 injured and 1,800 arrests.
———
And that’s just for the club officials, staff and players.

Will a director run ontoo the fealed wheeledin a pistol tho

ADL is gettin borin

Is years ago he punch Lazio owner in the face durin a gala n maid his eggscape by commandearin a passin scooter

Yer, the PAOK president (former president? maybe not) who did that a few years ago