Global Football Odds & Ends

Titans Bastard

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Paris has by far the worst football tradition of any city in Europe relative to its size. The French lower divisions are littered with Parisian clubs that have had stints in the top division at some point in history but never quite "made it" and haven't really been heard from in decades: Paris FC, Red Star, Racing.
 

Zososoxfan

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Paris has by far the worst football tradition of any city in Europe relative to its size. The French lower divisions are littered with Parisian clubs that have had stints in the top division at some point in history but never quite "made it" and haven't really been heard from in decades: Paris FC, Red Star, Racing.
PSG and more generally Ligue 1 make it somewhat ironic that France has been cranking out world class footballers, especially so since the mid 90s.
 

steeplechase3k

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Jimmy Conway, who primarily played for Fullam, Man City and the Portland Timbers passed away today.

He was one of many NASL players that continued to make Portland their home long after retiring from playing, where he coached college and youth soccer, as well as an assistant coach on the USL Timbers from 2001-2005.

View: https://twitter.com/TimbersFC/status/1228382150510051328


https://www.timbers.com/post/2020/02/14/jimmy-conways-legacy-rests-heart-oregon-soccer
https://timbersarmy.org/Blog/8747617
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
Haaland won the Bundesliga Player of the Month award for January.

He played a total of 59 minutes.

He scored 5 goals.
 

dirtynine

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Dec 17, 2002
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Evertons shirt sponsor is an Kenyan betting site. Part of the sponsorship deal is an annual visit to Kenya/TZ for friendlies, they invite the winner of a tourney there to Goodisin for a friendly, the club sponsors charities there, etc. I hate that we have a gambling site and want to upgrade but if we have to have one, getting into Africa is shrewd. PL is so popular, it’s a growth market, and other clubs have done well establishing fan bases overseas (Newcastle in Thailand, etc).
No more, apparently...
 

InstaFace

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Something I didn't know about Chelsea's run to the Champions League title in 2012 until reading this retrospective on it in the Athletic today, about the night before the Final:

Lampard: “The memory of Moscow was of defeat. We remember that feeling after the loss. That disappointment. And we’ll use that to inspire us to win this time round. It’s taken us a long time to get back, and we wouldn’t have believed we could be here two or three months ago. But [new manager] Roberto Di Matteo has been very clever in how he’s managed the situation since stepping up. Rather than come in and make drastic changes, he just spoke with everyone individually and generated confidence within the group.

“The Napoli game changed everything and, from then on, he’s quietly done a perfect job. If anyone deserves to win this game, it’s him. And as for them having home advantage, the atmosphere here in the city has been amazing. There’s such a great vibe. We felt it even in the hotel. We went up to the roof terrace and had a little stretch up there and you could hear the noise, see the people drinking beers below, and sense the friendly atmosphere. And to be underdogs gives you a determination. Bring it on.”

Di Matteo gathered his players in a private conference room at the team hotel on the evening before the final for what they anticipated would be a routine tactical team-talk. Yet, unbeknown to the squad, the interim manager had actually got the club’s video analysis team to compile messages from members of each player’s family with their words intercut with YouTube clips from games or footage of them as kids. The presentation lasted around half an hour, with those present lurching from fits of hysterics to tears.

Ryan Bertrand: “We were called into the meeting and there they were, for every single player. First it was my mum and brother saying, ‘Well done and good luck to the whole team,’ and then it went to all the rabble, all the family, which was a little bit embarrassing. The manager pulled me to one side afterwards and asked me who all the people in the video had been. There could have been some tears, but there was a bit of laughter and banter too, and the whole thing really spurred us on.”

Terry: “He organised all the wives and kids to speak and say how proud they were of their dads. Even the younger players in the dressing room had their parents speaking, wishing them good luck. It was such a good touch. One thing that will stay with me for ever.”

Di Matteo: “We spend a lot of time away from our families in our jobs, but they’re important people in our lives. It was important that they were somehow part of it, this journey. I needed something personal to touch the players, and I wanted to take a bit of pressure away from them. It did exactly that.”
What an awesome motivational bit. Hard to believe there are zero players left on the Chelsea roster from that team, but Azpilicueta and Willian just barely missed.
 

InstaFace

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The investigation into FIFA corruption grinds on. Two Fox Sports execs. charged with bribery.
I don't know how this could possibly be true:

A spokeswoman for Fox Sports declined to comment Monday on the indictment. The company at the time of the 2017 trial said it hadn’t known or approved of any bribes.
Whose money were they bribing with?!

Anyone who's worked in an international business of any size here in the US has had to take training on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Maybe a lawyer could tell me how respondeat superior wouldn't apply here.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Somewhat separate from this, let’s never forget that FOX was awarded the US rights to the 2026 World Cup without a bidding process. The only reason I heard from this: it was to avoid litigation with FOX for moving the tournament from Summer to late Fall. It was now going to be played vs the NFL which FOX had a massive problem with.

The tournament has since been awarded to North America. So by allowing the unbelievable grift and bribery, Blatter/FIFA actually cost itself a ton of money in the long run.
 

67YAZ

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More evidence that the pandemic has turned the world upside down - Ashley in advanced, actually real and documented negotiations to sell Newcastle. I mean, it looks really real this time! Appears that Saudi money is backing the entire purchase, but it's being run through English persons/businesses for political reasons. Just moving on from Ashely should help Newcastle...but if the club really is now tapped into Saudi oil money, we may well be looking at a Big 7 soon enough.
 

Vinho Tinto

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And separately, the idea of Liga MX and MLS combining into one league down the road sounds awesome
I don’t think they are looking at combining, but I’ve been wrong about plenty before. I do think they are looking at a side competition that would be their pseudo-Champions League. And that venture would be much more lucrative to MX than its participation in the Libertadores - which has always treated Mexican clubs as second class.

If they did merge: One thing the NHL has taught us is that things get sticky when a labor dispute pops up because the two countries will have differing labor laws.
 

Titans Bastard

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A full-blown merger between MLS and Liga MX would be endlessly complex for so, so many reasons.
 

Ale Xander

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Camp Nou will sell naming rights for the first time in its history. (ESPN scroll)

With all proceeds to fight COViD-19
 
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OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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I think that's right...another reason to love Bowie.
Wonder if the Clash were/are Palace fans. They're from the same neck of the woods.

Being the Clash they might not give a shit, revolution, etc. which would be the most Clash thing ever.
 

pedro1918

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Mar 5, 2004
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Strummer was a big Chelsea fan. Mick Jones is QPR. I have never been able to pin down Paul or Topper, but the parking lot footie games during the recording of “London Calling” are, in a very small way, legendary.

Also, the cover of “Sandinista!” was famously airbrushed to remove pro-Hammers graffiti from the wall behind Topper.

http://popspotsnyc.com/sandinista/
 

67YAZ

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American Soccer Analysis is introducing a new metric - Goals Added (g+) - that attempts to assign positive or negative value to every on-ball action. They make extensive use of MLS data, so that adds some extra fun.

They’re rolling out pieces all week looking at the measure from a variety of angles. Should be a nice way to fill time...

And it gets us closer to a measure of off-ball movement.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Seeing reports of a deal between Juventus and Barcelona.

Barcelona receive 25 million, Pjanic, and Mattia De Sciglio

Juventus receive Nelson Semedo.
 

67YAZ

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Yow. Pjanic is still a quality player, though he won’t be taking art pieces over Messi. And cash is very valuable right now...but I still don’t get why Barca would do this.
 

Zososoxfan

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Yow. Pjanic is still a quality player, though he won’t be taking art pieces over Messi. And cash is very valuable right now...but I still don’t get why Barca would do this.
All you need to know about Barca's current transfer policy is that they need serious cash and now. Pjanic is a nice player, but he's not a great fit for Barca. Don't know much about de Sciglio. But they are totally secondary to the $25M. And while Semedo is a really nice player that I thought would be a seamless fit at Barca, he has underperformed a bit. To add--this makes no sense to me. The overall value of the deal seems like Juve is paying thru the nose to get Semedo.
 

67YAZ

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It makes sense to me as Juve shedding roughly 10m euros a year in salary and getting back a prime-age player who will probably cost less than half that on a new contract. But I don't see the Barca side of things. This is likely a pre-cursor a wild, unprecedented transfer window.
 

Zososoxfan

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It makes sense to me as Juve shedding roughly 10m euros a year in salary and getting back a prime-age player who will probably cost less than half that on a new contract. But I don't see the Barca side of things. This is likely a pre-cursor a wild, unprecedented transfer window.
Again, the plan is to sell whoever they can that isn't important to the 20-21 season with the intention of bringing in Lautaro.

Rakitic is 100% gone pretty much no matter the transfer fee (but guessing $10-15M). Dembele is almost certainly gone, but I don't think they're willing to accept less than ~$40M.

Umtiti and Vidal will likely be offloaded. Umtiti for $15-25M and Vidal for >$10M.

After that is where it gets interesting though. I've heard rumors that Arthur is on the block and so might Griezmann and Alba. Not saying I'd get rid of any of them (Arthur especially is a keep no matter what guy for me), but those 3 have real value left.
 

SoxFanInCali

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California. Duh.
FC Seoul was fined 100 million won (around $82K) for using sex dolls to fill some seats at their stadium for a game.

While football authorities accepted that Seoul had not purposely ordered sex dolls, they ruled that given the doll's appearance and characteristics, there was ample time from installing them in the seats on Sunday lunchtime until the evening kickoff to realise a mistake had been made.
Link
 

candylandriots

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Feeling a lot better today about Union Berlin’s chances of survival after the draw with Schalke. They definitely outplayed the men in blue after stinking out the joint after the resumption in play (but in fairness, only Schalke has been worse, despite their better pedigree). @OilCanShotTupac I blame you for the loss of two points, as Jonjoe Kenney was the difference with I think Schalke’s only shot on goal. Union’s remaining four games are Paderborn, Düsseldorf, Köln and Hoffenheim. The first three listed are basically 6-pointers.

Just also learned Union suspended Sebastian Polter for the remainder of the season. The reason is that when the players were asked to take pay cuts post COVID-19, all accepted except Polter, who replied with a letter from his lawyer. I kind of get where he’s coming from on a personal level, but that’s the LAST club to try that kind of move with. With the emergence of Sebastian Andersson, Polter wasn’t coming back anyway, but still a sticky situation.

One other thing: as a fan of Union and Palace, if Palace could do set pieces like Union, they’d definitely be playing in Europe. Union has scored like 1/2 their goals from them (though not today) but they are so dangerous with them. It’s almost certainly the reason that they aren’t in huge relegation danger (please don’t let me eat those words).
 

The Gray Eagle

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Aug 1, 2001
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I thought this was an amazing story about a player I've never heard of, Robin Friday, "the man who didn't give a fuck."

Paul Fennessy profiles Robin Friday and chats to Paolo Hewitt, who co-authored the book on the former Reading star entitled ‘The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw’

https://www.the42.ie/robin-friday-paolo-hewitt-interview-5112875-Jun2020/
“He was the epitome of a ‘flawed genius,’ graced with incredible talent, but having a wild and unpredictable temperament that could see him kissing a policeman one match, pulling down an opponent’s shorts in a second, and being sent-off and taking a dump in the opposition’s bath in a third."

The article includes anecdotes on Oasis and Super Furry Animals, for any Britpop fans.
 

candylandriots

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After their win over Paderborn last night, Union Berlin clinched a spot in the top flight after only their first year there. They still could get a top-half finish. I’m amazed and delighted.

They’ll have some big shoes to fill next year, with GK Rafa Giekiewicz set to leave.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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I thought this was an amazing story about a player I've never heard of, Robin Friday, "the man who didn't give a fuck."

Paul Fennessy profiles Robin Friday and chats to Paolo Hewitt, who co-authored the book on the former Reading star entitled ‘The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw’

https://www.the42.ie/robin-friday-paolo-hewitt-interview-5112875-Jun2020/
“He was the epitome of a ‘flawed genius,’ graced with incredible talent, but having a wild and unpredictable temperament that could see him kissing a policeman one match, pulling down an opponent’s shorts in a second, and being sent-off and taking a dump in the opposition’s bath in a third."

The article includes anecdotes on Oasis and Super Furry Animals, for any Britpop fans.
Good look, I enjoyed that
 

The Gray Eagle

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The locals vs. the goths-- not a teen coming of age movie, but the soccer classic known as El Gothico:
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/08/el-gothico-drunken-bet-fixture-raises-money-spirits-whitby-town-goths
"Football’s unlikeliest fixture began as many of the very best ideas do, as a drunken bet. Yet the magnificently monikered clash known as El Gothico has lasted long after the hangover. This biannual meeting of goths and Whitby locals has fostered emotional ties that span beyond football, beyond music. As the game feels the financial pinch of lockdown, the friendships formed since Real Gothic began playing Athletico Gazette resonate with a feelgood factor that is making a real difference at Whitby Town FC and banishing the gloomy goth stereotypes."
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Does the article say permanent, or just for next season?

Permanent seems bad for all the megaclub reasons, but next season specifically makes more sense for me to try and help halt a rash of injuries from whatever fixture congestion nightmare is going to be the end of this season, beginning of next season, plus whatever shit FIFA tries to pull to get back on track.