And Luton into the final of the Championship play-off. Pretty romantic story this one given they dropped down to the 5th tier and have one of the lowest budgets in the league. Capacity is only 10,000 and their footballing style is fairly basic, not sure how they would go in the EPL if they get there.
And you enter the stadium through someone's front door.
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
And Luton into the final of the Championship play-off. Pretty romantic story this one given they dropped down to the 5th tier and have one of the lowest budgets in the league. Capacity is only 10,000 and their footballing style is fairly basic, not sure how they would go in the EPL if they get there.
And you enter the stadium through someone's front door.
Wow that's really old school!! I remember when they were in the first division back in the 80s
@KiwiPie I would love Luton to make it for the following reasons
It's injury time they have to watch out for....
Real Madrid put to the sword.
Statement performance from Citeh
Inter will have to get a papal intercession to get anything from the Final I reckon
Coventry v Luton is very 1980s DIvision 1. Coventry won the FA Cup and Luton won the League Cup in the 80s. I reckon both teams/clubs are ill-equipped to survive unless they do a Forest and buy a whole new squad.
Sheffield Wednesday come back from a 4-0 first leg deficit to make it to the playoff finals to get back into the championship. Pretty impressive turnaround. The playoff system is brutal for fans but my god does it produce incredible drama.
Over the last 2 weeks:
Newcastle 0 - 2 Arsenal
Arsenal 0 - 3 Brighton
Newcastle 4 - 1 Brighton
Apart from Man City winning, nothing seems a certainty.
i just love the fans of other clubs just writing City off as meaningless because they spent money. Most especially Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea fans who seem to pretend their clubs are just chock full of local juniors battling on as plucky upstarts against chequebook teams.
@mariner4life I sort of agree and disagree.
Those other clubs you mention have bucket loads of dosh by comparison to most other EPL clubs let alone those further down the pyramid. But they can't compete with a sovereign wealth fund
So yeah it is hypocritical of the other clubs to whinge, but there's what 100? questionable issues relating to FFP that are being asked of City.
Fulham's Chairman is one of the wealthiest individuals in sport but because we can't wriggle around FFP we couldn't just go out and buy success.
City buy in the world's best coach and then give him every player he wants. Grealish as back up to Foden etc and can do it because they manage to sell lucrative sponsorship deals, several of whom just happen to be based in Abu Dhabi and directly or indirectly controlled by the owner.
So like I said agree and disagree. Sympathy for those other clubs zero and as we can see from Newcastle and Man Utd fans given the chance they'd like their club to emulate City. However, that doesn't mean there isn't a stench associated with the ownership and funding of City and that football wouldn't be better off without it.
Except in playing terms of course. Watching the side in their pomp is glorious.
FFP is complete bullshit. it's not about "fairness" it's about ringfencing clubs who were lucky enough to be good when the money in sport exploded, and want to stay that way.
Fuck Man U. They were lucky to be good at the right time. Liverpool the same (without the being good in the 90s and early 2000s bit). So they get the biggest "acceptable" revenues, and what that to be the be all and end all.
@mariner4life said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
i just love the fans of other clubs just writing City off as meaningless because they spent money. Most especially Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea fans who seem to pretend their clubs are just chock full of local juniors battling on as plucky upstarts against chequebook teams.
I genuinely don’t know one single fan from any of those clubs who hold that point of view.
Almost all of us are basically jealous of Guardiola. He's clearly the difference between the clubs to have such continual success. Perhaps Liverpool fans less so, as they've had a pretty good time under Klopp, but certainly the rest of us tend to look on in awe of Pep.
Truth be told, money is a massive factor in being a successful club, but it's far from the only one. Newcastle are chock full of cash these days, but they've spent very wisely, as opposed to others.
I cannot praise Howe enough for what he's done there. Contrast it to Potter, and the difference is immense.
Speaking of Chelsea, so we've got Poch from next year. Good appointment, I think. Has proven he can manage a big club with big players, but hasn't proven that he can win anything (in the UK, at least).
@MajorRage said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
Truth be told, money is a massive factor in being a successful club, but it's far from the only one. Newcastle are chock full of cash these days, but they've spent very wisely, as opposed to others.
I cannot praise Howe enough for what he's done there.
It plays a huge factor and hopefully Bournemouth will improve next on that factor alone. As for Eddie he continues to deliver with or without a huge budget, he is a genuine elite manager in my mind. That for me is the sign of a great manager.
I may have a small bias of course 
come home Eddie lol
@bayimports I'm pretty sure that Eddie sees himself rehabilitating his reputation at Newcastle so that Bournemouth will have him back
This is quite an interesting page - net spend for the last 5 seasons of the teams currently in the EPL
https://www.si.com/fannation/soccer/futbol/news/all-20-epl-clubs-ranked-by-net-transfer-spend-over-last-5-seasons.
It shows City have been relatively low spenders in the transfer market in that period, making a net profit of 87M for the most recent season by selling Jesus, Sterling, Zhinchenko plus a clutch of youngsters. Not the whole story as what you pay players is maybe more important now in terms of attracting them.
@mariner4life We can all quibble with FFP and say it's bullshit, but the fairness point comes in where there are 19(?) other clubs complying but one is not. I would be really pissed if I was Chelsea and Everton who have been / are being done for breaches of FFP rules while City exist.
I get the point about the bigger clubs using FFP as a ring fence (Euro teams like RM, BM, Barcelona actually the most likely beneficiaries of this). But, for the smaller clubs, while it does limit how much they can grow financially in any given period, it also puts a cap how big a gap there can be to the bigger clubs in any given period too.
That is nuts. Those WH fans were crazy brave
@canefan said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
That is nuts. Those WH fans were crazy brave
Alkmaar ultras were fucking useless
@MajorRage said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@mariner4life said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
Almost all of us are basically jealous of Guardiola. He's clearly the difference between the clubs to have such continual success. Perhaps Liverpool fans less so, as they've had a pretty good time under Klopp, but certainly the rest of us tend to look on in awe of Pep.
Pep obviously but the decision making on players coming in to the club is outstanding. They always upgrade. Get the best striker in Haarland. Offloading Jesus and Zhinchenko to Arsenal was brilliant. Did Arsenal overpay? Yes. May have helped in the short term but these players are not the basis of challenging City. Builds squad depth which Arsenal need and you can tell because Saka has had to play every game and looks tired. Whole Arsenal team looks tired for that matter. City are an amazing team and you know that if they want to they can put 3 goals on any side any day.
@bayimports Probably the biggest spenders of any promoted club. Basically they had to buy almost a full squad and then bought a few more for good luck. Lingard sitting there on 200K per week and has hardly kicked a ball.
Absolute disgusting performance by Arsenal. No urgency. No quick transitions which has been a hallmark on their game and has helped create scoring. Their stars look boring and lacking creativity. Because Forest was able to get behind the ball it was White to Partay to Saka, cuts back in, to Odegaard, Partay, White and repeat at nauseam in an umbrella. Arteta should worry less about the "Arsenal family" and their new chocolate lab and feelings and book them into the roach motel to develop some anger and get them out of their comfort zone. Kliewer at left back was a failure or he is learning to play without penetration? Tierney should have started. At least he showed some willingness to get to the byline. Jesus can not play as a point man with 2 men marking him. Just no movement and so predictable. Worried if Edu brings in more pretty players like Fabio Viera.
Spurs put in a similarly limp display after a solid first half. They have massive problems laid at the feet of the chairman Daniel Levy
Gutted to concede so late at anfield but a great performance all the same for Villa. Watkins missing the penalty in the first could have put the game to bed early but wasn't to be.
Funny what a new manager has done at Villa. Mings would have to be pushing for a spot back in the England squad. He was near unbeatable today. A complete contrast from when Gerrard was in charge and tried to force him out the door. McGinn also put in a massive shift at bothe ends of the field.
Need to beat Brighton at home next week to confirm European qualification.
@broughie A lot of Arsenal's problems today have to be down to Arteta and the formation he chose. Without Martinelli, everything went down the right and there was no space there. Forest got their early goal and basically camped out at the edge of their area and Arsenal played so slowly, they struggled to fashion any good chances, just passed the ball across the front of the Forest defence. Jesus showed something of why City let him go, he started playing like the talented little kid and whining when it didn't go his way. Saka has looked exhausted for a while which is unsurprising given the season he has had with no rotation and a World Cup.
@KiwiPie said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
@broughie A lot of Arsenal's problems today have to be down to Arteta and the formation he chose. Without Martinelli, everything went down the right and there was no space there. Forest got their early goal and basically camped out at the edge of their area and Arsenal played so slowly, they struggled to fashion any good chances, just passed the ball across the front of the Forest defence. Jesus showed something of why City let him go, he started playing like the talented little kid and whining when it didn't go his way. Saka has looked exhausted for a while which is unsurprising given the season he has had with no rotation and a World Cup.
Totally agree with this and kind of baffled at Arteta's adaptation to Martinelli's absence. He could have left Kliewer in the middle with Gabriel, Tierney left and White right, then the rest as is. It is hard to believe Arteta would tolerate the slow pace of play. But there was no change after halftime so perhaps he is too stubborn to change.
I have posted before that we got Man City's sloppy seconds in Jesus and Zinchenko as Pepe knew their ceiling. Jesus likes to complain, as does Zinchenko, and they are not character type players Arsenal needs. Arsenal are lacking these types.
West Ham also now mathematically safe, so 2 out of Tigers, Leeds and Everton for relegation with Southampton already locked in.. Assuming Newcastle beat Leicester today as expected then current bottom three most likely.
I'm cheering for Luton Town - K Road almost makes Traf Park look good!!!
@bayimports said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
West Ham also now mathematically safe, so 2 out of
TigersFoxes, Leeds and Everton for relegation
ahem
Also Brighton will finish 6th and make the Europa League - fantastic achievement. Unless City beat Brighton by 5 and Villa beat Brighton by 6 on the final day. Villa need to beat Brighton to take 7th and the Conference spot leaving Spurs out of Europe altogether.
Was listening to a pod that had supporters of Coventry and Luton previewing the play-off game. Interesting. Plenty of good-natured banter, but where it got interesting is their predictions for life in the EPL if they go up.
Coventry - we will be the worst team ever to be promoted. We only have two good players and they will be off in the summer. We have a lot of loan players too so would basically have to recruit a squad as Forest did but our owners don't invest. It will be torture for the fans and we will come straight back down
Luton. We will 'beat' Derby's record. We are totally unprepared and ill equipped for the Prem. We don't have good players but we have a great team ethic and work really hard, but that will get found out. We don't care. We will only last 12 months, but we aren't going to splurge on players we will stay within our salary cap and use the money a stay of even one year will generate to secure the clubs future for the next 100 years. TV and parachute payments will get us our new ground and we will settle comfortably back into the Championship.
Leicester get a point at Newcastle who confirm Champions League footy next season as a result.
2 points separate Everton, Leicester Leeds
All are at home in the final round hosting Bournemouth, West Ham and Spurs
Leicester has by far the best goal diff.
If I had to pick I would have Leeds and then.....Leicester for the drop but really it could be any combination that gets relegated.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
Was listening to a pod that had supporters of Coventry and Luton previewing the play-off game. Interesting. Plenty of good-natured banter, but where it got interesting is their predictions for life in the EPL if they go up.
Coventry - we will be the worst team ever to be promoted. We only have two good players and they will be off in the summer. We have a lot of loan players too so would basically have to recruit a squad as Forest did but our owners don't invest. It will be torture for the fans and we will come straight back down
Luton. We will 'beat' Derby's record. We are totally unprepared and ill equipped for the Prem. We don't have good players but we have a great team ethic and work really hard, but that will get found out. We don't care. We will only last 12 months, but we aren't going to splurge on players we will stay within our salary cap and use the money a stay of even one year will generate to secure the clubs future for the next 100 years. TV and parachute payments will get us our new ground and we will settle comfortably back into the Championship.
It's interesting - a club really could just keep the squad they have, pocket the cash and go back down with a huge profit. And even use the spare cash to get promoted again the year after.
@dogmeat said in EPL 2022 / 2023:
Leicester get a point at Newcastle who confirm Champions League footy next season as a result.
2 points separate Everton, Leicester Leeds
All are at home in the final round hosting Bournemouth, West Ham and Spurs
Leicester has by far the best goal diff.If I had to pick I would have Leeds and then.....Leicester for the drop but really it could be any combination that gets relegated.
I think Bournemouth are already preparing for their Vegas party.. cant see Everton dropping, but you never know
If Forest somehow went down (and it might not be possible now), would that have made them the biggest spenders in one year to then go and consequently drop?