FOOTBALL!

[Tommy BOO]

So, the season's over almost everywhere now... except for in Finland and other Nordic countries. Went to see my local team play against HJK Helsinki today - a goalless draw but not a bad match at all.
Barnsley were a bit shit again this season, but it's hardly a surprise. Maybe the next season will be better, but even though I'm usually quite optimistic, I don't think it'll going to happen, because we can't keep any of the best players that we have and can't sign any new players either because of the financial situation.

Chelsea won the Premier League which isn't a big surprise either - they probably spent more money this season than all the other clubs in England together. I hate it but it's also good to see someone else win the title than just Arsenal or Man United... I wish it had been some other club though.
Arsenal and Man United lost far too many points in 'easy' games this season, I guess they can only blame themselves. Bolton and Everton were both positive surprises to me, I hope they do well next season too. Liverpool finished fifth and won the Champions League, so will they get a chance to defend the title in next season's CL? It doesn't really make any sense, but rules are rules and in my opinion Everton deserve their chance.

Sunderland won the Championship quite easily, and Wigan made a big surprise by finishing second. Sheff Utd missed the playoffs again, but Sparky's favourites Preston will play in the playoff final soon. Good luck to them.

In League One Luton and Hull got the automatic promotion, and Sheffield Wednesday will meet Hartlepool in Cardiff today. I hope that Sheff Wed gets beaten by a "small club". Wrexham got relegated which is a big shame... hopefully this season wasn't their last in the football league.

In League Two... I have no idea what happened, to be honest. Make a search on Google. Thank you.

The FA Cup final was shite, one of the most boring finals that I've seen. Not as boring as Brazil - Italy or Juventus - AC Milan two years ago though. Man United were the better side but Arsenal defended quite well, and United's scoring attempts were lousy. Arsenal won the penalty shootout.

But the UEFA Cup final was ace. Sporting Lisbon scored the first goal of the game, but CSKA Moscow played very well on the second half and won 3-1. A great match and a great performance by the Russian team. Vágner Love is a very cool name as well.

The Champions League final was even better of course, but there's another thread for that.

Juventus won Serie A, AC Milan finished second.

Barcelona are the winners in Spain and Real Madrid second.

PSV Eindhoven won the Dutch league by a ten-points margin to Ajax.

Lyon dominated the French league but Lille made a big surprise and snatched the second place.

Bayern Münich won the Bundesliga and Schalke finished second.


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"Tommy Boo has played a pivotal role in my life. I've looked up to him since I was a kid and he has inspired every note of music I have ever written. The man is a fucking genius" -BC

[discoRdance]

where would we be without Tommy and all the football reports

West Ham won the Play-Off final today too... they were always my 2nd team, and while it's not quite the CL, I'm happy...

[sparky]

this is brilliant:

http://www.premierleague.com/public/downloads/publications/Cole_Inq_Decision_of_Commission3.6.05.pdf

the commission's key findings?

- mourinho isn't interested in left-backs shorter than 1.80cm

- shaka hislop is really called neil

[Guest]

whatever happened to shaka hislop and spanners anyway?

[John Shaka M]

So is "Shaka" his boxing-style nickname then?

And when did footballers start using phrases such as "this is nonsense and entirely inequitable" and "to force a player into this position is unseemly". This report raises more questions than it answers.

[John M]

Has anyone got even an ounce of sympathy for anyone involved in the Ashley Cole 'scandal'. Ashley is trying to cast himself as a selfless hero crusading for the rights of the common man - the poor bastard, how could Arsenal expect him to get by on a mere 55 grand a week? But, as Ashley says, its not about the money its about "decency and the principle of treating people fairly".

Did anyone here get tickets to go to the World Cup in the lottery draw thing a couple of months ago? I quite fancy going but wouldn't really wanna be with England fans.

[Forbes Hyphen]

This one's for Kinkster (or anyone really), but did you see the sky documentary on Neil Warnock?

I didn't but I'm told he made great use of the f-word and seemed to take the 3-0 defeat at Plymouth in February so badly it sort of clouded (fucked-up!) his judgement for the rest of the season. My mate says he was still going on about it at half-time in the game against Sunderland and I reckon that was weeks later.
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Be sad, be happy and be wise

[Kris]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/4613695.stm
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"fashioned by the blade of a world that doesn't care,
feeling so removed, drifting thru stealing air then...
pause and think about it, try to move and shift the pain, but it's there you feel it kicking and you scream and feel alive."

[discoRdance]

[Dave w.]

it's a bit of an odd one. but the fa forced uefa's hand by refusing to change their selection of the top 4, and uefa could hardly kick someone else right out. if we can't get through against the teams in the first round we don't deserve to be in it. the first two rounds can probably almost be pre-season friendlies.

it seems common sense to have the winners in it, but we ought to remember that technically they've changed the rules to let us in, so maybe a bit of gratitude is in order.

it would be so funny if we drew everton in a the qualifiers and put them out!

i read a headline in the echo on saturday that said we'll probably pull out of the world club thing. not seen it confirmed anywhere yet. when it was europe v south america presumably it was in japan to be neutral. now it's got other continents in, i don't know why it's still there. was it in brazil when the mancs went?

[discoRdance]

It had always been that the winners qualified automatically, when did that stop? Aston Villa finished 11th in the old 1st Division the year they won it and weren't told "you weren't good enough to finish in the top 4, so you don't deserve to be in it"

the FA are as much to blame, I think. It wouldn't be nice on Everton but the winners deserve to be there more than a side that's won nothing and only finished fourth. I've had enough of people saying Liverpool weren't good enough to finish 4th and blah blah... They only won the thing! I suppose Chelsea aren't worth Premiership winners because they couldn't win in everything, even losing to Manchester City

They'd have got that 4th spot, no question, if they weren't playing those CL games. Everton didn't have that distraction, Everton didn't even reach one of the domestic cup finals. Would be nice to meet and beat them in the 3rd qualifying round, but I'd rather an easier passage. Don't think it's a case of worry about losing in the first two qualifying rounds, more so the havoc it creates in the pre-season, the potential it has to disrupt who we sign, and the possible effect it might have later on re the fixture list and tiredness

I think the last WCC was in Brazil, yeah. Not so sure they can pull out without incurring the wrath of FIFA, tho. Just send over the kids, eh. Anyway, we'll see...

[Guest]

in the old days though there was only 1 team from each country making it easier to allow the winner to defend. I personally think this 4 teams in the champions league is shit. The top 2 only should go in. But then again liverpool would not have been able to win it if it weren;t expanded so fuck it keep it as is.

[discoRdance]

[John Mc]

From a selfish point of view I'm obviously happy that we're in the Champions League but I'm not sure we really should have been. Everyone knew the rules and we've only got ourselves to blame that our squad wasn't good enough in the league. I bet football fans all over the country won't be up in arms if Greece don't qualify for the European Championships next time around. And I can't believe people are complaining that they've made us start from the first qualifying round.

I reckon its good that we've got some proper matches early on, rather than heading half way around the world to play meaningless matches in Japan, we should be able to hit the ground running in the league. Plus we'll have a valid excuse when our season falls apart in December - 'well we were tired and....'

[John Mc]