[nine nine nine]

All great points Brian and the way the game is now the majority of fans who post on a football forum rarely if ever get to a game and their love of the game and opinions are driven by what they see on TV or what they’ve read on the internet.

When I started watching football as a kid I went every week when Chelsea were at home and when they weren’t I would be at Arsenal or Fulham before being old enough to get a pass from my parents to go to Chelsea away games.

I’m marooned in Sunny Somerset now and no longer have my Chelsea Season tickets that I held for the best part of 25 years and I now have two football mad Grandsons to think about too and although I fortunately get back to Chelsea fairly regularly it’s a 6 hour around trip in the Car and a bit much for them.

Both of our young lads look like they are going to play the game at a very decent level and I felt as part of that and their overall football development they needed to watch live football in the flesh and we now have Season tickets to get them to Bristol City every other week.

Football in the flesh and the buzz of the Saturday 3pm ko or a night game when it doesn’t interfere with school nights is an important part imo of them learning to love the game and there are more possibilities of them rubbing shoulders with some of the players at the Bristol City level which is a big as thrill for them as when I was doing it a a kid with the Chelsea players way back when.

Of course the advent of Sky etc and live games together with internet has opened up the game to people all around the world and that’s a good thing too but there’s nothing to compare with the atmosphere and thrill of seeing the players in the flesh and up close.

Loving the game and enjoying the game whoever you support is what it’s all about whether you win lose or draw. Cheers 999

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[nine nine nine]

Costa would never have got away with that.?

Jim, I don’t think there was an argument on intent or not Lukaku seemingly had two goes at the Brighton player with the last one catching him albeit no damage was done.

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[nine nine nine]

Watford v United live on Sky banjo so probably. Should be a good game though.

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[nine nine nine]

Nil, Chelsea alongside Arsenal hold the record for the most consecutive PL wins in a Season for 13 consecutive wins in the 2016/17 PL title winning Season matching Arsenal’s record 13 consecutive wins in the PL in Arsenal’s PL title winning Season in the 2001/2002 Season.

Chelsea also hold the PL record of the most wins in a Season achieving 30 wins in a Season in the 2016/17 Season.

There’s every chance imo that this Season City will sadly take both those PL records.

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[nine nine nine]

According to latest reports Everton look set to appoint Big Sam? Who imo will probably dig them out of their current hole but I’m not sure BS is the man to take Everton to where they are looking to go.

BS wouldn’t have been my choice were I an Evertonian but needs must and Everton need to escape the spectre of relegation first and foremost.

In the short term though potentially bad news for both Liverpool and Chelsea who play Everton on the 10/12 and 23/12 respectively both hoping to avoid any new Manager bounce.

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[nine nine nine]

SkyBet title odds 28/11

Manchester City
1/10
Manchester Utd
14/1
Chelsea
25/1
Tottenham
50/1
Arsenal
66/1
Liverpool
66/1

Can anyone else remember the favourites for the title being better than 1/10 on before the end of November??

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[nine nine nine]

Jim, I think Lukaku is a lucky boy and he got away with one there.

The three man panel all have to agree following a review of the video evidence which looked damning to me and I suspect pretty much everybody else too I listened to Graham Poll on it and he was adamant it was a red card and that it was probably somehow a 2 to 1 verdict which got Lukaku off.

Either that or it was Richard Scudamore telling the panel that City were so far in front now in the PL that it’s become embarrassing so please find Lukaku innocent in order to give United a better opportunity of perhaps pulling 3 points back on them.?

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[nine nine nine]

Maverick, you can never say never mate but I doubt we will see another Leicester type clubs win the PL in our lifetimes.

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[nine nine nine]

banjo, whilst I get your disbelief, the UEFA President seems to have the bit between his teeth on this one but time will tell.

Current rules allow new owners a bit more leeway in their first season of ownership but I doubt we’ll see another Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour in the PL again.

To be fair to UEFA they do have PSG under current investigation for the Neymar/Mbappe deals and they have heavily fined clubs and reduced their CL squads previously but the proof of the pudding…….

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[nine nine nine]

Jim, there definitely seem to be some rumblings from the United fans about the quality of the football being served up and Mourinho is in a tough place at the moment given how well his “noisy neighbours” are playing under Pep. I still think Mourinho will eventually get it right and that United are the biggest threat to City going forwards.

Chelsea and City had to play catch up with United when their new owners took over and despite the criticism of the money they’ve both spent I think it had a positive effect on the PL and had Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour not come along United would have turned the PL into a one horse race much like the SPL.

I understand the envy from opposition fans towards both Chelsea and City but as you rightly say we’re those opposition fans offered the same opportunity of rich owners taking over their club 99% of them would want the same for their clubs, which is borne out by Chucky’s honest response and what the majority say on the Liverpool site elsewhere.

The problem now though is that the level of investment that Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour put into their respective club’s back then will be very hard to repeat under the current FFP rules which the new President of UEFA is seemingly looking to beef up further. Cheers 999

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[nine nine nine]

100% agree with all of that banjo.

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[nine nine nine]

Nil, let’s stop all this nonsense there is not a post from me or anyone else on here that has told you Liverpool “are not going to get anywhere or win trophies” as you are trying to claim..

As banjo and I have just been discussing there is every chance that this City side could dominate the PL for a period given the strength of the current squad they have, the financial ability they seem to have and if Pep extends his contract as seems likely.If that gives you a problem that’s a shame but it also gives everyone else a problem too!

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[nine nine nine]

banjo, seems like it mate but I wouldn’t rule United out of winning a PL title soon Mourinho has never not won a League title at all of the major club’s he’s managed and if United finish behind City this season which currently seems likely and it might be by a considerable points difference I can see Jose blowing £200m in the Summer window.

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[nine nine nine]

banjo, I said the same a few weeks back mate about City potentially dominating the PL for a period now given the quality of their current squad their seeming ability to continue to spend big and having Pep as Manager assuming he extends his contract which seems likely. Cheers 999

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[nine nine nine]

banjo, just for the sake of accuracy Chelsea’s “net” spend on transfers in the Abramovich era according to reports is £806m (but what’s circa £200m between friends.?)

But £806m is still a ridiculous sum of money and I have never denied that Abramovich’s generosity elevated Chelsea to the top table and that was the major factor behind the PL titles won as well as the Champions League win and of course I’m well aware that it sticks in the craw of most rival fans, but City and United apart ironically the majority of the those rival fans critical of Abramovich’s generousity to Chelsea would gladly accept the same generousity from a rich owner if they could get it and it elevated their club to the top table as it did Chelsea.

What I said in my post above was.

“Going forwards bringing through your own and buying up and coming players will become even more important for all of the chasing club’s now chasing City bar maybe United.
From a Chelsea perspective Courtois is one of the best keepers in the world but cost circa £7m and Christensen has been at the club since he was 16 and is now establishing himself as a first team regular and both Cahill and Azpiluqueta were £7m bargain signings.”

“For Chelsea to continue to prosper and compete with the Manchester club’s there will have to be more of both and hopefully both Tammy Abraham and Rubens Loftus Cheek will come back to the club in the Summer and begin to establish themselves just as Christensen is doing now but it’s not easy with the a revolving door policy on Managers and where competing and winning trophies is the key objective handed down to the Manager from the Board.”

The key two words above banjo were “going forwards” the days of Abramovich bankrolling big transfers are over at Chelsea because as a club Chelsea have always looked to fully adhere to UEFA’s FFP rules and even without them Roman quite understandably won’t continue to spend his own money on transfers which is why as I said above bringing through young players and finding the odd bargain will be as important to Chelsea going forwards as it will be to everyone else bar probably the Manchester club’s and Chelsea will need to find more Azpiluqueta’s,Cahill’s and Courtois’s and bring through more young players like Christensen all of whom played against Liverpool on Saturday if they are going to continue competing with the Manchester club’s going forwards.

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[nine nine nine]

Hightown, I don’t wish Ill on any club mate and Everton are an historic club who have been in the top division since the 30’s and personally I would like to see them stay there because of that even though they stuffed us up in the created market not once but twice.?

But you’re right if they go down they will deserve to go down. I think they will probably be ok though. We’ll see. Cheers 999

ps: Worryingly Everton will appoint a new Manager shortly and there may well be a bit of new Manager bounce just in time for Chelsea playing them on the 23/12 and Liverpool playing them on the 10/12 too. Let’s hope we’ve both got enough to successfully come through those games and any potential new Manager bounce.

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[nine nine nine]

Nil, it’s getting so I dare not make a comment on here in respect of anything to do with Liverpool for fear of upsetting you there are a number of posts on this thread that pre date my post from several posters that say similar to me and I wasn’t referencing you I specifically talked about reactions from Liverpool fans on Liverpool forums to FSG when things don’t go quite as swimmingly as was hoped.

Tbh Liverpool fans are not alone in this when things are going array at United it’s often deemed the Glazer’s fault and when things have gone wrong at Chelsea it’s been Michael Emenalo’s fault although he’s gone now so us Chelsea fans will have to find another scapegoat. So all in all it’s probably ” a football fan” issue rather than a specific to any club.

“No comment thrown when Chelsea Manager’s are sacked” is an interesting statement because I would say it’s the reverse and there’s plenty of comment when a Chelsea Manager falls both on the forums inc the Chelsea forums and all over the media most to all of which is critical of Chelsea and in the main rightly so.

Unfortunately what was achieved in the past has nothing to do with the here and now otherwise given that Chelsea have won 2 PL titles in the past three seasons everyone would be chasing Chelsea now and not City.

Nobody and least of all me has suggested that Liverpool won’t win anything for another 5,10,15 or 20 years indeed I am on record as saying that Liverpool are very close to having a title challenging team currently and will have if they make a couple of the right signings and Klopp gets his head around the defensive side of Liverpool’s game.

I suspect Fenway’s ambition is to make Liverpool into a significantly more valuable asset through the development of the ground and regularly competing in the Champions League and that although they would understandably welcome any trophies won because it would add to Liverpool’s value the first two ambitions are currently the most important ones to them.

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[nine nine nine]

I feel for the Everton fans they had an optimistic Summer albeit they failed to recruit in a couple of crucial areas and Evertonian’s have had all their dreams crushed.

Everton are in a really tough place currently and Unsworth whose heart and soul are in the club isn’t the managerial answer either short or medium term.

I think Everton will turn things around they still have most if not all of the Lukaku money to spend and if they get their managerial appointment right they should be more than OK.

I think Everton should go all out for Silva he clearly wants to go there and he is the best of all of the potential Everton targets mentioned.

Everton have been in the top division consistently for more years than all of the top clubs bar Arsenal hopefully Everton can maintain that record but it starts with getting the right Manager in and quickly.

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[nine nine nine]

Really good point banjo about the need for a return of the old Combination League it would give a club’s best prospects a chance to stay at the club and play against men rather than youth players.

Realistically all of the top clubs are struggling to get Academy players through and playing regularly. United have been the very best at doing it all the way back to Sir Matt and the Busby Babes who were tragically wiped out in the Munich Air Crash.

I like what Poch is doing at Spurs bringing through both up and coming young players and some of their own best young prospects Spurs have had to do things differently in order to get themselves up their in the top 4 regularly the tough part though is turning a regular top 4 place into being regular title challengers and then Champions.

Spurs are fortunate though to have Daniel Levy running them because he’s a Spurs fan as well as a part owner.

Liverpool were in a mess when FSG bought them it’s easy to blame them when things don’t quite work out which is often a constant on Liverpool club forums but FSG are investors first and foremost and FSG have never hidden that and to date they’ve not taken a penny out of the club and have provided the club with a £100m plus loan to build the new stand.

Klopp is highly personable which tends to keep the criticism from the media off of his shoulders and his offensive football has been a joy to watch but he does seem to have a defensive blind spot with his strategy of you score three and we’ll score four which he’s carried over from his Dortmund days.

There’s been a lot money spent by Klopp on offensive players in the last two Summer windows over £100m on Mane, Ox and Salah but almost nothing has been spent on the defence which has been a Liverpool problem all the way back to Brendan Rodgers.

I think it will be tough for all the main protagonists to keep up with City now they have a squad almost without weakness and they are cash rich and prepared to spend further to get them where they want to be and United too are cash rich and prepared to spend it to get them to where they want to be however none of the other chasing club’s are in the same position even Chelsea who now have to sell to buy and and try to bring through their own.

Going forwards bringing through your own and buying up and coming players will become even more important for all of the chasing club’s now chasing City bar maybe United.

From a Chelsea perspective Courtois is one of the best keepers in the world but cost circa £7m and Christensen has been at the club since he was 16 and is now establishing himself as a first team regular and both Cahill and Azpiluqueta were £7m bargain signings.

For Chelsea to continue to prosper and compete with the Manchester club’s there will have to be more of both and hopefully both Tammy Abraham and Rubens Loftus Cheek will come back to the club in the Summer and begin to establish themselves just as Christensen is doing now but it’s not easy with the a revolving door policy on Managers and where competing and winning trophies is the key objective handed down to the Manager from the Board.

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[nine nine nine]

There will always be games like this, the mark of true Champions is how you get through them. Another 3 points to keep the title blue.?

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