Liverpool

[quackhandle]

[saptastic]

Fair play - Probably 60k footy fans in Madrid - no real trouble.
Not a great game but great emotions. LFC deserved a trophy

[BrilloPad]

Seasonal migrant workers help transform Liverpool into European superpower

[BrilloPad]

Spurs fans call for a ‘People’s Game’ to confirm Champions League result

[gnarledcontractor]

My landlord is a huge football fan. Visits every home game and most of the games abroad.

He, and most of the football fans he knows, are astonished at how much nonsense the English will put up with. Top 6 clubs all foreign owned and with non-english managers.

They consider it much to the detriment of England in general and England football in particular.

Apparently the World Cup was an abberation. Only super thickos think England are in top 4 in the world.

I think there is a tipping point for even British football fans. For instance, the most expensive season ticket at Spurs is £2200, which for circa 19 games is ridiculous. The most expensive at my own club Man United is £950.
Certainly paying players like Alexis Sanchez north of £400,000 a week is not at all helping English football one iota. I'd be quite happy with a mandatory 'x' amount of British players mandated to come through the system and be in the squad each season (even if it meant less competitiveness in the Champions League for a few seasons). IMHO, England seem to be doing quite well at the moment. Certainly if you look at the players they have at the moment, most have Champions League experience and can be considered 'good' players with a manager who seems to know what he is doing for once... Perhaps if England can win the Nations League then they must be taken a bit more seriously.

As for the top 6 all foreign owned, I struggle to reconcile the criteria 'fit and proper' persons to most of the owners of those clubs, including my own.

[quackhandle]

I think there is a tipping point for even British football fans.
.....
.....
As for the top 6 all foreign owned, I struggle to reconcile the criteria 'fit and proper' persons to most of the owners of those clubs, including my own.

Fair comment. Unfortunately clubs find a way to circumvent the rules. I remember being told for Sir Trev Brooking at a coaching clinic that Wenger at Arsenal used to have kids at his Belgium feeder clubs and he would move them over here before they were 16 so they could be classed as "home grown". He did also say that Wenger loved the passion and commitment of British players over other nations however we just weren't as skillful. Even the basics such as twisting and turning we aren;t as good as other nations.

qh

[BrilloPad]

I think there is a tipping point for even British football fans. For instance, the most expensive season ticket at Spurs is £2200, which for circa 19 games is ridiculous. The most expensive at my own club Man United is £950.
Certainly paying players like Alexis Sanchez north of £400,000 a week is not at all helping English football one iota. I'd be quite happy with a mandatory 'x' amount of British players mandated to come through the system and be in the squad each season (even if it meant less competitiveness in the Champions League for a few seasons). IMHO, England seem to be doing quite well at the moment. Certainly if you look at the players they have at the moment, most have Champions League experience and can be considered 'good' players with a manager who seems to know what he is doing for once... Perhaps if England can win the Nations League then they must be taken a bit more seriously.

As for the top 6 all foreign owned, I struggle to reconcile the criteria 'fit and proper' persons to most of the owners of those clubs, including my own.

I hope you are right.

But I reckon Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea got alot of city corporate clients pushing up prices? Maybe teams dont care about average fan any more?

[gnarledcontractor]

Fair comment. Unfortunately clubs find a way to circumvent the rules. I remember being told for Sir Trev Brooking at a coaching clinic that Wenger at Arsenal used to have kids at his Belgium feeder clubs and he would move them over here before they were 16 so they could be classed as "home grown". He did also say that Wenger loved the passion and commitment of British players over other nations however we just weren't as skillful. Even the basics such as twisting and turning we aren;t as good as other nations.

qh

I'd disagree with that last point. I think British players, if coached properly by top coaches, can be as skilful as their foreign counterparts. I just think that quite often our playing ethos (whether it be trying to impose tactical nuances, systems and physical fitness on youngsters who just need to develop their ball skills and technical level) is wrong, and has been for a number of years. I think if an English player achieves a high level of skill and coupled with their natural athleticism, competitiveness and attitude then that makes a great player. The Germans (although not recently) have similar basic attributes but they have been getting that balance right for decades now, which their abundance of titles confirms..

[darmstadt]

Fair play - Probably 60k footy fans in Madrid - no real trouble.
Not a great game but great emotions. LFC deserved a trophy

Well, that lasted long: Violent England fans an embarrassment to the team and not welcome, says FA | Football | The Guardian

[Zigenare]

Well, that lasted long: Violent England fans an embarrassment to the team and not welcome, says FA | Football | The Guardian

A Portugal supporter threw a drink in the air to celebrate after which several drunken England fans retaliated by hurling bottles at the locals and then the police.

Yeah, right.