2025-26 Season - Discussion Thread

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Similarly, Portugal should consider trying to merge with La Liga, and Holland/Belgium with Ligue Un.

Perhaps one of the most idiotic things i've ever read on this forum.

Originally Posted by mfw13

I may get a lot of pushback on this, but I think it would be much better for Scottish football in general to join English football, just like the Welsh clubs have done.

People in England want the Welsh clubs out of the English Leagues - especially now they (the Welsh) are trying to let the Welsh teams qualify for Europe va Welsh Cups, despite Playing in England. You get stuffed if you think we want Rangers and Celtic in it with all their sectarian religious garbage, depriving English teams of a place in the league. Celtic and Rangers dominance (and corruption) is a problem for Scottish football, nobody else's.

The only people that float the idea are people with money spinning ideas, not football fans.

Heck, why not let Bayern Munich into the Premier League too while we're at and PSG can join the Spanish League.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

The only people that float the idea are people with money spinning ideas, not football fans.

Well, as you know, I've been a football fan for 30+ years, and I couldn't care less about money.

What I do think would be an improvement would be more interesting competitions in general.....and many of the mid-size leagues are fairly boring because of the extent to which they are dominated by a handful of clubs.

Portugal is dominated by Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, and Porto.
Scotland is dominated by Rangers and Celtic.
Holland is dominated by Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord.
Turkey is dominated by Galatasaray, Fenerbache, and Besiktas.
Greece is dominated by AEK, Panathinaikos, and Olympiakos.
France is dominated by PSG.
Germany is dominated by Bayern.
Spain is dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona, with the occasional challenge from Atletico Madrid.

And a lot of these clubs draw higher attendances and better TV ratings for their European matches than for their domestic ones because their domestic leagues are so uncompetitive.

So is the idea of combining some of these leagues in the interest of making them more competitive and interesting really that horrible?

[CiaranGQ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

I may get a lot of pushback on this, but I think it would be much better for Scottish football in general to join English football, just like the Welsh clubs have done.

Right now it's a fairly boring closed shop, with Celtic/Rangers winning the title 90% of the time, and little interest outside of the British Isles.

Conversely, joining English football would bring more TV revenue to Scottish clubs and get Celtic/Rangers more high-profile matches.

Celtic vs Liverpool and Rangers vs Man City, for example, would be much more attractive matches from a marketing perspective than Rangers vs St. Mirren and Celtic vs Falkirk.

Scottish domestic football may be viewed as uncompetitive and generally something of a two-horse race [or, more often, a one-horse race since Rangers’ demotion to the fourth tier in 2012]. Hard to argue against that these days.

However, in its own way, it actually works. Scotland’s attendance levels, across the senior football pyramid, are better than any other European nation when adjusted on a per capita basis. Many of the clubs that have not been successful for decades, or generations even, still have strong supporter bases that are well embedded into local communities.

It’s almost inconceivable that Rangers & Celtic would join the English pyramid. They would risk years being outside of European competition, whereas that is almost guaranteed today. It can be better to be big fish in a small pond …

More so, English clubs would have zero incentive to surrender two places in the Premier League to them. Added that the potential for crowd trouble, before, during and after the game would be materially heightened when Celtic and Rangers come to visit [and for the reverse fixtures when certain English clubs travel to Glasgow]. Would risk reputational damage to the largely sanitised world of the modern Premier League. Even when Celtic and Rangers play meaningless friendly / exhibition matches in England these days, the propensity for trouble is usually there.


In European competition, the changes over the past 30+ years do materially impact on nations the size of Scotland i.e. chances of a Celtic or similar club repeating their 1967 European Cup triumph are pretty much non-existent. Personally, I’d love the Champions League to go back to an old-style fully randomised knock-out competition across national league winners. Appreciate the chances of that happening are somewhere between nil and zero.

[CiaranGQ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

Well, as you know, I've been a football fan for 30+ years, and I couldn't care less about money.

What I do think would be an improvement would be more interesting competitions in general.....and many of the mid-size leagues are fairly boring because of the extent to which they are dominated by a handful of clubs.

Portugal is dominated by Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, and Porto.
Scotland is dominated by Rangers and Celtic.
Holland is dominated by Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord.
Turkey is dominated by Galatasaray, Fenerbache, and Besiktas.
Greece is dominated by AEK, Panathinaikos, and Olympiakos.
France is dominated by PSG.
Germany is dominated by Bayern.
Spain is dominated by Real Madrid and Barcelona, with the occasional challenge from Atletico Madrid.

And a lot of these clubs draw higher attendances and better TV ratings for their European matches than for their domestic ones because their domestic leagues are so uncompetitive.

So is the idea of combining some of these leagues in the interest of making them more competitive and interesting really that horrible?

You are effectively arguing for a European Super League of sorts - where ‘top teams’ across certain countries play each other and the respective domestic leagues deteriorate.

There is no support for such a concept across European football supporters, at least those who go to the games. Many of the domestic rivalries, esp. within cities, are great, are generations old and not understood or appreciated by those from elsewhere.

As indicated across your list, even the larger leagues, more successful in modern European competition, can be amongst the least competitive. Subject to financial rules, or how clubs circumvent these, there will inevitably be clubs dominating for periods. That would be the same for any form of European Super League too.


I would suspect the considerable majority of supporters would rather attend an Ajax vs Feyenoord match as opposed to an Ajax vs Sporting match or, alternatively, would rather attend Sporting vs Benfica than Sporting vs Fenerbache.

Domestic football still has a real and meaningful place.

[Tones]

Bodo/Glimt with already one foot in the quarterfinals, what a run they are having! It will be hard to see them progressing further than the QF's but you never know.

All you do know is that come the summer that team is going to be cherry picked of their manager and key players for sure, Kasper Hugh was already on the verge of a winter transfer to Celtic.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by CiaranGQ

I would suspect the considerable majority of supporters would rather attend an Ajax vs Feyenoord match as opposed to an Ajax vs Sporting match or, alternatively, would rather attend Sporting vs Benfica than Sporting vs Fenerbache.

Domestic football still has a real and meaningful place.

I'm not disputing any of that, because my idea would maintain traditional rivalries.

My question is whether Ajax fans would prefer an Ajax vs. Sporting Lisbon match as opposed to an Ajax vs. Fortuna Sittard match, or whether Benfica fans would prefer a Benfica vs Barcelona match as opposed to a Benfica vs Rio Ave match.

[YayNJ]

You're suggesting the death of league football, Europe-wide. Not sure how you can't see that.

Zero match going fans in Europe want anything like this, and the longer it remains the fantasy of the North American owners and Corporations that are slowly but surely destroying European football, and the two most corrupt clubs in world soccer - Barcelona and Real Madrid, the better.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

You're suggesting the death of league football, Europe-wide. Not sure how you can't see that.

I can see it....I just don't think that one-sided leagues in which the same handful of clubs win the title every year is such a good thing that it's worth protecting at all costs.

I think there are quite a few situations in which a regional league would be much more interesting than a single-country league....

Spain/Portugal
Greece/Turkey
Croatia/Serbia/Albania/Slovenia/Bosnia
Holland/Belgium/France
Poland/Ukraine/Czech Republic/Slovakia
Norway/Sweden/Denmark

[CiaranGQ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

I think there are quite a few situations in which a regional league would be much more interesting than a single-country league....

Greece/Turkey
Croatia/Serbia/Albania/Slovenia/Bosnia

Would certainly result in a lot of attention … either league would make the hooligan epidemic of the 1970s and 1980s appear like a children’s tea party in comparison to the chaos that would inevitably unfold if either of these league frameworks was implemented.

Even leaving aside the opposition to the concept, ethnic and regional / national tensions would ensure these leagues were deemed to fail [and give rise to significant hooliganism and wider security concerns]. The incremental policing costs would outweigh any increase in revenue.

[CiaranGQ]

Originally Posted by mfw13

I'm not disputing any of that, because my idea would maintain traditional rivalries.

My question is whether Ajax fans would prefer an Ajax vs. Sporting Lisbon match as opposed to an Ajax vs. Fortuna Sittard match, or whether Benfica fans would prefer a Benfica vs Barcelona match as opposed to a Benfica vs Rio Ave match.

There are many rivalries that would be lost. Take Spain as an example. Proper rivalries such as Rayo Vallecano vs Real Madrid and Espanol vs Barcelona would presumably be lost.

Would both Sevilla and Real Betis [one of the most intense rivalries] be in the same league or split? What about Athletic and Real Sociedad?


I didn’t watch any of it but I understand there were many unsold seats for Real Madrid vs Manchester City last night; a clash between two of the modern European heavyweights. Yes, when it gets to the semis and, to some extent the quarters, there is more interest. However, I wonder the interest if Real Madrid were at home to Manchester City with both sitting in mid table in a league with nothing to play for. Whereas Manchester City fans will always be interested in substantive domestic rivalries. There’s probably not a Manchester City fan alive, who was there, who cannot remember their 5-1 destruction of Manchester United in the late 1980s more fondly than any European match they have attended with the possible exception of the 2023 Champions League final.

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by mfw13

I can see it....I just don't think that one-sided leagues in which the same handful of clubs win the title every year is such a good thing that it's worth protecting at all costs.

I think there are quite a few situations in which a regional league would be much more interesting than a single-country league....

Spain/Portugal
Greece/Turkey
Croatia/Serbia/Albania/Slovenia/Bosnia
Holland/Belgium/France
Poland/Ukraine/Czech Republic/Slovakia
Norway/Sweden/Denmark

No offence but being from the Balkans this comment made me laugh hard. I mean we always have funny conversations about a qualifier group that would include serbia/bosnia/croatia/albania. That would be the most epic group in history. I mean when these countries get a draw in a random conference league match after an hour there is an UEFA ban for away fans. Personally being from Greece playing against Turkish teams is like going to war for both ends. Its not like it used to be but there is still a lot of hate.

Apart from this I will explain about a local derby in the city(Thessaloniki,Greece) that most people never heard of. After over a decade Iraklis(very old team -the original team of the city- but without any success for decades) are returning to the first division. The first game against PAOK would be a great derby (since PAOK has been a very succesful team at recent years -again for greek standards- and is a team that was established in the city by refugees while its origin is from Instanbul). Fans from both teams wouldn't change it to play against Galatasaray.

[YayNJ]

All Aris aren’t we?

*takes top off and starts swinging it*

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

All Aris aren’t we?

*takes top off and starts swinging it*

Lets say we have a really really bad season

[YayNJ]

Originally Posted by tupacgr13

Lets say we have a really really bad season

I've been trying to find an excuse to head back to Thessaloniki so I can finally tick off an Aris game from my list. Might just have to bring the wife and kids and make a holiday out of it

[tupacgr13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

I've been trying to find an excuse to head back to Thessaloniki so I can finally tick off an Aris game from my list. Might just have to bring the wife and kids and make a holiday out of it

Don't hesitate to dm me when you are around

[YayNJ]

this is... real

[Tones]

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/a...s/cx2dx8rjw08o

Punishment was absolutely a slap on the wrist. When you see the wages and transfer fees the club of their size spew out, 10m is literally fun coupons

[YayNJ]

It's a disgrace - especially tonight with the news AFCON have stripped Senegal of their trophy and given it to Morroco.

Chelsea should have been banned from transfers for two years, a points deduction this season, a fine and stripped of all trophies won while any of the players they signed that were on the list stripped.

the 'punishment' was completely cowardly.

[kellmuff]

I visit this board like once every month and you just cant keep Chelsea out of your mouth lmao

[YayNJ]

Newcastle

Hopefully this week spells the death of 'EPL Football' and we can get back to watching joyful, daring football instead of the hyper-refined dirge that the 'elite' have been churning out.

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by YayNJ

Newcastle

Hopefully this week spells the death of 'EPL Football' and we can get back to watching joyful, daring football instead of the hyper-refined dirge that the 'elite' have been churning out.

Thankfully I missed the 2nd half

One thing for certain...Newcastle matches are always entertaining.....

Not sure Eddie Howe knows how to build defense, though.....I've lost count of the number of times this year that our defenders have been caught out of position. Maybe sending both centerbacks up for every set piece isn't such a good idea, especially when your left back is taking the corner from the right side of the pitch and your right back is a 35-yo midget.

[Tones]

Originally Posted by kellmuff

I visit this board like once every month and you just cant keep Chelsea out of your mouth lmao

In his defense... I started it

[YayNJ]

Inter Miami naming a stand after a player on his retirement circuit... while he's still playing.. holy cringe.

[YayNJ]

Newcastle's owners have sold Newcastle's ground to themselves... so Newcastle, the 'richest club in the world' no longer own their stadium anymore. No expert, but this breaches UEFA's rules, but not the PL.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/715...st-james-sale/

Meanwhile, Everton have sold it's women's team.

The bubble is going to burst one day. You can't keep selling the family silver forever.

[mfw13]

Yay....hope you didn't have a heart attack watching the FA Cup semifinal!!

That would have been a collapse on par with Newcastle giving up a two-goal lead in the last two minutes at the Dell back in the mid-90's