New Champions!!

[martinski83]

Congratulations to the new Premiership Champions, Manchester United, who will fittingly pick up the trophy at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge next weekend.

Congratulations also go out to Roy Keane's Sunderland who have finished the Championship season as the most unlikely of Champions.

[oldman]

keane did well and for me choice of chelski and manure a bit like devil pr deep blue sea but with the attacking football man unt deserved it. (through clenched teeth)

[Dan]

Man Utd deserve it, they've been better than the dull and whiney Chelsea side.

[sawchuk]

ManUre suck

Liverpool suck

ARSEnal suck

Chel$ki suck

Real football fans:

1) Support their home town team.

2) Support teams in League One

;D

[Dan]

couldn't have said it better myself Shin

[sunbeam]

If Liverpool win the UCL then Manure's win will be completely overshadowed. Just like Chelsea's was.

Manure won't get the trophy til Sunday when Fergie helps out his mate Curbs and tanks the game.

I'll predict it now:

Chelsea will bring in mega-top players this summer and OWN the EPL next year. And Ballack and Shev will do the normal thing and have much better second seasons.

[pantherschampions]

man u have been playing the best football this year and chelsea are on about injuries haha why other clubs have had worse than them man u deserve it more theyve earnt it

[martinski83]

pantherschampions said:

man u have been playing the best football this year and chelsea are on about injuries haha why other clubs have had worse than them man u deserve it more theyve earnt it

Man Utd have been plagued by injuries since Xmas. While Jose was moaning, Man Utd just kept on doing their stuff.

It's contant whining and moaning and in fighting that have cost Chelsea. They have the players (about 60 of the buggers) but they became more focussed on winning the media war midweek rather than the 90 mins at the weekend.

[loonypeter]

Im glad Man U have won the title over Chelsea but i wont give them any congratulations until they have beaten West Ham and sent them down

[Mark]

Who cares? Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal borefest.

Quite frankly I'm sick to death of all the above teams and add Liverpool to that list. The Premiership has become an exact replica of it's Scottish cousin, a cakewalk to the title for the select few.

This season's domestic trophies have been or are to be contested by the above teams, hardly a competitive state of affairs and depressingly inevitable.

It's about time they all scuttled off with Celtic and Rangers and formed their own dull little league.

[pantherschampions]

couldnt of put it any better martinski83

[sawchuk]

martinski83 said:

pantherschampions said:

man u have been playing the best football this year and chelsea are on about injuries haha why other clubs have had worse than them man u deserve it more theyve earnt it

Man Utd have been plagued by injuries since Xmas. While Jose was moaning, Man Utd just kept on doing their stuff.

It's contant whining and moaning and in fighting that have cost Chelsea. They have the players (about 60 of the buggers) but they became more focussed on winning the media war midweek rather than the 90 mins at the weekend.

I think you're spot on wth that Martin. Yesterday which ever pundit for Sky said Chelsea needed a top quaility central defender to cover for Terry & Carvalho.

They had one, but they sold him to Arsenal

;D

[martinski83]

It's worth mentioning that Sir Alex has used just 23 players this season.

When you bear in mind that Smith and Solskjaer have missed most of the campaign, Saha has been out since february, Van Der Sar had 3 weeks on the sidelines and United spent more than a month without Vidic and Ferdinand not to mention Gary Neville, it's a real credit to the spirit and professionalism within the club that have kept the club going. It also worth mentioning that Park Ji Sung has been out for over a month and Evra's fitness is up and down.

Yes I am defending Man Utd.
They've counted on players that most opposing players slag off. Players like Darren Fletcher, Kieran Richardson, Wes Brown and Gabby Heinze have held that side together allowing the brilliance of Rooney and Ronaldo to shine through.

Is the Premiership boring, I don't think so. Until January there were 4 clubs in the hunt before Liverpool and Arsenals challenge died down, and Bolton and Reading ran out of steam. I think this year has seen a great Championship and so it's easy to say that you think the premier league is dull if you support a club outside of it.

I've lived in foreign countries and people tune in week in week out for the English Premiership.
Maybe to some people scottish football is dull too. I think if you go and ask an Aberdeen fan or a Dundee fan they'll be realistic and tell you that Rangers and Celtic dominate. What you fail to understand though is their fans are loyal, they've kept going over the years and they still love to believe their team can go all the way.

If yourclub was bought out by americans, you took a steady path to the premier league then started to dominate, the opinion would be different I'm sure. It's easy to say now you'd stop going or you'd turn your back... but would you, would you really.

Shut up and get on with it.
Success breed jealousy.

[sawchuk]

martinski83 said:

If yourclub was bought out by americans, you took a steady path to the premier league then started to dominate, the opinion would be different I'm sure. It's easy to say now you'd stop going or you'd turn your back... but would you, would you really.

Shut up and get on with it.
Success breed jealousy.

Who was that vitriol aimed at?

[oldman]

who is your hometown team, shin

i only ask because i support Liverpool for this reason. If you had ever grown up in north wales, you would know that the fans do tend to go to either of the two merseyside teams or the two manc teams.

To be fair some also go to wrexham, chester and tranmear but the majority support the big four.

But i have also bought 1.000 £1-00 shares in my hometown team who play in the unibond first division, that is supporting your hometown club i feel! Does that make me a real fan or what!

As for your comment MARK about the top four teams are borefest,
get real look at all leagues in europe,
France dominated by Lyon,

Spain choice of Valencia, barca, and real madrid, +deportivo now and then,

Germany Bayern and bremen sometimes,

Holland has always been PSV, feyenoord, ajax, and one other ,

Italy bit different this year because no Juve but still inter got it, other one A.C. + roma now and then,

Portugal sporting,benfica, porto.

All these leagues have favourites that always seem to be near the top every year, are they all boring or just the prem.

I can only feel that you are a forest fan Shin , how would you react to this comment which you were advocating in your post.

real fans in the nottingham area support county or mansfield or hucknall, ilkeston, eastwood town etc. ;D

[martinski83]

oldman said:

who is your hometown team, shin

i only ask because i support Liverpool for this reason. If you had ever grown up in north wales, you would know that the fans do tend to go to either of the two merseyside teams or the two manc teams.

To be fair some also go to wrexham, chester and tranmear but the majority support the big four.

But i have also bought 1.000 £1-00 shares in my hometown team who play in the unibond first division, that is supporting your hometown club i feel! Does that make me a real fan or what!

As for your comment MARK about the top four teams are borefest,
get real look at all leagues in europe,
France dominated by Lyon,

Spain choice of Valencia, barca, and real madrid, +deportivo now and then,

Germany Bayern and bremen sometimes,

Holland has always been PSV, feyenoord, ajax, and one other ,

Italy bit different this year because no Juve but still inter got it, other one A.C. + roma now and then,

Portugal sporting,benfica, porto.

All these leagues have favourites that always seem to be near the top every year, are they all boring or just the prem.

I can only feel that you are a forest fan Shin , how would you react to this comment which you were advocating in your post.

real fans in the nottingham area support county or mansfield or hucknall, ilkeston, eastwood town etc. ;D

Good, well structured post.

Shin, I was making a point not looking for someone to pick a fight with. All top leagues have their top teams as mentioned above and i think its quite naive to say that the premier league is rubbish because chelsea and man utd have been the best two for this season and the last. The title race was exciting, even if you despise both clubs and the standard of attacking play from both sides has at times been phenominal.

The same can be said of La Liga between 1992 and now where every year was a spirited battle between Barca, Real Madrid and a gutsy team with balls.

Juve and Milan have dominated much of the last 20 years of the Scudetto yet italian football can be really exciting at time.

Mid 90s in Germany, apart from 1 year when Berlin were amazing, were about Bayern and Dortmund, which then went to Bayern and Leverkusen and Leverkusen, Bayern and Bremen.

I love football and even if my team does not play I can enjoy a good standard of football from anywhere in the world. the arguement will never be solved, only switches of momentum from one side to another.

[NickThePanther44]

the new champs of old div one have got to get some credit, what a job Keanes done there, really looking foreward to seeing them in the prem next season

Nick

[Mark]

oldman said:

who is your hometown team, shin

i only ask because i support Liverpool for this reason. If you had ever grown up in north wales, you would know that the fans do tend to go to either of the two merseyside teams or the two manc teams.

To be fair some also go to wrexham, chester and tranmear but the majority support the big four.

But i have also bought 1.000 £1-00 shares in my hometown team who play in the unibond first division, that is supporting your hometown club i feel! Does that make me a real fan or what!

As for your comment MARK about the top four teams are borefest,
get real look at all leagues in europe,
France dominated by Lyon,

Spain choice of Valencia, barca, and real madrid, +deportivo now and then,

Germany Bayern and bremen sometimes,

Holland has always been PSV, feyenoord, ajax, and one other ,

Italy bit different this year because no Juve but still inter got it, other one A.C. + roma now and then,

Portugal sporting,benfica, porto.

All these leagues have favourites that always seem to be near the top every year, are they all boring or just the prem.

I can only feel that you are a forest fan Shin , how would you react to this comment which you were advocating in your post.

real fans in the nottingham area support county or mansfield or hucknall, ilkeston, eastwood town etc. ;D

Get real yourself OLDMAN, the whole thing is a complete exercise in boredom.

All dull as ditchwater in my opinion. Same handful of teams makes the whole thing a bit pointless.

You've reinforced my point rather than weakened it.

I get thouroughly sick of watching Man Utd, Chealsea and Arsenal week in, week out on Sky and I don't bother with the Spanish league, it holds no interest for me whatsoever.

Did you ever watch Serie A? 80 minutes of tedium with a few minutes of real action.

Like I said all these super teams, why don't you get yourselves together and go knock yourselves out?

All done without the patronizing rolling eyes.

[oldman]

so basically are you saying that you find all football boring or just the top divisions mark, on another post i would agree what keane has done at sunderland is brilliant.

Not being funny but who are sky going to show to get the maximum audience forest V orient or what

[sunbeam]

La Liga is very competitive. It may be won by a team scoring less than 80 points.

The UEFA Cup showed that they have genuine depth in the league. We have 4 very good teams and the rest just make up the numbers.

[sawchuk]

oldman said:

who is your hometown team, shin

Forest.

oldman said:

i only ask because i support Liverpool for this reason. If you had ever grown up in north wales, you would know that the fans do tend to go to either of the two merseyside teams or the two manc teams.

Jeez, that's convenient. Liverpool, Everton, ManYoo or Man Citeh.

Be a man, break the tradition!

oldman said:

To be fair some also go to wrexham, chester and tranmear but the majority support the big four.

oldman said:

But i have also bought 1.000 £1-00 shares in my hometown team who play in the unibond first division, that is supporting your hometown club i feel! Does that make me a real fan or what!

My original post wasn't serious, hence the grin icon, I have no idea what constitutes a real fan other than a person who sticks by their team through thick & thin.

oldman said:

I can only feel that you are a forest fan Shin , how would you react to this comment which you were advocating in your post.

real fans in the nottingham area support county or mansfield or hucknall, ilkeston, eastwood town etc. ;D

Well I've already said that my post wasn't serious, but given it obviously touched a raw nerve, I'll respond to you <likewise> throw away post.

My folks live in Gedling, therefore my nearest <non-pro> team would be Gedling Town. I don't live near the team you listed other than Notts, and even then driving to either Meadow Lane or the City Ground is probably equal distance.

mark said:

All dull as ditchwater in my opinion. Same handful of teams makes the whole thing a bit pointless.

Exactly & you're entitled to it. I disagree however.

mark said:

I get thouroughly sick of watching Man Utd, Chealsea and Arsenal week in, week out on Sky and I don't bother with the Spanish league, it holds no interest for me whatsoever.

The top teams get higher ratings, so therefore Sky naturally show those games more frequently as opposed to a game between Wigan & say, Watford. As for the comment about Spanish football, again your choice, but it's very very good football.

mark said:

Did you ever watch Serie A? 80 minutes of tedium with a few minutes of real action.

Again that's your view, but Italian football is very tactical & may not be everyone's cup of tea. Their football has produced more world cup champions than our brand though. Must be doing something right.

mark said:

Like I said all these super teams, why don't you get yourselves together and go knock yourselves out?

So, you don't like the football on offer from the top Premiership teams, you have no interest in Spanish football, you think Italian football is tedious & <on the Forest thread> you've stated League One football is poor...?

Which leads me to ask, what football do you actually like?

martinski83 said:

Good, well structured post.

Shin, I was making a point not looking for someone to pick a fight with. All top leagues have their top teams as mentioned above and i think its quite naive to say that the premier league is rubbish because chelsea and man utd have been the best two for this season and the last. The title race was exciting, even if you despise both clubs and the standard of attacking play from both sides has at times been phenominal.

The same can be said of La Liga between 1992 and now where every year was a spirited battle between Barca, Real Madrid and a gutsy team with balls.

Juve and Milan have dominated much of the last 20 years of the Scudetto yet italian football can be really exciting at time.

Mid 90s in Germany, apart from 1 year when Berlin were amazing, were about Bayern and Dortmund, which then went to Bayern and Leverkusen and Leverkusen, Bayern and Bremen.

I love football and even if my team does not play I can enjoy a good standard of football from anywhere in the world. the arguement will never be solved, only switches of momentum from one side to another.

Couldn't agree with you more Martin, as in most sports, certain teams are dominate for years. The Leafs were dominant in the for year until Ballard bought the team & season after season, were regularly in a tussle with the Canadiens for the Stanley cup.

I don't subscribe to the notion that domination means boring. As an Inter fan since the 1st days of Football Italia on C4, it was frustrating that Milan, Juve & Co were ahead of us, but the last two seasons have been enjoyable.

[Ian]

The Premiership is definitely entertaining for a neutral, armchair viewer such as myself.

Yes, it does have several "sections" - top four, UEFA candidates, mid-table mediocrity, relegation candidates. But games between teams within each of those sections are tight and normally played with pace, passion and no little skill. Meanwhile, I also find matches between top teams and bottom teams etc. rather entertaining - watching a team play exhibition football while tonking their opponents is quite enjoyable for me, even if it is Man Utd. He says through gritted teeth.

Ultimately, it is the popularity of the league with football fans watching on TV around the world that gives the Premiership its reputation as the "world's best league" and makes it such an attractive investment for the wealthy business folk who are gradually taking over many of the clubs.

[oldman]

Shin equal distance why not support County, or did you start with Forest when they were a great team. ;D

As for the rest success either now or in the past does breed jealousy as Chelsea fans are finding out and as Liverpool and Man Utd and to some extent Forest have always had to cope with.

The same could be said for the people gloating about Leeds at the moment.

I cannot see how anyone who enjoys football cannot admire the skill displayed in these top European Leagues. I know generally the top teams win but that is why they are top teams also through the champions league they do get an unfair advantage with the revenue received by them.

Personally and this will never happen i would like to see some of these profits shared around the clubs.

In the prem you have four distinct divisions, top 4 CL next four uefa cup fight for places, next 4 mid table trying to get as high as possible for the larger amount of money at the end of the season. Then you have three from six fighting the drop this tends to be the exciting bit at the end of the season.

I think it is sad that only 4 teams challenge for the top spot, i would like to see others coming through, Spurs would be my prediction good team with young English footballers and a excellent coach.

But at the moment you get this 4 horserace but you do see fantastic football in the majority of prem matches, (through gritted teeth) Ronaldo has been a relevation this season and probably the main reason they won the title.

Berbatov brilliant at Spurs, Arteta at Everton etc, the standard gets better each season as shown by three teams in the CL semi finals.

A good example this season would be Watford they had low expectations played the game hard but with a smile at all times. They enjoyed the experience and will come back a stronger team with a brilliant young manager in Boothroyd.

[Dan]

oldman said:

Shin equal distance why not support County, or did you start with Forest when they were a great team. ;D

When you're actually born in the same city as your club, you get the right to choose. Before you start, i'm a Forest fan from Nottingham who is a Forest fan because of my father (born less than five minutes from the ground).

As for the rest success either now or in the past does breed jealousy as Chelsea fans are finding out and as Liverpool and Man Utd and to some extent Forest have always had to cope with.

I can't stand that blanket comment that the reason we hate them is down to jealousy. Nothing could be further from the truth. If somebody offered me the chance to swap places and teams with Chelsea, i really would not take it. I don't like their manager, don't like their cheating over-paid players and the majority of fans i have met have been obnoxious and snotty. That's not jealousy, that's just a dislike for what they are.

The same could be said for the people gloating about Leeds at the moment.

To be fair, i think it's about the same for Leeds. They're hated because they had a dirty team throughout the seventies/eighties that used hard tactics to win things. They over-spent beyond their means and are now paying for it. A good number of their fans think they are in the top three big clubs in the country (which is nonsense really) and are getting away with screwing over many of their creditors. That's why nobody likes Leeds.

I cannot see how anyone who enjoys football cannot admire the skill displayed in these top European Leagues. I know generally the top teams win but that is why they are top teams also through the champions league they do get an unfair advantage with the revenue received by them.

I do enjoy watching Man Utd and Arsenal. They are two technically perfect sides who play it on the deck. Chelsea, and to a lesser extent Liverpool aren't all that much fun to watch. The Italian league is technical, but on the dull side. The Spanish league is superb, but the defences are appalling and the German league is neither here nor there.

Personally and this will never happen i would like to see some of these profits shared around the clubs.

In the prem you have four distinct divisions, top 4 CL next four uefa cup fight for places, next 4 mid table trying to get as high as possible for the larger amount of money at the end of the season. Then you have three from six fighting the drop this tends to be the exciting bit at the end of the season.

It's a pipe dream i'm afraid. The money will never get shared out. The only way to sort out the huge gaps in quality between the sides is a wage cap, and this will never work unless you have a shake-up that would kill half the sides in the football league.

I think it is sad that only 4 teams challenge for the top spot, i would like to see others coming through, Spurs would be my prediction good team with young English footballers and a excellent coach.

But at the moment you get this 4 horserace but you do see fantastic football in the majority of prem matches, (through gritted teeth) Ronaldo has been a relevation this season and probably the main reason they won the title.

Berbatov brilliant at Spurs, Arteta at Everton etc, the standard gets better each season as shown by three teams in the CL semi finals.

A good example this season would be Watford they had low expectations played the game hard but with a smile at all times. They enjoyed the experience and will come back a stronger team with a brilliant young manager in Boothroyd.

Spurs are quality, but they will never crack the top four, i doubt anyone will. Barring an Abramovich-style takeover, i can't see anyone doing it for a very long time.

I've got to disagree with the 'fantastic football' argument. The Premiership in the main is high-tempo but lacking in real entertainment. Teams go away and play for draws. Home teams find it difficult to break them down. I've watched more Premiership football this year than ever before, i've only watched about 5-10 games that i truly found interesting.

I think Boothroyd still has plenty to prove. Sure, he took Watford up (an excellent achievement) but proved nothing in the Premiership, making some dodgy signings too. I'd like to see him have a crack at managing a big club.

[sawchuk]

oldman said:

Shin equal distance why not support County, or did you start with Forest when they were a great team. ;D

So you're alluding to me being a glory hunter because I chose to support Forest over Notts, despite me actually being born in Nottingham?

Odd.

oldman said:

As for the rest success either now or in the past does breed jealousy as Chelsea fans are finding out and as Liverpool and Man Utd and to some extent Forest have always had to cope with.

I'm not jealous of any team's successes, be it ManYoo's etc. As far as Chel$ki are concerned, good luck to them.

oldman said:

The same could be said for the people gloating about Leeds at the moment.

Gloating? Not many people appear to like Leeds Utd judging by the Leeds' thread & I openly admit to laughing at them but it's no different to say my colleagues laughing at Forest's predicament.