We Go Again! The Premier League thread

by **Hero** Thu May 21, 2015 9:59 pm

Last one went well...

by Fernando Thu May 21, 2015 10:07 pm

Sorry....What i couldn't hear you down my £4.25 stethoscope that i was using to play Operation with.... Doh

by nadeem2099 Thu May 21, 2015 10:08 pm

This is a "he who shall not be named" free thread. Keep things PG please Laugh

by Duty281 Thu May 21, 2015 10:13 pm

Gutted that I missed something!

Even more gutted I wasn't involved!

by Fernando Thu May 21, 2015 10:15 pm

Long story short Dootie.

FL called GSC a child
GSC called FL out on being a fake doctor (he is)
Hero work's in Medical stuff and has no record of FL on the database which would show him up
I posted a picture of a kid as a Dr

Hampo removed the lot...

by Duty281 Thu May 21, 2015 10:18 pm

At least it's nearly the end of the season!

by Fernando Thu May 21, 2015 10:24 pm

Im sure Reading's Top Class midfield will see FL join us in the PL thread for next year..... Very Happy

by **Crimey** Thu May 21, 2015 10:24 pm

Looks like Rafa Benitez will have a choice this summer between moving to Real Madrid or West Ham.

At least West Ham are dreaming big manager wise, gone for Klopp and Benitez.

by GSC Thu May 21, 2015 10:30 pm

That went well

by nadeem2099 Thu May 21, 2015 10:32 pm

Crimey wrote:Looks like Rafa Benitez will have a choice this summer between moving to Real Madrid or West Ham.

At least West Ham are dreaming big manager wise, gone for Klopp and Benitez.

Alas only to get rejected by them. Thats a bit like asking the fittest girl out in your workplace but having to go out with her overweight friend Bertha instead.

by Fernando Thu May 21, 2015 10:34 pm

Talking from experience huh Nadeem Whistle

by Hammersmith harrier Thu May 21, 2015 10:34 pm

Did I miss something?

by GSC Thu May 21, 2015 10:36 pm

I went fishing. About it really.

by Fernando Thu May 21, 2015 10:41 pm

GSC has made himself a billy the bass style fish out of FootballLight.

by nadeem2099 Thu May 21, 2015 10:45 pm

Fernando wrote:Talking from experience huh Nadeem

Not me nando. My Sims character. He is a straight up pimp. But lets keep on topic here Laugh

Who do you lot think United will sign if De Gea leaves?

by GSC Thu May 21, 2015 10:48 pm

Possible good news for John, Steve McClaren has left Derby

by westisbest Thu May 21, 2015 10:51 pm

This thread is going downhill fast.

I blame Raheem Sterling Very Happy

Whoever the fk he is.

by **Crimey** Thu May 21, 2015 10:51 pm

Yeah would have thought he's Newcastle bound.

Good to see Ibe and Flanagan have signed new contracts. Great sign of faith in Flanagan, been really unlucky with injuries, going to end up missing nearly two whole seasons, will probably not be the same but he actually started to get really good by the end of the 13/14 season and as he wasn't particularly pacey, may be able to recover. Was worried he'd end up leaving without even the chance to make his comeback.

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Thu May 21, 2015 10:58 pm

Looks like Rafa had agreed to join us until Real Madrid came knocking. Can't blame him or the club, really. Leaves us with the likes of Bielsa and Bilic, unless the Dave's can convince Moyes as he seems to be their first choice. Or if someone else gets the Real job and Rafa turns back, but it looks nailed on now. Just put the feelers out to Ancelotti boys, he's said he wants to manage us before Wink

by Hammersmith harrier Thu May 21, 2015 11:02 pm

Benitez at Madrid, ouch that's a disaster waiting to happen.

by Guest Thu May 21, 2015 11:06 pm

Yeah, inevitable McClaren will end up at us now, irrespective of what division we're in. McClaren > Carver, so it's progress.

by Guest Thu May 21, 2015 11:11 pm

How is Benitez a disaster waiting to happen? He's a great coach, gets teams tactically up to scratch & has won la Liga before & numerous european trophies.

by westisbest Thu May 21, 2015 11:11 pm

Could be worse john, you could have Lambert Shocked

by **Crimey** Thu May 21, 2015 11:20 pm

I know Benitez isn't the most successful manager around but I do feel he gets a hard time, he's been generally successful everywhere he's been other than Inter Milan (although did win the Supercoppa and Club World Cup there.) He's won at least one trophy everywhere he's been since Valencia, even when under bad circumstances such as at Chelsea.

I think when you look at his Inter Milan stint in context it can almost be discarded as well. He was taking over from Mourinho, an unbelievably successful coach at Inter Milan who left a squad of players not only loyal to him but also a squad just past its peak. Mourinho created the perfect short-term squad and Benitez's arrival simply coincided with the natural decline of the side. If you look at where Inter Milan are now in world football you realise it was going to happen without Benitez and he was just unfortunate to be at the wrong club at the wrong time.

At Napoli he's been reasonably successful, got a cup competition under his belt, has done quite well in Europe. Always going to be difficult to challenge for the league with Juventus' domination and Napoli have obviously lost a lot of their big name talents in recent years, albeit they ave some great players.

And there's a reason why some Liverpool fans are eager to have him back at every chance because he took what at times was a mediocre squad (with a very good first team) and turned them into challengers. The European nights were obviously fantastic under Benitez and when you consider the 2008-09 season and how any other season Liverpool would have won with that points talley, only last twice all season and only stopped by probably the best Manchester United squad in the Premier League era. I know he was criticised for never winning the league with Liverpool but he did have to compete against the emergence of Chelsea, then a Manchester United with Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Thu May 21, 2015 11:50 pm

McLaren to west Ham is so happening

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Fri May 22, 2015 1:11 am

I'm one of few who wouldn't turn my nose up at it, especially as I have £5 at 33/1

by Duty281 Fri May 22, 2015 2:31 am

Sky Bet are offering 7/2 on McClaren - BWIN 40/1. Laugh

But BWIN only let me put on about £1.97, sadly.

by GSC Fri May 22, 2015 11:18 am

David Luiz denies hes a virigin, claiming he still feels sore from Miroslav Klose

by FootballLight Fri May 22, 2015 12:02 pm

Rodgers expecting Sterling to stay. Unlikely.

by Marky Fri May 22, 2015 1:32 pm

Sterling has 2 years left under contract, easy to say the standard "contracts don't mean anything these days" but if Liverpool want to keep him against his agent's will they can.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri May 22, 2015 1:40 pm

Marky wrote:Sterling has 2 years left under contract, easy to say the standard "contracts don't mean anything these days" but if Liverpool want to keep him against his agent's will they can.

There is literally no value in Liverpool keeping him and him not playing. Might as well sell and get a good chunk for him

by GSC Fri May 22, 2015 1:43 pm

Liverpool will be costing themselves 8 digit sums a year to put him in the reserves.

So if they want to be petty after they started this via leaking to the press they can

by nadeem2099 Fri May 22, 2015 2:56 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32841434

David Luiz is a straight up don. He must have gotten scared after seeing what John Terry is capable of doing when you can't resist the urge Laugh

by Marky Fri May 22, 2015 3:07 pm

Olly wrote:
Marky wrote:Sterling has 2 years left under contract, easy to say the standard "contracts don't mean anything these days" but if Liverpool want to keep him against his agent's will they can.

There is literally no value in Liverpool keeping him and him not playing. Might as well sell and get a good chunk for him

Like he wouldn't play.

Raheem Sterling isn't the money grabbing monster he's portrayed to be, I think he's just been badly advised. That's becoming a cliché but it still applies. If he's still at Liverpool on September 1st then he'll play and he'll give the effort.

We've been here before with Rooney and Gerrard, they apparently want to leave but end up staying.

by Guest Fri May 22, 2015 4:51 pm

do city regret letting lescott go, given the quota & the performances of Mangala, Demichelis & injury concerns of Kompany? lescott has been pretty much outstanding at the back for us this year, think it's gone unnoticed actually & he fully deserves the supporters player of the year award at wba this season.

by Guest Fri May 22, 2015 5:09 pm

They might do in terms of the quota, however, Lescott was so poor for City, he had to go. Too slow, couldn't be trusted in possession & too error prone under the heightened pressure of playing for a club like City.

by **Crimey** Fri May 22, 2015 5:14 pm

Also for FSG it might be viewed as valuable to stand firm against Sterling's demands. It might cost them this time with Sterling, but in the future it will show players that they can't bully the club with feisty agents.

Sterling's agent isn't putting himself or his client in a bad light. There's a reason we very rarely hear from the so-called 'super agents'.

by GSC Fri May 22, 2015 5:19 pm

It cost them last time.

You really think agents weren't paying attention to the Owner stating they actively ignore clauses in contracts they sign

by nadeem2099 Fri May 22, 2015 5:25 pm

Answer this poll if you can guys. Cheers.
https://www.606v2.com/t59096-what-do-you-do-when-an-advert-comes-on-when-your-watching-tv

by **Crimey** Fri May 22, 2015 5:32 pm

GSC wrote:It cost them last time.

You really think agents weren't paying attention to the Owner stating they actively ignore clauses in contracts they sign

What time?

I do, and I've said before I've done quite extensive research into this for my dissertation and there is very little chance of it actually coming to anything. Football lawsuits are so rare and so time consuming that no Liverpool player is going to be in the position where they could risk 3-4 years (at least) of their career in a lengthy court battle. The reason that position has been taken by FSG (and I speculate probably quite a lot of owners) is because players themselves ignore the contracts at a basic level. Whereas a club is obligated to keep the player on the contract for the entire length, players clearly believe that whatever the length or terms of the contract, that they can leave when they want. It makes sense that without proper procedure in these situations and the rules are so obviously weighted towards the player, clubs are reacting by not following the rules.

In this case with Sterling, it doesn't even matter anyway. FSG can follow the terms of the contract exactly by refusing to let him go and Sterling HAS to play and give 100% because otherwise would be a serious breach of contract and I imagine a corporate firm like FSG is much more likely to take Sterling to court than the player is to take the firm.

by BamBam Fri May 22, 2015 5:33 pm

GSC wrote:It cost them last time.

You really think agents weren't paying attention to the Owner stating they actively ignore clauses in contracts they sign

Crimey wrote:Also for FSG it might be viewed as valuable to stand firm against Sterling's demands. It might cost them this time with Sterling, but in the future it will show players that they can't bully the club with feisty agents.

Sterling's agent isn't putting himself or his client in a bad light. There's a reason we very rarely hear from the so-called 'super agents'.

Probably a correlation between the bits in bold and the level of player that LFC are able to attract

by **Dolphin Ziggler** Fri May 22, 2015 8:08 pm

Don't think it's so much about following the rules and being tied up in court cases. It's more about players thinking they might be held down by a club who will ignore procedures. It's the image it gives off.

by Hammersmith harrier Fri May 22, 2015 8:15 pm

The Heinze incident from a few years back shows that these things do get cleared up fairly quickly when they go to court but article 17 can be a long drawn out saga.

by LivinginItaly Sat May 23, 2015 10:49 am

To be honest i can see Liverpool keeping sterling this summer, not as a petulant punishment though, just as a business decision. Come the start of the season sterling will be playing in the first team and it will be in his interests to be fully motivated and playing to the best of his ability. A bad season next year coupled with what has only been an average season this year (albeit with mitigating circumstances) would probably be enough to cool any big club interest in him. He knows this, Liverpool know this, his agent knows this. Hence his agent pushing for a move this year, not for the player's career, but to maximize earnings.

by **Hero** Sat May 23, 2015 3:51 pm

Any Liverpool fans know if Kolo is staying in the summer? His son wants to join my son's football team after he came along for a kick about with him this morning, plays like his Uncle, never seen leg muscles like it on a kid of his age before, had other kids bouncing off him.

by **Crimey** Sat May 23, 2015 4:36 pm

Dolphin Ziggler wrote:Don't think it's so much about following the rules and being tied up in court cases. It's more about players thinking they might be held down by a club who will ignore procedures. It's the image it gives off.

Like I said, I don't think it'll matter and I think you'll see a lot of football clubs following suit. The rules are far too heavily weighted to players being able to bully the club.

It's about getting the balance between allowing players the choice of leaving and recognising that they are also assets for the club. The Bosman rule and then the Webster ruling have left a system in place which is too heavily balanced towards the players. So long as that is the case, I think you'll see a lot more clubs simply ignoring clauses, knowing it's in the player's interest to then just get on playing. The fact that Liverpool did sell Suarez the next year will definitely help in that regard. I would be extremely surprised if this hasn't been happening for a long time across world football.

Also Hero, not sure on Toure, think he's got a extension clause in his contract that Liverpool are considering using.

by GSC Sat May 23, 2015 4:47 pm

The problem is sooner or later someone's getting taken to court if more clubs start doing it. And it will then only take one to make a precedent.

So it was a short term gain for ultimately long term pain. There's a mark against the current regime.

by **Crimey** Sat May 23, 2015 5:03 pm

GSC wrote:The problem is sooner or later someone's getting taken to court if more clubs start doing it. And it will then only take one to make a precedent.

So it was a short term gain for ultimately long term pain. There's a mark against the current regime.

It's just so unlikely that it will ever get taken to court. It would be costly, lengthy and ultimately it would require the player to be selfless because they'd be putting themselves into a very awkward position for the good of players.

What is most likely is that should any player threaten court, the club would give them what they want and it would be dropped. The legal precedent can only be set if a player continues the action and I just don't think it will happen.

A court case in this situation would also lead to questions about the entire system and why clubs are resorting to breaking the rules and this would likely lead to a balancing act which ends with players in a worse position. It's in the player's benefit to keep the current system.

by **Crimey** Sat May 23, 2015 5:45 pm

That's also without taking into account that it's just a breach of contract, the legal precedent has already been set and isn't being followed. People breach contracts all the time because the fact is that the money and time it takes to actually go through a legal process to remedy it, isn't worth it.

by westisbest Sun May 24, 2015 12:55 am

Villa, Villa Villa, Villa VILLA.

On the p155 ma lord, on the p155, oh lord on the pi55,

Oh looooord om da pi55.

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