EPL 2015-16 Season

[SeatownJay]

Huge win for Sunderland today. A win against Everton on Wednesday and they avoid relegation.

 

[Uncle Si]

Huge win for Sunderland today. A win against Everton on Wednesday and they avoid relegation.

I hope not. Would like to see Rafa be able to keep Newcastle up.

Id prefer Sunderland, but think Rafa may up at Everton should Neecastle drop

 

[SomersetHawk]

Yellows! Yellows! Yellows!

Oxford United up to the dizzy heights of League One next season. Great weekend!

Side note: Fantastic Hillsborough doc on BBC last night, don't know if you guys can get BBC iplayer over there, but if so it's more than worth it. Heartbreaking viewing but has to be seen.

 

[Blueboy]

Yellows! Yellows! Yellows!

Oxford United up to the dizzy heights of League One next season. Great weekend!

Side note: Fantastic Hillsborough doc on BBC last night, don't know if you guys can get BBC iplayer over there, but if so it's more than worth it. Heartbreaking viewing but has to be seen.

Was a gut wrenching watch for sure.

 

[Boycie]

I'm just happy Leeds didn't get relegated to League One this year. Now if we can only get rid of the Mad Italian, then things might be looking up! MOT

 

[SeatownJay]

Looks like Sunderland are staying up. 3-0 over Everton in the 2nd half.

 

[Uncle Si]

Looks like Sunderland are staying up. 3-0 over Everton in the 2nd half.

has to be Martinez' last game at Everton... what a free fall for them

 

[NJSeahawk]

Looks like Sunderland are staying up. 3-0 over Everton in the 2nd half.

has to be Martinez' last game at Everton... what a free fall for them

called it.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

What happened to Martinez? He used to be pretty decent. Did Everton have much money to spend?

Would he be daft enough to go to the poisoned chalice that is Newcastle?

 

[Uncle Si]

What happened to Martinez? He used to be pretty decent. Did Everton have much money to spend?

Would he be daft enough to go to the poisoned chalice that is Newcastle?

Martinez, like Rodgers at Liverpool, saw the game a certain way. That way did not include defending with any stability or consistency. It sure looked pretty when the ball was being swung around and players were running into tight channels after a series of 1 touch passes....

But as Rodgers learned, if you don't have the skilled players to keep possession when gunning forward, you are just leaving yourself exposed.

Martinez at Newcastle would be a good move. They should not have much of an issue coming back up next season.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Great...its looking like Rodgers Will take the celtic job. Replacing a manager who couldnt organize a defense.

 

[Uncle Si]

Great...its looking like Rodgers Will take the celtic job. Replacing a manager who couldnt organize a defense.

I saw that... what a fit that is.

I thought he would hold out for a Prem position, as many typically open up right after the whistle blows. But at Celtic he will always be in the front row, and basically walk into the Champs league. I guess not a bad move.

Rangers all the way back up yet?

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Great...its looking like Rodgers Will take the celtic job. Replacing a manager who couldnt organize a defense.

I saw that... what a fit that is.

I thought he would hold out for a Prem position, as many typically open up right after the whistle blows. But at Celtic he will always be in the front row, and basically walk into the Champs league. I guess not a bad move.

Rangers all the way back up yet?

What was Liverpool fans opinions on Rodgers? Was the second place finish all Suarez?

Rodgers signing doesn't thrill me but give me him over Roy Keane every day of the week.

Yeah Rangers will be back. probably will take a season or so for them to compete but it also forces Celtic to stop the complacency and actually invest and find a striker.

Always live in hope that one day the money bubble in Englandbusts and both teams get invited to the English set up, even if they had to start in league 2 or the Portuguese teams join LA Liga as some Iberian league to create the impetus for change. Think both would be giants in the premiership over time if they had the same financial resources and exposure given the fan base sizes.

 

[Uncle Si]

I'd love to see Celtic and Rangers in England.

Rodgers was a bit too heady. I think the successes were a combination of his attacking set up and the absolutely monster attacking talents he had at his disposal (Gerrard, Sturridge, Sterling, Suarez, Coutinho). But that team shipped something like 50 goals in league. The next year Gerrard is slower, Suarez is gone and Rodgers tactical nuances are exposed.

The issue with him really was not that he wasnt inventive. He surely was. It was that he was negligent of defensive tactics while tinkering far too much with personnel and shape. Players could not get a foot hold on what their roles were. in the 13/14 season that team rarely changed shape as they were constantly flowing forward. Once things got difficult Rodgers started to call out his players for not being flexible enough to adjust. Issue there is that he brought in those players, mostly teenagers or early 20s guys with little PL experience. They soured and he was let go.

 

[Uncle Si]

May be an opening for the Old Firm clubs to come over:

Football League wants new five-league, 100-club system

The Football League wants to create an extra division with 20 teams in each from 2019-20. It would mean England had 100 teams in five divisions, up from 92. Currently, there are 24 teams in the Championship, League One and League Two.

"There are clear benefits for everyone," Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey told BBC Sport. "It is about taking a step back to try to work out what is best for English football. "We hope that the Football League taking this first step is the catalyst for future change."

The Football League believes the move would help:
To maximise the number of weekend/Bank Holiday league fixtures;
To remove where practical fixture congestion and scheduling conflicts;
To protect/improve financial distributions/income generation for Football League clubs;
To maintain Football League play-off finals as the last event of the domestic season.
Harvey said the Premier League and the FA have backed the idea in principle because "they can see potential benefits on an international basis".

The decision will have to be confirmed by November 2017.

Relegation from the Football League would be scrapped in the 2018-19 season before the restructure for the following season.

Where would the extra teams come from?

Currently, the bottom two teams in League Two are relegated from the Football League to the National League. They would not go down at the end of the 2018-19 season, said Harvey. Six other clubs - in addition to the two clubs already promoted from the National League - would join the Football League.

"The logical place for the extra clubs to come from would be promoting the next six teams from the National League," said Harvey. "Some of those teams are already professional and the extension to the league may suit them."

Scottish Premiership sides Celtic and Rangers have long been linked with moving into the English pyramid.

In 2009, Premier League clubs voted to reject a proposal to bring the Old Firm rivals into the English top flight. Needing 6 additional clubs may support a move for their addition.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

May be an opening for the Old Firm clubs to come over:

Football League wants new five-league, 100-club system

The Football League wants to create an extra division with 20 teams in each from 2019-20. It would mean England had 100 teams in five divisions, up from 92. Currently, there are 24 teams in the Championship, League One and League Two.

"There are clear benefits for everyone," Football League chief executive Shaun Harvey told BBC Sport. "It is about taking a step back to try to work out what is best for English football. "We hope that the Football League taking this first step is the catalyst for future change."

The Football League believes the move would help:
To maximise the number of weekend/Bank Holiday league fixtures;
To remove where practical fixture congestion and scheduling conflicts;
To protect/improve financial distributions/income generation for Football League clubs;
To maintain Football League play-off finals as the last event of the domestic season.
Harvey said the Premier League and the FA have backed the idea in principle because "they can see potential benefits on an international basis".

The decision will have to be confirmed by November 2017.

Relegation from the Football League would be scrapped in the 2018-19 season before the restructure for the following season.

Where would the extra teams come from?

Currently, the bottom two teams in League Two are relegated from the Football League to the National League. They would not go down at the end of the 2018-19 season, said Harvey. Six other clubs - in addition to the two clubs already promoted from the National League - would join the Football League.

"The logical place for the extra clubs to come from would be promoting the next six teams from the National League," said Harvey. "Some of those teams are already professional and the extension to the league may suit them."

Scottish Premiership sides Celtic and Rangers have long been linked with moving into the English pyramid.

In 2009, Premier League clubs voted to reject a proposal to bring the Old Firm rivals into the English top flight. Needing 6 additional clubs may support a move for their addition.

I can't see it happening unless the tv deals die or ratings go way down and sky/BT ask for it. No way other English teams are going to vote in to rival teams who could take their piece of the tv money pie.

I think other Scottish clubs would be mixed on it. Teams like Hearts, Aberdeen already get bigger attendances than the likes of Bournemouth and would probably get even more in the Championship, Hibernian and the Dundee teams have that potential as well.

On top of that UEFA would be against it as it creates a precedent for Dutch teams to move to the Bundesliga, Portuguese teams into La Liga, Ukranian teams into Russia etc

However, Celtic have two billionaire owners who are highly influential and would probably spend money in the premiership and their are already 2 Welsh teams in the English set up.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

I'd jump at moving to the English division 3 in a heartbeat. It would suck for a few years, especially if we didn't get out of the Championship first time but beneficial long term once we got in the top league where I think we would thrive after a few years.

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

It's times like this I wish there was NFL style franchise moves in football/soccer. Buy a crap non entity team like Bolton that no one will really miss and move them north and rebrand them for about $130 million. Throw some money to get them promoted and then the tv money would recoup what you spent. Invest a bit more to stay up and then start competing for Europe.

 

[Boycie]

It's times like this I wish there was NFL style franchise moves in football/soccer. Buy a crap non entity team like Bolton that no one will really miss and move them north and rebrand them for about $130 million. Throw some money to get them promoted and then the tv money would recoup what you spent. Invest a bit more to stay up and then start competing for Europe.

Could you please pass along this piece of advice to Massimo Cellino for me? :sarcasm_off:

 

[Glasgow Seahawk]

Feels like Leeds get bought by crook after crook. A well supported team that should be in the premiership. Still paying for the David O'Leary days.