The football (soccer) thread

[vandermolen]

Your story reminds me an episode of The Simpsons, where Marge makes Homer have a tour at an apple cider factory, while he would have preferred to stay at home and watch the baseball World Series.

That sounds about right. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Actually they had the TV on at the garden centre and some of the staff were watching the match.

They had a tv at a garden center?!  Never seen that one before! 

PD

[vandermolen]

Your story reminds me an episode of The Simpsons, where Marge makes Homer have a tour at an apple cider factory, while he would have preferred to stay at home and watch the baseball World Series.

OT
Actually I was late for work once and my wife made me stay behind for a demonstration of 'how to plump up the cushions'. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

OT
Actually I was late for work once and my wife made me stay behind for a demonstration of 'how to plump up the cushions'. 

lol

The only "tv" that I've ever seen at a garden center before was for this (or one like it):

Note:  I haven't purchased one myself, so don't know how well it works.  The first time that I saw one of their ads, it cracked me up! 

PD

[Irons]

Yes, the perpetrator that entered the pitch yesterday is one of the key members managing the supporters' club in that particular south terrace. We're talking about somebody in his late 30's/early 40's, not an 18 year old who lost the plot.

Sadly, this is not the first time some of their members have been problematic, the actual head of that group clashed with some of our own players (!!) on the pitch during a game last season when we were relegated (racist allegations against within the team, found unfounded in court last week). Even more sadly, these supporters have actually behaved really well all season, singing non-stop home and away behind the team.

It is such a waste...   

Pitch invasion is raising it's ugly head in English football too. I hate the thought of caging the fans in but without fanfare Wembley Stadium have installed a metal installation surrounding the pitch similar to a cattle grid.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Pitch invasion is raising it's ugly head in English football too. I hate the thought of caging the fans in but without fanfare Wembley Stadium have installed a metal installation surrounding the pitch similar to a cattle grid.

When I went to try and see what it looked like (couldn't find), I found out two things.  Firstly, I believe that they are going to install some kind of fencing outside of the stadium (to prevent ticketless holders from illegally entering W.) and secondly, that they are apparently doing a lot of work inside of the stadium (besides the fencing by the pitch).  Sadly, two of the workers were injured when some scaffolding suddenly fell on them--one of the guys was actually killed. 

PD

[Irons]

Tonight's the night! The first European Final since 1965 when the great Bobby lifted the trophy.



Fiorentina will be difficult opponents who are slight favourites. We have two Czech lads in our team which will be an advantage in Prague. If it goes to penalties don't think I would survive that!

COYI

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Tonight's the night! The first European Final since 1965 when the great Bobby lifted the trophy.



Fiorentina will be difficult opponents who are slight favourites. We have two Czech lads in our team which will be an advantage in Prague. If it goes to penalties don't think I would survive that!

COYI

What time does the game start?  I'm trying a (short) free trial of Fubo and there's some football on there.  Ah, I just looked...looks like 2:30 p.m. and I'm guessing that that is EST time.  Will check it out.

PD

[Papy Oli]

Tonight's the night! The first European Final since 1965 when the great Bobby lifted the trophy.



Fiorentina will be difficult opponents who are slight favourites. We have two Czech lads in our team which will be an advantage in Prague. If it goes to penalties don't think I would survive that!

COYI

All the best for the... @Irons 

[DaveF]

Tonight's the night! The first European Final since 1965 when the great Bobby lifted the trophy.

Now that's a nostalgic photo for those of us who were around in the '60s!  I can recognise Alan Sealey, Martin Peters (looking remarkably like George Harrison), Brian Dear... Can't decide whether Sir Geoff is immediately on Bobby Moore's left, or the one in front looking backwards.  Anyway, best of luck for tonight - try to avoid penalties!

[Lisztianwagner]

Congratulations to West Ham on winning the Conference League, well done! Fiorentina played well, but it wasn't enough to get the cup.

[vandermolen]

Congratulations to West Ham!
I'm old enough to remember the 1964 Cup Final, featuring two very young players I think (of the top of my head, Sissons of West Ham and Kendall of Preston NE).

[Papy Oli]

One for Lol / @Irons :

David Moyes, West Ham's coach, celebrating last night's trophy (his first as a coach apparently) with his 87-yo dad:

https://twitter.com/HLTCO/status/1666713736755793921

  

[vandermolen]

Now that's a nostalgic photo for those of us who were around in the '60s!  I can recognise Alan Sealey, Martin Peters (looking remarkably like George Harrison), Brian Dear... Can't decide whether Sir Geoff is immediately on Bobby Moore's left, or the one in front looking backwards.  Anyway, best of luck for tonight - try to avoid penalties!

Hurst is on Bobby Moore's left.

[Papy Oli]

How is that for a peculiar football evening:

Last night was the last game of the season in the French Ligue 2 (second division). For full fairness and equality between the clubs, the last 2-3 games are always played at the same time on the same day.

3 clubs are fighting for the top 2 promotion spots to Ligue 1:

Le Havre 72 pts
Metz 69 pts
and my club Bordeaux 69 pts (Goal difference of -3 compared to Metz)

Le Havre was up to 10 pts clear a few weeks ago and kept dropping points
Bordeaux was up to 9 points clear in second and kept dropping points
It all came down to last night's game.

For a bit of context, Bordeaux has been in steady sporting decline in the last decade when some dodgy American investors bought the club circa 2019. Last season, Bordeaux got relegated to Ligue 2 on the pitch but the mismanagement of the club and other internal tension and scandals took it to the brink of bankruptcy last July, with a looming liquidation and relegation to 5th tier football i.e the top tier of amateur football.

A buyer came through (a controversial one at that because he has bought other clubs on the brink before with some dodgy dealings, hence not a favourable reputation in the Ligue anyway) and bought the club last August. With only 2 days before the start of this season did he get the final confirmation from the league and financial authorities that we could play and play in Ligue 2 (and not further down). That meant selling our "best" (non-performing evidently) players and building the new team on mostly academy youngsters, a couple of seasoned players from Ligue 2 and a couple of key players that decided to stay at the club regardless to fight back, after accepting a 50% pay cut to help the club's finances (another 19 year old promising youngster reluctantly accepted to be sold to Southampton for 11 million euros, knowing that amount would definitely save his formative club).

The season felt like a miracle to us all if only for existing and it was a clean slate with the supporters now fully backing the mostly inexperienced team. it obviously took some time to gel and with lots of ups and downs, we eventually settled in the top three. Last bit of context, all season, for cost management reasons, the stadium capacity was kept at half, to 22K, still making it one of the biggest ligue 2 attendances.

To last night.

Knowing how important that last home game was, the stadium was sold to full attendance. 42,000 supporters filled the stadium with an atmosphere frankly not seen since we played PSG or Marseille in our better years. Some supporters even travelled from the USA, Canada or Asia to be at the game and supporting the team whatever happens, still clinging to hopes of promotion.

7.45pm kick off.

Le Havre plays at home against Dijon who fights to stay in ligue 2.
Metz at home plays against Bastia, currently 5th with nothing to play for.
Bordeaux plays in a sold out stadium against Rodez, who are also fighting to stay in Ligue 2.

Bordeaux has 5 or 6 clear chances in the first 15 minutes. still 0-0.

8.02 pm.
Rodez scores on a counter attack. 0-1. Sh!t happens, that's ok, long time to go. Cue Rodez players bundling up and celebrating in front of the Bordeaux  Kop. One Bordeaux "supporter" (from the kop association Admin team, at the time sorting a banner) somehow goes on the pitch and pushes the Rodez goal scorer to the ground. The player stays on the ground, even it looks inconspicuous. Game is stopped. The player lies down for several minutes and both teams are sent to the dressing rooms. As per the rules, If the game is stopped for more than 45 minutes it is definitely aborted and it is down to the Ligue authorities to decide the outcome or replay of the game or resuming from where it stopped at another date.

20.50
The game is definitely aborted. the Rodez player is off to hospital for concussion assessment. 42K  supporters in disbelief in the stadium. The Ligue communicates that they will take a decision/sanctions on... Monday. Our chairman makes a press conference explaining they will sue that Kop individual and also make any appeal to the Ligue on Monday.

Just around 9.45pm.

Le Havre is leading. they will be Champions. Dijon is going down.
Metz is leading too, they will finish second as it stands and go up too.

As for Bordeaux-Rodez, god knows. Because it is the last game of the season, it would seem unlikely to be replayed and is likely to be given as a default 3-0 win to Rodez. However (beside Bordeaux), one other club (Annecy) who is fighting to stay in Ligue 2 against Rodez wants our game to be resumed/replayed too because that default Rodez win would keep Rodez (and not them) up.  Quite a mess.

What that "supporter" did is unforgivable and unjustifiable. He should be banned from the stadium for life. Based on precedents, Bordeaux will probably get some point deductions for the start of next season, most likely a handful of home games behind closed doors too.

if the game is to be resumed/replayed in a few days after all, it is likely that Bordeaux will also get a 1 or 2 pts penalty for this season, so that even if we beat Rodez in that final game, we could not go up at all...while maintaining some sporting fairness for Rodez and Annecy.

For some perspective, if Bordeaux had gone up last night, they would have been breaking even financially for the start of the next season. Staying in Ligue 2, means starting the next season with a 15 million euros debt, meaning more jobs losses in the admin staff and selling some of our better players and re-weaken our team again.

You can imagine how distraught we felt last night and today. Having a club still, was a miracle for us. Fighting for promotion to the last day was a bonus. We would have accepted, albeit with the expected disappointment, to remain in Ligue 2 on the pitch...but not in last night's manner. It is heart-breaking, for the silly action of one individual, wrecking the party atmosphere and the excitement of long-suffering parents and children at the stadium. 

Now for the other oddity of the night.

As I said earlier, Le Havre was beating Dijon in the dying minutes, walking towards the Ligue 2 title.

With 30 seconds to go in injury time, due to a misunderstanding the Le Havre supporters invaded the pitch thinking they had won the game. Both teams had to go back to their dressing rooms. The game is stopped for around 20 minutes while the Havre captain and coach try to convince their supporters to go back into the terraces (note: The club had actually warned their supporters all week that any pitch invasion, even for the title, would mean lifetime bans for the individuals but also sanctions for the club!!)

Anyway, the supporters are back in their terraces eventually.

The game resumes.

There's 30 seconds left to play.

The referee whistle the official end of the game after 5 seconds.

Guess what... That's not the odd bit.

it's that bit: Only the Le Havre players ever came back on the pitch. The Dijon players did stay in their dressing room. And yet, the game resumed for 5 seconds.

Le Havre won 3-2. Cue another pitch invasion and actual title ceremony and celebrations.

not making sense to you ? Nope, nor me....

The Ligue has quite a cluster-fudge to sort out on Monday.

As a Bordeaux supporter, I am numb.

Sorry for that long post, it might be cathartic...

or not.



         

Anyone fancy a follow-up ? 

- The Ligue authorities met last monday around 2 pm. the Bordeaux chairman turned up with his lawyers. Rodez didn't.

- After 20 minutes, meeting is off.  The Ligue releases a statement saying that they have to proceed with further investigations. Next meeting is now due this coming Monday 12th May. Meanwhile, the game's score (0-1 to Rodez after 23 minutes) is temporary on hold for the Ligue table.

- Not waiting for the Ligue 1st meeting, Rodez has already sent their (non-internationals) players on holiday last Sunday.

Now for the juicy bits:

- If the Ligue ever decides to have the game replayed, it can not be replayed between the 12th and 20th May...because this period is legally needed by FIFA for some International games. It could only be replayed from the 20th May onwards. Bordeaux have sent their (non-international) players on holiday for now. They are due to reconvene for training on Friday 16th in hope the hope the game will be replayed the following week. fun fact: If the game is to be replayed, as per the Ligue rules, it would have to be restarted from scratch (at 0-0) and not from the 24th minute at 0-1. Fun fact 2: This would all happen potentially within 7-10 days of the official start of the 2023-2024 pre-season for all clubs.

- On the evening of the stopped game:

* the Rodez Chairman stated in a press conference that his shoved player had been hospitalised and concussed. he possibly went to hospital for checks but didn't stay there. it's been found out he travelled back with his team-mates on the team bus an hour and a half after the game. He wasn't concussed. if he had been, he would have been given 8-days sick leave as per the Ligue's current head-injury protocols. Turns out he was handed one day sick-leave.

* the Rodez coach stated in an interview that that same player was injured at the neck. He wasn't.

* The referee took the decision on the night to stop the game based on the alleged severity of the injury and disruption, as per the (neutral) ER doctor's report at the stadium. That report only called for an assessment of the player and not confirming he was concussed. Furthermore, that specific document is apparently not legally binding either.

- Remember Annecy who will be relegated if Rodez do keep the win? Well, The Annecy chairman has accused Rodez of seizing the incident as an opportunity to save their bacon, without having to play the full game. Called their players and chairman outright cheats and will take all legal routes to sue Rodez and the Ligue for loss of incomes and compensation if the 0-1 score is upheld (game not replayed) and Annecy gets relegated.

Fun times.

[Florestan]

Fun times.

What a mess! And all that because of one single idiot. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Anyone fancy a follow-up ? 

- The Ligue authorities met last monday around 2 pm. the Bordeaux chairman turned up with his lawyers. Rodez didn't.

- After 20 minutes, meeting is off.  The Ligue releases a statement saying that they have to proceed with further investigations. Next meeting is now due this coming Monday 12th May. Meanwhile, the game's score (0-1 to Rodez after 23 minutes) is temporary on hold for the Ligue table.

- Not waiting for the Ligue 1st meeting, Rodez has already sent their (non-internationals) players on holiday last Sunday.

Now for the juicy bits:

- If the Ligue ever decides to have the game replayed, it can not be replayed between the 12th and 20th May...because this period is legally needed by FIFA for some International games. It could only be replayed from the 20th May onwards. Bordeaux have sent their (non-international) players on holiday for now. They are due to reconvene for training on Friday 16th in hope the hope the game will be replayed the following week. fun fact: If the game is to be replayed, as per the Ligue rules, it would have to be restarted from scratch (at 0-0) and not from the 24th minute at 0-1. Fun fact 2: This would all happen potentially within 7-10 days of the official start of the 2023-2024 pre-season for all clubs.

- On the evening of the stopped game:

* the Rodez Chairman stated in a press conference that his shoved player had been hospitalised and concussed. he possibly went to hospital for checks but didn't stay there. it's been found out he travelled back with his team-mates on the team bus an hour and a half after the game. He wasn't concussed. if he had been, he would have been given 8-days sick leave as per the Ligue's current head-injury protocols. Turns out he was handed one day sick-leave.

* the Rodez coach stated in an interview that that same player was injured at the neck. He wasn't.

* The referee took the decision on the night to stop the game based on the alleged severity of the injury and disruption, as per the (neutral) ER doctor's report at the stadium. That report only called for an assessment of the player and not confirming he was concussed. Furthermore, that specific document is apparently not legally binding either.

- Remember Annecy who will be relegated if Rodez do keep the win? Well, The Annecy chairman has accused Rodez of seizing the incident as an opportunity to save their bacon, without having to play the full game. Called their players and chairman outright cheats and will take all legal routes to sue Rodez and the Ligue for loss of incomes and compensation if the 0-1 score is upheld (game not replayed) and Annecy gets relegated.

Fun times.

Oh, brother! 

And @Irons, congrats!  Trust that you weren't up too too late celebrating? 

PD

[Irons]

Now that's a nostalgic photo for those of us who were around in the '60s!  I can recognise Alan Sealey, Martin Peters (looking remarkably like George Harrison), Brian Dear... Can't decide whether Sir Geoff is immediately on Bobby Moore's left, or the one in front looking backwards.  Anyway, best of luck for tonight - try to avoid penalties!

Yes, Jeffrey is correct re Sir Geoff. BT Sport intervened Brian Dear at last night's game and he looked chipper. Ken Brown is far right in photo and Johnny Sissons is between him and Sir Geoff. The fella at the front is Ronnie Boyce.

 

[vandermolen]

Yes, Jeffrey is correct re Sir Geoff. BT Sport intervened Brian Dear at last night's game and he looked chipper. Ken Brown is far right in photo and Johnny Sissons is between him and Sir Geoff. The fella at the front is Ronnie Boyce.

 

Didn't Boyce score the winning goal in the 1964 Cup Final (Hammers 3 Preston NE 2)?

[Irons]

Congratulations to West Ham on winning the Conference League, well done! Fiorentina played well, but it wasn't enough to get the cup.

Fiorentina were the better team. Tactics played a huge part in at times a disjointed game and Fiorentina came out on top. What turned form on its head was a 50 million player, Lucas Paqueta, who I feel did not have a particularly good game, with a sublime pass to Jarrod Bowen in the 90th minute which won us the game. EPL clubs will often have the edge thanks to Sky as they can afford to sign players like Paqueta.