OT: England football team
Nov 22, 2007, 7:44 pm
#61
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Soon to be LEGT
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I disagree, the Premier League *is* the biggest league and the national side suffers as a result. Talking to football fans across the world when travelling (particularly in Asia) has shown me just how big an export the EPL (as they call it) is - Spain and Italy's leagues don't seem to be followed or televised anywhere near as much.
So you've got a league where the players and managers get the biggest salaries
So you've got a league where the players and managers get the biggest salaries
Marketing appeal doesn't translate into quality. Besides, the gap between the big teams and the small teams is phenomenal. Arsenal and ManU may be good teams, but there is no depth in the league. Selling a lot of t-shirts in Indonesia does not a good football team make.
Just watch the full 90 minutes of one random match between non-title contenders in the Premiership and another in the Primera División (e.g. Villa - Boro and Mallorca - Betis), as a neutral observer who wants to watch football for the football (and not because you support team one or the other).
The English game will likely have more goals/clear-cut chances but at the same time you will in all probability understand why the Primera is so much better.
Things would be getting worse if you go down a division. You can easily pay £40 to watch the likes of Sheffield Wednesday being unable to exchange more than 2 passes. In Spain it would be about €8, and the quality of the spectacle would still be half decent.
As fairly neutral towards the English national team, I am glad that they didn't qualify because it has saved all the pointless noise and flags on cars and so on that I'd have to endure come February, plus any hopes of any sort of coverage of the tournament besides England. The good thing is that people are waking up and asking for changes at the FA as opposed to just thinking that a change of manager will sort everything out. I don't think the FA will be on the line this time round, but they could be feeling quite uncomfortably when (not if) the next failure comes around.
Nov 23, 2007, 3:09 am
#62
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold, UA Gold
Posts: 2,022
Marketing appeal doesn't translate into quality. Besides, the gap between the big teams and the small teams is phenomenal. Arsenal and ManU may be good teams, but there is no depth in the league. Selling a lot of t-shirts in Indonesia does not a good football team make.
Just watch the full 90 minutes of one random match between non-title contenders in the Premiership and another in the Primera División (e.g. Villa - Boro and Mallorca - Betis), as a neutral observer who wants to watch football for the football (and not because you support team one or the other).
The English game will likely have more goals/clear-cut chances but at the same time you will in all probability understand why the Primera is so much better.
Things would be getting worse if you go down a division. You can easily pay £40 to watch the likes of Sheffield Wednesday being unable to exchange more than 2 passes. In Spain it would be about €8, and the quality of the spectacle would still be half decent.
Just watch the full 90 minutes of one random match between non-title contenders in the Premiership and another in the Primera División (e.g. Villa - Boro and Mallorca - Betis), as a neutral observer who wants to watch football for the football (and not because you support team one or the other).
The English game will likely have more goals/clear-cut chances but at the same time you will in all probability understand why the Primera is so much better.
Things would be getting worse if you go down a division. You can easily pay £40 to watch the likes of Sheffield Wednesday being unable to exchange more than 2 passes. In Spain it would be about €8, and the quality of the spectacle would still be half decent.
I actually think the problems are even more deep though, going right down to grass roots level: in kids leagues for instance, managers and parents are too-often ultra-competitive, encouraging physical play and victory at all costs, at ages where developing skills should really be the priority.
Nov 23, 2007, 1:37 pm
#63
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Nov 29, 2007, 5:20 pm
#65
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 119
Ok, I admit it, I am just a bitter Scot. I made the mistake of going to a rugby-obsessed English university, and spent several years in vain watching Scotland get trounced in Calcutta Cup matches in the company of 300 baying English students. Not once did Scotland win. Once I had moved back to Scotland, they won, but it was too late by then.
England are, and should be, considerably more successful than Scotland at most sports - they have 10 times the population. Would Scotland have qualified from England's group, if the roles were reversed? Probably not. Would England have finished ahead of Italy and France? Probably not. If England had made it through, I would have happily supported them, but I cannot hide the fact that I am very glad not to have to endure another 9 months of buildup to what would eventually be the same thing: McLaren getting the sack amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
England are, and should be, considerably more successful than Scotland at most sports - they have 10 times the population. Would Scotland have qualified from England's group, if the roles were reversed? Probably not. Would England have finished ahead of Italy and France? Probably not. If England had made it through, I would have happily supported them, but I cannot hide the fact that I am very glad not to have to endure another 9 months of buildup to what would eventually be the same thing: McLaren getting the sack amid much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Nov 29, 2007, 5:26 pm
#66
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 119
Ah yes, now how did the song go?
We're on the march we're Ally's army
we're going to the Argen-teen
and we'll really shake 'em up
when we win the world cup
'cos Scotland are the greatest football team
Well, that Scots did at least win one thing in 1978. For the most imaginative, misguided, over optimistic, deluded set of song lyrics ever
We're on the march we're Ally's army
we're going to the Argen-teen
and we'll really shake 'em up
when we win the world cup
'cos Scotland are the greatest football team
Well, that Scots did at least win one thing in 1978. For the most imaginative, misguided, over optimistic, deluded set of song lyrics ever
We're representing Britain
We're gonnae do or die
But England cannae do it
'Cos they didnae qualify!
Nov 29, 2007, 5:53 pm
#67
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Glasgow Scotland
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