General Premier League Thread 2024-25

Stuttgart are in a major league so I just don’t follow the point. Loads of teams used to be good in the 90s who are crap now. It’s UEFA’s fault?

No way Villa are winning champs league but I woudn't rule out spurs winning europa they've found a bit of form lately (sorry utd fans I just can't see it happening). That would still be 6 which is a joke also. UEFA would not be happy either. Didn't there used to be a limit on the amount of teams from one country that could be in it? When Liverpool won it in 2005 but didn't make top 4 there was a scramble to get the for the following season iirc.

With all the stories over the last while of Man Utd sacking the staff on the ground, taking away the sugar from the coffees and taking the food out of their mouths in the canteen, I for one think it's in really poor taste that they have this PR move today to tell the world that Garnacho will buy the team dinner to make up for his latest act of petulance.

That's a kick in the teeth to the people losing jobs etc that the privileged footballer, who's wages or benefits are not affected, has to put his hand in his pocket to pay for the lunch of his privileged millionaire teammates, who also still get their free lunch.

This is clearly yet another big PR thing by the club to try get some good image around them, but surely the correct play here is to pay for a lunch for the ground staff who just got their working conditions cut this week. At least give some good back to the Joe Soap.

That was because the English FA were not prepared to tell Everton no you can't go into the Champions League because Liverpool won it, that is what UEFA were expecting since it happened in Spain before with Real finishing outside the top 4 but winning the CL but the Spanish FA put Real into the CL at the expense of Zaragoza. So UEFA then had to set it as a rule that the title holders get automatic qualification.

Removing benefits for workers is at best performative nonsense, a cheap way to look like they’re hard at work cutting costs, at worst a way for force out staff without redundancy. For a PR point of view it’s backfired and I’m surprised they’re still trying to find new ways to make life worse for normal staff.

What’s worse is that, for big footballing decisions being made at the executive level, nothing has changed. Risky decisions are being made and then unmade at huge cost, with follow on decisions being reactionary.

Neville said on the overlap this week that the plan for this season was to back Ten Hag in the transfer window with the goal being to get back into the champions league to help with finances and go from there. Completely daft - backing a man who finished 8th with a disastrous transfer record to somehow pull it all together and get a CL place? Anyone could have seen how that would turn out. And then 2 months later that plan was obvious binned as they got rid of Ten Hag and the new sporting director to get a new manager who plays a very specific brand of football the team have never played before to come in immediately. What was the thinking there? Was it that they felt he could get the team performing straight away and get into the CL? Surely not as he’s too different from any previous manager. It seems they got him because he’s a popular name in football right now, he’s a bit of PR for the fans, something to sell - no different then getting Ronaldo back.

United have one option to sort themselves out, which is a wholesale change of recruitment policy, getting players out and getting cheaper ones in, and doing this well enough over a long period of time until they can get back to success. But they don’t seem to want to engage with that fact. Neville basically said they basically can’t start doing the right things until they’re back in the CL, but they need to do the right things to get back to the CL. And generally it all so obviously goes wrong and they start the process again. It wouldn’t surprise me at all for Amorim to go and we see the philosophy ripped up for another gamble at short term success.

And while these sort of decisions are being made, they’re scapegoating normal workers small benefits. It looks like they haven’t a clue about running a football club.

And Everton didn't make it to the group stages after losing to Villareal in the 3rd Qualifying Round.

That was funny

It really doesn't take much to outrage people these days.🤣

I mean… the timing of this apology "present" is probably not the best thought out….

"Garnacho 'will buy Man Utd team dinner' for sub reaction"

(i.e. Rich player buys other rich players food!!)

While the General staff are still on Fruit Rations 🍏🍇🍋🍒😋

(Yes its exaggerated tongue in cheek…Please don't take too much offence)

They didn’t make the same exception for Spurs in 2012.

That was the fix they made in their rules after what happened in 2005/2006. In 2005/6 there was no provision in the EPL to dump 4th place out and replace them with the winner — they could've forced it, but it would've meant going against the stated rewards for finishing positions. They amended the rules then, so in 2012 it was already set in stone that a CL winner who didn't finish in the top 4 in the EPL would result in 4th place getting shunted down.

It was foolish to not have automatic qualification for the winners. The old style European cup always had it. Silly when you think.of a competition called the champions league, not potentially having them, while a 4th place team who won nothing was getting in.

Most will just drop it to their feet instead.

True. I wish they just enforced that.

Lengthy ban coming for Cunha after losing his sh1t in the Cup game.

Second time he's really lost his head in recent months.

Not sure i trust refs to be able to count to 8, consistently. Better if a buzzer automatically went off on their watch like the goal line tech, to take the subjectivity out of it. I can imagine there’ll be some keepers getting done after 6 or 7 secs, and others getting away with 10 or 11.