General Premier League Thread 2025/2026

IncognitoMan · 24-03-2026 01:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336801#Comment_124336801

It would be A TREBLE but not THE TREBLE.

That was a shitshow around Utd and the FA Cup. Fergie and the players wanted to defend it but the UK government and the World cup big organisers for their 2006 bid wanted Utd to be in Brazil.

Utd would get more money and the decision was made by Edwards I believe much to the disagreement of Fergie.
It was a terrible choice made largely by none football people.

However, it is often cited as the reason the FA Cup was "devalued" but I don't buy into that at all.

TV coverage and prize money from other competitions is what changed things really for the cup.

FA Cup was massive because it was a rare game of football live on TV for a lot of the 60s/70s/80s.
That changed massively with the PL in the 90s. Live football was far more accessible after and that has only really increased over the years.

What wasn't addressed is the prize for winning. It's worth about £2 million in Prize money to the winner.
Finishing just 1 place higher in the PL brings in £2.5-£3 million. Clubs are incentivised to prioritise elsewhere unfortunately so they will.

It doesn't just come from a club not playing in the competition 26 years ago.
The slide was already happening.

If the FA Cup had a big prize attached to it then you would see clubs take it seriously again.
It's still a bigger trophy to win than the LC due to the history for me at least and I would presume many more.

8-10 · 24-03-2026 01:43PM

I don't disagree that the slide was already happening but it was one of the main nails in the coffin. That Wembley was torn down around the same time and you had FA Cup finals played outside of England for a few years after also played a massive role

It's a shame, but it's still a great one to win for sure.

Fitz* · 24-03-2026 03:05PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336927#Comment_124336927

Why didn't Man Utd just enter the FA Cup in 2000 and play a youth team in the game? Other teams have done so in recent years, especially during COVID times. Liverpool also played a youth team in the cup after their first team was also playing in a different continent for the Club World Cup.

IncognitoMan · 24-03-2026 03:05PM

I actually really liked a lot of the finals at the millennium stadium

Iseedeadpixels · 24-03-2026 03:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337199#Comment_124337199

United offered and the FA said it would devalue the competition.

adaminho · 24-03-2026 03:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337200#Comment_124337200

Community Shield is back there in August due to a later start of the season and Wembley being booked for gigs.

https://www.thefa.com/news/2026/mar/23/fa-community-shield-2026-details-confirmed-20262303

IncognitoMan · 24-03-2026 03:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337199#Comment_124337199

Sure they could I suppose. By all accounts there were plenty of options put forward but all were rejected.

Real Madrid and other clubs in Europe were in a similar situation at the time and they just got a bye for the Spanish Cup etc...

Ferguson was in favour of granting United a bye from the fourth round, which coincides with the competition in Brazil. This was opposed by chairmen of other Premier League clubs, although Real Madrid, the other European side in the Brazil tournament, have been granted a bye from their domestic cup competition.

That would have been a decent way to keep Utd going to the new Club World cup, keep the World cup bid happy. Keep the fans happy. Keep the FA happy (or maybe not). But didn't come to pass for whatever reason despite the other clubs across europe tackling it this way.

I don't think the FA had much interest in keeping the door open

Quote -

'The FA held a meeting with the Independent Manchester United Supporters Association, which opposes the withdrawal. Andy Walsh of Imusa said: "We put forward a number of options, but it was quite obvious that the FA did not genuinely want to find a solution. They do not want to do anything that might damage England's 2006 chances.'

Also the players tried to get it overturned :

'Leading players such as captain Roy Keane have expressed their opposition to the withdrawal to the Professional Footballers Association, which has intervened on their behalf.
However, while Manchester United FC want to defend the world's most prestigious cup Manchester United plc are trying to cash in on the opportunity to play in a global tournament in Brazil.'

Edwards and co alongside the FA ultimately made the decision. Despite everyone actually connected to the football on the pitch not wanting to do it.

It seems they came to the worst possible solution despite being offered other better solutions.

Source : https://www.theguardian.com/football/1999/oct/29/newsstory.sport2

jacool · 24-03-2026 03:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124336563#Comment_124336563

I was only having a laugh at how certain posters reacted to the outcome.

Personally, for me, its EPL, CL, FA Cup and League Cup.

Worth noting that UEFA put the top 4 EPL teams into the CL, the FA Cup winners into the Europa League and the League Cup winners into a play-off qualifying round for the Conference League.

batistuta9 · 24-03-2026 03:57PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337348#Comment_124337348

it's PL or FA that decides that afaik

jacool · 24-03-2026 04:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337391#Comment_124337391

Looks like its UEFA

Regulations of the UEFA Champions League

Article 3 Entries for the competition

3.01

UEFA member associations (hereinafter associations) may enter a certain number of clubs for the competition through their top domestic championships, in accordance with the association coefficient rankings drawn up in line with Annex D. These rankings determine the associations' positions in the access list (Annex A), which in turn determines the stage at which each club enters the competition. Only one single team per club may be entered.

3.02

Associations are represented on the following basis (see Annex A):

one representative: winner of the top domestic championship;
two representatives: winner and runner-up of the top domestic championship;
three representatives: winner, runner-up and third-placed club in the top domestic championship;
four representatives: winner, runner-up, third-placed and fourth-placed clubs in the top domestic championship.

3.03

Additionally, the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League titleholders are each guaranteed a place in the league phase even if they do not qualify for the competition through their domestic championships. If the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League titleholder qualifies for the UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League through one of its domestic competitions, the number of places to which its association is entitled in the UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League is reduced by one.

batistuta9 · 24-03-2026 04:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337421#Comment_124337421

maybe not then. thought they did as it comes up at times on how to boost the cup & the fa cup winner was ahead of 5th in ranking for entering the Europa League

jacool · 24-03-2026 04:25PM

UEFA for Europa League says

UEFA member associations may enter the winner of their national cup competitions (hereinafter domestic cups), as well as a certain number of other clubs for the competition through their top domestic championships, in accordance with the association coefficient rankings.

off topic, but some great rules in there, such as

Visiting clubs are entitled to receive 200 top-category tickets for their premium supporters, sponsors, etc., but they are not obliged to take the full allocation. 50 of these tickets must be provided on a complimentary basis!

noodler · 24-03-2026 04:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124333537#Comment_124333537

I think I'll have to graph this out for you.

The point is the league would have been won before the drop off in 23/24 if City and Arsenal had been as bad as they were 24/25.

TitianGerm · 24-03-2026 07:46PM

Salah has announced he's leaving at the end of the season.

Iseedeadpixels · 24-03-2026 07:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338000#Comment_124338000

Right time for him.

8-10 · 24-03-2026 08:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338000#Comment_124338000

Was completely expected yet that video still floored me

Best one season wonder in the history of the league

Iseedeadpixels · 24-03-2026 08:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338038#Comment_124338038

Him and Kane

~Rebel~ · 24-03-2026 08:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124337488#Comment_124337488

Maybe, though even last year there was still work to be done in April to get it done, which is when the previous team fell apart, so this all really feels like bending over backwards to equate two seasons when ultimately in one, when the team needed to win, they won, and in the other, they stopped winning. Both teams were good, that 23/24 season was an overachievement as it was with the amount of flux in midfield. No shade on them. But the 24/25 season simply went one step better, and reaching the previous season's tally (when the 23/24 team squeezed every single point they could right until the last day) with 4 games to go is a decent sign of that.

8-10 · 24-03-2026 08:34PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338087#Comment_124338087

He's also the second best African the league has ever seen per Oranage2 or whatever that posters name was

Fitz* · 24-03-2026 09:59PM

Salah has strong claims to be the best PL player of all time.

He is the first and only 3 time PFA player of the year. Nobody has won won PL player of month more times than him. Nobody has been the top goalscorer in the PL more times than him.

There's a whole long list of other records that he has broken but one of the maddest ones that came to fruition a few weeks ago. He has scored 255 goals in 9 seasons for Liverpool. That number would currently be the all time top scorer for 16 of the current 20 PL clubs. He is very close to making that 17 or 18 if he scores a few more before he leaves at the end of the season. (Everton, Liverpool, Spurs & Man City are the 4 clubs)

8-10 · 24-03-2026 10:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338297#Comment_124338297

Well he's not going to be the top scorer for Liverpool and he knew that early on!

But 3rd highest scorer of all time for a club like Liverpool is very impressive still

FrankN1 · 24-03-2026 10:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338297#Comment_124338297

Not even close. Plenty ahead of him. Ronaldo definitely top of the list.

Fitz* · 24-03-2026 10:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338316#Comment_124338316

Not a notion that Ronaldo is ahead of Salah in the PL best player stakes.

All time? Sure. But as a whole Ronaldo's best years were in Spain not in the PL. Ronaldo's best individual season in the PL - Salah's is better.

I'm interested to hear about this "plenty" that are definitely better than Salah in PL history though....

Dr Robert · 24-03-2026 10:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338316#Comment_124338316

Ronaldo? 😂😂😂

Dr Robert · 24-03-2026 10:18PM

Ronaldo isn't even top 10 ffs

FrankN1 · 24-03-2026 10:20PM

Name anyone better to play in the PL? There is none and definitely not Salah. He's probably top 30.

FrankN1 · 24-03-2026 10:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338338#Comment_124338338

😂 Love to see that top 10. Guess VVD is in it too and Wirtz

Dr Robert · 24-03-2026 10:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338343#Comment_124338343

What? Wirtz? Are we talking about the sane thing here.

Maybe do your homework and look at some stats for the question at hand.

8-10 · 24-03-2026 10:24PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124338340#Comment_124338340

Nobody is disputing that he's in the top 30

Fionn1952 · 24-03-2026 10:35PM

I'd bet Thierry, Rooney and Shearer would all above Salah by the reckoning of the vast majority. There are another few I'd argue were better players but maybe didn't do it for as long, but in the PL era, I'd quite enjoy a smoke of whatever anyone who would say, 'no one better has ever played in the PL' than Mo.

Undoubtedly wonderful player, but putting potential recency bias and Liverpool fans aside, I don't think many would have him top 5 of the PL era. Top 10 perhaps.

General Premier League Thread 2025/2026

Comments

Article 3 Entries for the competition