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European Football Thread 2013/14; CL, Europa League, Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 etc
Topic Started: Jul 26 2013, 09:22 AM (3,227 Views)
Morvant's Finest
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Tommy McLean
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Only just noticed this. Wow!

http://sport.bt.com/sportfootball/football/bt-sport-wins-all-live-uk-tv-rights-to-champions-league-and-europa-league-S11363847946944
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BT Sport wins all live UK TV rights to Champions League and Europa League
BT Sport announce the acquisition of exclusive live rights to all 350 matches a season for three years from 2015/16. Both finals to be free on BT Sport, as well as top matches from earlier rounds.
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BT has shaken up the UK TV market with BT Sport and it today pledged to make its new matches far more accessible and affordable for fans who wish to enjoy all the action. It also announced it will show a selection of these new matches for free on BT Sport, even to homes that have not signed up to the channels.
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The finals of each tournament will be showcased in this fashion along with a selection of top matches from earlier rounds. Fans will also be delighted to know that each participating British team will feature for free at least once each season.
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And the news has just knocked 10% of Sky's shareprice....
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Setenza
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Knitting with only one needle
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Just hope they keep it free on Virgin...

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Micky
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I was going to start a thread on this, too.

Pretty amazing news, but as someone who won't be getting BT Sport I'm disappointed. Seems that the Champions League is out of reach now. I believe they plan to show some free to air, though.
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Morvant's Finest
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Tommy McLean
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Yep Micky, whether this is good news to you is going to come down to who your broadband's with...

As someone who'd never consider getting SKY (for Guardian reading, lefty conscience reasons), I would say that the ability to access any game online for free (if they continue that offer for BT Broadband customers...) will be a big step-up from ITV's (no choice) basic coverage. I can't be the only viewer who would rather have watched Juventus vs Real Madrid last week than the snorefest that was Real Sociedad vs Man Utd?
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whatsthatonyourback
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Waldo Jeffers
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So with The Celtics exiting Europe with a bit of a whimper, how long until Manajackanackie is being suggested as a replacement for Lennon, presumably taking pretty much our entire first team with him?
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Cobardon
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Uncle Smurf
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whatsthatonyourback
Nov 28 2013, 11:10 AM
So with The Celtics exiting Europe with a bit of a whimper, how long until Manajackanackie is being suggested as a replacement for Lennon, presumably taking pretty much our entire first team with him?
A question of time really. Another few wins for us and a stutter or two in the east end of Glasgow and they'll be all over it.

The problem for the Tic would of course be that our success has come as much from the youth policy put in years ago as it has been from the top down: they could try to buy our youth of course, and that's what they usually do, but it would be easy to see them outbid time after time in an open market if they tried. I'm not saying that the freedom our young players have taken isn't down to backing from the manager, but it would be incredibly naive of any club to assume they could hire him and replicate his (still very short term and intangible) success overnight.
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Setenza
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Knitting with only one needle
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I think Lennon will be safe for a while yet. Getting into the CL groups was a victory for him, and given their group, finishing last wasn't much of a shock.

Unless they struggle in the league, think he'll be fine.


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whatsthatonyourback
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Waldo Jeffers
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Setenza
Nov 29 2013, 12:03 AM
I think Lennon will be safe for a while yet. Getting into the CL groups was a victory for him, and given their group, finishing last wasn't much of a shock.

Unless they struggle in the league, think he'll be fine.


I doubt he'll be sacked, but he might figure he's hit a natural limit to his & his team's talents and decide to move on.

Whether he can take winning the league a few times once the main rival had shot themselves in the foot is a matter for him and those considering employing him.
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Setenza
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Knitting with only one needle
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Well England is sort of Europe.

Tough times for Man Utd. All the ref's fault however. Had thought they'd recover to push up to the Top 4, but they seem to be struggling more, rather than improving.

Fear factor seems to be gone. A blip, or the Mau U going the same was as Liverpool did?
Edited by Setenza, Jan 8 2014, 12:41 PM.
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Conan the Destroyer
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I prefer it when we're pish
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Setenza
Jan 8 2014, 12:40 PM
Well England is sort of Europe.

Tough times for Man Utd. All the ref's fault however. Had thought they'd recover to push up to the Top 4, but they seem to be struggling more, rather than improving.

Fear factor seems to be gone. A blip, or the Mau U going the same was as Liverpool did?
I thought it was a penalty and I thought the only bad decision was not red-carding Rafael.
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Morvant's Finest
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Tommy McLean
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You would have to say that Van Persie's ridiculous goalscoring form last season covered over a lot of cracks in the squad. Older players like Giggs, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra and (to a lesser extent) Carrick and Van Persie are only going to decline in the next year or two, and younger signings like Zaha and Kagawa haven't made an impact at all.

With the strong finances behind the club ensuring they'll still be able to compete for the top players for the foreseeable future, their loss of status is likely to be temporary, but given the likely continued financial strength of Man City and Chelsea (despite the imminent Financial Fair Play rules coming in) and a resurgent Arsenal and Liverpool, the club may struggle to make a major impact in the next year or two?
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Cobardon
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Uncle Smurf
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They're a victim of their own off-field success, Man U. Largely thanks to their own efforts they had the Champions League (sic) made into a cartel featuring themselves and a few other select clubs. This spotlight attracted huge investment from mega-rich foreigners. This, coupled with the silly money given out to the top English clubs has meant that rather than just themselves being financially head and shoulders above all the others that huge wads of cash are sloshing about the whole league now, meaning other teams can genuinely compete. Add to this a complacency predicated upon their 'great' team (and sentimentally sticking to them) and this was always a crisis in the making.

Of course, now that there are half a dozen teams who genuinely feel they can compete for the title and fully expect a top 4 placing there will always be a crisis at at least two of them who can't make the main Euro goldpot standard. (More if upstarts like Everton and southampton crash the party). This is great news for the media and ratings, attracting more competition through other owners chucking enormous sums at their teams.

And the best thing for English football is that the huge cash glut will go on forever. Forever.
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Morvant's Finest
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Tommy McLean
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Cobardon
Jan 9 2014, 09:56 AM
This is great news for the media and ratings, attracting more competition through other owners chucking enormous sums at their teams.

And the best thing for English football is that the huge cash glut will go on forever. Forever.
It's mad, you'd have expected the recent financial downturn to have impacted on the finances of the top level of the English game (at least with regards to ticket sales and local merchandising sales).

And with the huge deals recently signed for both the EPL and CL rights, you can't see anything changing anytime soon? Not unless the government dramatically reduces the favourable environment for foreign investors to take over and invest in major institutions in the country. And that isn't going to happen anytime soon, is it?
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Setenza
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Knitting with only one needle
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Not good for English teams in Europe so far in CL.

Man U look especially flat, while Man City and Arsenal just looked a little bit worse than their opposition.

Although it may be a good thing for Man U going out of Europe, let them concentrate on the league and getting back in the CL...
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Cobardon
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Uncle Smurf
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Setenza
Feb 25 2014, 10:03 PM
Not good for English teams in Europe so far in CL.

Man U look especially flat, while Man City and Arsenal just looked a little bit worse than their opposition.

Although it may be a good thing for Man U going out of Europe, let them concentrate on the league and getting back in the CL...
Man U have almost no chance of getting into the Champions and Also Rans League next season. They need to win 4 more games than Liverpool in their last 11 games. Chances of that have got to be remote.


They'll do well to get into Europe at all, given that Sunderland may have one of the three UEFA places already, one will go to the FA cup winners, probably leaving 5th place as the only qualifying spot. They need to overhaul Spurs, who are two wins ahead of them, and hold off Everton who are level with a game in hand. They may be able to do that, but I suspect it'll be tough for them the way they are playing.
Edited by Cobardon, Feb 26 2014, 12:42 AM.
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