Football 2015/16

[Rhiannon]

Wow Payet looks very tidy

Yeah. I think he'll be a handful for many teams. Looks quick.

His assist figures are amazing. I've told my boy to stick him in his Fantasy Footie team.

[jakswan]

its always nice when one of smaller sides beat the elite 5!

That depends on your point of view. 

Which is the fifth team in the "Big 5"?

The top 5 are in this:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deloitte_Football_Money_League#2013.E2.80.9314

Next year all 20 Premier League teams are likely to be in the top 30. With the 5 looking to sign galacticos the rest are able to take the next group, i.e. best of the rest in the world and will be more able to compete.

I'd love to see a season where a Southampton, West Ham, Stoke or Swansea break into the champions league places. Look at countries like Spain its a two horse race or Scotland where its not even a race.

[BashfulAnthony]

its always nice when one of smaller sides beat the elite 5!

That depends on your point of view. 

Which is the fifth team in the "Big 5"?

The top 5 are in this:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deloitte_Football_Money_League#2013.E2.80.9314

Next year all 20 Premier League teams are likely to be in the top 30. With the 5 looking to sign galacticos the rest are able to take the next group, i.e. best of the rest in the world and will be more able to compete.

I'd love to see a season where a Southampton, West Ham, Stoke or Swansea break into the champions league places. Look at countries like Spain its a two horse race or Scotland where its not even a race.

Over 30 years since any team but Rangers or Celtic, won the Scottish title.  How immensely boring!

[jeremyp]

its always nice when one of smaller sides beat the elite 5!

That depends on your point of view. 

Which is the fifth team in the "Big 5"?

The top 5 are in this:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deloitte_Football_Money_League#2013.E2.80.9314

So your elite 5 are the teams that have more than €300 million in revenue?  Because I would say that Liverpool are a bit behind the elite 4 in terms of player strength and resources.

[jeremyp]

Over 30 years since any team but Rangers or Celtic, won the Scottish title.  How immensely boring!

I predict that for the next 30, it'll be just Celtic.

[BashfulAnthony]

Over 30 years since any team but Rangers or Celtic, won the Scottish title.  How immensely boring!

I predict that for the next 30, it'll be just Celtic.

I occasionally look at bits of the Scottish Premiership, and it's lacking in any real attention-grabbing content.

[jakswan]

So your elite 5 are the teams that have more than €300 million in revenue?  Because I would say that Liverpool are a bit behind the elite 4 in terms of player strength and resources.

I think its a range of things but those figures add some objectivity to it. I would suggest it would be the teams that are able to spend big, attract and keep world class players, consistently finish in the top4.

[Hope]

I occasionally look at bits of the Scottish Premiership, and it's lacking in any real attention-grabbing content.

That would describe a lot of the English Premier League, as well, BA.  For real attention-grabbing content, you can't beat the Championship and Leagues 1 and 2.  Unfortunately, at the same time, you can't beat any of the English divisions for real attention-numbing content.

[ProfessorDavey]

its always nice when one of smaller sides beat the elite 5!

That depends on your point of view. 

Which is the fifth team in the "Big 5"?

The top 5 are in this:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deloitte_Football_Money_League#2013.E2.80.9314

Next year all 20 Premier League teams are likely to be in the top 30. With the 5 looking to sign galacticos the rest are able to take the next group, i.e. best of the rest in the world and will be more able to compete.

I'd love to see a season where a Southampton, West Ham, Stoke or Swansea break into the champions league places. Look at countries like Spain its a two horse race or Scotland where its not even a race.

Over 30 years since any team but Rangers or Celtic, won the Scottish title.  How immensely boring!

Indeed - for decades it has been a two horse race. And with Rangers demoted and working their way back for the past few seasons it has been a one horse race ... yawn!

[Rhiannon]

I do wonder about the thinking within Scottish football that led them to agree to Rangers getting all but thrown out, which resulted in a product that nobody wants to watch. So the rights go for peanuts, the sport becomes ever more impoverished, the quality nosedives, nobody watches it, the rights go for even less...

[Andy]

It's a shame because there was a time when they were real power houses, even in Europe. Heck, even Aberdeen had a spell. It seems that the continued success and domination in Scotland has also been the reason for it's downfall - a rather double edged sword.

[Rhiannon]

I remember watching Aberdeen in Europe on an old b&w portable.

What about the Scottish greats who played for Liverpool?

[Andy]

Hmm, that's another point, but when was the last time Scotland produced a really great player? Like you say with those who played for Liverpool, there used to be a constant stream of them.

Then again, perhaps you could say the same for England!

[ProfessorDavey]

Hmm, that's another point, but when was the last time Scotland produced a really great player? Like you say with those who played for Liverpool, there used to be a constant stream of them.

Then again, perhaps you could say the same for England!

That's right - once upon a time the best English teams tended to have a few Scots at their heart. That's long gone. I can't really think of the last time Scotland produced a genuinely world class player. Even Wales have done this with Giggs and more recently Bale. Can you really imagine Real Madrid or Barcelona paying tens of millions for any Scot over the past few decades.

[Rhiannon]

Who was the last English player in Bale's class? Gascoigne? Rooney and Gerrard aren't.

[Andy]

Who was the last English player in Bale's class? Gascoigne? Rooney and Gerrard aren't.

Scholes.

[ProfessorDavey]

Who was the last English player in Bale's class? Gascoigne? Rooney and Gerrard aren't.

Err Beckham. And I seem to remember that Real Madrid did pay top dollar for him, as indeed they did for Owen.

There have been plenty of English players who would comfortably have slotted into the first team in a top club in Spain, Italy, Germany etc on the basis of quality. That few have is due to a combination of being able to remain in England and earns fantastically here plus also the long standing reluctance of English players to consider playing abroad. And the latter is, in my opinion, at the heart of the lack of success of the English national team.

[Andy]

To be honest, I think Bale has a few years yet before he can be considered to be in the Beckham/Scholes/Gazza bracket. They're more a benchmark for him than the other way around.

[ProfessorDavey]

To be honest, I think Bale has a few years yet before he can be considered to be in the Beckham/Scholes/Gazza bracket. They're more a benchmark for him than the other way around.

Wouldn't disagree although he is currently holds the record for the highest transfer fee in world football, something none of those other achieved.

[ProfessorDavey]

Trivia question.

There is currently just one Scot in the squads of the top seven teams from the 2014/15 premier league season. Anyone like to name him?

And by the way once you get it, you may well go ... who?!?

And a couple of other trivia points. He wasn't born in Scotland, has been on this clubs books for nearly 10 years and his number of appearances is ... umm ... zero.

[Andy]

To be honest, I think Bale has a few years yet before he can be considered to be in the Beckham/Scholes/Gazza bracket. They're more a benchmark for him than the other way around.

Wouldn't disagree although he is currently holds the record for the highest transfer fee in world football, something none of those other achieved.

True, but I think it says more about Madrid than the quality of the player. They seem to be the team that breaks the transfer record. They did it with Ronaldo, Zidane and I think Figo, but Bale isn't fit to lace their boots. There's no saying the potential isn't there, but I think that's more why they bought him.

[ProfessorDavey]

To be honest, I think Bale has a few years yet before he can be considered to be in the Beckham/Scholes/Gazza bracket. They're more a benchmark for him than the other way around.

Wouldn't disagree although he is currently holds the record for the highest transfer fee in world football, something none of those other achieved.

True, but I think it says more about Madrid than the quality of the player. They seem to be the team that breaks the transfer record. They did it with Ronaldo, Zidane and I think Figo, but Bale isn't fit to lace their boots. There's no saying the potential isn't there, but I think that's more why they bought him.

Again I don't disagree. But that doesn't mean that Bale isn't world class - I think he is - he perhaps isn't (yet) in that stratospheric company, and may well never make it. He may just end up as an average, hum-drum, world class player.

[Andy]

To be honest, I think Bale has a few years yet before he can be considered to be in the Beckham/Scholes/Gazza bracket. They're more a benchmark for him than the other way around.

Wouldn't disagree although he is currently holds the record for the highest transfer fee in world football, something none of those other achieved.

True, but I think it says more about Madrid than the quality of the player. They seem to be the team that breaks the transfer record. They did it with Ronaldo, Zidane and I think Figo, but Bale isn't fit to lace their boots. There's no saying the potential isn't there, but I think that's more why they bought him.

Again I don't disagree. But that doesn't mean that Bale isn't world class - I think he is - he perhaps isn't (yet) in that stratospheric company, and may well never make it. He may just end up as an average, hum-drum, world class player.

Yes, we're on the same page here.

[Andy]

Trivia question.

There is currently just one Scot in the squads of the top seven teams from the 2014/15 premier league season. Anyone like to name him?

And by the way once you get it, you may well go ... who?!?

And a couple of other trivia points. He wasn't born in Scotland, has been on this clubs books for nearly 10 years and his number of appearances is ... umm ... zero.

Jordan Archer?

[jakswan]

To be honest, I think Bale has a few years yet before he can be considered to be in the Beckham/Scholes/Gazza bracket. They're more a benchmark for him than the other way around.

I'd rate Bale over all of those apart from Gazza. There are mega stars Maradona, Pele, Ronaldo, Messi, Best, then another class of footballer that Beckham / Scholes belong, current generation Aguero, Suarez, Silva, Bale etc.

I think you add Bale to Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal or Man Utd and that team wins the League.

Gazza was somewhere in the middle.