Come Play!

[MBBS]

Manchester until I was 12, then a couple of years in London

 What kind of accent do you have?

Lol it's mostly a Manc one, albeit not very strong. I guess it's been a little affected London and Ausralia, but not as much as you'd expect.

How're you enjoying the snow back home then?

   Mine is normally standard home counties, but if I try to loosen my vowels, it comes out as an odd hybrid of English and Australian, or so people tell me.

 Snow is off and on atm, there was a nice cover of it last night though, reflected by the streetlights. And there's always the risk of only a few snowflakes stultifying the public transport systems.

 Where do your tribal footballing allegiances lie then?

    only hours (if that) to Judgement Day for 2018...

Domestically I support Man United (gotta be the only one on VN who's not a glory supporter), internationally England (and Israel)

I take a lot of offence to this, my grandfather has supported United from 1958 onwards. I was born being the only one in my family with of football. My grandfather therefore had a profound effect on my decision on who to support. I've supported United from birth and I don't know that your passion for United is as strong as mine.

[stonecold]

But hey, it wouldn't be the first time they screwed us (think back to 06 WC dive penalty)

That was a legit penalty *folds arms*

LOL.  Don't get me started.  They (FIFA or the ref, cannot remember) even apologied for it afterwards.

I have Italian heritage and I cannot stand their football team anymore.

[MBBS]

^^
How can you say that man? I personally think Italy is one of the best teams to watch if you can get over their diving and general cunning antics. They defend so well, attack like clockwork. It's beautiful to watch.

[stonecold]

^^
How can you say that man? I personally think Italy is one of the best teams to watch if you can get over their diving and general cunning antics. They defend so well, attack like clockwork. It's beautiful to watch.

It is no different to cheating in VCE, which everyone on here is strongly against.

It pisses me off in AFL too.  Players diving for free kicks.  Absolute joke.

The diving and players rolling around on the floor like idiots is one of the biggest turnoffs in world football for me.

[MBBS]

I don't know, I get over it. I follow the English game and diving is not so common over there. Yeh it can get annoying, but I think the Italian national representation - their diving = one of the best teams to watch in the world.

[stonecold]

I don't know, I get over it. I follow the English game and diving is not so common over there. Yeh it can get annoying, but I think the Italian national representation - their diving = one of the best teams to watch in the world.

Oh yeah, they are good.  I just find it hard to swallow.  I agree on the EPL.  That stuff is amazing.  I'd love to watch it more often, but it's always on so late.  (and my team liverpool, well....  )

[eeps]

La Liga is also decent, though Barca and Real Madrid are always miles ahead. In the EPL, it's more open and interesting - you have 4 or 5 teams that can challenge for the top while with Spanish Football, FCB and Real are nearly always either first or second.

By the way, I go for Chelsea. - who themselves are in a bit of a slump.

[MBBS]

yeh, I'm a huge Man United fan, but I don't get time during VCE etc, it just stuffs my sleeping pattern too much. La Liga is beautiful to watch, yet the dominance is boring and repetitive. Bundesliga is good for some entertainment if your a hardcore football fan.

[Yitzi_K]

La Liga = total shite. It's a complete non competition. Last year, the 4th placed team was closer to being relegated than it was to winning the league. Barca and Madrid are just so far ahead of the competition, it's ridiculous. No other Spanish teams do well in Europe these days, because no other Spanish team is any good.

Watching La Liga football, other than Barca and Real, is painful.

[MBBS]

Yitzi, the games are good to watch when they are competitive (Madrid or Barca away) yet the actual competition itself is dire. Can you say the Premier League from 1993-2000 was really any different? United winning 6 titles, 1 point in 94-95 (Bloody Hammers) and 1 point in 97-98 would have seen us champions 8 years in a row.

[eeps]

La Liga = total shite. It's a complete non competition. Last year, the 4th placed team was closer to being relegated than it was to winning the league. Barca and Madrid are just so far ahead of the competition, it's ridiculous. No other Spanish teams do well in Europe these days, because no other Spanish team is any good.

Watching La Liga football, other than Barca and Real, is painful.

I agree with that entirely. It's more evenly spread in the EPL, you have smaller teams that can beat the so-called "bigger" teams (i.e. MU, Chelsea, Arsenal etc). In La Liga, that's less likely to occur. Also with La Liga, I think FCB and Real Madrid hold/have the majority of TV rights - gaining revenue from broadcasting etc, whereas in the EPL - all clubs are given a fair share of the revenue earned.

[MBBS]

La Liga = total shite. It's a complete non competition. Last year, the 4th placed team was closer to being relegated than it was to winning the league. Barca and Madrid are just so far ahead of the competition, it's ridiculous. No other Spanish teams do well in Europe these days, because no other Spanish team is any good.

Watching La Liga football, other than Barca and Real, is painful.

I agree with that entirely. It's more evenly spread in the EPL, you have smaller teams that can beat the so-called "bigger" teams (i.e. MU, Chelsea, Arsenal etc). In La Liga, that's less likely to occur. Also with La Liga, I think FCB and Real Madrid hold/have the majority of TV rights - gaining revenue from broadcasting etc, whereas in the EPL - all clubs are given a fair share of the revenue earned.


Not true, the Premiership has a sliding scale system, higher you finish, more money you make from TV and that kinda stuff. I saw David Gill talking about this in an interview.

[Yitzi_K]

93-2000 was 10 years ago. Right now, the EPL has never been more competitive, as shown by the number of points dropped by the top teams. In addition, I find that the lower teams in the EPL, the likes of Villa, Bolton, Blackburn etc play far more exciting and attractive football than the lower teams in La Liga, whose football tends to be incredibly slow and unimaginative.

[Yitzi_K]

La Liga = total shite. It's a complete non competition. Last year, the 4th placed team was closer to being relegated than it was to winning the league. Barca and Madrid are just so far ahead of the competition, it's ridiculous. No other Spanish teams do well in Europe these days, because no other Spanish team is any good.

Watching La Liga football, other than Barca and Real, is painful.

I agree with that entirely. It's more evenly spread in the EPL, you have smaller teams that can beat the so-called "bigger" teams (i.e. MU, Chelsea, Arsenal etc). In La Liga, that's less likely to occur. Also with La Liga, I think FCB and Real Madrid hold/have the majority of TV rights - gaining revenue from broadcasting etc, whereas in the EPL - all clubs are given a fair share of the revenue earned.

Not true, the Premiership has a sliding scale system, higher you finish, more money you make from TV and that kinda stuff. I saw David Gill talking about this in an interview.

It's still far more even than in La Liga or in Serie A. United could make far far more than they do if the TV rights were sold indivdually.

[MBBS]

Yes, La Liga's teams do sell their TV rights individually, that is a huge huge difference finance-wise.