Football

adrock1976 · 13 May 2021

Being as the final is between a North West side and a London side, Villa Park (Birmingham), City Ground (Nottingham), or Coventry Arena could have been used.

Or is that a too sensible plan?

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roversfan2001 · 13 May 2021

adrock1976 said:
Being as the final is between a North West side and a London side, Villa Park (Birmingham), City Ground (Nottingham), or Coventry Arena could have been used.

Or is that a too sensible plan?

On the basis that there's 12,000 fans attending, and the rules are that a ground can only be 25% full, all three are too small as they don't hold 48,000 (the latter two are nowhere near).

JamesT · 13 May 2021

Mcr Warrior said:
Have UEFA swerved holding the final in the UK because many of their entourage are from "red zone" countries, and so wouldn't have been permitted to attend without quarantining?

That's what the BBC article on the switch of venue suggests - Champions League final moved to Porto and 12,000 Chelsea and Manchester City fans can attend - BBC Sport

Uefa, UK government officials and the Football Association met to talk about Wembley hosting the game but no agreement could be reached on quarantine exemptions for sponsors, VIPs and broadcasters.

Bald Rick · 13 May 2021

adrock1976 said:
Being as the final is between a North West side and a London side, Villa Park (Birmingham), City Ground (Nottingham), or Coventry Arena could have been used.

Or is that a too sensible plan?

The City Ground??? That’s not even the best ground in the East Midlands!

Xenophon PCDGS · 13 May 2021

Typhoon said:
As many as you like, it fact it depends on every team is matched with another which resulted in teams miles from each other being matched (for instance, in the current situation, Newcastle might be matched with Burnley, like it or not). In an extension to cover the Premier League, 1 and 11 are never at home at the same time, nor 2 and 12, 3 and 13, 4 and 14, right through to 10 and 20. This goes back to the '50s when ALL matches were on a Saturday with a 3 o'clock kick off and it was the officials of the Football League (with the likes of the aptly named Alan Hardaker) that decided what's what, not the clubs. If I look at your examples, what it can't cope with is Wolves, West Brom and Villa; now, of course, thanks to TV, Wolves might be playing at home at 8pm on a Thursday, Villa at 5.30pm on a Saturday and Albion 7.45pm on a Tuesday. It needs a computer for all of that.

There are seasons when promoted teams make for better geographical area scenarios. When Blackpool were in the Premier League, theirs would have been the team to pair with Burnley.

roversfan2001 · 13 May 2021

Xenophon PCDGS said:
There are seasons when promoted teams make for better geographical area scenarios. When Blackpool were in the Premier League, theirs would have been the team to pair with Burnley.

Blackburn were in the Premier League that season (and Burnley weren't, having been relegated the year before

). We were definitely paired with Burnley back then as the police couldn't handle both our 25,000 crowds and whatever Burnley got at that time.

Mcr Warrior · 13 May 2021

A system for arranging football (and also cricket) fixtures and avoiding clashes with a local rival team (which might hit gate receipts) has been around since as long ago as 1898, devised by a William Fletcher from Birmingham, who earned a few guineas each season for his troubles.

Previous to that, fixture scheduling was a tad uncoordinated, Football League club secretaries would have an annual fixtures meeting at a hotel in say London to sort out dates, with everyone obviously clamouring to host or visit the most "financially attractive" opposition on a Saturday afternoon towards the start of the new campaign in order to maximise potential gate takings, which were part shared at the time.

Bald Rick · 13 May 2021

roversfan2001 said:
Blackburn were in the Premier League that season (and Burnley weren't, having been relegated the year before ). We were definitely paired with Burnley back then as the police couldn't handle both our 25,000 crowds and whatever Burnley got at that time.

Indeed - aren’t Blackpool paired with Preston?

roversfan2001 · 13 May 2021

Bald Rick said:
Indeed - aren’t Blackpool paired with Preston?

I think it’s arranged in such a way that when we’re at home, Preston and Burnley are away (and therefore Blackpool are at home too) and vice versa.

Xenophon PCDGS · 13 May 2021

Manchester United look like finishing the season as they started it, with successive home defeats.

HST274 · 13 May 2021

Xenophon PCDGS said:
Manchester United look like finishing the season as they started it, with successive home defeats.

Looks like they might be in the 'top 4 is guaranteed so don't care' zone or maybe they just gone bad again.

Xenophon PCDGS · 13 May 2021

Robert Pow said:
Looks like they might be in the 'top 4 is guaranteed so don't care' zone or maybe they just gone bad again.

Is it not the case that the team finishing fourth in the Premier League have to play early qualifying Champions League fixtures, whereas those in the top three go straight through to the group match stages. If I am out of date with my thinking, would someone let me know, please.

Is the goalkeeper challenging for the number one spot of a high enough calibre?

JamesT · 13 May 2021

Xenophon PCDGS said:
Is it not the case that the team finishing fourth in the Premier League have to play early qualifying Champions League fixtures, whereas those in the top three go straight through to the group match stages. If I am out of date with my thinking, would someone let me know, please.

Is the goalkeeper challenging for the number one spot of a high enough calibre?

The top 4 leagues (Spain, England, Germany, Italy) have all four of their Champions League qualifiers go straight to the group stage. Not sure if all 5 would if that situation to occur. (Chelsea win the Champions League final but end up 5th)

Henderson had a poor game, but his level since he’s had a run in the first has been generally good enough to say he should be the first choice. De Gea is not the same player he used to be so it does seem to be time for a change. Though United do have form in struggling to replace a long-standing good goalkeeper.

Cowley · 14 May 2021

JamesT said:
The top 4 leagues (Spain, England, Germany, Italy) have all four of their Champions League qualifiers go straight to the group stage. Not sure if all 5 would if that situation to occur. (Chelsea win the Champions League final but end up 5th)

Henderson had a poor game, but his level since he’s had a run in the first has been generally good enough to say he should be the first choice. De Gea is not the same player he used to be so it does seem to be time for a change. Though United do have form in struggling to replace a long-standing good goalkeeper.

I think if Chelsea finish 5th but win the CL they’ll be in it to defend their title (from what I remember Liverpool were in the same situation after they won it in 2005 but finished outside the top four).
The top 4 will still be in the CL even if that happens but I think only 1st and 2nd automatically go straight into group stage?

Darandio · 14 May 2021

Cowley said:
I think if Chelsea finish 5th but win the CL they’ll be in it to defend their title (from what I remember Liverpool were in the same situation after they won it in 2005 but finished outside the top four).

Liverpool finished 5th that year and there was no automatic right to defend it as a winner at that point, they didn't actually expect a winning club not to finish out of their qualifying positions in the league. That was the year they changed it but Liverpool had to start in one of the earliest qualifying rounds.

Cowley said:
The top 4 will still be in the CL even if that happens but I think only 1st and 2nd automatically go straight into group stage?

Top four go straight into the group stage these days due to our coefficient.

roversfan2001 · 14 May 2021

Cowley said:
I think if Chelsea finish 5th but win the CL they’ll be in it to defend their title (from what I remember Liverpool were in the same situation after they won it in 2005 but finished outside the top four).
The top 4 will still be in the CL even if that happens but I think only 1st and 2nd automatically go straight into group stage?

A country is allowed a maximum of 5 entrants into the CL a season, so if Chelsea win the CL but finish outside the top 4 then it just means we have an extra entrant into the group stage, I don't think 3rd or 4th drop down a spot into the qualifying rounds.

This has changed since 2012, when Spurs finished 4th but entered the Europa League group stage as Chelsea won the Champions League but finished 6th. They amended the rule after the 2005 debacle by removing the choice from the national FA of the country of who to enter into the CL and automatically displacing the 4th placed team.

Cowley · 14 May 2021

Thanks both. From what I remember of the 2005 season it was Everton that finished 4th and the year after that potentially the same thing could have happened again except with Tottenham and Arsenal. In the end Arsenal lost the CL final and also grabbed 4th place so it was irrelevant.
Interesting that both of those years it was teams that had major rivalries with each other that were potentially going to cause their rivals to miss out on a Champions League place.

Xenophon PCDGS · 14 May 2021

KashmireHawker said:
UEFA have switched the Champions League Final to Porto:

UEFA Champions League final to move to Portugal to allow 6,000 fans of each team to attend | Inside UEFA

Porto chosen to replace Istanbul following insurmountable travel difficulties for English fans as a result of Turkey being placed on UK’s ‘red list’.

www.uefa.com

This is not the only sport event that Turkey have lost this year....they have also lost the Formula 1 race that they were scheduled to hold.

Rob F · 14 May 2021

Bald Rick said:
The City Ground??? That’s not even the best ground in the East Midlands!

It most certainly is.

Kite159 · 14 May 2021

JamesT said:
The top 4 leagues (Spain, England, Germany, Italy) have all four of their Champions League qualifiers go straight to the group stage. Not sure if all 5 would if that situation to occur. (Chelsea win the Champions League final but end up 5th)

Henderson had a poor game, but his level since he’s had a run in the first has been generally good enough to say he should be the first choice. De Gea is not the same player he used to be so it does seem to be time for a change. Though United do have form in struggling to replace a long-standing good goalkeeper.

If it's the same as happened in Spain when a Spanish club won the Europa League and finished 5th, they went straight into the group stage along with the top 4 teams.

If Chelsea win it this year but finish 5 it will push one of the other teams into the qualification rounds.

Xenophon PCDGS · 14 May 2021

At this stage of the season in the Premier League, you do not find that many of the top three clubs lose a home match by an unusual score, but note the following where it has recently happened twice:-

Leicester City 2 ... Newcastle United 4

Manchester United 2 ... Liverpool 4.

Kite159 said:
If it's the same as happened in Spain when a Spanish club won the Europa League and finished 5th, they went straight into the group stage along with the top 4 teams.

If Chelsea win it this year but finish 5 it will push one of the other teams into the qualification rounds.

It would just be like Chelsea to win it and finish in the top four.

swt_passenger · 14 May 2021

Xenophon PCDGS said:
At this stage of the season in the Premier League, you do not find that many of the top three clubs lose a home match by an unusual score, but note the following where it has recently happened twice:-

Leicester City 2 ... Newcastle United 4

Manchester United 2 ... Liverpool 4.

As a Newcastle fan I‘m not exactly expecting lightning to strike for a second time tonight though… although maybe we’ll win the second half 2-0…

Cletus · 14 May 2021

The National League play off final is to be played at Bristol City's Ashton Gate. I wonder if those running the National League will ever make a good decision about anything. :rolleyes:

SteveM70 · 14 May 2021

Cletus said:
The National League play off final is to be played at Bristol City's Ashton Gate. I wonder if those running the National League will ever make a good decision about anything.

Why not Swansea? That would have been even more inconvenient for everyone

Xenophon PCDGS · 14 May 2021

swt_passenger said:
As a Newcastle fan I‘m not exactly expecting lightning to strike for a second time tonight though… although maybe we’ll win the second half 2-0…

Ended as a seven-goal thriller......

Newcastle United 3 ... Manchester City 4.

swt_passenger · 14 May 2021

Xenophon PCDGS said:
Ended as a seven-goal thriller......

Newcastle United 3 ... Manchester City 4.

Yes, a typical sort of Keegan result…

Xenophon PCDGS · 14 May 2021

Cletus said:
The National League play off final is to be played at Bristol City's Ashton Gate. I wonder if those running the National League will ever make a good decision about anything.

Remember those in-between years when the old Wembley stadium was being replaced by its new self .... where was the FA Cup Final staged?

Answers on a postcard addressed to Mrs Trellis, North Wales....

Cowley · 14 May 2021

Xenophon PCDGS said:
Remember those in-between years when the old Wembley stadium was being replaced by its new self .... where was the FA Cup Final staged?

Answers on a postcard addressed to Mrs Trellis, North Wales....

It was usually in South Wales (you’d think she’d know that?)

Xenophon PCDGS · 14 May 2021

Cowley said:
It was usually in South Wales (you’d think she’d know that?)

Correct....they had a choice of two venues with closing roofs and decided the pitch size on Centre Court was a tad too small...

Cowley · 14 May 2021

Xenophon PCDGS said:
Correct....they had a choice of two venues with closing roofs and decided the pitch size on Centre Court was a tad too small...

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