The Football Thread 2018-19 - This is the end.

[Curls]

He's the best, Gareth Wales

[DML]

So, who fancies signing a £600k-a-week injury prone Welsh golfer that sometimes plays for Real Madrid?

I mean hes won more Champions Leagues than Man United...

[Denster]

Wonder if they fancy a swap deal for Sanchez.

[Lex-Man]

If he doesn't mind a pay cu, I'd be happy for him to sign for Wimbledon.

[Mini E]

Sky Sports Italia reporting that Sarri is leaving and the job will be offered to Lampard I love off-season rumours (even though Lampard isn't even off-season yet).

Edit: Sarri isn't actually off-season yet either

[Preezy]

Madness that they'd bin off Sarri having got top 4 and reaching a European cup final. But then this is Chelsea, the strangest club in the entire league, so it's not a surprise in the slightest.

Lampard should reject the offer and develop for a few more years at least, the Chelsea job would eat him alive, he knows what it's like there and how easy it is for players to force a manager out, he's done it himself enough times!

[BOR]

Daniel James has agreed on personal terms with United.

[Oblomov Boblomov]

At least now I've got an excuse in the bag if we lose the playoff final .

[Oblomov Boblomov]

For strawberry float's sake. Derby Telegraph reporting it as 'already decided', which I'm hoping is just irresponsible journalism.

If this happens I think I will cry a little bit. He's clearly got a lot to learn, but seems to be doing so very quickly (see the difference between the first and second legs of the semi-final for an indication of this) and the increased player-pulling power he brings to the club is invaluable. The additional media exposure doesn't seem to be hurting things, either.

[BTB]

Daniel James has agreed on personal terms with United.

Losing our manager and our hottest prospect in the space of two days

[Moggy]

Arsenal are to meet Uefa after midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan opted against playing in the Europa League final in Baku over of security fears.

Gunners managing director Vinai Venkatesham says the situation is "unacceptable".

The Armenian's safety was a concern because of the dispute between his country and Azerbaijan, the host nation of next week's final with Chelsea.




"I struggle to find words for how strongly I feel," said Venkatesham.

"We don't feel he can travel and it's extraordinarily sad. You don't get a chance to play in major European finals often and Miki has had it taken away from him.

Venkatesham, speaking at a Financial Times summit, added: "We made our point clearly to Uefa - we have written to them. We will also sit down with them face to face after the final and express how it is unacceptable and how it can never happen again to Arsenal or anyone."

Following the 30-year-old's decision to pull out, Elkhan Mammadov, the general secretary of the Azerbaijan FA (AFFA), told BBC World Service Sport he believes "politics stays away from sport".

"We always protect the integrity of the sport," said Mammadov. "We are confident that nothing would happen here in terms of security and safety.

"On behalf of the government and local organising committee we gave all the guarantees to Uefa and the club, but I think this was a personal decision of the player together with his family.

"That was of course a security and safety guarantee."

Arsenal, who finished fifth in the Premier League, will qualify for next season's Champions League if they beat Chelsea.

It would be their first European trophy since they won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1994.

Arsenal manager Unai Emery said: "Mkhitaryan wants to play with the team, but he spoke with his family and decided not to go.

"It's a very, very personal decision and we need to respect him. I don't understand the political problems but I must respect his decision."


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/48366514

Absolutely disgusting.

I don't have any problems with a country like Azerbaijan getting the final of a tournament, the distance from the UK/Germany/Spain is irrelevant if you are sharing the finals around UEFA members. But if players from certain countries are unable to travel to places like Azerbaijan, then Azerbaijan should not be hosting.

And the same goes for Qatar in a few years time if they cannot guarantee the safety of gay supporters.

[Preezy]

The honourable thing would be for Chelsea and Arsenal to both boycott the final. I'm sure Chelsea would be supportive of that if, say, Eden Hazard happened to be Armenian. The pressure from the competition sponsors would be immense and UEFA would cave and move it somewhere else.

[Peter Crisp]

So, who fancies signing a £600k-a-week injury prone Welsh golfer that sometimes plays for Real Madrid?

Luton Town could use him if it's a free transfer and we can somehow manage to make a wage change to 600p a week go without notice. It is only a minor change .

[DML]

So, who fancies signing a £600k-a-week injury prone Welsh golfer that sometimes plays for Real Madrid?

Luton Town could use him if it's a free transfer and we can somehow manage to make a wage change to 600p a week go without notice. It is only a minor change .

Luton could probably afford 600k a week atm! They are spending loadsamoney!

[Rex Kramer]

For strawberry float's sake. Derby Telegraph reporting it as 'already decided', which I'm hoping is just irresponsible journalism.

If this happens I think I will cry a little bit. He's clearly got a lot to learn, but seems to be doing so very quickly (see the difference between the first and second legs of the semi-final for an indication of this) and the increased player-pulling power he brings to the club is invaluable. The additional media exposure doesn't seem to be hurting things, either.

On the plus side, you can at least go back to being called Derby County and not Frank Lampard's Derby.

[Moggy]

For strawberry float's sake. Derby Telegraph reporting it as 'already decided', which I'm hoping is just irresponsible journalism.

If this happens I think I will cry a little bit. He's clearly got a lot to learn, but seems to be doing so very quickly (see the difference between the first and second legs of the semi-final for an indication of this) and the increased player-pulling power he brings to the club is invaluable. The additional media exposure doesn't seem to be hurting things, either.

On the plus side, you can at least go back to being called Derby County and not Frank Lampard's Derby.

On the negative side they will then be known as Joe Cole’s Derby.

[Peter Crisp]

So, who fancies signing a £600k-a-week injury prone Welsh golfer that sometimes plays for Real Madrid?

Luton Town could use him if it's a free transfer and we can somehow manage to make a wage change to 600p a week go without notice. It is only a minor change .

Luton could probably afford 600k a week atm! They are spending loadsamoney!

Most of that is going on our fancy new stadium .
We've needed a new stadium for my entire life and it's finally happening.



https://www.stadiumguide.com/new-luton-town-stadium/

Even if we can afford him I'd say we should still try and get him to sign for £6 a week just for fun.

[Jenuall]

So, who fancies signing a £600k-a-week injury prone Welsh golfer that sometimes plays for Real Madrid?

Luton Town could use him if it's a free transfer and we can somehow manage to make a wage change to 600p a week go without notice. It is only a minor change .

Luton could probably afford 600k a week atm! They are spending loadsamoney!

Most of that is going on our fancy new stadium .
We've needed a new stadium for my entire life and it's finally happening.



https://www.stadiumguide.com/new-luton-town-stadium/

Even if we can afford him I'd say we should still try and get him to sign for £6 a week just for fun.

Why is there a big hole in it?

[Albert]

So you can gaze at the beauty of Luton

[Peter Crisp]

So you can gaze at the beauty of Luton

It's the new Dubai don't you know

The reason is we simply don't need a bigger stadium as with the best will in the world we aren't a global powerhouse club so 17,500 seats is enough.
The other reason is it's an award winning design.

http://fcbusiness.co.uk/news/luton-town ... jor-award/

Not bad for a club that was in League 1 .

Look at Luton and weep with envy
https://thinkluton.co.uk/key-developments/