GRcade

KK wrote:Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer's salaries really do now look awful, don't they.

You could replace both with Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan, Alex Scott, Jason Mohammad, Dan Walker and countless others - including new faces - and it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to Match of the Day or accompanying programming, because nobody is tuning in for the person reading the autocue or the pundtry (as long as it's not complete arse). Content is king.

Andy Gray and Richard Keys were football on Sky Sports. Until they weren't. Adrian Chiles was MOTD2, The One Show and ITV football. Until he wasn't.

If they don't want to accept £300,000, strawberry float 'em. These people are so replaceable it's not even funny. If BT want to piss a load of customer's money up the wall on Michael Owen and Robby Savage then that's up to them.

KK wrote:Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer's salaries really do now look awful, don't they.

You could replace both with Mark Chapman, Gabby Logan, Alex Scott, Jason Mohammad, Dan Walker and countless others - including new faces - and it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to Match of the Day or accompanying programming, because nobody is tuning in for the person reading the autocue or the pundtry (as long as it's not complete arse). Content is king.

Andy Gray and Richard Keys were football on Sky Sports. Until they weren't. Adrian Chiles was MOTD2, The One Show and ITV football. Until he wasn't.

If they don't want to accept £300,000, strawberry float 'em. These people are so replaceable it's not even funny. If BT want to piss a load of customer's money up the wall on Michael Owen and Robby Savage then that's up to them.

Tomous wrote:Shearer isn't even a good pundit. He states the obvious and has zero personality.

Poncho wrote:

Lotus wrote:Watched a bit of the match last night. Penalty was laughably poor, and whoever was at LB was awful.
Hopefully the constant talk of "the lionesses" will die down now.

Hopefully this tournament generates even more discussion and coverage for women's football. And if it annoys a bunch of men who think the goals are too big or something, well then that's a bonus.

Tomous wrote:Shearer isn't even a good pundit. He states the obvious and has zero personality.

Cuttooth wrote:

Poncho wrote:

Lotus wrote:Watched a bit of the match last night. Penalty was laughably poor, and whoever was at LB was awful.
Hopefully the constant talk of "the lionesses" will die down now.

Hopefully this tournament generates even more discussion and coverage for women's football. And if it annoys a bunch of men who think the goals are too big or something, well then that's a bonus.

I'm worried it won't until someone like Sky, BT, or ideally BBC take a real punt on upping coverage of matches. A WMOTD might help.

Spindash wrote:

Cuttooth wrote:

Poncho wrote:

Lotus wrote:Watched a bit of the match last night. Penalty was laughably poor, and whoever was at LB was awful.
Hopefully the constant talk of "the lionesses" will die down now.

Hopefully this tournament generates even more discussion and coverage for women's football. And if it annoys a bunch of men who think the goals are too big or something, well then that's a bonus.

I'm worried it won't until someone like Sky, BT, or ideally BBC take a real punt on upping coverage of matches. A WMOTD might help.

It needs to stay on the BBC if it's going to go anywhere. Unless you're the Premier League or the Championship, you might as well not exist in the national consciousness if you're on pay TV. Even the cricket World Cup has gone by almost unnoticed outside the core fans and it's in England.

Domestically, I don't foresee a long-term increase in attendances. There was a spike after the last World Cup but it tailed off. Clubs target families but the FA alienated them by switching to a winter season which also creates constant clashes with men's teams, most teams play in non-league grounds miles out of the way, and clubs can go weeks without a home game thanks to nonsensical scheduling.

Saying that, Euro 2021 is in England so if the FA can't capitalise on that...

Cuttooth wrote:

PaperMacheMario wrote:

Cuttooth wrote:

PaperMacheMario wrote:VAR is just causing more problems than it’s solving. Both the offside and the pen were such pedantic decisions that wouldn’t be given without VAR, and it just takes too long to sort out. Would be so gooseberry fool being in the crowd while it’s all going on.

The offside could and probably would have absolutely been given without VAR, assistant refs have to make an educated guess on that kind of thing and generally they get it right. VAR is ruining the game only in the sense that it makes everyone realise the laws of football aren't that great and highlights the inconsistency of refereeing decisions.

Yeah, I’d agree that it probably would have been given without VAR - I guess I just mean that the whole reason it came in was for ‘clear and obvious errors’, and that’s not actually what it’s being used for at all. Assistant referees are advised to not put their flags up to let play continue so that it can be brought back, but when you then have to review the goal it’s impossible to know if the assistant referee would have flagged or not. And that would be irrelevant now, as it’s now in the hands of the ref and VAR team looking at the footage. If the assistant ref would not have given that offside, then should the goal have stood? On the other side of the coin, if the assistant ref does flag after it goes in but the player is shown to be marginally on then does the original decision stand as it wasn’t a ‘clear and obvious error’?

It’s also ruining the game in taking the ecstasy and emotion out of scoring/conceding, both for the fans and the players. Run it on an appeal system like in tennis or have it in complete control over the whole game. The halfway house way that it’s currently acting as just isn’t the solution.

I don't understand why everyone omits "serious missed incidents" whenever they talk about VAR's purpose. It is only ever used for goals, penalties, red cards, and mistaken identity and realistically needs to be used during each instance of those otherwise you're using another level of subjectivity to 'correct' the ref's original subjective decision.

I can't see how VAR being used beyond those four things would be better overall if the flow of the game is already a concern, or what a team based quota achieves. In practice you'd either need a set amount to be used each match no matter what, like substitutions, which means you can't question the X+1 the game changing decision, or something like tennis where you only lose your challenge if you're 'wrong'. So you'd probably only use it on goals, penalties, and red cards.

Poncho wrote:

Lotus wrote:Watched a bit of the match last night. Penalty was laughably poor, and whoever was at LB was awful.
Hopefully the constant talk of "the lionesses" will die down now.

Hopefully this tournament generates even more discussion and coverage for women's football. And if it annoys a bunch of men who think the goals are too big or something, well then that's a bonus.

twitter.com/glazersout1999/status/1146496347681513472

twitter.com/tancredipalmeri/status/1146530545846947840

Monkey Man wrote:

twitter.com/tancredipalmeri/status/1146530545846947840

Chelsea have appointed former midfielder Frank Lampard as their manager on a three-year deal.

Lampard, 41, has left Championship side Derby County to take over at a club where he spent 13 years as a player.

He succeeds Maurizio Sarri, who left Stamford Bridge in June to take charge of Italian champions Juventus.

Lampard led Derby to the Championship play-off final, where they lost to Aston Villa, in his first season as a manager.

The former England international made 648 Chelsea appearances, winning 11 major trophies with them.

He takes over with Chelsea under a transfer embargo after the club were given a two-window transfer ban by world governing body Fifa - a decision they are appealing against at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"I am immensely proud to be returning to Chelsea as head coach," said Lampard.

"Everyone knows my love for this club and the history we have shared. However, my sole focus is on the job in hand and preparing for the season ahead.

"I am here to work hard, bring further success to the club and I cannot wait to get started."