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The FOOTBALL Thread (2008-2009)


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I'm back from 3 weeks in London and I just want to say COME ON YOU REDS!!! I'll have to move back to London if this is the effect it has on the lads!

 

Man Utd have a few tough games coming up including the derby, fingers crossed it might yet happen. The next game will show how they are going to respond... a 0-0 draw or something and I think us and Chelsea will be in with a shout.

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Football fans are set to benefit from the recession as clubs slash season ticket prices to keep supporters coming back.

Price cuts have been announced at five English Premier League clubs. Manchester City, Sunderland, Everton, Portsmouth and Newcastle United have cut prices, while five further clubs announced price freezes on their season tickets.

Bolton dropped their season ticket prices last season.

Manchester City have taken an average of seven percent off their prices, while at Everton the cheapest adult season ticket will now be £399 ($550). At Sunderland under-16 season passes will be just £1($1.39) per home match for the 19 matches (£19 [$26] total) when purchased with an adult pass.

The move comes amid a slight decline in Premiership football crowds this season. The average attendance at Premier League matches is down about 800 per match compared to the 2007/2008 season -- however, on average the stadiums are still at almost 92 percent capacity.



What's the price of a ManU season pass? Probably can't get hold of one anymore.
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Judging from tv pictures, some of the unoccupied 8% is behind both goals at Middlesborough.

 

In the crazy world we live in, all those fixtures are actually copyrighted. You're only allowed a few as fair use. A licence to list them costs a fortune. More than a ManUre season ticket even!

 

New master plan for Liverpool - hoof it up the middle in the general direction of Torres!

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Football fans in the UK are ushering in a potential new age of football ownership after plotting a takeover bid for English Premier League Liverpool FC.

The ShareLiverpoolFC organization is a collective of fans looking to raise enough money to make a serious takeover bid at the club.

They are seeking 100,000 people to invest $7,000 to raise $700m that will allow them to take over from the current owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

The group plan to have their own fan parliament, fan board and an employed board in charge of the club.

But can absolute fan ownership be considered a serious contender to the existing business model?

In the case of Liverpool, the group appears to be making progress -- after releasing an 'open letter' to the owners inviting them to discuss the purchase of Liverpool FC.

Do you own shares in a football club? Would you want to own and run your team?

Gillett and Hicks completed a $490 million refinancing deal with UK and American banks in January -- saddling the club with annual interest repayments of $42 million, part of the reason why fans are so keen to take over the running of their beloved club.

Across Europe the practice of fans owning is fairly common, particularly in Spain where Barcelona is a supporter-owned club run by around 150,000 of its fans. Real Madrid -- the most successful team in Spanish football -- and Atletico Barcelona also belong to members called "socios."

In the UK, the move of football fans toward club ownership has been propelled by the threat of overseas owners taking charge and making decisions not favored by the local fans.

Football governance expert and management lecturer at the Birkbeck University of London, Dr Geoff Walters, said the reason fans often get involved is to make sure clubs are being "run as effectively and sustainably as possible."

Walters said some Premier League sides, including Arsenal, had a small percentage of shares owned by the club, while smaller clubs Brentford, Stockport County and Chesterfield were among the teams where fans had a larger stake.

Many of those fans were assisted by Supporters Direct, an organization that helps supporters' trusts from numerous clubs buy shares and have representation at their clubs.

However, at the greatest extreme of fan ownership is English conference side Ebbsfleet United.

In 2008, the club was taken over by more than 30,000 individuals through web site Myfootballclub.co.uk.

Each shareholder paid £35 ($48) to have their say in the club for a year, and could vote on decisions like team selections and ticket prices.

According to David Davis, chief executive of Ebbsfleet United, the model has had a few teething problems -- but he feels it could be sustainable.

The club had recently lost many members at the one-year renewal, with numerous people citing the recession as the reason for their departure, he said.

"We originally had 30,000 people," he told CNN. "We expected to lose a considerable number of these after a year and now we are down to a core of about 10,000.

"The very positive thing is that we have this solid core of people who are in it for the longer term. If we can get through this season I think we have conquered it. It's a sustainable model," he said.

Davis said some members got involved with voluntary work at the club and he was surprised at the interests many shareholders had.

"I think it's still evolving. It's very clear people are in it for different reasons. Some are in it to pick the team, while others are happy just to try to help out at the club and talk of their frustration with the 'fat cat' clubs.

"There has been a surprising interest in the business side of it rather than the football side of things," David said.

Walters disagrees with Davis' optimism for Ebbsfleet, saying fan ownership is possible, but its best derived from within the club's own fan-base.

Walters felt the ShareLiverpoolFC model and the concept promoted by Supporters Direct, were more sustainable as they were geared towards fans of the club.

It would be more difficult to retain interest under the Ebbsfleet model where anyone could pay the money and become an owner, he said.

"Because they allow anybody to buy a share. If you're not a supporter of that club, do you really have an attachment to that club?"
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Quarter-finals

 

 

Villarreal v Arsenal

 

Manchester United v Porto

 

Liverpool v Chelsea

 

Barcelona v Bayern Munich

 

 

Quarter-final ties to be played on 7-8 April and 14-15 April

 

 

Semi-finals

 

Manchester United or Porto v Villarreal or Arsenal

 

Barcelona or Bayern Munich v Liverpool or Chelsea

 

 

Damn. doh

But I'm confident.

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Drawing Liverpool will be a killer blow for the Blues. Rafa Benitez is a tactical genius in Europe


I don't understand this can someone explain.

If Liverpool and Chelsea are playing each other "in Europe", what difference does it make to then playing each other "in the Premier League"? I can understand if the opponents were a non-England team...
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