Ball, Ball, Ball - Footy, Footy, Footy: 2018/2019

[bgmnts]

Get in!

Has Mane been Space Jam'd?

[Captain Z]

Fuck it, I'll take 7 points.

[DrGreggles]

Good from Liverpool, but should have been more than 1-0. It was a bit hairy at the end there!
They (and Spurs) have done well to get through very tough groups.

Now the CL can be an afterthought for a couple of months.

[Squink]

The thought occurs that a PSG vs Man City final might be the ultimate shit for cunts (football edition).

[DrGreggles]

The thought occurs that a PSG vs Man City final might be the ultimate shit for cunts (football edition).

Could be a decent game.

[chveik]

The thought occurs that a PSG vs Man City final might be the ultimate shit for cunts (football edition).

I'd enjoy that

[Utter Shit]

If we go through with seven points we should be forced to resign our spot in the last sixteen.

What a glorious achievement, going through with an incredible eight points - BEAT THAT.

[DrGreggles]

Napoli went out with 12 points a few years ago.

[BlodwynPig]

What a glorious achievement, going through with an incredible eight points - BEAT THAT.

If I was being discourteous I'd applaud your lot on finally reaching the pinnacle of English football - that of becoming Jammy bastards.

[EOLAN]

Good from Liverpool, but should have been more than 1-0. It was a bit hairy at the end there!
They (and Spurs) have done well to get through very tough groups.

Now the CL can be an afterthought for a couple of months.

Of course; even if Liverpool had scored a 2nd; Napoli would still have only needed one goal to go through. Was hoping Napoli would just go ultra attacking and not care one bit about Liverpool scoring approaching the last few minutes.

[DrGreggles]

Of course; even if Liverpool had scored a 2nd; Napoli would still have only needed one goal to go through. Was hoping Napoli would just go ultra attacking and not care one bit about Liverpool scoring approaching the last few minutes.

I thought the same. They did leave it a bit late before throwing everyone forward.
Liverpool should have had 3 or 4 by that point though.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

HAHA Real Turnips 0 - 3 CSKA Moscows

SUN: BALE ME OUT

[BlodwynPig]

HAHA Real Turnips 0 - 3 CSKA Moscows

SUN: BALE ME OUT

Fuck yes

[BlodwynPig]

It was a meaningless match, damn

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Someone should do some stats on Real's win % with and without Ronalado. Love to see big greedy clubs get it in the knackers big style.

[kalowski]

I think journalists have this kind of thing on auto type

GOAL! VALENCIA 2-0 MAN UTD (Jones OG 47)

This is definitely not one that Phil Jones will want to see again

.

[DrGreggles]

I think journalists have this kind of thing on auto type

Unlike the own goals they've scored which they watch repeatedly.

To be fair, this was a good 'un.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Juan Mata still rocking the grizzled old man look.

[The Culture Bunker]

Juan Mata still rocking the grizzled old man look.

Ah, I'll not hear any bad words against wee Juan. He's pretty much given the best years of his career to United, under at least two managers mad keen on sticking him out wide for reasons beyond my ken. Perhaps inspired by the way Paul Scholes suffered the same fate for England. He'll be on his way this Summer* and I wish him well wherever he lands.

*barring a change in management to someone more appreciative of his talents.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Probably off to setup a Nacho Vidal tribute band.

[Utter Shit]

https://www.football365.com/news/netflix-football-not-quite-ready-eleven-sports

In 2014, wrestling giants WWE launched the WWE Network: its own proprietary streaming service which broadcasts all the events you remember staying up to watch on Channel 4 when you were 13. You know, the Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summerslam, all that jazz.

It was a gamble for WWE, as they were asking viewers to stop paying tens of dollars to watch those monthly pay-per-views and instead pay a relatively meagre $9.99 a month to get access to everything: not just the monthly pay-per-views, but also every single pay-per-view in their video library going back over 30 years. They have since added every single weekly primetime TV show they have ever produced, as well as a lot of good-quality original content.

The navigation on the app is an absolute bear, but overall, the service is excellent, and has been a huge success for the company. Which raises the question: if it can be done in wrestling, why can't it be done in football? There would clearly be an appetite for the type of content a football streaming service could provide.

Take documentaries, for example. ESPN have long been the standard-bearer in the US, and their productions benefit from a level of access that football clubs generally shy away from. There is also a forthrightness from the players that we are still generally yet to see from our own footballers.

But things are changing on both counts, and not only through mainstream sports broadcasters like BT Sport, whose film version of Michael Calvin's 'No Hunger In Paradise' earlier this year was superb. The general streaming big boys have also dipped a toe in the water, with Amazon following Manchester City around to produce something of a hagiography while they claimed the league title. Netflix have responded with a series following Sunderland's relegation from the Championship, which will be available to watch from tomorrow.

The boom in football podcasts over the last few years, meanwhile, suggests that streaming services – which still tend to be pitched at more tech-savvy viewers – might be a natural home for critically acclaimed yet cancelled viewing like Sky Sports' Footballers' Football Show or BT's European Football Show. These programmes are about as cheap to make as you can possibly get but wind up on the chopping block because they are hardly appointment viewing; a watch-when-you-want model might be just what they need to keep going for more than a year or two.

Old matches are an obvious way to go, too, if the appropriate rights could be secured. Imagine if you were a Manchester United fan and every single match of the 1998/99 season were available to watch, in full and as originally broadcast? You could watch a couple of games a week and relive the whole thing in practically real time, giving you some much-needed relief from the realities of the current campaign.

The problem, though, is that without live football to go alongside it, such a network would be seen as all filler, no killer. The struggles of Eleven Sports – who have the rights to both La Liga and Serie A, but look set to fold after attracting only around 50,000 subscribers since launching in the UK in the summer – suggest that not enough of us are yet ready to digest sport through (paid) streaming services in a way that also makes sense for the broadcasters.

It's easy to see why: if you've got your box tuned to Sky Sports for the early Sunday kick-off, there's a decent chance you'll leave it for the 4pm game, even if it's a match in which you have little interest. In previous seasons, you might even have left it on for a Spanish game or two later on. Even requiring the viewer to press a button or two to select the next game is an opportunity for them to pause for thought: 'well, I've got the remote in my hands anyway, I might as well see if there's something on Netflix now'.

Personally, I only ever watch TV through our Virgin TV box for the football. Every second of the rest of the TV we watch in our household is through a Fire Stick or a Chromecast. But that, perhaps, is unusual, if the self-confessed technological incompetence of many other football journalists on my Twitter feed is anything to go by.

A big part of the WWE Network's success is that in many countries, it is not only the cheapest or most convenient way to access WWE content: it's the only way. As long as enough football remains available through pay TV services, the incentive just isn't there for a lot of people to go through the process of breaking their current habits, investing in a plug-in device, and learning how to use it.

Perhaps that will change soon. Amazon will exclusively stream 20 Premier League games per season from next season onwards, and it would not be beyond belief to suggest the next set of TV negotiations in 2021 might in fact end up being almost exclusively streaming negotiations.

The only disappointment is that if the existing TV trend carries forward into the streaming era then we will be expected to subscribe to multiple services, which is not only bad for our wallets but may also render the idea of an everything-in-one-place football streaming service little more than a pipe dream. But boy, what a dream: it would basically be our porn.

How good would this be. A Premier League equivalent of the WWE network, showing the entire back catalogue of games in full and as originally transmitted. Even without live games I'd happily pay good money for the chance to relive old games - I've actually considered starting a catalogue of Match of the Day episodes covering each season, but the ones I'd really want to see would be the ones from years ago that I don't have.

[DrGreggles]

Don't know anything about wrestling, but the NFL model works well.

[finnquark]

I actually subscribed to Eleven Sports, and I quite like it. I'm watching lots of Eredivisie.

[garnish]

If anyone's interested, this person has uploaded years of his VHS recordings of MOTD and local news football highlights, spanning from the late 80s to the early 2000s.  It's actually pretty incredible undertaking.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_NrGQ_gtyP1rlx3LRblljA

[DrGreggles]

I subscribed too, as I watch La Liga and it was only £40 for the whole season. Never had an issue with the picture quality either.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

If anyone's interested, this person has uploaded years of his VHS recordings of MOTD and local news football highlights, spanning from the late 80s to the early 2000s.  It's actually pretty incredible undertaking.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_NrGQ_gtyP1rlx3LRblljA

Nice, thanks

[Ferris]

Nice, thanks

I can rewatch Villa from the late '90s to early '00s.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Steve Stone falling over in the 6 yard box... I watched Nolberto Solano run in circles on the halfway line... All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the Trinity Road stand... Time to die...

[Bennett Brauer]

Cheers to garnish for that youtube link. Just dipped into cracking highlights of Revie's England v Scotland in 1975. Love Brian Moore's indulgent chuckle at the trio of heid the baws perched on a gantry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mISij6S8-bc#t=5m19s.

[DrGreggles]

PROPER football!
https://youtu.be/z3Eyfz9B5H4

[DrGreggles]

Ooh, Sky have got Souness AND Keane on punditry duty!
Based on the last couple of Liverpool v Man U games at Anfield, it could be the only entertainment on offer.