Football Thread 2021/22: pre-seasons in the abyss

[sevendaughters]

2-1 Sheriff in the last minute!

absolutely incredible result. I know Tiraspol has dodgy cash and they've got a bunch of ringers in but that's piss in the wind compared to Real's dodgy cash and muscle.

[chveik]

pep ball in all its glory

[Wonderful Butternut]

pep ball in all its glory

No striker is a really good idea.

[chveik]

2-1 Sheriff in the last minute!

haha 31 shots to 4

real will still go through though

[JamesTC]

haha 31 shots to 4

real will still go through though

Inter might not though. How are they so bad in Europe?

[Beagle 2]

pep ball in all its glory

So chuffed we spent a billion pounds on Grealish to receive the ball wide, flop his hair about a bit and go "am I going to pass it short, am I, whee woo wee... yes"

[bgmnts]

I think we're all sheriffs tonight.

[chveik]

So chuffed we spent a billion pounds on Grealish to receive the ball wide, flop his hair about a bit and go "am I going to pass it short, am I, whee woo wee... yes"

he seems a bit predictable and crossing dozens of times for nobody in particular is not the best strategy

[Hank Venture]

How's that for Super League, dickheads.

[TrenterPercenter]

So chuffed we spent a billion pounds on Grealish to receive the ball wide, flop his hair about a bit and go "am I going to pass it short, am I, whee woo wee... yes"

Told ya! Thanks for the Kerching!

[Gurke and Hare]

Man Utd had a couple of graduates through the decade too - Alan 'The Flying Chip' Gowling and Stevie Coppell, who offered to pack in his degree when he signed for us, only to be told "absolutely not" by Tommy Docherty.

Gary Bailey too, although he was studying for it while he was at the club so probably didn't actually have it in the 70s.

Are there any current PL players with a degree?

What I want to know is are there any current PL players planning to drive lorries after they retire as they just showed Roger Hunt doing on the news.

[Rolf Lundgren]

This Sheriff result is fucking magic. And at the Bernabeu too. Honorary knighthoods for all of them.

[sevendaughters]

Real should definitely have a separate league for the elite because they're so good.

[sevendaughters]

watched the highlights. Sheriff keeper had a worldie and Real's pen was the second time Vinicius had gone down under a harsh breath. Justice.

[phantom_power]

When I went to Sheffield University to study chemistry, David Wetherall was a recent alumnus and his picture was plastered all over the place.

They didn't mention him saying how glad he was to be good at football so he didn't have to be a 'fucking research chemist' all his life.

Then there is Ian Dowie, who is an actual rocket scientist (degree in Aeronautical Engineering) and coined the term "bouncebackability", according to Wikipedia)

[king_tubby]

Shaka Hislop too - did some work with NASA as part of his degree iirc.

[The Culture Bunker]

Gary Bailey too, although he was studying for it while he was at the club so probably didn't actually have it in the 70s.

He has an interesting story, as someone who grew up in a very comfortable life in South Africa (large house, servants etc) and was suddenly dropped into working class Manchester with a peer group he had pretty much nothing in common with - he said himself that while he may have had the academic background, they had the street smarts, always quicker to the punchline or the joke and able to fit into the dressing room banter. Naturally, he took a fair bit of stick from his teammates to the point he ended up taking kung-fu lessons in Chinatown to help stand up for himself.

[wooders1978]

he seems a bit predictable and crossing dozens of times for nobody in particular is not the best strategy

Imagine haaland in the box waiting - oooof

[Kankurette]

Barry Horne, mentioned upthread, became a science teacher at a posh boys' school in Chester (insert 'School of Science' joke here). And my mum's fave Steve Heighway is a Warwick alumnus like her.

Actually, on the subject of intelligent footballers, Romelu Lukaku speaks something like 9 languages. He taught himself Portuguese just so he could communicate with some Brazilian lads at Anderlecht.

ETA: Chiellini has gone up in my estimation for that. Klopp is also pro-Remain and had people going "what business is it of his?" He lives and works in the UK, lads, he manages an English football team, I think it's fair to say that it does affect him somewhat.

[phantom_power]

with his counterpart Harry Kane's:

"I don't know enough about it to be concerned about it."

I don't know. If more people had that opinion we wouldn't be in the mess we are now

[Beagle 2]

Imagine haaland in the box waiting - oooof

Imagine anyone.

[Inspector Norse]

Imagine anyone.

Well, anyone other than Bernardo Silva at least

[JamesTC]

The great news keeps rolling in for Arsenal fans. Xhaka is out for three months.

[Kankurette]

I'm writing a quiz about African footballers at the moment and I need to clear something up: Mo Salah's 100th goal for Liverpool. Was it against Brentford last weekend, or Leeds a few days before that?

[DrGreggles]

I think he hit 100 PL goals v Leeds, then 100 Liverpool goals v Brentford.
Or something.

[JamesTC]

Yeah, one includes the Chelsea league goals (all 2 of them).

[DrGreggles]

Yeah, one includes the Chelsea league goals (all 2 of them).

Their manager at the time didn't rate him.

[Gurke and Hare]

Their manager at the time didn't rate him.

Was that the same manager that didn't rate de Bruyne?

[DrGreggles]

Pure coincidence

[thehungerartist]

It's called shaming, not policing, but as you're lacking that capacity (probably too much banter on football forums but that's just a guess) I clearly don't need to do that when you can embarrass yourself this well.

You really are only about one reply away from invoking *rolls eyes* Legend Gary, aren't you?

How about I get back to white-knighting racist millionaire pricks and you return to inventing, curating and contributing insidious slurs about working class men? Y'know, for the bants.