Tag Archives: Premier League

Plenty for Arsenal to celebrate on quiet weekend

11 Replies

Not much happening with Arsenal over the bank holiday weekend. Usually that means something will occur about 8 minutes after publishing this blog.

Whilst not much has happened over the weekend in regards to Arsenal, there has still been plenty to enjoy and celebrate.

On Saturday night Liverpool lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League Final.

Not just is the result a joy to behold – any Arsenal fan who wanted Liverpool to win needs to take a look at themselves – the fall out has been equally excellent.

The petition set up by Liverpool fans to get Sergio Ramos bans is embarrassing.

Not only was someone sad enough to set it up, over 300,000 people have signed it.

Is that really what modern football is? Petitions and cry-arising?

Ten we have Jürgen Klopp.

He lost his 6 final in a row, but all is forgiven because he sang a song about Real Madrid and wore a baseball backwards.

I have found the press response to Klopp interesting.

The German is now 6 years without a trophy. The year before He took over at Liverpool, they finished 6th.

In the 3 seasons he has overseen the club, they have finished 8th, 4th and 4th. And lost 3 finals. Yet the press defend him and his failures.

1 League Cup won in 12 years. For a club of Liverpool’s size, history and previous success, that is a decade of failure.

Nearly as big a failure as Spurs winning just 1 League Cup in 19 years – and Mauricio Pochettino trophyless in a 10 year managerial career.

Interesting how do Klopp and Pochettino, failing to win trophies and finishing top 4 is seen as a success.

Meanwhile the press have criticised Arsenal’s appoint of Unai Emery. A serial winner.

https://twitter.com/keenosafc/status/1000512913776488449?s=21

Liverpool fans showed their well documented classlessness in fall out of the defeat.

Death threats aimed at goal keeper Loris Karius and his family are not banter. They are a criminal act. The press will not criticise Liverpool’s fans for fear of boycotts. Liverpool will play the victim as they do so well.

The second cause for enjoyment this weekend was Fulham’s victory over Aston Villa in the play off final.

Anyone that has done Fulham away will know that it is one of the greatest away days.

Whether you go on one of the many booze boats that will be run on the day of the game, or drink somewhere in Fulham, it is always a top day.

Welcome back Fulham.

Enjoy the rest of your bank holiday weekend, and hopefully next week brings some more Arsenal news.

Keenos

The transfer window is open

1 Reply

The transfer window is open!

Despite the season not even yet being over – with the FA Cup and Champions League Final’s still to play, teams throughout England can now buy and sell players.

This is due to Premier League clubs voting to close the own window at 5pm on Thursday August 9, two days before the first match of the 2018/19 season.

Fifa rules dictate the window must be open for 12 weeks which has meant the date clubs can start to sign players has also been brought forward.

In a move designed to end disruption and allow clubs to focus on their football, Premier League clubs have agreed to close the summer transfer window before the start of the 2018-19 season.

The change came after a number of Premier League managers and club officials complained about the negative impact of transfer uncertainty and speculation on their players. Diego Costa, Philippe Coutinho and Virgil van Dijk were just four of a list of players who did not play for their clubs as they pursued exits.

14 Premier League clubs voted for the window to shut before the season starts, starting this season.

EFL clubs have followed the Premier League’s example by bringing their transfer deadline forward but with foreign leagues’ deadlines expected to be on August 31, we are in line for two transfer deadlines next summer.

This means there will be two transfer Deadline Days in August, with the Premier League and EFL windows shutting before the other major leagues around Europe.

The transfer windows in Spain, France, Germany and Italy are all expected to open in early June.

As usual, the deadlines are expected to fall on August 31, with Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga showing no signs of following the Premier League’s lead.

Premier League clubs will no longer be able to make signings when the season gets underway, but the change does not apply to other leagues, meaning Premier League players will still be able to move abroad.

That means transfer sagas such as Barcelona’s pursuit of Coutinho last summer could still drag on into the season, creating the same kind of unwanted distractions for Premier League bosses.

However, Premier League clubs will be in a position to charge a premium from foreign clubs after the early deadline has passed, but they will be unable to reinvest their earnings until the January window.

Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore told Sky Sports News…

“There was a big concern that the Premier League has been playing two or three match rounds with a degree of uncertainty between themselves.

The Premier League’s chief executive Richard Scudamore outlines the changes to the summer transfer window after 14 clubs voted for deadline day to be before the season started

“It wasn’t unanimous but nobody was pathologically angry about the situation. But there were some concerns by some clubs that, although they wouldn’t be able to buy any more players, their players could still be picked off by those who haven’t closed their windows. It just meant they couldn’t support it.

“We did have managers’ meetings before the season started. The managers are very strong on it. Almost all of them were in favour of shutting it earlier. The clubs just think it’s wrong that, going into the first game of the season, they could be playing against a player that, a few weeks later, could be playing for a different club.”

EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey said: “After discussing the options throughout the course of the last few months, I’m pleased that the matter has been determined by Clubs ahead of the start of next season.

“This new approach will give Clubs and managers the stability they crave earlier in the season whilst also providing the flexibility to add to their squads after the traditional deadline until the end of month if required.”

Keenos

Sky still trying to re-write football history

2 Replies

Sky TV and the Premier League. If I had to pick a date when football as we used to know and love it started to go down hill, it would be 1992.

It was at this point, top division clubs decided to go it alone. To break away from the Football League and set up the Premier League. It was at this point that clubs became more interested in the money they can make, rather than look after the loyal fans who stuck around when football was not as popular as it is now.

And hand in hand with those Premier League club was Sky TV, Sky Sports, BSkyB or whatever they wanted to be called back then.

A lot of what I hate about football these days is due to Sky and the Premier League.

The disconnection of players to clubs, the boasting about “mega money TV deals” whilst ticket prices continue to rise, and kick off times. Those bloody kick off times.

But perhaps the most annoying thing that Sky TV and the Premier League done is white wash anything that became before it.

The Premier League is actually no different to the old First Division. Bar the trophy and greed, it is still the “Top flight of English football”. It is why it always baffles me when people talk about “Premier League records” as if football did not exist prior to 1992.

Sky ignore anything prior to the Premier League because they do not have the rights of the footage. Greed means that they refuse to pay the BBC, ITV or whoever owns the footage of games in the 80s, 70s and earlier.

It was actually hilarious that after Sergio Aguero scored his memorable goal against QPR a few years back, that Sky promoted it as “the best end of the season. Ever”. It completely ignored 1989, Arsenal at Anfield.

Even a neutral will say that Arsenal beating Liverpool at Anfield was a greater finish to the season that Manchester City beating QPR.

We then have Sky constantly talking about Mo Salah. That he is going to “break the Premier League goals record” and that “Harry Kane is the second quickest player to 100 Premier League goals”. We get it, Sky only care about the Premier League. In there mind there was no football before 1992.

And the above graphic is hilarious. Apparently now, the 10 league titles Arsenal won prior to the Premier League count for nothing.

Some people might say “stop living in the past, history does not matter”. Yet according to Sky’s graphic, Arsenal’s table topping sides of 1989 and 1991 are meaningless, whilst Manchester United winning the league title in 1993 can be counted.

The majority of fans can see through this. But sadly this is starting to change. You read about Manchester United fans mocking Liverpool fans for “never having won the Premier League”. Chelsea fans boasting about how they are the “second most successful team in Premier League history.”

The reality is Chelsea are still behind Everton, Sunderland and Aston Villa when it comes to league titles.

I guess it is not a surprise that two clubs as unsuccessful as Chelsea and Manchester City only care about “Premier League Era” results because it makes up for their lack of success in the previous 100 years of football.

The worry is that with Sky pushing the “Premier League” agenda and football becoming more influenced by foreign fans, that achievements prior to 1992 will be deemed meaningless in comparison.

And they are not meaningless. They are part of history. Part of the English game. Whether it be 1991, 1989 or 1931, they all count the same.

Sky need to stop disrespecting the history of the game just because they do not hold the rights to the highlights.

Keenos

Ps: Some Arsenal fans will bash this article saying I am “living in the past”. They might be true, but these same fans probably also moan every day on Twitter about Modern Football. Maybe some people just like to moan?