Who wants Chelsea to win tonight?

[Kinky Gerbil]

No Ta.

 

[Skidmarks]

One? [Sidwell]
SWP; £21m
Lampard; about £8m from West Ham
Joe Cole; ditto
Ashley Cole; £6m plus Gallas from Arsenal
Bridge; £3m from Saints
Terry; Chelsea product.

Ashely Cole had famously met up with Chelsea illegally to discuss a transfer, this did not go down well at all with Arsenal, Lampard now gets booed every time he plays West Ham for the way he demanded a transfer request as well as Cole and yes Sidwell left on a Bosman to go along with the rest.

 

[Mr Everyone]

Maybe it's just me, but I find the champions league so unappealling. The same teams expect, and invariably end up competing in the farce year in year out.

When will anyone outside the top-four of the premiership, La Liga or Serie A compete in this sham of a cup?

I, as a Brighton fan, cannot relate to such a rich-getting-richer tournement.

The FA cup on the other hand does excite me, Pasty. Why? Well Bristol Rovers, Barnsley and Cardiff are a good start..

 

[Scotty Mac]

Maybe it's just me, but I find the champions league so unappealling. The same teams expect, and invariably end up competing in the farce year in year out.

When will anyone outside the top-four of the premiership, La Liga or Serie A compete in this sham of a cup?

I, as a Brighton fan, cannot relate to such a rich-getting-richer tournement.

The FA cup on the other hand does excite me, Pasty. Why? Well Bristol Rovers, Barnsley and Cardiff are a good start..

porto?

i quite like the champions league - while yes, it does seem to mainly be the same group of teams every year competing in it, there is still an element of unpredictably about it - much more so than any of our domestic competitions. how often does a team win back-to-back champions league titles?

 

[pasty]

porto?

i quite like the champions league - while yes, it does seem to mainly be the same group of teams every year competing in it, there is still an element of unpredictably about it - much more so than any of our domestic competitions. how often does a team win back-to-back champions league titles?

I don't believe the CL has ever been retained. In fact AC Milan were the 4th consecutive holders to go out at this stage of the competition last night.

 

[Scotty Mac]

I don't believe the CL has ever been retained. In fact AC Milan were the 4th consecutive holders to go out at this stage of the competition last night.

for some reason i thought madrid retained it at some point

point is, anyone who tries to tar the champions league as boring and unpredictable is using the wrong complaints. it is far from boring, and it is far from unpredictable. by all means label it a bad thing for the way it makes the rich richer and encourages more armchair support

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Of course. I always support English teams in Europe and it'd be good for our game if one of them won it. Who honestly wants an Italian or Spanish team to win the thing when there's national pride at stake?

 

[Hiney]

I can't understand why everyone gets so precious about The Champions League. It's a great tournament full of exciting matches and arguably the most exciting players in the World.

I love it.

I also don't see why 'as a Brighton fan, I can't relate such a rich-getting-richer tournament'

You don't have to relate to it, just enjoy it.

 

[Skidmarks]

for some reason i thought madrid retained it at some point

point is, anyone who tries to tar the champions league as boring and unpredictable is using the wrong complaints. it is far from boring, and it is far from unpredictable. by all means label it a bad thing for the way it makes the rich richer and encourages more armchair support

Last year we had 3 English teams in the Semi-final, this year it looks like it could be 4.
Celtic have never got past the first knock-out round in all their attempts and never look like they ever will.
In the last 3 years we have seen 2 finals with identical teams and with a english club in it 3 times.
Would a team like Nottingham forest get promoted into the Prem win it in their first season get in tothe Champs league and then win that retaining it the following year?
The champs league is more predictable than ever, name me one Olympiakios player? its obvious they are gonna win, is that unpredictable?

 

[che]

No. I don't like Chelsea.
For me when Abramovish buy Chelsea a couple of years ago, football was never be the same again.This was the beginning of the end of the football I know.

 

[John Bumlick]

so, some do and some don't and the opposing sides don't agree with each other's reasoning. shocking outcome to a thread on nsc...

 

[Frutos]

Chelsea can f*** right off as far as I'm concerned.

(That was a 'no' to the question posed in the topic title, in case anyone wasn't sure).

 

[Scotty Mac]

Last year we had 3 English teams in the Semi-final, this year it looks like it could be 4.
Celtic have never got past the first knock-out round in all their attempts and never look like they ever will.
In the last 3 years we have seen 2 finals with identical teams and with a english club in it 3 times.
Would a team like Nottingham forest get promoted into the Prem win it in their first season get in tothe Champs league and then win that retaining it the following year?
The champs league is more predictable than ever, name me one Olympiakios player? its obvious they are gonna win, is that unpredictable?

unless i am very much mistaken, does lomana lua lua not ply his trade at olympiakos these days? not sure with what being able to name an olympiakos player has to do with it being unpredictable anyway!

it depends what you view as predictable really. if predictable is teams from the same country contesting it every year, then its hard to disagree - the only obvious case that you can was porto v monaco 4 years ago

the way i view predictable is the same teams, year in year out, like in the premiership, competing for the title. this doesnt happen in the champions league final. in the last 10 finals, there have been 13 different teams competing, representing 6 countries

obviously a team like forest is not going to win the champions league straight away - but that is very much due to the growing trend in money in the premiership making it hard for anyone but the top 4 to qualify as opposed to anything to do with the champions league itself. the fact that other countries tend to have varied clubs representing them is testament to this fact

 

[Pavilionaire]

I hope they get through if for no other reason than they draw Liverpool / Man Utd / Arsenal in the Quarters and then get knocked out.

It's getting to the stage where you could almost see a last 4 of the Big 4 - are the European Leagues becoming Big 4 feeder leagues?

 

[pasty]

It's getting to the stage where you could almost see a last 4 of the Big 4 - are the European Leagues becoming Big 4 feeder leagues?

Fo all those that don't like the CL, that could be the best thing that could happen. If the 4 semi finalists were Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal & Liverpool for a couple of years on the bounce, the rest of Europe would soon be calling for changes to the format.

 

[crodonilson]

Chelsea have got a few excellent British players, of course I want them to do well as should everyone english. John Terry and Frank Lampard are indespensible to Chelsea and as fine English players I'll be roaring them onto glory tonight as I'm sure the majority of the country will.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

I will always support a team from England in Europe, with the slight caveat if Palace ever made it.

Exactly. There is no rational reason for a British football fan to want a foreign league side (and CERTAINLY NOT an Italian or Spanish one!) to beat a team based in this country, regardless of the nationalities of the players in that team.
Can't relate to that attitude at all as it just seems to stem from bitterness, jealousy etc.

 

[Beach Hut]

1 - 0 Ballack

 

[Frutos]

Exactly. There is no rational reason for a British football fan to want a foreign league side (and CERTAINLY NOT an Italian or Spanish one!) to beat a team based in this country

What if the British football fan in question has family ties to the foreign country and club in question?

 

[pasty]

2-0 Should be game over