The Footie Thread

[Tashyboy]

Always amuses me when people throw in the mens game, and almost use it as a stick to take down the women's game.

Sure, biology means the men would beat the women head to head. But, it is a completely pointless argument, as that is the same in nearly all sports. It is why there are gender categories.

Take that argument away, the simple fact is that the ladies were quality. In terms of movement, ball control, passing, crossing, finishing and tackling, they execute it all just as well as I see week in, week out from the men, from a technical point of view. It is almost like they are professional athletes...

And we've all seen the men make garbage mistakes and terrible decisions, even the best men. I'm sure I've seen men try and score from corners at crucial times, and failed. So, if the moment Kelly failed to score from a corner is the moment that proves there is no comparison between the men and women, it is a terribly week argument.

I'd have thought it would be better to focus on all the incidents she got right. Concluded nicely with that penalty. Lots of pressure, millions watching, knowing that if she missed the likes of Joey Barton were ready to mock the women's ability to hit a penalty, forgetting all the horrific penalties from men over the years.

Personally I thought the standard of the football I saw was equal to the penalty taking. Some of it excellent, especially from a keepers point of view but mostly rammel. However I have already said. A win is a win. The bottom line the women have had an open top bus parade and that is what will be remembered.
Hopefully from here, there will be a continuing legacy of girls wanting to play football.
Without a shadow of doubt. The FA in hiring Wiegman was a stroke of genius. It then begs the question.How do they manage to screw it up when picking the Mens England managers job

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Why can’t it just be - England ladies won the best tourney you can win in European national ladies football

There doesn’t need to be any buts , doesn’t need to be any comparisons

They won their second Euros in a row and let’s hope they can win the World Cup next

 

[Neilds]

Why can’t it just be - England ladies won the best tourney you can win in European national ladies football

There doesn’t need to be any buts , doesn’t need to be any comparisons

They won their second Euros in a row and let’s hope they can win the World Cup next

Agree. Not sure why people want to compare some female sports with the men's equivalent. After her Olympic gold last year, no one was saying that Keely Hodgkinson wouldn't have even made the final in the men's 800m as she is too slow. Comparisons with the men's game in any sport is stupid and pointless.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Personally I thought the standard of the football I saw was equal to the penalty taking. Some of it excellent, especially from a keepers point of view but mostly rammel. However I have already said. A win is a win. The bottom line the women have had an open top bus parade and that is what will be remembered.
Hopefully from here, there will be a continuing legacy of girls wanting to play football.
Without a shadow of doubt. The FA in hiring Wiegman was a stroke of genius. It then begs the question.How do they manage to screw it up when picking the Mens England managers job

Tash, We are back into comparing different games again here but the reality is, the depth in the ladies game is currently not there. How many good teams did England have to beat compared to Southgate and now Tuchel in any tournament they will manage? It just isn't comparable.

As the last two posts have stated, just enjoy what the ladies did in their own right.

 

[Swango1980]

Tash, We are back into comparing different games again here but the reality is, the depth in the ladies game is currently not there. How many good teams did England have to beat compared to Southgate and now Tuchel in any tournament they will manage? It just isn't comparable.

As the last two posts have stated, just enjoy what the ladies did in their own right.

That comparison, relatively speaking, is even harder to make these days. For the mens team, they faced the likes of:

Euro 2024: Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland
World Cup 2022: Iran, USA, Wales, Senegal
Euro 2020: Scotland, Czechia, Croatia, Ukraine, Denmark

I'd say there are a lot of opposition that, on paper, England should be easily superior than.

I obviously know a lot less about the ladies game, but in Euro 2025 perhaps Wales were their only opponent who was much inferior? As far as I know, the likes of France, Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and Spain are all excellent opponents.

Maybe 20 years ago, the relative difference between female teams could have been like Liverpool facing your local village side. I'm sure there are large gaps in ability in qualifying games before tournaments, although there are also huge gaps in the mens game as well. I remember watching womens football when it was all a bit of a joke, the goalkeeper looked like your mum who had never played a sport in her life. Players looked like they had 2 left feet, etc. I watch it now, however, and it looks like proper elite football. Womens football may be at its early stages at this level. But, the players involved have been playing their entire lives, and have had the benefit of proper coaching. So, for them, there is probably little difference between a young boy growing up and emerging at the top level compared to a young girl doing the same. Presumably if coaching of girls became a more serious thing 10-15 years ago, we are now seeing the benefit of that at the top level?

 

[Pin-seeker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1950847853447754148

 

[Swango1980]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1950847853447754148

Things like this always puzzle me.

Isak may want more money, he may want a challenge at a different club. But Newcastle are currently wiring £120,000 into his account every week, that allows him to live a lifestyle that 99.9999% of other human beings could never dream of. You'd think it would be possible to make your feelings very clear to the club, whilst remaining professional and dedicated to playing for the club that has given you a terrific profile for the last few years. Ultimately, it will be in Newcastle's interest to accept a bid at some point in the next year or so, otherwise they risk losing an asset for free.

I assume he never got a release clause in his contract, and you can see why many top players (or young players with bags of potential) look to have one. But, on the day he signed a contract until the year 2028 without a release clause, then he should have expected that if he did very well, then NCC would most likely not want to sell him until at least 2027, unless a ludicrous offer came in.

 

[Aztecs27]

How awful must it be in Newcastle that their star striker, who's worshipped by the fanbase, just won a trophy and playing Champions League.....wants nothing to do with the club.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Things like this always puzzle me.

Isak may want more money, he may want a challenge at a different club. But Newcastle are currently wiring £120,000 into his account every week, that allows him to live a lifestyle that 99.9999% of other human beings could never dream of. You'd think it would be possible to make your feelings very clear to the club, whilst remaining professional and dedicated to playing for the club that has given you a terrific profile for the last few years. Ultimately, it will be in Newcastle's interest to accept a bid at some point in the next year or so, otherwise they risk losing an asset for free.

I assume he never got a release clause in his contract, and you can see why many top players (or young players with bags of potential) look to have one. But, on the day he signed a contract until the year 2028 without a release clause, then he should have expected that if he did very well, then NCC would most likely not want to sell him until at least 2027, unless a ludicrous offer came in.

He has 3 years left on his contract. He won't go for free next year, or the year after.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

How awful must it be in Newcastle that their star striker, who's worshipped by the fanbase, just won a trophy and playing Champions League.....wants nothing to do with the club.

I live here, the fans are remarkably calm about it. He isn't worshipped, Bruno is, Tonali is starting to be, but Isak doesn't really engage with the fans so they are fairly chilled. At this point they want it to happen quickly and for a huge amount to enable them to get a replacement in.

Newcastle fans are used to selling their players, this is not a new event. He wants more money, a better chance of winning the PL and CL. He'll get that at Liverpool, Bayern, PSG, RM etc. They aren't daft.

 

[Beezerk]

He has 3 years left on his contract. He won't go for free next year, or the year after.

Agreed his value is too high and won’t drop unless he has a mare next season. They will keep him imo and give him a shiney new contract with a huge pay rise and a buy out clause built in. From a business stand point, if Newcastle have any sort of aspirations of being a league title challenging team there’s no way they can be selling their best players.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Said before I’m not a fan of players doing this to try and get a move

Unless you are a fan of Real Madrid then there is always a step up for a lot of them

I’m guessing once Newcastle get a striker or two to agree to join them then Liverpool will give them the £120-130mil to pay for those two strikers

 

[Beezerk]

I live here, the fans are remarkably calm about it.

Not the ones I know, they’re like…sod him, let him leave if he wants to

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Not the ones I know, they’re like…sod him, let him leave if he wants to

I suppose I meant, 'he wants to go, then go'. They are not crying over it. If Bruno did this they would be gutted. He will go in the end but Bruno has fully bought into being in Newcastle, he is one of their own now.

 

[Beezerk]

I suppose I meant, 'he wants to go, then go'. They are not crying over it. If Bruno did this they would be gutted. He will go in the end but Bruno has fully bought into being in Newcastle, he is one of their own now.

Bruno is a Geordie…

 

[Aztecs27]

Said before I’m not a fan of players doing this to try and get a move

Unless you are a fan of Real Madrid then there is always a step up for a lot of them

I’m guessing once Newcastle get a striker or two to agree to join them then Liverpool will give them the £120-130mil to pay for those two strikers

Me either.

I know he ended up staying and we still don't know the full in's and outs of it all...but MGW showed up to training, went out to Portugal for pre-season camp and remained professional throughout (before the extension was announced)....So if he did end up going to Spurs, although there would have been a resentment and anger, you couldn't say he didn't handle it in the best way possible.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Me either.

I know he ended up staying and we still don't know the full in's and outs of it all...but MGW showed up to training, went out to Portugal for pre-season camp and remained professional throughout (before the extension was announced)....So if he did end up going to Spurs, although there would have been a resentment and anger, you couldn't say he didn't handle it in the best way possible.

We had the same with Diaz - he was looking to leave because we weren’t going to extend his contract but he was fully involved

Coutinho came up with a “back injury”

 

[Swango1980]

He has 3 years left on his contract. He won't go for free next year, or the year after.

It's why I said the next year or so, rather than Newcastle just wanting to sell him asap.

As the end of his contract gets nearer and nearer, at some point his value may diminish. His form may drop as well, which would impact his value. So, the board at NCC will just have to weigh up over time, at what point is the best time to sell. That could depend on other players available at the time as well. If some hot prospect, the next Isak, appears on the scene 2 years before Isak's contract runs out, NCC may then decide to cash in on him now, and try and get the new player before their value increases.

I suppose, in general terms, a club will look to sell 1 year before end of contract if the player does not sign a new one. But, with a player as good as Isak, who has made it clear they no longer want to be there, I can see the club looking to occasionally sell sooner.

 

[Bdill93]

Honestly this window is sheer pain.

Constantly seeing our players linked away (I don't think we will actually sell anyone significant) and quite literally nothing coming in.

Meanwhile - United, City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal all spending like money grows on trees.

Football is so broken its a joke.

 

[nickjdavis]

Agreed his value is too high and won’t drop unless he has a mare next season. They will keep him imo and give him a shiney new contract with a huge pay rise and a buy out clause built in. From a business stand point, if Newcastle have any sort of aspirations of being a league title challenging team there’s no way they can be selling their best players.

IMO the club should say..."you are under contract until the summer of 2028, we will give you a revised contract including a small raise (maybe 20%) and we will include a buy out clause of £120m that anyone can meet during the next January transfer window, for you to agree a move, to take place in the summer of 2026. In the meantime you are going nowhere, now get your arse back on the training pitch and prove to other clubs you are worth the money they might have to pay for you"

Newcastle took a chance on Isak at a time when he wasn't awfully prolific in LaLiga...most of his goals came in the 19/20 and 20/21 seasons....6 goals in 32 matches in 21/22 wasn't setting anyone's world on fire...he now needs to give a little bit back in return but also to be shown there is light at the end of the tunnel in terms of him moving away.