2024/25 Premier League & General Football Thread

[MUSC4EVER]

Sven-Goran Eriksson has sadly passed away aged 76 after a long battle with cancer.

The Swedish manager had a varied career, he started in Sweden where he won the UEFA Cup with Gothenburg before he found success with Benfica, Roma, Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Lazio where he won seven trophies including Serie A and the old cup winners cup in the mid-to-late nineties, he then took the role of England national coach which is what he will be most remember for in the UK, he led the team from 2001-2006 and from there he went on to manage places like Leicester, Man City, Ivory Coast and the Philippines, he also had a weird short spell as Notts County director of Football.

A documentary about his life titled 'Sven' has only recently been available on Amazon Prime, tributes have of course been flooding in.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Arsenal have signed Spain midfielder Mikel Merino from Real Sociedad for £31 million.
Man United have agreed a deal with PSG to sign Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte for around £51 million.
United are also in talks with Chelsea over a potential swap deal involving Jadon Sancho and Raheem Sterling.
Crystal Palace are in talks with Arsenal to sign Eddie Nketiah for £25 million.
Bournemouth are set to loan Chelsea keeper Kepa for the season.
Man City have agreed a deal with Al-Hilal to sell Joao Cancelo for £21 million.
Brighton have signed Celtic's Matt O'Riley for £30 million.

Transfer window shuts 11pm on Friday.

 

[Omnis]

If United swaps Sancho for Sterling straight up, I will laugh and laugh. Never thought Man U would be even bigger fools than Chelsea.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Carabao Cup third round draw.

Liverpool v West Ham
Man City v Watford
Arsenal v Bolton
Man United v Barnsley
Wycombe v Aston Villa
Coventry v Tottenham
Walsall v Leicester
Brentford v Leyton Orient
Blackpool v Sheffield Wednesday
Preston v Fulham
Everton v Southampton
QPR v Crystal Palace
Stoke v Fleetwood
Brighton v Wolves
AFC Wimbledon v Newcastle
Chelsea v Barrow

Ties will take place between the 16th and 23rd September.

No real surprises in the second round, almost all PL teams went through comfortably, Newcastle knocked out Forest on penalties tonight and there were a few Championship sides knocked out by League One and Two teams.

 

[Famine]

No real surprises in the second round, almost all PL teams went through comfortably, Newcastle knocked out Forest on penalties tonight and there were a few Championship sides knocked out by League One and Two teams.

I mean... there was a Premier League side knocked out on penalties by a League Two side...

Does that not count?

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Yep, I missed that one.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Liverpool have signed Federico Chiesa from Juventus for £10 million up front in what could be the signing of the summer.
Aaron Ramsdale looks set to join Southampton from Arsenal for £25 million.
Romelu Lukaku has joined Napoli from Chelsea for £30 million, Victor Oshimen could join Chelsea from Napoli on an initial loan.
Bournemouth have signed Chelsea keeper Kepa on loan.
Liverpool have signed Valencia keeper Giorgi Marmadashivili in a deal worth up to £29 million, he will remain at Valencia this season and joins Liverpool at the start of the 25-26 campaign.
Brighton have signed Turkish left back Ferdi Kadioglu from Fenerbahce for £25 million.

The transfer window will close at 11pm BST on Friday for the Premier League, the Football League and in Scotland.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Napoli have signed Scotland midfielders Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour from Man United and Brighton for £25.7 million and £14 million.
Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah has joined Crystal Palace for £28 million.
Southampton have signed Arsenal keeper Aaron Ramsdale for £25 million.
Wolves have signed Brazilian midfielder Andre from Fluminense for £21 million.
Crystal Palace have signed French defender Maxence Lacroix from Wolfsburg for £21 million.
Sam Johnstone has joined Wolves from Crystal Palace for £10 million.
Man United have finally confirmed the signing of Manuel Ugarte from PSG for an initial £42 million.
James Ward-Prowse has joined Nottingham Forest from West Ham on loan
Neto has joined Arsenal from Bournemouth on loan.

The window has shut and I think those were the main deals that have been done today, we are still waiting on news of a few more:

The Sterling and Sancho saga is coming to an end, Raheem Sterling is joining Arsenal from Chelsea on loan and Jadon Sancho is joining Chelsea from Man United on loan with an option to buy of around £30 million.

ivan Toney is set to join Al-Ahli from Brentford for £40 million and he has passed a medical, still waiting for a few loan moves to be completed including Chalobah from Chelsea to Palace, Nelson from Arsenal to Fulham and Broja from Chelsea to Everton.

 

[Famine]

Oh I think we need special mention of this one:

Jay Stansfield: Blues break League One record to buy Fulham's Stansfield

Birmingham City smash the League One transfer record to buy Fulham's Jay Stansfield for an eight-figure fee on a seven-year deal.

www.bbc.co.uk

That's a single, £10m transfer in League One, as part of a club's £25m summer spending.

Football is cooked.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Previous League One record was £4 million...

 

[Omnis]

ivan Toney is set to join Al-Ahli from Brentford for £40 million and he has passed a medical, still waiting for a few loan moves to be completed including Chalobah from Chelsea to Palace, Nelson from Arsenal to Fulham and Broja from Chelsea to Everton.

That's insane. Didn't they have an offer on the table for Osimhen?

Mbappe should have taken the $1 billion offer to play in the sandbox for one year. He'd still be in the same spot at Madrid.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Oh I think we need special mention of this one:

Jay Stansfield: Blues break League One record to buy Fulham's Stansfield

Birmingham City smash the League One transfer record to buy Fulham's Jay Stansfield for an eight-figure fee on a seven-year deal.

www.bbc.co.uk

That's a single, £10m transfer in League One, as part of a club's £25m summer spending.

Football is cooked.

Mad, Liverpool bought Chiesa for the same fee from Juventus.

 

[Famine]

Sol Bamba dies aged 39:

Sol Bamba: Ex-Cardiff, Leeds, Hibernian and Middlesbrough defender dies

Former Cardiff City, Leeds United, Hibernian and Middlesbrough defender Sol Bamba has died aged 39.

www.bbc.co.uk

Hadn't played professionally since being release by Middlesbrough at the end of 2021-2022 - and missed the back end of 2020-2021 with Cardiff due to undergoing chemotherapy for Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

 

[Omnis]

Everton…

 

[Jimlaad43]

Everton…

Context?

 

[MagpieRacer]

Context?

2-0 up in the 87th minute and managed to lose 2-3 to Bournemouth.

 

[Liquid]

Oh I think we need special mention of this one:

Jay Stansfield: Blues break League One record to buy Fulham's Stansfield

Birmingham City smash the League One transfer record to buy Fulham's Jay Stansfield for an eight-figure fee on a seven-year deal.

www.bbc.co.uk

That's a single, £10m transfer in League One, as part of a club's £25m summer spending.

Football is cooked.

I don't want anybody badmouthing oil rich Wrexham's spending ever again.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Man City's hearing into the 115 alleged charges for breaching the Premier League's financial rules will finally begin on Monday.

 

[Famine]

Man City's hearing into the 115 alleged charges for breaching the Premier League's financial rules will finally begin on Monday.

Not a minute too soon.

 

[Famine]

While everyone's looking at Bayern Munich's 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb, a much funnier record was set in the EFL Cup tonight:

Preston North End 1-1 Fulham (Preston North End win 16-15 on penalties)

Amazingly, both teams missed kick #9, and both keepers scored their penalties.

 

[Liquid]

@Famine Plymouth are ahead of Wednesday in the table. What's going on?

 

[Famine]

@Famine Plymouth are ahead of Wednesday in the table. What's going on?

Last week the ref let a QPR player literally sit on our keeper for ten seconds while they League Twoed it in, this week the ref didn't give us a penalty for handball, gave Luton a penalty for not handball (and sent Dishon Bernard off for not handballing it), then didn't give yet another handball against their guy who scored the second.

It's getting to be as bollocks as that time the ref watched a replay off an Ipswich fan's phone and changed his mind.

Also we had three absolutely horrendous performances against Leeds, Millwall, and Sunderland.

 

[Liquid]

Last week the ref let a QPR player literally sit on our keeper for ten seconds while they League Twoed it in

Oh, that was against you? It was dreadful. Like watching the 1990s.

 

[Famine]

The referee didn't have clear line of sight of either of these, because Yan Valery is in the way, but he's given one as a handball and sent Dishon Bernard off for it.

Penis

Shoulder

Ref's position

Bernard's opinion...

And then he does have clear line of sight as Morris controls it with his whole forearm and lets it go as Morris scores the second.

Absolutely shocking officiating.

 

[Omnis]

Speaking of shocking, did you see Lisandro Martinez's double-foot stomp challenge vs Kamada of Crystal Palace? I can't believe he didn't get a red card. Someone needed to go punch the **** out of his face and send him off in an ambulance if the ref isn't going to do it. That doesn't belong in the sport. He is absolute scum. Man U have the most antipatico Argentines in the entire world of football.

 

[DK]

The last time I felt a gutpunch like that while watching sport was listening to David Crock portray the 2021 British GP as a glorious, Proper British underdog triumphing against all odds.

 

[Famine]

Don't know why you'd pick a fight with Haaland. He'll animate your bathtub and set in on your kids, run you over with a train, and then trap you in a painting.

 

[Liquid]

100 goals in 105 games.
73 league goals in 71 games.

You do have to take everything Man City do with more than a pinch of salt but Haaland is a seriously impressive player and that's putting it mildly.

For all the talk by some in England about "farmers leagues", he's made the Premier League a complete joke.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

He is also a complete ****house.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

Carabao Cup Fourth Round Draw.

Brentford v Sheffield Wednesday
Southampton v Stoke
Spurs v Man City
AFC Wimbledon/Newcastle v Chelsea
Man United v Leicester
Brighton v Liverpool
Preston v Arsenal
Aston Villa v Crystal Palace

Ties will be played week commencing October 28th.

The Wimbledon-Newcastle game was postponed due to Wimbledon's pitch getting ruined by flooding which in turn was caused by torrential rain. The game will be played at St James's Park next week.