CL:The joke.

Oh dear,oh dear...What can i say excepted "i told you my english friends"?

I can hear you :"Arnaud,what is your problem with the actual CL ? in our opinions it is a great cup with all the best clubs in the world.If you critic this CL it's simply cos you are bitter cos french clubs are sh!t and this cup is a proof that the english league is the best in Europe"

Arnaud:" Oh dear...so youngs and already brainwashed by medias propaganda!"

I told you many times this CL is a joke simply cos the rules are unfair.Who are the clubs in the quarter finals ? MU,Chelsea,Liverpool,Roma,Milan,PSV,Bayern,Valencia.

3 english clubs,2 italians,1 spanish,dutch(already eliminated) and german/And who are the countries who cheat the more ? England,Italy and Spain!

That's the thing amazing.You tell us it's normal to see a lot of clubs from England/Spain/Italy in this CL cos it is great for the level of this cup and if the other leagues want to have more clubs involved so they just must have better results.But it's nonsence! The hypocrisie is to say the rules are fair.
Nah my friends, the truth is that England have only 4 "big" teams and they have...4 tickets for this CL! Same thing for Spain and Italy.So then it is not a surprise to see them all in the last 16.There is only 1 big club in France/Holland and Germany and we have only 2/3 CL tickets! How do you want us to compete when we have less big clubs and less CL tickets ?

I hope you have noticed i'm not saying english league is better than french league.I'm just saying in England there are only 4 big clubs and all have a CL place 100%sure every seasons (considering they win a lot of money every years with the CL the difference between the top 4 and the rest will be bigger years after years with the actual system.Who are the top 4 in England at the moment:MU,Chelsea,Arsenal,Liverpool..pfff!what a surprise).

Let's hope Platini will change the rules soon (i heard 2008-2009).I'm fed up to be considered as "jealous" or "bitter" and i'm fed up to see average premiership games in CL just cos they cheat.They are even protected in group stage...MU and co can't play vs big teams!

Ridiculous CL.

Nice avatar Arnaud.

Parks lives wrote:Nice avatar Arnaud.

Waddle's a legend Park mate Marseille fans considere him as their second best player ever after Papin(Waddle played only 3 years there).Cantona too played for them but he was average.

Btw who said the french french and the english aren't friends ?

I agree.
Money speaks at the end of the day ..

How can the other leagues and their teams compete ?
- keep themselves to themselves ?

Platini has suggested that .. he will limit the teams from the so called 'BIG 3' from 4 teams to 3

Waddle seems more appreciated in France than he is in England.

As for Cantona, behind all the act he was supposed to be a very normal bloke, going down the pub with the rest of the players after games etc.

If it will stop the endless whining then please platini give france, holland and germany 3 CL places each, and then we'll see most of them get knocked out at the group stages every year.

I wonder what the excuse will be then?

Rai Krol wrote:I agree.
Money speaks at the end of the day ..

How can the other leagues and their teams compete ?
- keep themselves to themselves ?

Platini has suggested that .. he will limit the teams from the so called 'BIG 3' from 4 teams to 3

But that's not enough Rai mate.Who the hell are they to impose unfair rules like that ? 1Cl ticket for every champions from all the european countries that's normal.Maybe 2 from every league,why not ? but 4 english clubs all protected in group stage and only 1/2/3 not protected for the rest that's CHEAT.

I can't believe some posters critic Platini...All he is saying is that he rules are sh!t and things must change.The fact he won the uefa presidence is just a proof that the CL is a joke.

Since 2000 this trophy is nonsence.

110% wrote:If it will stop the endless whining then please platini give france, holland and germany 3 CL places each, and then we'll see most of them get knocked out at the group stages every year.

I wonder what the excuse will be then?

It was the case BEFORE 2000/2001 and english clubs were average with 2 clubs.Arsenal had a lot of problems to qualify for the quarter cos they weren't protected in group stage.Your argument is nonsence

@ Arnuad

Should we go back to the old Format

1 team per nation

This will make sides in the Premiership for example compete for the no 1

and have straight knockouts from Round 1

The BIG nations are all seeded so don't face each other ..

Rai Krol wrote:@ Arnuad

Should we go back to the old Format

1 team per nation

This will make sides in the Premiership for example compete for the no 1

and have straight knockouts from Round 1

The BIG nations are all seeded so don't face each other ..

All this sh!t in CL cos the uefa wasn't generous enough with the C2 and the C3.It was better with these 3 cups.Now uefa is a joke (who cares nowadays about it ?) and it all about the CL ! We all want the 3 cups back.Uefa just have to give more money to the C2 and C3 winners and i'm sure this cup could be interresting again.Unfortunately it will not be the case...The swedish guy killed the euro footie.

All i'm saying is that he rules should be the same for EVERYONE.I hate this protection for big clubs in group satge you can't imagine...

I can't see what you're arguing about Arnaud - its not just the English; its Spain and italy as well but you phrase it so that its an attack purely aimed at the english.

Its just a simple fact that Italy, Spain and England have better leagues - that is why we get allocated more spots and that is why the teams invariably dominate the latter stages of the CL - that and the fact that the three leagues have the biggest fan interest from around the world.

If you're so concerned about equality then why aren't you campaigning for the Belorusian, Lithuianian and finish leagues?

The Dutch are the same, its always about their own league, always personal interest

Should they bring back the Cup Winners Cup as well Arnaud?

I think this years UEFA Cup is very strong. Spurs, Sevilla, Werder Bremen etc could all hold there own with Europe's elite.

110% wrote:If it will stop the endless whining then please platini give france, holland and germany 3 CL places each, and then we'll see most of them get knocked out at the group stages every year.

I wonder what the excuse will be then?

These days, Germany have two guaranteed CL spots (1. and 2. in the league), and one CL qualification spot (3.). In the years since we lost our third guaranteed spot, Bundesliga clubs coming third in the league have almost always qualified for the CL (only one exception), so we basically always had 3 German clubs playing in the CL. So what's your point?

In these years, you had clubs like Bayer Leverkusen playing in the final. And others like Werder almost always qualified for the 2nd round. Bundesliga clubs probably should have done better than that, but having a third guaranteed spot will not exactly change anything in this respect.

Cesc wrote:Should they bring back the Cup Winners Cup as well Arnaud?

I think this years UEFA Cup is very strong. Spurs, Sevilla, Werder Bremen etc could all hold there own with Europe's elite.

Spurs could compete with Milan, Inter, Barca etc?!?!

200th post

You can say what you want but i've been calm,well educated and probably one of the best posters around.Don't praise me i already know i'm great

Cesc wrote:Should they bring back the Cup Winners Cup as well Arnaud?

I think this years UEFA Cup is very strong. Spurs, Sevilla, Werder Bremen etc could all hold there own with Europe's elite.

Spurs V Sevilla I honestly think could go down as one of the greatest European ties of the last few years, my anticiaption for this game is immeasurable

Arnaud newcastle used to play in the CL until they started injuring all their players in training and getting crap managers. Two seasons ago, Everton finished 4th, last season Spurs would have finished 4th if they didnt get food posioning on the last day of the season. So its not that clear cut.

French league is rubbish mate, Lyon (by far the best team in France) got knocked out by the 5th best team in Italy. In fact are there an French teams still playing Europe?

Yesterdays game (PSV v Liverpool) would be a regular occurance if you let more teams from weaker leagues into it. They would be cannon fodder and it would be easier for the rest of the top teams to win it.

The CL generates millions of viewers because, neutral fans want to see the best players in the world, we dont care if they all come from 3 leagues. If you want to watch all the nations in Europe watch the Euro qualifiers, the Cl is for the elite players, if you want sentimental football watch the 3rd round of the FA cup.

Another thing SKY/ITV wont pay to watch to small teams from eastern Europe play each other, I can tell you that now.

Arnaud instead of complainng about England and the CL you should worry about your domestic league, were one team has won it constantly for the past 5 years and will continue to do so.

Arnaud is beautiful wrote:Oh dear,oh dear...What can i say excepted "i told you my english friends"?

I can hear you :"Arnaud,what is your problem with the actual CL ? in our opinions it is a great cup with all the best clubs in the world.If you critic this CL it's simply cos you are bitter cos french clubs are sh!t and this cup is a proof that the english league is the best in Europe"

Arnaud:" Oh dear...so youngs and already brainwashed by medias propaganda!"

I told you many times this CL is a joke simply cos the rules are unfair.Who are the clubs in the quarter finals ? MU,Chelsea,Liverpool,Roma,Milan,PSV,Bayern,Valencia.

3 english clubs,2 italians,1 spanish,dutch(already eliminated) and german/And who are the countries who cheat the more ? England,Italy and Spain!

That's the thing amazing.You tell us it's normal to see a lot of clubs from England/Spain/Italy in this CL cos it is great for the level of this cup and if the other leagues want to have more clubs involved so they just must have better results.But it's nonsence! The hypocrisie is to say the rules are fair.
Nah my friends, the truth is that England have only 4 "big" teams and they have...4 tickets for this CL! Same thing for Spain and Italy.So then it is not a surprise to see them all in the last 16.There is only 1 big club in France/Holland and Germany and we have only 2/3 CL tickets! How do you want us to compete when we have less big clubs and less CL tickets ?

I hope you have noticed i'm not saying english league is better than french league.I'm just saying in England there are only 4 big clubs and all have a CL place 100%sure every seasons (considering they win a lot of money every years with the CL the difference between the top 4 and the rest will be bigger years after years with the actual system.Who are the top 4 in England at the moment:MU,Chelsea,Arsenal,Liverpool..pfff!what a surprise).

Let's hope Platini will change the rules soon (i heard 2008-2009).I'm fed up to be considered as "jealous" or "bitter" and i'm fed up to see average premiership games in CL just cos they cheat.They are even protected in group stage...MU and co can't play vs big teams!

Ridiculous CL.

Arnaud you talk alot of sense here! I am glad you are back so I am not alone on this!

My English friends attacked me for being a Dutch fool a few weeks ago when I explained I had my doubts on the current CL, pay system of the UEFA and the advantage the big three always get!

Rez, a 2/3 years ago the gap between the top 4 and the rest wasn't so big. Now the clubs in the CL get so much money the rest can't compete. We won't see the top 4 change for a long long time IMO, unless there's some BIG changes behind the scenes at Newcastle - The only club IMO that has the infrastructure to compete financially.

Rez wrote:Arnaud newcastle used to play in the CL until they started injuring all their players in training and getting crap managers. Two seasons ago, Everton finished 4th, last season Spurs would have finished 4th if they didnt get food posioning on the last day of the season. So its not that clear cut.



French league is rubbish mate, Lyon (by far the best team in France) got knocked out by the 5th best team in Italy. In fact are there an French teams still playing Europe?



Yesterdays game (PSV v Liverpool) would be a regular occurance if you let more teams from weaker leagues into it. They would be cannon fodder and it would be easier for the rest of the top teams to win it.



The CL generates millions of viewers because, neutral fans want to see the best players in the world, we dont care if they all come from 3 leagues. If you want to watch all the nations in Europe watch the Euro qualifiers, the Cl is for the elite players, if you want sentimental football watch the 3rd round of the FA cup.



Another thing SKY/ITV wont pay to watch to small teams from eastern Europe play each other, I can tell you that now.



Arnaud instead of complainng about England and the CL you should worry about your domestic league, were one team has won it constantly for the past 5 years and will continue to do so.

Stop talking bullshit kimbo!

You spend roughly the same as we do every season, back 5 years ago the situation was exactly the same as it is now, the only difference was that Newcastle were one of the big four and you weren't kicking up a fuss.

Season on season spurs and yourselves both spend big in the transfer market.

Kimbo wrote:Rez, a 2/3 years ago the gap between the top 4 and the rest wasn't so big. Now the clubs in the CL get so much money the rest can't compete. We won't see the top 4 change for a long long time IMO, unless there's some BIG changes behind the scenes at Newcastle - The only club IMO that has the infrastructure to compete financially.

Arnaud is beautiful wrote:

110% wrote:If it will stop the endless whining then please platini give france, holland and germany 3 CL places each, and then we'll see most of them get knocked out at the group stages every year.

I wonder what the excuse will be then?

It was the case BEFORE 2000/2001 and english clubs were average with 2 clubs.Arsenal had a lot of problems to qualify for the quarter cos they weren't protected in group stage.Your argument is nonsence

The English league was weak in the 90s but it is very strong now, and arsenal have no idea how to play in Europe, so your point is nonsense.

I don't doubt that with 3 clubs each in the CL from EPL, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Holland, Portugal etc plus everyone else, we'd still end up with maybe a majority of teams from EPL, Spain and Italy going through to the quarter final stages, just because those teams/leagues are stronger, especially in the group stages.

You should realise that the CL money is not the only source of income for the top clubs, so thinking that with more CL money those other teams will be able to compete is also nonsense.

Rez wrote:Arnaud newcastle used to play in the CL until they started injuring all their players in training and getting crap managers. Two seasons ago, Everton finished 4th, last season Spurs would have finished 4th if they didnt get food posioning on the last day of the season. So its not that clear cut.



French league is rubbish mate, Lyon (by far the best team in France) got knocked out by the 5th best team in Italy. In fact are there an French teams still playing Europe?



Yesterdays game (PSV v Liverpool) would be a regular occurance if you let more teams from weaker leagues into it. They would be cannon fodder and it would be easier for the rest of the top teams to win it.



The CL generates millions of viewers because, neutral fans want to see the best players in the world, we dont care if they all come from 3 leagues. If you want to watch all the nations in Europe watch the Euro qualifiers, the Cl is for the elite players, if you want sentimental football watch the 3rd round of the FA cup.



Another thing SKY/ITV wont pay to watch to small teams from eastern Europe play each other, I can tell you that now.



Arnaud instead of complainng about England and the CL you should worry about your domestic league, were one team has won it constantly for the past 5 years and will continue to do so.

I can't believe Lennart Johannson forgot to ask you to be his assistant.You're comments are so biased Rez mate it's incredible !

You talk to me about sky sports:Great.
In France we have TF1 (biggest channel in Europe cos +10 millions peopel watch it every nights,record in Europe).Well do you think TF1 enjoy to show us at 21h CL games with Liverpool vs Milan and co ? i don't think so.The french want to see the french clubs and i hiope you can understand that.TF1 is furious to see Lyon is out of the CL simply cos it means less people in France will watch their channel.

Perso i don't see the difference between a club from Ukraine and one from England.When Kiev was amazing some years ago with Sheva and Rebrov i was a huge fan of them and imo a lot of persons were like me.

Last point:French league is complicate to understand and yes all our clubs are out in Europe.But with the actual rules it means nothing about the quality of this league.

Tweedle wrote:Stop talking bullshit kimbo!

You spend roughly the same as we do every season, back 5 years ago the situation was exactly the same as it is now, the only difference was that Newcastle were one of the big four and you weren't kicking up a fuss.

Season on season spurs and yourselves both spend big in the transfer market.

Kimbo wrote:Rez, a 2/3 years ago the gap between the top 4 and the rest wasn't so big. Now the clubs in the CL get so much money the rest can't compete. We won't see the top 4 change for a long long time IMO, unless there's some BIG changes behind the scenes at Newcastle - The only club IMO that has the infrastructure to compete financially.

Yes but we're badly run Tweedle, we've been through this already and i've proved that the financial gap is widening - it's not the same as it was 5 years ago aswell, 5 years ago we were on par with Liverpool financially, but not any more and that's down to Pools CL money. It's not just transfer fees either, it's wages, scouting networks etc(we only have 1 full time scout), you have more money to spend in these areas. IF a club did close the gap(unlikely) then Arsenal could easily go out and have a spending spree to solidify there position in the top 4.

110% wrote:

Arnaud is beautiful wrote:

110% wrote:If it will stop the endless whining then please platini give france, holland and germany 3 CL places each, and then we'll see most of them get knocked out at the group stages every year.

I wonder what the excuse will be then?

It was the case BEFORE 2000/2001 and english clubs were average with 2 clubs.Arsenal had a lot of problems to qualify for the quarter cos they weren't protected in group stage.Your argument is nonsence

The English league was weak in the 90s but it is very strong now, and arsenal have no idea how to play in Europe, so your point is nonsense.

I don't doubt that with 3 clubs each in the CL from EPL, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Holland, Portugal etc plus everyone else, we'd still end up with maybe a majority of teams from EPL, Spain and Italy going through to the quarter final stages, just because those teams/leagues are stronger, especially in the group stages.

You should realise that the CL money is not the only source of income for the top clubs, so thinking that with more CL money those other teams will be able to compete is also nonsense.

No, but is the biggest source of income. And where is the competition in the league? In Spain, Italy or England the 4 spot takes you to the CL. So you only have to finish 4th in the league. Why would fight to win the championship? What difference does it make (financially) if you win it? Platini is right. 3 teams from the top 3 country’s should be enough. And the champions from country’s ranked 1 to 16 direct access in the CL. No QR bullshit.

Yo Arnaud, I know what you mean. The EPL is basically 4 very good teams which happen to be among the richest clubs in the world. Their stranglehold in the league will only get better as the other teams have little to no chance of cracking the top four in the near future or worse ever. Sounds pretty much like a monarchy, the "haves" and the "haves not" doesn't it. They need a "revolution" of sorts for a change. Do they have the balls?

History says NO emphatically, so it'll be a French guy of course to do the revolution to help the "have nots" in the EPL.

La Liga, Serie A also have very good clubs at the top, but those leagues have strength in depth as well. Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Superliga, Eredivisie aren't too shabby either. Imagine if they had half the money the big 4 from the EPL enjoy.

UEFA had to give the top leagues 4 places each in the competition for they were gonna start their own league otherwise. We shall see how Platini carries his revolution. If there's a place in NEED of a revolution it is England. It's ALWAYS the same teams.

Kimbo wrote:

Yes but we're badly run Tweedle, we've been through this already and i've proved that the financial gap is widening - it's not the same as it was 5 years ago aswell, 5 years ago we were on par with Liverpool financially, but not any more and that's down to Pools CL money. It's not just transfer fees either, it's wages, scouting networks etc(we only have 1 full time scout), you have more money to spend in these areas. IF a club did close the gap(unlikely) then Arsenal could easily go out and have a spending spree to solidify there position in the top 4.

Of course CL money has a part to play but the top 4 have only remained the top 4 largely because of the incompetance of any other club to mount a serious challenge.

Spurs look as though they may well do soon - as they have the technical background now and have made investments in young players as well as proven class.

In contrast Newcastle have bought poorly year on year now for about 4 seasons -you can't just expect one of the top 4 to hand you a CL spot on a plate - you have to get there through buying the right players and playing winning football, neither of which the toon seem capable of managing. Jesus christ! year on year people comment on how poor the Newcastle defence is but what ever gets done about it? sweet FA...

Puro wrote:Yo Arnaud, I know what you mean. The EPL is basically 4 very good teams which happen to be among the richest clubs in the world. Their stranglehold in the league will only get better as the other teams have little to no chance of cracking the top four in the near future or worse ever. Sounds pretty much like a monarchy, the "haves" and the "haves not" doesn't it. They need a "revolution" of sorts for a change. Do they have the balls?

History says NO emphatically, so it'll be a French guy of course to do the revolution to help the "have nots" in the EPL.

La Liga, Serie A also have very good clubs at the top, but those leagues have strength in depth as well. Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Superliga, Eredivisie aren't too shabby either. Imagine if they had half the money the big 4 from the EPL enjoy.

UEFA had to give the top leagues 4 places each in the competition for they were gonna start their own league otherwise. We shall see how Platini carries his revolution. If there's a place in NEED of a revolution it is England. It's ALWAYS the same teams.

Jesus, someone else sees it.

Parks lives wrote:Waddle seems more appreciated in France than he is in England.

Also in Holland I think.

He makes my list of 5 favourite English players of all time.

Technically gifted with vision to boot : my type of player and a joy to watch

Puro wrote:La Liga, Serie A also have very good clubs at the top, but those leagues have strength in depth as well. Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Superliga, Eredivisie aren't too shabby either. Imagine if they had half the money the big 4 from the EPL enjoy.

Laughable puro.

EPL has far more strength in depth than Serie A

Waddle was great He is one of my favourite English players just like John Barnes. It is beyond me why people hated him in England!