I'll call your 1 Spaniard and raise you 2 English saying the Spanish league is the best. And they don't work in Spain to sway their opinion. I guess that totally settles it then. The arguments I read here.
Why should they spend a ridiculous money like that for one player when they have a massive debt? Their debt was 300 million euros in 2009. I doubt they've paid it off for 3 years. That's why I think it is unfair advantage over the other teams.
While I agree that they shouldn't have been allowed to spend that money on anything other than clearing their debts, I don't see how this shows an advantage over English clubs when I read things like "Premier League clubs owe 56% of Europe's debt"
Well he said it last week in a post match interview. I doubt he thought Wigan would spare firing him by saying it or he'd get a favourable review. He was often on Spanish football on Sky until he was a manager, and was always saying how strong La Liga is, he's not biased. He was under no obligation to say it or even asked.
You do realise they write for the Daily Mirror, a cheap tabloid paper It's just as interested as showing a pair of tits as football This is the paper that ran the racist Anti German crap in Euro 96 for gods sake. "Mirror declares war on Germany" They are saying it purely based on European results and know nothing about La Liga outside of Barcelona and Madrid. Martinez was a Spanish football pundit and has played the game. Quality 1 Quantity 0
ESPN hired him over here in the States for their 2010 World Cup coverage and he received great reviews. I personally enjoyed his insights and commentary the most. So I am familiar with him. Nevertheless... Since he is still employed by a Premier League club it's in his best interest to prop them up when he's able to. I'd think one would be hard pressed to find one current Premier League coach/manager state that La Liga is the stronger of the two. Lisewise it would probably be tough to find a coach in La Liga say that the Premier League is better/stronger (except maybe Mourinho).
I just dont want to see any club spend more than what they have. I dont care if they are English or Spanish.
You obviously haven't met Enrique Cerezo, Miguel Angel Gil Marin, and Jesus Garcia Pitarch, I assume. These three have created a mess of this club in the last two or three years, they really have gone about their business in a poor manner. Signing Falcao for so much and the way they have dealt with the non-EU spots in the squad are just some of their big errors. There's countless more, of course.
The point was more that it's ridiculous to gauge a league's quality by "he said so", wether he's Spanish or not. Especially when you have a co-efficient which is based on results and fact rather than opinion. ¿What's wrong with anti German racism?
Martinez is a very intelligent man who's played the game and knows more about La Liga than ANY English pundit, journalist, or manager. That's why his opinion weighs more than most. I didn't say it's fact. The EPL has been top of the Co-efficient for a long time. A large chunk of Spain becoming top is because of Barcelona. No other Spanish team has been in the final since 2001. Germans are constantly moaning about British TV and papers for going on about the war and making jokes about Germans, such as on Top Gear, Q.I etc They can't take a joke
That may very well be, but is opinion matters as much as the one from the dog of my neighbours in this case. Why should I care what the coach from Wigan thinks when I have a co-efficent based on results that says otherwise? Fact being if only 1 Spanish team were doing good in Europe, no chance we'd be #1 in the co-efficient. Multiple Spanish teams have been doing good in Europe and soon once again, like used to be the norm, better than any other league based on 5 seasons. In the last 5 years Spain has won 4 Euro trophies divided by 3 clubs. I can see why you're only going for the CL since Spanish clubs have actually won the UEFA Cup within that time, twice. Reality is that only 1 English club has won 1 CL (or any Euro prize for that matter) within those 5 years. Whereas 1 Spanish team has won that one as well, twice. Better.
Yes, but they have the largest impact by far. England has never been dominating in the Europa league and Uefa Cup since 2001 yet still managed to top the Co-efficients. I think Portugal has a better record than England, although I'd have to check.
They have the largest impact for England. The current rankings include Atletico reaching a UEFA final in 2010. So to say no Spanish team has reached a final since 2001......
Fulham also reached the final that year by the way. Italy and Germany both have an even worse Uefa Cup record than England interestingly. So that has helped too. Italy went from totally dominating it in the 90's to zero finalists since. No German winners either since 97.
The top 5 Spanish teams sans Barcelona were in the Europa League finals while the Top 5 English teams were in the Champions League finals. That's why there are more "trophies"
Fulham were not even a strong team that year, it's a miracle they got to the final. Liverpool would have beaten them in the final too. 3 English teams and Celtic and Rangers have all lost the final.
Didn't the top 2 English sides end up in the Europa League this season, and there were still 0 "trophies"?
Man City collapsed in the league at the same time as the Sporting Games and have been on the slide since christmas. Ballotelli represents everything wrong with them. They are an emotional spoilt flawed genius that self implodes. It is strange considering they destroyed a far better portuguese team Porto 6-1. It depends what side of the bed they wake up on. Man Utd had a terrible season in Europe from day 1, I don't know why. Maybe complacency after 3 previous finals and ageing players.
And why is it important to bring Celtic and Rangers into the discussion, I ask to someone who calls himself thepremierleague?
Serie A used to be #1 in the 80s and 90s. La liga was #1 from the late 90s to the late 2000s. The EPL has ONLY been #1 for the past 4 years. http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/season=2007/index.html Overall, the league that has been #1 the most number of times is La liga with a total of 15 years. I think Serie A follows with 13.