Who is glad Italian teams are struggling financially and on the pitch

[AmoebaCulture]

it would be great to see the Serie-A to become a 3rd rate league. Once that happens we'lll just blame Canada-of course the Italians have no fault in this like how they were not to blame when they lost to a few 2nd tier teams the past few months.

P.S I would love to see Totti's diving skills here in the K-League.

[Mattbro]

Originally posted by BrianCappellieri


But is Tirol truely the same club? They merged with another club and now have a different name. There is hardly difference between the situation of Tirol and Fiorentina.

Brian Cappellieri, I remain in awe of your knowledge. My understanding is that they would have had to change their name anyway. The merger has resulted in the name the club has now, but it would have had to change the name anyway. A good example is Olafgb's FC Gütersloh. They went bankrupt and had to change their name to FC Gütersloh 2000 (the year the club reformed). This makes no sense to me. Whom is this supposed to penalize? Any way, you slice it, the name change erases a certain amount of the club's tradition, and it's the fans who suffer.

[AFCA]

I don't mind when a club that I dislike for any reason is in trouble. But an actual bankruptcy is indeed an inconceivable drama for the supporters.

[SportBoy321]

As a French soccer fan I hope all the big Italian teams go down the toilet. Italy and all their clubs are our enemies I hope they continue to do bad. If they continue to flounder in Europe and waste money we will seize the oppurtunity.

[Mattbro]

Wow, thank you for your valuable insight sportboy. I'd be careful, though: you've been living in a glass house since the World Cup.

[Boro_lad]

i think a lot of people are being very short sighted, ok if italian teams did go away, european championships would be easier for you teams..blah blah....

But that would reduce the credibility of the tournament that one of the 4 big contributers is no longer supplying top quality teams. I think that would be shame for football in general.

[skipshady]

Originally posted by SportBoy321
As a French soccer fan I hope all the big Italian teams go down the toilet. Italy and all their clubs are our enemies I hope they continue to do bad. If they continue to flounder in Europe and waste money we will seize the oppurtunity. As a soccer fan, I hope you go down the toilet.

[SportBoy321]

According to you I'm not allowed to hate certain soccer clubs and national teams. Why don't we all hold hands and hug one another. Skipshady can lead the proceedings.

[skipshady]

Originally posted by SportBoy321
According to you I'm not allowed to hate certain soccer clubs and national teams. Why don't we all hold hands and hug one another. Skipshady can lead the proceedings. When did I ever say you can't hate another team? You're free to hate whomever and whatever you want. I grant you permission to wish that your least favorite teams lose all matches from here to eternity. In fact, you can wish that every club you hate goes bankrupt - you don't need my permission, though I appreciate you asking.

But you are a pathetic excuse for a soccer fan when you wish that certain clubs disappear and their fans suffer for the sins of the board members. Ultimately, it's the supporters who define the clubs and they stand to suffer the most.

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally posted by skipshady
But you are a pathetic excuse for a soccer fan when you wish that certain clubs disappear and their fans suffer for the sins of the board members. Ultimately, it's the supporters who define the clubs and they stand to suffer the most.

Well said. Wanting fans (who ultimately aren't that much different from yourself in terms of their love of the game) to suffer like this is symptomatic of a serious character flaw.

[el_urchinio]

Fans and their unsatiable greed for success are ultimately responsible for financial problems, so I say ******** them. Why should I feel sorry for them.

Lazio is in the midst of a financial crisis, and I for one, couldn't be happier that the fans are suffering. When Lazio was selling star players trying to survive they were protesting, complaining and in some cases resorting to physical violence trying to prevent that. They also forced the club to spend, spend, spend because they couldn't 'cope with the shame of their hated rivals Roma winning the league.'

Serves you ********in' right. All these fans who demand their clubs buy overpriced foreigners and win silverware every year are finally getting what they deserve.

[Boro_lad]

Originally posted by SportBoy321
According to you I'm not allowed to hate certain soccer clubs and national teams. Why don't we all hold hands and hug one another. Skipshady can lead the proceedings.

ok but if these clubs go down you will have no club to hate therefore taking some enjoyment out of the game as rivalries are a huge part of what makes football so good......

[SportBoy321]

Ok I changed my view. I hope they don't go out of business just lose games instead.

[Matt Clark]

Fans and their unsatiable greed for success are ultimately responsible for financial problems, so I say ******** them. Why should I feel sorry for them.

That is nonsense on so many levels, it’s hard to know where to begin.

Why is it that, if the fans complain about the naked greed that exists within the new elite in football (universally originate in the financial world, not the football one) they are called unrealistic stick-in-the-muds who refuse to accept that “football is a business now” and yet, when that self-same naked greed causes the clubs these fans love to fold, it is still their fault?

That is perverted.

No one group within football bears exclusive responsibility for the inflationary spiral that football has been on in the past decade and equally, no one group is wholly blameless for it’s advent. But of all the groups one could choose to target as culpable, the fans of clubs such as Fiorentina, Chelsea, Leeds and the others that have had notable financial problems are the least to blame - if at all.

Take Chelsea for example - £100m in debt and what has most of that money gone on? Well, despite an annual wage bill of over £50m, the vast majority of that cash went on the Chelsea Village, the god-awful, overprized merchandise (CFC-branded Harley, anyone?) and the various other white elephants that Ken “Wembley was just practice” Bates has dreamt up.

And yet the fans are to blame? Even allowing for their apparent support of the club policy that an old Italian is a better investment than a young Englishman, that’s bollocks.

The same goes for Leeds - David O’Leary is given nigh-on £100m to spend by the plc because they think he can deliver annual participation in the Champions League (a return that would see the investment covered in a little over 5 years, just by appearance money alone). What are the fans supposed to say? “No - don’t sign world class players for us to watch week in week out. We’re happy with Rod Wallace and Tony Dorigo” Fans have been financing the ridiculous boom in profits within football for a decade, now we are laying the blame for financial incompetence in Football Club boardrooms at their feet? Jesus - how many people in this country alone have walked away multi-multi-millionaires on the back of paltry investments in football clubs in the last 10 years? How many BILLIONS of pounds have been siphoned out of the game by cynical speculators whose only interest in the clubs they bought in to was their seat at the top table of football’s new feast?

But the fans are to blame because, after all that money, they would quite like to see some decent football and some recompense for their dearly held ambitions for THEIR club.

Utter gobshite.