Platini wants Benelux league (Belgian posters also welcome to join the discussion!)

Kessler is against cause it would effectively cut his power in half, and the little **** won't have any of that.

 

At the site of VI, the poll made it 50/50. heard the arguments of van Basten and they were not bad. The problem/beauty is football culture. Doing such a thing means cutting off a lot of presscious culture, the thing fans try to build week in week out. Much of that will be thrown away. Another problem is the question if it means more money for the clubs. Me, as a consumer of sport, am ambivilant about it. I would like to see a plan worked out to see what it would mean presiscely. What would be the revenues surplus. What would succes mean after completion of the melting of both competitions together.

If they start to build impressive big stadiums at the 3/4 biggest clubs in Belgium, Feyenoord and Ajax at Holland to orgenize the WC, you create an altarnetive argument to play in the new leauge. You will never get the Kaka's, but can make an argument for youngsters to stay 2 more years, and make it attractive for the oldies to return earlier. They will play in a leauge with quite an impressive infrastructure. Something really bigger than you can offer doing it all by your own.

Also, the world is waiting for us. In Scandenavia they are busy to. Now, there are playing a lot of Swedish guys at Holland. When they have a bigger leauge by their own maybe that stops. They will go from that leauge, straight to England.

Well, i would like to have a plan presented, and i want to vote. I pay for TV connection, pay for Sport1/5, pay for football tickets, i am the consumer and want a vote in it.

 

I didnt read through the whole thing.. but if hes going to introduce such things as the Benelux league.. then why not combine the English Premier League and the Scottish Premier League? I personally think its fine as it is.. theres other things in world football which need addressing first.

 

As for the argument that there is hardly any history between Dutch and Belgian football, here is an exception: Between 1909 and 1959 the best players from Antwerpen and Rotterdam were pitted against each other each year to compete for the "Maas en Schelde Beker".

As we are talking about Belgium:

Wow!! What a performance by Stijn Devolder today!!!!

 

Wonderful race -- I actually predicted him to win (and I had Maaskant to finish third, which he almost did).

Anyone other than Boonen, imo.

 

BTW there's a cycling forum with a Spring Classics thread. There's a small core of posters there, but more are always welcome. It should be fairly active this week with Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Paris-Roubaix coming up.

Your thoughts (and those of anyone else interested) would be most welcome over there.

 

NOT A CHANCE LANCE

 

Thanks! I'll take a look!

 

Of course I should have said Ghent-Wevelgem instead of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but we'll be discussing them all.