Possibly. I seem to recall that at this same time last year, Ajax was in a similar position--dead last. They did not get relegated.
Sure, but Ajax has money and talent though, two things Valencia lacks. Valencia has been the Spanish Everton for a few years now. Survived relegation on the final day two seasons ago, dead last now. Second worst offense in the league, and a bottom 1/3 defense. And a coach that has an iffy résumé, at best. Oh, and an owner that is actively sabotaging his own club. It’s not like he’s gonna relocate them like Precourt, so I have no idea what his motivation is. On one hand, I would welcome relegation as possibly the only way to get Lim to leave the club. On the other hand, with the club’s debt, I wonder if Valencia would turn into a club like Zaragoza, a club with a ton of history, big stadium, and big fanbase that gets relegated and stays in the second division for over a decade. Basically a Spanish Leeds. It’s a total shitshow.
I can relate--my Gladbach has had it's own difficulties, but the team is at least decently run, most of the time. Just can't compete on the same level as the teams with money. When we do, they just buy all of our top players.
I’d kill for an owner that simply liked his own club and wanted them to do well, even if he sucked at running things. Right now we have a literal Precourt, and his daughter has said on social media that (paraphrasing, but accurate) that the fans suck and are ungrateful and that if her family wants to run the team into the ground they will because they own it and can do whatever they want. Not exactly what you wanna hear from the owner’s family in a public comment. Edit: not the original Tweet from Kim Lim, because she deleted it, but here is a screen grab. 1278535784992309249 is not a valid tweet id
Wow. Mind you, in the US, that's true to some extent. But in Europe, where teams really were clubs, with clubhouses and members and everything, that's ,at the least, insensitive and insulting. That's changed to some extent due to many/most clubs spinning off their teams as separate corporations to avoid financial issues, but wow. These teams would not exist were it not for the original clubs and members.
The thing is, they aren’t winning, they aren’t making money, the club is getting worse, we have two stadiums (the second of which has remained half built for Lim’s entire tenure)… I just don’t understand what his purpose is at this point besides sabotage out of spite due to weekly protests against him. The La Liga will go away with relegation, which I hope means he sells. It’s risky, but it’s the club’s only chance.
A Valencian couple on their honeymoon were recently arrested in Singapore (where Lim is from) and had their passports confiscated after committing the crime of… placing a “Lim Out” sticker on the outside wall of a hotel he owns. They were eventually released and put on the first available flight back to Spain. Needless to say, this didn’t go down well in Valencia with the fans, or the local government who hates Lim as well. Valencia got a 1-1 draw today with fellow relegation candidate Getafe and now are tied dead last in terms of goals scored, and are still dead last in the table on points. Ugh.
The following lower-level English teams advanced to the first round of the FA Cup: Alfreton Town 6 Brackley Town 6 Chesham United 6 Curzon Ashton 6 Gainsborough Trinity 7 Guiseley 7 Harborough Town 8 Hednesford 8 Horsham 7 Kettering Town 8 Maidstone United 6 Rushall Olympic 6 Scarborough Athletic 6 Tonbridge Angels 6 Weston-Super-Mare 6 Worthing 6
I turned on the Real Madrid v AC Milan UEFA CL match right as the hymn was playing. I saw the name "Dee Haslam" on the caption. I'm like: "What is she doing being mentioned? Is this some juicy rumor about to go down?" Then I realized it was probably typical captioning during the "These are the Champions" lyrics being interpreted.
The following lower level clubs advanced to the second round of the FA Cup: Brackley Town 6 Gainsborough Trinity 7 Harborough Town 8 Kettering Town 8
Ref actually called a backpass in the box in the Chelsea/Villa game. First time I've ever seen it called - wow!
And I have to say... I'm not convinced. In order for it to be a violation, it has to be considered an intentional PASS to the keeper. Nine times out of ten, if there's even a shred of doubt as to what the defender intended to do, the referees let it go. This player took a controlling touch, but didn't necessarily pass it to the keeper. Personally, and I've been saying this for years, I'd take all the subjectivity out of the Law and say that any intentional play with the foot or leg puts it off-limits for the keeper to pick it up. As the Law is currently interpreted, this is as nebulous as it gets.
I was watching the game live and thought it was a pass back immediately. Problem is the “controlling touch” was a one-touch pass. I get how it could be interpreted both ways, but with Chelsea playing a high press it was pretty obviously a pass back.
Two things--and I'm not sure where the second should go. First, CBS is showing Serie A games--and there's one on Channel 10 this morning. Second, I discovered thru my Gladbach team that there's a site auctioning off match worn shirts--called matchwornshirt.com. They have a large number of teams participating. Shirts usually go up the week after a match. The interesting thing is that they had a Black Friday deal this year--they put up a bunch of jerseys from a number of teams. So, I actually was able to snare one from the Fiorentina game I went to this April as well as an Vitesse from last year (though not to the match we went to). The coolest part was, however, that they added a bonus jersey to each order. So, I open the first one and can see the second shirt underneath. I though to myself--those colors look very familiar. Against all odds it was a Gladbach shirt. From their 2BL women's team, but still. Amazing surprise. The other was from FC Eindhoven in the Dutch second division.That deal ended on Monday. They have other deals running at the moment, however.
Bayern Munich is retiring a number: 5 for Franz Beckenbauer. German teams just don't so this, but in this case it is appropriate on so many levels.
This just happened in the Liga Mx semi-final second leg between Cruz Azul and Club America. No look Golazo. 1865944121950527622 is not a valid tweet id