Are we a giant? If we're not, how close to being one are we?

What's wrong with it?

 

I don't like any fonts other than the one that 99% of the posters use. For pleasing me, you will receive rep. Either that or on your deathbed you will receive total consciousness. Choose wisely.

 

He is a brave one. I never saw anyone talk back to you about the font

 

A little touchy are we?

Why have a text selection when we can only use one? It's clear, it's readable, so I ask again, what's wrong with it?

 

Only after you buy me a drink.

 

Speaking from experience I see.

 

I read that Pepe says Ronaldo needs a step in club class, it hurt but i bet other Latin people think the same, they are the only ethnic group we have yet to crack, if we do that we are undisputed No1 in the football world, but it's going to be a struggle.

 

I also disagree with point 5, and I'll add point 4 to that as well. On point 5, I don't think we have any harder of a time holding onto talent than the Giants. The best players typically bounce around the best clubs during their peak years, and we've have several world class players stay through their careers without being lured to the Italian or Spanish giants.

On point 4, maybe I'm just being thick, but the comparison to Scottish teams that just batter league opponents is beyond the pale (with all due respect to the Scottish league). We've consistently been among the top teams in one of the three top leagues in the world for over a decade. I understand the point being made, but United's league accomplishments should not be dismissed so quickly when assessing the club's giant-hood.

The 2 obvious elements missing in United are (1) consistent Champions League dominance and (2) league longevity.

The first point has been dealt with adequately by other posters, the second bears a little more elaboration. If you look at the winners of La Liga throughout history, the 2 teams who would qualify as true European giants -- Real Madrid and Barcelona -- have been consistently winning and/or topping the tables (with occasional blips, of course) since the 1950s. Contrast that to our uneven league finishes in the decades prior to the 90s. I see us as a young giant -- we're not in the same category of long-lasting and European dominating giant-hood as some of the Spanish or Italian sides, but with more consistent longevity and success in Europe, I think we will be. We're not a young club, but we're young giants.

 

YESS we are a ********ing giant, come on, are u seriously askin this question?

 

Here are few other things to consider. Over the years, English teams typically play more league matches than teams on the Continent. English teams also take their domestic cups much more seriously than they do on the continent. This results in a more grueling schedule for English teams than teams on the Continent. Throw in the fast paced, physical nature of the English game and you get some very tired legs by the time you get to the later stages of the CL.

RM may have won more European Cups, but we are neck and neck with them as the richest club in the world and we have by far the biggest worldwide fanbase. So yes, we are Giants.

 

Thanks i will use that, good point.

 

The answer is easy. Go to a 34 match league schedule. Get rid of the Carling Cup. Put your second team out for the FA cup. Take a month beak in the Winter (right before the knockout stages of the CL.. instead we are playing 5 fixtures over 11 days.) Now all your star players are fit and fresh for the CL run-in.

 

5 matches in 11 days is horsecrap....pure and simple..Why the need for all this?

And what I don't get is the weather down in southern europe isn't as bad as England, yet england has no winter break. Im pretty sure the english aren't gonna change this either just to be like southern europeans.

But I really think this would help...no beef

 

And as fans we love it. You get your football overdose over the holidays.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't trade Christmas football for anything. It's one of the best parts of the season.

 

Besides, are there any giants left out there nowdays? Seems all the teams that do well in Europe are out of contention locally by January, and the teams that compete locally and have a chance to win at the end simply don't have enough strength to succeed on several fronts at the same time.

 

If you consistantly do well in Europe, I feel that it doesnt always matter how you end up in your local league. So long as you finish in the CL spot. Basically AC Milan.

They've outclassed a lot of top sides.

This is why It never matters to me who we draw in the latter stages of the CL. I want us to prove we are among the top by beating them. You have to beat the best to be the best sometimes.

 

to be considered the best you have to beat the best. since '99 we have consistently failed to do so. i just watched the 89' second leg semi-final of ac milan and real madrid. Ac Milan completely dominated the game the same way we did to roma last season. Until we can consistently impose our style of play, and beat the big boys such madrid, barca, and madrid we will always be outside the first tier of giants in european football.

 

I have a problem with this, only because I rate the Premiership higher than all other trophies. I don't think the CL Trophy always identifies the best team in Europe, especially when teams like Liverpool and Milan completely give up on their domestic league by the new year to get ready for the CL Knockout rounds. Even though the trophies don't show it, I rate a season where we win the Prem, are in the FA Cup Final, and are in the semis of the CL, better than Liverpool winning the CL, being out of every other competition early, and needing UEFA to coddle them with a new rule because their league position was so rubbish they wouldn't return to the CL.

 

I can't agree with this. The Champions League is still the most prestigious all around club competition in Europe and perhaps even the World. Winning your domestic league is nice but in order to establish dominance among youe contintentals peers, you will have to prove you can beat them, and you don't do that anywhere else other than in the Champions League. In order to be considered a giant, of course you would need to have some kind of hold on your league and be able to win it. We proved that. But we haven't proved we can compete with Milan and Real and create sides that dominate Europe for a series of years and that's why they will be ranked above us even if they don't manage to win their leagues every so often.

Liverpool have an upper hand, they did have sides that accomplished the aforementioned and that's why they will be considered higher than us when you rank the so called European giants. At the moment they have also figured out how to deal with the very teams we don't, but they also can't win their domestic cup so in this context, we're pretty much tied. Both of us need something we haven't yet gotten while we accomplished one half already. I think we're closer to that goal than they are but only time will tell if we have what it takes to create another European winning side. We really should have won more after 98/99 and we came close.

 

Oh I agree with the premise of your statement. European glory is definitely how a club becomes "a giant". I just personally rate the EPL higher than the CL. I think it shows more consistency and all around greatness, even though I myself can spot the weaknesses in that argument (it's easy to be consistent against Derby and Boro).

Winning the CL is how clubs become great. Real Madrid are still trading on their past successes, and the Scouse love shouting about their 5.

 

The Premiership is a difficult league but considering how it's being monopolized by three [of four] teams, the title rotates back and forth between them. It's difficult to come to the conclusion of which is tougher. We've managed to show that we can win domestically and as much as we've tried, Europe evaded us, so it's certainly the more difficult competition for us and that's why I hold it so high and want us to conquer it because if we cannot defeat the best teams in Europe, we'll simply be the best team in England but we'll still be looked down upon everywhere else.

As for the other teams and their trophies, you just have to respect it. Both teams have tremendeous histories and accomplishments and if we had the number of European silverware they did, we'd be boasting about it too.

 

But is that not the same situation in every big league right now. A few teams dominating and rotating the title around.

Liga: Barca, RM, Valencia

Serie A: Milan, Juve, Inter, Roma

 

I don't think we are looked down upon.

 

What's kind of funny is that the success of Manchester United and the promotion of its reputation goes hand in hand with those of Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.