It'll definitely get worse before it gets better. Unfortunately, I don't know how much better it will eventually get. :(

The only given is that it cannot carry on indefinitely otherwise it'll crash and burn as nobody will be able to afford to follow it in five/ten years at this rate. When you're on a pro footballer's wage, what does it really matter if you only earn £20k a week instead of £150k?!

More fool us, the paying public for financing it though. It fully justifies my point of view that watching illegal streams of live matches is perfectly legitimate when you consider the borderline daylight robbery alternative.

Its a shit idea. Even the pubs cant show it on the big screen. It wouldnt be the same getting a few cans in for the big match and all watching it round a computer screen would it?

Indeed.

The whole decline of any sense in English football came about with Sky Sports I reckon.

They started to pay huge amounts for covering matches, so clubs could then afford to import stars and pay their huge salaries.

Now It's all going wrong, all the money has brought about a lot of corrupt activity. Dennis Wise and Harry Redknapp being the most recently exposed cowboys.

I can see your point but I think Sky have brought more good than bad to the game. I support Leeds and still pay £26-31 per game to watch the likes of Exeter, Gillingham and Yeovil in league 1.

But it was O'dreary and his invisible cash that put you down there in the first place :o

We'll be back :) Yes I see your point tho and our situation should a warning for any club gambling on success by getting into debt.

I'm A Coventry City fan, Gordan Strachan screwed us over royally with his overspending.

We still haven't recovered fully :(

He has to be one of the most overated managers ever. Loved him as a player at Leeds but he didnt wanna come back to us as manager and im glad he didnt now.

See you at the Richo next season ;)

How are Leeds going to jump up two leagues to the premiership?

Cos that's where we'll be next season :)

And how do you know I didnt mean playing you in League 1?! Haha The leagues are crazys right now, Burnley and Hull in the Premier, Norwich and Southampton in L1. Need to get the big teams back up to the top flight!

I know, Wigan play to half a half full stadium every week. it's a disgrace I tell thee.

Hows Mickey Doyle getting on? we loaned him out to you guys. I thought we'd get Beckford in exchange :(

Hes doing alright actually, we still need to strengthen our midfield though. Beckford is going nowhere :cool:

I hate International breaks. I hate international football to be honest. :(

Not the only one.

A Liverpool player always comes back injured haha.

My money's on Torres! :D

Probably didn't make the Nationals, but the few scousers on this board will have read in the Echo about Jose Baxter of Everton being arrested along with two other men in Kirkby, for possession of Cannabis with intent to supply, and possession of counterfeit money. WHAT A DICKHEAD.

I know it isn't the worst crime ever committed, but he's on the fringes of playing for the Everton first team, must be on a really good wage (in comparison to you and I) and yet here he is making headlines for all the wrong reasons. :rolleyes:

Exactly. Injuries/fatigue etc. all play their part.

Thankfully Newcastle don't have too many international players now.

I seen that.

Terrible.

Villa's 21-year old midfielder Isaiah Osbourne was arrested at the training ground the on suspicion of conspiracy to rob. He's been released on bail pending further investigation. He's been on the fringes of the first team for ages but maybe he's ****ed it up now!

And i hate international breaks/football too. But seeing as we're already qualified i'll be looking forward to seeing our Gabby get a run out at some point over the two games!

Torres and Gerrard injured :(

You're winding me up! Seriously?!?...

I don't know whether Rooney's calf injury that's keeping him out of the squad for Wednesday's game is genuine or a ploy to keep him fit for United. :?

Gerrard can't be too seriously hurt if he's being included for England's next qualifier though.

I doubt Rooney is injured if I'm honest.

I really hate internationals!

Nah, Torres had a groin injury through the week, missed training but they still played him.

I think Gerrard is ok.

If an international team is already qualified for a major tournament, I don't see the need to risk it at all and it's the one and only area I would criticise Capello's management. He's done an astounding job with the England side since he's taken over but it's non-sensical to risk domestic teams' key players in matches that effectively mean nothing. It was made worse by the fact that the Ukraine actually did have something to play for and would have been giving it everything, increasing the likelihood of injuries even further.

Does he really think England's first team performed at 100% on Saturday? They would have been backing out of 50/50 tackles and hardly chasing the ball down as keenly as if they were actually playing for something. Despite Capello's warnings that any hint of this would result in players being dropped, everybody knows that there's no way he would dare take an England side to a World Cup without the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Terry or Ferdinand.

Totally agree. Surely it was an opportunity to play some of the "fringe" players? If we lose Gerrard or the Caveman, then we need to know the players replacing them have actual competitive game time under their belts.

Great news regarding Jagielka. He's been cleared to resume training. That was a serious injury he had, hope they ease him back in slowly.

All we need now is Arteta back and suddenly our squad is looking pretty strong! :)

No offence but this is the attitude of most fans of the top 4 clubs. Why should the top players be rested, someones gotta play and they are just as important to thier own teams as Ronney, Lampard, Gerrard etc. The team needs to playing together reguarly before next summer to give us (sorry I know ur scotish and prob dont give a shit about England ;)) a chance next summer.

Steve Bruce is a tit giving the Man of the match award to Beckham last week. Of course the crowd were lifted when Beckham came on the pitch thats because most of your regular England fans know nothing about football and are just there to see "celebrities" like Becks. I do actually think he should be in the squad next year but he is overated. Of course he can put a few crosses in against Belarus, he wont get the time or space to do that against decent teams next summer. He should be used as a sub maybe for the last 20 mins if were a couple of goals up in the early stages. Beckham hasnt had one outstanding Tourament for England yet alot of Englad fans treat him like hes some messiah.

Firstly, I am and English support the "Three Lions" through and through.

Addressing your point though, I can fully understand that the entire squad of players is just as important to each of their own respective clubs (they should be otherwise why are they in the international team) but you have to be sure that they can play together with the same calmness and composure as the core of the team. An injury or four later on this season and England would be bricking it going to South Africa without any of the players I mentioned unless they give the so-called "fringe players" adequate competitive game time to prepare just in case.

Of course I'd rather not see Rooney or Ferdinand risking injury in non-essential games but there's more to my reasoning than just plain selfishness. In fact, looking at the big picture, surely it actually makes a lot of sense to rest them.

Sorry I take that the first point back.

It just really annoys me when players are withdrawn from international duty on a Wednesday and then make a miraculous recovery on the Saturday. Well he experimented a bit on Wednesday with the fringe players and all I can say is I really do hope none of our big guns get injured before next summer or were screwed.

To be honest iv been an England Fan for 20 years now and Id just like to see us having some success for a change. Its not good enough to keep going out at the quarters on penalites with someone getting sent off. Id really like him to play our first team against Brazil (albeit a friendly) just to see how we manage. The goalkeeper worries me the most though, really not a clue who will be our number 1.

Anyway roll on next summer, 44 years of hurt never stopped me dreaming!

I agree. Much as it pains me to say it, I do think James is probably our best keeper and given his age, it does raise concerns as to who will eventually replace him.

Ben Foster has never been a likely contender in my book even before his slump in form for United. If anything, Van Der Sar's injury only highlighted how poor he actually is as he hasn't had regular game time for years. Green looked OK until leaking all those goals in the prem a week or two back.

I do think England need a Plan B though cos, as you said, the big guns click and have been playing some brilliant football since Capello's arrival. It's the lack of experience of the other players that makes me worry.

I genuinely think that Capello actually shares that viewpoint and has merely opted to rest some of the key figures in the England set-up. Having made all his ambitious remarks when first stepping into the role, he could never maintain his untarnished image if he was seen to be backtracking now so it wouldn't surprise me if the injury ploy was orchestrated by the senior coaching staff themselves to avoid a media backlash. Just my opinion though and I could be miles wide of the mark... who knows. :)

It would be nice to see England do well but I would consider being a regular in the last 8 of major tournaments as nothing to be ashamed of. We all just wish they could overcome that difficult hurdle they always seem to hit and falter at.

If we'd have beaten the Germans in 90 or 96, the Argentines in 98, the Brazilians in 02 or the Portuguese on any number of the frickin' times we've been drawn against them, I think we would have gone on to win a tournament... shame it's never quite happened but it was a fantastic roller-coaster of a ride on each occasion nonetheless! :D

The Reds XI in full is: Reina, Johnson, Aurelio, Carragher, Skrtel, Agger, Lucas, Spearing, Benayoun, Babel, Kuyt. Subs: Cavalieri, Voronin, Riera, Mascherano, Insua, Ngog, Kelly.

Well done Villa for coming from behind! United top again by the end of the day - c'mon!!!!!!!!!! :D

Terrible. Just terrible.

Yeah, you obviously forgot to mark Sunderland's key new signing! I hear from his post-match interview that he found it pretty easy to float in behind your defence and I guess nobody picked him up.

Seriously though, I have no idea what the officials were doing allowing that goal to stand and there will be a sh*tstorm kicked up after this. I'd have been furious if that had happened against United.

I missed the first half because I couldn't find a stream so I haven't seen the goal yet :(

The stream for the 2nd half was jumpy as well so all in all, I couldn't tell you who played well or who didn't. By the looks of it, we was lucky to come away with a 1-0 defeat.

You didn't hear about the goal?!?!? I won't spoil it for you... watch MOTD tonight. I never saw it but I have seen the pics on the BBC website and it's ridiculous! :shock:

At least Chelsea lost though.

I've heared about it like, haven't seen it, though :(

Can you send the link with pics please?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image..._2_466x282.jpg

I dont think so, its just bad luck..

And remember, the ball was thrown on to the pitch by a liverpool fan.. i bet that fans happy now eh lol


Happy chelsea lost, well played villa.

Whats the odds on ancelotti getting sacked in January haha

I've seen the goal now :(

Absolutely disgraceful.