ahemps

I heard a comment that in Clarkes first game he had 3 EPL players in his squad, now we have 8. If you count Tierney and Ferguson that is 10 players in the top 5 European leagues. It can't be a coincidence that we have improved so much in the last few years if individually the players are playing at higher levels as well. The championship is a good league, I do like it and it is a good level.

So for the WC is being in the top nations league draw a good thing from a playoff point of view? I'd hope we could get closer to POT 1 but catching Sweden and outperforming Austria, Serbia, Poland and Ukraine at the same time may be a lot to hope for.

I actually wasn't that against the Super league as I (maybe naively) hoped that the big clubs would all leave and UEFA would then need to be fairer to the teams they had left and there would be an opportunity to level the game a bit. In the current climate we have all the bad bits that come with the super clubs. The 1st thing UEFA done after the super league outcry was to give the clubs more money by reducing the solidarity payments and now have increased the CL with an extra 2 places reserved for unqualified teams with high coefficients so probably this time next year Liverpool and Ajax would have got in the CL.

I wonder if the Saudi money has an effect on this in a few years. The EPL clubs are doing their best at fighting the Saudis off but they are literally taking top players from other leagues now and this might prompt them to come back to the table.

As top seed 2nd should be a minimum. Betis are tough and realistically finishing closely behind them wouldn't be a disaster. Both the Prague teams easily beat the OF about 3yrs ago so they could be tricky as their league is probably overall a better standard, they were also one of the worst picks from Pot 3. Aris should be 6pts or 4pts if a draw away is good enough when the game is played.

You would have handpicked Feyenoord from Pot 1. Pot 2 is always tough, arguably never getting an easy one there but Leipzig or Porto may have been kinder. Pot 3 Lazio is about middle of the road, you'd want to avoid PSV and Milan but may have preferred Copenhagen or Braga. I'm sure last year I thought the same though as Leipzig and Shaktar were the 2 you'd have chosen from their pots and even Real who always give up points in the group stages unlike say City, Bayern or PSG who steamroll theirs. Celtic have a bigger budget than Feyenoord and Lazio's is greater but not by a great deal so they have to be competitive in this group. Finishing last with 5-6pts wouldn't be a disaster as that would show you have challenged.

I get why this is exciting for Celtic fans but if you have to pay a good 30-50% of his £120K a week wages then would that not be way above anyone else at the club? For what is in reality an injury prone left back. If you are willing to pay someone £60k a week would that not be better on a semi proven exciting 21yr old striker who can get you 30m in a few years?

I know this may be meant or seen an insult but if it is in an internal forum between Villa fans then maybe it is not. Hibs income and wage bill would place them as a league 1 club in England. Derby, Bolton Reading, Blackpool, Barnsley etc. would have much bigger revenue but Hibs may have bigger revenue than Cheltenham, Shrewsbury or Stevenage so on average if Hibs played in England they would probably be a league 1 club. Do you think this is an unfair comment on their forum?

I think this is a true point. It is a real shame for Tierney but I don't think he can play 30+ games a season.

Burnley were still using the excuse their 2 early Europa league qualifying rounds had a detrimental impact on them in March the year they were in Europe (they stayed up that year but got relegated the next without Europe) In the SPFL Rangers and Hibs lost their opening games, Aberdeen drew while Celtic were not as convincing as you'd expect on their opening fixtures. When the difference between the teams isn't that big I think playing teams who have already had some competitive fixtures can be a bit of a disadvantage. The EPL complain about the fixture scheduling a lot.

Is this true? There are lots of top players who had loan spells at lower levels, Callum McGregor went to Notts County and played with Grealish there. Robertson and McGinn spent time lower down in Scotland albeit not on loan. Gilmour stayed at Chelsea and wasn't getting much game time. Aaron Hickey has chosen his moves for playing time when 'apparently' there were bigger clubs in for him, leaving Celtic and turning down Bayern B team. I think there is a debate for both dropping down a level for consistent game time and staying at the higher level training but with less game time.

Gary o Neil is getting the job, this was mentioned yesterday as well. Wolves likely had him lined up. There would have been nobody else under consideration if it is done this quickly. Amazing how poor the reporters are in Scotland yet there will still be Rangers fans saying he's turned them down for a 2nd time to stay with The Rangers.

Then they will look at their bank account and accept it as part of the job.

I think it is close, look at the teams who finished 3rd and even 4th in the Europa groups last year and as the bottom seed do you think you could finish 3rd? Then look at the teams who finished 2nd in the conference leagues as well. I think it would a huge achievement to get through either group. More chance of a real big name in the Europa like Liverpool, Roma or Sporting but more chance of points in the conference. Money wise you would need a win and a draw to at least break even in the conference with the Europa money.

I imagined Genk to be the tougher game. Don't know enough of either and didn't watch their games so it is totally without knowledge but I think this is possibly a better tie for you.

Does the Saudi league and the money they are now paying mean this European Superleague will rear it's head again within a few years?

It is the early rounds though, still not really giving much hope for football to be more competitive is it? The conference league has been a good addition and I think from next year there is no more drop downs after the group stages which will help the Europa and Conference winners be a bit more variable.

Some sort of wage cap.

It is a cup competition, how many dodgy results do you want teams to get? 1 bad result and you can still recover from it and get through in this format. II don't think the early league cup groups are an issue. An issue is that the European qualified teams join at the last 16 in a seeded draw means they are pretty much getting a free pass to the quarters but I don't no what would be a better way to do it????

I think what you are referring to is Pep complaining about the crowd for CL games. The fans have a problem with UEFA and they don't always fill it for CL games but for the premier league they have a 96% full attendance rate and average bigger crowds than Liverpool. Do you not think they get a good following?

Are they signing Frimpong as well as Jurrien Timber?

It is a myth they don't fill it. When do you see a Man City EPL game with empty seats? They averaged a higher attendance than Liverpool last season. They have 120k people on a waiting list so to think they are building a bigger stadium to sit empty to get round FFP is simply not true. They got 30k in league 1, they don't have a poor support.

The average wage of an EPL player is around £80k a week. He must be around this figure, as a Man Utd player who has extended his contract a few times he is likely above this figure. Celtic have a wage structure, doubt they will go much above £30k a week, £35k-£40k at a maximum. Transfer fee I would expect Man Utd would look for £30-£40m for him. How journalists/reporters/in the know bloggers can make these things up and it actually gains traction is incredible. .....same goes for Tierney.

Is the consensus that Jota is going to a lower level by going to the Saudi league????

How do these people get jobs in the media???? Hibs are unseeded in the next round so could play Brugge, AZ, Fenerbache etc. If they get through then in the playoff they could get Juventus, Frankfurt, Lille, Bilbao or Aston Villa. Hibs would need the kindest draw possible, plenty of luck and to play at their absolute best to get to the groups. (I hope they do by the way) The reason teams from Estonia, Gibraltar or the Faroes are in the groups are because there is a champions route in which these teams play each other which is designed for these nations to get some representation in the groups.