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• #135702
Much better to have more London and southern teams in the Premier League. It makes away games easier.
It is also an interesting reflection on our society. A look at, say, the First Division of 1970 points to a stronger northern/midlands contingent than today. Then there were five London sides and two other (Southampton and Ipswich) southern teams out of 22. (31.8%). Next season, if the current tables reflect and Fulham get the play off place, there will be six London and four southern out of 20 which is 50%.
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• #135703
I hope Sheffield Wednesday go up
I quite like the symmetery of Hull being the only Yorkshire side.
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• #135704
So if the promotion and relegation goes as I hope, the Premier League will comprise:
London 6
South 4
North West 5
Midlands 3
North East and Yorkshire 2 -
• #135705
Can't tell if trolling re: Midlands and West Brom or just shit at geography.
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• #135706
In 1970 the break down was
London 5 (the same 5 as today without Fulham)
South 2
North West 5 (the same 5 as today)
Midlands 6
North East and Yorkshire 4 -
• #135707
Can't tell if trolling re: Midlands and West Brom or just shit at
geography.Bad at sums.
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• #135708
I'd never considered option c: shit at maths.
All is forgiven.
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• #135709
There's a long read on Vice today on the decline of the North East as a football powerhouse which now isn't even producing players.
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• #135710
That was the same time that Juninho began his fling with Middlesbrough – one of English football's great recent tales – lighting up the Riverside along with Fabrizio Ravanelli and Emerson.
I stopped reading there, remembered the good times and moved on.
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• #135711
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• #135712
All is forgiven.
Thank you.
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• #135713
The other area not producing footballers in the way that it used to is Scotland. When i was a kid, every league club had a number of Scots as is evidenced by the Scots managers of the 19080s and the pundits of all generations. No longer however.
This could be because in thoose days the only way out of the poor areas of Glasgow was through football but noew there are many other options. And now there are kids coming out of the poverty of Africa and Latin America.
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• #135714
The Vice article links to a Guardian piece identify a smallish chunk of South to SE London producing a disproportionate number of the English players in the PL.
The borough of Croydon alone – home to 0.6% of the population – has produced 5% of all active English Premier League players
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• #135715
great clip from gruniad football i saw on facebook showing a sunday pub team game
the clip, 30 - 40 seconds, shows a continuous run of about a dozen yellow and possibly red card tackles one after another as the ball moves maybe 10 yards, slowly and inaccurately
lots of revenge tackles, hospital passes and mis-timed hung over tackles
bet they all talk down the pub like they're the next vardythe article is about being a lower league referee
no thanks
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• #135716
Interesting. How many of them were products of the scheme run at Whitgift School by Colin Pates? I know Moses was but there must have been others.
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• #135717
Troy Brown - Rotherham
Lee Hills - Crystal Palace
Victor Moses - Chelsea
Bertrand Traore - Ajax (on loan from Chelsea)are among the alumni
As is George Pilkington Mills, the record breaking cyclist who was also an excellent shot and carried a Colt revolver with him while training to ward off dogs. He shot five. I don't think that Colin Pates coached him. Pates was never known for his shooting ability.
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• #135718
I think it's a bit more complicated than kids in Scotland choosing other options out of poverty. You can look at deprivation indices and investment and opportunities. And then you can look at thoze available in London/more affluent areas. I'm really fucking boring.
I think it's quite difficult to say "Scotland has no footballers" when there may be talent there but no one looking or no opportunity for talent to be coached. When in comparison in London, there are more people and perhaps more congregation points and perhaps more people looking.
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• #135719
Couple that to a sharp decline in birth rate from the 60s to now and put it in a genome graph
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• #135720
Added to selection bias: scouts looking for players of particular backgrounds because of successful current players, probably a bit of global unrest.
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• #135721
Plus a foreign player cap that didn't apply to the Scots bitd
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• #135722
Our U23's have just won The Premier League 2 thanks to Liverpool beating 2nd place Man City 3-2
We will be crowned Champions when we play at Anfield next week
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• #135723
Also, school playing fields sold off. Also, see dicki's post above - the standard of pitches and the game in Scotland is shocking- they're just taught to kick lumps out of each other in ploughed fields.
Anyway, unrepentant rapist Ched Evans re-signing for Sheffield U. Hope Wednesday get promoted now.
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• #135724
Love this picture in no small part for the symbolism of The Pooch holding the ball demonstrating that possession does not win games.
1 Attachment
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• #135725
judging by the upturn in posts, i presume worncleat has got over the old special one beating the new special one
Can someone tell me why this could be seen as a snub/offensive?
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/apr/24/mamadou-sakho-liverpool-handshake-christian-benteke