Republic of Ireland V Poland - Sunday, 29th March 2015 - Euro 2016 Qualifier

[DeLorean]

Indeed, that's when San Marino come good. Might be worth a game?

Stan was proved right enough though, it wasn't in the same group, it wasn't even in the same decade, but eventually San Marino did become a handful for somebody.

[Littlest Hobo]

I'm using this thread to analyse the Poland team who we face next at home in a little over 4 months time. To get the chatting started, I've done some simple analysis on the them over their first 4 games.

Their first XI has been fairly consistant with a handful of regular subs used. I've highlighted their club side, age, caps to date and games and goals this campaign.
I haven't included a few lads who only made one appearance against Gibraltar.

Barring injuries and anyone getting hit by a bus, this is what we should face in March.

GK
Szczesny - Arsenal (England) - A:24 - C:22 - 4 games.

DF
Piszczek - Borussia Dortmund (Germany) - A:29 - C:39 - 3 games.

Szukala - Steaua Bucharest (Romania) - A:30 - C:10 - 4 games, 1 goal.

Gilik - Torino (Italy) - A:26 - C:28 - 4 games, 1 goal.

Jedrzegczyk - Krasnodar (Russia) - A:27 - C:14 - 3 games.

MF
Grosicki - Rennes (France) - A:26 - C:27 - 4 games, 2 goals.

Krychowiak - Sevilla (Spain) - A:24 - C:23 - 4 games, 1 goal.

Maczynski - Guizhou Renhe (China) - A:27 - C:6 - 3 games, 1 goal.

Mila - Slask Wroclaw (Poland) - A:32 - C:33 - 3 games, 2 goals.

FD
Milik - Ajax (Holland) - A:20 - C:13 - 4 games, 3 goals.

Lewandowski - Bayern Munich (Germany) - A:26 - C:65 - 4 games, 4 goals.

Subs:

DF
Olkowski - Cologne (Germany) - A:24 - C:7 - 1 game.

Wawrzyniak - Amkar Perm (Russia) - A:31 - C:43 - 2 games.

MF
Rybus - Terak Grozny (Russia) - A:25 - C:31 - 3 games.

Sobota - Club Brugge (Belgium) - A:27 - C:17 - 3 games.

Jodlowiec - Legia Warsaw (Poland) - A:29 - C:26 - 2 games.

The defender Gilik picked up a second yellow away to Georgia and so is suspended against us. It's similar to us losing O' Shea, considering his importance to them.
They may call up Wawrzyniak as his replacement, who played against Gibraltar and Germany.

The only players I recognise are Szczesny in goal, Piszczek at the back and Lewandowski up front. All 3 lads are class and play at top clubs. The others, I have no idea about.
So between now and March I'll try to post regular updates on their form, injuries and the like, so we can get the know who we are facing.


Been casting an eye on how the Polish lads have been fairing for their clubs over the last few weeks;


Szczesny - not in the Arsenal side at the minute.

Piszczek - been in and out of the B.Dortmund squad and subbed off quite a bit.
Gilik - Plays regularly for Torino in Serie A.
Szukala - moved to Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, so no idea how he's doing.
Jedrzegczyk - Plays regularly for Krasnodar in Russian top division


Grosicki - not been in the Rennes squad for a long time.
Krychowiak - been in and out of Seville squad and subbed off quite a bit.
Maczynski - plays for Guizhou Renhe in China, so no idea how he's doing.
Mila - plays regularly for Lechia Gdansk in Polish top division

Milik - Subbed on/off alot for Ajax. scored 8 goals from 14 games this season.
Lewandowski - Subbed on/off alot for B.Munich. scored 7 goals from 17 games this season.


In summary, those lads at the top clubs - Arsenal, B.Dortmund, B.Munich and Ajax - appear to be struggling to hold down regular spots and are used intermittently as subs.

Collectively our lads appear to be getting more game time each week in EPL/Champ.
Lets hope Mc Carthy and Gibson get back in to the Everton side soon and regular 90 minutes under their belts. Long is a concern with his broken rib, but hopefully back in a few weeks.

[nigel-harps1954]

Just so you know, Borussia Dortmund are rock bottom of the German league.

[Stuttgart88]

McCarthy out for a further two weeks having aggravated his hamstring in training. I reckon he's secretly fit though.

[Dunners]

Possible call ups

Harry Arter - having a great season by all accounts at top of the table Bournemouth
Stephen Gleeson - blast from the past but has been an ever present in Birmingham's midfield since they changed manager

Hoban - O'Neill has been looking at Hoban recently but maybe to soon for a call up
Doyle - O'Neill will most likely see how he copes with the step up in level before he is considered

[Charlie Darwin]

O'Neill's been to see Hoban thrice in the last month so I'd say he'll be called up.

[tetsujin1979]

O'Neill's been to see Hoban thrice in the last month so I'd say he'll be called up.
http://i.imgur.com/WKxX7uh.gif

[CraftyToePoke]

Possible call ups

Harry Arter - having a great season by all accounts at top of the table Bournemouth
Stephen Gleeson - blast from the past but has been an ever present in Birmingham's midfield since they changed manager

Hoban - O'Neill has been looking at Hoban recently but maybe to soon for a call up
Doyle - O'Neill will most likely see how he copes with the step up in level before he is considered



“I’m encouraged by players that are eligible to play for us who are actually starting to make a bit of an impression. I don’t want to go into some names at the moment in case it all falls apart,” said O'Neill

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/irish/2015/0203/677626-oneill-planning-flexible-approach-to-poland-clash/

I wondered if there are other pending recruits, like Christie, who's eligibility was fairly unheralded before it was done and dusted, being referred to here by MON

[nigel-harps1954]

Harry Kane surely?

[CraftyToePoke]

Harry Kane surely?

Without a doubt Nigel, surely. I meant who else, really, along with young Harry, you understand :)

[geysir]

Just so you know, Borussia Dortmund are rock bottom of the German league.
Worth repeating,
Dortmund are at rock bottom of the Bundesliga.

[BonnieShels]

Still early days geysir. Victory in every game from now til May will see them as European Cup winners and with that Automatic CL qualification next year. Easy.

[Stuttgart88]

I suppose all those who deny that the Bundesliga and its rules and mechanisms to prevent full blooded free marketeering taking over are a good thing will point to Munich's dominance as evidence. But surely if there is a statistical answer to this, you surely couldn't get better than Dortmund being bottom.

It's like saying that competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome are irrelevant because a Chelsea v Man City billionaire-backed title race is thrilling so thetefore so what if there are no rules to keep things balanced? But, for me, even if in the near term Munich's dominance is almost certain, the idea of Dortmund being at the bottom is truly remarkable and a far greater endorsement of the German model over England's. Could anyone imagine an established top English club being in serious relegation trouble?

[BonnieShels]

I completely agree with that rationale.

Munich's dominance is an outlier within the league and surely there is concern within the DFB about it. They really are killing the league at present. Wouldn't mind seeing something nasty come out. Maybe Ruminnegge was siphoning money into something! :()

[Crosby87]

What does it say on the bottom of Polish coke bottles?
"Open other end."

[DeLorean]

I suppose all those who deny that the Bundesliga and its rules and mechanisms to prevent full blooded free marketeering taking over are a good thing will point to Munich's dominance as evidence. But surely if there is a statistical answer to this, you surely couldn't get better than Dortmund being bottom.

It's like saying that competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome are irrelevant because a Chelsea v Man City billionaire-backed title race is thrilling so thetefore so what if there are no rules to keep things balanced? But, for me, even if in the near term Munich's dominance is almost certain, the idea of Dortmund being at the bottom is truly remarkable and a far greater endorsement of the German model over England's. Could anyone imagine an established top English club being in serious relegation trouble?

I'm not sure isolated occurrences are a great base for comparison. I don't think Dortmund's under-performance is evidence of anything really and it is only nineteen games after all. Things could change dramatically by the end of the season. Celtic are obviously the Bayern Munich of the SPL these past couple of years, but did Hibs and Hearts relegation's endorse the competitive nature of the league? It probably did, in a sense, but I think it's a bigger indication that there's something seriously wrong behind the scenes at the two Edinburgh clubs. Personally, unless it's a club I have a dislike for, I don't particularly like to see big clubs in danger of dropping the leagues. All internal things being equal, it stands to reason that the biggest clubs shouldn't really be in that position, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. It's fantastic when a story like Southampton come along and mix it with the big guys, or even Atletico Madrid to a lesser extent, which I think is healthier than the big clubs plummeting to mix it with the small clubs. That's not to say I like the PL model, far from it, I just don't think any conclusions can be found from one club's (temporary?) demise.

[tetsujin1979]

I suppose all those who deny that the Bundesliga and its rules and mechanisms to prevent full blooded free marketeering taking over are a good thing will point to Munich's dominance as evidence. But surely if there is a statistical answer to this, you surely couldn't get better than Dortmund being bottom.

It's like saying that competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome are irrelevant because a Chelsea v Man City billionaire-backed title race is thrilling so thetefore so what if there are no rules to keep things balanced? But, for me, even if in the near term Munich's dominance is almost certain, the idea of Dortmund being at the bottom is truly remarkable and a far greater endorsement of the German model over England's. Could anyone imagine an established top English club being in serious relegation trouble?
Depends on how you define "established" I guess. Were Forest an established club? Or Leeds? Or Blackburn Rovers? Portsmouth were FA Cup winners and perennial mid table finishers, look where they are now. Villa this season aren't looking great but should stay up.

[DannyInvincible]

I suppose all those who deny that the Bundesliga and its rules and mechanisms to prevent full blooded free marketeering taking over are a good thing will point to Munich's dominance as evidence. But surely if there is a statistical answer to this, you surely couldn't get better than Dortmund being bottom.

It's like saying that competitive balance and uncertainty of outcome are irrelevant because a Chelsea v Man City billionaire-backed title race is thrilling so thetefore so what if there are no rules to keep things balanced? But, for me, even if in the near term Munich's dominance is almost certain, the idea of Dortmund being at the bottom is truly remarkable and a far greater endorsement of the German model over England's. Could anyone imagine an established top English club being in serious relegation trouble?

Newcastle were relegated a few seasons ago, of course, although I admit that considering them an established top English club might be a slight stretch. It was a shock nevertheless.

Can FFP ever ensure balance? It might halt the nouveau riche upstarts in their tracks (although even they are shrewdly managing ways to maintain their power within the framework now), but the best it could ever really hope to achieve surely would be a return to the dominance of the old, traditional powers that have built up huge global brands upon which they can sustain themselves with their considerable support, both sponsorship-wise and around the world in terms of sheer numbers of people? Even with FFP rules in place, how might, say, Hull or Leicester or ever compete with the pulling power of Manchester United and the like? That's not to condemn FPP at its heart; I still have an aversion to how Chelsea and Manchester City have gone about things and would welcome anything to effectively challenge the means those clubs have utilised to rise to power in favour of what you might call a more community-rooted football.

[Stuttgart88]

Remember, FFP is not there to ensure balance, it's there to protect clubs clubs from the financial arms race for talent at all levels of the game. That's as crass an error as referring to the GFA in the eligibility debate. Don't you ever read my posts on the FFP thread? :)

But to answer Danny's post, I have long said that FFP is right, but nearly two decades too late. And yes, Tets, I guess by established I mean the recently established. Otherwise City could never be considered established!

I think part of my above post was misinterpreted. When I said "statistical" I meant that if you wanted mathematical evidence of balance, having one extreme outperformer and one extreme under performer from the recent two best clubs, you couldn't ask for a better example. Of course, simple numbers are, well, too simple and if one was to use statistical analysis properly both outcomes are too outlying to be meaningful, even if the simple average hints at a neat result. The standard deviations would be huge.

So yes, point taken that Dortmund's current plight isn't really evidence of anything, but, hey, I'm allowed to take swipes at the EPL's commercial philosophy where I can!

[DannyInvincible]

Remember, FFP is not there to ensure balance, it's there to protect clubs clubs from the financial arms race for talent at all levels of the game. That's as crass an error as referring to the GFA in the eligibility debate. Don't you ever read my posts on the FFP thread? :)

Hehe, is this directed at me or generally? I understand it's there to ensure clubs balance their books and live within their means; it can't be there to ensure competitive balance, because it quite simply won't balance competition. However, I thought you were being critical of this idea of "so what if there are no rules [such as FFP] to keep things [competitively] balanced?", as if to say such rules are a good thing because they ensure greater balance in contrast to the the present dominance of the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City, so I was responding to that primarily and suggesting that if someone was hoping to see an evening out of competition as a result of FFP, they'll be disappointed. Maybe I misinterpreted?

What I meant by "community-rooted football" is clubs existing and spending proportionately to what they make from their real support bases.

[Stuttgart88]

Yes Danny, it was directed at you!

To be honest I think that UEFA's omission of competitive balance as a reason to introduce FFP is there for legal reasons. If they said that evening out competition was a rationale then a good lawyer could take them to the EU and, citing competition law, argue that such an objective might not be a legitimate objective, and even if it was, there might be a less "intrusive" way of achieving it. FFP could be killed by legal action. But nobody can argue that financial sanity isn't a reasonable objective given how bad football's finances are, and it's hard to argue that FFP is a particularly intrusive way of achieving that goal.

By Germany's "rules and mechanisms" I was referring to the fan ownership model, the strict financial licensing, the culture of treating fans fairly, the acceptance that the league is there to play a key role in the performance of the national teams. Some of these are "soft" or "institutional" factors, rather than rules or mechanisms, as such. That type of stuff. I am critical of the EPL and its "disconnect" from the FA and the broader national game. It has repeatedly said that its goal is to be the best league in the world, end of story. It's all about attracting quality and, by definition, it's all about maximising revenue. In my opinion, a good analogy is the finance industry. Pre-crisis the City of London was encouraged to become me the biggest and the best financial services zone in the world. The regulators were also the City's cheerleaders, a recipe for disaster and a recipe for the regulator to be captured by the very parties it was there to oversee. It's the same in the EPL. The EPL's management is there to only achieve what's in the short term best interest of its member clubs.

My belief is that a financial services industry like the City is there first and foremost to finance UK industry and to effectively match savings with productive investment. Instead, in its quest for size and revenue, it has become a centre for speculation. Likewise, the top flight in football should be the pinnacle of a joined up national football system, not a disconnected body pursuing its own self interest, to the detriment of other parts of the national game.

I agree with your desire to see more "community rooted football", although I don't really have a problem with a club being able to earn more commercial revenue away from its "real" support base. That's just the way things are for the most part.

[DannyInvincible]

I agree with your desire to see more "community rooted football", although I don't really have a problem with a club being able to earn more commercial revenue away from its "real" support base. That's just the way things are for the most part.

Fair point. I certainly wouldn't advocate some sort of all-out Marxian restrictions, but there is potential for abuse (of the purpose of FFP) where there is an uncontrolled allowance for the earning of commercial revenue away from the community support base. Isn't it widely suspected that Manchester City's sponsorship deals with Etihad, Aabar, Etisalat and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (all companies owned or controlled by the UAE's government, or the Mansours, in other words) are a means by which Sheikh Mansour can inject huge sums of money into his club? This income is classified as football-related and is therefore considered kosher under FFP rules. How to solve that, I'm not sure. Are upper caps on sponsorship income to be imposed? Would that even be legal? Weren't UEFA to investigate such deals? They've been talking about it for years. What ever became of that?

[DeLorean]

I got an email from the FAI there saying that pre-sale tickets for this game will be available from Monday at 9am until Wednesday midnight. This should be the case for anybody that's attended an Ireland game at Lansdowne in the last six months. It will be interesting to see the quality of the tickets available.

[Stuttgart88]

Fair point. I certainly wouldn't advocate some sort of all-out Marxian restrictions, but there is potential for abuse (of the purpose of FFP) where there is an uncontrolled allowance for the earning of commercial revenue away from the community support base. Isn't it widely suspected that Manchester City's sponsorship deals with Etihad, Aabar, Etisalat and the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (all companies owned or controlled by the UAE's government, or the Mansours, in other words) are a means by which Sheikh Mansour can inject huge sums of money into his club? This income is classified as football-related and is therefore considered kosher under FFP rules. How to solve that, I'm not sure. Are upper caps on sponsorship income to be imposed? Would that even be legal? Weren't UEFA to investigate such deals? They've been talking about it for years. What ever became of that?there are rules against "related party transactions" although of course there are ways of bending any rule. My point was that if Man U can get more "proper" sponsorship income than, say, Everton or Arsenal, then fair play to them.

[Grafter]

With it being on a Sunday, this Poland match is one that I could actually attend but looked at the sites it seems you have to buy tickets as part of the bigger England and Scotland package. Some other sites seem to be offering a ticket for the Poland game only at 80 Euro which is extortionate and I won't be paying.
Kind of bummed about it all but I won't pay daft money for a single game.

[Crosby87]

Just put a Polska top on and you can sneak in with the team. They rarely recognize each other.

[DeLorean]

With it being on a Sunday, this Poland match is one that I could actually attend but looked at the sites it seems you have to buy tickets as part of the bigger England and Scotland package. Some other sites seem to be offering a ticket for the Poland game only at 80 Euro which is extortionate and I won't be paying.
Kind of bummed about it all but I won't pay daft money for a single game.

They just haven't gone on general sale yet.

[jbyrne]

email the FAI and they might give you a code to buy a poland ticket only. heard of others who did the same

[DeLorean]

Think that was just a pre-sale option given to supporters who attended a home international over the past year. That offer expired last Wednesday midnight, even if he did get a code.

[DeLorean]

The Football Association of Ireland today (Monday) announced that tickets will go on public sale from 10am tomorrow for March 29th’s UEFA EURO 2016 Qualifier, which sees the Republic of Ireland take on Poland at 7.45pm in Aviva Stadium. (http://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/republic-of-ireland-v-poland-tickets-to-go-on-public-sale)

[KK77]

With it being on a Sunday, this Poland match is one that I could actually attend but looked at the sites it seems you have to buy tickets as part of the bigger England and Scotland package. Some other sites seem to be offering a ticket for the Poland game only at 80 Euro which is extortionate and I won't be paying.
Kind of bummed about it all but I won't pay daft money for a single game.

I wouldn't worry there will be plenty of tickets available and you won't have to pay a cent over face value.

[jbyrne]

I wouldn't worry there will be plenty of tickets available and you won't have to pay a cent over face value.

41,000 already sold its been reported. id say they will all be gone by the weekend

[DeLorean]

Really? Pretty surprised at that. If they win the demand for the Scotland game could be a bit worrying so?

[jbyrne]

Really? Pretty surprised at that. If they win the demand for the Scotland game could be a bit worrying so?

well that's what the FAI have said in their press release. i don't think its that much of a surprise really. id say 10,000 are in the hands of poles already and add that to our usual 35,000 + that attends most of our big qualifiers. would be shocked if its not a sell-out

[KK77]

41,000 already sold its been reported. id say they will all be gone by the weekend

As Brian Kerr would say.....the FAI must be counting all tickets sold twice!

[DeLorean]

well that's what the FAI have said in their press release. i don't think its that much of a surprise really. id say 10,000 are in the hands of poles already and add that to our usual 35,000 + that attends most of our big qualifiers. would be shocked if its not a sell-out

Kind of regretting not getting the hat-trick deal now. I left it off as I have a wedding the Friday before the England game and I'm not sure what kind of a roll over is in the pipeline!

[jbyrne]

As Brian Kerr would say.....the FAI must be counting all tickets sold twice!

can expect 100,000 if thats the case.

43,000 at the friendly v poland 2 years ago and over 45,000 at similar important qualifiers v germany, russia, sweden and austria. will easily sell-out

[DeLorean]

There are only Premium Level seats available at the moment, for €120 a pop. It's either a crafty attempt to shift those to people who are worried about missing out completely or they are actually the last bunch left.

[paul_oshea]

No harm packaging 3 at a decent price anyone without a young family should be well able afford it.

[Stuttgart88]

Voting Tory in May, Paul? You're out of touch!

Actually, I cant argue with the logic or the morality of what the FAI is doing. I hope it's a success. A thumping at home to Poland would drastically reduce the value of the remaining games.

I really hope people are complaining later in the campaign that they cant get tickets and that the FAI are a disgrace, as per usual.

[KK77]

can expect 100,000 if thats the case.

43,000 at the friendly v poland 2 years ago and over 45,000 at similar important qualifiers v germany, russia, sweden and austria. will easily sell-out

Putting it all aside anyone who wants a ticket will get one!

[colonelwest]

I wonder have the FAI sold all the ST holders tickets again like they've done the last two times and completely fail to notify anyone about it?

[DeLorean]

Actually, I cant argue with the logic or the morality of what the FAI is doing. I hope it's a success. A thumping at home to Poland would drastically reduce the value of the remaining games

The hat-trick package was a good offer in fairness. All three games will be worthwhile in their own right, regardless of results.... in fact, the England game isn't even result dependent. All three games are also on weekends which make them more attractive again to those based outside of Dublin.

It's a bit of a joke though that there are only Premium Level tickets available for general sale, if the others haven't completely sold out, season ticket holders, etc excluded obviously. Maybe they have sold out though. It's is also a joke that a seat behind the goals can even be considered 'premium' and priced the same as one on the halfway line, though the FAI are not the only ones to price tickets this way.

[Bosco]

ST holders were notified ages ago that they would have the option to buy tickets for the Poland game during the presale last week. I think this could have been extended to people who have recently bought a ticket through Ticketmaster for an Ireland game. They also advertised for applications for tickets through Loi clubs since before xmas. I know we had something up on our website a few times telling people that tickets were available and to contact someone from the club. All to try and ensure that we have as many Irish fans in the stadium as possible come the 29th March and not a repeat of the last time Poland were in town. The Fai get a lot of stick but as far as I can see this seems to be the one thing they have done right in a long time.

[paul_oshea]

Voting Tory in May, Paul? You're out of touch!

Actually, I cant argue with the logic or the morality of what the FAI is doing. I hope it's a success. A thumping at home to Poland would drastically reduce the value of the remaining games.

I really hope people are complaining later in the campaign that they cant get tickets and that the FAI are a disgrace, as per usual.

I have not voted since I've been here.

I agree hopefully they will and blaming someone else for their problems like little old Ireland loves to do.

Btw this chelsea fans issue in paris is causing a real stir over here. I had a great laugh to myself thinking about all those on here ridiculing other posters when they say they witnessed or a friend witnessed an incident or incidents, that it hasn't happened unless some video/recording evidence of some sort. The fella who did it probably put himself in danger taking that video, but had he said he had seen it people on here and on other forums would probably have belittled and discredited the poster. The one thing that I like about over here is the clubs and individual fan groups don't say these aren't our fans like clubs at home do or individuals on forums they accept it and try and do something about it. Sadly I think as much they try and do something about it, society as a whole needs to change, they are people outside of the clubs regardless.

[DannyInvincible]

Btw this chelsea fans issue in paris is causing a real stir over here. I had a great laugh to myself thinking about all those on here ridiculing other posters when they say they witnessed or a friend witnessed an incident or incidents, that it hasn't happened unless some video/recording evidence of some sort. The fella who did it probably put himself in danger taking that video, but had he said he had seen it people on here and on other forums would probably have belittled and discredited the poster. The one thing that I like about over here is the clubs and individual fan groups don't say these aren't our fans like clubs at home do or individuals on forums they accept it and try and do something about it. Sadly I think as much they try and do something about it, society as a whole needs to change, they are people outside of the clubs regardless.

It really is causing a stir, but I've seen plenty of mainstream articles and commentary (from Sky to the Independent to the PFA to other Chelsea supporters) refer to the idiots as "so-called supporters". See here: https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=%22so-called+chelsea+supporters%22

Overt and very public displays of racism like that are thankfully rarer nowadays, which is probably why it's causing such a stir (combined with the fact it was a group of individuals "representing", or shaming even, Britain/England abroad). For that reason, it will always naturally surprise people when they hear of something like this happening in public. It's only natural that you'd seek at least some sort of verification or evidence of surprising claims before automatically believing them.

I don't know why I would even begin to think this, but you wouldn't at all be trying to get a general dig in by referring specifically to posters here having questioned the veracity of a claim encountered on reddit that Mark Noble once shouted "take that you fenian b*stards" after scoring in an under-age game between Ireland and England in Cork, would you? ;)

[DannyInvincible]

Another prominent figure - Chris Ramsey, the Premier League's only black manager - declares, "I don't believe these people are fans of football", and the BBC make it their headline ("Racist Chelsea supporters in Paris are 'not fans of football'"): http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31535021

[Stuttgart88]

Ramsey also, rightly I believe, said that it's not a football specific problem, it's a societal problem but that football is so pervasive it reflects society's problems. But that said, football should use this incident and the attention it's getting to continue to ram home the fact that this is unacceptable, not to mention illegal, behaviour. Ramsey was more articulate on this issue than I thought he was answering questions on his job!

Football is making big progress in tackling issues surrounding race, gender equality, sexual orientation tolerance etc., just as broader society is generally more enlightened than a decade ago. I hope this progress continues.

[the doc]

There are only Premium Level seats available at the moment, for €120 a pop. It's either a crafty attempt to shift those to people who are worried about missing out completely or they are actually the last bunch left.

Great seats in the Premium Level, well worth it.
Even better when there compos with lounge passes!

[musicinmouth]

Do you think Brady is in with a shot of starting at left back against Poland instead of Ward? What's Ward's club form like?