He Who Pays The Piper Isn’t Calling The Tune
Oct 8th, 2015 by 'holic
The latest batch of television picks have been announced and as you might have expected there has been scant consideration for the supporters when these have been decided.
For us the most notable change is the moving of the Manchester City home match to an 8pm kick-off on Monday 21st December. It’s not only City who will have supporters unable to get home by public transport just four days before Christmas.
What a Christmas it will be for the Gooner faithful. The Southampton away game on Boxing Day (when there is no rail service) has been switched to a 7.45pm kick-off. The knock-on effect of that means another delayed kick-off for the visit of Bournemouth to the Grove two days later.
The other change affecting us is perhaps not as bad for the travelling faithful. The trip to Villa has become a Sunday lunchtime kick-off on 13th December.
It’s not just us. I cannot imagine that Palace or Chelsea fans will be impressed with a Monday night fixture on Merseyside. Some of Manchester United’s supporters will struggle to get home from Bournemouth on a Saturday night. How many Geordies will make the journey back from Tottenham on a Sunday night? Liverpool’s faithful face an away fixture at Sunderland the night before New Year’s Eve.
The clubs of course will trot out the pre-ordained response about whoever pays the piper calling the tune, whilst not so secretly relishing the huge revenues that the televised games bring these days. But are the television companies paying the piper? From where I am sitting that is you and I, not them.
Who is paying the increased television subscriptions over which we have little say? That’s right, you and I. At the end of the day if we keep paying ever-increasing sums to the television then there will be no thought given to our preferences. We are effectively a captive market.
The television companies are not the only ones milking the situation. The clubs too haven’t cut their prices to supporters despite the increased revenue from television. To be fair Arsenal do offer some assistance with travel and ticket discounts to the travelling Gooners, and that is to be applauded.
What of the home supporters though? An expensive grade A match on a Monday night four days before Christmas. Some season-ticket holders won’t be able to get home by public transport afterwards, and others will not be able to justify the expense in the festive week. If there are empty seats as a result the club won’t be affected. They have their money.
So what can be done? Well, simply, unless supporters realise that we are ultimately paying that sodding piper, and rebel against the system currently in place, then nothing. That means large numbers of supporters of all clubs, not just Gooners. Is the collective will there to stop paying for the sports packages that have slowly taken over the most popular events? Is there a combined will to boycott matches and demonstrate for change?
I suspect we know the answer to that. Those who are grabbing ever greater chunks of our cash will continue to take advantage of our apathy and/or sense of helplessness. It’s hard to see any large scale reduction in subscribers to television sport. There will be people, devoted to Arsenal, who will vote with their feet, but there are plenty waiting in the wings to take their place in the stadium.
Frustrating, isn’t it?
316 Responses to “He Who Pays The Piper Isn’t Calling The Tune”
FIRST!
Due to high expense I am considering dropping the TV package that guarantees I can watch live or recorded nearly every Arsenal game in favor of semi-regular trips to the not-so-local pub where I can expect to see only two-thirds of the games if that many. End of halcyon days?
Cheers H!
If it was just the football, I reckon I’d bin Sky tomorrow, and go back to watching just arse games down the pub quite happily. But don’t want to lose the cricket, darts, etc., that I also watch. Even so still thinking seriously about it. Costing me 60 odd sheets a month now. #fuckingripoff
Holic, it’s the families, not being able to take their youngins to these games. No matter their club affiliation, they suffer.
8ball, I can’t even watch most of the Euro games, so paltry is my provider. Fed up with this greed!
On a different note. I see 2 camps here re the CL. Do we go for it or not? As always, taking notes. H2H says ‘No. BB says ‘Yes.
And YOU?
Agreed about the little ‘uns, abb. Another argument for maintaining tv subscriptions. It’s cheaper than getting tickets for families, now out of the reach of many.
Hey Esso,
I make you right. Now they have virtually all the sports for which there was once a degree of protection. I would happily watch football on a dodgy stream, and indeed do, but there’s no way I am damaging my minces watching cricket or golf all day. It’s no longer an optional extra, frankly.
Evening Holic.
Ridiculous decisions. And now, with the Sky / BT carve up, we have these stupid situations like our CL away game in Zagreb on a Wednesday night, followed by a Saturday lunchtime game which, if the welfare of fans or even players was any consideration, could have happened on a Sunday afternoon.
My Sky TV / Broadband / Phone (only necessary for Broadband and TV – never used as a phone !) has krept up to £110 per month.
Add that £1320 to my season ticket of £2100 and I’m looking at £3420 per year, before ever taking my daughter, travel and refreshment costs – and I only go to home games !
There are friends in here that we know pay even more, for Club Level tickets and going to all the away games as well.
I don’t know how many years those currently waiting on the sidelines would keep going for at these prices, should they get their chance, but self-strangulation looks a likely outcome for the game if it keeps on at this rate.
Meanwhile, we are encouraged to keep stumping up by the suspension from all football matters of both Blatter and Platini.
Just how honest is the game, you have to wonder.
And does anyone still seriously believe that FFP is alive, well and being applied without fear or favour ?
Forgot to say, If you are around very late tonight I will be on the latest ‘A Bergkamp Wonderland’ podcast which we are recording tonight. It usually appears around 11pm UK time, so a much more sociable hour across the pond.
I hear every word of that Trev. Well said.
Virgin got me to sign up to another contract by upping my broadband speed (and yeah, I wanted to keep all the sports as they’re all I watch now, pretty much) and now I learn that they’re doubling it again anyway at the end of the year for free. So I’m locked in to a year’s contract with the prospect of 200mb broadband that I really don’t need, BT Sport that I hate watching and Sky, minus the only channel I’d really like in Sky Atlantic.
What would happen to the clubs (and Sky) if everybody just decided enough was enough?
Nothing, that’s what. Because we’re mostly too weak to give it up.
as a man who just had homemade soup
with homemade bread
drank homemade beer
and clattered homemade children
in homemade rags
to keep out the god-made cold
i feel yer pain trev
any chance of a fiver ?
?
.
.
.
the way the travelling faithful are treated
is horrendous
snowy’s brilliant tale of life as one
is brought to mind
sad and disgraceful
Leaving aside Blatter and Platini for a moment, the tax evasion case of Messi doesn’t provide a wonderful advert for the ethical backbone of football either. Rotten at the top but not rotten below? You’re trying to have one over on me.
homemade everything and god-made cold.
the best kind.
🙂
Nursie that is another reason to take in a few Euro games in the flesh.
Whoops! I forgot we were boycotting them. 😉
On Saturday the Iceland v. Latvia game will not be televised around here but it promises to be interesting with Iceland topping the group on goal difference and out to increase their lead against Latvia who are next to bottom of the group. Quick trip to Iceland in the cards?
I will be absolutely gobsmacked if anyone is surprised by any of this. Football sold its soul when it sold out to Sky years ago. I dread to think how many times I have said on here that we are now customers in this great pantomime. Football gave up years ago bothering about anyone who has for years followed their club. Football is all about money money money. Sadly, silent Stan of Colorado is another product of that.
Those that dare to follow their clubs are never taken into consideration. Those that work in the production offices all over the world couldn’t give a monkeys about any of us. When the clubs rake in hundreds of millions from TV why would they really bother if a few thousand don’t get to games? The fact is that they don’t.
The Man City game is now a real problem for me. I haven’t checked the others yet. This is just one of the reasons why I’m starting to lose interest in it all. Football has been taking the piss out of us for years. They get away with it because for many of us it’s an addiction.
Football is just full of money and full of corruption. That should not come as a surprise to anyone at all. Sadly, it’s not going to improve in the near future.
bt8 Well, lucky to be watching Ireland v Germany, but will not have access to England 🙁 Very much hit n miss. Name the Pub and I’ll join you. xx
Abb, Trev and others. Spot on about the younger generation. You only have to look at the make up of the crowd to see that. Of course there is a family enclosure but do I really want to rush home on a Monday night to then rush back for a game that will still cost them, or me for that matter, Cat A prices? Then rush home again because it’s a school night.
The kids of today are a different generation. They will rapidly consider it to be the norm to watch every game on a lap top with a mates and a few beers. Many in years to come won’t understand why anyone would pay a fortune to watch a game in the rain when they can watch it in their living room.
I gave up Sky about 3 years ago.
I don’t miss it at all as I watch nearly all the games in the pub. One advantage of living on the Isle of Man is I’m also able to watch most of the 3pm kick-offs in the pub.
The problem with this is I spend as much down the boozer as I did on Sky subs!
Because of travel and ticket costs I go to one match a season at The Grove, so I make sure it’s a big match (this season it’s Bayern Munich).
I know it’s selfish, but I quite liked being able to see the away games at Blackburn, Wigan and Bolton as I could get there relatively cheaply and their tickets were reasonably priced.
Steve T, so sad. I would very happily stand in the rain, just to be with mates, cheering on the Arsenal!
Speaking of cheering, Ireland have just scored! 🙂
cba should be over the moon 😉
It’s the way of the world ABB. It’s a business. The fact is far more money and sponsorship will be generated by TV than the average fan going through the turnstiles.
@Trev: I recently met an old friend who’s travelling the world finalizing contracts for the company he works for. It’s family-owned and they’re religious about ethics. These are big deals (10’s-100’s M$) with public entities. Corruption is not only endemic in most places but institutionalized, not only expected but mandated. The way his company gets in is that they have built a reputation of iron-clad support of their deals, going out of the way to make sure the other party gets their side of the bargain even if they themselves have to experience a loss. Their reputation works in their favour in many countries but there are huge markets where they can’t get in and have to leave them to their two (smaller) US competitors entirely.
Last year my friend was courted by Ecclestone but after a day of discussions it was made clear to him that worldwide sports organization have to play ball there’s no way around it. My friend declined the offer.
So yes FIFA, the OIC, Formula One and many other worldwide organizations are corrupt but that’s how most countries are functioning day to day. Whoever has responsibilities at FIFA have to acknowledge it at the very least and work within this reality. Blatter looks toast, who knows about Platini. The only sure thing is that the next ones won’t act any differently and you can argue hopefully as successfully establishing football as the top sport worldwide.
Also it’s ironical to watch the USA launch corruption probes and put huge pressure on Switzerland to do the same knowing that US companies are the ones most willing to go along with corruption where needed. Surely has nothing to do with the next WC in Russia.
Mr. Blatter is looking for a new job?
I hear they are in need of fresh IT programmers over @ Volkswagen 😉
cba – I had homemade soup just now. Opened the packet, chucked it in a cup, poured on the hot water.
Et voila.
Nicely put Guvna.
Do they care? DTF!
Will it change? WIF!
As Steve has pointed out on a number of occasions, the game has lost its soul.
I hope that the FBI unravel the whole filthy superstructure all the way down from FIFA to the national associations but fear there will be a whitewash.
Meanwhile Mephistopheles has run off with the game’s soul for good anyway.
Souper. 😉
Trev @8, self-strangulation from greed is indeed the morally just outcome but it ain’t happening any time soon.
Ahh ! Bath has junped in the soup …….
Timing, an’ all that ….
Well he is the consommé professional…
Trev@8: Well said.
Bath in the soup. Soup in the bath. Blah. Wine in the bath. That is the place to be. The Hakone Kowakien Yunessun has it.
http://www.yunessun.com/english/yunessun.html
Coffee, green tea and sake baths also available.
Monks know!
Heh ! 🙂
32 @Holic. 😉
Standing in the rain with mates
-or-
Sitting in a luxury office building with catered lunch
The choice seems to be quite a stark one today. The companionship may be better in the first instance, and probably would be for at least a while, but standing in the rain for two whole hours might require some whisky (or whiskey). Unless we were watching someone like Alexis banging them in, in which case I would happily stand in the rain with mates for much longer. 🙂
I feel your pain Holic- and Trev and Cynic and Esso and everyone , it’s my pain as well. But let me just refer back to my old Dad, living in Sheltered housing and loving the football on TV that he would have loved to go to see but wasn’t well enough to. He used to love Sky TV and its coverage .
It’s nowhere near a complete justification and we are at the beck and call of Rupert Murdoch which is a very dodgy place to be but there are many who can’t watch matches and they think,it’s a great substitute for live football.
Pay TV is a slippery slope and once you step on it it’s hard to step off. Sadly the genie is out of the bottle and the commercial interests are too entrenched to care about live audiences. Soon they will probably produce CGI spectators and dispense with the real thing. It’s a dreadful inconvenience having to accommodate supporters.
With so many watching each game on a stream or via a foreign satalite system I’m really surprised that the clubs/TV companies have not started to sell individual games on a match by match basis. I also don’t thing we are too far away from being able to purchase a TV season ticket where for a price you get to watch every game live.
The TV and finances control the game. If companies want to have a game kick off at 10pm on a Friday night to satisfy audiences worldwide then it will happen. If the price is right of course???
Here in NZ Sky lost the EPL football a couple of years ago, and to watch Arse I pay a company called Premier League Pass an annual fee of NZ$200 (= £87 approx) which gives me all 10 EPL matches every week in Full HD. Yes, I know it’s not the same as being there, but I’m guaranteed a better feed than ‘Holic apparently enjoys when not attending.
Since then Sky has also lost the rights to PGA and Euro golf (my second fav sport), at which point I had to consider whether SKY was still worth buying for the other sports I watch – F1, cricket etc … and I decided no, and canned Sky Sport.
And I found it a bit like giving up smoking. I really missed the F1, especially with Hamilton finally winning regularly, and the cricket with us thrashing the Aussies in the Ashes… But that feeling has passed and while I still check the results I find I can now take it or leave it. So I gave up the rest of Sky and now don’t miss that much either, having enough free-to-air programmes to watch, plus time for a slew of things I once used to enjoy. There are compensations, trust me.
So to those who believe they are addicted to Sky I say not necessarily. Give it a try, bear the initial pain, and like me you may find it goes away.
Also, if the NZ experience is a guide – and I suspect we are a kind of test case currently – Sky UK may also find itself outbid for premium sports in the future by specialty suppliers such as PLP. This could be a good time to test a Sky-less future for many present addicts.
Oskar
The ransom of becoming the #1 sport in the world.
How many Liverpool fans care when they field a team with not one scouser in it?
Clubs are football brands nowadays. Luckily ours is better 😉
abb I didn’t think Germany v. Ireland would be much of a game to watch but that was certainly wrong. Erin go brag. 🙂
Not that I actually watched it …
But it would’ve been worth watching just to see the Irish fans after the final tin whistle, as I see it was actually played in Dublin. cba off celebrating the double Irish victory?
I get nbc sports live extra as part of my standard cable package. that means I get to watch any game any weekend (epl) using either their app or on demand (about a minute behind live). no extra fee to have this, only standard hd fees.
Only thing about Citeh game moving to Monday night is – its actually not a school night, xmas school holidays have started. So, have bitten the bullet and managed to book City Road Travelodge for that night for me and youngest. Its B&B for only £60.00 for both of us, which cos of booking this far in advance is pretty reasonable.
So it becomes an xmas treat. However – add in the travel, 2 x Grade A tix, etc. and it will be a £300 xmas treat. I don’t grudge it for him or myself for that matter, but it really sums up why I shall only be going to a handful of games this season.
And like Trev, my TV/Broadband/Phone package with Virgin now clocks in every month at £110+. Something will have to give.
Are the cunts listening to us? Are they fuck. Like Steve T says, if you sup with the devil you need a long spoon.
So, the options are to pay through the nose or vote with your feet and cut the cable. Not a great outcome for a fan either way.
In other news.. i thought he was injured… :http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3265808/Chile-2-0-Brazil-Eduardo-Vargas-Alexis-Sanchez-earns-Copa-America-winners-win-South-American-rivals-15-years.html
😀
applying sound logic
ireland are now world champions
slainte boys
sup up yer soup !
?
Ned,
Are those monks carrying out some sort of genetic engineering experiments with you as their chief guinea pig ?
If they already having you paying for stuff through your nose and voting with your feet, I’d be keeping a pretty close eye on them.
Assuming that’s still what you use for seeing things with. 😉
@43
In this case, I’d really just bite the bullet and change my flight to Florida to Tuesday. I haven’t really gone into the mathematics that include the 2 extra nights’ stay in the hotel.
Not sure what the missus would say, of course.
Esso@43. Once again, spot on sir. I’m fortunate enough not to need accommodation on match days but it pushes the price through the roof. For me, when you take one of the kids it’s all about making memories. Memories that will stay with them for life. But the cost does become prohibitive. The costs themselves go back the the discussions a few weeks ago about tolerance levels of fans. If you have a night out that costs that much it’s not wrong to expect something in return. That something increases as the costs increase.
These days I try and do the odd overnighter for away games. I took my 11 year old to Burnley last season. A hotel stay and match tickets came to less than £100. Although it was Burnley. I also had the unbelievable pleasure of being able to take him to the cup final last May. Again, all about making memories.
I do get the way that Sky and TV has changed the game. The fact that there are those from the four corners of the globe that frequent this establishment tells you what a success it has been. However, with that comes the failings that money brings. As you rightly said, if you sup with the Devil………
Acestream – all sports, all free, all HD. Never paid, never will.
God forbid that anyone at Sky asks but is there really a genuine UK market for Monday night games in the UK?
I appreciate it was an apparently proven a scheduling format adopted from the US but even with my gargantuan appetite for football by Sunday at 6pm I am sated. I rarely watch games on Monday, which tend to be second string stuff in any event.
Seems to me its a waste having a good game likeAFC v Citeh on a Monday, apart from pissing off supporters.
Looking at the BARRB figures to compare the last week in which Sky had three fixtures over seven days Super Sunday brought in 1.1 million viewers, Saturday Night football 810,000 and Monday night jut 660,000
Trev@47: So that is why my feet smell and my nose runs…
I have just seen a bbc headline informing me that Michael Carrick is fit to play for England against Estonia.
Anicoll5@51: the genesis of Monday night football in the U.S. is that in the early 1960s, when the NFL wasn’t the deal it is today, the NFL commissioner wanted to play games that could be televised in prime time to expand the audience for the sport. He first tried Saturday night football. That got low ratings and the network carrying them went bust. He then wanted to switch to Friday nights but backed off in the face of complaints it would damage attendance at high school football games, a sacred Friday night ritual in many parts of the U.S. That left Monday as his third choice. And the NFL started playing games on Monday nights, drawing big crowds, before they got a TV contract. It wasn’t really until ABC bought the rights in 1970 that it started to take-off as a TV phenomenon. So it was the game’s administrators, not the TV companies, that initiated Monday night football. Today, of course, it is the TV tail that wags the dog.
Latest from Sky Sports….
“With Jurgen Klopp at the kop and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, a trend has developed where clubs are appointing managers with names similar to how the club is perceived, with that in mind Man Utd are believed to have approached Stefan Kuntz.”
Seems legit.
🙂
Esso
Very fair point about the cost especially when you bring the children. As it happens the move of the Citeh game suits me as my grandson has his birthday party at the Amex on 19th and I can attend both.
Good point from Anicoll about Monday football. Soon we will have Fruday to Monday football and very few viewers!
GSD
Thanks for the news about Carrick although they said he was playing last Sunday and I never saw him?
We pay a lot here in India. I mean my cable tv channels are predominantly sports and news and a lot of these are highly priced. I pay for i have no other choice but then for me i am just plain happy to pay if they guarantee all Arsenal games to be telecast.
Germany lost yesterday and i could not believe it. I mean Ireland did not touch the ball for most parts of the game and i just thought it will be a matter of time before germany score. Football does not understand scripts, does it. Ozil was fairly average and i am fine with it for i dont care if he has shockers for the national team and has brilliant ones for us.
Alexis played the whole game and scored. I cannot believe that man but i am so worried about his burn out. Sometimes i wonder why do we have such good players when it results in everyone going and playing for their national teams, but then i am biased, i only want them to play for Arsenal and stay fit.
Much obliged Ned – the growth of MNF was a lot different in the US but from what I understand it has, in its turn, become an institution.
Over here I am not sure sure Sky are not flogging a dead horse, deadish anyway !
To add to Ned’s excellent summary of the early history of Monday Night Football in the U.S., I would add that it remained a great sensation for an entire generation or more, largely because of its Hollywood-style glamour of the first set of announcers (Howard Cosell, Frank Gifford and Don Meredith) but that the public enthusiasm died down after that, and MNF still exists but the more recent generation has turned to Sunday night football as a more important game. Just an impression because I haven’t watched either one in the last decade or so.
And it is also my impression that people don’t have as much time for Monday Night Football as they did because Sunday is a time set aside for socializing but these days people spend Monday nights either working, sleeping or on the computer.
Anicoll5,
I’m fairly sure there is little or no appetite for MNF here. Long distances at times of the night when most of our long distance train services have already stopped running, create a nightmare for away supporters.
Again, many Holics in this very bar find the logistics impossible on week nights. Luckily my journey is only just over an hour so I will make it, come what may.
The exodus from the stadium on week nights is even more ridiculous than at weekends, exacerbated by the limited options for people’s homeward journeys.
The Monday / Friday Night Football options regarding which teams can actually be shown will become limited and predictable too by the time all the clubs taking part in European competition have been removed from the equation.
So pull up an armchair MNF and FNF watchers and look forward to unlimited repeats of Stoke vs Sunderland and Sunderland vs Stoke.
Assuming the Totts manage to cling to their place in the Europa League (aka The Tottenham Hotspur Thursday Night Invitation League)
(aka Spursday Night Football).
😉
@Vinay: Speaking of worries Aguero pulled his hamstring against Ecuador. It will make the Sevilla, United Away and Palace games trickier for City. Our chance to reach the top hopefully.
Also anyone seen Klopp’s press conference? I’m pretty happy for the bindippers to be be honest and the league is going to be even more interesting with the “normal one”. Now a title within 4 years could be a tad ambitious with the team they have right now but if he can seal Chelsea’s drop from the top 4 this season that would work for me.
TTG. Well done for making something of the Carrick ‘news’- I was on my break at work whilst having a crazy-busy day and just could not work out what an appropriate response would be.
As I rushed around doing 74 things at once it seemed beyond comprehension that someone, somewhere was not only spending their time to ‘report’ on this situation but also being paid to do so. I was completely baffled.
That license fee sure stretches a long way…
No chance of Ned doing 74 things at once – he hasn’t got enough body parts. 😉
I don’t get Bein Sports or Fox Soccer To Go. As bt8 will attest to, in the US, we don’t have pubs on every corner! 😉 And the adult beverages can run you $8 a pop!
And just who can get by on one drink. Then there is parking (pesky meter maids!) 🙁
Sam Allardyce appointed manager of Sunderland replacing …
not sure who was manager of Sunderland last week, actually.
And now Big Sam is back, at Sunderland this time. With Pulis gone and Mark Hugues at Stoke we were missing the thrill of hard fought battles in cold rainy winter Monday nights.
As for Klopp he’s coming in just at the right time given their next 5 league games:
Spurs away
Southampton home
Chelsea away
Palace home
City away
The honeymoon will be tested…
Delighted Big Sam is back. And Klopp will keep things all warm and cozy.
Now, Holic has suggested we are 2 players short of being real contenders for the Title. And what 2 players do we unload?
The OX? Debuchy? Seriously, there are consequences to putting together our Dream Team. Relieved I’m not making these hard choices!
I had a phase of being a total refusnik myself regarding any mid week games Trev. As I live up on the Norfolk coast a drive to Peterborough was required. SOBRIETY
Add in packing in work early to mid afternoon to get there, and being knackered the next day having got in at 1.00+ post game it was daft.
I would not have minded but I chip in £75 to Sky and BT a month.
I admit however I have cracked a bit recently, with Bayern enough to make me go through the hoop and buy the ticket this month !
And before that Monaco 🙁
that was a long trip home …
Howdy, abb.
As far as I can tell Bein Sports is a joint service of the governments of Qatar and Venezuela, and perhaps a few other formerly developing countries which are now on the verge of taking over the world. The announcers are all 27 year old Venezuelans with marginally good English but a little bit too much enthusiasm for my taste. Not sure of the British equivalent if there is one. Hopefully not.
Anicoll5.
Ahhh, just one of the many reasons why riding the good old passenger train can be such a pleasure.
LACK OF SOBRIETY!! 😀
chelsea – i despise
a question as to their inclusivity ?
🙂
decades later , acceptance of different others
also proved difficult
something they should work on
😉
i know a lotta chelsea fans
who
well aware of the sectarian shite then
still are
chelsea fans
now
perhaps ned could document the bigotry
i’m sure the trains run on time
Moo
football is a bollocks
.
don’t get me started
on the scouse two
and the manc who
.
if any pointless academic is reading this
get yerself a sneaky PhD
on irish republican football fans
70s 80s
out rioting
throwing anything to hand –
anti-english displeasure and/or paving stones at
armoured cars , saracens and tanks
[filled with gun toting “a-rooty-tooty-too” accented “geeezahs” ]
(sorry ‘holic – all you fellas sound the same)
.
whilst covering their faces
with a leeds utd or man utd scarf
yup
odd
.
.
anyhow
anyhoo
i think you’ll congratulate me
on not talking out the roof o’ me kneecaps
.
*licks eyeball*
abb. US$8 is the same as 5.22 British money and having been reading about the high prices for beer over there I’m not sure 5.22 would be such a bad deal. What do the authorities say?
No sorry necessary, cba.
The blue alliance remains, I believe. Chelsea, Rangers, Linfield.
🙁
bt8 oh, I thought beer would be more reasonable in GB. 🙁
A Long Island Ice Tea packs a punch, with water as a chaser. Won’t drive with more than one drink in me.
As announcers go, love ESPN Deportes. Happy Chaps, no matter what! 🙂
But I may be wrong according to this article, average pub beer price in London was only 3.79 as of a year ago, so the US$8 remains very high on both sides of the Atlantic. Unless prices went way up in the last year over there.
Article:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/sep/04/good-pub-guide-londoners-76p-pint-more-than-herefordshire
Interlulll Friday and the drinks are coming right on in. Ireland effect?
.McDintons in downtown St Petersburg FL. Must pay 4 parking. Mostly a young crowd with the odd geezer like me there. Mostly FCB fans, smiles.
As 4 Beer, it makes good bread, use it instead of yeast. 😉
the “sorry” was tongue in cheek
about ye all sounding the same
innit
😉
.
i just always found it interesting
(wrong word)
we all were football fans
english football fans
when
the level of anti-english vitriol
was sky high
lord knows
and i shit you not
there was a collective whoop
if england even lost in the eurovision song contest
Oh Eurovision song contest. ABBA ♥
Digs in*
Katrina and The Waves- Love Shine A Light.
One of my fave pop songs of all time. Serious hippy gold. Check out the lyrics on that badboy!
It sure beats songs about milk-based beverages persuading males to visit one’s abode…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjj68mhKMg0
You’re welcome!
I am still waiting on cba to release his own number one hit entitled- ‘My home-brew brings all the Holics to the Farm…’
I can’t believe Carrick has not started. It is almost like his availability is completely irrelevant…
I might just slalom this one through to the goal.
‘hol
what ye were saying about
the blue trio
dangerous stuff
no place anywhere
not just football circles
wrong side of that many times
i would be of the green persuasion
so have encountered
displeasure at my company sometimes
when i lived in london
in connection with the blue
at home
we were penned in
to exaggerate slightly
into religious ghettos
most enforced inhabitants of which
are no more religious than me
but
its never been about religion
alone/at all
its about simpler things
that everyone wants
but
if ye already have ’em
ye probably don’t realise
you do
or
how important it is
that everyone else should too
Hi abb ( not forgetting cba and others ). Yr @ 81 now you would be odd as a “geezer” is an old London slang word for a man 😉
Memories of ABBA winning Eurovision Song Contest remain big with me as it was the day my first child was born. After ringing round the family with all the news, I switched on the tv and the rest is history momma mia 🙂
Round another dumbfounded opponent and into the 90s.
GSD …a bit of tippy tippy should see us up to the ton. A simple 2 yds sideways aka MA8 continues the move 🙂
ooh
to
Uply! I didn’t know that. Geezerette, it is then. Nice story, btw. xx
Moves forward a pace…..
oooh to be
Dummies Uply’s ‘simple’ ball, taking a midfileder out of the game and making it into a superb ball for the onrushing…
shoots!
oooh to be a
throws himself at the rebound!
just call me tabs
Well in cba….across the divide!! Wengerball personified there 🙂
yes cba, I’ll finish it 4 you ‘goonah ♥
Santi starts for Spain and Silva suffers a knock with injury potential. Game v. Luxemborg being played not far from Santi’s home town.
GOOONAAHHH + 1
trev timing
smoooooth
🙂
Top play all round. Total football. The interchanges were scintillating.
Like a different game altogether.
GSD surely “call me Mr Tabbs” – the great Sydney Poitier 🙂
So twitter trained, just looking for the FAV button for all these drinks! 🙂
abb – a bit slow there, obviously lacking match practice after a long ( and much missed ) absence x
Geezerette if I make it to St. Pete I will look you up but same goes if you come to St Paul, hear?
Uply- heh. Very good!
Santi hits the crossbar but should have scored.
Bizarre scenes of fans whistling at Pique for being a Catalan nationalist.
bt8 – somewhat closer than his recent goal efforts for the Arse 😉
A pub my ex’s mum used to drink in had a few regular drinkers who were all female, over 70, drank pints and smoked like chimneys. Thick east-end accents, all flem and gravel.
My missus used to call them ‘the geezer-birds.’ Always amused me- hope it amuses you lot.
*zico laces boots*
*eyes the ton*
cba. It is after 8 on Friday night…
Dr Z is in no state to tie shoelaces. Wink.
My goodness! Of course bt8 xx
Uply No apologies needed, ever! Just happy to see you and all the holics ! Missed you lot tremendously.
Cba goal scoring exploits divert attention from great drink @89.
Spain coach Del Bosque appears to have lost 2 or 3 stone inbody weight. Not quite as slender as Almunia or De Gea though.
Still, at least he’s slimmer than Santi.
I kid, I kid!
and can i just say
if it wasn’t for the exemplary play of cba
i dunno if we’d all have a day off work tomorrow
for that ton among men
and nurses
but nurses can be men too
you are such a sexist abb !
shocking behaviour
‘holic !
sort this !!!!
she’s a nazi
Fabregas is playing but has been anonymous. Luxembourg just went close but still scoreless at 40 minute mark.
Theo looks like he is threatening to become the player we all hoped he might be. I think his mentality seems to be changing. Dunno why- maybe fatherhood? But he seems like he is starting to take responsibility on the pitch. I hope this continues.
Santi breaks through for Spain!!
cba, hadn’t thought about that! Cheers to all male nurses!
And Santi just scored!
Fabregad split the defence leading to the goal.
All have the day off work tomorrow? Speak for yourself cba.
Good thing nurses don’t get weekends off either- regardless of their sex. In the long-gone, pre-teetotal days they have proved very useful in stitching me back together after a night on the lash…
Theo scores…1-0 Ingerlund 🙂
Theo. Nuff said.
Think Theo has been weightlifting, GSD
Santi and Theo both score… Looking forward to our next match!
😀
So cba and abb walk into this bar … (Add punchline)
135 bt8. ……they both should have worn their specs. 🙂
bt8. Definitely.
Our entire team decided last season that they looked too wimpy in the changing room since Alexis arrived. I am serious about this. Across the board they have put some work in. The bench-press in the Arsenal gym has never seen queues like it.
Well, not since Merse and Big Tone used to line the shots up on it anyway.
heh @ 136! 😉
bt8.
cba and abb are a magical combo. You can’t get Abracadabra without them.
Boom!
Theo scoring, wow. He’s really fast becoming the finished article!
Not sure about the punchline, but a conversation seems to break out. 😀
GSD, I’m tickled pink to be in cba’s company. 🙂
139 heh – all courtesy of holic’s magic wand 😉
Uply- is that what he uses to type?
Makes those quick-fire match reports even more impressive. Wink.
Theo should spend every free moment he has watching reruns of Aguero and Suarez’s best games. They are the template for him as far as I see him developing as a striker.
GSD the words flow in unison with supplements of Guini or malt or more probably a combination of both 😉
Uply- I’ll be waiting for his Hammett pastiche over the next interlull then…
The Maltese Guinea Fowl.
I’m glad we have nurses about. Some days this place has an element of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest about it. You lot can be wonderfully certifiable. 🙂
Not to mention certifiably wonderful!
GSD – we are still getting over the Brazillian-Spanish peasants foul 😉
In the spirit of Big Sam (who I adore), I join Holic and all you gorgeous Loons. Totally Certifiable! 😉
148…Nurse Rachets up the conversations 😉
A quick visit guvna – a particularly slow pouring Guinness ?
True Uply.
Fortunately H has so far resisted all Mike Dean’s offers to edit the blog!
Trev@74: Thankfully, I still have the ones that really matter…
Alcacer scores for Spain and who does he want to hug first? That’s right. Santi. Who wouldn’t? 😉
Sterling 2-0 Ingerlund.
Santi scores again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’
Should already have a hat trick. 5 minutes to get it.
Missed Santi’s 2nd goal! What a guy, huh. xx
Who said he is too fat? Paunchy, maybe. 😉
if nurse abb and i walked into a bar
as we both have feet
unremarkable
Re CBA’s comments it didn’t help to have English idiots like Roberts and Gascoigne playing for Rangers and making sectarian gestures and mimicking playing the flute after scoring. They had no idea what they were signifying to Celtic fans.
sorry dino
cant see me makin it to
the two ton
Apparently John Cross is suggesting that Liam Brady is returning to the club to guide the Academy. I don’t normally believe anything Cross says. If he said it was Saturday tomorrow I would still check the calendar.
I thought the sums spent on young talent, a lot of which looks very good suggested faith in Jonker.
This is the story I saw
http://dailycannon.com/2015/10/report-liam-brady-to-return-in-another-academy-reshuffle/?
football was a side dish m’lud
that is dealt with
and agreed
but
when the m’luds are blue
what chance does a green have
but
as de facto world champions
kneel before me
for i
am a shite team
who got a bit lucky
.
and
no
“Northern Ireland” results
interest me not a jot
cos
there is no such place
I too watch all the games at my local pub here in the states.
Rule of thumb to keep things on the straight and narrow: no Guinness before halftime. Nope, rule written in stone.
That makes belting down 3 in 2nd half a challenge. But am always equal to it!
(i walk home….)
Chuffed with the BIG defeating the world champions, cba. 🙂
Homer…sounds like a sensible policy. Mind you, 3 pints would be a light warm up pre match in the Tollie 🙂
and by the way
those twonks who play the imaginary flute
know exactly what they are doing
‘holics bar really isnt a place for this
apologies ‘hol
i do more than “leak” my lifetime before
but
i dunno
complaining about your spenditure for Arsenal
which lootwise is what someone on the dole gets
for a year
and they have to include” refreshments “did annoy me
a fuck:n rather lot
sorry. ‘hol
and thanks 🙂
i can be a right mouth
sorry trev
abb. I’d hug Santi but would have to cross the line at Fat Sam.
Draw the line I mean. Ahem!
Hate those Freudian slips.
no cba for the double ton?
hate to think I could have done anything to offend
Still, it is a burden I suppose to put the team entirely on your back, as cba has done many a time.
Everybody think the excitement walked out of the bar already
Not quite so fast
Google says my description of the “short” distance between Logroño, where Spain played Luxembourg today, and Llanera, where Santi Cazorla was born, was somewhat exaggerated. The drive between the two places is estimated at 4 hours and 20 minutes. Sorry to have mislead anybody and to have lost my credibility as an expert on the geography of northern Spain. So much embarrassment.
Doubleton closer than it seemed, it seems …
A quick ten drinks while nobody is watching can certainly work its magic.
Relentless, he plugs on.
Imagining the lurking lurkers lurking and hoping to take advantage.
Ha ha! Uply.
I figured as much. If I’m ever in the Tollie – and hope to catch a match this season – I will be in, shall we say, “match fitness”.
bt8
what a guy
🙂
.
catch me if ye can
me name is Stan
sure , i’m yer man
September 1980 picture of Fat Sam playing for Sunderland at the bottom of this article.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34491345
Not huggable now and not even 35 years ago.
Did someone mention ‘lurking lurkers. Reporting for Duty 🙂
*intercontinentalballisticraspberries*
191
Random Allardyce trivia: He has managed more matches against Arsenal (28) than against any other club — and only won five of them.
192
The same article has a table that shows one commonality between the four Premier League clubs Fat Sam has managed: Bolton, Newcastle, Blackburn and West Ham all conceded more goals than they scored during his time at the club.
He has also had more wins against the neighbours than any other club, 12 out of 24 games played.
back off
I’M the people around here
that the people around here
say “they know” when
they say
they “know people”
around here
yeah
Even with Nolan firing on all cylinders
all the king’s horses and all the king’s men
couldn’t make Sam’s club score more goals
than the oppozishen.
neddy baby
cba 187 off to Lishdoonvarna eh 🙂
too embarrassed
throwin yer wait around for the doubleton cba?
100
200
triple ton up next?
Cba…he scores ( and drinks ) when he wants – you just can’t stop the Oirish 🙂
*holsters sidearms*
*crawls back into gopher hole*
tough day
tough week
Well in for the double ton, cba.
rapid beverage consumption is dangerous and even the surgeon general has issued a warning about it
‘holic I hope you are enjoying your Friday evening without need of coming up with any match preview.
Maybe it’s time to begin some actual, non-virtual, rapid beverage consumption.
One for Theo
Two for Santi
gopher?
did ye know mink are deadly?
yup
them what own the fur coats
.
they can take down a goose
and geese are feckin nuts
imagine a sitty downy person
in thon park off the mall
where the cut jiggles in his mind
iffin he’ll ask ye for the sit-down charge
for the posh deckchairs
or let ye get the weight off yer slingbacks
to reconvene fer another can
later on
or i turn up and say FUCKIN CUNT OFF
and
.
.
stop talking me 🙂
.
.
“when bagpuss goes to sleep ”
MINKS ARE MENTAL
WHO IS UP FOR THE 3 TON ?
WHO IS UP FOR THRE TIR TON TIT
WJO FUCKIN SSID DDCHNURFGLES
Z
POOFS!
Chucklin’
You lot are barking’
One has me thinking on. The money we spend on matches we have earned. Or we are spending beyond our means and it will come to an end soon enough.One or t’other.
Lucky to have the choice though, I understand completely.
Do we start the political debate here? I think not. Let’s just worry about Arsene, and Mesut, and Theo….
… and Aaron, the Lad needs a goal. He’s so hard on himself. The OX too. Plenty to fret over 🙂
in orher news
i did fry 16 sausages
in a pan built for 10 at best
logistical wundergenius
all about the rotation
and perhaps the 3skinner
anyhoo
hungover people were fed
Cheerio now
And it won’t cost us anything to do so. Silver Lining*
Unconventional numerologists on alert. 222 is approaching.
My DB10, it’s been a rerr terr in the ol’ Hostelry the nicht.
Will ye no’ settle soon?
cba, ahm lookin’ at yoooooooo.
bloody spellchucker.
– soon
+ doon
ah’m still looking’ at yooooooo, cba.
A bowl of mixed nuts in here tonight. Do we have 78 nuts in the house for the triple?
I’ll start.
Lug nut.
Groupies.
Beating Man Utd in the last game held out promise for making the interlull seem like a short one but I’m not sure it is working.
Friday night is supposed to be filled with a sense of anticipation and suspense about what will happen on the morrow. But tonight there is none of that. U.S.-Mexico in these parts is a big game but I can’t get too excited about it really.
Pistacchio.
Do seeds count?
Pumpkin seed then.
Lug nut. Does that have more to do with hardware than fruits and nuts?
ecg, are you still out there.
walnuts
bt8, wouldn’t it be a surprise to find a lug nut in yer bowl of mixed nuts? kind of like finding cba on a blog…
red bopple nut aka Michael Carrick
G’night ecg. If you make it all the way to the three ton then I will salute you tomorrow. 🙂
squash, butternut…
pecan nut
peanut
i’m a nut
wing nut
brazil nut
spanish peanut
diego costa is a nut
chestnut
water chestnut
horse chestnut
i hope somebody kicks John Terry in the nut(s)
ecg @ 243. Correction Diego Costa is a cnut 😉
Uplympian, you are correct, you nut…
goodnut…
It’s a good morning here in Blighty. Nutting going to change my mind, even though there’s no Arse to look forward to this weekend ( ooh err missus ). 😉
Lovely bunch of coconuts!
Doughnuts.
Or Donuts to some.
all hail ecg
brilliant nutjob solo
From little acorns…
bt8 & ecg obviously live in Nutbush City Limits 😉
There must be some hangovers in here this morning. Chuck another sausage in the pan cba. 🙂
Morning all,
The bar’s first overnight Sausage Sizzle then.
And there were, just as we were taught in school in lessons about illiteration and stuff (down wiv de kids), no fewer than ” sixteen sizzling sausages”. Those were the English lessons that combined illiteration with onomatopoeia (and, hopefully, spelling !).
NED @192,
Now that is what we pay those monks for !
Don’t we ? Oh well, never mind. They have a good enough life, what with all that genetic experimenting an’ all. 😉
Ah, the summer of 2014, when a young Poon railed for Arsenal to sign the hot young thing. Two years removed from a barnstorming, chest thumping Euro campaign and some thorough pummelling of German opposition his talent was undeniable. A dodgy spell couldn’t erase those vivid highs from the memory… Then he went to Liverpool.
That Balotelli fella did a fabulous job up there, the can’t miss nutter with talent. Arsene knew etc. Hope the new nutter with talent works out just as well. Brent will be missed though.
No Louie no party. No Lewa no party.
Imagine Brendan. Sat in his lounge. Nothing to do. Except stare at that picture of himself, of course.
Poor guy.
Strange that Liverpool would jettison a manager who was such a big part of their rich history …. jabber … jabber ….. rabbit ….. rabbit …..
Big push now team. Can anyone else smell an interlull triple-ton?
Smells like napalm in the morning.
That’s what happens when Brendan tries to cook his own bacon and eggs.
Afternoon all and happy 49th Tony. 🙂
That sure is a lot of Tonies.
Indeed, bath.
Can’t imagine this happening too much these days –
http://1nildown2oneup.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TonyAdamsContractSigner.jpg
😉
I do however remember a summer flirtation with Demento.
http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BzkkqlyCQAAVC62.jpg
That one ?
Heh, nice one.
No, one summer when he was offered a new contract but was receiving overtures from Demento to come and join the Manure party and delayed signing for us, suggesting that he was giving that move some consideration. But he stayed and retained his ‘legend’ status.
Chuck another sausage in the pan
Something one should never say to a chef in a nudist colony
Congratulations to Wales. Two defeats but two qualifications.
That’s Aaron knackered for the start of next season then
Wails TTG.
Sorry, Wales, TTG ?
😉
Whales?
To what porpoise?
Purely for pleasure, bath.
Feelgood factor if you like.
Just like those end-dolphins.
😉
Oh Cod… here endeth The Drinks.
FIN
Cynic, it’s not your plaice to end the drinks.
I’m off to bed – i’ve got a terrible haddock.
G’night. 🙁
Please don’t be begudgeon me a good nights kipper. 😉
Trev, Of course not if that’s your only porpoise 😉
Nuts to fish? Help me, I’m floundering.
*giggles
Sometimes I think we stray into pun territory just for the halibut.
It’s a dirty job, GSD, but salmon’s gotta do it. ?
Oh please, not this load of pollocks again…
Trev, I had to mullet over and I was feeling a bit crab bit so I went to another plaice last night. :0)
Trev is not the Sole perpetrator here. Let’s just skate over these puns shall we? 😉
Well, the blog’s a bit quiet Guv – got to fillet with something. 😉
* scampis off outside and leaves them to it*
Sometimes you lot make me feel well out of my depth. A real fish out of water.
New post title.
He who pays the piper isn’t calling the Tuna.
Time to manta up.
You lurkers really ought to stop playing koi.
for those who did not see it before, brilliant interview with Gabriel, giving some insight to his life and background, I am mightly impressed and the way he talks about what must have been very difficult upbringing is really endearing http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/20151008/-i-m-proud-to-give-my-mum-a-better-life-
Please don’t make me croaker do anything else life-threatening.
Eandy. Good link, and Gabriel seems to be a very good man.
Another link:
As soon as West Ham start being title contenders in their fancy new stadium, a lot more people will think this is an incredibly unjust way to gift them success.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/34492276
Traveling fans are the last people the tv company gives a hoot about and unless there is a drastic change they will only really ever be seen as a slight annoyance. Nothing new though, is it?
Prices are sky rocketing and it can only go on for so long, the bubble will eventualy burst. Pricing out the traditional fan base for the big exective style bucks is the first major mistake. It’s short term gain over long term loyalty. Wheres’ the next generation of match attending fans coming from? Once a Junior Gunner is above 16 ticket prices rise by almost 1000% in some cases, how is that going to work then for young adults who either are just starting to work or are still at school. You are losing the whole 16-40 demographic, corperate suicide in most other business’.
The new division of matches, between Sky and BT, ironically to insure that there would be no monopoly, has instead of bringing the prices down achieved the complete opposite, you are now being fucked twice, disgraceful. A few years ago here in the NL, I had Sports1, all PL, La liga, Bundesliga, CL and International fixture, only thing of any interest missing was the F.A Cup. Since the split, I now have Foxsports International which has the PL games, but not as many and over the last two seasons the COC and FA cups.
There is now only one Saturday 3 o clock ko, which over the last few weeks have been Manure (Van Gaal), Saints (Koeman) and bottom of the barrel Sunderland (Advocaat), now that Big Sam has taken over the latter will not be shown anymore I guess. No CL games, I have the Europa League which I haven’t watched yet. The COC cup has been replaced by the German competition and I’m not sure if the F.A Cup will be back this term.
Luckily the price for this service won’t break the bank, It’s less then 20euros a month, but on the otherhand, I’m getting less then half the coverage I did for the same price a few seasons ago. Sport1 had 6 chanels, FoxInternational 2 (sometimes 4, but remarkably only on the last game of the season more then one Saturday PL game will be broadcasted at the same time) Last season there was a one game pay per view option, but I haven’t seen it this year. You can sometimes get the games, that are not on live tv, on your phone/ laptop, but wierdly that’s not every week.
I suppose I can’t complain too much, as for years, here abroad, the only real contact with Arsenal was trying to hunt down the Sunday papers and hoping that the back pages were stil intact.
Multimedia today has garned the club and the league milions of new fans, such a shame that the old ones are been treated like garbage.
You guys certainly are hooked on fish puns.
While I have the floor.
Lays it on a plate for……………
Cba?
Placeholder of a goal. 🙂
Thanks H2H for the assist. It appears the Murdoch empire is everywhere and the evidence in this case is the reappearance of the Bundesliga in the Murdoch TV package in the States (Fox) as well as in Holland.
Or plaiceholder, bt8b?
This group(er) of longstanding fins is a remarkably hospitable plaice for red (whipper) snappers. 😀
I’ve not been paying Atenchun so I’ve missed the pun fest. Trev is a dab hand with puns but I’m determined to spike his guns and knock him off his perch. Frankly I’d skate over the football and just talk about fish if it were left to me
. Ding Ding- is that the barbel I hear? Hope things don’t get too bleak or ruffe and we don’t have to trout out these awful puns week after week. . I’ve smelt a rat for some time. Most of them are definitely below parr.
After the United win the team are breaming with confidence?
I can’t believe how many we’ve managed. I thought we might start to flounder.
How are Manure like haddock?
They are both best when battered.
bath 303
as langoustine-aged fans are welcomed here
we’re guaranteed a fresh pool of future old soles
*let’s self down*
😉
cheers bt8
Don’t clam up now holics. Can’t believe what I’m herring. 😉
Giroud got two! Everything’s hunky-Dory now!
😀
ABB
I can see you pouting saucily over there. That’s why I’m whiting to you.
I may write( white) a load of codswallop but I don’t want to hake over the coals. I seem to have pilchard all the fish puns I can muster but I tope you will forgive me.
CBA/ Joe
Congrats on a superb rugby effort
Hope the football team can draw inspiration from that
TTG, good belly laugh! Cheers!
BB, calm down son. Smiles.
Fin >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
cba@308: if no old soles, then at least plenty of alewives.
But I won’t carp on…
cheers thunder T
but
no wrigglin’ off the line
the poles caught us
🙁