Thinker

Is it Espanyol?

The 12 teams being sent by UEFA are this year's Champions league winners, plus the previous 3 (Man City, Real Madrid and Chelsea) and the 8 teams with the highest coefficient over this year and the previous 3, with a maximum of 1 from each nation. As it stands there are, 7 nations that we're almost certain not to catch. England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal and the Netherlands. (There is a vanishingly small possibility that Ajax might win the Champions League, qualify that way, and that we overtake the next best Dutch team, Feyenoord, who have a 5 point lead on us.) As it stands right now (as far as I can figure out, anyway), the race for 8th place is as follows: 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24 Total Glasgow Rangers Sco 15 19 4 3 41 FC Salzburg Aut 7 17 9 4 37 Club Brugge Bel 11 7 17 1.5 36.5 Dinamo Zagreb Cro 17 9 7 2.5 35.5 Shakhtar Donetsk Ukr 14 6 11 4 35 Slavia Praha Cze 16 10 6 2.5 34.5 Red Star Belgrade Srb 10 15 4 4 33 FC Basel Sui 2.5 12 17 1.5 33 (The column for this year shows the guaranteed minimum points - e.g. we'll get 3 even if we drop to the Europa League). The biggest threat, imo, is Club Brugge, who have ended up in the Conference League this year, and will probably find it very easy and score big.

A quick Google, shows it's already in the pipeline: https://www.sportbible.com/football/super-league-saudi-pro-league-juventus-barcelona-396650-20230620

Also, Australia managed to negotiate themselves into the Asian Football Confederation from the Oceanian. Compo's right- If there's enough money to be made from Saudi teams playing against the likes of Barcelona, Real and Juventus, it will happen. Maybe they'll prop up the Super League.

If Israel can be in Europe, so can Saudi I suppose.

For me, the surprising thing about that article is that Hearts have a "gentleman's agreement" with Hibs. Are there any gentlemen at Easter Road?

I'm pretty sure Malangsob was referring to the actual transfer market rather than website. i.e. Prices are crazy - largely because we're bidding against clubs that have so much dosh that + or - £2 million on a transfer means absolutely nothing to them.

I prefer...

Or maybe a high-spec campervan?

From the thread on FF: David Edgar said: Never gonna happen folks. Current board would just issue new shares to dilute their holdings. That’s if it’s even true, Dave King is too smart to associate with them. Sounds to me like the Chuckle Brothers just fancy a wee bit of publicity.

If we could be classified as a UK club I could agree with that. Otherwise we'd be screwed in Europe.

Ross County make an outrageous comeback in the not-at-all cagey playoff against Thistle. 3 goals down with 20 minutes to play, and end up winning on pens.

One hell of a final day in the Belgian league ends with Genk as runners up and with a CL play off spot. USG were sitting pretty for top spot at 1-0 until the 89th minute, then caved in and conceded 3. That left Genk at the top until Antwerp equalised on 90+4 and took the title. The Belgian FA are going to be bankrupted by the helicopter fuel bill!

He sure as hell doesn't need the agro.

Cologne equaliser vs Bayern.

Missed a penalty too. They're not going to turn it around I'm afraid...

I tried so hard to find a shot of this from the back.

We enter alongside (most likely going by current league positions): Marseille Braga PSV Sturm Graz Backa Topola plus 2 of: Dnipro Genk Servette Panathinaikos 2 rounds to reduce the 8 teams to 2 qualifiers. All 6 eliminated teams go straight into the Europa League group stage..

The "press the button, Vlad" posts were a wee bit concerning, but Barasic in central defence?! Time for the men in white coats!

Sitting on the greenhouse roof with his purdey, no doubt.

I still think this is the best amongst the "for" arguments. The BBC will persuade somebody to go on in order to tick their balanced coverage checkbox, so I'd like it be the least compliant person possible. And if they do somehow manage to ambush and misrepresent Frankie, he's got a big enough social media presence to get his objections heard.

Here it comes again! https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12806616/european-super-league-fresh-plans-for-80-team-competition-announced-by-chief-executive-bernd-reichart Surely we'd make the cut for the top 80? (Although, no doubt 99% of the revenue would be earmarked for the original elite clubs). I'm justifiably hypocritical about this: I think the clubs behind it are unsporting, money grabbing, soulless, corporations for being prepared to shaft their national leagues in a purely dosh-motivated stitch-up. However, I'd be happy to shaft our national league for a few bob.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/25/world/earth-core-turning-scli-scn-intl Actually, yes. (Well, kind of).

I hate to break it to you this way but: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29403392

This is the bottom line. As a professional sportsman or woman, your income depends on how many people want to watch. It may well be just as hard work to be a top (field) hockey player as a top footballer, but you don't get paid as much because of the lower gates and viewing figures. It may well be just as hard work to be a top badminton player as a top tennis player, but you don't get paid as much because of the lower gates and viewing figures. And it may well be just as hard work to be a top women's footballer as a top men's footballer, but you don't get paid as much because of the lower gates and viewing figures.