General Football Thread

[METALMAN]

Also they should just write to Mario Balotelli and ask him for money. It seems like the sort of thing he'd be up for.

[Adam]

It was all the George Reynolds ego trip really wasn't it.

And yeah, the fairest way of a bad bunch of options is to take points off of any teams who earned them against Darlo throughout the season. Sucks if you have a good record against them this campaign!

[King Ellis]

JEEZO EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS THAT ELLIS THANKS FOR STATING THE BLOODY OBVIOUS THE WHITE ELEPHANT WASN'T EXACTLY THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM WAS IT

That was the black elephant.

[Baddar]

I figured the fairest way to decide the points against Darlo would be to award everyone 6pts and a couple of 2-0 wins, something like that. Now teams who've beaten them twice are 6pts worse off. Basically, if you lost to Darlo, it doesn't matter, but if you won, you're punished. That's how I understand it - could be wrong.

[METALMAN]

Stop being silly Baddar.

[Matt]

I figured the fairest way to decide the points against Darlo would be to award everyone 6pts and a couple of 2-0 wins, something like that. Now teams who've beaten them twice are 6pts worse off. Basically, if you lost to Darlo, it doesn't matter, but if you won, you're punished. That's how I understand it - could be wrong.

But then you're assuming that everyone else was going to beat Darlo, which isn't fair on those that have played them and didn't win :/ No, the fairest way is to alter the league as if Darlington were never in and I'm pretty sure that's what happens 'cos it was what was going to happen when someone else nearly went broke (I wanna say Luton, but I don't think it was).

[IAceI]

Probably Chester?

[Starvinho]

It was indeed Chester.

Following repeated financial problems during the 2009–10 season, which also affected many of their fixtures, the club was served with a winding-up order by HM Revenue & Customs in January 2010. The club was put up for sale, suspended from the Conference National for breaches of league rules, and later expelled from the league in February 2010. The club's league results for the season were expunged.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Starvinho

[Adam]

It really is the fairest viable option, even if it isn't particularly fair itself on certain teams. It's much better than doing it the other way around.

[Colly]

I figured the fairest way to decide the points against Darlo would be to award everyone 6pts and a couple of 2-0 wins, something like that. Now teams who've beaten them twice are 6pts worse off. Basically, if you lost to Darlo, it doesn't matter, but if you won, you're punished. That's how I understand it - could be wrong.

What difference does it make, everyone's still got the same number of points off those two fixtures whether its 0 or 6. You'd only be annoyed if you'd put 5 past them and it hurts your goal difference.

[Lineker]

On Darlo:

George Houghton is to speak to Darlington administrators on Tuesday to discuss a potential takeover bid.

Houghton preceeded the club's most recent owner Raj Singh, passing the club on in June 2009.

"I'm going along to see if I can salvage them, although not for the kind of money they have been talking about," Houghton told the Northern Echo.

Administrators had warned the club is in imminent danger of folding if a buyer was not found.

Only seven of the 191 players contacted about their availability for GB's Olympic football team have said no. The seven players who have said they do not wish to be involved are reported to be from across the home nations, including at least one Englishman, and are from a variety of clubs.

[MJB]

191 have been contacted? That's a lot of squad rotation.

[Colly]

So the shortlist hat Steven Taylor has confirmed he's on is actually a really really really long list.

Cue guessing who the seven are I suppose. Giggsy?

[Lineker]

Nah, both Beckham and Giggs have confirmed they are available for selection.

[METALMAN]

The seven are:

Gary Gardner

Aaron Ramsey

David Goodwillie

Stephen Fletcher

Jack Wilshere

Frank Fielding

Nathan Delfouneso

I don't give a fuck about them. They won't be missed.

[Dingle]

Wilshire is awesome. Although, will he still be injured?

[Colly]

Who are Gary Gardner and Frank Fielding, and should I give a shit?

[MJB]

Fielding is Derby's goalkeeper. Not sure who Gary Gardner is though, Craig's brother maybe?

[Colly]

He is, and I actually knew that. Silly me.

[jack95]

Gardner is an Aston Villa player who has just spent a month on loan at Championship whipping boys Coventry. I'm sure the FA were crushed to hear he isn't available.