LeJuge

[quote user="canarydan23"]"Although I can see the Courts saying pubs are allowed to show these channels, they will tell the channels that if they want to broadcast via satellites in the UK they with have to comply with UK law - i.e. no games at 3pm and not to infringe on the rights of SKY." Technically, the European Court of Justice should not even consider the compliance of UK Law and the rights of a deal between two parties in one area of its jurisdiction. It has to analyse the EU trade rules with regards to the much-heralded open market. It is perfectly legal for a civilian of an EU member state to purchase a product from a company based in another EU member state and use it in their own country. No protection laws employed by a specific member state can over-rule it. The EU advocate general has recommended that they rule in favour of the pub landlady, Karen Murphy, in this landmark case. That does not mean that the Court of Justice has to take that advice, the advocate general''s job is merely to offer public and impartial decisions on cases. However, it is a rarity that the Court of Justice ignores the advise of the advocate general. I would imagine that the only way the Court of Justice would disagree with the advocate general would be if the influence of Sky stretches to Brussels.[/quote]Yes your right, if the free European market really existed then this should all be 100% legitimate. In fact, I hope that it is ruled legitimate. If that is over ruled, then we shouldn''t be in the European Union. Either it exists to truly provide a free and open market, or the whole thing is rendered pointless and we should withdraw from it. Otherwise we are protecting the business interests of one major corporation, Sky, and ignoring the competition facing every other industry in existance. If British people can buy German cars, then British people can buy other European television stations, simple logic if you ask me.

[quote user="mrbrutler"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="mrbrutler"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="mrbrutler"]No live games on TV at 3pm on Saturday was introduced for a reason....to not harm attendances. People such as the OP ''boasting'' about how they can now watch all NCFC games without even bothring to go to a football ground is disgusting for the game in my book.Forget supporting your local boozer financially, how about supporting your local football club in the same way!The NFL has it spot on:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television#Blackout_procedure[/quote]You are aware that Carrow Road isn''t large enough to accommodate everybody who wants a ticket this year? The same can be said for about 15 of the clubs in the Premier League. Maybe I would understand your concern if there were 2000 season tickets up for grabs, but there simply isn''t. Telling somebody without a season ticket to go and buy one is a little like telling somebody to walk on water. To the contrary, the club is probably 2000 season tickets short.I think that those without a ticket still being able to watch games this year is fab, and to be honest I suspect that it will help to create a new generation of fans in Norfolk. The club doesn''t currently have the ability to let kids in cheap, or have promotions to get people through the door to fill seats, so this is the second best thing.I am fortunate in that for me the cost of season ticket renewal is peanuts, but for many others - including many of my own friends - spending £500 for a season ticket and then another £500 on matchday expenses just isn''t viable right now. There are plenty of Norwich fans who simply cannot afford to buy a ST, are you saying that if you aren''t fortunate enough to fit within a certain earnings demographic you are "disgusting"?I know LOADS of old boys, in their seventies etc, who struggle to pay their gas bills each year but can recall countless tails of City games from their youth. Hardship can happen to anybody, no matter how much money you have now. Big difference between spending a fiver in the local on two pints of cheap lager and a packet of crisps and the expense associated with a footy game these days. [/quote]Further to that I can''t see anything wrong with supporting your local boozer. The pub industry is down on its knees, pubs are closing everywhere. You would be well served to remember just how close pubs and football were inter related before the working classes were priced out of games and replaced by a new breed of middle classes celebrating their faux-wealth based on over inflated property valuations and how up to date their iPod is. Pub, bookies, footy. That IS football culture, or at least it WAS. Now it seems to be pilates, quick spot of lunch, pop in Morrisons for a piss, pop and a paper, then down to the ground at 2.15 to make sure your in time for your fancy yellas burger and watered down lager. [/quote]We''re lucky at Norwich - we sell out. So yes, the NFL model of blackout unless you sell-out is perfectably viable for us. You''d be able to enjoy every Norwich home game in your local boozer.This is not the case for at least half of the Prem clubs, they DO NOT sell out every week. So why should people be able to just log on to a moody feed on the web, or pop down to the local pub to watch for free?If you can''t afford a holiday, you don''t go. If you can''t afford to go to the theatre, you don''t see the show. If you can''t afford a car, you get the bus. That is part of life.Approx. £500 is reasonable for a season of Premier League in my book. All this whinging about the "economic climate" is just boring now. People simply want something for nothing.[/quote]It''s a good job that the OP wasn''t talking about any other clubs then, he was talking about this one, and thus nothing that he said was the slightest bit disgusting. If you can''t afford a holiday, you go for a day trip. If you can''t afford to go to the theatre, you go to the cinema. If you can''t afford a car, you get a friend to give you a lift. If you can''t afford to go to the footy, you watch it down the pub. I take it you didn''t watch a single away game online last year then? I bloody did, I watched loads of them. [/quote]Football attendances could and probably will suffer if the 3pm blackout rule isn''t upheld. How can this not be a bad thing?Do you really want to watch NCFC away games online in half empty grounds like Wigan EVERY week?Sure, I feel sorry for people who have lost their jobs and now can''t afford to go etc. But we all know there will be a percantage who chose NOT to  travel to a game because it''s far easier for them to fire up their computer and watch. A massively sad state of affairs in my opinion.[/quote]I''m not saying that there are no negatives, although your Wigan example is a rubbish one, they are getting bigger attendances than ever and they are restricted by their proximity to numerous other clubs as well as their top class rugby team. You are not looking at the bigger picture, by blaming the poor bloke who started this thread. Why are pubs resorting to showing these games? It is because they can''t afford the Sky subcriptions, at least that is one reason, Sky put them up every year. It costs a pub £12k to show Sky games, £1k per month.I can tell you that there aren''t many local pubs who can afford to take £12k a year from their bottom line. But seeing as you don''t want economic excuses, it isn''t really worth me discussing that. The low cost of supermarket booze is more to blame than anything. Pubs need money, to make money they need to show footy, they can''t afford Sky, so they find another way. At current they aren''t breaking the law.If you have a problem with this then you need to write to your MP and insist that he lobby for minimum prices per unit of alcohol in supermarkets, or await the November outcome of the current court proceedings. Alternatively, you can write to the FA and complain that they haven''t contractually capped the amount that Sky charges small pubs to use their services. None of those issues can be fixed by scapegoating the OP, or indeed by typing on this forum. If you have a real problem with it, then do something about it. I''m not going to, because I couldn''t give a sh*t.

I like to keep an eye out for former City kids, and remembered Bally Smart today. Paul Ince loved him when he went out on loan to MK Dons, but he got released shortly afterwards and went to play in Greece. I can remember that he used to play for the South Africa under 21''s. The lad was really highly rated by many who used to watch away games, super fast, probably the quickest at the club at the time. Anyway, he signed for Charlton in 2010 but never got a game.He now plays in the Latvian league for a team who win the league every year, so Bally Smart will now being playing in the Champions League Qualifiers, before getting knocked out of the UEFA cup in the 1st round each year! He got a champions league game last week!

[quote user="mrbrutler"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="mrbrutler"]No live games on TV at 3pm on Saturday was introduced for a reason....to not harm attendances. People such as the OP ''boasting'' about how they can now watch all NCFC games without even bothring to go to a football ground is disgusting for the game in my book.Forget supporting your local boozer financially, how about supporting your local football club in the same way!The NFL has it spot on:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television#Blackout_procedure[/quote]You are aware that Carrow Road isn''t large enough to accommodate everybody who wants a ticket this year? The same can be said for about 15 of the clubs in the Premier League. Maybe I would understand your concern if there were 2000 season tickets up for grabs, but there simply isn''t. Telling somebody without a season ticket to go and buy one is a little like telling somebody to walk on water. To the contrary, the club is probably 2000 season tickets short.I think that those without a ticket still being able to watch games this year is fab, and to be honest I suspect that it will help to create a new generation of fans in Norfolk. The club doesn''t currently have the ability to let kids in cheap, or have promotions to get people through the door to fill seats, so this is the second best thing.I am fortunate in that for me the cost of season ticket renewal is peanuts, but for many others - including many of my own friends - spending £500 for a season ticket and then another £500 on matchday expenses just isn''t viable right now. There are plenty of Norwich fans who simply cannot afford to buy a ST, are you saying that if you aren''t fortunate enough to fit within a certain earnings demographic you are "disgusting"?I know LOADS of old boys, in their seventies etc, who struggle to pay their gas bills each year but can recall countless tails of City games from their youth. Hardship can happen to anybody, no matter how much money you have now. Big difference between spending a fiver in the local on two pints of cheap lager and a packet of crisps and the expense associated with a footy game these days. [/quote]Further to that I can''t see anything wrong with supporting your local boozer. The pub industry is down on its knees, pubs are closing everywhere. You would be well served to remember just how close pubs and football were inter related before the working classes were priced out of games and replaced by a new breed of middle classes celebrating their faux-wealth based on over inflated property valuations and how up to date their iPod is. Pub, bookies, footy. That IS football culture, or at least it WAS. Now it seems to be pilates, quick spot of lunch, pop in Morrisons for a piss, pop and a paper, then down to the ground at 2.15 to make sure your in time for your fancy yellas burger and watered down lager. [/quote]We''re lucky at Norwich - we sell out. So yes, the NFL model of blackout unless you sell-out is perfectably viable for us. You''d be able to enjoy every Norwich home game in your local boozer.This is not the case for at least half of the Prem clubs, they DO NOT sell out every week. So why should people be able to just log on to a moody feed on the web, or pop down to the local pub to watch for free?If you can''t afford a holiday, you don''t go. If you can''t afford to go to the theatre, you don''t see the show. If you can''t afford a car, you get the bus. That is part of life.Approx. £500 is reasonable for a season of Premier League in my book. All this whinging about the "economic climate" is just boring now. People simply want something for nothing.[/quote]It''s a good job that the OP wasn''t talking about any other clubs then, he was talking about this one, and thus nothing that he said was the slightest bit disgusting. If you can''t afford a holiday, you go for a day trip. If you can''t afford to go to the theatre, you go to the cinema. If you can''t afford a car, you get a friend to give you a lift. If you can''t afford to go to the footy, you watch it down the pub. I take it you didn''t watch a single away game online last year then? I bloody did, I watched loads of them.

[quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="mrbrutler"]No live games on TV at 3pm on Saturday was introduced for a reason....to not harm attendances. People such as the OP ''boasting'' about how they can now watch all NCFC games without even bothring to go to a football ground is disgusting for the game in my book.Forget supporting your local boozer financially, how about supporting your local football club in the same way!The NFL has it spot on:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television#Blackout_procedure[/quote]You are aware that Carrow Road isn''t large enough to accommodate everybody who wants a ticket this year? The same can be said for about 15 of the clubs in the Premier League. Maybe I would understand your concern if there were 2000 season tickets up for grabs, but there simply isn''t. Telling somebody without a season ticket to go and buy one is a little like telling somebody to walk on water. To the contrary, the club is probably 2000 season tickets short.I think that those without a ticket still being able to watch games this year is fab, and to be honest I suspect that it will help to create a new generation of fans in Norfolk. The club doesn''t currently have the ability to let kids in cheap, or have promotions to get people through the door to fill seats, so this is the second best thing.I am fortunate in that for me the cost of season ticket renewal is peanuts, but for many others - including many of my own friends - spending £500 for a season ticket and then another £500 on matchday expenses just isn''t viable right now. There are plenty of Norwich fans who simply cannot afford to buy a ST, are you saying that if you aren''t fortunate enough to fit within a certain earnings demographic you are "disgusting"?I know LOADS of old boys, in their seventies etc, who struggle to pay their gas bills each year but can recall countless tails of City games from their youth. Hardship can happen to anybody, no matter how much money you have now. Big difference between spending a fiver in the local on two pints of cheap lager and a packet of crisps and the expense associated with a footy game these days. [/quote]Further to that I can''t see anything wrong with supporting your local boozer. The pub industry is down on its knees, pubs are closing everywhere. You would be well served to remember just how close pubs and football were inter related before the working classes were priced out of games and replaced by a new breed of middle classes celebrating their faux-wealth based on over inflated property valuations and how up to date their iPod is. Pub, bookies, footy. That IS football culture, or at least it WAS. Now it seems to be pilates, quick spot of lunch, pop in Morrisons for a piss, pop and a paper, then down to the ground at 2.15 to make sure your in time for your fancy yellas burger and watered down lager.

[quote user="mrbrutler"]No live games on TV at 3pm on Saturday was introduced for a reason....to not harm attendances. People such as the OP ''boasting'' about how they can now watch all NCFC games without even bothring to go to a football ground is disgusting for the game in my book.Forget supporting your local boozer financially, how about supporting your local football club in the same way!The NFL has it spot on:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_on_television#Blackout_procedure[/quote]You are aware that Carrow Road isn''t large enough to accommodate everybody who wants a ticket this year? The same can be said for about 15 of the clubs in the Premier League. Maybe I would understand your concern if there were 2000 season tickets up for grabs, but there simply isn''t. Telling somebody without a season ticket to go and buy one is a little like telling somebody to walk on water. To the contrary, the club is probably 2000 season tickets short.I think that those without a ticket still being able to watch games this year is fab, and to be honest I suspect that it will help to create a new generation of fans in Norfolk. The club doesn''t currently have the ability to let kids in cheap, or have promotions to get people through the door to fill seats, so this is the second best thing.I am fortunate in that for me the cost of season ticket renewal is peanuts, but for many others - including many of my own friends - spending £500 for a season ticket and then another £500 on matchday expenses just isn''t viable right now. There are plenty of Norwich fans who simply cannot afford to buy a ST, are you saying that if you aren''t fortunate enough to fit within a certain earnings demographic you are "disgusting"?I know LOADS of old boys, in their seventies etc, who struggle to pay their gas bills each year but can recall countless tails of City games from their youth. Hardship can happen to anybody, no matter how much money you have now. Big difference between spending a fiver in the local on two pints of cheap lager and a packet of crisps and the expense associated with a footy game these days.

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"] [quote user="LeJuge"]Stoke is going to be a tough tough game. If you get a chance you have to take it, as you won''t get many. They play very tight, I suspect that we would need somebody like Bennett on right from the start, I''d stick with the two tough men up front. I wouldn''t be surprised to see Lambert play with wingers against Stoke, best chance we have got is to get wide and pump balls into the box, hoping that Holt and Morison can connect with one of them. Absolutely no chance of playing through the middle against Stoke, in fact I think that if there is one game where Hoolahan will be rendered ineffective it will be this one. Hope I''m wrong though, Hoolahan is in my dream team. Although so is Shawcross! [/quote] I can''t see your logic in this... Stoke have 3 massive defenders in Woodgate, Shawcross and Huth, how are we going to get any joy from throwing high balls into the Stoke box? The best way is to have quick, short interchanges of passes just outside the box or look to hit Stoke on the break using superior pace. For this guys like Hoolahan and Jackson are best suited. [/quote]Hoolahan and Jackson would get snapped in half against Stoke. Like I said, I hope I''m wrong. A goal each for Hoolahan, Holt, and Shawcross, would be just perfect for my Dream Team :PSeriously though, Stoke just kept a clean sheet against Chelsea, they conceeded 48 goals all season last year. Chelsea like to get the ball down and play, I don''t think we can do a better job than them. There is no easy way to play against Stoke, we are probably both wrong. Maybe counter attacking football would be the better option, who knows, but Stoke play very deep. You usually counter attack against offensive teams who play with high lines (like us, in fact). You will struggle to counter attack against a team who keep 10 players behind the ball for the whole match. I don''t think that Hoolahan is particularly quick though, quick with his feet yes, but I''d have thought that Bennett was the more applicable choice there. I think it''s going to be an extremely tough game whichever way we look at it. Normally if Stoke score first they take the three points. The worst thing that we can do is conceede the first goal again, I wouldn''t be surprised to see us draw 0-0. To be honest, I stick by playing Holt and Morison up front again. You may be right about Hoolahan, but I would like to see Bradley Johnson in for Surman and possibly Bennett in there somewhere.[/quote]   There is no reason to be so scared of Stoke, they only managed 3 wins away from home last season and scored a paltry 46 goals. Stoke aren''t going to stick 10 men behind the ball against us like they did Chelsea (who looked very disjointed yesterday and lack pace across the pitch). Playing a high line and breaking when we can should see us well, the key to beating Stoke is to go at them, to many teams try to stick in their big guys and go toe-to-toe.   I agree that the first goal is very important, but it will be in every game this year. Changing our game too much will lead to a disjointed performance from us also. [/quote]I guess you might be right. This is a big chance for 3 points for Stoke, so they might be a little less rigid and play with a higher line. They don''t really have much to lose by sticking 10 men behind the ball against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal, and everything to win, but they will want to go out and get the first goal against us. I would take three away wins this year though! This is a really important game for us, if we don''t take our first 3 points on Sunday then it may be some time before we do, the first win is the most important. To be honest I''m more nervous for the Stoke game then I was for the Wigan game (although the fact that I didn''t go to Wigan and will of course be at Stoke may play a role in that).

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="LeJuge"][quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"] [quote user="LeJuge"]Sky have destroyed football, and when the Sky deal collapses as a result of streaming and these new channels, it will destroy football again. I used to despise armchair football fans, but in truth the game has put itself in a position where it RELIES on them. If subscriptions fall and Sky pull out of football, it will bankrupt a lot of clubs. I won''t blame people who cancelled Sky, I won''t even blame Murdoch, I will blame the football authorities and the clubs themselves.You have clubs with hundreds of millions of pounds of debts that they wouldn''t be able to service if they stopped getting £40m a year from Sky. One day the Premier League will collapse, taking plenty of clubs with it, I just hope and pray that this club is successful in eradicating its own debts before it happens. All it takes is for Sky to stop showing football for the dominos to fall in this country. Maybe in a few decades we will go back to the eighties, where clubs spent their gate reciepts and not much else, footballers were well paid but not multi-millionaires by 22, and we can then start taking the moral highground about who goes to Carrow Road every week and who doesn''t.Should I sympathise with the mediocre players on £60k a week? Should I sympathise with the billionaire Murdochs for falling profits? Should I sympathise with clubs who spend five times their gate reciepts on their wage bills? F*ck that, I''ll support the humble landlord of the local pub and the casual fan with a mortgage to pay who doesn''t want to spend a grand a year on footy because he is worried about what is going to happen to interest rates over the next couple of years. Good on you, enjoy the games, do try and catch an away game or too though.... you might not get the chance to see the likes of Rooney at Old Trafford or Gerrard at Anfield for some time mate![/quote] If it isn''t SKY it will be some other provider paying millions for the rights to games. The deals to show matches in other countries add up to considerably more than the rights for the UK.   Whilst streams provide a naff product like they do at the moment - grainy pictures and often in Spanish - SKY will feel fairly secure in their position, and considering they sell more SKY subscriptions year on year it doesn''t suggest they are coming to an end anytime soon. The recent Court case which forced BT to stop allowing access to an illegal file sharing website will soon see a lot more policing of the web, with ISPs being resonsible for the sites their customers use - a horrible ruling for net neutrality but something I''m sure SKY and ESPN are taking a very close look at. I expect to see someone like ESPN to start seriously challenging SKY dominate position in the next few years and go for the exclusive rights, this will probably end up in clubs getting even more money in TV rights. [/quote]Yes but if Sky were to pull out of the market, the price would deflate hugely. There is potentially a Sentanta scenario ready to happen at any time in the UK. One can assume that this precise SAME issue currently exists globally, e.g. the example above of the holiday in Turkey. I''d be interested in seeing your sources for this statement: "The deals to show matches in other countries add up to considerably more than the rights for the UK". I did run a search, found nothing. Whilst you are probably right in that global revenues exceed UK revenues, do SKY revenues exceed the total sum of all other contracts? SKY operate in a lot of countries, it''s not UK specific. To be honest I think its a very sad situation where you can buy every Premier League game for pennies in Asia anyway, whilst we are forced to pay a lot more money to watch a handful of games per week to a business which effectively buys the right to run a monopoly for X amount of year[/quote]   Sorry you are right, I jumped the gun a little.   The last deals were worth £1.7bn for UK and Ireland (including the BBC''s highlights package) and £1.4bn for overseas rights - this runs until 2013 when the predicted values will be £2bn of the UK and around £3bn(!) for overseas rights - a massively growing market. New Corp franchises do hold a lot of the rights around the world but fought hard to keep many of them at the last rights sale.   There is no sign that any of the big providers are looking to get out of the market at the moment, and the price of rights are expected to go up and up (especially overseas where interest is constantly growing, mainly in China and India). [/quote]I do hope that it lasts for a long time, or that any declines in revenues are gradual rather than steep or sudden. But football appears to have learnt nothing from the wider economic climate, nothing lasts forever. Just like the property market and sub prime mortgages. I don''t have any issue with their being a lot of money in the sport, and hell it is great for our economy, foreigners pumping money into British football, the footballers then spending far too much money in car showrooms, on new builds, their wags in clothing boutiques. My ONLY issue is that clubs seem to be leveraged against Sky money. They are happy to mortgage their futures in the ignorant belief that Sky money will last forever. British football is an empire, and empires decline, just like the USA is in decline. There is no reason why the MLS or the Brazilian league may not become the biggest leagues in a couple of decades. I hope that we do pay down our debt over the next couple of years, because a reliance on one major income source is frankly disturbing. The buck stops at the FA here, they have failed to regulate. No wage caps, no cap on spending at say 80% of revenue, no maximum debt ratio. All seems pretty simple to me.

[quote user="PRDH"]I see he''s joined a team in India. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/14531983.stm An interesting and unusual move for someone who has played at a decent level in Scotland. He showed glimpses of class in a City shirt especially in a team which was pretty dire without ever looking like he could turn the game around.[/quote]Good on him, sometimes people just want a big change or to see the world. He is just a footballer, it is just a job, sometimes you enjoy it and sometimes you don''t. It''s no different from a well paid Doctor taking a career break and working in Africa for a year. Or, if he is getting paid well which is a possibility, no different from an oil worker from North Norfolk taking a job in Saudi Arabia for a few heavy pay cheques! 

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="LeJuge"]Stoke is going to be a tough tough game. If you get a chance you have to take it, as you won''t get many. They play very tight, I suspect that we would need somebody like Bennett on right from the start, I''d stick with the two tough men up front. I wouldn''t be surprised to see Lambert play with wingers against Stoke, best chance we have got is to get wide and pump balls into the box, hoping that Holt and Morison can connect with one of them. Absolutely no chance of playing through the middle against Stoke, in fact I think that if there is one game where Hoolahan will be rendered ineffective it will be this one. Hope I''m wrong though, Hoolahan is in my dream team. Although so is Shawcross! [/quote] I can''t see your logic in this... Stoke have 3 massive defenders in Woodgate, Shawcross and Huth, how are we going to get any joy from throwing high balls into the Stoke box? The best way is to have quick, short interchanges of passes just outside the box or look to hit Stoke on the break using superior pace. For this guys like Hoolahan and Jackson are best suited. [/quote]Hoolahan and Jackson would get snapped in half against Stoke. Like I said, I hope I''m wrong. A goal each for Hoolahan, Holt, and Shawcross, would be just perfect for my Dream Team :PSeriously though, Stoke just kept a clean sheet against Chelsea, they conceeded 48 goals all season last year. Chelsea like to get the ball down and play, I don''t think we can do a better job than them. There is no easy way to play against Stoke, we are probably both wrong. Maybe counter attacking football would be the better option, who knows, but Stoke play very deep. You usually counter attack against offensive teams who play with high lines (like us, in fact). You will struggle to counter attack against a team who keep 10 players behind the ball for the whole match. I don''t think that Hoolahan is particularly quick though, quick with his feet yes, but I''d have thought that Bennett was the more applicable choice there. I think it''s going to be an extremely tough game whichever way we look at it. Normally if Stoke score first they take the three points. The worst thing that we can do is conceede the first goal again, I wouldn''t be surprised to see us draw 0-0. To be honest, I stick by playing Holt and Morison up front again. You may be right about Hoolahan, but I would like to see Bradley Johnson in for Surman and possibly Bennett in there somewhere.

[quote user="BlyBlyBabes"]Batman? Batman did you say?   Oh dear.   OTBC [/quote]See above quote by P_boro Canary!

[quote user="Bethnal Yellow and Green"][quote user="LeJuge"]Sky have destroyed football, and when the Sky deal collapses as a result of streaming and these new channels, it will destroy football again. I used to despise armchair football fans, but in truth the game has put itself in a position where it RELIES on them. If subscriptions fall and Sky pull out of football, it will bankrupt a lot of clubs. I won''t blame people who cancelled Sky, I won''t even blame Murdoch, I will blame the football authorities and the clubs themselves.You have clubs with hundreds of millions of pounds of debts that they wouldn''t be able to service if they stopped getting £40m a year from Sky. One day the Premier League will collapse, taking plenty of clubs with it, I just hope and pray that this club is successful in eradicating its own debts before it happens. All it takes is for Sky to stop showing football for the dominos to fall in this country. Maybe in a few decades we will go back to the eighties, where clubs spent their gate reciepts and not much else, footballers were well paid but not multi-millionaires by 22, and we can then start taking the moral highground about who goes to Carrow Road every week and who doesn''t.Should I sympathise with the mediocre players on £60k a week? Should I sympathise with the billionaire Murdochs for falling profits? Should I sympathise with clubs who spend five times their gate reciepts on their wage bills? F*ck that, I''ll support the humble landlord of the local pub and the casual fan with a mortgage to pay who doesn''t want to spend a grand a year on footy because he is worried about what is going to happen to interest rates over the next couple of years. Good on you, enjoy the games, do try and catch an away game or too though.... you might not get the chance to see the likes of Rooney at Old Trafford or Gerrard at Anfield for some time mate![/quote] If it isn''t SKY it will be some other provider paying millions for the rights to games. The deals to show matches in other countries add up to considerably more than the rights for the UK.   Whilst streams provide a naff product like they do at the moment - grainy pictures and often in Spanish - SKY will feel fairly secure in their position, and considering they sell more SKY subscriptions year on year it doesn''t suggest they are coming to an end anytime soon. The recent Court case which forced BT to stop allowing access to an illegal file sharing website will soon see a lot more policing of the web, with ISPs being resonsible for the sites their customers use - a horrible ruling for net neutrality but something I''m sure SKY and ESPN are taking a very close look at. I expect to see someone like ESPN to start seriously challenging SKY dominate position in the next few years and go for the exclusive rights, this will probably end up in clubs getting even more money in TV rights. [/quote]Yes but if Sky were to pull out of the market, the price would deflate hugely. There is potentially a Sentanta scenario ready to happen at any time in the UK. One can assume that this precise SAME issue currently exists globally, e.g. the example above of the holiday in Turkey. I''d be interested in seeing your sources for this statement: "The deals to show matches in other countries add up to considerably more than the rights for the UK". I did run a search, found nothing. Whilst you are probably right in that global revenues exceed UK revenues, do SKY revenues exceed the total sum of all other contracts? SKY operate in a lot of countries, it''s not UK specific. To be honest I think its a very sad situation where you can buy every Premier League game for pennies in Asia anyway, whilst we are forced to pay a lot more money to watch a handful of games per week to a business which effectively buys the right to run a monopoly for X amount of year

Stoke is going to be a tough tough game. If you get a chance you have to take it, as you won''t get many. They play very tight, I suspect that we would need somebody like Bennett on right from the start, I''d stick with the two tough men up front. I wouldn''t be surprised to see Lambert play with wingers against Stoke, best chance we have got is to get wide and pump balls into the box, hoping that Holt and Morison can connect with one of them. Absolutely no chance of playing through the middle against Stoke, in fact I think that if there is one game where Hoolahan will be rendered ineffective it will be this one. Hope I''m wrong though, Hoolahan is in my dream team. Although so is Shawcross!

[quote user="PurpleCanary"][quote user="LeJuge"]I was reading Mr Tilson''s thread about his seat being taken away. As much as it is clear that we don''t get on, I think he and other fans have been treated extremely unfairly, in fact I think they should all get a nice 25% rebate, enough vouchers to buy a city shirt or whatever, and a letter of apology signed in real ink from the pen of McNally. A few people have suggested that he and the others get first dibs in the movers and shakers thing, then I realised that I don''t really understand how that works. If I wanted to move from say the Jarrold Stand to the Barclay Lower in the next window, do you have to find somebody who wants to exchange their exact seat for your exact seat, or do you just say something like "I want block E or D in the Barclay, top half of the stand" and then hope that somebody in the top half of block E or D happen to want a seat in your block in the Jarrold? [/quote]   I''ve used it once, because I wanted to shift seats within the stand I was in, so I phoned the club and asked what was available. As it happens, there was a better seat, which was vacant, so that was very simple. Whether the club keeps a list of occupied seats where the occupier has said they are looking for a change,  so a more complicated switch is possible, I don''t know.   [/quote]Oh I see, that makes more sense. They just offer you one of the casual seats, and your old seat then goes on general sale. Makes more sense, I suppose the chances of two season ticket holders actually swapping seats is pretty slim in that respect. Although isn''t the lower Barclay all season ticket? If so, that would need somebody who wants to move out of the Barclay.The only reason that I am asking is because I have no idea who has renewed around me or who has moved etc. I will find out at the Stoke game, I have terrible visions of the seats in front and behind being occupied by people who were wearing Chelsea shirts with Lampard on the back this time last year. If that happens, I''m moving asap.

[quote user="CDMullins"]I actually hope this gets knocked on the head quickly. I was in Turkey in October and there was a bar with every 3pm kick off on live, and Sky Sports Saturday on in the middle screen. It was awesome. However, coming on the Pink''Un and bragging about been a City fan but watching all the games in the Pub is abit hypocritical. Yes, football is an expense, but if everyone watched every game in the pub, there would be no football at all! [/quote]If football wasn''t shown on Sky then clubs would have to live within their means, and people would have no choice but to go and watch the games live, the atmospheres will return to lifeless grounds all over the country. I find it interesting that you criticise people watching the game on random cable channels but appear happy for people to sit in recliners in their living rooms with their Sky Sports subscriptions. That''s what £40m does I suppose. I can remember Elland Road in the League One season, barely 1000 Norwich fans, total attendance 18000. Two promotion contenders, and so called big clubs. Why? Because it was on Sky. Unfortunately the Sky revenue probably made Leeds more money than the extra 5000 people through the door.

Sky have destroyed football, and when the Sky deal collapses as a result of streaming and these new channels, it will destroy football again. I used to despise armchair football fans, but in truth the game has put itself in a position where it RELIES on them. If subscriptions fall and Sky pull out of football, it will bankrupt a lot of clubs. I won''t blame people who cancelled Sky, I won''t even blame Murdoch, I will blame the football authorities and the clubs themselves.You have clubs with hundreds of millions of pounds of debts that they wouldn''t be able to service if they stopped getting £40m a year from Sky. One day the Premier League will collapse, taking plenty of clubs with it, I just hope and pray that this club is successful in eradicating its own debts before it happens. All it takes is for Sky to stop showing football for the dominos to fall in this country. Maybe in a few decades we will go back to the eighties, where clubs spent their gate reciepts and not much else, footballers were well paid but not multi-millionaires by 22, and we can then start taking the moral highground about who goes to Carrow Road every week and who doesn''t.Should I sympathise with the mediocre players on £60k a week? Should I sympathise with the billionaire Murdochs for falling profits? Should I sympathise with clubs who spend five times their gate reciepts on their wage bills? F*ck that, I''ll support the humble landlord of the local pub and the casual fan with a mortgage to pay who doesn''t want to spend a grand a year on footy because he is worried about what is going to happen to interest rates over the next couple of years. Good on you, enjoy the games, do try and catch an away game or too though.... you might not get the chance to see the likes of Rooney at Old Trafford or Gerrard at Anfield for some time mate!

I''ve heard that Grant Holt has to strap his batmans head to his thigh before games like Dion Dublin!

I was reading Mr Tilson''s thread about his seat being taken away. As much as it is clear that we don''t get on, I think he and other fans have been treated extremely unfairly, in fact I think they should all get a nice 25% rebate, enough vouchers to buy a city shirt or whatever, and a letter of apology signed in real ink from the pen of McNally. A few people have suggested that he and the others get first dibs in the movers and shakers thing, then I realised that I don''t really understand how that works. If I wanted to move from say the Jarrold Stand to the Barclay Lower in the next window, do you have to find somebody who wants to exchange their exact seat for your exact seat, or do you just say something like "I want block E or D in the Barclay, top half of the stand" and then hope that somebody in the top half of block E or D happen to want a seat in your block in the Jarrold?

[quote user="LeJuge"]The thousands of people with little Norwich badges on their Twitter profile pics, something started by Fry, shows you how much exposure he gets. He is extremely popular throughout the English speaking world, and will no doubt come in handy if we ever decide to tap the American market. If we stay up then I can''t see it being any more than a few years before we are playing tournaments in pre-season against the likes of Colorado Rapids and Coca Cola whatsemebobs, we won''t be Delia''s Norwich over there... we will be Stephen Fry''s Norwich.... Delia is a nobody in the states, whilst Stephen Fry is probably a B-lister. [/quote]In fact, a quick search of Google News show this.....Australia: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/9922054/fry-brings-qi-to-perth/USA: http://www.foxsports.com.au/football/premier-league/relegation-candidates-simon-hill-previews-the-2011-12-barclays-premier-league-season/story-e6frf4a3-1226107787397USA: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/799480-premier-league-where-will-the-managerial-axe-fall-firstThree very recent articles which mention Stephen Fry alongside Norwich City. If Delia has helped to raise the profile in the UK, something which she has no doubt done over the past decade or so, then Fry is helping to raise the profile globally. It is already happening. The higher the profile the higher the commercial revenues, the greater the potential opportunities, the more likely some random Argentinian 16 year old will want to sign for us rather than say....... Wigan. I''m all for it.

The thousands of people with little Norwich badges on their Twitter profile pics, something started by Fry, shows you how much exposure he gets. He is extremely popular throughout the English speaking world, and will no doubt come in handy if we ever decide to tap the American market. If we stay up then I can''t see it being any more than a few years before we are playing tournaments in pre-season against the likes of Colorado Rapids and Coca Cola whatsemebobs, we won''t be Delia''s Norwich over there... we will be Stephen Fry''s Norwich.... Delia is a nobody in the states, whilst Stephen Fry is probably a B-lister.

[quote user="Simeons Belly"]Richard Wright?  I''d rather Lambert played with 10 men than allow that jug-eared binner anywhere near our club. [/quote]Do you know how many Ipswich or Suffolk born players, Ipswich fans, or former Ipswich players, have played in the yellow and green? Ruel Fox, Daryl Sutch, Dale Gordon, to name a few.I''d much rather see an Ipswich player jump ship and pull on the yellow and green than vice versa. Having Richard Wright dressed up in a Norwich tracksuit behind Paul Lambert, for the whole of Suffolk to see everytime we are on match of the day playing Premiership football, is the perfect way to rub our smelly little bin kicking neighbours up the wrong way.I would have thought that anybody who genuinely hates Ipswich and has an iota of intelligence would have worked that one out. For that reason I would LOVE Richard Wright to pull on the number 13 jersey for a year. Exactly what we need after they stole Andy Marshall. Remember the hatred that we felt for him at the time? They can feel the same way about Wright.

[quote user="TIL 1010"][quote user="LeJuge"]One would have to assume that it is a Norfolk based City Legend, as they would need to attend games. That rules out Iwan Roberts  [/quote] The clue is at the end of the link Peter the Deleter put on his original post LeJuge.Sorry it had to be me that points this out to you. [/quote]Doh! I did watch the video, stopped it a second early it seems and thought that it was a trick. I am interested in knowing whether Iwan has moved back to Norfolk, because I was pretty certain that he works for BBC Wales commentating on games in Welsh, one would assume that he needs to be in Wales for that. I''m not interested in his column unless he is actually attending games, because otherwise I might as well read the Fox websites.

[quote user="hucks"]you''ll get me views good and bad same place as last season www.dh6.co.uk i''ll be honest and say it as i see it, roll on saturday[/quote]That''s good to hear, glad that you are going to keep up the site. If you have ever wondered just how famous you are by the way Hucks, I was sat at a poker table in the Bellagio casino very recently next to two of Mumbai''s new middle classes. When asked where I was from in the UK, I replied "Norwich", they said "Arrrrrr, Huckerby? Yes? Huckerby?". They had never been to the UK. That confirmed, to me, that you are most definitely a legend. Unfortunately a few drinks later and they started getting angry at the queen owning some of their national treasures, so I decided to have a go on the slots instead.

[quote user="jayncfc"]Currently playing on Sky Sports HD1 at the moment. I know we have moved on massively since him, but was he ever good enough for the championship. I never thought so, but I am not a qualified coach or manager![/quote]Was he ever good enough for League 1? He had all the key attributes of a potential England player, but the footballing brains of a stereotypical middle aged Baseball watching American. I seriously cannot name a single other Norwich right back who has been as much of a liability. The mistake against Colchester was just another in a series of damn silly decisions which seemed to occur at least once per match and I should imagine he was the first player that Lambert wanted out. The fact that he was released by Southampton after half a season and only played 19 games last season for Sheffield Wednesday supports the fact that he isn''t exactly setting the world alight in League One even now. I can honestly say that I rated Omusuzi and Jurgen Colin as better right backs, and that is saying something. To be honest I am surprised nobody has tried to persuade him to play on the right wing, where he is much less of a danger for his own team and could probably do a job.

[quote user="LeJuge"]One would have to assume that it is a Norfolk based City Legend, as they would need to attend games. That rules out Iwan Roberts and Bryan Gunn. I suspect it would be any one of Darren Eadie, Paul McVeigh, Darren Huckerby, Craig Fleming or Dale Gordon. I suppose you can''t rule out Jeremy Goss, Chris Sutton, or Robert Fleck? To be honest, I think describing any other players under 60 as a "legend" would be pushing it a little, and Archant should probably relegate them to ''former Norwich star''. [/quote]I would like it to be Huckerby, as long as he isn''t heavily censored and edited, he speaks his mind and always has done.