|
Also, the absolute insane number of permutations you get there would accurately represent the absolutely insane betting promotions UK bookies do now. Guess the results of three matches as well as who scores first, how many yellow cards are given out, how many shots on goal each team will achieve and how many sweeties are in the jar on the desk and you could win a fiver!
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 14:20
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 01:32 |
|
Reveilled posted:Also, the absolute insane number of permutations you get there would accurately represent the absolutely insane betting promotions UK bookies do now. As a darts fan, I've seen my share of UK commercials for bookies on Sky Sports streams. I don't get it. "If your player scores double, win double, if he scores a hat trick, win triple", "money back if your horse falls over", all those bizarre skits with characters they've got going on... must be one hell of a business over there if they've got this kind of competition going on.
|
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 14:35
|
|
|
TheMcD posted:As a darts fan, I've seen my share of UK commercials for bookies on Sky Sports streams. I don't get it. "If your player scores double, win double, if he scores a hat trick, win triple", "money back if your horse falls over", all those bizarre skits with characters they've got going on... must be one hell of a business over there if they've got this kind of competition going on. It's gambling. It's just behind sex and drink in terms of popular vices. For a variety of weird unintended consequences regulations, there's a lot of bookies around at the moment, so there's a lot of competition, hence lots of adverts and "offers".
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 14:40
|
|
|
Yeah, there are a *lot* of different bookies catering to the whole of the UK, so there's a lot of competitions and crazy offers. Expect things like "money back if certain player scores" or "double your winnings if certain player gets sent off". I've seen people put genuine bets on the number of offsides in a game.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 14:44
|
|
|
loving "in play". I'm astonished no-one's caught a high level footballer spot fixing yet.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 14:47
|
|
|
Seriously, the loving bookie ads are so prolific I basically know them all by heart despite only having a peripheral involvement in Sportball. Bet in-play. NAOW.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 15:20
|
|
|
Fedule posted:Seriously, the loving bookie ads are so prolific I basically know them all by heart despite only having a peripheral involvement in Sportball. Alright Raymondo?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 15:23
|
|
|
The smart phone betting is what seems especially crazy to me. I know a few people here that would no longer have money if they could install something like that on their phone.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 15:23
|
|
|
tarbrush posted:loving "in play". I'm astonished no-one's caught a high level footballer spot fixing yet. There was quite a scandal with match-fixing in Germany a couple of years back. A few players were involved and the main culprit was a referee called Hoyzer whom you probably have heard off.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 15:25
|
|
|
It is funny that you think that bookies advertising bets for very unusual events is because of intense competition - options research indicates that the more unusual the outcome, the higher a risk premium will be charged for it, and because you are the one buying the option from the bookie, they are ripping you off even more than normal. poo poo, where do you think the money for advertising comes from?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 15:37
|
|
|
beru04 posted:Alright Raymondo? Ray Winstone in the matrix having a conversation with his own giant floating head is the single most bizarre thing I have ever seen in television.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 15:45
|
|
|
Players aren't stupid enough to take bribes on fixing the score of the match, except rarely it does happen. A lot of it nowadays is stuff in Asian casinos like time of first throw in, goal kick, prop bets like that. Stuff that is much harder to track.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 15:48
|
|
|
Bozart posted:It is funny that you think that bookies advertising bets for very unusual events is because of intense competition - options research indicates that the more unusual the outcome, the higher a risk premium will be charged for it, and because you are the one buying the option from the bookie, they are ripping you off even more than normal. poo poo, where do you think the money for advertising comes from? I wasn't going that advanced, merely that lots of bookies=lots of adverts.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 16:15
|
|
|
Sky Shadowing posted:Players aren't stupid enough to take bribes on fixing the score of the match, except rarely it does happen. A lot of it nowadays is stuff in Asian casinos like time of first throw in, goal kick, prop bets like that. Stuff that is much harder to track. Right, that's the toughest to spot. Especially in a sport where there's a lot of random luck and variance anyways. The scandal coming out of the Singapore investigation from last year is huge. I've read that things are worst in the lower leagues and smaller nations, as the players are paid much less and thus risking your career for a not giant sum of money makes sense. And Italy, don't get me started on Italy. I'm by no means an anti-gambling hawk, but one nice side effect has been the lower level of corruption in the sport. Other than Tim Donaghy in the NBA I can't recall a recent betting scandal in pro sports while people can still gamble without too much difficulty if they want to.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 17:06
|
|
|
Well yeah, but it's not like American sports probe too hard about PEDs etc, so it may just be that no-one's looking.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 17:25
|
|
|
Volume Eight: Youthful Exuberance Prologue: The gang goes to Europe. June 9, 2020-August 14, 2020 We spent most of last season playing a 4-4-1-1 once I realized that Scott Shirra is a burgeoning superstar perfectly suited to play in the attacking midfield rather than further back the pitch in a standard midfield role. Take into account that we played best when challenging our opponent rather than attempting to park the bus and our significant improvement over the course of the season, and it's clear that we have good cause to refashion our tactics further.  The 4-4-1-1 returns unchanged, and will remain our bread an butter when we're playing away against stiff opposition and against megabastards generally.  We've added a 4-4-2 Diamond to get a second striker up top, there were games last year where we had trouble making things happen in the box when we had the better of possession. Stuart Mair will be heavily relied upon in this setup, as our Regista he'll be tasked with distributing the ball. He should be very good at that role, he has most of the requisite technical and mental skills and his Decisions, Passing, and Creativity are all very good to great. The one problem are his awful off the ball movement. If that hurts his effectiveness that role will revert being a boring ball winning midfielder or anchor man.  The 4-2-3-1 also reemerges five years after it made me look like a dunce in my second season at Wrexham. We've got much better players now, and the primary use of the tactic will be against opponents who we should be beating. The goal is to have the ball all the time, fight for the ball whenever we don't have it, and to play a wide game to use our superior wingers like Mujkic to force the defense to come out of their shell and open up avenues of attack. This is my preferred formation when my club reaches megabastard status, pretty much the only time it's not in service once I'm a regular Champion's League side is when I'm playing an away game against another megabastard.  Beyond having a last name ripe for wordplay, Pitcock is available for just Ł2.4m now plus up to Ł500k in future incentives and would be a strong addition to our centerbacks. Hopefully we get him.  Sadly he chooses to go to Granada over coming to Wales. It's a pity, I very much want to get someone like him onto the club. At 6'4” he'd have been a towering presence in the midst of our defense with his 18 Strength, 17 Jumping Reach, and 18 Heading resulting in aerial domination. We've lacked in that area since I took over the team. It also means that I decline an offer that would have sent Stewart Lewis to Aston Villa for Ł2m, my sale of Lewis was contingent on Pitcock joining us.  Johansen was really bad last year. My coaches still think he's got great potential, but he won't realize it sitting on our bench. So he's off to Leeds for the season, he'll get a lot of playing time there at a level where he should excel. Hopefully he improves to the point where he's a viable rotation option for us in 2021.  A 19 year old wonderkid? For me? Oh, Football Manager, you knew just what I wanted! Patrice Morvan Defensive Midfielder  Morvan isn't quite as good as Stuart Mair, but he's got even greater potential. He's already rated as a wonderkid, and while he was pretty expensive I think over the next few years he'll pair well with Mair and give us excellent depth in our midfield. They're both scrappy ball-winners that have solid vision and the passing skill to get the ball where it's most needed. The big thing he needs to work on currently is becoming more comfortable playing further up the pitch, he's “awkward” when playing in the central midfield rather than further back.  I'm sure it's become apparent to readers that I love the financial side of this game.  The yearly club awards come around, and the Bastard beats out Shirra for the club's player of the year.  I'm not really sure why there are yearly club “best team” announcements, unless you've got a gargantuan squad and rotate your players at appreciable RPM there's going to be more first team players on it than off.  But it's nice to see our current players breaking into the club best eleven, Shirra claimed a starting spot in a year and a half.  Worth it.  Michael Coulson's in America! Too bad he's stuck in Ohio.  The club has the same expectations as I do. At the very least we need a repeat of last year, and preferably European qualification.  We're likely to get more TV money in the end, as higher reputation teams get picked for the game of the week matches more often. A club like Chelsea is on TV all but a few weeks, and over 38 games that adds up to tens of millions of pounds on top of the already lucrative monthly installments.  This bumps our payroll up to 410k/wk, and it's going to go even higher before we're done this offseason. We'll still be the lowest wage team in the league based upon last season's numbers, though.  Wales!  The club is now valued at Ł61m, and are the 12th most prestigious club in England. We're very close to having a continental level reputation, which is only one step below the top level of "worldwide" reputation.   This promise means that making the Europa League will allow us to re-sign Mujkic. If we don't make it, we'll probably have to sell him.  If we were a ship, we'd be somewhere at the bottom of the ocean with all these leaks.  Get lost, Rangers. I saw him first.  Wales! Wales! Wales!  Best to give them the rest they need, they'll merely miss our first friendly.  With both Simpson and Harrison out we're going to need a new captain and vice captain. Cirjak would be a solid pick, but he doesn't speak English yet. Boumsong would also be a good choice, but he's here on loan. Bastable is a poor choice, he's got a leadership score of 8. So I'm likely to leave this open until the last minute before deciding who would be least bad at the job.  I don't do any damage to morale at our start of the season meeting. That feels like a victory considering the effects of my previous speech. The club feels like we can make a run at continental qualificatison, and having that self confidence is really important.   Good hustle, Todder. Slapass. At Celtic, July 2020 Friendly  Celtic reign alone atop the heights of Scottish football. Meanwhile, we have four players either on extended leave or still with their national teams. We're going to see a lot of youth players today. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, O'Hanlon, Lewis, Dixon, Djurovic, Mair, Petts, Mujkic (c), Shirra, De Blasio. Subs: Novotny, Chapman, Alvaro, Ludwig, Parker, Morvan, Bailey, Nieddu, Matko, Thompson, Argenti, Rouissi Celtic take it to us, establishing a 2-0 shortly after the midpoint of the game. We pick up some over the final half hour, but it's a deserved defeat and not the auspicious start our fans might have been expecting. Still, it's just the preseason and the club is a long way from being fully assembled. I'm not concerned.   Celtic 2-0 Wrexham A pub in Glasgow (MATEO MUJKIC, SCOTT SHIRRA, and TONCI CIRJAK are enjoying a drink after the game)  : So you're from around here, mate? : Och, nae. I'm from up Falkirk way. Much smaller. Much less knife crime. : Cijenim što ste me pozvali, ali moj engleski je još uvijek nije dobro. Ja ne mogu razumjeti svoje naglaske. : No worries, Tonks. Football is a universal language. So is beer. We're all good.: What is this "Tonks"? My name is Tonci. "Tahn-CHI.": It's a sobriquet! Like we call Mateo here Meteor. A sign of affection and affinity between familiars.: Ja sam izgubila. Previše velikih rijeci. Proklinjati ovaj jezik.: It's, ah. Nadimak. I think? : Ah! Nadimak. No, to ne zvuci kao moje ime?: Yeah, but it could be worse. Look at poor Shirra here, one still hasn't stuck to him.: I'm glad some of them haven't, did you see the AmazTube* of that Sky broadcaster calling himself a Shirrasexual?(Awkward silence as all three shudder) * In 2017 Amazon continued its long march towards taking over the entire world by launching a highly successful challenger to YouTube. AmazTube hit it big when a Let's Play of Euro Truck Simulator 4 went viral and earned 900,000,000 views (Apologies from the author for any accidental mangling of Croatian, or if I didn't quite get the Tonci pronunciation right).  Waiting for us when we get back from Scotland is our new striker. Bram Aarts Striker  Aarts is a bundle of potential with a penchant for dribbling and quick busts of acceleration. The man who will forever be first on an alphabetical ranking of Wrexham players is not ready for a first team role yet, but he'll get there in time and will already serve as an acceptable backup. The first thing I do with him is tie a parachute to his back and send him sprinting, his speed needs to develop if he's going to be a top quality player.  Huh, I should have told him that I was attaching a parachute to his back. He got injured on the same day he signed. I was considering skimping and only signing one striker, but I can't do that now.  Good effort, Wales. Everyone line up for slapass.  In that case you shouldn't have agreed to the friendly, you dunces. At Marseille, July 11, 2020 Friendly  Marseilles finished 4th last season in Ligue Un, ending a stretch of three straight years qualifying for the Champion's League. I still only care about match fitness, so this is as much a chance to sneak off to the Riviera as anything else. We're favored for the match, but with 6 first team players missing I'll be surprised if we win. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevich, Cirjak, Boumsong, Lewis, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Nieddu, Thompson, Shirra, De Blasio. Subs: Novotny, Chapman, Alvaro, Parker, O'Hanlon, Morvan, Dixon, Bailey, Rutter, Jeffries, Argenti, Rouissi. Lewis and Cirjak both pick up cautions in the first ten minutes, and I'm forced to remove my orders for tough play. Things still work out right, Djurovic puts us ahead afterwards. Scott Shirra continues to make Shirrasexuals out of everyone by scoring a second goal. Marseilles quickly cut our lead to one, but there it remains for the rest of the game. Man of the Match: Dejan Djurovic   Marseille 1-2 Wrexham A Cafe in Provence (KAIS ROUISSI and CYRIL BOUMSONG enjoy a Gauloises and coffee. Their conversation is, naturally, in French)  : The manager is holding you back, you deserve to play over the Italians in friendlies like this. : I am not concerned. When he feels the time is right he will surely call upon me. I have my whole career before me. And anyways we are all but motes in God's eye so what does it mattes whether I start preseason games? : I guess that's the difference between you and I. When an English club came calling at age 15, I chose Manchester United and you chose that sheep fold in Wales. : I like it, building my own sod hut was a unique experience. And the rain and gloom that seeps through the holes in the hut suits me. : (Wryly) Ah, I see you've been reading the books I gave you.: Sartre just GETS me, y'know? Now I'm definitely not going to be able to sell him.  Roma replaces PSV on our pre-season dance card, they're paying us nearly a quarter million to come visit.  Wales can hold their head up high. They fell to the eventual European Champions, mighty Denmark. It seems like once a generation Denmark wins the tournament, they also won in 1992.  It's a barren market when it comes to left backs. I really shouldn't have sold Durand before finding a replacement him, but I didn't expect being forced to sidegrade in quality at much higher cost. So I'm certainly not selling Mejasic.  Ugh. I just completed this deal and I already don't like it one bit, but it was the least awful option available. All the players I wanted were South Americans and Africans who wouldn't have been able to get a work permit because England hates immigrants taking their footballing jobs. Allan Richards Left Back  It's still better than signing Youssouf last year, but it pains me that I'm now spending over Ł20,000 a week more for a roughly equal player to Durand. The pain sharpens when I remember that I sold Durand for Ł1.3m, and then had to pay Ł2.2m in transfer and agent fees for Richards. And he's now our oldest player by four years. Let us not speak of this again.  No. Our budget is too tight for me to be giving Mejasic a contract extension. He, Lewis, and Todd are our only bargain basement priced players at the moment, and he's the lowest paid senior team player at just Ł2,000/wk.  Australia call up the Bastard and Meteor at a time that actually makes sense for once, they'll both add "Olympian" to their resume.  Win for the love you bear me. If you won't win for me, win for the supporters. If you won't win for them, win for pride. If you won't win for pride, win for the money. If none of that works for you, you're not very easy to motivate. At Stuttgart, July 18, 2020 Friendly  Our first trip to Germany has us playing Stuttgart, who over the last decade have largely been a midtable squad. At full strength I would back us to win, but with seven senior team players out due to injury or international obligations I'm not sure if we'll be able to claim the day. Doesn't matter, we're still getting paid. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Boumsong, Lewis, Richards, Djurovic, Mair, Bailey (c), Argenti, Shirra, De Blasio. Subs: Novotny, Mejasic, O'Hanlon, Chapman, Alvaro, Morvan, Dixon, Nieddu, Simoes, Jeffries, Rutter, Rouissi. It's an even match, and neither side can take advantage of the other. At various points each side looked certain to score, but in the end neither did. We can be happy with this performance, we're missing some of our best players and five youth team players took the field for this match yet we still notched a well fought draw. Man of the Match: Cyril Boumsong   Stuttgart 0-0 Wrexham A Beer Garden in Stuttgart (JUSTIN BAILEY and COACH are sitting at a table, engaged in conversation)  : And so the penguin says, "He's not an eggplant, he's retarded!"(BAILEY spits beer across the table drawing dirty looks from the nearby patrons and both crack up laughing. After a short while their giggles subside)  : (wistfully) Ah... Billy would have loved that joke.: (apprehensively) Yeah. You know...: I understand. I always dreamed of playing in the Premier League when I was a kid. I didn't think I'd actually do it. And I know Stu and Billy and Coulson all loved their time at the club. But...: I miss them too.: It's never going to be the same, is it? I remember when Meteor first joined us, he was so much better than everyone else it was amazing that he was on our team. Now I watch kids like Shirra and that new guy Morvan and they might turn out to be even better than him.: You're right. I wish that things were different, but they aren't.: What's going to happen when my contract is up after this season? I've spent all my adult life pursuing football at Wrexham, and never given a thought as to what comes next. : Have you ever considered piracy?: What?: Coaching. I meant coaching. It's time we started snapping up young players and loaning them out in the hope that they become great and we can then use them. Signing a ton of great youth talent and then loaning it out to clubs until they become useful for you is a classic megabastard tactic. It can bite you in the rear end sometimes, as Chelsea showed in real life this year. Chelsea loaned out excellent young Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, and then spent all season needing a reliable striker while Lukaku racked up 13 goals for Everton in a year where Everton still have an outside chance at a Champion's league berth. Worse, Chelsea loaned out brilliant young Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to Atletico Madrid because they have brilliant old goalkeeper Peter Cech. Then they had to face Courtois in the Champion's League semi-final. They lost. If they had kept Lukaku and Courtois it's possible everyone would be talking about how Chelsea might do the double this year. Also, Belgium's got a whole golden generation thing going on right now. Marc Jansen Centerback  He's a long way from ready for primetime, but he's got world class potential and only costs Ł10,500 a week. If he develops while on loan over the next 2-3 years we'll be able to use him then.  We've got two loaners from megabastards now, this one a wonderkid striker from PSG. Josue Di Martino Striker  Di Martino isn't a patch on Bastable, but he's a legitimate Premier League talent. We'll only have him for a year, so he's not worth wasting much time describing. Our shopping is almost done, I'd like to add another centerback and then we should be finished. vs. Swansea, July 25, 2020 The Mini-Cwp, Semi-Final  Hey, it's a friendly that I actually want to win. Friendly Cups are essentially four team micro tournaments that are put together for various reasons. In our case it's the pocket sized version of the Cwp. The games are held back to back, so significant rotation is needed to avoid running out of players, this is especially true for a comparatively thin squad such as ours. Starting Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Todd, Lewis, Mejasic, Mair, Matko, Djurovic, Shirra, De Blasio, Argenti. Subs: Novotny, Richards, Chapman, Boumsong, Petts Morvan, Bailey, Parker, Nieddu, Harley, Jerffries, Rouissi. We don't allow Swansea a shot until the clock reads 76 minutes elapsed, but all of our own chances went begging. This is what happens when your star striker is away at the Olympics, his main backup is also at the Olympics, and the third string striker is on the shelf with a herniated disk. It takes a shootout before we can be assured our spot in the Mini-Cwp final. Man of the Match: Dinko Mejasic.   Wrexham 0(p)-0 Swansea vs. Cardiff, July 26, 2020 The Mini-Cwp, Final  No rest for the wicked, Cardiff thumped TNS three-nil to reach the final as well. Both sides are going to be pretty tired, I won't be pushing the tempo in this match. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Standard Starting 11: Novotny, Cirjak, Boumsong, Lewis, Richards, Nieddu, Morvan, Petts, Harley, Bailey (c), Kruger. Subs: Kovacevic, Parker, Todd, Roberts, Newman, Djurovic, Waters, Alvaro, Simoes, Rutter, Jeffries, Rouissi Cardiff take their chances and we continue to be punchless, having now gone three full games without a goal. More troubling than the result is an injury to Tonci Cirjak that forces him off just after an hour. We cannot afford a serious injury at that position, we simply don't have an adequate replacement.   Wrexham 0-3 Cardiff  At least this happened during the preseason, but our budget is getting tight. I'll be looking for a short term loan to get us through the two months we'll be without Cirjak.  This is comparatively OK news, we have plenty of midfielders who can take up the slack while Petts is missing. Depth is vital to having a strong club, and right now we aren't nearly as deep as I'd like to be.  Our last purchase is completed. And by last I mean last, there's less than 100k left in the transfer budget now. I'm still working on a loan for a right back, but otherwise we're done dealing. Wojciech Feruga Centerback  Woj is a very solid centerback, and still has room for improvement, though as is so often the case with our defenders he's not a dominant aerial presence. We now have three and a half centerbacks that I feel comfortable starting, whereas when last season began we had just one and a half. The half is because Todd is so inconsistent, some days he's brilliant and others he's discovering new ways to misplay the position.  I'm unsure how I went from Untouchable to merely Secure. Nothing's changed over the last two months in terms of our stature or club success. If I had to guess it's due to haranguing the board into buying our ground. On a better note, our jersey sales are up three times what they were just last year. We're starting to get bandwagon fans. And if you think football hipsters love Wrexham now, just wait until I unveil our WM formation. To get that joke you have to know that the WM is an obsolete formation developed almost 100 years ago. As I said, football hipsters will love us. At Roma, August 1, 2020 Friendly  Our final continental stop of the preseason has us playing Roma. We're still missing six players from the squad due to injury and international obligations, but Bastable and Mujkic are traveling back as this game takes place. Of course they're both exhausted after playing over a year of nonstop soccer, so I'm going to have to immediately send them on a two week vacation. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Kovacevic, Richards, Boumsong (c), Lewis, Mejasic, Matko, Morvan, Mair, Djurovic, Shirra, De Blasio. Subs: Novotny, O'Hanlon, Todd, Alvaro, Newman, Parker, Bailey, Nieddu, Harley, Jefferies, Rouissi, Argenti. Roma looks like a team that nearly won Serie A last year. After the first 20 minutes they take over the game, and it's only Kovacevic's herculean efforts that prevents a lopsided score line. We did not play well, and once again we could not score a goal. I have to assume this will get better when I'm no longer forced to run out youth strikers, we have the guy who won the Golden Boot last year for cryin' out loud, but it's starting to concern me. Man of the Match: Vid Kovacevic   Roma 1-0 Wrexham The Vatican (A HOODED FIGURE meets with CARDINAL VINCENT NICHOLS in the shadow of St. Peter's Basillica late at night.)  : You know that I am right. I spent years working with the man. It's not a joke to him, he really believes it. : But to put oneself up as a God-King, the idolatry of it! Still, he's not a member of the flock, what can we do but to pray that the Lord shows him the error of his pride?: He might not be Catholic, but his beloved grandmother is and deeply so. Threatening to excommunicate her could get him to reconsider.(A MAN, aged but sprightly despite his years, ambles towards the figures. They are too deep in their conversation to notice.)  : You might want to reconsider having this conversation at the Vatican, considering what I overheard you saying.: This is none of your concern, old man! : I'm not sure I agree with that.: Your Holiness!: Cardinal Nichols, would you walk with me? I think you'd be interested in hearing about when I was a member of the San Lorenzo supporters trust... (The two men of God walk into the distance together)  : Curses. I feel like we're encountering more injuries than usual. Maybe I'm tempting fate by addressing everyone in the royal we?  The League Cup draw favors us, the Brewers are still in League One. We should ride roughshod over them.  Yep, definitely feeling like we're getting chomped hard by the injury bug. vs. Liverpool, August 8, 2020 Friendly  This is the last friendly before the season starts. We play Liverpool again, at the Racecourse Ground, in just one week, so I don't want to give them too much of a hint as to how we're likely to play. That shouldn't be hard, seeing as a whopping ten players are unavailable due to injury, rest, and international duty. Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1 Counter Starting 11: Novotny, Richards, Boumsong, Todd, Mejasic, Djurovic, Mair, Bailey, Thompson, Nieddu, Argenti. Subs: Kovacevic, Feruga, O'Hanlon, Ludwig, Alvaro, Timmins, Dixon, Waters, Simoes, Jeffries, Rouissi, De Blasio. Our youth striker du jour, today Piero Argenti, once again misses some easy chances. We still score first thanks to Chris Todd deciding that he's going to play well today. The game turns out to be an exciting one, as goals are traded back and forth. Wrexham are the victor, though, a nice result considering how that literally half our team wasn't available for selection.   Wrexham 3-2 Liverpool  As much trepidation I feel over appointing a loan player captain, Boumsong is clearly the best player for the job. Mujkic only has a Leadership of 12, and removing him from the captaincy once we have a better candidate could be tricky considering his tenure. Boumsong will eventually move on, but after all the recent turnover he's now 13th in overall seniority on the club making him high enough in seniority to get the respect of his teammates.  The last arrival is another Paris Saint-Germaine loaner. Diego Dos Santos Right Back  He's on loan through the full year, so if Cirjak goes down again I won't be frantic for a replacement. He and Aard are, after our good luck charm Bailey and Thompson, the least impressive players on the club, but they're still very good at a very young age.  Jimmy Two Saints is not immediately available to us, he's at the Olympics winning a silver medal. He arrives at the club five days before the start of the season. Meteor and the Bastard were also at the games, but couldn't drag Team Oz to a single win in a group that saw them play Germany and Argentina.  The day after we tick up to three healthy fullbacks, Richards goes down. It's three days before our first league match, so this seems like a fitting place to stop.  You gave me a budget, and I spent it. Overspent it, actually. We're down to 98,000 in the transfer pool. Wages are 6k a week over budget thanks to needing a new right back just before the start of the season. But the club is markedly better now, at least on paper, than it was at the end of last season. We should be able to make a real splash in the league this season and show everyone that we weren't a fluke. If the new players gel quickly we might even be able to shock the world again. The yearly contest is upon us again, this time we're going to embarrass ourselves by making predictions on how the league and cups will shake out. Winner is whoever's closest in predicting the order of the top four, the bottom three, the winner of the Champion's League, the winner of the FA Cup, and the winner of the Capital One Cup. Below are the bookies odds on the league.  SAMPLE ENTRY: Top 4: Man U, Chelsea, Man City, Wrexham. Bottom 3: Norwich, Watford, Bristol City. Champion's League: Real Madrid FA Cup: Wrexham League Cup: Wrexham (Note: this is a wildly optimistic prediction for Wrexham) Remember, the top four and bottom three are in order of finish, so in the above sample I'm expecting Manchester United to win the league and Bristol City to finish dead last. If you're not sure about Champion's League teams I'd suggest the previous update where you can see the quarterfinalists from last year and the tables from the other big leagues. Only four teams have won the Champion's League during this LP. Barcelona has won three times, Atletico twice, PSG and Man U once each. Entries will be open until Chapter the Second (two updates from now) is posted or Monday, May 5th at 5pm EST, whichever comes later. 
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 17:57
|
|
|
Top 4: Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal Bottom 3: Blackburn, Watford, Bristol City. Champion's League: Man U FA Cup: Man City League Cup: Chelsea
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 18:18
|
|
|
Top 4: ManU, Man City, Chelsea and Wrexham Bottom 3: Derby, Watford, Bristol City FA Cup: ManU League Cup: Wrexham Champions League: Dortmund I believe in the club and incredible upsets. 
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 18:28
|
|
|
Top 4: Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham. Bottom 3: Blackburn, Watford, Bristol City. Champions League: Man U FA Cup: Man City League Cup: Everton
|
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 18:40
|
|
|
Top 4: Man U, Arsenal, Everton, Tottenham Bottom 3: Cardiff, Watford, Aston Villa Champions League: Real Madrid FA Cup: Man City League Cup: Tottenham
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 18:47
|
|
|
Top 4: Bottom 3: Derby, Watford, Bristol City. Champion's League: FA Cup: Wrexham League Cup: Everton Also Shirra is from Falkirk? I'm from Falkirk! A Tartan Tory fucked around with this message at 19:04 on May 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 18:58
|
|
|
Top 4: United, Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal Bottom 3: Aston Villa, Watford, Bristol City FA Cup: United League Cup: Man City Champions League: Juventus
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 18:59
|
|
|
Top 4 Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea Bottom 3 Wattford Derby Bristol Champions League Real Madrid FA Cup Man City League Cup Wrexham LionYeti fucked around with this message at 20:01 on May 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 19:09
|
|
|
Top 4: Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea Bottom 3: Blackburn, Watford, Bristol City. Champion's League: PSG FA Cup: Chelsea League Cup: Southampton
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 19:49
|
|
|
blakout posted:Bottom 3 Wattford Darby Bristol This reminds me that I wanted to ask, is Derby pronounced like the derby in the North London Derby or like the derby in the Kentucky Derby? I worry that they'll win promotion for next year and I'll be an obvious noob when I refer to them the wrong way. Also, why doesn't the derby in North London Derby have an A in it? Man, it's a good thing we rescued the English language from you Brits. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 19:58 on May 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 19:56
|
|
|
It's pronounced Dahr-biy for the most part unless you accent mangles it.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:03
|
|
|
Oh, dear this will be hard. Top 4: Man U, Man C, Chelsea, Everton Bottom 3: West Ham, Watford, Bristol City Champions: Dortmund FA Cup: Liverpool League Cup: Tottenham I have no clue what I'm doing. 
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:13
|
|
|
Top 4: ManU, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal Bottom 3: Derby, Watford, Bristol City FA Cup: City League Cup: Arsenal Champions League: Man United
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:19
|
|
|
habeasdorkus posted:This reminds me that I wanted to ask, is Derby pronounced like the derby in the North London Derby or like the derby in the Kentucky Derby? I worry that they'll win promotion for next year and I'll be an obvious noob when I refer to them the wrong way. Pff, in Kentucky they pronounce Pin and Pen the same, they're not to be trusted for pronouncing Derby correct!
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:37
|
|
|
Reveilled posted:Pff, in Kentucky they pronounce Pin and Pen the same, they're not to be trusted for pronouncing Derby correct! That's a good point, I have a sister-in-law from Kentucky. It weirded my parents out (they're New York born and bred). I should have gone with "home run derby."
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:39
|
|
|
habeasdorkus posted:A pub in Glasgow Google Translate Croatian.  I probably laughed way more than I should have. Habeas, do you want to know how horribly the translation went wrong, or will you trust me when I say it's absolutely hilarious?edit: OK, to be fair, it's fairly decent as far as translations go, but the slip-ups are really funny. my dad fucked around with this message at 20:52 on May 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:42
|
|
|
Top 4: Man U, Wrexham, Everton, Chelsea. Bottom 3: Cardiff, Derby, Stoke. Champion's League: Barcelona FA Cup: Man U League Cup: Wrexham Sir Potato posted:I have no clue what I'm doing.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:45
|
|
|
Top 4: Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Wrexham. Bottom 3: Aston Villa, Watford, Bristol City. Champion's League: Manchester United FA Cup: Tottenham Hotspur League Cup: Wrexham
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:47
|
|
|
habeasdorkus posted:That's a good point, I have a sister-in-law from Kentucky. It weirded my parents out (they're New York born and bred). Well, for what it's worth, I'll confirm Tartan Tory is correct, it's Dahr-biy, like North London Derby, and in fact all sporting competitions called a "Derby" are actually named after the town in a sense, having given its name to the Earl of Derby, who gave his name to the annual horserace at Epsom Oakes, which became the Epsom Derby, from which all other Derbies derive their names.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:52
|
|
|
my dad posted:Google Translate Croatian. Oh, absolutely.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:53
|
|
|
my dad posted:Google Translate Croatian. Please share with us. Also: Top 4: Man U, Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham Bottom 3: Bristol City, Aston Villa, Blackburn FA Cup: Man U League Cup: Stoke Champions League: Real Madrid
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:54
|
|
|
Top 4: Man U, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal. Bottom 3: Aston Villa, Watford, Bristol City. Champion's League: Dortmund FA Cup: Man City League Cup: Wrexham
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 20:54
|
|
|
Chapter the First: The start of something special? August 14, 2020-September 15, 2020 The opening matches are kicking off, so I guess it's time to see where the oddsmakers peg us to finish. It's going to be impossible to outperform expectations at the same level we have the last few years. Being picked to finish 9th is very impressive, it means that the bookies think that if all breaks right we'll have an outside shot at fourth and that our biggest concern should be a mid-table finish.  If I didn't trust our young players we'd never have gotten here. vs. Liverpool, August 16, 2020 Premier League  Does anyone else feel deja vu? This game is televised, hopefully the first of many for us this season. We're still missing nine players, this is one of the worst runs of poor health I've ever had. Luckily we can put out a full strength starting eleven, but three of the asses on our bench belong to youth players. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevich, Mejasic, Boumsong (c), Todd, Feruga, Mair, Djurovic, Nieddu, Shirra, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: Noble, Dos Santos, Alvaro, Petts, Bailey, Matko, De Blasio. The season couldn't have started better. At 140 seconds into the match Meteor scores his first of the season when he simply out-worked the Liverpool right back to get to his own rebound. Before ten minutes are up we've added another, this one coming from the other flank as Dmitri Nieddu gets his Wrexham career started with a bang. When the Bastard picks up where he left off last season to make it three-nil, I feel a tingling sensation about what heights this team could reach. Liverpool looked completely at sea but for a brief spell after halftime. And that fiestiness was put to bed by Nieddu's second goal. We had nine(!) clear cut chances, and the 4-2-3-1 worked exactly as planned. We're atop the Premier League table to start the season, and for at least a moment we are masters of all we survey. Man of the Match: Dmitri Nieddu   Wrexham 4-0 Liverpool  drat straight we're awesome. And we're going to keep getting better. Our average age is only 22.  The whole team of the week could have been our starting 11 and there wouldn't have been any drop-off in performance.  You're no longer my keeper of the future, kid. Suck it up and do your job. Next time I look for a backup keeper I'm searching for one with an “unambitious” personality. I'm tired of backup keepers acting like they deserve better.   I tried to sell you all summer, but no one wanted you. Have you ever considered that you suck, and you should probably be grateful that I'm even giving you a paycheck?  Watch, no one is going to want you.  You insubordinate jackal. Thanks for saving me two weeks of wages. At Norwich City, August 22, 2020 Premier League  Norwich looks like it's going to have another bottom half of the table season, but if things go wrong they could end up in a relegation fight. We're going to have to do a professional job against them, though. I'd hate to waste victories like our one over Liverpool because we got lazy against Norwich. Starting Formation: 4-2-3-1 Control Starting 11: Kovacevic, Dos Santos, Boumsong (c), Todd, Mejasic, Mair, Petts, Nieddu, Shitta, Mujkic, Bastable. Subs: Novotny, Feruga, Morvan, Djurovic, Bailey, Matko, Di Martino. This time we're the ones who have a nightmare start, with Norwich scoring in unlikely fashion when the ball bounces from the crossbar off of Kovacevich's back and into the net for an own goal. We appear to strike back in the 11th minute, but Bastable is correctly ruled offside. From the 20th minute on we take over the game, but can't score. Bastable has another goal called off in the 48th minute, and this one is blatantly offside. In the 54th minute Shirra gets in on the action, and we've had three goals disallowed in one game. By the 80th minute it's clear that we've punched ourselves out, and we lose a game where we put the ball in the net four times to our opponent's zero.   Norwich 1-0 Wrexham  Meanwhile our players continue to find new ways to hurt themselves. At Burton Albion, August 25, 2020 Capital One Cup, Second Round  Burton's coach was talking about how exciting it was to play against a club of considerable renown such as Wrexham. He must not have been managing Burton when we were in League One three years ago. Starting Formation: 4-3-2-1 Control Starting 11: Novotny, Dos Santos, Feruga, Todd, Mejasic, Morvan, Bailey, Matko, Djurovic, Mujkic (c), Di Martino. Subs: Kovacevic, Chapman, O'Hanlon, Mair, Petts, Shirra, Bastable. We're given a penalty less than a minute into the match, but can't convert it. The next scoring chance does get converted, and Mujkic now has as many goals in three games as he had all last season. Matko gives us a two goal lead after an hour elapsed, and we cruise to victory in a manner befitting the difference in quality between the two clubs. Man of the Match: Daniel Matko   Burton 0-2 Wrexham  We should advance again given this draw. I'd prefer a home game, and Nottingham aren't pushovers, but this beats getting drawn against a Premier League club. vs. Chelsea, August 29, 2020 Premier League  The last time we played Chelsea at the Racecourse Ground we were massive underdogs toppling a giant. We're still going to be underdogs, but now another victory just eight months later would be unsurprising. I'm going to see if we can come out and punch them in the nose, if it works I'll then pat myself on the back for being so clever. Starting Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Attack Starting 11: Kovacevic, Mejasic, Feruga, Todd, Dos Santos, Mair, Djurovic, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Di Martino, Bastable. Subs: Novotny, Alvaro, O'Hanlon, Petts, Morvan, Matko, Thompson. Our attack proves capable of carving Chelsea apart, but we finish poorly and going into the half it's knotted at one. It's been a frustrating match to watch, but I have to think that if we keep getting ourselves into such good positions we'll surely convert on them. I'm not rewarded for my optimism. The teams batter away at each other in the second half, both hitting woodwork more than once. Chelsea is able to pull ahead with a dagger in stoppage time, and when we have a last gasp chance to equalize before the final whistle our shot goes off the goal frame for the third and final time of the game.   Wrexham 1-2 Chelsea  This would blow away our previous transfer record, but there's no way I'm selling the reigning Golden Boot for any penny less than an oligarch's ransom. That goes double when it's the last day before the end of the transfer window and I wouldn't have a chance to replace him.  We take gold and silver in the young player of the month awards. I'd trade that for having beaten Norwich or Chelsea.  Thompson forced his exit by being a headache. I could have kept him, but he was a malingerer who was only getting into games if we had even greater injury problems than we'd already had. It was more of a hassle to keep him than it was to sell him, so he got his wish. That we were slightly over budget only exacerbated matters, now we're back under the wage cap an have half a million in the transfer budget.  No huge transfers this window for any club, despite a whole lot of cash thrown around overall. I feel like we're the most improved club.  The fans are still more jazzed about our win over Liverpool than our losses to Norwich and Chelsea.   Todd's earning 5,750/wk, making him a bargain. He's signed through 2023, so I want to put off giving him a new deal for at least the next year. He's been very good over his last 15 games, without a single bad game and multiple strong performances. If he can consistently deliver on his potential we're going to want to keep him.  Meanwhile, Lewis is likely to see less and less time as the season goes on. He's not a bad player, but he's never going to be a starter on a Champion's League team.  Our rash of injuries appears to be over. Aarts and Boumsong will each be back in a week to ten days. Someone will probably get injured between now and then, given our luck so far.  Here's to many hundreds more.  The double shot of improvements from going up a youth level and adding Stu's Shack makes our youth facilities “great.” That's on par with the lower tier of Premiership youth facilities, but still some ways behind the middle of the pack.  Within a month of the season starting we're more or less at what I consider the minimum acceptable level for tactical familiarity. That's pretty good, considering that we have seven new first team players this year, and we introduced two entirely new formations. At Cardiff City, September 12, 2020 Premier League  It's the first Cwp match of the year. As the fifth most important trophy that we can win (I would rather win the Cwp than the Capital One Cup, but neither are in the same category as European competition, the league, or the FA Cup) it'd be great to get ourselves off to a strong start in our title defense. Also, I'd rather not go 1-3 to start the season again. Starting Formation: 4-4-2 Diamond Attack Starting 11: Kovacevic, Cirjak, Lewis, Todd, Mejasic, Mair, Nieddu, Mujkic (c), Shirra, Di Martino, Bastable. Subs: Novotny, Richards, Feruga, Morvan, Petts, Djurovic, Bailey. Nothing of note occurs until the fifteenth minute, when the Cardiff netminder makes a gorgeous save to deny Di Martino his first Wrexham goal. The young Italian returns with a vengeance later, and once again the Cardiff keeper stands on his head to prevent the goal. He can't control the rebound, though, and Dmitri Nieddu is there to grab us the advantage. We don't keep it long, and thus it's 1-1 right after the half when Todd is given a red card for a clean tackle from a ref that was 30 yards behind the play. I have to modify our formation, pulling off Di Martino for Feruga to replace Todd. We also move to a counter-attacking posture, our best bet for a goal will be a long ball upon which Shirra or Bastable can work their magic. The second half is a nail-biting affair, with Cardiff happy to press their man advantage and rack up a number of shots on goal and shots adjacent to goal. Kovacevic saves the game on more than one occasion. At the same time our counter is running wild against their back line. Our sallies repeatedly force Cardiff into desperate defenses, paying off in the 87th minute when Bastable heads a long ball up the field for Meteor Mujkic, who is officially in rampant form, to take the rest of the way. He splits the defenders and from outside the area launches an arcing shot past the diving keeper and into the corner of the far post. The Cwp will be ours. Man of the Match: Dmitri Nieddu   Cardiff 1-2 Wrexham  The ref was behind the play, a long ways behind. He saw Todd come in from a tight angle and make a tackle, and then saw the Cardiff player go down. So he pulled out a red card, despite the fact that Todd got ball and only ball, and didn't make contact with the Cardiff player until after the ball was already well on it's way to safety. It was a bad call, but I can see how it happened. It's pretty neat when a game is detailed enough you can figure out why the ref screwed you. Also, I can't remember the last time we had a red card, but if I'm remembering right we're now on a four game winning streak when going a man down.  When you think a red card was bullroar you can appeal to the FA to cancel the suspension that comes with it. In some cases it's hard to tell if the card was without any justification, but if it looked like a ridiculous card when you were playing the match, and the commentary ingame calls it out, and the post match screen calls it out, and your rear end Man calls it out, you can be confident in the merits of your appeal.   Meh, I'm willing to let it ride for the moment. There's another international break in a couple months, I'll do my best to make sure Mejasic can use that time to rest.  I told you we wouldn't go ten days without further injury.  Argh, Curse my jinxing the club by noting our senior team was finally getting healthy! Shirra will miss three fixtures, league games against Swansea and Aston Villa and our Capital One Cup game against Nottingham Forest.  To end the update on a brighter note, Nieddu is looking like our best signing of the offseason and an absolute steal as a free transfer. He's picked up three goals in three matches, and has been named man of the match in two of those.  Our results aren't that much different from last season, we've won two league games instead of one through our first four matches, but the process has been wildly different. Going into last season Liverpool was a mountain to face, this season we dominated them at the Racecourse Ground. Last season it was a massive upset to beat Chelsea, achieved thanks to parking the bus and hitting them on the counter. This season our last second defeat came at the end of a game where we had gone out to put them on their asses from the whistle, and had been successful in forcing them to play our game. Our loss versus Norwich was a fluke occurrence where we had three goals called back while their winner needed to be banked off the crossbar and our keeper's back to go in, while our win versus Cardiff showed the determination of our players when we went a man down after an awful call by the referee. I think we're going to do special things this year. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 21:03 on May 3, 2014 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 21:00
|
|
|
habeasdorkus posted:Oh, absolutely. quote:
The underlined part has a tiiiny mistake in the last word ('dobro' instead of 'dobar') which changes the meaning to something along the lines of "my English is still feeling ill" I didn't quite get what you meant to say with that last sentence, was it "I can't understand my own accent" perhaps? quote:
The first part means "I lost" as in "I'm defeated", not "I'm lost" as in "I'm confused." But the funny part is that the verb is in feminine form, so Cirjak is subtly pointing out that he's actually a lady. The second has a minor word choice error, but nothing big. The last part ends up meaning "to be cursing (as in 'screaming curses at') this language" By the way, Cirjak (which I assume is actually Čirjak) is pronounced Cheer-yuck. You slightly missed how Tonči is pronounced, but nothing major. The 'o' is like 'oo' in 'door' except short.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 21:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 01:32 |
|
|
Top 4: Chelsea, Man City, Man U, Spurs Bottom 3: West Ham, Derby, Bristol City Champion's League: Athletico FA Cup: Arsenal League Cup: Arsenal Edit: And my prize for entering is a the start of the season going up while i'm posting!
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2014 22:25
|
|
