Trollheart's Match of the Day Thread

[Trollheart]

@Trollheart have you seen the incident in full? Just wondering because you haven't mentioned the VAR input. Rogers didn't kick the ball out of his hands and VAR clearly showed it, but because the ref is a stupid cunt he blew his whistle for the foul as Rogers kicked the ball into the net and because the whistle had been blown it stops VAR over turning the decision.

A legitimate goal ruled out.

I've been on the MU forums and I've seen people calling it bent and corrupt even in there.

I don't think it's corrupt, I think it's just a massive fuck up, but it's cost us £100m+.

Previous games are irrelevant BTW, we were where we were after 37 games and 70 mins into the final game and on course for the CL. That changed it.

See my overview post above. I saw it. Fucking disgraceful. I also mentioned it in "Controversies, if any".

[jimmy jazz]

Common sense flies out of the window in football.

Just give the goal ffs.

[Trollheart]

Did you see the news? Fucking bastards. They should bring back hanging.

[jimmy jazz]

Did you see the news? Fucking bastards. They should bring back hanging.

Slightly harsh for his fuck up, I'd take the £100m tbh.

Joking ffs yes I've seen it. My mate would have been there, text him but no answer. I'm sure he's fine though.

[Trollheart]

Hopefully he is. Many injuries but no deaths, so far as I can see. It's absolutely the ultimate weapon: no way to defend against someone driving a car at you. What are the police gonna do? Check every driver? Hope everyone is all right. Fucking black day, but at least nobody died, which is something.

[Trollheart]

It would be remiss of me, before going on, to react to the shocking news just in about the vehicle ramming crowds at the Liverpool victory parade today. Thankfully nobody was killed, but there were many injured, and a suspect is now in custody. Wish all the best to everyone who attended and hope for a speedy recovery for those injured, or who have loved ones who were.
#YNWA

[Trollheart]

Participating in Europe next season then:

Liverpool (Champions League)
Arsenal (Champions League)
Manchester City (Champions League)
Chelsea (Champions League)
Newcastle (Champions League)
Aston Villa (Europa League)
Nottingham Forest (UEFA Conference League)
Crystal Palace (Europa League)

[Trollheart]

[jimmy jazz]

Hopefully he is. Many injuries but no deaths, so far as I can see. It's absolutely the ultimate weapon: no way to defend against someone driving a car at you. What are the police gonna do? Check every driver? Hope everyone is all right. Fucking black day, but at least nobody died, which is something.

He's just text 

[Trollheart]

As the season ends, the tragic scenes in Liverpool notwithstanding, what have we learned? We've seen the continuing decline of one of the Premier League's legendary clubs, who are more used to being in a fight for the title than all but a battle against relegation. Manchester United ended the season in 15th place (having at one point in the weekend dipped as far as 17th, the closest you can go to the dotted line without being in danger of relegation), their worst ranking in over half a century. They changed managers, swapping a Dutchman for a Portuguese, but neither were able to arrest the irrevocable slide into ignominy and virtual obscurity. Their blue rivals struggled too, but ended the season third, a whole 12 places above them and qualified for the Champions League again.

Liverpool sailed pretty much to what looked an easy win, claiming the title almost a month before the end of the season, and leaving next-placed Arsenal trailing folornly in their wake. All three promoted teams went back down immediately, the least impressive of them being Southampton, who seem to have spent the entire season at the foot of the table, ending with a woeful total of 12 points and having let in a massive 86 goals.

Surprises of the season were definitely Nottingham Forest, who, having only been promoted the previous season, got to third place and held onto it for a long time before finally sliding to seventh, and losing out on a chance to play in the CL, though they do get into Europe through the Conference League. And Wolves, who at one point looked a cert for relegation, dumped their old manger (well, dumped two of them - Gary O'Neill made way for Ivan Juric, but neither could help the team from the Black Country survive) and managed not only to survive but attain a very decent placing in 16th, level on points with Manchester United.

Villa did well, but not always when it was called for, and despite signing new players such as Marcus Asensio and Marcus Rashford, among others, we lost or drew games we should have won, and have to settle for a sixth-place finish and the Europa League. Newcastle, who last season disappointed, seemed destined for third place but had to settle with 5th, which still gets them into the Champions League. By contrast, Tottenham completely imploded. Finishing 5th last season, they now languish in 17th, and have only been saved really from relegation by the early results sending Ipswich and Leicester down, otherwise they could have been in a dogfight to survive. Crystal Palace did very well, West Ham and Everton both fell away badly, and Arsenal, despite retaining second place, failed again to win the title, in a dead heat at one point with Liverpool.

Big players, legendary players participated in their final season with their clubs this year, with Kevin DeBruyne saying thank you and goodbye to Man City as he looks bound for Napoli, Jamie Vardy ending his sparkling career at Leicester and Trent Alexander-Arnold swapping the rain of Merseyside for the sunshine of Madrid as he signs for Real.

Overall, not a nail-biting season - the title was decided weeks before the final day, as were the relegations - but very satisfying, especially if you hate Man United! Horrible that it has to end with a tragic and horrific coda today, but let's concentrate on all the entertainment the football gave us over the season and push that incident, insofar as we can, to one side.

[Trollheart]

A small tribute to a great man: Match of the Day Legend - end of an era.

There will be those who say he's a knob and deserves what he got, but I personally think Gary Lineker was shafted by the BBC. I remember a while back when he made a comment about the government (Tories at the time) and likening their immigration policy (or, I should say, their repatriation/deportation policy) to that of Nazi Germany. He was suspended, but all the pundits and many players and commentators, almost all of football and much of sport stood up for him, and I think this ticked the BBC off. I believe this was payback, a childish, Trumpian revenge on the man who had shown them they couldn't bully him off the screen.

Whether it was intentional or not, I think the whole incident about the emoji was blown up out of all proportion, and was handled as delicately as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I think the BBC were only too happy to have a chance to tarnish his legacy - he was, after all, leaving MOTD this season anyway - and to be able to say "gotcha!" I think between the government and the corporation they fucked him over. I know I will miss him.

When I started watching MOTD it was Desmond Lynam in the chair, and Gary would be there as a pundit, along with other greats such as Alan Hansen and Mark Lawrenson. I liked Lynam, but to my knowledge he never played, so to have an ex-footballer in charge gave, to me anyway, a more authoritative feel to the show. It also left plenty of scope for anecdotes from his career, which Gary would share with Micah Richards, Alan Shearer, Danny Murphy, Ian Wright or whoever was on that night with him. I also enjoyed his MOTD Top Ten podcast, which showed him in a much more informal and relaxed mood.

There was an emotional goodbye last night from the man, and I think everyone could see what the show means to him. I hope we'll see him pop up on some other channel, or online, or on Amazon or somewhere. For now, good luck Gary from one guy who used to hate football, but whom you helped develop an abiding interest in and love for.

#Justice4Gary

[Trollheart]

Before I close, then:

Welcome back to the Premiership for next season


Leeds United finished a pretty consistent season at the top of the Championship, and so qualified for promotion to the next, and top, tier of football. They have a proud history of having played in the Premiership, but this will be their first return since 2022.



Burnley, coincidentally, were also in the Premier League last time in 2022. They won promotion back there this season as runner-up in the Championship, and so will return to the top flight next season.

And



The Black Cats have been away longer than the other two, with their last appearance in the Premier League having been all the way back in 2017. They beat Sheffield United in the Championship play-off final to secure promotion back to the Premiership next season.

All three of the promoted teams this season have been relegated at the end of the season. Will the same happen next time around? Only time will tell.

See you in August!

[jimmy jazz]

The comments on that YouTube video of Lineker's goodbye are a mix of and 😯

No matter how much people want to believe it, he hasn't lost his job for 'standing up to injustice' any more than Lucy Connolly is in prison for opposing illegal immigration.

Tbh I don't particularly like the guy but I felt a bit sad seeing him obviously heartbroken there.