Metal Reviews

No. Absolutely not. Self-Determination may be ok for places like Gibraltar where the area has been in dispute for 200 plus years, but in areas like Cataluna that have firmly been a part of national Spain since the union of Castilla and Aragon, self-determination is not permissible. Frankly the idea that it would be defies common sense. What would happen if the Southern states in the USA decided to self-determine...CIvil War. What do you think would happen in every other country if self-determination were allowed. I'm sorry but your suggestion is pure and utter nonsense. Some time long ago, the Catalan people had a shot at being their own kingdom....i.e. Kingdom of Aragon. They united. During the wars of succession, they supported the French claimant. The French lost. Since then, Cataluna has been a large and economically important center for Spain, full of non-Catalan people. You didn't even address the logistical and political nightmare that would ensue if Cataluna became its own nation. Stop speaking nonsense.

National self-determination is independent of historical precedence. Nationalism is a daily referendum, a nation only exists as long as the people who compose it decide they are a nation. When this ceases, the nation ceases to exist. As a Scottish nationalist, you're coming across with completely unprincipled shit. If you're assuming a historical basis for nationhood, you'll have to set your parameters and delineate the boundaries of your qualifying standards.

Fuck off with that political shit, this thread is for men kicking balls into nets.

Fuck nationalism! Burn flags and open borders!

it doesn't, but if you only come in to gloat then it's hard to have a serious discussion. you just came out and called me bitter as well.

i stand by what i said about Casillas. by asking for "respect for Italia" he was actually being disrespectful, even if it wasn't his aim. wish the media fellatio would stop soon. now they're even considering him for the Player of the Year award.

and Real has too much Portuguese influence? Portuguese influence made them champions! the manager and the best player are both Portuguese, and then there's Pepe and Coentrão who are both world class.

I was not gloating. I was celebrating as I have a right to do. I didn't rub it in anyone's face. I did, however, defend against criticisms of the Spanish team that I thought were unfounded. I called you bitter because I felt, based on the totality of your comments and place of residence, that you were bitter. Frankly, given how Portugal lost, and that a portuguese person was criticising Casillas, I think it was a totally reasonable conclusion. If I'm wrong, I accept that.

And yes, too many Portuguese on Real Madrid. That is an opinion, not a fact.

It seems that Didier Deschamps changed his mind, thank the Universe (at least).

And Lille signed Salomon Kalou. Good for them. I like how Lille do their business, they are steadily expanding, without Russian or Qatari (or whatever else) funds. They built a new big stadium (capacity of 60,000+), they manage to attract big names (Joe Cole last year, Salomon Kalou now), and they perform well (in Ligue 1 at least).

well, i'm upset that we lost lol. i did openly say that Spain are the best.

on Portuguese influence at Real, well, as long as they keep winning... my Benfica is sadly made up almost entirely of foreigners, and our regular starting line-up this year will probably be 100% foreign, which is a shame.

on Lille, fuck Lille. they sold us the incompetent left-back Emerson, who is so horribly shitty it makes you wonder how the fuck a team where he was the first choice left-back managed to win Ligue 1.

That year he actually was the sub (20 games played) for Franck Béria (27) most of the time. And the other players were great. One is a future superstar (Eden hazard, who just signed with Chelsea).

Hazard signed for Barcelona in my FM save in like 2015.

Lille are doing a good job (they offloaded fucking Emerson). i just hate the guy so much. easily the most hated player at Benfica.

Not a Porto fan eh? I bet you're happy that they probably won't be able to hold on to Hulk.

AFAIK Hulk's already signed for Chelsea. Not that it'll do them much good, Alex Ferguson figured out how to neutralize Hulk after one game against Porto.

I don't think the deal has closed. Porto, I believe, is asking too much. 70 million?? Too much for Hulk.

Porto are masters in stealing money from others (aka: negociating). They ask for 70 million, they'll get 40 eventually, which is at least 15 million too expensive for this guy. They robbed like this many French clubs in the past. I don't like them, but they sure know their business.

Porto have been immensely succesful in the past 5 years, so their business model must be working, but selling Falcao and now Hulk I fear will rob them of any attacking prowess. Falcao in particular was quite a big loss, that man scores goals like it's his job.....wait, it is his job. He's very good at it. Columbia will be dangerous in the WC solely by virtue of Falcao.

Porto are a bollocks team because they don't exist to win, they exist to make money. They're a gateway club for Latin American (i.e. Argie and Brazilian) talent to get a foothold in Europe and get snapped up by a bigger club for big bucks, which feeds into the stupidly corrupt (even by Scottish standards) portuguese football structure (I have a friend who is a VERY bitter Benfica fan). Messi came from Porto, if I'm not mistaken, for example. Their entire purpose is to make money. If I was a Porto fan, I'd be raging constantly.

Messi what? i have no idea where you heard that. he came straight to Barcelona from Argentina.

that's Porto and Benfica's business model, but it has to be. we have good scouts and a league that plays in a fast style, but not so physical, and at a higher level than Ligue 1 or Eridivisie, so it's a great place to adapt to Europe. there's not much money to go around here, otherwise

i don't see the problem, though - they come in, play a couple of great seasons and win titles for themselves and for the club, and go on to make their fortune abroad. as long as they perform well while they're here, they're welcome. it does often come at a cost to our own homegrown talent though. the results, in the income statement and on the pitch, are clear - Benfica and Porto are the strongest clubs outside of the 4 major leagues.

on Porto: they are filthy, corrupt club. sure you can say i'm bitter but there are fucking phone taps on youtube with their president, Pinto da Costa, blatantly arranging referees and other shit. the only reason they were not used in court is because they were illegally obtained themselves. no one at Porto has denied the authenticity of those recorded conversations.

their negotiating prowess should be a case study. don't blame them, though, blame the idiots who keep paying them. Lyon bought Cissokho from them for €15M, after only half a season at Porto. they're the idiots, Porto, and anyone else, would obviously be happy to take their money.

on Hulk: overrated player. he is very fast, he does have decent technique, and his shot is ridiculously powerful, but he rarely scores against good teams because his trademark move (come in from the right, sidestep and set up the ball for the left foot and fire away) is very easy to see coming. his buyout clause is €100M, btw, obviously i don't think even Porto expect anyone to pay even half that. Portugal's most expensive export was Di Maria, sold for €35M.

Sorry, the Messi story was bollocks, got him confused with someone else. And I was just reading Messi's story about Barca paying for his Dwarfism treatment (almost feel bad for referring to him as "that bottling wee Argie cunt").

Porto's worse than Rangers. All they did was illegally field overpaid players, but referee fixing? Jesus. I also couldn't believe when I heard the stories of Porto offering bonus money to any wee team that managed to beat their rivals, Benfica. The fuck.

These clubs are all businesses. The purpose of a business is to make money for the shareholders or owners. Unfortunately you have to look at it that way. Winning titles is a secondary concern. Making money is the primary goal. Being successful team, i.e. winning, is an ancillary concern. Yes they want to win titles, but only because that attracts better talent who can in turn be sold for higher transfer fees to other clubs. It's shitty way of viewing it, but you can't jade yourself to the business reality of the entire structure.

Of course not, but when a club exists SOLELY for that purpose you can see how it becomes an annoyance. Take Celtic, for example. As far as the SPL goes, they're in great financial shape. They're terrible businessmen, however. The board is a bunch of Irish alcoholics, but they manage to sign decent enough players and win some stuff, even though they lose money, to do their fans right. Of course, it would be better for Scottish football if they were a bit more canny and got somewhere in Europe, but there you go.