[talkSAFT]

Looking at it coldly, we ARE a mid-Championship Club:-

We've got a relatively small catchment area in terms of indigenous population. (The future will be when local-born Afro/Asian people who have now "found" football, attach to us, rather than ManU etc.)
We're not "blessed" with a rich Owner, (thank goodness - it will only eventually lead to possible ruin.)
Our expectations ARE high, simply because we have been so successful in the past. Don't forget that the Area was the Cradle of the Industrial Revolution, and prosperous for the 1st 100 years of the Club's existence. Today ticket prices are so high as to deter the next generation from ever going regularly - instead they latch onto the Chelseas and "support" them in the Pubs showing their Sky matches.

Things won't change in my lifetime, so I'll continue to doff my cap to a good Leader.

[BaggieMan]

FIFA REPORT CRITICISES ENGLAND 2018 WORLD CUP BID

Remarkable to say the least !  

Qatar and Russia are in the clear but Michael Garcia and the enquiry judge, Hans-Joachim Eckert, slam the FA bid for 'attempting' to woo the support of arch-villain Jack Warner by hosting a dinner in Trinidad and providing UK training facilities to the Trinidad & Tobago Under 20's team whilst it appears any suggested malpractice by the Qatar and Russian delegation bids goes without serious comment.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footbal...8-bid.html

It is widely suggested that FIFA is corrupt from the top to the bottom and with England 2018 being the most transparent bid on the table, we are punished by being so open. Why does the football world hate England so much ? The country that gave the world the game. The country with the best league in the world. Is it jealousy ?  Not much better is UEFA and the British hating Michel Plattini.

Should we as a nation withdraw from both FIFA and UEFA and invite other non-corrupt countries to join us in an 'Honest World Cup' and an 'Honest European Cup' ? rather than dance to Blatter's tune.

[BaggieMan]

FIFA REPORT CRITICISES ENGLAND 2018 WORLD CUP BID

Yet another twist....

Less than four hours after FIFA published the report clearing Qatar & Russia of any wrong-doings in their respective bids but criticised England's 2018 bid, the FIFA appointed investigator has been quoted as saying the report "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions".

What a load of spin bowlocks are we hearing from FIFA in their report and the corrupt bunch within that distasteful organisation.

[santasabaggie]

Good to see Sylvestre Varela featuring in the training game against Leicester City. Hopefully, he will, when fully, fit provide the speed and width we are so sadly lacking BUT, will Irvine continue with his 'wingless wonders' ?

And scoring too,from a ball from Blanco.........says it all.Get 'em in.

[aries22]

FIFA REPORT CRITICISES ENGLAND 2018 WORLD CUP BID

Yet another twist....

Less than four hours after FIFA published the report clearing Qatar & Russia of any wrong-doings in their respective bids but criticised England's 2018 bid, the FIFA appointed investigator has been quoted as saying the report "contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions".

What a load of spin bowlocks are we hearing from FIFA in their report and the corrupt bunch within that distasteful organisation.

Fifa have also criticised Australia for wrongdoing in their own bid process. Unbelievable. Australia is probably among the most honest and transparent countries on the planet.

Meanwhile, Fifa's 42-page report, a summary of the investigating lawyer's 430-page report, contained the following cracker:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The report noted that the Russian bid team made "only a limited amount of documents available for review".
According to the report, the Russian team hired computers that were subsequently destroyed, denying the inquiry access to email accounts.
"We were always confident that there could be nothing which would come out from this investigation," said Alexey Sorokin, the head of Russia's 2018 World Cup organising committee.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, yes! Destroy the evidence and make only a few documents available for review, no wonder Russia was always confident of nothing coming out of the investigation!
And Fifa can't see this? Completely unbelievable and unacceptable. Corruption by any other name.

[DannytheBaggie]

I live in Qatar and i can assure you, 2022 was definitely bought! It's the Arab culture, simple as that! I can also 100% tell you that IT WILL be a winter world cup.

The problem is that FIFA is like the old boys club and the people involved have no integrity what so ever!

The only reason Blatter keeps getting re-appointed is because he is keeping the old boys club and sponsors sweet. It’s an absolute disgrace!

[BaggieMan]

The problem is that FIFA is like the old boys club and the people involved have no integrity what so ever!  

The only reason Blatter keeps getting re-appointed is because he is keeping the old boys club and sponsors sweet.  It’s an absolute disgrace!

The corrupt culture within FIFA will continue for evermore unless someone destroys these vultures and replaces it with an organisation based on honesty and integrity. The English FA should form a WFA (World Football Association) and invite the clearly non-corrupt nations to join even having a separate World Cup and leave FIFA with the corrupt thieving little shites like some of the African and Arab States. Boxing and darts have separate codes so why not football.

In many ways it can be compared to the EC which is full of money grabbing, self-interest, pocket filling crooks.

Grrrrr....

[BaggieMan]

Saido & Fozzie versus The Jocks - will it happen ????

[Bournemouth Baggie]

Saido & Fozzie versus The Jocks - will it happen ????

I reckon Saido will make an appearance second half, Forster will play ahead of Fozzie to start at least I reckon

[BaggieMan]

Former FA chairman David Bernstein has urged the FA to lobby Uefa for a European boycott of the next World Cup - unless Fifa implements meaningful reform. He said:

   *  Fifa is a "totalitarian" set-up that reminds him of "the old Soviet empire" and is "beyond ridicule"
   *  The credibility of football is "suffering enormously" under the current Fifa regime
   *  Choosing Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup was "one of the most ludicrous decisions in the history of sport"

Bernstein said he also wanted Fifa president Sepp Blatter to step down but described him as "formidable, very shrewd, very smart", conceding it would "not be easy" to bring his reign to an end.

About time someone did something about the insidious den of corruption.