May | 2021 | EXTRA TIME

Archive for May, 2021

Wie kann man nur….

… mit so einem hässlichen Auswärtsdress in einem Semifinale antreten?

Roma 3-2 Man Utd (5-8 on aggregate): Solskjaer’s side through to Europa League final!

The Champions League final will be an all English affair with Manchester City and Chelsea meeting in Istanbul on 29 May. But with Arsenal having been eliminated by the “Yellow Submarine”, the Europa League final in Gdańsk three days earlier will see a match between Spanish side Villarreal (under former Arsenal boss Emery) and Manchester United.

The “yellow submarine” which eliminated the Austrian representative Salzburg in the first knockout round of this season’s competition, are the only club from the continent that made a final this year preventing a repeat of 2019. In that year both European Cup finals were played between English outfits when Liverpool and Tottenham were the opponents in the final of the Champions League in Madrid (2:0), and Chelsea and Arsenal played the final of the Europa League in Baku (4:1).

This year’s finals will be played in Istanbul and Gdańsk. The CL Final is rumoured to be played in front of 19,000 spectators, while in Gdańsk 9,500 fans will be allowed into the stadium.

May 7, 2021 at 4:49 am 1 comment

Fußballklubs unter Denkmalschutz!

Nach dem Super League Desaster wird es neue Regeln für die Fußballklubs geben. Wie groß der Ärger über die Gründung der schließlich schnell gescheiterten Super League ist und wie sich über Jahre angestaute Unzufriedenheit mit den “billionaire owners” der Klubs nun entlädt, zeigte der Stadion-Sturm von ManUtd Fans am Wochenende. Das erste „Geisterspiel mit Platzsturm“! Und die Forderung der Fans, die überall lauter wird, heißt Mitsprache! Wie bei einem unter Denkmalschutz stehenden Gebäude sollen die Eigentümer der Klubs damit nicht mehr tun und lassen können, was sie wollen (aus The Telegraph):

Malcolm Clarke, chair of the Football Supporters’ Association, said that a “seismic” moment had arrived and stressed that the Government’s review into football, which will be overseen by former sports minister Tracey Crouch, must lead to meaningful fan involvement.

“[A football club] is a bit like a listed building,” Clarke said. “Just because you own it doesn’t mean you should be able to do what you want with it. What this whole episode shows is how frustrated supporters are. If the ‘rebel six’ have done one good thing for us, they have pushed those issues right to the top of the political agenda and public agenda in a way that some of us have been trying for decades.”

May 4, 2021 at 6:32 am Leave a comment

Fit (and Rich Enough) for Office?

^{The Times on Sunday reports that Prime Minister Johnson has told friends that he needs to earn about £300,000 a year — twice his salary — to keep his head above water. Johnson’s salary puts him close to the top 1 per cent of UK earners. Yet he makes less than Angela Merkel’s £267,000 or Joe Biden’s £290,000. Luxembourg, with a population roughly equivalent to that of Sheffield, pays its prime minister £200,000.}