Arsenal

['O Zio]

I saw a good point made earlier. It would literally be better for fans if the game was hosted in the United States or China than in Baku. They might be further away, but the transport situations means you can get there quicker, more cheaply, and in sufficient numbers. There's only capacity for 15k fans to fly to Baku, that often involves connecting flights taking over 24 hours from the UK, and is costing upwards of a grand. I can just about go along with putting finals at least occasionally in Moscow, Kiev and Istanbul - places which are on the edges of Europe and don't have much hope of providing finalists these days, but at least have strong footballing cultures and are reasonably accessible. But Baku just isn't suitable, and they aren't the riff-raff - they're obscenely wealthy from oil and gas, are only hosting the final because UEFA think growing their presence there will make them a tidy sum, and perhaps worst of all have such bad relations with another UEFA member that one of the finalist's players may not be able to safely travel there. I simply do not see a single reasonable argument for it.

I'm pretty sure Uefas respo see would be something like "Yeah...but...Azerbaijan's brown envelope was bigger so...err....Baku sounds perfect to me"

 

[TheChosenOne]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...cket-allocation-Europa-League-final-Baku.html

 

[Shadydan]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...cket-allocation-Europa-League-final-Baku.html

Situation is ridiculous, UEFA should be ashamed.

 

[Marty]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...cket-allocation-Europa-League-final-Baku.html

Good on those fans who are taking a stand.

 

[HobbitSpur]

Situation is ridiculous, UEFA should be ashamed.

That narrative has been the same for the last 20 years, and will continue for the foreseeable future.

As long as the reward is great enough they will continue to do whatever they want, with zero embarrassment and zero thoughts to the fans who spend there hard earned money to follow their fabmviurite teams.

I used to be a fan of Platini for his prowess on the pitch.

But he is one of the most corrupt in football today.

Miraculously escaped any involvement in the FIFA exposè even though he took an enormous back hander from Blatt, and has carried that ethos into the rotten core that is now UEFA.

UEFA imo is more corrupt than FIFA ever was, and the only people suffering are the fans.

 

[Krule]

Can I just post this video one more time please...I piss myself laughing every time I see it. The one with the Brighton player deciding NOT to console Arsenal after the 1-1 draw condemns them to 5th place

 

[hellava_tough]

That narrative has been the same for the last 20 years, and will continue for the foreseeable future.

As long as the reward is great enough they will continue to do whatever they want, with zero embarrassment and zero thoughts to the fans who spend there hard earned money to follow their fabmviurite teams.

I used to be a fan of Platini for his prowess on the pitch.

But he is one of the most corrupt in football today.

Miraculously escaped any involvement in the FIFA exposè even though he took an enormous back hander from Blatt, and has carried that ethos into the rotten core that is now UEFA.

UEFA imo is more corrupt than FIFA ever was, and the only people suffering are the fans.

The fans need to boycott the final

A half empty stadium will change UEFA's minds for the future

The trouble is, football fans are their own worst enemies most of the time, because the powers that be know that come hell or high water, there will always be plenty of fans willing to do what it takes to support their team

 

[Marty]

The fans need to boycott the final

A half empty stadium will change UEFA's minds for the future

The trouble is, football fans are their own worst enemies most of the time, because the powers that be know that come hell or high water, there will always be plenty of fans willing to do what it takes to support their team

Both Arse and Chelsea have returned half of their already small allocation, which is something at least. It'll be very interesting to see how many sponsors and corporates actually go.

 

[hellava_tough]

Both Arse and Chelsea have returned half of their already small allocation, which is something at least. It'll be very interesting to see how many sponsors and corporates actually go.

You're right, that's a start

Should 'spike' the hell out of this final

 

[Hakkz]

Why the fuck would anyone go to Azerbadjan?

 

[hellava_tough]

Why the fuck would anyone go to Azerbadjan?

It looks like an interesting country to be fair:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan

And there are always friendly, hospitable people wherever you go...except Blackpool...

...dear God, Blackpool

 

[Krule]

Why the fuck would anyone go to Azerbadjan?

To get the rear car window sticker telling everyone that you had of course !

 

[HobbitSpur]

The fans need to boycott the final

A half empty stadium will change UEFA's minds for the future

The trouble is, football fans are their own worst enemies most of the time, because the powers that be know that come hell or high water, there will always be plenty of fans willing to do what it takes to support their team

The problem with this is that UEFA would love it. Fans get in the way of their operations.

Platini does not give a f@$* about fans or football. It is all about the $$$$

They know that they have to allocate tickets to fans of the clubs appearing, which is a waste of revenue to UEFA. If all supporters boycotted it would please UEFA no-end as it frees up more tickets to present and potential sponsors.

 

[carmeldevil]

Mkhitaryan not going to Baku.

 

['O Zio]

The fans need to boycott the final
A half empty stadium will change UEFA's minds for the future

I'm not sure it would to be honest. The vast majority of their money comes from sponsorship and TV deals. The sponsors/advertisers pay top dollar because of the massive TV audience for these games, not because of how many fans are in the stadium. I suppose there's the old argument about half-empty stadiums looking shit on TV but I don't know if that's enough to really put them off if they're getting enough money out of the deal.

 

[ajspurs]

Mkhitaryan not going to Baku.

Think that's good for them to be honest, unfortunately.

 

[spursfan77]

Mkhitaryan not going to Baku.

It really doesn’t sit right does it?

Arsenal and Chelsea are scum though so they’ll get whatever is coming to them.

 

[Marty]

The problem with this is that UEFA would love it. Fans get in the way of their operations.

Platini does not give a f@$* about fans or football. It is all about the $$$$

They know that they have to allocate tickets to fans of the clubs appearing, which is a waste of revenue to UEFA. If all supporters boycotted it would please UEFA no-end as it frees up more tickets to present and potential sponsors.

You know Platini hasn't been in charge for three years, right?

Granted, his "philosophy", if you can call it that, still holds strong in the UEFA corridors, but it isn't him making the big calls any more.

 

[HobbitSpur]

You know Platini hasn't been in charge for three years, right?

Granted, his "philosophy", if you can call it that, still holds strong in the UEFA corridors, but it isn't him making the big calls any more.

I did actually know that yes. But for some reason ignored the glaringly obvious when posting.

But yes i agree the philosophy is still there. When investigating the corruption within FIFA it seems that UEFA were for whatever reason left alone for it to fester. They seemed to concentrate on the lower hanging fruit that was CONCACAF and CONMEBOL.

Whether it was because of the 'genuine' money that UEFA produces due to the economy of the Europeans, but it just seems that IMO they got away extremely lightly to say the least.

Anyway wrong thread (apologies for my involvement) and this has already probably been discussed to death on other threads.

 

[ikky]

http://www.skysports.com/share/11725744
Split loyalties?