A Very Bad Joke

A wealthy, middle-aged and married man is sitting on a train reading his newspaper (this is a very old joke). At the next station a beautiful young woman boards the train and sits opposite him. The WM-A&MM can't help but notice her and she catches him eyeing her up over the top of the Business Section and they engage in a flirty conversation.

After a while they are getting along famously and the WM-A&MM cuts to the chase: "You are a stunningly attractive young lady and I am enjoying your company enormously. If only I was not married...".

The beautiful young lady blushes bashfully in response but isn't really sure how to respond.

"However, married I am. No matter how desirable a relationship with you might be to me it is out of the question... A one-off date would be a very different proposition. If I was to book us both into a 5 star hotel and lavish you with flowers, good food, fine wines and other rewards as I saw fit would you spend the night with me?"

"Well... I might." she replied coyly.

"Excellent. What if it was a cheaper hotel and we just booked in somewhere at the next station for an afternoon quickie? Would you do that?"

"No!" she answered in disgust. Shocked at how sleazy the conversation had suddenly become she added: "Absolutely not! What sort of girl do you think I am?"

"Oh we've already established that, my dear, all we are doing now is haggling over the price."

I mention this rather sordid, sexist and largely unfunny joke because it has sprung to mind in connection to todays announcement that there will be PL U-21 B teams in the JPT (or equivalent because Johnsons Paint have pulled out and at present it is unsponsored).

Apparently the FL club CEOs met up on the Algarve (there's a nice jolly if ever I heard of one!) and there was a vote which needed a simple majority to be carried.

So why would anybody want to play Bournemouth's Reserves in a JPT equivalent or allow other PL reserves in meaning that the showpiece Wembley final is as likely to be between Chelsea B and Man City B in perpetuity as not? Yep! A bribe. Or an incentive. Or a sweetener. Call it what you will.

How much do you think each FL club will receive? The answer, allegedly, is about £14,000 each.

That is the sum of money that the clubs that voted in favour of allowing the B teams in. £14,000.

Not much is it?

And it leaves the clubs who voted the proposal through with about as much dignity as a railway station whore.

Agree, it may only be the JPT but what next? Whores.

There are a fair few Lge 1 and 2 clubs issuing statements saying they voted against. Petitions have been raised and numbers climbing. The plan is a disgrace and even more so now you have quoted the figure paid out as £14K. Many many fans on other sites (not just Argyle) are planning to boycott the competition.
So, it begs the question of ''how did Argyle vote?'' Strange thing is though over on pisspotty there is a thread about this and Nooly has only posted short answers when questioned. Its as if he had no plans to post about it but was forced into a corner. Funny old thing !!

£14,000 barely covers the expense of sending a Chairman, CEO, Club Secretary and entourage to a nice Algarve hotel and keep them in G&Ts when they get there, does it?

Maybe we've had no post-Wembley comment from the club because they are all in Portugal on the piss?

Sweet.

I look forward to the statements from the Trust and El Presidente!!!!

Let the PL club second teams get their foot in the door and we will end up with a structure like the German one (to get promoted from the 4th tier you must a) win the league and then b) win a 2 legged playoff!!!!!).

As far as I can gather (no links or proof I'm afraid) only 7 clubs voted against this.

These were: Accrington Stanley, Hartlepool United, Luton Town, Oxford United, Portsmouth, Port Vale and AFC Wimbledon.

So, did Argyle vote in favour?

tigertony wrote:

So, it begs the question of ''how did Argyle vote?'' Strange thing is though over on pisspotty there is a thread about this and Nooly has only posted short answers when questioned. Its as if he had no plans to post about it but was forced into a corner. Funny old thing !!

Porky knows clear as night becomes day. He's clearly irritated at being drawn into the conversation knowing full well the answer 

Will the PL teams participate anyhow?

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If you lot would stop sticking up for the dinosaur that is the FA this shit would be easier to deal with, I feel vindicated in not following the PL greedy bastards to a man.

Amsterdamage wrote:

If you lot would stop sticking up for the dinosaur that is the FA this shit would be easier to deal with, I feel vindicated in not following the PL greedy bastards to a man.

I think that this thread is all about how Argyle voted and if they (or who) said yes, then why?!!

A lot of people over here can't understand why I don't follow the PL or support a top flight club as well as Argyle!

Maybe (just an idea - not fully thought through - yet) the FL should go their own way and England should have some sort of American system. Isolate the PL. Let them have their closed shop. Then go to the courts to ensure playoffs for any Champions League/ additional Europa league places up for grabs. The FA can keep the FA Cup (the PL guaranteed Europa League place) and the League Cup winners would automatically qualify for the Europa League from the FL.

What would Sky etc do then?

The FL would have to of course ensure a fairer distribution of wealth betwwen all the FL clubs.

Personally i think the jpt is a joke competition and should have been scrapped years ago. However if the PL want to get their accadamies involved, the football league should have screwed every last penny out of them (they can afford it after all) to make it at least financially worthwhile if nothing else.

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Moist_Von_Lipwig wrote:

Maybe (just an idea - not fully thought through - yet) the FL should go their own way and England should have some sort of American system. Isolate the PL. Let them have their closed shop. Then go to the courts to ensure playoffs for any Champions League/ additional Europa league places up for grabs.

An excellent idea that, Moist. Excellent.
Only a committed European would have come up with such an elementary legal challenge and wide eyed way forward.  
IF you don't like the local bully boys, circumvent them and look further out to sea over the horizon. Kerry Packer, and then the Indians soon found out how to kick the old fart MCC into touch.

Sadly, many small club ditherers like Brent are too afraid of the PL league and it's stick, I'm afraid, and it probably serves to illustrate that accepting any money at all from the Premier League only puts small clubs in perpetual servitude to them. Without a doubt, the long game intention is to have the Football League a reserve league for the PL, devaluing the whole ethos of fair competition.

I can hear the arguments in favour of "B" teams now: "They've had B Teams in the league structure for years in Spain and it hasn't done them any harm" and so on.

The very same people celebrate 20,000 people turning up for Pompey v Argyle "you don't get 4th tier attendances ike that anywhere else in the world" or "57,956 for a 4th tier game at Wembley! You don't get attendances like that for a 4th tier game anywhere else in the world" and so on.

You can join the dots yourself.

Lord Biro wrote:

Moist_Von_Lipwig wrote:

Maybe (just an idea - not fully thought through - yet) the FL should go their own way and England should have some sort of American system. Isolate the PL. Let them have their closed shop. Then go to the courts to ensure playoffs for any Champions League/ additional Europa league places up for grabs.

An excellent idea that, Moist. Excellent.
Only a committed European would have come up with such an elementary legal challenge and wide eyed way forward.  
IF you don't like the local bully boys, circumvent them and look further out to sea over the horizon. Kerry Packer, and then the Indians soon found out how to kick the old fart MCC into touch.

Sadly, many small club ditherers like Brent are too afraid of the PL league and it's stick, I'm afraid, and it probably serves to illustrate that accepting any money at all from the Premier League only puts small clubs in perpetual servitude to them. Without a doubt, the long game intention is to have the Football League a reserve league for the PL, devaluing the whole ethos of fair competition.

I'm a bit worried that one day, the English league structure will look something like the German league structure. On the other hand, I get to see honest football!

Hartley's a very competent League Two central defender. Good leader, and solid pro, but weak distribution, would be a liability in League 1.

He'll be a good signing for either Grimbsy (or Hartlepool) to help them consolidate in their first season back in the football league.

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

I can hear the arguments in favour of "B" teams now: "They've had B Teams in the league structure for years in Spain and it hasn't done them any harm" and so on.

The very same people celebrate 20,000 people turning up for Pompey v Argyle "you don't get 4th tier attendances ike that anywhere else in the world" or "57,956 for a 4th tier game at Wembley! You don't get attendances like that for a 4th tier game anywhere else in the world" and so on.

You can join the dots yourself.

Next season, Bonn will be up against the U23 sides from Cologne, Schalke, Dortmund, Gladbach, Düsseldorf.

Opposition to B teams joining 4th division or new proposed 5th division is too strong, so introducing them to the Johnstones Paint Trophy or whatever it's now called, is quite clever really.

It will end up with B teams in the 4th/5th division, that's the direction of travel.

Football is run by big business & the money masters, it's better for the big teams to have their B teams playing against the cloggers week in week out, and that's what will happen, eventually

CCC clubs did not vote so - 25 needed out of 48 to pass. 6 have declared publicly. The rest are obviously too busy swilling G&T on the Algarve to answer their fans.

Maybe the AFT could ask the club why they backed this proposal? Don't wait for your next Q&A to get approval, just contact Starnes and ask the question directly.

It's what friends would do.

Amsterdamage wrote:

If you lot would stop sticking up for the dinosaur that is the FA this shit would be easier to deal with, I feel vindicated in not following the PL greedy bastards to a man.

My son was quite horrified when I said I'm not interested one bit about the Prem or the Euro's. Couldn't even tell you who England are playing or who is in the squad. Don't care. Clubs, players, agents, FA, Prem, Sky are all just money making shysters.

Moist_Von_Lipwig wrote:

Amsterdamage wrote:

If you lot would stop sticking up for the dinosaur that is the FA this shit would be easier to deal with, I feel vindicated in not following the PL greedy bastards to a man.

I think that this thread is all about how Argyle voted and if they (or who) said yes, then why?!!

A lot of people over here can't understand why I don't follow the PL or support a top flight club as well as Argyle!

Maybe (just an idea - not fully thought through - yet) the FL should go their own way and England should have some sort of American system. Isolate the PL. Let them have their closed shop. Then go to the courts to ensure playoffs for any Champions League/ additional Europa league places up for grabs. The FA can keep the FA Cup (the PL guaranteed Europa League place) and the League Cup winners would automatically qualify for the Europa League from the FL.

What would Sky etc do then?

The FL would have to of course ensure a fairer distribution of wealth betwwen all the FL clubs.

Like this idea a lot. It's akin to what I felt when they first started farting about with the European Cup - i.e if the biggest clubs want a European Super League, let them have it but not compete domestically too. English football is strong enough that it would survive the big six (or whoever) going off and playing Barcelona, Real Madrid week in/week out instead. Ditto the PL becoming a closed shop. Make winning the CCC the pinnacle for FL (sorry, EFL) clubs. Maybe bring the Conference in as Division 4. The PL would just end up eating itself and the FL would gain in value to those competing in it.

With the FA Cup a route into Europe for the less fashionable clubs then how would they feel if the FA invited Barca, Real, Bayern, PSG and Noviorisik into the FA Cup?

Moist_Von_Lipwig wrote:

I look forward to the statements from the Trust and El Presidente!!!!

Let the PL club second teams get their foot in the door and we will end up with a structure like the German one (to get promoted from the 4th tier you must a) win the league and then b) win a 2 legged playoff!!!!!).

Why ? Theyre just bootlickers im afraid.