2024-25 season non-Hibs games thread

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Originally Posted by Mcbizz1998

Where you seeing that? Not been confirmed as far as I can see.

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https://x.com/SkyFootball/status/181...rVMdtchKw&s=19

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Originally Posted by we are hibs

Southgate has stepped down as England manager.

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Was always going to happen.

Seems like a decent guy, but they need someone who can get them over the line. They’ve got the players to be winning a tournament, you can’t keep getting to the latter stages and falling short.

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Originally Posted by we are hibs

Southgate has stepped down as England manager.

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Praying for He's Here. 🤭

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Originally Posted by we are hibs

Southgate has stepped down as England manager. Sent from my SM-A405FN using Tapatalk

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To be expected. He did a terrific job overall and transformed England from the shambles they were prior to him taking on the role.While thankfully the press aren't as merciless as they used to be (Graham Taylor and turnips springs to mind), the pressure that comes with the England job must weigh heavily on anyone who takes it and I imagine eight years feels like long enough for him. Good bloke who can leave with his head held high.

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Originally Posted by Stubbsy90+2

Was always going to happen.

Seems like a decent guy, but they need someone who can get them over the line. They’ve got the players to be winning a tournament, you can’t keep getting to the latter stages and falling short.

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That will be the thinking. If only it were as simple as that. Wouldn't be surprised if they played better football under a new manager but fall short of the finals that Southgate got them to. Football is a funny old game after all.

It should be easy for the FA to appoint a better manager but it's very unlikely they'll find a luckier one.

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Originally Posted by Velma Dinkley

It should be easy for the FA to appoint a better manager but it's very unlikely they'll find a luckier one.

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You don't 'luck' your way to the record he had with England. It came down to years of hard work, right from when he was head of elite development. That's what shaped the current England side and included World Cup wins for their U20s and U17s (or possibly their U15s, I can't remember which). He's been a key figure in raising the bar for their national team and if you look at their record down the years before he took on the top job he's actually had them punching above their weight. He clearly leaves them in a good place for whoever succeeds him.

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Originally Posted by Velma Dinkley

It should be easy for the FA to appoint a better manager but it's very unlikely they'll find a luckier one.

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Stop talking nonsense, luck had nothing to do with how Southgate has transformed the England team. The best England manager in my lifetime.

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Originally Posted by McD

There’s arguments to and for almost every player.

Pele won 3 world cups, but played in a poor league. He scored an incredible amount of goals, and played in an era where he could be virtually maimed before a free kick was given, effectively kicked out of the World Cup in 1966. He also played in an era where the football world only got see anything of him every 4 years, so an aura builds up, and if he had a poor(er) season, it would go under the radar.

Messi has won 3 international tournaments, outside of the great Spain side circa 15 years ago, there’s very few who can claim to have done the same, and virtually none can claim to have been their country’s main man during that period. His record at club level is unsurpassed. He’s had the benefit of modern medicine and training, he’s also had to deal with an unprecedented level of scrutiny that only Ronaldo, tiger woods, Michael Jordan and lebron James can relate to. One other thing he’s had to cope with, up until 20 months or so ago, was perpetual negative comparisons to maradona.


And as we’ve seen, other people will favour maradona, some Ronaldo, or Ronaldo :wink:, or zidane, or Best, that’s the beauty of the discussion, there’s no definitely right answer :greengrin

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A poor league given Brazilian players didn’t come to Europe at that time not sure it could be seen as a poor league given the sheer number of players that country produces

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Originally Posted by MWHIBBIES

Ronaldo is really the only other one in the argument. Although 2012 Messi scored 91 goals, so I think he's got him that year.

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Maradona Pele Di Stefano Puskas Cruyff Best

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Originally Posted by Scouse Hibee

Stop talking nonsense, luck had nothing to do with how Southgate has transformed the England team. The best England manager in my lifetime.

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I don't mean to be rude but that is completely delusional.

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Originally Posted by He's here!

You don't 'luck' your way to the record he had with England. It came down to years of hard work, right from when he was head of elite development. That's what shaped the current England side and included World Cup wins for their U20s and U17s (or possibly their U15s, I can't remember which). He's been a key figure in raising the bar for their national team and if you look at their record down the years before he took on the top job he's actually had them punching above their weight. He clearly leaves them in a good place for whoever succeeds him.

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Having seen the draws and watched the games, I can say that is incorrect.

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Originally Posted by Velma Dinkley

I don't mean to be rude but that is completely delusional.

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No it’s completely factual actually!

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Originally Posted by He's here!

You don't 'luck' your way to the record he had with England. It came down to years of hard work, right from when he was head of elite development. That's what shaped the current England side and included World Cup wins for their U20s and U17s (or possibly their U15s, I can't remember which). He's been a key figure in raising the bar for their national team and if you look at their record down the years before he took on the top job he's actually had them punching above their weight. He clearly leaves them in a good place for whoever succeeds him.

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Don’t think he has had them punching above their weight more punching their weight. England squads were notorious for being very cliquey and tended to be split on lines Southgate has improved that very much and much more integrated. There is probably more money pumped into the England team than any in the world given the enormous investment in St George's park and additional tapping into and utilising best practice be that sport science nutrition analysis etc. They will also have benefited enormously from the off the scale investment in the EPL and literally billions pumped into academies and developing youth players. England should be competing at the final stages on that basis.

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Originally Posted by JimBHibees

Maradona Pele Di Stefano Puskas Cruyff Best

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All incredible players. Not one can really be compared to Messi overall, though.

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Originally Posted by Velma Dinkley

I don't mean to be rude but that is completely delusional.

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It’s not really is it you don’t luck your way to semi finals and finals over a long period of time.Given the number of times they have marginally lost out on penalties their record should be better than it is. Matter of time before they start winning tournaments. Natural progression imo

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Originally Posted by Velma Dinkley

Having seen the draws and watched the games, I can say that is incorrect.

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Re the draws - you can only beat what’s in front of you.

For every Germany and Argentina who knocked England out pre-Southgate there’s an Iceland, a Portugal or a Romania.

I reckon that to win something, they probably do need to move on from Southgate, learn to play a more expansive game and make some tough decisions on some key positions and players.

Southgate enjoyed the odd break, but every successful manager does. What is unarguable though is the fact that he was a great success.

He leaves a brilliant platform for the next person to build on.

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Originally Posted by JimBHibees

It’s not really is it you don’t luck your way to semi finals and finals over a long period of time.Given the number of times they have marginally lost out on penalties their record should be better than it is. Matter of time before they start winning tournaments. Natural progression imo

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They literally have lucked their way to semi finals and finals. We've just had a tournament in which it happened.

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Originally Posted by Velma Dinkley

They literally have lucked their way to semi finals and finals. We've just had a tournament in which it happened.

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😂

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Originally Posted by Scouse Hibee

Stop talking nonsense, luck had nothing to do with how Southgate has transformed the England team. The best England manager in my lifetime.

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Southgate has real class, very articulate and calm, and undoubtedly talented, probably more so in his work through the age groups and nurturing young talent. His record recently is very poor considering the opposition however, and I use the word “poor” in the sense that England should have been comfortable in every game up to the final but were often outplayed by weaker opponents and were too defensive and loyal to players who weren’t playing well (Kane a case in point). He had an embarrassment of riches but couldn’t create a team, shown by the fact they lost the most important games of his tenure against teams who were the sum of all their parts whilst not being blessed with the same level of player (Croatia, France, Italy and now Spain). The next manager has to be brave and integrate players like Palmer, Watkins, Trent, etc and be bold enough to drop players like Kane, Walker and Rice who for me had a very poor tournament. Mainoo wasn’t the answer either.

Wish him all the best though, very likeable and he’ll get a top job soon.

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Originally Posted by Stubbsy90+2

Was always going to happen.Seems like a decent guy, but they need someone who can get them over the line. They’ve got the players to be winning a tournament, you can’t keep getting to the latter stages and falling short.

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Teams with Bang Average goalies don't tend to win trophies

He's successful in that he's took them far in competitions, and has a good record...but he's unsuccessful in that they've achieved nothing, and haven't really looked like they should.

This England squad are far better than Southgate has got out of them.

Easily as much talent in the English team as there is in the Spanish team that beat them, but the Spanish were miles better.

You can blame the players, or the manager, or both. Southgate, in my opinion, was Englands weak point, and that seemed clear before the tournament even started.

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Originally Posted by Velma Dinkley

They literally have lucked their way to semi finals and finals. We've just had a tournament in which it happened.

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Where did the 'luck' come in? They did what they had to do to get to the final. That's the bottom line in knockout tournaments. From winning the World Cup in 1966 to the year Southgate took over as manager in 2016 England won only six knockout games in total. Southgate won nine in just eight years.

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Originally Posted by He's here!

You don't 'luck' your way to the record he had with England. It came down to years of hard work, right from when he was head of elite development. That's what shaped the current England side and included World Cup wins for their U20s and U17s (or possibly their U15s, I can't remember which). He's been a key figure in raising the bar for their national team and if you look at their record down the years before he took on the top job he's actually had them punching above their weight. He clearly leaves them in a good place for whoever succeeds him.

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He has done a great job, you only have to look at their recent record..however they have been very fortunate when getting out of groups to avoid several big guns enruoute to QF, SF, finals etc.
When faced with a top international side they have lost, simple as.
Not all down to him, some of it has to be attributed to the fact that other nations simply have better players and squads.

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Originally Posted by JimBHibees

A poor league given Brazilian players didn’t come to Europe at that time not sure it could be seen as a poor league given the sheer number of players that country produces

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While I wasn’t around at the time, that assessment of Brazilian league football at that time is a description I’ve read from a number of football journalists and historians over the years.

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Originally Posted by He's here!

Where did the 'luck' come in? They did what they had to do to get to the final. That's the bottom line in knockout tournaments. From winning the World Cup in 1966 to the year Southgate took over as manager in 2016 England won only six knockout games in total. Southgate won nine in just eight years.

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The only time you get riled it seems are when people are bigging up the SNP or ripping England. The first one is your perogative but for the second it's a Scottish football fans message board it's hardly unexpected

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Originally Posted by Stairway 2 7

The only time you get riled it seems are when people are bigging up the SNP or ripping England. The first one is your perogative but for the second it's a Scottish football fans message board it's hardly unexpected

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I wouldn't say I'm riled. Just of the view Southgate did a very good job. It's not incumbent on every Scot to belittle anything England achieve (especially when we have so little to crow about ourselves). I just don't have a problem with them.

The SNP...that's another matter, although their downfall means I've less to get riled about.

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Originally Posted by He's here!

I wouldn't say I'm riled. Just of the view Southgate did a very good job. It's not incumbent on every Scot to belittle anything England achieve (especially when we have so little to crow about ourselves). I just don't have a problem with them.

The SNP...that's another matter, although their downfall means I've less to get riled about.

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It's not incumbent but it's rivalry to me. I enjoy hearts getting beat but have loads of hearts friends. I enjoy England losing football although the wife is English. It may be bitter and hatred for some but not the majority.

The second point I've no comeback just now 😢 😂

Keep the political pish off the main board. If people want to bore themselves to tears talking about it do it on the holy ground.

Southgate didn't change tactics, the 11 players just failed to play to the levels expected, where he went wrong was not having a backbone to drop some of his so called underperforming stars.