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WARNING: VERY LONG POST. READ AT YOUR OWN LEISURE. submitted by digestives27 to footballmanagergames [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/byiz3alsqfd51.png?width=616&format=png&auto=webp&s=6b2b46167c4e53216c515a2601366a0f68e39555 NB: This is part TWO of a TWO-part series. If you haven’t yet read part ONE, please click here. Sunday 1st June 2008 The leagues are complete, the European competitions are decided, it’s time to see the damage done. Premier League We’ll start with the Premier League and, as expected, Man Utd held on to their strong advantage to retain the title, the top-scoring Reds finishing 1 goal and 6 points ahead of Arsenal. Liverpool and Man City claim the remaining Champions League places, whilst Portsmouth finished a point ahead of Everton to claim the first available UEFA Cup place. Fulham would’ve needed a mathematical miracle to have survived relegation, and Middlesbrough were already related going into the final day so a draw with Wigan meant little to them, but Wigan were already safe thanks in part to what was essentially a relegation play-off match between Birmingham and Sunderland. A win for either team would see them survive but a draw would not be enough for Sunderland. David Connolly stepped up and scored a highly contentious goal for Sunderland in a tightly contested game. Birmingham City couldn’t believe what they believed was an offside goal was allowed to stand and replays have since shown that they may have had every right to feel aggrieved about that goal. They did not, however, do enough to get back into the match and although an equaliser would’ve seen them survive, they could not muster one and now drop down into the Championship. Kevin Doyle has the last laugh in his ongoing feud with Leroy, pipping him to the Golden Boot for Reading with 25 goals to Lita’s 24. Andy Johnson rounds off the top 3 with 23 goals for Everton. Cani’s 16 assists see him take the non-existent playmaker of the year award, 3 clear of John Carew. I shall forever call this the Playmaker Award now. The league table is as follows: https://preview.redd.it/a1ngygktqfd51.png?width=844&format=png&auto=webp&s=5c2369d745ec5ef9adca0149a6452b39ac24ba94 Overachievers: Man City, Derby County, West Ham Underachievers: Tottenham, Chelsea, Bolton, Middlesbrough West Ham seal European football through the Euro Vase, aka Intertoto Cup, by virtue of the fact that apparently neither Everton or Chelsea, nor Blackburn bothered to apply. As we know, Portsmouth secured European football through 5th place but wait… Newcastle and Derby are also in Europe?! This can only mean one thing… FA Cup Derby comfortably defeated Blackburn 3-1 at Wembley while Newcastle played out a dramatic 3-3 draw with Portsmouth. The game would be settled by penalties, with Portsmouth scoring their first 2 and Newcastle missing them both. Nerves got the better of the Pompey players as Newcastle scored their next 3 and Portsmouth missed all of them. Incredible scenes in the capital. https://preview.redd.it/8ijwjicuqfd51.png?width=841&format=png&auto=webp&s=f088b1a22b1aa57508725805c0cf6cc968b82901 Not to be outdone, Derby and Newcastle would contest a fierce final themselves. James Milner wins the header from the goalkeeper’s free kick to nod down to Barton who returns a through ball for Milner to slot home in the 22nd minute. However, Derby would hit back on the brink of half-time, in part thanks for a huge stroke of good fortune: David Jones’ free kick on the edge of the box taking a huge deflection off the wall to wrong-foot Shay Given. Deadlocked at 90 minutes, the game moved into extra time. More free kick fortune for Derby as Ulrik Yttergård Jenssen’s freekick deflects off the wall as well and into the path of Daniel Fredheim Holm who lashed home high into the net. However with the clock pushing 122 minutes, Derby go on the attack instead of taking it the corner flag. They would be punished with a flowing Newcastle counterattack, Nicky Butt feeding Derek Boateng who flights a ball to the back post for an unmarked Claudio Caçapa to nod home a dramatic late equaliser. The penalty shootout would be quick and painless. Derby’s players, mentally crushed from conceding such a late goal and dissolved of all confidence, missed all 3 of their penalties to concede the FA Cup to Newcastle United. https://preview.redd.it/ee35dfnvqfd51.png?width=842&format=png&auto=webp&s=592ce72a26e286ece94ed1939cc7a56cb3889c6a Consolation for Derby is that, because Newcastle already secured European football through their League Cup victory, they will also be playing in Europe thanks to being FA Cup runners up. Incredible for a team that was predicted to be relegated this season. Championship Charlton return to the top division, hanging on to top spot despite losing to West Brom on a final day, as Sheffield United could only muster a draw at home to Southampton. Watford, West Brom, QPR and Southampton make up the playoff hopefuls whilst Hull, Sheffield Wednesday and Colchester all drop down into League One. All three relegated teams’ fates were sealed before the final day, so Hull’s 2-0 win at home to Ipswich was in vain. Stoke and Crystal Palace played each other in a play-off decider, with Stoke knowing that any win would secure them 6th place. Palace needed a win against Stoke and a favour from title-chasing Sheffield United against Southampton to leapfrog both Stoke and Southampton into 6th. As such, Southampton needed to better Stoke’s result to secure the playoffs. As it transpired, Crystal Palace’s dramatic 90th minute winner away to Stoke was not enough as Southampton played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Sheffield United. Massive credit to Scunthorpe who were predicted to finish rock bottom this season and defied all expectations by finishing 9th, just 3 points off the playoffs. Unbelievable effort from QPR too, who flouted their 18th place prediction by finishing 5th in the playoff places. Marlon King would finish top scorer for Watford with 30 goals, well clear of second place István Ferenczi, Kevin Kyle picking up the Playmaker Award with 14 assists. Playoff Semi Finals – leg 1 QPR 1 – 1 West Brom Southampton 2 – 0 Watford Playoff Semi Finals – leg 2 West Brom 2 – 0 QPR << West Brom win 3-1 on aggregate Watford 2 – 1 Southampton << Southampton win 3-2 on aggregate Playoff Final Southampton 1 – 2 West Brom A cagey 2-1 win for West Brom as Chris Brunt scores a late winner from a set piece. Sherjill MacDonald may well have offside for the opener as Zoltan Gera played a lovely ball in to the near post and Southampton may well have a right to be upset with referee Lee Probert. If the build-up to the equaliser was scrappy, the finish certainly wasn’t: a ball lifted over the top by Jason Euell is despatched exquisitely on the volley by David McGoldrick. Chris Brunt would have the last laugh in this one, sticking a 20yard free kick into the top corner to send West Bromwich Albion back into the Premier League. https://preview.redd.it/0yrrfjr4rfd51.png?width=844&format=png&auto=webp&s=81c1fb45847ee4d66475e7fdcc29174856bbf490 Overachievers: QPR, Scunthorpe, Barnsley Underachievers: Preston, Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff City, Colchester United League One Business as expected for the top two as Nottingham Forest win the league and Swansea City seal automatic promotion. Yeovil needed favours on the final day to usurp Swansea but did themselves none in the process by drawing in what transpired to be a dead rubber against Bristol Rovers. Doncaster needed to better Carlisle’s result to go up but instead both teams lost, and Carlisle held onto 6th place. Brighton could’ve taken advantage of that slip but lost to champions Nottingham Forest, whilst Oldham could’ve shocked everybody but ultimately lost to Southend instead. All four relegated teams were already down going into the final day: Northampton, Leeds, Tranmere and Leyton Orient. Frazier Campbell of Wallsall and Marvin Williams of Yeovil would share the Golden Boot between them with 32 goals, 4 clear of veteran striker Tore André Flo. Brian Howard’s impressive displays for Yeovil meant he claimed the Playmaker Award with 20 assists. Playoff Semi Finals – leg 1 Luton 2 – 1 Walsall Carlisle 1 – 3 Yeovil Playoff Semi Finals – leg 2 Walsall 0 – 0 Luton << Luton win 2-1 on aggregate Yeovil 3 – 1 << Yeovil win 6-2 on aggregate Playoff Final Luton 4 – 1 Yeovil << Luton promoted after extra time An open-ended affair with chances aplenty for both sides, Luton taking the lead inside the first 5 minutes, full-back Alan Goodall whipping a lovely ball into the near post for Sam Parkin to tuck away. Yeovil would be reduced to ten me early in the second half, Terrell Forbes hospital pass clearance met by the head of Luton’s Chris Hackett who nodded into the path of striker Drew Talbot. Talbot was unable to get his shot away clearly as Matthew Rose stuck out a leg to bring Talbot down and was sent off for a professional foul, drawing large protests from the Yeovil players. Still, Yeovil pressed and five minutes later they’d find an unlikely equaliser. Brian Howard, standing over a free kick 30 yards out, goes for the audacious and gets a huge slice of luck as the free kick clatters off the wall, sends the keeper the wrong way and flies into the empty net. Brave Yeovil would hold out the 90 minutes but unfortunately, Luton would make the extra man count in extra time, substitute Sol Davis starting the procession with a delightful free kick on the edge of the box. Tidy finishes from David Edwards and Willie Gibson rounded off a fine performance from Luton as they sealed their place in next season’s Championship. https://preview.redd.it/bkaziqu8rfd51.png?width=843&format=png&auto=webp&s=c55d9f1700bfaa285ca402f45f7d697b20801452 Overachievers: Walsall, Brighton, Cheltenham, Yeovil Underachievers: Leeds, Tranmere, Millwall Maybe slightly harsh to put Leeds in there with a 15-point deduction, but without it they would’ve finished 10th which is still way below expectations. League Two Impressive Bury romped to a surprise League Two victory, 5 points clear of Peterborough who in turn were 6 points clear of Chesterfield. On-loan youngster Chedwyn Evans’ 24 league goals complementing striker partner Andy Bishop’s 22 league goals to good effect. MK Dons’ Jemal Johnson would score 4 goals in a 5-2 away thriller at Brentford to snatch the Golden Boot away from Morecambe’s Michael Twiss, who must’ve hoped his two goals against Barnet would’ve been enough, Johnson finishing the season on 25 goals. Kevin McBride of Darlington wins the Playmaker Award. Grimsby could’ve been relegated on the last day had they, as they did, lost to Hereford but in the end it mattered not as Barnet and Mansfield, who only needed a win to try and survive, both suffered heavy defeats to drop out of the Football League. Playoff Semi Final – leg 1 Shrewsbury 1 – 2 Darlington Macclesfield 0 – 2 Morecambe Playoff Semi Final – leg 2 Darlington 1 – 1 Shrewsbury << Darlington win 3-1 on aggregate Morecambe 3 – 2 Macclesfield << Morecambe win 5-2 on aggregate Playoff final An incredible event as teams predicted to finish 12th and 21st met in the playoff final. Morecambe’s firepower really should’ve seen them through here, but it was Darlington who took an early lead through Gregg Blundell. Darlington must’ve feared the worst when top scorer Pawel Abbott was taken off injured after the half-hour mark. It took Morecambe until the 79th minute to get off the mark through, Jamie Forrester providing the breakthrough. Smart thinking from goalkeeper Steven Drench sees Forrester run through a gap the size of Jupiter between the two centre backs to collect the long punt forward and slot home. Darlington would somehow have the last laugh though, Tommy Wright slotting him neatly 3 minutes later for a famous win, taking Darlington up to League One https://preview.redd.it/m8t0l57crfd51.png?width=844&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f94715ce63781bdc9085c33b619229cb10d57c0 Overachievers: Morecambe, Macclesfield, Accrington Stanley, Darlington, Bury Underachievers: Bradford, Rotherham, Brentford, MK Dons, Rochdale, Grimsby, Barnet, Mansfield Honestly, take your pick. Crazy season in League Two. Non-League Oxford won the Conference Premier, 9 points ahead of the playoff hopefuls. Rushden & Diamonds steamrollered Stevenage 4-0 in the final, who themselves had reached the final via a 90th minute winner against Crawley, who themselves had an excellent season after being predicted to finish 19th and instead finished 2nd, even with a 6-point deduction. Simeon Jackson wins top goal scorer with 33 league goals for Rushden & Diamonds. Overachievers: Salisbury, Histon, Crawley, Rushden & Diamonds Underachievers: Exeter, York, Torquay, Ebbsfleet, Kidderminster, Burton https://preview.redd.it/cz3nwj2erfd51.png?width=851&format=png&auto=webp&s=af2562e64a445924f67c6fae2a98cb245648cad7 Southport win the Conference North and Boston United win the playoff final, beating Kettering on penalties. Alfreton, Hyde and Vauxhall are all relegated. Lewes win the Conference South and Dorchester Town win the playoff final, beating Braintree on penalties. Havant & Waterlooville, Hayes & Yeading and Fisher Athletic are all relegated. League round-up. We’ve already talked about the overachievers and underachievers, so let’s quickly compare the media predictions to the teams’ actual finishing positions. Should we castigate the media? Or should be laud and slate the teams who, for better or worse, defied expectations? The final position is denoted to the right of the team, with the change from the prediction one over. What do the media know, eh? The game also has its own season summary for each league which pretty much covers everything I’ve already shared but for those interested, see below: https://preview.redd.it/d1u1vdgkrfd51.png?width=853&format=png&auto=webp&s=87c6b9ad71e0461ce708fa9ab1cf51acb2113f2a UEFA Cup It seems like forever ago since we saw European competition. I will skip ahead, so here are the First and Second Knockout Round results. First Round https://preview.redd.it/zm64vwrlrfd51.png?width=478&format=png&auto=webp&s=a730b92e911d7d70aaff43e11de4dd290b7b561b Second Round https://preview.redd.it/n85jm85nrfd51.png?width=481&format=png&auto=webp&s=0bfac290a1058ea2edb979e18314d41a7f753bd7 Gritty performances throughout. For those of you wondering why FC Bayern are in the UEFA Cup it’s because they finished 4th in the Bundesliga in 06/07 behind champions VfB Stuttgart, 2nd place Schalke and 3rd place Werder Bremen. They entered at the UEFA Cup first round, essentially a final qualifying round. In-game, they defeated FC Twente 5-1 on aggregate to reach the group stage. They finished 3rd in their group, behind Fiorentina and Bolton. Quarter Finals All relatively straight forward in the Quarter Finals too, Bayern and Tottenham progress comfortably whilst Porto and Fiorentina had to do a bit of digging in to get the job done. FC Bayern (6) 3 - 0 (1) Werder Bremen Dinamo Kiev (2) 2 - 2 (4) Porto Tottenham (5) 1 - 1 (2) Blackburn Fiorentina (3) 0 - 0 (2) Girondins Bordeaux Semi Finals Bayern and Fiorentina met again in the Semi Finals to relive their group match (which was a 1-1 draw). The Semi Final would prove to be hotly contested again, Bayern stealing the victory in the 90th minute through Bastian Schweinsteiger, although replays show he may well have been offside. Luca Toni and Adrian Mutu were the other goal scorers. The second leg lived up to the billing as well, Bayern taking the lead mid-way through the first half through Miroslav Klose’s smart run and finish. Mark van Bommel added an unlikely second on the night through a sublime freekick which left Fiorentina needing 4 goals to go through. Adrian Mutu led a one-man crusade with a brace in the 63rd and 69th minute respectively before substitute Massimo Gobbi’s tidy 73rd minute finish set up a nervy finale. However, La Viola couldn’t add to their tally and Bayern reached the final. A tight contest in the other match was lifted with Steed Malbranque’s goal on the stroke of half-time, simply sumptuous freekick from the corner of the box, lifted over the wall and into the back of the net on the near side. Some fine work from José Bosingwa down the right-hand side allowed him to whip a cross into the far post for Raúl Meireles to head in an equaliser to ensure the spoils were shared going into the second leg. Robbie Keane scored his 25th goal of the season here with a cool finish, showing that you don’t need to blast the ball to score, Tottenham now sitting pretty knowing that Porto needed to score twice to progress. A moment of madness, however, from Didier Zokora left them in a spot of bother. Zokora was shown a straight red card on the brink of half-time, his second of the season, after catching Malkhaz Asatiani with his elbow, referee Stuart Dougal showing no hesitation in sending the Ivorian off. However, Porto were unable to even pluck out an equaliser, let alone a winner and Tottenham progress. FC Bayern (4) 2 - 3 (4) Fiorentina << FC Bayern advance on away goals Porto (1) 0 - 1 (2) Tottenham Final Bayern were utterly ruthless in the final, showing no mercy to Tottenham in a 3-0 demolishing, all of the goals coming in the first half courtesy of Luca Toni and a brace from Miroslav Klose. The lack of defensive cover in the midfield really cost them and Kevin-Prince Boateng had his work cut out trying to fill-in in Zokora’s absence, indeed getting himself sent off in the 79th minute for a second bookable offence. https://preview.redd.it/itis2karrfd51.png?width=844&format=png&auto=webp&s=7d0c4d4a8dc0081c25d84af5d35b3e46dea10924 Miroslav Klose’s two goals in the final means he takes home the Golden Boot with 12 goals, edging out RC Lens’ Aruna Dindane and team-mate Luca Toni by one goal. Riccardo Montolivo of Fiorentina picks up the Playmaker Award with 8 assists. Champions League Now, for what you’ve all been waiting for – the Champions League! We left you with the Quarter Final line-ups: Get ready for mayhem... None of the teams would disappoint in this round either. Liverpool beating Real Madrid 2-1 away in the first leg only to almost throw it away with a 2-1 loss at home, thanks for Raúl’s 90th minute goal. Liverpool may well have been questioning just why the final whistle hadn’t already blown, but Jamie Carragher would be the extra time hero though, scoring a scrappy goal after a corner was failed to be cleared by Madrid. Inter Milan’s first leg away goal helped them on their way to beating Man Utd over two legs, Adriano powering home from an indirect free kick opportunity. Paul Scholes would level the tie up when they met again in Italy, but former Arsenal man Patrick Vieira would seal the tie for Inter with a wonderful 30-yard screamer into the top corner. A contender for match-of-the-competition as Arsenal overcame Barcelona in a 10-goal feast. Thierry Henry’s sub 5-minute brace against his former club, including one after just 18 seconds, was pegged back by Robin van Persie’s own brace and the Gunners would lead 3-2 at half-time thanks to “wonderkid” Nicklas Bendtner. Bendtner would be at it again shortly after half-time, thanks in part to even more craftsmanship from Francesc Fàbregas. A headed goal from William Gallas at a corner put Arsenal 5-2 up and looking comfortable but Barcelona went on the attack the corresponding kick off, Xavi Hernández sliding Ronaldinho in to make it 5-3, Jens Lehmann going walkabouts by all accounts. Bendtner would complete has hattrick on 70 minutes though, slotting home after a neat turn in the corner of the box, sending Andrea Barzagli to another dimension. Barcelona would secure their 5th away goal though, Thierry Henry completing his own hat-trick after William Gallas failed to deal with a ball over the tip. Final score 6-4. And breathe. The second leg was less entertaining, but Thierry Henry would put his former club to the sword again with two more goals and, despite Rafael Márquez being sent off for an astonishing elbow to Bakary Sagna’s face, Barcelona held out for the win on away goals. 2-0 on the night, 6-6 on aggregate. The most disgraceful part of the night was the players surrounding referee Thorsten Kinhöfer after the red card. Pundits are still perplexed as to what they were complaining about. Finally onto Celtic, who produced the most breath-taking First Knockout Round ties against Valencia would continue to produce high entertainment value against PSV. Celtic held the advantage after a 1-1 draw in Eindhoven, but PSV would not go down without a fight. Rodrigo Palacio opened the scoring after Scott Brown needlessly lost the ball and some poor play from goalkeeper Artur Boruc, less than 45seconds into the match. Maciej Zurawski would dig his goalkeeper out of a hole 3 minutes later, beating Heurelho Gomes at his near post before Rodrigo hit back again on 8 minutes, capitalising on another poor error from Artur Boruc. John de Jong would add to icing to a rich and wholesome cake, flicking the ball into the far corner of the net beyond Boruc’s reach and PSV looked comfortable leading 4-2 on aggregate, knowing Celtic now needed 3 goals to progress. PSV would lose key midfielder Edison Méndez to injury on 27 minutes but it would take until the second half for Celtic to take advantage, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink finishing off an attack before Maciej Zurawski would set up a frantic last 5 minutes after getting on the end of Lee Naylor’s inch-perfect cross. Celtic couldn’t produce one more moment of magic though and the tie would finish 4-4 on aggregate, PSV going through by virtue of away goals. Real Madrid (3) 2 - 2 (4) Liverpool Man Utd (1) 1 - 1 (2) Inter Arsenal (6) 0 - 2 (6) Barcelona << Barcelona advance on away goals PSV (4) 3 - 3 (4) Celtic << PSV advance on away goals Semi Finals Could the Semi Finals produce the same magic? Liverpool were paired up against Inter Milan and Barcelona were drawn against PSV. Barcelona all but ended PSV hopes of an underdog victory, smashing them 4-0 in the first leg at home, Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho both scoring braces, Ronaldinho’s both coming from penalties (and both when Henry was on a hat-trick so he can probably consider himself unlucky to be allowed to take one of them). With Edison Méndez still missing, Sebastián Battaglia was asked to step in but he was easily over-run by the Barcelona midfield. PSV showed incredible fight immediately in the return fixture, going 2-0 up inside the first 7 minutes through Palacio’s lob and Ismael Aissati’s smart finish, but Barcelona soon calmed everything down, scoring 4 unanswered goals in return before half-time courtesy of Barzagli, two from Henry and a brilliant Ronaldinho free kick.. Gastón Fernández scored again late in the second half, but with the tie already done and dusted, it was more for pride than anything else. Barcelona win 4-3 on the night and 8-3 on aggregate. Liverpool hosted Inter Milan at Anfield for the first leg of the other semi final and took a first half-lead through a stunning John Arne Riise free kick. Steven Gerrard forced Júlio César into an own goal after initially saving Ryan Babel’s long-range effort before Fernando Torres turned provider for Ryan Babel to breakaway and make it 3-0. Zlatan Ibrahimović gave Inter Milan some hope with a late away goal, pouncing on a rare error from Jamie Carragher in the 88th minute. Liverpool were in good form going into the return leg, having battered fierce rivals Man Utd 4-0 at home at the weekend but it was Inter Milan who dominated this game for long periods, really putting the Liverpool team to the sword. Their dominance paid off in the 21st minute when Ibrahimović retrieved Maicon’s pinpoint pass and slotted into the bottom corner. Torres would ease the pressure on Liverpool with an equaliser at the start of the second half, his 20th goal of the season passed into the bottom corner; the keeper probably should’ve done better with it though. Inter claimed offside, but I’m not convinced. Incensed, Inter went on the attack immediately, both literally and figuratively, injuring Torres before Ibrahimović fed Adriano who had the vision to pick out Esteban Cambiasso to restore Inter’s lead on the night. A great counterattack. Inter would make Liverpool pay once more for sloppy defending when Steve Finnan was beaten to the ball too easily by Adriano who cut it back for Maxwell to fire home. Pepe Reina will be disappointed when he looks back on that, as he really should be saving those kinds of shots. 3-1 on the night and unbelievably 4-4 on aggregate. Extra time beckoned but Adriano was not interested in penalties, whipping a delightful ball around the corner for his strike partner David Suazo, clean through on goal to slot past a helpless Reina. Liverpool would go all out offensive from then until the final whistle but couldn’t muster one last goal to salvage the result and Inter go through to final, 4-1 on the night, 5-4 on aggregate. Liverpool (4) 1 - 4 (5) Inter Barcelona (8) 4 - 3 (3) PSV Final And so for the final. Inter Milan vs Barcelona. The world held high hopes after the last few rounds: they wanted goals. They were not disappointed. Strong. Barcelona opened the scoring on 23 minutes, emerging “wonderkid” Lionel Messi slotting Samuel Eto’o through to score his 20th goal of the season. The lead wouldn’t last too long though, as Ibrahimović fed Suazo to equaliser on 31 minutes. Eto’o would restore the lead again soon after, Deco sliding a lovely pass through the defence for Eto’o to bury. Controversy followed in the second half. Xavi loses the ball to Maxwell inside the Inter half who in turn goes on a mazy run towards goal exchanging passes with Cambiasso along the way. He is allegedly obstructed by Zambrotta outside the penalty arc, but replays show that it’s a blatant dive. To make matters worse, the referee inexplicably gives a penalty! Ibrahimović slots it without question. 2-2. 63 minutes and Puyol is needlessly dragged out of position to close down Stankovic who instead slips in Ibrahimović for his second of the game. Minutes later, a poor throw-in from Zambrotta gifts the ball to Ibrahimović to seal his hat-trick and put the game to bed, Inter holding out for a 4-2 win in the final against Barcelona! https://preview.redd.it/h8a5m6o4sfd51.png?width=842&format=png&auto=webp&s=b75fe5a7f131b27119bfecdadf612ff7bab575ee Despite the result, Ibrahimović would finish runner up to on 14 goals to Thierry Henry and Rodrigo Palacio in the Golden Boot race, the latter pair netting 15 goals a-piece. Andrés Iniesta would take home the Playmaker Award with 8 assists ahead of team-mate Ronaldinho’s 7. Despite an average rating of 7.83, Ronaldinho would also finish runner-up to Ibrahimović in the Champions League best player, with Henry rounding off the top 3. Now, because does not save an accessible history of stats and results, they are essentially wiped as the season ends, so I decided to end each 4th game file on June 1st. The game resets around about the 24th or 25th but I wanted to stop the game after the season had finished and before any international competitions began. But the year is 2008 so we all know what’s coming… https://preview.redd.it/77mkbzd5sfd51.png?width=890&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b0d8ccafdf04b8dc03fdc1204ea9a21df93e15b This does mean I’m going to have to go into the game file for Year 2, but I’ll keep everything else a secret. Euro 2008 deserves to be inside the 07/08 season. I do have all the results for the other international tournaments akin to this which make up the Confederations Cup competitors, so I will give a very brief oversight into those as well as they happen. I’m not going to go into how each team qualified for the tournament unless you specifically ask about it in the comments. Let’s look at the groups, with the help of some expert MS Paint skills to display their current world rankings too. https://preview.redd.it/gjbu0xo6sfd51.png?width=275&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4f9acbbe0a8ab7fba779689c4137c37b137793c The most notable changes are that Denmark, England, Scotland and Finland all qualified for this edition and Spain, French, Russia and Poland, who all qualified in the real Euro 2008, miss out. Hosts Switzerland and Austria naturally have terrible ratings due to not playing many competitive internationals as they didn’t need to qualify for their own tournament. Group B looks tough, and the Scots may well fancy an upset in Group D. Editors predictions: England. Not just because I’m biased, but because on paper they have the squad to do it. The Golden Generation may not have succeeded in real life, but this is stats-based fantasy. Football’s coming home! Failing that, and with France and Spain both missing, it’s anyone’s to take. I’m putting money on a Ronaldo-backed Portugal. I will run through them Group by Group, even though it won’t strictly be in the order. All will be well again come the Knockout Rounds. (editor note: a picture of all the groups is at the bottom. I had to cut back to 20 images) Group A Croatia and Sweden played out an entertaining 2-2 draw that didn’t get going until the last 30 minutes. Jurica Vranjes thought he’d snatched a late 87th minute for Croatia until Marcus Allbäck equalised 2 minutes later. Two early goals for Denmark were enough to see off Switzerland despite themselves pulling a goal back before half-time, a 2-1 finish. The second round of fixtures produced even more drama, a Tranquillo Barnetta hat-trick for Switzerland helping to sink Sweden 4-3 in a back-and-forth game, Gelson Fernandes eventually settling the contest for the Swiss. An Eduardo-inspired Croatia took the game to Denmark and a late Nicklas Bendtner goal wasn’t enough to stop Croatia winning 3-1. Any win for Croatia against Switzerland sends them through. A draw would also suffice. Switzerland need to win, although a draw would do if Sweden could beat Denmark. Any positive Denmark result paired with a Croatia win sees them progress, or even a win and a Croatia/Swiss draw. Sweden must beat Denmark and hope Croatia win. If the Swiss beat Croatia, they need to win and hope for a goal difference swing. Drama all round as Sweden’s tournament hopes end with a 2-1 defeat to Denmark. Switzerland know they realistically need to win but can only muster a 2-2 draw with Croatia. Denmark top the group, Croatia are runners up. Group B Czech Republic and Austria open the tournament with an entertaining 2-2 draw, Austria snatching a 90th minute equaliser through Steffen Hofmann after a mistake from Zdenek Grygera. Turkey and Portugal would step it up a notch by playing out a 3-2 game which, in truth, Portugal were always in control of. 3-0 up inside 21minutes, Turkey made a second half comeback but the 2nd goal in the 89th minute was too little, too late. Goals from Deco and Tomas Rosicky in the first half ensured the spoils were shared in a game where the Czech Republic dominated Portugal for large portions of the game and will be disappointed to only draw 1-1. (editor note: the game seems to think Portugal completed 200% of their crosses in this match…) Turkey, on the other hand, turned their dominance into a 2-0 win over Austria. Portugal need to beat Austria to secure top spot whereas Austria know they need a big win and some good fortune for a draw in the other game. Any winner of Turkey/Czech Republic will qualify, but a draw for Turkey should be enough, barring a miracle from Austria. It’s feasible that Portugal could still be knocked out, though very unlikely. And as it happens, Portugal make light work of Austria, Maniche and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring first half goals to seal the tie 2-0 in an otherwise boring match. Czech Republic would be made to pay for not getting the winner against Portugal, being torn apart comprehensively by a relentless Turkey side with braces for both Nihat and Halil Altintop, 4-0 the final score line. Portugal top the group, Turkey are runners up. Group C The last group to get going, but no lack of entertainment here, with Romania cruising to a 2-0 win against Greece. All of the drama came in the much-anticipated England/Germany match though and it met all expectations. Darren Bent’s headed opener was cancelled out by Miroslav Klose pouncing on Paul Robinson’s fumble, but Wayne Rooney would restore England’s lead halfway through the first half. Bayern’s Lukas Podolski pulled it level again before half-time before the teams seemed set to see out a 2-2 draw. However, deep into stoppage time at the end of 90 minutes, up steps David Beckham to do what David Beckham does best – dispatch freekicks into the top corner. 3-2. There was still time after the restart for Steven Gerrard to be shown a straight-red for hacking down Klose with two-feet. Germany would take their revenge out on Greece in the next game, securing a 4-2 victory, whilst England would maintain their good form by persevering for a late 2-0 win against Romania. England are already through and Greece cannot qualify so their final game is a dead rubber, other than Greece trying not to finish bottom and England trying to assure top spot. The winner of Germany/Romania will go through, but a draw will be enough for Germany by virtue of Goal Difference. England consign Greece to 4th place in the group with a routine 2-0 win, goals from Wayne Rooney and Shaun Wright-Phillips enough to see them off. A cagey first-half in the Germany/Romania match became a much more open-ended affair after Daniel Niculae’s brilliant 47th minute opener, a sublime solo run culminating in a lobbed finish. Miroslav Klose fired back 10 minutes later with 2 goals in quick succession to swing the tie but Romania, not prepared to lie down, equalised again through Eric Bicfalvi. Romania would do the unthinkable though, Adrian Mutu bending a delightful goal into the corner to secure a 3-2 victory for Romania. England top the group, Romania are runners up. Group D Italy kicked off the group against Finland with a nervy win, having gone 1-0 down to a 60th minute penalty from Ari Nyman. Filippo Inzaghi pulled it level in the 82nd minute before Antonin Cassano’s stoppage time winner stole all the points from Finland. Scotland were less keen to roll over though and will be disappointed to have thrown away a 3-1 lead at the 85th minute, Wesley Sneijder and Roy Makaay with late goals to snatch a 3-3 draw. Holland vs Italy was billed as the one to watch in this group, and rightly so, both teams amassing almost 30 shots between them, but with both keepers in good form, the match would be tied 1-1, Riccardo Montolivo cancelled out Robin van Persie’s first half strike. Scotland have certainly found their shooting boots at this tournament after putting 4 past Finland, but they were made to work for the victory with the Finns taking the lead and later equalising through Mika Ääritalo’s brace. James McFadden’s strike would retake the lead before Barry Ferguson put the icing on the cake of a 4-2 win. Scotland need any result against Italy to go through. A loss through, coupled with a likely Holland win overly Finland, would send them crashing out. Finland cannot progress. Holland must win to go through, as must Italy. Holland do indeed get their win against Finland, dominating from start to finish, although the score line should really have been bigger than 2-1. Scotland’s hopes of sneaking out of the group were dealt an immediate blow as they went 1-0 down to Alessandro Del Piero’s header inside 45 seconds. Alberto Gilardino would double the lead in the 20th minute and although Kenny Miller pulled one back in the second half, they couldn’t find a second goal to escape the group. Final score 2-1 to Italy. Italy top the group, Holland are runners up. Summary https://preview.redd.it/o41tr52jtfd51.png?width=848&format=png&auto=webp&s=e3c96a5bda7862b3e04e55ada618d0e7358e0d8c Quarter Finals Turkey – Denmark Croatia – Portugal England – Holland Italy – Romania No real humdingers here as all of the teams tightened up a lot. Turkey did away with Denmark 2-0 in a game that the Danes will be disappointed to have not scored in. Nihat and an own goal from Per Krøldrup sealed the game. Portugal were perhaps the better team in their tie against Croatia but still had to work hard to secure a 2-1 victory, Eduardo’s first half strike cancelled out by Maniche and Ronaldo in the second. More late, late drama in this one as Frank Lampard scored a trademark goal, arriving from deep to sweep home a Wright-Phillips cross. England must’ve thought that’d be enough but Robin van Persie struck early into stoppage time to level the tie up 1-1. But cometh the 94th minute, cometh the man: Holland do not deal with a long clearance properly and Wright-Phillips skips past his man on the wing to lay the ball into the path of the onrushing Lampard who buries it high into the far corner. Holland complain to the linesman but really, they should be looking at themselves for some shoddy defending. Romania will be disappointed they had to take Italy all the way to penalties to beat them, having been arguably the better team throughout. 1-1 at full time but a comfortable 4-2 shootout victory as their excellent tournament marches on, the only sour point being Stefan Radu’s 121st minute red card for a horrific tackle on Antonio Cassano. Turkey 2-0 Denmark Croatia 1-2 Portugal England 2-1 Holland Italy 1-1 Romania << Romania advance on penalties Semi Finals Turkey – Romania Portugal – England One thing guaranteed in this tournament now is that there will be an outsider in the final. Turkey left it late, but a brace from Nihat would prove enough to put Romania to the sword and end their dream run. Romania might look back and feel like they could’ve done better with both goals though. Manchester United teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney did battle in this one, both getting their names on the scoresheet with clinical finishes. There would be nothing to settle the two sides until the very end: penalties. Hugo Viana, Nuno Valente, Jorge Andrade all scored whilst Gareth Barry, John Terry and Steven Gerrard did likewise. After Miguel fired home, Michael Carrick would see his penalty saved by goalkeeper Ricardo. However, some Paul Robinson heroics against Ricardo Carvalho gave Rio Ferdinand a chance to get back into the shootout. The pressure was too much though, and he slammed his penalty against the inside of the post to see Portugal through to the final, a final which Deco will miss with suspension after hacking Wright-Phillips down with two feet in 120th minute for an early bath. Turkey 2-0 Romania Portugal 1-1 England << Portugal advance on penalties Final No Third Place Playoff in the Euros, straight into the final where Turkey meet Portugal, looking for an upset. Nihat and Mehmet Aurélio’s persistence forced the breakthrough on 20 minutes but a smart short freekick routine 2 minutes later from Portugal saw Maniche hit a bending daisy cutter into the bottom corner to equalise. Into the second half and Mehmet Topuz played one of the balls of the tournament from deep, around the defence and into the path of Nihat who didn’t need to break stride to hit an unbelievable shot on the half-volley. Rumour has it that Nihat lost Ricardo Carvalho so well, he is still searching for Nihat to this day. Turkey would hold on to their 2-1 advantage until the final whistle to become unlikely European Champions 2008. https://preview.redd.it/qx6ak4upsfd51.png?width=1423&format=png&auto=webp&s=52e9400ba3f2294178b459f89492370503ef814a And so that concludes the first season back of Reasons Why I Still Play FM08, also unofficially called What Could Have Been. This grew to be significantly longer than I expected, and I thoroughly enjoyed writing it, even if it did take me well over 15 hours to do so. If anybody has any specific questions about any aspects of this particular game, please feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer them, whether it’s information about non-league clubs, club finances, world rankings, wonderkid regens etc. I will also happily run through competitions like the African Cup of Nations and the Olympics, although competitions like the Asian Cup, Gold Cup, Copa América have yet to happen on this file. I have at least 5 seasons worth of game files now, and seasons 2-5 are all structured the same in terms of save dates: September 1st, December 1st, March 1st and June 1st. Congratulations if you got this far, I applaud your perseverance. I hope you enjoyed it. See you soon for Year 2. ~ dige |
Questions | Answers |
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I'm involved in horse welfare and rescue in the USA. Here, owners and trainers rarely make provisions for horses that fail to race well or horses that can no longer race. They are commonly shipped to slaughter in Canada. Is it any different in the UK? Here in the USA, horses are raced as 2 and 3 year olds, despite the fact that no horse is skeletally mature before age 5 or 6. (For perspective for non horse people, a 2 year old horse would be about 13 human years old.) Is it the same in the UK? | In the last ten to twenty years there has been an increased push to rehome and retrain as many horses as we as a sport can. I personally try to rehome every horse that leaves the yard to a good home, provided the owner is willing and doesn't want to keep it themselves. I wouldn't say that selling horses, particularly race horses, for slaughter is common practise here. I haven't encountered any instances personally. Horses are frequently run aged two or three in this country as well however I think it's wise to mention that while they do work hard it is not in our or the horses interest to overwork or break them down. In our yard if a young horse is showing signs of struggling we will ease off and give them time. |
But, don't a majority of your horses run on turf (compared to US dirt tracks). | We don't use dirt at all here. There are a few all weather tracks for flat meetings but most racing is done on turf. |
, aren't pain medications more restricted in the UK circuits, so you really can't run a horse into the ground in the same way as US trainers can. | Drugs are extremely restricted here, even a whiff of it and they will come down hard. Especially after the last couple of years. |
Does the horse have any idea that he is going round and round? | Oh yeah. They are clever bastards. You can often tell when it's time to retire a horse from racing because instead of carrying on the race when they get round the course and near to the stables they will try and pull up. |
Where do they get jockeys from? Is it genetic? Do they have funny voices from getting their nads squished on the saddle every race? | From Ireland generally! A lot do come from a long line of jockeys or racing families in general. |
Well other than being Irish I guess the funny voice could come from the pounding their bollocks take... | |
What is a good resource to learn about racing in the UK if I wanted to attend as a tourist? | This website is run by the governing body of racing and has lots of good information on racecourse and fixtures. |
Once you have decided on where you want to go I suggest visiting some of the individual racecourses website as they are much more detailed. If you are visiting London during summer I do suggest going to Windsor they do fantastic evening racing, generally on a Monday night where you can get to the racecourse on a boat that comes up the River Thames. Cool huh? | |
Is racing there seasonal or year-round? | Horse racing as a sport happens all year round however some elements of it are indeed seasonal. |
For example Flat racing is predominately held over Summer, this is because these horses are generally smaller and appreciate 'faster' (read harder) ground. | |
During Winter we get most of the National Hunt meetings. National Hunt is the full name for jumps racing. Generally speaking horses are larger and as such need softer ground to prevent injuries and slow them down. | |
I've never been to a horse racing track and what are some of the reasons for me to want to go? Have you ever felt like the horses weren't being treated fairly on or off the track? Final question is have you ever witnessed anybody on the track gamble to much that you started to feel it was running their life? Sorry about all the questions! | Horse racing is a fun and enjoyable pastime. It's great to get a lot of people together and go and have a few drinks and a couple of bets on horses, it really is exciting when there is money on it. It's a good fun day out and provided you budget like any other day out, it doesn't have to be really expensive either. |
Welfare is a tough question to answer briefly but I will give it a shot and if their is more interest I can write up a larger response. I personally feel that the majority of trainers provide a very high level of welfare for their horses. We really do love the animals regardless of what people may say. Racehorses get treated especially well, better than most horses kept just for riding I would argue. We are incredibly strictly regulated on animal welfare issues and the punishments are severe for the very few people who do break the rules. | |
I personally am not a huge gambler, I have a little flutter every now and then but for the most part It don't gamble. I have not ever seen someone ruin their lives through betting but that's not to say it doesn't happen I'm sure. | |
If the horses are treated well, why are they whipped to make them run faster at the end of the race? | It's to make them go faster, it causes the horse no damage and Jockeys are carefully regulated. Limits are set in place for how much a whip can be used and bans and fines for excessive use are common. |
Horses are big animals and the whip is primarily a correctional tool, they are trained to respond to it and it's used to keep them under control. Most schools of equestrianism use the whip in some form. | |
Last year, there were some interesting articles in the press about how horse racing was a dying sport (for example, here and here). How does it look from your perspective? | Horse racing is the second most attended sport in the UK, we also hold something like 6 of the highest 10 sporting fixtures in the UK each year. However the average age of the racegoer is getting higher and higher, at a higher level than I there must be a push to encourage a younger audience to attend racing. Racing in this country is coming under attack from decreasing in funding by the betting industry. Every year we receive less money to go towards prize money and such due to an archiac system called the Levy which is supposed to provided the sport with a proportion of bookmakers profits. Improvements look to be being made in this are as the Government, I believe, is pushing to regulate the betting industry differently allowing online betting in particular to be properly taxed and the money collected. It's tough for trainers right now. There aren't as many trainers around than there were in 2007. The recession hit us hard as unsurprisingly the first cost most people shed was a racehorse in training. Ultimately though the situation does start to look like its improving, people are buying horses again and yards are starting to be a bit larger each year. The next one to look out for is China. Racing is becoming very popular there and gambling isn't even legal on mainland china. If China liberalises at the rate it has been it may only be a few years before they regulate the betting industry and everything really kicks off. |
Thank you so much for the reply! If you have a minute, I have another question or two... How often do horses race internationally, such as coming from the UK to race in the US or vice-versa? What about going to the Middle East? Also, are there many horses from South America in the UK racing circuit? | Our top flight horses travel all over the world to contest titles. This is called "raiding" and foreigners come to England to do it too! The Breeders Cup is something every trainer wants to win. As for the Middle East the main draw is the money. It is insane. Next Saturday is the Dubai World Cup held at Meydan. They built this huge racing complex way out in the desert and hold loads of expensive racing at night to avoid the heat. Pretty surreal compared to here. I don't know of any South American horses running under rules and I'm not certain why they wouldn't. I suppose they don't have any good enough to warrant the expense of travelling over. |
I was curious about the South American horses because a few years back there seemed to be a bunch of them on the American circuit from Argentina (that American owners had purchased). I think it had to do with the dollar being so strong and the economy in Argentina being so bad. | Ahh. I think they race on dirt over in Argentina so they would be better suited for American racing. |
Where are the races held? What are the most popular meets? Is "meets" the right word? | Racing is held all over the UK Some of the most popular meetings are Royal Ascot, the Derby Meeting at Epsom and Glorious Goodwood on the Flat. Thousands of people attend these three or four day long meetings every year and it's really quite a sight! |
Over the Jumps the most popular are the Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National meeting at Aintree in Liverpool. The Cheltenham Festival is a personal favourite of mine as the atmosphere is truly electric, around 60,000 people attend each day. | |
Edit: Whoops! Yes meets is a fine phrase. More commonly people will say meetings, fixtures or races. | |
Thanks so much for your time, and I wish you the best of luck in the future! | Your father sounds like a proper horseman. Id like to think I can spot a good one but not nearly as well as my father or my grandfather. It's a skill we all pick up the more we watch. |
What's your favorite track? Have you had a few of your horses run in the US? I know whenever I see a steeplechase race in the program, the overwhelming majority of horses in the race are from Great Britain. | My favourite to go to as a racegoer would have to be Newbury. The facilities are amazing and the racing is generally of a really high quality both on the flat and over the jumps. Professionally in recent years we have had some success at Plumpton down on the South Coast near Brighton, it's a nice little country course. |
Not for my yard no sadly but I would love to come over for some of your racing. Some of my extended family take a few horses out there every now and then. It's every trainers dream to raid a Breeders Cup! | |
When it's clear your horse stands no chance, how much do you lay the horse on betfair? | Call me a man of integrity but I don't at all. Maybe that's because it's been so long since I had a favourite... |
Who makes the best sausages in Newmarket? | Dunno mate. I'm all about the lasagne. |
Roughly what percentage of races are still fixed? | I have no idea to be honest. It's probably very very low, it's a hard thing to pull off and the punishments are very strict. Life long bans and potential criminal prosecution. |
A few do attempt it of course, a big ring got taken down a few years ago. It's a shame that this is an issue that press fixate upon really as on a day to day basis you don't even think about it within the Industry. | |
Would it be advantageous for a midget to be a jockey? | Not at all! Jockey's are professional sportsmen in a job where if you can't make the weight you can't ride. Some jockey's have to be very light while others can afford to be heavier, it depends on their role as every horse generally requires a different weight based on their handicap rating (A whole other kettle of fish). |
Jockeys not only have to be light but have to be incredibly fit and strong. It's really hard work to ride a horse in that style for possibly four miles. Most jockey's I know aren't just good jockeys they are athletes who are proficient at most sports. They really seem to love golf. | |
If I could go back in time I would love to have gone the career path of a jockey... their commitment to the sport is fantastic and they really put their bodies on the line. | Complete Commitment |
I just hope some people understand the distances these jockeys travel just to do the job, they will do 2 meetings a day where possible, day in - day out. The physical exertion must be intense only to wake up and do it all over again. | It's important to note that during the day most of them work for a trainer as well. They will ride out maybe three or four lots in the morning before going racing sometimes. |
Do you gamble? Do you often get tips and are they reliable? | Not often, I do for fun every now and then and always over the Cheltenham Festival. |
Sadly not often but sometimes a good tip comes along. Often I'm too sceptical to believe it. | |
Thanks for doing this! I'm a big fan of horse racing and was wondering, what should I be looking at when placing my bet on a certain horse?. Days off? Avg class ? High speed? Etc. in other words , what is the most important stat? | Form is the big one. Form over a comparable distance with comparable ground conditions. You can start to make educated guesses each way after that if you start to take in other variables like equipment etc. |
The going has a massive impact from my experience, if the horse doesn't run well on a certain ground its a no-no. | I couldn't agree more, going is vitally important however generally speaking when we run a horse on different ground than normal we are hoping it will overcome it. |
When they state in the paper that they are wearing headgear or blinkers etc. do you think this can make a significant difference? | Headgear is a really useful tool, sometimes they go really well. Other times it has no effect. Sometimes the effects deteriorate over time. Generally if one of mine is wearing head gear for the first time it means we have worked it at home and it's worked really well. |
What was the most expensive batch of horse seed you know of being sold? | By horse seed do you mean semen? If so in the Thoroughbred Bloodstock Industry Artificial Insemination is banned. Only natural coverings are permitted. Race horses are still crazy expensive though. People can spend millions of pounds on one horse. |
What's your most gruesome story? i've heard some pretty horrific stuff from botched castrations/surgeries on horses. | As for most gruesome I don't have any really awful ones about horses. We have had some nasty falls and one went through a barbed wire fence once but nothing truly disgusting. Likewise never seen any botched geldings or surgeries. But they do happen, I like to think the vet we use is pretty good so I hope it won't happen anytime soon! |
Only live coverage is allowed? Fascinating. Why is that the case? So I take it that there is a limited amount of bloodlines unless you actually ship the horse out of country/continent? | A few reasons. |
One, limits the number of stock from a single stallion. AI decreases the cost of covering so semen would be more readily available. You would end up with thousands of foal in the same year by the same sire. Thats a quick way to fuck up your bloodlines. | |
Two, why would they change to it? Now all the selling power is held by those who it would affect most. The studs which own the stallions make millions of pounds a year in coverings, if they saturate (literally in this case) the market they will make loses. | |
Three, racing is an international sport, if one country did it and no one followed suit very quickly they would find themselves isolated with a horse population that couldn't compete abroad. | |
What is your favorite color? | Blue. I like Blue... |
That is the correct answer, OP. Now you must answer one more question to cross the bridge. What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow? | African or European? |
European. | Ffffuuu... |
Ohh boy. I've been wanting to ask so many questions about your industry but wasnt quite sure what sub to go to. Thanks for doing this ama.A bunch of questions here. Hope you can clear things up for me. How do trainers even make money. Sometimes the odds of a horse winning are upwards of 20/1 when the prize money is usually around 10k-20k(?). factor in the logistical, training and acquiring costs and seems like a losers game to train a horse (?) | Hey man! Hope I can help. Trainers charge the owners of horses a training fee. This is generally a daily charge plus extras . Sometimes it's very hard to make money as a trainer, a lot of people don't turn a profit training racehorses many just do it for the fun and the lifestyle. |
How do you even judge how fast a horse will be when you go to three auction? | Generally breeding, if the mare and stallion are good the horse has a better chance of being good. Ideally you compare the horse to a full sibling however this is rare and you generally end up comparing them to half brothesister on the maternal side. |
The Grand National seems like an absolutely absurd event to me. Would you say it enjoys broad support among the racing community? | I think it's a truly impressive spectacle that is the hardest test we throw at our toughest horse and jockey teams. I don't feel it's representative of the day to day life in the racing world however. |
I worked at the grand national once. a G4S man tried to crush me in a bin. Consequentially I don't trust anyone associated with your profession. Sorry about that. | Aww come on. G4S as in the men being done for manslaughter? Trust me when I say we hate those hired security at the big meetings more than you do. We normally know the guy on the gate because it's been the same one for maybe twenty years. However at the big meetings they roll out extra staff and they get lost in the crowd somewhere... |
How much pressure is there for the horses to get results? If you had a severe patch of not winning many races does this affect the finances of the yard? | Everyone wants their horse to perform at the height of it's ability so it's tough. Hopefully you have owners who understand it's just a patch and that fortune will turn round in the long run. |
Yards as a general rule of thumb don't really on prize money to fund themselves, it does however draw in new owners! | |
So whats the bread and butter of a decent yard then? | The brad and butter is training fees through a daily cost per horse plus extras. |
One or two wealthy owners who love the sport and who have three or more horses each are what every yard really needs. These owners are hopefully loyal and will use you year after year, topping up their stock. They are the ones who keep racing afloat. | |
In respect to training under saddle, what do the horses need to learn beyond the very basics of carrying a rider? In other words, what are some of the subtleties of a good racehorse's training? | A lot of the time it's basic riding skills, shortening and quickening stride etc but the real aim is to get them to respond as well to the rider as possible. They have to respond to being asked to quicken or shorten. Ultimately each horse is different and generally the rider changes a lot to suit the horse. |
Do you worry about having them change leads during certain sections of a race? With stride length, is it all based off rein cues since the jockey doesn't really have any leg (or seat!) aids to work with? Thank you! | To be perfectly honest by this point I'm just glad I have got them there, it's the jockey's job to make sure he gives them a proper race. If you watch a race you will see the jockey uses his entire body when quickening, they still use their heels as much as they can! |
So it's basically all about speed control? Could you explain how jockeys signal for the changes? | Watch this |
You can see as they come round the corner the jockey is holding his hands in a way that the bit just makes contact with the horse and holds it steady. When they ask them to go faster they break that contact and the horse no longer feel the bit and are physically encouraged by the jockeys movement. | |
Where do you get the leprechauns used in horse racing? and how do you coax them to ride horses for you? | I generally find them hanging around rainbows actually. I offer them gold. |
Did you ever get to work with / alongside Kauto Star? If so, just how awesome was he in person. His last King George win brought me to tears, such an amazing, beautiful horse! | Sadly no but I was always a great fan of his. Great looking animal he was! |
When I was in Newmarket visiting some of the tracks I was told that horse racing began to decline in the community when corruption with gambling and the treatment of jockeys were made aware. Due to these dilemmas, the community no longer firmly supported horse racing because it did not contribute to the steady state of the community that they initially sought. Is there truth to this? Can you further explain? Thanks! | I think that maybe historically that could be the case but less so in this day and age. Nowadays corruption is rare and much easier to detect, staff welfare is very important and they have their own unions which continually lobby for better conditions. |
Would you rather train 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck? | Come on. |
One horse sized duck. Think of the eggs... | |
Have u ever met John McCririck and is he a douchebag ? | Not a face to face introduction but have attended several events he's been at. |
Can confirm. Is a douchebag. | |
I just purchased an OTTB here in the US...he has set osselets and his last race was this past January. Is it common to race a horse with known ankle problems? | Nope. If it moves badly it doesn't race. Fluid, comfortable movement is one of the most important things in horse welfare. |
Do your racehorses piss frequently, or is it just that when they do have to piss, they really have to piss and can't hold it in? | Aww man. They piss a lot. And it's not pleasant either. Did you know, horses are unable to walk and piss. They just can't do it. |
Horses like to piss at irritating times, unless of course we are being dope tested and they will absolutely refuse for hours. | |
Did you know, horses are unable to walk and piss. I don't think that I could either; it's an eitheor thing for me. | You should try it. it looks hilarious. |
Odd question, but have you ever had any luck teaching them to do their business in one particular place, like a dog, or do they go pretty much anywhere? I worked at a stable once, and there was an old stallion who would only "go" in one corner of his stall... | Horses are weird. There is no method. Some are just mental. |
What kind of preparation does the horse go through the day and night before a race? I've always wondered do horses ever have a terrible nights sleep or a bad travel to the course and that causes them to under-perform. Whats the most common reason a horse under-performs in your opinion? | There is a few things that may happen. If the race is far away the horse may travel to the racecourse the night before. This is to allow it to recover to be in best condition as long travel is taxing to the horse. |
If it's at home I will give it less bulky feed at it's morning feed. Just high energy protein generally. We will then jump in the box and drive to the racecourse to arrive a few hours before the race. I think travel is a consideration when considering under performing horses. | |
Most common reasons for underperformance... I'd have to say the ground. If the ground isn't to the liking of the horse it can have a real effect on the way they run the race. | |
What happens to mediocre horses after they're through racing? | We try to rehome them just as well as the best ones. A lot of owners really care about their horses and take them back for their retirement. If nothing can be done sometimes they have to be put down which is always sad. |
What's the best breed? Both for racing and in general. | Well thoroughbreds. It's the only professional racing in this country and I think they look just great. |
Would it be legal for you to bet? | It is legal for me to bet on one of my horses to win. I can't bet to lay a horse. I believe Jockeys can't bet at all. |
Edit: Word change... | |
Who's going to win the Derby this year? | God I wish I knew. Aidan O'Brien's probably got a good shot with his thing. That man gets some class horses. |
What kind of jobs are there in the racing industry? I have grown up with horses and would love to work with them professionally but unsure what is available really. Do you need racing experience to become involved in the racing world? Exciting to see a fellow Brit here :) | Try this |
My best advice is find your local trainer and offer to work on weekends. They may pay you but they might not. If you're lucky they will give you a chance. | |
Hi,I was a part time worker of japanese horse racing track.it was the easiest and well paid job I have ever gotten. do you have any ideas to improve japanese horse racing industry?or do you know any good japanese jockeys or horses? | Hey there, I don't really know much about Japanese racing apart from it's got one of the best prize money returns! I think we can learn a lot more from you than you could from us. |
When jockeys change weights, do they have to make up additional weights? If so, how are the additional weights attached on? | They do indeed need to carry more weight. This done in the form of weight plates, these are made of lead and added to a special weight cloth worn under the saddle. |
Do you get to go to the races with the horses you train? | I try to go with as many as I can, either to lead up and groom or to saddle up. Sadly I don't have as much time as I used to but I still make all the effort to go. Especially for my favourites. |
If you make it to Brighton, there's a load of redditors who meet up several times a week. | Fantastic! I quite frequently go to Fontwell and Plumpton which are both nearby (kinda) haven't raced at Brighton though. I will have to alert the redditors next time I'm there... |
BTW, Where's Shergar?? | I will forward that question to Findus for you. They are good at hiding horses. |
Is operant conditioning used in training, i.e. race with other horses and reward the horse when it wins? | I wouldn't say it's used as a training method. If one of mine wins I always give it a little something extra and a few days off. |
My potential future father-in-law was a horse trainer in his youth. What are some things I can learn about it for conversation topics? Perhaps a book or some similar resource so I can ground myself in some of the basics? | Just start to follow racing a little, try and understand how it works. As for books I don't really know anything personally but some people are great fans of the Dick Francis novels which are based round horse racing however I can't say I have read them. |
What does it take to train a good racehorse? | Im yet to have a good racehorse, maybe I could let you know in around 30-40 years? I might find one by then... |
But seriously some guys have a really good strategy, Nicky Henderson is always right up there on the Jumps side and Aidan O'brien recently has been incredibly good. I think the trick is to lots of wealthy owners! | |
Does the industry believe that sheikh Mohammed's investigation, that coincidentally cleared him of any knowledge of what was going on, was genuine? | Who knows? I doubt Shiekh Mohammed would have actually turned to his trainers and said "Use drugs bro." I would imagine that the environment of pressure he puts on those who work for him is so great they feel like they have no choice. |
that Dubai airlines flight full of drugs... that was just a coincidence then? | Not at all, the drugs scandal has stuck very firmly to Shiekh Mohammed. He might well be guilty but I wouldn't know either way! |
Were you just at the gold cup in Cheltenham? My wife is from (and her parents still live) about five minutes drive from the track :) | Sadly not the Gold Cup! I went on Thursday for the World Hurdle and it was a really great day. Cheltenham is one of the best courses in the country and I really love that part of the Cotswolds. |
What happens to foals who don't make the cut as racing horses? | We try to rehome and retrain as many unraceable thoroughbreds as possible. However if nothing else can be done some are sadly put down. |
I've won the last two grand nationals with 100 to 1 winners from random tips off strangers on the internet. So random stranger do you have a tip for me? | I am not your random stranger my friend. Go with your system, pick a long shot for the national. Anything could win it. |
As someone from Louisville, Kentucky, have you ever been to Churchill Downs? If so, what is your opinion on the track? It's one of the most known tracks worldwide because of the Kentucky Derby. | Sadly no! But I am visiting Kentucky this time next year so let me know what I should do when I visit. |
Do ya'll eat the horses when they are too old to race? | What do you think I ate for dinner? Pizza? |
(It was Pizza...) | |
Hi! You answered in another question that the horses know they're going round in circles, they know where the stables are and so on, but how well do they understand the concept of racing - i.e. how well do they know that the point is to be ahead of all the other horses at a certain place? | Yeah some are better suited to different kinds of races. Some like to be in front all the way and hate to have other horses compete with them. Other like to slowly build from the rear of the field and then burst forward using their turn of foot. Others just plod along at the same pace and hit the line just right. |
Cheltenham Festival Betting Tips & Predictions Del Pugh: Feb 11, 2021 The 2021 Cheltenham Festival gets underway on March 16, with “the greatest show on turf” bringing four days of top class National Hunt racing, culminating in the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the Friday, and we have picked out our favourite bet for each day of the huge meeting. Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips. Santini – back on the day (currently 7/2 at Betfred) Lostintranslation – 7/1 with Coral. Cheltenham 2020 Free Bets. Join any of the bookmakers below and get the free bet on offer for the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. e.g. bet £10 on a race and you’ll get the sign-up bonus added to your account. Top tips and best bets for the fourth day of racing at the Cheltenham Festival 2020 By Telegraph Sport 13 March 2020 • 4:40pm Al Boum Photo is joint favourite to clinch his second Gold Cup title ... Cheltenham Gold Cup tips - MIGHT BITE. Definitly Red is Ruby Walsh's pick but The Scout - Britain's top tipster who writes exclusively for the Express - thinks otherwise. Ruby Walsh’s Cheltenham Gold Cup Tips. KEMBOY currently has three entries for the 2021 Cheltenham Festival – the Ryanair Chase, the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and the Stayers Hurdle.Trainer Willie Mullins has admitted he is worried about the horses jumping around Cheltenham and he unseated rider in the race two years ago, then finished seventh last year after a few mistakes. Cheltenham Gold Cup betting tips, preview, trends and runners for the most prestigious race at 3.30pm Cheltenham Festival on Friday March 13th 2020. THE Cheltenham Gold Cup is the biggest jumps race of the season and this year's race is shaping up to be a humdinger. The showpiece of the Cheltenham Festival is just 10 weeks away, so check out ... THE Cheltenham Gold Cup is the biggest jumps race of the season and this year’s race is shaping up to be a humdinger. The showpiece of the Cheltenham Festival is just 10 weeks away, so check … The Cheltenham Gold Cup is the highlight of the four days of the Festival, with the best chasers in the UK and Ireland taking on each other in the most anticipated race of the year. It's a Grade 1 chase covering three miles and about two and half furlongs, for horses aged five years and upwards. Gold Cup latest odds and tips for Cheltenham Festival 2021’s big race Can Al Boum Photo complete the hat-trick? The most popular. 01 Gold Cup latest odds and tips for Cheltenham Festival 2021’s big race. Alex Harris / Cheltenham Festival / 3 mins ago. 02 Cheltenham tips: Mick Fitzgerald’s 5 to thrive at the Festival ...
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