Unpopular football opinions

[Muz]

Going to be roasted here probably but here goes.

I'd rather watch the A League than the EPL.

To my eyes it's so boring. Hardly anyone gets tackled, it's a slow and patient build up 9 times out of 10, they tiki taka it for 5 minutes in their own half before they go forward. There' doesn't seem to be any sort of edge to the game. No jeopardy, hardly any crunching tackles.

If a good team plays a shit team the possession stats are 70/30 or some such. If 2 good teams play each other the ball is rarely in dispute.

I'm convinced 90% of the people raving about the EPL in Australia are watching the highlights only and getting a skewed impression of it. You watch 16th vs 18th and it's rubbish.

That's not to say that those teams wouldn't give any team in Australia a hiding but it's just not what I would call that entertaining.

I was talking to a bloke about it from England and he said he agrees. He said he watches for the Championship because it's much more rough around the edges and more of a spectacle. (Glad I wasn't the only one thinking that way.)

Thoughts?

Flame away.

 

[JS96]

hey!

Thread 'Your unpopular football opinion?'

Jul 12, 2025

Well I saw a tweet response and it's gotten some fire going. The topic could be its own thread.

One bloke said the NSL would have thrived had Australia qualified for WC 2002.

I've got plenty. One that comes to mind is Sergio Ramos one on one is bang average and had to pull and cheat and would moan at any contact on himself. Sure he won duels but being around other good players and the aura of Real made him better.

Same with Busquets. Fine in a single system but would be out of sorts at another club.

Not sure it's even an unpopular opinion but the best coaches are probably in the...

• JS96
• Replies: 338
• Forum: General Football

• 

 

[JS96]

I read that wrong EPL>>>A League. I mean, there's a lot I agree with here. I'll have an EPL game on but it's not the tight, riveting style but more so a lot of resetting and passing it around at the back.

Something I've noticed in decent leagues is you've got to wait until 55min for the game to start opening up. German Bundesliga Conference where they cross to goals, penalties and set plays give you more of the action. German Sky have it for EPL and it's a nice addition.

On the matter of roughness, yep. Love that every throw or pass it met with a yell and jeer from the crowd. Went to Carlisle at Leyton Orient. scored in 3rd min. What a day.

 

[Muz]

hey!

Thread 'Your unpopular football opinion?'

Jul 12, 2025

Well I saw a tweet response and it's gotten some fire going. The topic could be its own thread.

One bloke said the NSL would have thrived had Australia qualified for WC 2002.

I've got plenty. One that comes to mind is Sergio Ramos one on one is bang average and had to pull and cheat and would moan at any contact on himself. Sure he won duels but being around other good players and the aura of Real made him better.

Same with Busquets. Fine in a single system but would be out of sorts at another club.

Not sure it's even an unpopular opinion but the best coaches are probably in the...

• JS96
• Replies: 338
• Forum: General Football

• 

Sorry. I'll move it to there if you want.

 

[Muz]

@Pasquali

Can you delete this thread. I've moved the text to the original JS96 set up. Copy his response under if you can or @JS96 can you copy it over?

 

[JS96]

Sorry. I'll move it to there if you want.

All good. Hard to gauge tone online. I'm not one to get mad that a thread idea was duplicated (how petty could one be?).

Certainly the constant threads on the old forum with 'Your Roos 11' did my head in.

 

[Muz]

All good. Hard to gauge tone online. I'm not one to get mad that a thread idea was duplicated (how petty could one be?).

Certainly the constant threads on the old forum with 'Your Roos 11' did my head in.

Sorry if that read fine. You were right to mention it.

That could have been read as sarcastic. Apologies.

 

[JS96]

O

Sorry if that read fine. You were right to mention it.

That could have been read as sarcastic. Apologies.

Oh no! I read your message as polite

 

[grazorblade]

Unpopular opinion: the a league and nsl crowds are good, especially the a league, both are sustainable comps and a national comp, whether 2nd or even 3rd tier, would be sustainable with crowd averages at least as low as 620 a game, without a tv deal.

We hoodwink ourselves into thinking crowds are bad and things are struggling because we apply economic intuitions of afl and nrl to football where it doesnt apply because soccernomics is so vastly different to other codes

 

[patjennings]

Unpopular opinion: the a league and nsl crowds are good, especially the a league, both are sustainable comps and a national comp, whether 2nd or even 3rd tier, would be sustainable with crowd averages at least as low as 620 a game, without a tv deal.

We hoodwink ourselves into thinking crowds are bad and things are struggling because we apply economic intuitions of afl and nrl to football where it doesnt apply because soccernomics is so vastly different to other codes

I agree with the sustainable comment (as long as the owners are happy to lose money in the case of the A League) - you just cut your cloth to the money available. The problem comes when you have to take it to the next level. With a bit on competition this time we might make a 5 year $200m media deal. in reality to expand and prosper we probably need double that and then a bit more to help the NST expand properly.

 

[grazorblade]

I agree with the sustainable comment (as long as the owners are happy to lose money in the case of the A League) - you just cut your cloth to the money available. The problem comes when you have to take it to the next level. With a bit on competition this time we might make a 5 year $200m media deal. in reality to expand and prosper we probably need double that and then a bit more to help the NST expand properly.

i just noticed the new financial fair play rules bandied about in europe

Apparently they say you can only spend a maximum of 90 percent of revenue on players and there are plans to bring that down to 70 percent

What is the revenue of a league clubs? Ive heard some clubs say they get around 10 mill which is in line with my rough estimates.

So 90 percent of that is 9mil, yet clubs are currently spending 4.8 mil and crying foul. Apparently there are plans for a harsher cap for lower division teams with league 2 cap to be 55 percent of revenue, which is still above what a league clubs spend

As for an nst expanding properly - why?

Kazakhstan has a similar population as australia, the distance between clubs in their second tier is often larger than the distance between brisbane and adelaide, their participation rate is lower than ours, gdp per capita way lower and what is the crowd averages of their 2nd tier? 620. Who cares, its sustainable

 

[patjennings]

i just noticed the new financial fair play rules bandied about in europe

Apparently they say you can only spend a maximum of 90 percent of revenue on players and there are plans to bring that down to 70 percent

What is the revenue of a league clubs? Ive heard some clubs say they get around 10 mill which is in line with my rough estimates.

So 90 percent of that is 9mil, yet clubs are currently spending 4.8 mil and crying foul. Apparently there are plans for a harsher cap for lower division teams with league 2 cap to be 55 percent of revenue, which is still above what a league clubs spend

As for an nst expanding properly - why?

Kazakhstan has a similar population as australia, the distance between clubs in their second tier is often larger than the distance between brisbane and adelaide, their participation rate is lower than ours, gdp per capita way lower and what is the crowd averages of their 2nd tier? 620. Who cares, its sustainable

For the NST I'm more talking about getting teams from other states for a full home and away season. Let's assume you can get enough money from a deal to cover all travel and accommodation and even the bank guarantee then surely teams from other states would be more likely to be able to be included. I don't care about the crowd averages. The clubs survive today with current crowds - I just want to cover extra costs.

BTW that $200million 5 year deal would have to be at the very top of expectations and only if there is a decent tussle for the rights. I also think more content from both the A League and NST would be advantageous for both competitions in terms of getting a better media deal.

 

[grazorblade]

For the NST I'm more talking about getting teams from other states for a full home and away season. Let's assume you can get enough money from a deal to cover all travel and accommodation and even the bank guarantee then surely teams from other states would be more likely to be able to be included. I don't care about the crowd averages. The clubs survive today with current crowds - I just want to cover extra costs.

BTW that $200million 5 year deal would have to be at the very top of expectations and only if there is a decent tussle for the rights..

I was just stunned today to learn the distances covered in the kazakhstan 2nd tier and what their crowd averages were!

200 mil for rights would be great. Hopefully 9 and 10 fight over it

 

[Keeper66]

I was just stunned today to learn the distances covered in the kazakhstan 2nd tier and what their crowd averages were!

200 mil for rights would be great. Hopefully 9 and 10 fight over it

The Kazakh's must be doing something right, Kairat Almaty (a name I saw referred to as a wifi password by some Rangers fans online ) have qualified for the Champions League after beating Celtic.

Rangers fans would not have been laughing for too long though, given that the next day they were eliminated by Club Brugge 9-1 on aggreagate!

 

[melbcityguy]

And hibs got knocked out at the end

The Kazakh's must be doing something right, Kairat Almaty (a name I saw referred to as a wifi password by some Rangers fans online ) have qualified for the Champions League after beating Celtic.

Rangers fans would not have been laughing for too long though, given that the next day they were eliminated by Club Brugge 9-1 on aggreagate!