Premier League 2024/25

[Fox92]

So many so called "big" clubs celebrating finishing 4th or 5th. Maresca giving it the big one for finishing 4th winning absolutely nothing. 

[Tommy Fresh]

4 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

So many so called "big" clubs celebrating finishing 4th or 5th. Maresca giving it the big one for finishing 4th winning absolutely nothing. 

Probably more because it went down to the last day to confirm it, like us celebrating getting in to the playoffs at Forest.  Also finishing top 4 and potentially winning the conference league wouldn't be a bad first season for him

[JimJams]

8 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

So many so called "big" clubs celebrating finishing 4th or 5th. Maresca giving it the big one for finishing 4th winning absolutely nothing. 

Steady on, he could win the Europa Conference League!

[whoareyaaa]

2 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Probably more because it went down to the last day to confirm it, like us celebrating getting in to the playoffs at Forest.  Also finishing top 4 and potentially winning the conference league wouldn't be a bad first season for him

He must be chuffed, won the championship and possibly conference league in his first two seasons and finished 4th.

 

he has a great team around him which he built mostly here.

 

more trophies next season no doubt 

[Guest Bilo]

3 minutes ago, Tommy Fresh said:

Probably more because it went down to the last day to confirm it, like us celebrating getting in to the playoffs at Forest.  Also finishing top 4 and potentially winning the conference league wouldn't be a bad first season for him

It'll be a bit of a weird final in all honesty. Neither side 'need' the trophy to qualify for Europe the way that West Ham did a couple of years back or Tottenham and Manchester United did in the Europa League final last week. Chelsea have made Champions League and Betis have already qualified for Europa. A trophy is a trophy, but it won't actually mean much to either besides a trophy lift and open top bus parade.

[Chelmofox]

Enzo has had 2 good seasons. Deserves to be happy. Has improved Chelsea who had been a basket case for several seasons. The desire to see him fail is odd. 

[JimJams]

At the end of the day there's a bit of a tinpot element to celebrating 4th or 5th.  However, at the start of the season every club will have set out their goals and for Chelsea, realistically, it was CL qualification and a trophy.  And they're on course to achieve that.  Achieving your goals is worthy of celebration.

[Guest Bilo]

People decrying Chelsea for celebrating finishing 4th presumably would, in an alternate reality, have gone home from Bournemouth in silence had we secured 17th on the final day and sent Tottenham down in our stead.

[LCFCJohn]

It’s a good season, though I wouldn’t say great for Chelsea. Champions League qualification and winning the Europa Conference League. It’s not like he could physically have done better in Europa and realistically not better in the league as Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal are better than them.

 

Domestic cups could have expected better given both were won by teams outside of Man City/Liverpool etc.

[Trent Steel]

I think Chelsea have had a good season, finished 4th maybe win a European trophy to complete the set. Maresca's instructions were probably to get CL football and hes done that and in a European final so yeah hes pretty happy with himself.

 

And Im just happy that 2 blue teams destroyed Florists "Champions of league" push...

[CosbehFox]

14 minutes ago, Bilo said:

It'll be a bit of a weird final in all honesty. Neither side 'need' the trophy to qualify for Europe the way that West Ham did a couple of years back or Tottenham and Manchester United did in the Europa League final last week. Chelsea have made Champions League and Betis have already qualified for Europa. A trophy is a trophy, but it won't actually mean much to either besides a trophy lift and open top bus parade.

It will mean a lot to Betis, their trophy cabinet isn’t huge and particularly with the success of their city rivals in Europe, it’s important to them 

[Guest Bilo]

12 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

It will mean a lot to Betis, their trophy cabinet isn’t huge and particularly with the success of their city rivals in Europe, it’s important to them 

There'll always be that element, but it really would be just a case of having something to add to the honours list rather than something that will massively enrich the club or kick them onto the next level. Chelsea will probably view it as little more than a friendly with a nice pot at the end given their success in Europe. 

 

I agree that you can imagine it being meaningful in terms of Betis and their city bragging rights, though. Especially given the absolute dominance Sevilla had over the Europa League between 2005 and 2016 and how much they've dropped off in recent years. I'd definitely prefer them to win out of the two for that reason.

Edited 26 May 2025 by Bilo

[FoxesTalker]

Granted it's a minority, but surprised to see some Forest fans turning on the manager after the season they've had. They would be all over it with the entitlement shouts if the roles were reversed. The point to make on that as well, given the success we've experienced in the last 10 years, at least there's reason for having so called entitled fans.

 

For a club who spent nearly 25 years outside the top flight, Forest do seem to have a level of unfounded arrogance. Again, I would stipulate that by saying it's a minority and most football fans are reasonably minded. It should also be said that people who watch their team every week are best placed to have opinions on managers/players.

[Simonb]

16 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

Leeds have owners willing to spend to try and stay up. The issue is they’re only allowed to net spend half of what returning PL teams are. The system is transparently rigged to protect those teams and keep promoted ones from staying up.

 

Leeds and Burnley were dominant in the Championship but in totally different ways. We know what Burnley will do - try for 38 goalless draws. Leeds have some attacking talent and will add more - they’ll at least try and play football. The first thing any of these teams need to do is clean up against the other two - four wins against them would be a good start towards survival. But Burnley won’t make that easy for Leeds.

 

Sunderland, they’re probably next season’s Southampton. Hard to see them having any chance to be more than a speed bump.

Sunderland are 100% going down the Southampton route and I completely agree on Burnleys route.. I can actually see them going close but they'll not have enough goals to convert the odd win they'll need.

 

I fancy Leeds to maybe go for it and take the hit the following season the following year. I also think the FA wouldn't mind them staying up.. capable of relatively big returns from a well followed team like them 

[Leicesterpool]

I still believe Enzo stayed Leicester stay up, he would have found a way. I wasn't his biggest fan, but I do think his tactics would have better with Leicester this season. As we see with better players at Chelsea, he's really managed to build a decent side.

Edited 26 May 2025 by Leicesterpool

[Clogger_]

1 minute ago, Leicesterpool said:

I still believe Enzo stayed Leicester stay up, he would have found a way. I wasn't his biggest fan, but I do think his tactics would have better with Leicester this season. As we see with better players at Chelsea, he's really managed to build a decent side.

Enzo shows so clearly that there are levels in management. Well done to him on steadying the basket case that is post-Jose Chelsea.

 

Can there ever have been a more stark illustration of "levels" than replacing Enzo with... Cooper? [Shudders!]

[sdb]

9 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

I still believe Enzo stayed Leicester stay up, he would have found a way. I wasn't his biggest fan, but I do think his tactics would have better with Leicester this season. As we see with better players at Chelsea, he's really managed to build a decent side.

The players loved him and he had a clue. If Cooper and RVN could get us to 25 points, I'm pretty sure Enzo could've got to 40.

[Muzzy_no7]

6 teams in the CL from EPL.

 

Huge kick in the teeth for us with them successive 5th place finishes.

[pkonline]

Villa are going to have a massive financial headache this summer!

[FrankieADZ]

so Utd are signing Cunha for over £60mil, now want Mbeumo whos rated over £50mil

guess PSR/FFP doesnt apply to big 6 teams 

[STUHILL]

11 minutes ago, Leicesterpool said:

I still believe Enzo stayed Leicester stay up, he would have found a way. I wasn't his biggest fan, but I do think his tactics would have better with Leicester this season. As we see with better players at Chelsea, he's really managed to build a decent side.

The mood would have stayed on a high at least. I think him leaving and Cooper coming in, killed any momentum we had from winning the Championship. The players also went from a style they had bought into, to Cooper ball, which didn't seem to be much of anything. 

I still think the gap would have been too much though, and people forget how many fans were already turning against him during our wobble towards the end of the Championship season. I think fans would have been very quick to turn on him. He just wouldn't have had a high enough quality of players to make his system work for us against most Premier League teams. 

I think he is doing well at Chelsea, but they need to be pushing for the title next year and win a Cup to show he is the real deal, due to how much Chelsea have spent and the young talent they have. I think he can do both, but a title push seems less likely yet due to Liverpool improving and Man City maybe getting their mojo back. The future looks good though and they will likely only get better under him. 

[STUHILL]

1 minute ago, pkonline said:

Villa are going to have a massive financial headache this summer!

Forest too? I keep waiting for their spending to catch up with them. 

[blue blood]

4 minutes ago, pkonline said:

Villa are going to have a massive financial headache this summer!

Dare I say villa are in danger of being the next Leicester. Over leveraging on breaking the ranks only to fall twice as hard. 

[Bert]

Anyone seen that a car has ploughed through a load of people at the Liverpool parade. Ploughs through about 50 people. 

[Guest Bilo]

1 hour ago, FoxesTalker said:

Granted it's a minority, but surprised to see some Forest fans turning on the manager after the season they've had. They would be all over it with the entitlement shouts if the roles were reversed. The point to make on that as well, given the success we've experienced in the last 10 years, at least there's reason for having so called entitled fans.

 

For a club who spent nearly 25 years outside the top flight, Forest do seem to have a level of unfounded arrogance. Again, I would stipulate that by saying it's a minority and most football fans are reasonably minded. It should also be said that people who watch their team every week are best placed to have opinions on managers/players.

I have said before and will say again that most Forest fans I have met honestly don't inherit the same footballing planet as most of us.

 

This is a fanbase who spent the 40th anniversary of the 1979 European Cup Final watching it on Betamax in the pubs of Nottingham, cheering as if it were live. Who genuinely consider European football to be their 'rightful place' despite only having to use their passports for family holidays for the last three decades. Who will argue without a hint of irony that they are a bigger club than Arsenal and Manchester City because of their success forty-five years ago. 

 

It's a delusion that has made 'Nottingham Forest manager' an impossible job for thirty years. Anyone who cannot take them to the levels their fans think they're entitled to, and there is not a person alive who can in 2025, will be considered a disappointment, a failure and a let-down. They will always expect to rule Europe again. As soon as it becomes clear that isn't happening, they'll get rid. They may cheer someone on who gets them a step closer, but will turn on them once they hit their ceiling. It happened with Cooper, it'll happen with Nuno (arguably already started) and it'll happen with every single one of his successors. It's like the England job at club level, except England could conceivably win a major international trophy while Forest's days of competing at the top table will almost certainly never return.

 

A normal fanbase would be rejoicing at a trajectory of 17th to 7th. Forest fans feel entitled to top five at least. They'll turn on Nuno in double quick time when they're back in midtable next season, and Marinakis will join them. Impossible club to manage because of their ancient history and the delusion it's brought their fans.