Carling Cup First Round Draw
It looks like our first forum battle of the season will be Charlton v Reading in the Carling Cup! But what a tie we have in prospect fourth in the list...

Charlton Athletic v Reading
Walsall v Middlesbrough
Southend United v Leyton Orient
Nottingham Forest v Notts County
Derby County v Shrewsbury Town
Rotherham United v Leicester City
Doncaster Rovers v Tranmere Rovers
West Ham United v Aldershot Town
Sheffield Wednesday v Blackpool
Leeds United v Bradford City
Oxford United v Cardiff City
Burnley v Burton Albion
Ipswich Town v Northampton Town
Southampton v Torquay United
Portsmouth v Barnet
Plymouth Argyle v Millwall
Brighton & Hove Albion v Gillingham
Stevenage v Peterborough United
Crystal Palace v Crawley Town/AFC Wimbledon
Hull City v Macclesfield Town
Bury v Coventry City
Bristol Rovers v Watford
Bristol City v Swindon Town
Barnsley v Morecambe
Hartlepool United v Sheffield United
Preston North End v Crewe Alexandra
Accrington Stanley v Scunthorpe United
Port Vale v Huddersfield Town
AFC Bournemouth v Dagenham & Redbridge
Rochdale v Chesterfield
Wycombe Wanderers v Colchester United
Cheltenham Town v Milton Keynes Dons
Exeter City v Yeovil Town
Oldham Athletic v Carlisle United
Hereford United v Brentford

Car Expert

Hope you lose

Oi. You don't know what the fixtures are for the first weekend of next season yet - you could be playing us on the Saturday and then Charlton on the Tues. (But I hope we don't have you as our first fixture... ).

There's another big tie slightly further down the Carling Cup list. Leeds and Bradford may not have been in the same division for a while, but there's no love between them...

I've just realised that there will be two forum battles in that Carling Cup round. We're playing Lois' team.

I hope not either. Having said that, I bet it will happen...Hope you lose

Car Expert

We'll find out tomorrow...

Millwall first for us...

Opening Day Fixtures
Blackburn v Wolves
Fulham v Aston Villa
Liverpool v Sunderland
Manchester City v Swansea
Newcastle v Arsenal
QPR v Bolton
Stoke v Chelsea
Tottenham v Everton
West Bromwich Albion v Manchester United
Wigan v Norwich
Reading v Millwall
Middlesbrough v Portsmouth
Charlton v Bournemouth
Walsall v Leyton Orient

Key Dates
Reading v Middlesbrough - Sat 1 Oct
Leyton Orient v Charlton - Sat 31 Dec
Middlesbrough v Reading - Sat 25 Feb
Charlton v Leyton Orient - Sat 31 Mar

Car Expert

Charlton start the season at home to Bournemouth : like we did the season just gone. We finish at home to Hartlepool, also just like we did the season just gone.

All of our Tuesday matches are with the same teams. I've never noticed that before, so I'm not sure whether it is deliberate or a fluke. Our 10 Tuesday matches are Donny, Barnsley, Leicester, Forest and West Ham, so it's not even down to them being more local.

I've had a look at a few other teams and it's the same. Must be deliberate

How strange. I don't remember it this past season.

*wonders if a list can still be found*

It seems it was the same last season - we just haven't noticed it

Who were our Tuesday teams last year?

I remember playing Forest at home on a Tues...

I dunno, Stevenage - Peterborough looks tasty too.

I'm not quite sure it matches up for last season - there are less Tuesday matches, I think. But according to that we were meant to play Scunthorpe (x2), Burnely (x2) and Derby (x2) on Tuesdays. Then however it's Forest, Preston and Ipswich once. Maybe they try and do their best to have games at the same times - but sometimes things have to change because of other fixtures and events

I'm not sure that it matched at all last year in that case, because our second Burnley fixture was moved to accommodate them playing in a cup match or something.

I've been trying to find last year's fixtures and failed...

Will have to check Charlton's full list out. I know the Boxing Day fixture is a long trip to Yeovil. Who decided that was a good idea?

Ooops. That's a strange idea of a derby.

We've got Hull on Boxing Day.

We've got Leeds away early this year - 2nd match.

http://www.soccerbase.com/teams/team.sd?te...eamTabs=results

EDIT: 30,000th post!

Car Expert

Thanks.

So it did follow a pattern last year, and I never noticed.

(They can't spell Middlesbrough, though. )

Looking at the site, it appears whatever design they've used won't let them fit all the letters of 'Middlesbrough' in...

They managed to fit all the letters for Kidderminster though...

Car Expert

Ooo, so they did...

Chelsea are to appoint Andre Villas-Boas as their new manager.

"Who?", you may ask. Well, he's Portuguese. He only started his managerial career about 18 months ago, having had no playing experience. He was Porto manager last season, leading them to the Europa League title. Plus he's only 33 years old, the same age as Lampard and Drogba...

He's been dubbed as the new Special One. We'll soon see about that...

Car Expert

The new season gets underway tonight, with Fulham in action in the Europa League first round qualifying.

Car Expert

Boy even looks like Mourinho, total fazed by Chelsea disrupting and breaking up the potentially huge force in Europe that Porto would have been with Villas-Boas...

The Japanese have just won the Women's World Cup. The French got as far as the semi-final and were beaten by the Americans who were favourites. Tthe French lost hte "petite finale" against the Swedes so came fourth.

The match between the Japanese girls and the Americans was the best piece of soccer I have seen for a long time. the Americans scored first, the Japanese equalised. The match went to extra time. The Americans scored again adn again the Japanese equalised; the match went to a tir au but (sorry, can't remember the English words for this) and the Japanese won.

It was a really exciting match. Some of the Japanese girls came form areas hit by the tsunami and their team nearly didn't take part because of that disaster. They will be going home as national heroines.

It is time womens' soccer got a bigger slice of the cake and I want to cheer them along. Come on girlsl!!!

I'm a bit concerned about our goalkeeping situation.

The season hasn't even started yet, and we're already losing key players to injury.

Has anyone seen Sunderland's away tops for this season? They look like they should be Boro tops - transporter blue (like we had for our away top 2 seasons ago) with our white band. I wonder if the designers realised...

A pity Charlton disbanded their (excellent) women's side...

2014 World Cup Qualification Draw
Group A: Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, SCOTLAND, Macedonia, WALES
Group B: Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Armenia, Malta
Group C: Germany, Sweden, REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, Austria, Faroe Islands, Kazakhstan
Group D: Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Andorra
Group E: Norway, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Cyprus, Iceland
Group F: Portugal, Russia, Israel, NORTHERN IRELAND, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
Group G: Greece, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lithuania, Latvia, Liechtenstein
Group H: ENGLAND, Montenegro, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, San Marino
Group I: Spain, France, Belarus, Georgia, Finland

England are paired with Montenegro again. Tough draw for them. Spain v France should be mouth-watering...

Car Expert

I'd say that's a good draw for England. Group B won't be easy for Italy, I feel.

I was thinking that it looked like a group which we actually had some chance of getting out of... There are other groups which would be tougher for us.

Edit: just noticed Poland are in our group as well. so it's probably 50-50 whether we can get out of the group as there are 4 teams in the group who should be capable of qualification - and persumably 2 places...

Scotland are in the Eurovision cartel group I see...

Group G looks wide open. The Swiss will probably be quite satisfied with their draw.

Scotland and Wales are going to struggle...

Car Expert

Motherwell are at the top of the SPL. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

(And we'll be bottom of the Championship next week )

Let's not start the maudlin' just yet : wait 'til your lot have lost the first few games (sorry )

Hmm. We've just lost 4-2 to Darlo, 2-0 to Carlisle and 2-3 to PSV Eindhoven. It's not looking good...

Edit: what is a maudlin??

I'm amazed that Shane Long is still at Reading...

Car Expert

Have you lost any first team players over the summer?

Yep, defenders Matt Mills (Leicester) and Ivar Ingimarsson (Ipswich).

We've signed a Spurs defender on loan for the season, and it looks as if Sonko will be returning...

Car Expert

You've done pretty well then. Shame that you have more rich teams fighting with you for the top spots this year.

I hope the championship doesn't end up going the same way as the prem.

Maudlin'/maudling : means being overly sad/miserable over something.

Never heard the word before.

I'll stop posting on here as well, shall I, as well as on the rest of the forum? I'm already unwelcome everywhere apart from the cafe.

Flossie, I'm not getting at you, honestly! I had my tongue firmly in my cheek when I said that! Sorry if I offended you : maudlin' is a good southern term!

Hey Barry - I thought maudlin was an adjective! or adverb.

You mean there's a 'g' missing?

(ed) gosh - am I really in 'football teams' ? ! that really must be a first.

Yes you're in 'football teams'. Are you going to tell us your colours?

It could be Crystal Palace...

*hmmmmm* They just might be black and gold .

Watford?

Nope, no connection with Watford.

Think pre-history.