Spam Barber

@scottjwillis @SC__AV It’s 97% of people that care enough about FOOTBALL to complete a survey. Analyse all you like, say they’re wrong but 97% say its made football less enjoyable & 76% want it gone ! And even now you are suggesting major changes to 'fix it' despite it being in use for 7 years !!!

@SC__AV @SpamBarber It’s not 97% of match going fans, it’s people who sought out and answered a survey. I’ve written why I think they are wrong here cannonstats.com/p/in-defense-o…

VAR isn’t perfect and that’s because we have humans implementing a subjective rule book. It’s still a net positive for the game and has corrected most of the biggest clear errors. People dislike it but they hate massive errors that go against them more that you can see clearly on replays.

@scottjwillis “Does VAR make football more enjoyable?” … 97% say NO. And you are suggesting they got that “wrong” ?!? 🤯

@SpamBarber They can be wrong

@footballmark808 @SBSSportau Gonna need a lot of red flags to cover that 300 km course !!!!

@SBSSportau They need a red flag system in cycling, like they do in F1 racing. A warning would have saved a lot of cyclists from injury.

A number of the top riders in the womens peloton were caught up in a crash of the descent that saw riders go over the guardrail in a horror fall. #SanremoWomen | March 21 | SBS VICELAND + SBS On Demand

@DaleJohnsonBBC At what point do they realise that their hopeless search for perfection is destroying the game ?

Fifa has been trialling new technology which could make a huge difference to VAR: 🔹 “Out of Bounds” - ball out of play on a goal 🔹 "Real-time 3D" - keeper's view for line of sight on offside 🔹 Advanced SAOT - limit delayed flags READ 👇 bbc.co.uk/sport/football…

@GuillemBalague @UnaiEmery_ @AVFCOfficial Truly magical. To meet you and to shake the hand of a very very special man that is Unai Emery. He has brought us so much joy and happiness. And as a 67 yo Villa Fan I can say he is truly the greatest we have ever had. UTV 👊🏻

What a beautiful evening in the official Villa shop at the Bullring. It was memorable to see the love of fans towards @UnaiEmery_ and the #RiseoftheVillans book. But also how different (and shy) Unai is when out of his comfort zone. First time since his arrival to the Midlands he does mixes with the Villa faithful this way and he told me it was "really worthwhile" Massive shout-out to the @PunjabiVillans who help me carry books, sell them and create such a lovely positive atmosphere during the book signing session #RiseoftheVillans #AVFC 📚 amzn.eu/d/5ro6dx8

@DaleJohnsonBBC Please no !! How about PGMOL telling Refs to "get a move on"! Enforce the rules, don't let players waste time. And don't waste time warning players who are pushing & holding in the box at set pieces, just award fouls like you would anywhere else on the pitch and get on with it !

One of the messages that came through loud and clear when we asked for your views on Reinventing Football was you hate time-wasting. How about stopping the clock when the ball goes out? We've looked at its merits. bbc.co.uk/sport/football…

Something has fundamentally changed in Birmingham. And Britain, too, has changed with it. Consider football: the rough and tumble of our national game is nothing new for the West Midlands. Growing up in the eighties, my Dad took me to more than a few matches at Villa Park in the away end. The language, chants, and antics were – at times – less than well-mannered. But it was largely good-natured fun. Where there was violence, the police put a quick but firm end to it. Such was the rhythm of British life. The same men and women worked together all week, turning up and supporting different teams on a Saturday. No longer. The decision from West Midlands Police to ban Jewish football fans from Villa Park marks a new low for our nation. What has changed? Well, last week, there were howls of outrage over my answer to that question. A leaked tape recorded me saying that, in parts of Birmingham, integration had totally failed. I’d been to Handsworth and seen a community that did not represent the full breadth of British society. It, like too much of Birmingham, resembled a segregated community. That’s not the kind of country I want. I want a country where fellow Brits live side by side, with a strong sense of national togetherness and unity. The Mayor of the West Midlands, the Bishop of Birmingham, the BBC, and others all lined up to say I was wrong. The local MP, Ayoub Khan, described my views as “a far-Right cliché” while simultaneously organising a petition to prevent Israeli fans from attending the forthcoming game between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Many, including the BBC and ITV, misquoted me. I faced the inevitable accusations of racism. There was the drivel about diversity being our strength. That’s what’s happened time and again to anyone voicing the mildest critique of immigration. Others continue to attack me. Handsworth is a model community, they say. Villa Park is a few streets from Handsworth: a week after my remarks were reported, West Midlands Police have now in effect declared those streets a “no-go zone” for Jews. My comments weren’t based on a few hours in Birmingham; I’ve known the city my whole life. They were based on a deep concern for the lack of action by successive governments to tackle the abject failure of integration. There have been at least six serious reports in the last 20 years, saying much the same thing as I did. They have all ended on a dusty shelf. Why? Partly, because of the fear of our gutless political class to stand up and speak out. They are shameless cowards, more concerned about retaining respectability amongst the liberal elite. Take the Prime Minister himself. Last night, he tweeted his outrage over West Midlands Police’s decision. But last week he denounced me for crossing “a red line” in discussing integration in Birmingham. He’s happy to criticise the police, but runs scared of even acknowledging the big problems we face. Keir Starmer isn’t a bystander. He’s the Prime Minister. What is he actually going to do? Bury his head in the sand when it gets uncomfortable. So I won’t be silenced. During my speech at the Conservative Party Conference last week, I said that “a Britain where our Jewish friends are afraid is just not Britain”. I meant it. The same goes for football. A football in which Jewish fans aren’t welcome just isn’t football. What should we do? Send in as many police officers as required. Sack the Chief Constable if he won’t change his mind. Deal with the extremist Imams in Birmingham who have spent the past few days fomenting hate. We must tackle the vile sectarian MPs who have polluted our politics. But the longer term strategy is harder. Thirty years of mass migration have changed our country in ways that we’re only beginning to feel. Unintegrated communities will continue to be hotbeds of extremism and division. Our country cannot have no-go zones. It cannot have sectarian MPs. The time has come for muscular action to make integration a reality.

PSR Is Strangling Supporters Dreams - It's Time for Change @RorySmith defense of PSR in @ObserverUK perfectly encapsulates everything wrong with the current regulatory mindset. His argument - that ambitious clubs should simply "sell better" - reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how these rules operate in practice and whom they truly benefit. Rory dismisses Villa and Newcastle's concerns by pointing to our spending since promotion. This misses the point entirely. The issue isn't historical spending - it's the regulatory ceiling that prevents sustained competition with the established elite. Rory suggests Newcastle and Villa's problems stem from poor selling. This ignores the brutal reality: when regulations force you to sell your best players to comply, you're not "trading well" - you're dismantling what you've built. #AVFC qualified for the Champions League then had to sell Luiz, Diaby, and Duran. Newcastle qualified for Europe, then faced identical pressures. This isn't poor trading - it's systematic dismantling disguised as financial responsibility. Meanwhile, Chelsea spend €300+ million by "selling" assets to themselves. The regulations don't prevent spending - they favor those sophisticated enough to exploit loopholes while punishing straightforward investment. Rory’s dismissal of the "Red Cartel" theory ignores reality. When Villa qualified for Europe, UEFA’s SCR rules immediately kicked in, limiting us to 70% of revenue on squad costs while non-European clubs face no such restrictions. The system literally punishes success. UEFA's own settlement with Villa proves the point: €20 million in potential fines, transfer restrictions that require selling before buying, and 3 years of financial monitoring. For what? Investing to compete. The regulations aren't revenue-neutral. They're rigged toward clubs with established commercial advantages. Chelsea's London location generates €546m annually versus Villa's €310m. That €236m difference creates massive PSR headroom before considering player sales. When regulations tie spending to revenue, they entrench existing hierarchies. Villa can't outspend #MCFC because we can't out-earn them - and the rules ensure we never will. Rory argues regulations protect competition, but they've achieved the opposite. Look at the Premier League’s top six the last decade. The same clubs, in marginally different orders, year after year. #LCFC 2016 title proved competition was possible. Current regulations ensure it never happens again. That's not protecting sport - it's preserving sporting cartels! Rory’s F1 comparison - F1 introduced cost caps to improve competition, but crucially, they applied equally to all teams. Premier League PSR creates different rules for different clubs based on revenue and European qualification. Imagine F1 saying Mercedes could spend €200m because of their commercial success, while Williams were limited to €50m. That's exactly how football operates now. Nobody advocates unlimited spending. But current rules need fundamental reform: •Revenue-based limits that account for owner investment •Equal treatment regardless of historical commercial advantages •Regulations that encourage competition, not entrench monopolies •Transparent enforcement that doesn't favor accounting creativity over sporting investment Villa & #NUFC aren't demanding to "replace the elite" - we're demanding the right to compete with them. The current system ensures that remains impossible. His article concludes that "sport decided by chequebook is not sport at all." He's absolutely right. But sport decided by spreadsheets and accounting loopholes isn't sport either - it's a rigged game masquerading as competition. The @premierleague failure to explain these regulations isn't accidental btw. When your rules prevent the very competition they claim to protect, silence becomes the only defensible strategy @Alex_Berwick @danbardell @theavfcfaithful @LoveMcGrathpod

@DaleJohnsonESPN What a load of tosh. If you want this I suggest you stick to playing footie on your PlayStation…

FIFA's semi-automated offside uses algorithms and AI to track the players. Chip in the ball identifies touches. As running to the ball isn't an offside offence, the alert with ONLY go to the assistant if the ball is touched by the offside player. Sounds good, at least.

What's new for the Club World Cup and beyond? 📌 Keeper timewasting a thing of the past? 📌 The "double-touch" penalty 📌 How enhanced tech could limit delayed offside flag 📌 Ref-worn body camera replays 📌 The "Arteta" law change ➕More! READ 👇 espn.co.uk/football/story…

@henrywinter A perfect example of why we all wanted VAR… to help the Ref get to the right decision. But we can’t use VAR coz the ref blew his whistle 1 second before the ball went in the net. Complete and utter nonsense. PGMOL implementation of VAR is a disaster.

You can’t blame Thomas Bramall’s terrible decision on VAR. It’s down to the referee. He blew too soon. VAR would have rescued him. There are some very good referees in this country but the overall quality needs improving. Having 10 games at the same time was always going to highlight that. Villa rightly angry over a shocking and expensive refereeing mistake.

@DaleJohnsonESPN Yea, get it in the bin. It’s bloody useless and is destroying the game

Anything for the VAR Review?

@ChampionsLeague I’ll nod off …

Second-half predictions? 🔮 #UCL

@prodnose 🦕

The whole "playing out from the back" thing. I'm genuinely baffled. What is it SUPPOSED to gain you? How has it taken hold? Wasn't "fucking about in your own area" always previously frowned on?

@DaleJohnsonESPN Just another layer of complexity. Get rid of the lot and give us our game back …

The Premier League has released a video showing how semi-automated offside works. It shows what the VAR sees, and the technology working out who is offside. premierleague.com/video/single/4…

@DaleJohnsonESPN What a load of tosh 💩

It's Ref Cam - live! Pierluigi Collina says fans will get a "new experience" at the Club World Cup with the referee's body camera available to broadcasters during games. Fans could get the perspective of goals, free kicks, tackles and attacking moves. espn.co.uk/football/story…

@danbardell @talkSPORT @tSHandJ @IanTaylor7 Great stuff Dan. UTV 👊🏻

Was in the @talkSPORT studio earlier today on @tSHandJ to preview #AVFC’s tie with #PSG, @IanTaylor7 and Blues…. #UTV

@alex_crook So because a few of the Sky 6 are as dull as dishwater, pundits now spouting that all football is stale. Think you’ll find plenty of Villa, Forest, Newcastle fans who wouldn’t agree with that …

Interesting to see a lot of pundits debating how micro-managed football has become on the back of the dull as dishwater derby at OT We had the same debate on the Sunday Session. The modern game is too data driven and too reliant on 'systems' IMO. Where are all the mavericks?

@DaleJohnsonESPN Why why why would you do this now ??? Complete and utter madness. Bunch of clowns 🤡

The Premier League will start using its semi-automated VAR offside technology (SAOT) as of Matchweek 32 on the weekend of April 12-14. READ 👇 espn.com/soccer/story/_…

@marc_hughes86 @danbardell 🤡

@danbardell Any other manager under pressure would get the sack after that performance, Unai needs to tread carefully...

Embarrassing. Not good enough at all. 1 Premier League away win in 4 months. After the euphoria of Saturday, a complete reality check. #AVFC #CRYAVL