It's time we talked about doping in football

Stick

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You truly believe these two teams are the best two teams to ever grace the PL? Of all time? Made up of the best players to ever grace the game?
I think a case can certainly be made for this city team as the never achieved before domestic treble points to. I don't think looking at the points tally for the last two years is enough to state that they are doping though. It likely points to a bigger gap between the top 6 and the bottom teams.
 

redshaw

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We must be getting prescribed anti-peds.

Would make sense how players come here, look good for 5-10 games then start to slow up, have grimacing faces and hobble around for years.
 

crossy1686

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By the same logic then every team would be doping and not just the ones you mention? I'm pretty sure there are regular, random drug tests for professional athletes in the English game though. I would imagine that the body over these has a minimum amount of checks they must do a year. I don't doubt that clubs and players push the system to the limit in terms of drugs and perhaps some do dope and get away with it due to them being one step ahead of the testers ala Lance Armstrong but to point at Leicester and think that they are dopers for their league win is a bit mad because why didnt they retain their league and why didnt they do better in Europe and why have they been so average since the likes of Kante and Mahrez left?
I’m sure there are but if you’ve also ever worked with children or vulnerable adults you’ll know you have to have a background check. Yet kids are molested by peadophiles every year in schools and such, proving that checks are great and all but all they do is come back clear until you are caught.

If you’re a pro, what’s the odds you’ve been tested in a 10 year career? Once? Maybe twice max? What I’ve you’ve play 8 years at the top level and been largely anonymous and you’ve had two drug tests from a governing body? Worth the risk right?

I highly doubt most clubs test for performance enhancing drugs. I know the FA request tests for recreational drug usage, that’s most likely inline with what PL teams also test for.

As I said before, it’s Icarus. Leicester winning the league twice in a row or winning the CL would have raised many, many eyebrows. Maybe 6 players were doping the season they won it and three or four packed it in after that and went clean?
 

crossy1686

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I think a case can certainly be made for this city team as the never achieved before domestic treble points to. I don't think looking at the points tally for the last two years is enough to state that they are doping though. It likely points to a bigger gap between the top 6 and the bottom teams.
I wouldn’t believe it myself if they didn’t have a manager that hadn’t been banned twice for doping during his playing career, fell out with a German doctor because his players were taking 6 weeks instead of 2 to return to fitness and sending his players abroad to see a doctor for treatment.
 

mwake

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Klopp has a history of getting players to run through a wall for him at Dortmund too, I think people are reaching if they think its cheating, its about coaching and overall fitness regimes. This is why Klopp was/is highly sought after because he knows how to get that extra. If Klopp was using drugs with his teams why hasn't anybody been caught? Even Sakho got his drugs charge overturned as it was proved he was using a drug that wasn't supposed to be on the list; that and then Klopp got rid of him.
 

Bobski

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When Utd played Juve initially in the 90's they were physically far superior to Utd, and apparently on everything that the cyclists were at the time. I am always surprised that Juve story has had so little traction over the years, given the controversy and accusations that were flying around at the time. Utd were running all over them within a couple of years with a team of players who showed remarkable longevity.
 

WensleyMU

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If Pep doesnt one day get ruined like Lance Armstrong, then I will be very surprised. The most obvious drugs cheat in the game. Hes been done for it, twice after all. By now he probably feels untouchable and has a large network involved but all it takes is a change in those who run the game, to investigate and crack down on it.
 

Fener1907

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We need an actual smoking gun not "our rivals are too good they must be cheating".
It's this type of conjecture, investigation and analysis that could ultimately lead to a smoking gun. It's an interesting topic that deserves far more coverage than it gets, and certainly not just dismissed as jealousy in the meantime.
 

2cents

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What was the Cafe consensus on Rio back in 2003? Guilty or just dumb as feck?
 

Woodzy

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Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. It also wouldn't surprise me if, with how unorganised and not on the ball we've been, we're the only ones not doing it :lol:
We are probably doing the wrong ones at four times the cost.
 

crossy1686

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It's this type of conjecture, investigation and analysis that could ultimately lead to a smoking gun. It's an interesting topic that deserves far more coverage than it gets, and certainly not just dismissed as jealousy in the meantime.
The main problem with this topic is you can't talk about it without evidence otherwise you have clubs solicitors and lawyers hitting you with all kinds of damage claims.
 

Denis79

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I'm certain the larger football associations, including FIFA and UEFA turn a blind eye towards doping. Think most big players / teams use it systematically and there's no way they would disrupt the money machine that football is.
 

duffer

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I'm certain the larger football associations, including FIFA and UEFA turn a blind eye towards doping. Think most big players / teams use it systematically and there's no way they would disrupt the money machine that football is.
It's like the NBA I guess, they just kinda let everyone get on with it because when it comes down to it, who benefits from a huge scandal?
 

Keeps It tidy

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It's this type of conjecture, investigation and analysis that could ultimately lead to a smoking gun. It's an interesting topic that deserves far more coverage than it gets, and certainly not just dismissed as jealousy in the meantime.
The type of conjecture in the OP will lead to nothing. The fact that the first clubs mentioned are City and Liverpool shows what he was trying to say. The smoking gun would come from someone inside of Football.
 

2cents

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Dumb? Didn't he go back and try to take the test once he realised he'd missed it? Could have all been an act though, could very well have been doping and it was all a ruse.
I really can't remember, so long ago now.
 

CognitiveNeuro

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Does anyone else think Guardiola is doping? He acts like he's on cocaine or adderall or something during certain press conferences. Surely his behavior isn't normal....I'm surprised no one really talks about it.
 

CaptainAvengers

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Football hasn't had it's big doping scandal like other sports yet.. strange considering it is the most popular sport Worldwide..
 

Denis79

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It's like the NBA I guess, they just kinda let everyone get on with it because when it comes down to it, who benefits from a huge scandal?
Pretty much like you said it, no one benifits.
 

KirkDuyt

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I'm sure there's plenty of doping, but the Leicester thing is a bit silly. Of course doping massively helps, but you can dope this years Fulham out of their fecking minds and they'll still struggle the stay up.
 

Snowjoe

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Forgive my ignorance on this subject, wouldnt doping be evident in the urine samples taken after the games?
In theory, however there’s always cases of dopers being ahead of the game in how they mask the drugs so there’s potential that the test will still come back clean.
 

Denis79

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Does anyone else think Guardiola is doping? He acts like he's on cocaine or adderall or something during certain press conferences. Surely his behavior isn't normal....I'm surprised no one really talks about it.
Haha that's funny, my wife says the same and she works at a home for people with addiction problems.
 

BobbyManc

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No, my argument would be that perhaps they had an unusual amount of players doping that year as opposed to other teams that might have one or two doing it.
I'm very open to the possibility that doping is widespread in football but I do find it hard to believe something like what Leicester achieved could be mostly down to that. For one, we'd have to assume that doping is that effective, and that few other teams or players were doing it to explain the huge difference it made. I think they just had a freak and lucky season and benefited from the failure of all the other top sides.
 

HTG

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Haha that's funny, my wife says the same and she works at a home for people with addiction problems.
While I would be careful accusing someone of something like this without any proof, I'd assume that these drugs are very common among managers. They work a lot, are under immense pressure and have to function all the time. I'd be surprised if this wasn't extremely widesprea.But again, I wouldn't accuse someone of this directly.


To add to the discussion in general:
Of course there is doping in football. Loads of it. I assume that there are more teams practicing it, than not. The thing is, nobody really cares. People like the records that get broken, they like the entertainment it gives them. So nobody really has any interest in uncovering it. And even if it gets uncovered, nobody cares. Best example is the world cup final 1954, where the Germans were obviously doping with pervitin. There is an incredible amount evidence in this direction, but it doesn't really ever seem to get acknowledged. The story is just too good.
 

Nanook

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How many people had inside knowledge that Lance Armstrong was doping? A dozen? And yet they couldn’t even hide that.

I do find it difficult to believe most (or all) teams in the major European leagues are doping and have been for decades. There’d be thousands of people who know about it including hundreds of players who are now bankrupt. Why wouldn’t they write a book or go to the press?

It happens, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as common as some are suggesting.
 

Matt007a

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It would be naive to think doping doesn’t happen in football. There are no sports anywhere that are genuinely clean, except maybe those which don’t require physical prowess like darts or snooker for example.

I think the only question is how widespread it is and how much of a difference it makes. Clearly being fitter and stronger makes you better as a player and as a team but it doesn’t boost your technique or footballing brain.

The Leicester example doesn’t add up to me. Doping can’t explain their form change during the title winning season. There were many factors that all aligned perfectly for them. A perfect storm!
 

Jazz

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Already knew most of the stuff in that article. Honestly though, there is no way there isn't widespread doping in football. There's so much money sloshing around, it's impossible to think otherwise, and this is the reason why we'll never have a big scandal - FIFA/UEFA ain't letting go of their cash cow.

Don't know if it's just individuals or it's a team thing, but it's definitely there. People dope in athletics where you hardly make any money, much less football where the rewards are so much greater.

I have to admit, a part of me was astonished by Liverpool's stamina during their CL matches, whilst still fighting for the PL title. Not accusing so resident Liverpool fans here please don't drag me:lol:, I was just so taken aback that the thought, rightly or wrongly, crossed my mind. Maybe I'm too much into other sports where suspicion is never far away.

I do 100% believe Bale was on something. I remember looking at him after preseason with Madrid and just couldn't believe my eyes.
In any case, if they want to take it fine, but I hope they think about their health, no money in the world is worth that. Reading about the symptoms of these things scares me to death.
 

Jazz

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Forgive my ignorance on this subject, wouldnt doping be evident in the urine samples taken after the games?
Easily dealt with by pros. It's the blood testing that will provide the results, mostly. I believe we have an outdated system in football. They do not test as rigorously as they do in athletics, cycling etc.