Off Topic English football

[Rob]

Absolutely loving KDB’s post today. Wonderful player, wonderful man. 

[Ashez]

17 minutes ago, billy2shots said:

Souness has just raised a valid point.  Clubs have probably signed contracts to take part in the ESL.

I wonder if the late arm twisting of City and Chelsea meant they haven't signed agreements so they are able to bail early and that's why the other teams are stuck and are being quiet.

Those two could also cover any fees for leaving though. Obviously it can't be as easy as just walking away, and I assume it won't be pocket change to get out, unless it all folds. 

We've now lost a sponsor over this. 

[Aaron Thornton]

2 hours ago, Rob said:

Rumours that Woodward has resigned? All sorts going around.

Yesssssssssssssssssssss! But in all seriousness good riddance, now we need rid of the Glazers and everything is OK on our end. 

[Aaron Thornton]

They tried to destroy the beautiful game for a whole day and still failed. 

[Aaron Thornton]

1 hour ago, billy2shots said:

Souness has just raised a valid point.  Clubs have probably signed contracts to take part in the ESL. 

But then wouldn't the players of known about it. 

[Ian]

It was done hours ago but no doubt there was an agreement in place so the players could come out and go against it beforehand to save face. Just a shit show all round. Was never going to happen though as I said at the beginning. 

[L_Dotz]

We love to see it ! Fan power remains strong💪🏽

[Woody]

3 hours ago, Rob said:

Rumours that Woodward has resigned? All sorts going around.

I can confirm i have not!

I shall be lingering around these parts for foreseable future.

 

[geordiekrispy]

Well... that was a fun 24-48 hours!

 

So ESL's DOA. Certain clubs have realised that maybe they need "common people" to actually give them money so they can make money.

Jose's out. We'll see how bad the dressing room was when they play next, but I expect a bit of a bounce.

and oh yeah the Newcastle takeover arbitration is still on going, but surely everything that has been said about the top 6 not wanting it and forcing the Premier League's hand is surely now being looked at in a different light?

[Meow]

Looks like the idea itself stopped. Unfortunately that means all football fans will go quiet, even though the new CL reform is FUCKING awful.

We'll be getting big club matches with minimal significance in a 10 team group stage, diminishing the rareness of 2 clubs meeting. 2 historical "pity" slots for pathetic teams who can't even finish 4th. The 5th placed (French) league has 4 slots now. I remember when the 4 league (Italian) used to only have 3, and I was genuinely excited at the prospect England could lose 1.

Now we'll slowly transition to what was announced as the ESL anyway, except under UEFA instead of a breakaway. The larger clubs will slowly gain more power to try this again.

[geordiekrispy]

5 minutes ago, Meow said:

Looks like the idea itself stopped. Unfortunately that means all football fans will go quiet, even though the new CL reform is FUCKING awful.

We'll be getting big club matches with minimal significance in a 10 team group stage, diminishing the rareness of 2 clubs meeting. 2 historical "pity" slots for pathetic teams who can't even finish 4th. The 5th placed (French) league has 4 slots now. I remember when the 4 league (Italian) used to only have 3, and I was genuinely excited at the prospect England could lose 1.

Now we'll slowly transition to what was announced as the ESL anyway, except under UEFA instead of a breakaway. The larger clubs will slowly gain more power to try this again.

Edited April 21, 2021 by geordiekrispy

[Ashez]

1 hour ago, Meow said:

Looks like the idea itself stopped. Unfortunately that means all football fans will go quiet, even though the new CL reform is FUCKING awful.

We'll be getting big club matches with minimal significance in a 10 team group stage, diminishing the rareness of 2 clubs meeting. 2 historical "pity" slots for pathetic teams who can't even finish 4th. The 5th placed (French) league has 4 slots now. I remember when the 4 league (Italian) used to only have 3, and I was genuinely excited at the prospect England could lose 1.

Now we'll slowly transition to what was announced as the ESL anyway, except under UEFA instead of a breakaway. The larger clubs will slowly gain more power to try this again.

Agreed, this has shown the light in many ways and I hope people don't stop here. Sky, BT and the organisations still have alot to answer to. 

Salary caps and transfer limits need to come in, it's clear as day that's where the issue is as the top clubs are in an arms race. The days of 400k a week contracts and 100m-200m transfers have to disappear as that's not sustainable and it's what leads to panic. How far are we away from someone

 earning a 1m a week? It seems madness yet multiple players are already on 400k+ and you can guess at what clubs. 

Barcelona are the perfect example of trying to play ball with the likes of City and PSG who are bottomless. Now irresponsible spending, stupidly high wages and the panedic have left them in a dangerous position. 

Even Chelsea and City with bags of cash to burn felt the need to jump on the SL wagon in fear of being left behind. That's mental! The main reason the likes of Liverpool and Spurs wanted to join is to be able to compete. 

Spending within your means and FFP didn't work, now I do think salary caps and better FFP transfer fee wise needs to be seriously looked into. Yes I agree if wages are capped at say 200k a player it levels the playing field and removes the advantages of clubs with money but if we aren't careful we'll lose the pretenders in the process or he forced into something like the SL in the future. 

[geordiekrispy]

I'm not sure salary caps could work, or they'd be at a level where they're almost pointless...

 

Other leagues have salary caps, Australia for example and it really doesn't help, but the a-league is a mess anyway.

[Meow]

1 hour ago, Ashez said:

Agreed, this has shown the light in many ways and I hope people don't stop here. Sky, BT and the organisations still have alot to answer to. 

Oh they'll be having a tug in the shower, now that they've retained the broadcasting rights to having the top European competition back on their books. See how quickly all the pundits and mainstream media have begun blaring that all is good? They were never on our side.

 

1 hour ago, Ashez said:

Salary caps and transfer limits need to come in, it's clear as day that's where the issue is as the top clubs are in an arms race. The days of 400k a week contracts and 100m-200m transfers have to disappear as that's not sustainable and it's what leads to panic. How far are we away from someone

 earning a 1m a week? It seems madness yet multiple players are already on 400k+ and you can guess at what clubs. 

Barcelona are the perfect example of trying to play ball with the likes of City and PSG who are bottomless. Now irresponsible spending, stupidly high wages and the panedic have left them in a dangerous position. 

Even Chelsea and City with bags of cash to burn felt the need to jump on the SL wagon in fear of being left behind. That's mental! The main reason the likes of Liverpool and Spurs wanted to join is to be able to compete. 

Spending within your means and FFP didn't work, now I do think salary caps and better FFP transfer fee wise needs to be seriously looked into. Yes I agree if wages are capped at say 200k a player it levels the playing field and removes the advantages of clubs with money but if we aren't careful we'll lose the pretenders in the process or he forced into something like the SL in the future. 

Transfer and salary caps isn't the way in my opinion. The way really forward in my opinion to reform the Champions League slowly back to how the European Cup was. End goal should be the scrapping of awarding top 4 mediocrity, and saving the historic FA Cup from becoming a mickey mouse trophy.  

We might've seen Dutch and Belgian clubs rise to European glory by now if not because of top leagues monopolising the Champions League qualification, then buying off all their talent. We've mugged the smaller leagues of their Champions League places with a shitty league coordinate system for years, but I'm guessing 99% of big club fans aren't with me on this one. I can't name 4 clubs from the top 4 leagues that aren't in absolute SHAMBLES this season, let alone think we should admit 16 of them into the Champions League.

For the record, I don't think this will happen. I think it hit me particularly hard back in 2016, when I was told "Who wants to see a tinpot club in the Champions League rather than the 4th placed English team?". This was when only 3 leagues get 4 places, and England were close to losing 1 place. The rules were changed as recent as the 18/19 season, next reform even the French league gets 4.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Meow

[geordiekrispy]

I still am amazed that the dutch leagues still have to qualify for a european competition even if they win the league.

[Ashez]

3 hours ago, Meow said:

Oh they'll be having a tug in the shower, now that they've retained the broadcasting rights to having the top European competition back on their books. See how quickly all the pundits and mainstream media have begun blaring that all is good? They were never on our side.

 

Transfer and salary caps isn't the way in my opinion. The way really forward in my opinion to reform the Champions League slowly back to how the European Cup was. End goal should be the scrapping of awarding top 4 mediocrity, and saving the historic FA Cup from becoming a mickey mouse trophy.  

We might've seen Dutch and Belgian clubs rise to European glory by now if not because of top leagues monopolising the Champions League qualification, then buying off all their talent. We've mugged the smaller leagues of their Champions League places with a shitty league coordinate system for years, but I'm guessing 99% of big club fans aren't with me on this one. I can't name 4 clubs from the top 4 leagues that aren't in absolute SHAMBLES this season, let alone think we should admit 16 of them into the Champions League.

For the record, I don't think this will happen. I think it hit me particularly hard back in 2016, when I was told "Who wants to see a tinpot club in the Champions League rather than the 4th placed English team?". This was when only 3 leagues get 4 places, and England were close to losing 1 place. The rules were changed as recent as the 18/19 season, next reform even the French league gets 4.

They were totally acting in their own self interest for sure. I still think a subscription streaming service for all games at a reasonable price is the way to go. 

Just listened to a podcast, United for example get 53p a year per supporter currently, if they sold their own rights for 3 games to 10% of their estimated fanbase for £2 they'd make £200m per game, more than anything they currently get. That's where the money is, cut out Sky and BT and go direct to source, at a price cheap enough the majority go for it. LFC Twitter has 17m followers. £10 a month to each of them is mega money. Admittedly I'd worry if each club handled it themselves as you would get screwed at points if you wanted to watch other big games, but the Prem and CL especially should have their own streaming platforms. Needing Sky, BT, Amazon and a TV licence (BBC games) for football is a joke. One of the key reasons they justified the SL was to attract kids, the issue isn't they aren't interested but they're priced out the game. Tickets, merch, subscriptions and everything else are stupidly expensive. 

Personally I love the top 4 stuff, it makes the league interesting imo. If that wasn't there you'd only have the title race and the relegation battle to care about. Getting into the Champions League means something and it is exciting, especially when you get cases like West Ham this year or Leicester last season. Admittedly we're currently in a top four battle so I'm biased but I'm glad we're fighting for something instead of losing interest in football and waiting for the season to restart because we're safe and not challenging for the title etc. 

Maybe four teams is a few too many but it's what the Prem is based on. Aston Villa got investment to fight for Europe, as did Wolves and Everton, I do think it adds to the league. The CL is basically just "promotion" like the lower leagues have. Maybe to spice it up only have 3 places but have a playoff between 3rd and 4th for the final spot or something like the Championship Playoffs. Be a big pay day and a hype game, but I'd hate to be in that position 😂. 

I do agree some leagues need a better route into the CL though and a bigger share of the pot. 

[Ashez]

He's took ownership of the decision, so he should. He's apologized as he should. 

Yet he repeatedly calls it your club and uses your repeatedly. I guess that's meant to make a point? And don't get me wrong it is our club but it's also his? He let his club down, he screwed his club over, he screwed his staff, he tried to destroy our history and so on. 

FSG have constantly failed to learn from their mistakes be it attempting to trademark Liverpool, to furloughing staff, to Project Big Picture and now the Super League. Enough is enough. 

On the verge of a vital game he drops this Super League bombshell with no word of warning or explanation to his staff. He then puts our club, our manager and our players in the spotlight as we're playing that night. We get the hatred, we get the spotlight on Sky, we get the unneeded distraction. Obviously it would have been on everyone's minds, the entire playing staffs careers were on the line without warning yet they were expected to go out and do a professional job. 

He"s took ownership and then gone into the sob story the entire world has had to deal with, piss off mate. 

FSG have done amazing things for us, they've developed the stadium, built a new training facility, made us competitive yet all that was built on the back of Klopp. Yet they hung him and the staff out to dry. They betrayed us all. 

This is obviously still raw but I don't see how this bridge can be rebuilt. I'm not a hypocrite, I know we can't compete with City and the like, I know they can't afford to spend £150m on Mbappe and the like but that's what's killing the game, noone should be able to do that, actually I mean noone should have to do that to compete. The Neymar transfer, the stupid wages of 400k+ and all the money grabbing across the game needs to piss off. 

[Rob]

2 minutes ago, Ashez said:

He's took ownership of the decision, so he should. He's apologized as he should. 

Yet he repeatedly calls it your club and uses your repeatedly. I guess that's meant to make a point? And don't get me wrong it is our club but it's also his? He let his club down, he screwed his club over, he screwed his staff, he tried to destroy our history and so on. 

FSG have constantly failed to learn from their mistakes be it attempting to trademark Liverpool, to furloughing staff, to Project Big Picture and now the Super League. Enough is enough. 

On the verge of a vital game he drops this Super League bombshell with no word of warning or explanation to his staff. He then puts our club, our manager and our players in the spotlight as we're playing that night. We get the hatred, we get the spotlight on Sky, we get the unneeded distraction. Obviously it would have been on everyone's minds, the entire playing staffs careers were on the line without warning yet they were expected to go out and do a professional job. 

He"s took ownership and then gone into the sob story the entire world has had to deal with, piss off mate. 

FSG have done amazing things for us, they've developed the stadium, built a new training facility, made us competitive yet all that was built on the back of Klopp. Yet they hung him and the staff out to dry. They betrayed us all. 

This is obviously still raw but I don't see how this bridge can be rebuilt. I'm not a hypocrite, I know we can't compete with City and the like, I know they can't afford to spend £150m on Mbappe and the like but that's what's killing the game, noone should be able to do that, actually I mean noone should have to do that to compete. The Neymar transfer, the stupid wages of 400k+ and all the money grabbing across the game needs to piss off. 

Just about to post about this but you beat me to it! Agree with most of what you said, although I think whoever advised him to issue an apology early doors (I guess to be ‘the first’) needs sacking as, like you, most of us are still raw about the whole thing!

[Woody]

16 minutes ago, Ashez said:

He's took ownership of the decision, so he should. He's apologized as he should. 

Yet he repeatedly calls it your club and uses your repeatedly. I guess that's meant to make a point? And don't get me wrong it is our club but it's also his? He let his club down, he screwed his club over, he screwed his staff, he tried to destroy our history and so on. 

FSG have constantly failed to learn from their mistakes be it attempting to trademark Liverpool, to furloughing staff, to Project Big Picture and now the Super League. Enough is enough. 

On the verge of a vital game he drops this Super League bombshell with no word of warning or explanation to his staff. He then puts our club, our manager and our players in the spotlight as we're playing that night. We get the hatred, we get the spotlight on Sky, we get the unneeded distraction. Obviously it would have been on everyone's minds, the entire playing staffs careers were on the line without warning yet they were expected to go out and do a professional job. 

He"s took ownership and then gone into the sob story the entire world has had to deal with, piss off mate. 

FSG have done amazing things for us, they've developed the stadium, built a new training facility, made us competitive yet all that was built on the back of Klopp. Yet they hung him and the staff out to dry. They betrayed us all. 

This is obviously still raw but I don't see how this bridge can be rebuilt. I'm not a hypocrite, I know we can't compete with City and the like, I know they can't afford to spend £150m on Mbappe and the like but that's what's killing the game, noone should be able to do that, actually I mean noone should have to do that to compete. The Neymar transfer, the stupid wages of 400k+ and all the money grabbing across the game needs to piss off. 

Ive heard they have been put up for sale Ash. Is that true? Have you heard that?

[Ashez]

22 minutes ago, Rob said:

Just about to post about this but you beat me to it! Agree with most of what you said, although I think whoever advised him to issue an apology early doors (I guess to be ‘the first’) needs sacking as, like you, most of us are still raw about the whole thing!

I think he's done it for two reasons 

1. LFC social media was rampaging last night at the statement as it had no mention of the fans, an apology or even a name attached. 

2. He was caught by the BBC in America which was released shortly before this apology. He didn't say anything you could hear but it wasn't a good look. 

 

9 minutes ago, Woody said:

Ive heard they have been put up for sale Ash. Is that true? Have you heard that?

Seen a few rumours online that the SL failure means we'll have to sell stars and that the club is up for sale as they can't compete. Dunno if any have legs but if this was their big idea all along and it's flopped and if they don't want to continue to sink money into us I guess they're off. There has always been rumours we'd be available if a stupid offer came in. 

They got us for £300m, obviously we were days away from administration and in the shitter when they did save us. They've took us places and improved us but £300m is a steal. They got all our history, playing staff and the future for £40 under what PSG paid for Neymar FFS. Just let that sink in. Neymar cost £40m less than our entire club. We're now apparently worth somewhere between 1.7b and 2b. 

I know this thread hates the netspend narrative but they've made the club worth so bloody much without investing that much. The success on the pitch and player sales was used. 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Ashez

[Rob]

Interesting on the sales element: wonder if most of them will now be for sale?

[Meow]

43 minutes ago, Ashez said:

They were totally acting in their own self interest for sure. I still think a subscription streaming service for all games at a reasonable price is the way to go. 

Just listened to a podcast, United for example get 53p a year per supporter currently, if they sold their own rights for 3 games to 10% of their estimated fanbase for £2 they'd make £200m per game, more than anything they currently get. That's where the money is, cut out Sky and BT and go direct to source, at a price cheap enough the majority go for it. LFC Twitter has 17m followers. £10 a month to each of them is mega money. Admittedly I'd worry if each club handled it themselves as you would get screwed at points if you wanted to watch other big games, but the Prem and CL especially should have their own streaming platforms. Needing Sky, BT, Amazon and a TV licence (BBC games) for football is a joke. One of the key reasons they justified the SL was to attract kids, the issue isn't they aren't interested but they're priced out the game. Tickets, merch, subscriptions and everything else are stupidly expensive. 

I'm no expert with broadcasting rights, but I think that issue is partly legal. That part I'm not even going to touch.

But isn't there some consensus that TV rights is at least partially meant to be distributed more equally (at least in the Premier League), and the advantage of the larger fanbase would materialise as commercial revenue? Newly promoted clubs struggle as is, even if they take more money per supporter now.

 

43 minutes ago, Ashez said:

Personally I love the top 4 stuff, it makes the league interesting imo. If that wasn't there you'd only have the title race and the relegation battle to care about. Getting into the Champions League means something and it is exciting, especially when you get cases like West Ham this year or Leicester last season. Admittedly we're currently in a top four battle so I'm biased but I'm glad we're fighting for something instead of losing interest in football and waiting for the season to restart because we're safe and not challenging for the title etc. 

Maybe four teams is a few too many but it's what the Prem is based on. Aston Villa got investment to fight for Europe, as did Wolves and Everton, I do think it adds to the league. The CL is basically just "promotion" like the lower leagues have. Maybe to spice it up only have 3 places but have a playoff between 3rd and 4th for the final spot or something like the Championship Playoffs. Be a big pay day and a hype game, but I'd hate to be in that position 😂. 

We can agree to disagree on this then. I think European competition being a rare opportunity is exactly what gave so much meaning to winning an FA Cup, it's a route to Europe. 

The Europa League would feel less like a shit cup if runners up of the top 4 leagues are there, that's what I think.

 

26 minutes ago, Ashez said:

I do agree some leagues need a better route into the CL though and a bigger share of the pot. 

There are only so many places. 16 of the 32 are auto into the group stage from the top 4 leagues, another 3 more from the 5th ranked league.

We're really out of options of who to take from to give better routes into the CL. 

[Woody]

9 minutes ago, Ashez said:

I think he's done it for two reasons 

1. LFC social media was rampaging last night at the statement as it had no mention of the fans, an apology or even a name attached. 

2. He was caught by the BBC in America which was released shortly before this apology. He didn't say anything you could hear but it wasn't a good look. 

 

Seen a few rumours online that the SL failure means we'll have to sell stars and that the club is up for sale as they can't compete. Dunno if any have legs but if this was their big idea all along and it's flopped and if they don't want to continue to sink money into us I guess they're off. There has always been rumours we'd be available if a stupid offer came in. 

They got us for £300m, obviously we were days away from administration and in the shitter when they did save us. They've took us places and improved us but £300m is a steal. They got all our history, playing staff and the future for £40 under what PSG paid for Neymar FFS. Just let that sink in. Neymar cost £40m less than our entire club. We're now apparently worth somewhere between 1.7b and 2b. 

I know this thread hates the netspend narrative but they've made the club worth so bloody much without investing that much. The success on the pitch and player sales was used. 

I honestly cant see players being sold to balance the books. 

Liverpool are definately healthy finance wise its the spending power they are worried about. British clubs can out spend european clubs easily its the competition with each other thats vausing the issue thats why Chelsea and Man City said they had no choice but to join the ESL. 

Spending power doesnt guarentee success but it helps.

[Ashez]

40 minutes ago, Meow said:

I'm no expert with broadcasting rights, but I think that issue is partly legal. That part I'm not even going to touch.

But isn't there some consensus that TV rights is at least partially meant to be distributed more equally (at least in the Premier League), and the advantage of the larger fanbase would materialise as commercial revenue? Newly promoted clubs struggle as is, even if they take more money per supporter now.

 

We can agree to disagree on this then. I think European competition being a rare opportunity is exactly what gave so much meaning to winning an FA Cup, it's a route to Europe. 

The Europa League would feel less like a shit cup if runners up of the top 4 leagues are there, that's what I think.

 

There are only so many places. 16 of the 32 are auto into the group stage from the top 4 leagues, another 3 more from the 5th ranked league.

We're really out of options of who to take from to give better routes into the CL. 

The FA cups issue is we just have too many games. Yes Europe is a problem with that but the League Cup is more of an issue imo, bin that off and have the FA Cup spread out throughout the year. Who seriously cares about the league cup? Unless you make the final it's pointless. 

The Europa League still wouldn't be taken seriously imo. Personally I don't see the reason to not provide such opportunities to clubs that do well, the more involved the more games, the more money and the more experiences the fans get. Even if it was full of teams that finished second and third instead of fifth and sixth it's still the little brother. Europe is a reward and an experience for fans, it lets them play exotic opposition they'd never usually play, to travel to places they'd never usually go and so on. It adds spice to the season, sure it's not always a showpiece event to the neutral to be those involved it's something. Personally I loved our Europa League run and I was gutted we lost it to Sevilla, it also started the run we went on to have. Without that experience maybe we don't get to the next two finals. 

51 minutes ago, Rob said:

Interesting on the sales element: wonder if most of them will now be for sale?

The issue is are there buyers out there. These are the big clubs with the elite price tags. Then you have the issue of where these people with deep pockets got their cash. 

45 minutes ago, Woody said:

I honestly cant see players being sold to balance the books. 

Liverpool are definately healthy finance wise its the spending power they are worried about. British clubs can out spend european clubs easily its the competition with each other thats vausing the issue thats why Chelsea and Man City said they had no choice but to join the ESL. 

Spending power doesnt guarentee success but it helps.

I agree with that, we've egged each other on until the point where we now can't compete. United are spending 80m like it's nothing and paying the backup keeper £400k a week, City spend £250m a year on defenders, in unprecedented times Chelsea throw £200m at players and so on. I'm not surprised the likes of us and Spurs are scared as we just can't compete with that. 

Like I said when do wages stop? We've creeped to £400k, when will it be 600k or 1m a week. Werner is on the best part of 300k iirc and look what he's done, how'd Chelsea get him? By blowing us out the water like they did for Torres and like City did with Sterling. Our pockets just aren't deep enough so if they saw a way to make money and guarantee our future I'm not surprised they took it. As I said the other day I don't care we were at the table, we 100% should have been but I'm ashamed we not only agreed to the idea in secret but also pushed for it. 

Maybe it's the circles I've created for myself but the Liverpool coverage seems way more highlighted than any of the other included clubs? Like we're being held to a higher accountability? I like to put Liverpool on a pedestal but it feels like everyone has. Even Neville said he's most disappointed in us and I don't think that was just a dig. 

[StuartM]

As a 'neutral' supporter. It does seem like Liverpool have been getting more press, by the same token Arsenal have had very little and seem to have escaped the worst of it... again it might be the circles I'm in for that.

My take, I always thought that Utd., Liverpool and Arsenal were the clubs to look up to... Generally did things the right way, partly because they could as they have the income, partly because they were part of the establishment. To me, they have lost that allure now... its not just the what but how all the clubs have gone about it which is sad if unsurprising.

Bayern and Dortmund have come out of this well, their actions are probably because they knew they would never get away with it not because they didn't want the money! Its all a bit of a paradox though as whilst the German ownership model sounds great, you do see Bayern at the top all the time as they have the most money.

Oh well, at least we can right things on FMM!

[Rob]

Just read this:

’This all started as a James Bond movie: a really sharp, intelligent and evil organisation vying for global dominance. It ended as an Austin Powers movie with Dr Evil as the main antagonist.’

🤪

[StuartM]

I liked this one, not mine:

This European Super League is like a lads night out before everyone asks their Mrs if it’s ok.

[Rob]

Spurs win and City are winning. Two of the ‘big six’ (bs) doing the business. 🤦‍♂️ I feel a bit sorry (genuinely) for Liverpool as they were the only bs team who had a game during the midst of the furore.

Having done a lot of reading on the whole Super League thing this evening I never realised what a mess Barcelona are in. Wowsa! The English clubs joining the ESL and then leaving, thus hitting everyone with financial losses is genius if it stops the likes of Barca from buying their players!

[Ashez]

5 minutes ago, Rob said:

Spurs win and City are winning. Two of the ‘big six’ (bs) doing the business. 🤦‍♂️ I feel a bit sorry (genuinely) for Liverpool as they were the only bs team who had a game during the midst of the furore.

I was thinking that myself but thought I was being biased lol. We get the massive distraction and basically put on show as the figure head of it. Chelsea had some of that yesterday and they admitted it impacted them, even though it was essentially over by that point. 

We played a game that at the time was basically meaningless, now it's a vital two points dropped. Obviously we should have done what it took to win the game regardless but it was some distraction. As fans we were furious, imagine what it did to people who's careers were on the line. 

9 minutes ago, Rob said:

Having done a lot of reading on the whole Super League thing this evening I never realised what a mess Barcelona are in. Wowsa! The English clubs joining the ESL and then leaving, thus hitting everyone with financial losses is genius if it stops the likes of Barca from buying their players!

Yeah the Spanish clubs are in a right mess, I think that's why they pushed for this to get abit of the English pie. Like I said the other day Barca are trying to compete with the likes of PSG and City with daft wages and transfer fees that just aren't sustainable for most. How many near or over 100m transfers have they done, and unfortunately all have failed. Then they have Messi on daft money knowing they have to as if not a City or PSG will offer the 400k etc. 

Then the president model means each one is trying to better the last with promises of massive signings and the like. They're struggling financially yet they'll still promise the likes of Haaland to get elected then try and do the deal etc. 

In many ways I'm grateful as there is an excellent Athlete podcast which basically says the knock on effect of Neymar was Liverpool winning the title and CL. It seems daft but it does add up. Barca were arrogant about Neymar and he left, Barca panicked into giving us £140m for Coutinho which we used for VVD and Becker who were the missing pieces we needed for success. Without Neymar we don't have the money for those two vital cogs and we likely don't win either title. It's mad when you think about it really. 

[Rob]

10 minutes ago, Ashez said:

I was thinking that myself but thought I was being biased lol. We get the massive distraction and basically put on show as the figure head of it. Chelsea had some of that yesterday and they admitted it impacted them, even though it was essentially over by that point. 

We played a game that at the time was basically meaningless, now it's a vital two points dropped. Obviously we should have done what it took to win the game regardless but it was some distraction. As fans we were furious, imagine what it did to people who's careers were on the line. 

Yeah the Spanish clubs are in a right mess, I think that's why they pushed for this to get abit of the English pie. Like I said the other day Barca are trying to compete with the likes of PSG and City with daft wages and transfer fees that just aren't sustainable for most. How many near or over 100m transfers have they done, and unfortunately all have failed. Then they have Messi on daft money knowing they have to as if not a City or PSG will offer the 400k etc. 

Then the president model means each one is trying to better the last with promises of massive signings and the like. They're struggling financially yet they'll still promise the likes of Haaland to get elected then try and do the deal etc. 

In many ways I'm grateful as there is an excellent Athlete podcast which basically says the knock on effect of Neymar was Liverpool winning the title and CL. It seems daft but it does add up. Barca were arrogant about Neymar and he left, Barca panicked into giving us £140m for Coutinho which we used for VVD and Becker who were the missing pieces we needed for success. Without Neymar we don't have the money for those two vital cogs and we likely don't win either title. It's mad when you think about it really. 

Totally get what you say about Neymar. Absolutely fascinating stuff. Getting that cash for Coutinho was incredible, almost unbelievable. What a windfall and the way it was spent was perfect - it all felt a bit like playing FMM and buying two players you need by selling one you didn’t from an offer someone made out of the blue!