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The 2021-2022 Football Thread
- Thread starter Scepticalscribe
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Because they’re all owned by private individuals who don’t want a system where they can’t sell their club to cashed up despots.
Klopp, to his credit, has expressed concerns, and has come out against this transaction.
I was stunned to read Hassenhuttl coming out and saying the investment in NUFC is great for the game.
perhaps there was more to the interview that wasn’t printed but it was a hot take in the way it was published.
Klopp tried to claim its the same as the ESL. Can’t work out how they’re close to the same myself. Klopp just seemed concerned Liverpool would be less likely to ge ta champions league place in a few years. He’s never been concerned Newcastle couldn’t get one for the last 14 years.
You've said several times that this takeover is a totally different situation than the ESL. There are a lot of differences, I've been willing to admit that several times now, but you seem unwilling to recognize the one, very big, commonality running though everything people are talking about - Chelsea, Man City, The Big Six, the ESL, the expanded CL, the biannual World Cup, the fit and proper persons test, NUFC/PIF: the growing levels of inequality and anti-competitiveness in the game and the co-opting of sports teams as the vehicles of profit and politics.
So the question is, do you want to deal with the corruption and financial doping in the game - or are you just happy to run with the big dogs now?
Look: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the very worst regimes on the planet.
This is not about "making Saudi Arabia more liberal", rather, it is about removing (or silencing, or co-opting) alternative sources of political power to MBS (that includes the clergy), and - above all - it is about diversifying the economy in order to reduce KSA's dependance on oil.
And, as with the earlier purchase of PSG, this is about soft power projection.
However, in terms of moral relativity, there is no comparison whatsoever to be made between Mike Ashley (perfectly horrible though he is) and the truly appalling government of KSA.
I want to add, as an aside - that while I have strong opinions about this and we can't pretend the game exists in a vacuum, I don't want this thread to be dominated by this discussion. There just haven't been too many noteworthy games over the last week and the NUFC sale has been by far the biggest news. But I don't need to get the last word in and I've given my opinion so I'll leave it there for now.
I totally recognise its a thing. I also recognise nobody is going to do anything about it, it’s a bit rich Klopp at Liverpool moaning about someone having more money than others when it wasn’t an issue Liverpool won the title with more money than about 18 of the other clubs in the league.
2 weeks ago none of these talking heads were complaining about the financial disparity in football, just now that they’re affected.
Klopp is talking about financial fair play. But that’s a joke in itself there is nothing fair about financial fair play. The entire system is designed to keep the rich rich under the pretence of stopping clubs going bankrupt.
if they wanted financial fair play we would have a salary cap but nobody is advocating for that because it’s not in their interests.
You’re totally correct they are awful, again you’re correct about Mike Ashley.
I agree this isn’t about liberalising Saudi but I disagree that there’s not the potential for it happen. The more people are exposed to ideas the more chance those ideas have of taking hold. The more people see things are different elsewhere the more they question how things are done but yes it’s very much secondary to sports washing the regime.
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So glad it’s back on again. I don’t know what the answer is for international football. I thought the nations league was going to replace qualifying so we didn’t have to watch teams like Andorra, San Marino and Gibraltar getting flogged constantly. I don’t know who benefits from this the way it is currently.
Agree on this. When England play the Minos I can’t even be bothered to watch. A Championship club would beat those three teams.
Anyway glad the PL is back on. We have Everton on Sunday. Hopefully their manager’s mind is elsewhere as I read Newcastle want him to replace Bruce.
Leicester haven’t been all that good lately, so I was surprised at the final scoreline. In the past, OGS has been able to pull out a win and save his job, this time, I think the decline is terminal, because a critical mass are seeing the pattern rather than individual results.
A collection of gifted indviduals is not necessarily a team, nor does it necessarily, comprise a team.
There are teams in the Premier League where the whole - of the team - is clearly greater than the sum of its individual parts.
However, Manchester United - and this predates OGS's appointment as manager, but he is not blameless, as he has failed to craft a team out of the talented raw material at his disposal, relying instead, on moments of individual brilliance for rescue - is that strange thing, a collection of (sometimes outrageously talented individuals) where the whole, the collective, the team, is markedly less than the sum of its individual (and individually gifted) parts.
I’ve been critical of OGS for years and never though Man U would achieve much with him in charge. Some how this off season I was convinced Man U were really going to pull it together this year. If they sack OGS what direction do they go for a new manager?
Very sorry that Brentford failed to secure a point (at the very least) against Chelsea today; they were superb, and also frightfully unlucky.
Yes, one must concede that Chelsea defended exceptionally well and held on - grinly, but with terrific tenacity - to their lead.
Yes, one must concede that Chelsea defended exceptionally well and held on - grinly, but with terrific tenacity - to their lead.
That's the real problem. Not a lot of appealing options available right now. The biggest names sitting on the sidelines are Zidane, who is more likely to take the France job, and Conte, whose style of football is a poor fit for United. Lucien Favre? Meh. ten Hag at Ajax is an interesting option, but bringing him in as a midseason replacement seems very unlikely.
Columbus spank Phil Neville’s Inter Miami 4-0 and suddenly the playoffs look possible again as the club emerges from a long slump.
If Ole goes before the season ends (and that looks nearly certain to happen at the moment), I don’t think a long term replacement is going to be available right away.
It sounds ludicrous to say this about a manager who won three champions league titles in a row, but I’m not convinced with Zidane as a manger at any club not called Real Madrid.
If Ole goes before the season ends (and that looks nearly certain to happen at the moment), I don’t think a long term replacement is going to be available right away.
I completely agree: Zidane is no master tactician, though I think he's more flexible and pragmatic than Ole has turned out to be. The hope is that he has the gravitas to keep things in line and hire a better set of assistants to take care of the tactics and all the other details. Again, I expect the France job will be more his speed.
Rewatched Watford - Liverpool and while Watford were poor, Salah’s confidence is just incredible right now. Level with Didier Drogba in his career PL goals tally. And Mane is just four behind that.
Firmino with some goals reminiscent of Dirk Kuyt - tap-ins from good positioning and hard work.
Firmino with some goals reminiscent of Dirk Kuyt - tap-ins from good positioning and hard work.
I think West Ham were the better team, Everton have some key injuries which of course were a factor. It’s a great result for West Ham though.
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Indeed it was. These are the teams we are really competing with, so 6 pointers.
Firmino goals reminded me of Ian Rush. Proper poachers goals.