Now if only all the people 'running' the club would do the right thing and sack themselves...
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The 2021-2022 Football Thread
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I think it’s great watching Barca implode. If only Real Madrid would follow suit.
Add Manchester City and PSG to that list. I'm sure there's more, but those are the "oil government funded" clubs that I can think of off the top of my head.
Till now, the two Spanish giants have supported their insane spending habits with a mixture of heavy merchandising and sponsorship, an unfair La Liga TV deal that gives them most of the money, an endless succession of loans and very slick accounting. Of course their accounting has gotten a little too slick lately and they're both paying for it.
The 'State clubs' like Man City and PSG (and, soon, possibly Newcastle), on the other hand, are sitting on giant mountains of actual real money. They'll never go broke under those owners.
Oh I'm sure they won't, I would just like to see them implode. For all the money they've spent and inflated the price of players, they don't seem to have all that much to show for it.
What do you want them have to show for it? Only one team a year can win the champions league. Money is only ever going to get you so far.
Agree and disagree...money alone won't win trophies but it keeps becoming a bigger part of the game.
Money is the reason all competitions are being bloated to the point of being ruined. The CL (for example) should be a single elimination knockout tournament between league winners. The only reason it's moved the opposite direction - a permanent trajectory of fixture/participant inflation - is greed, the need for ever more profitable 'content', no matter how watered down it really is. And the need to accommodate a growing number of rich teams that feel entitled, due to their self-constructed brand image, to be in the limelight constantly. The group stages are generally a bore-fest, with good matches the exception rather than the rule.
We've reached a stage where some of the 'biggest' clubs are enormously wealthy but decidedly ramshackle assemblages of ruinously expensive Big Names rather than coherent football teams. MLS drives me crazy sometimes but its parity reminds us of an earlier era when good coaching could turn relegation fodder into league winners.
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I agree.
When I look at the MLS or the A-League, where there are salary caps and proper parity between the haves and have-nots (although in the A-League there is still some disparity - esp. Sydney FC), I see the scenario where any club could win the league: even Central Coast Mariners.
It's not far-fetched for my beloved Wellington Phoenix to be A-League champs one day, even though their investment is far smaller than other clubs. There's a proper pathway for youth and when the second tier eventuates, it'll be even better (promotion/relegation is good for the game unless there's a massive drop in cash with relegation like the Premier League).
CL has the same old names beating the same old names - I used to be excited for CL football, but now it's just a bunch of uber-wealthy clubs smashing minnows until the quarter finals. Nothing more gripping than Real Madrid playing Ludogrets...
The real problem though, is that we all (football fans of particular clubs) want to see this ridiculous disparity disappear, but we also secretly (and sometimes not-so-secretly) wish for our club to join those uber-wealthy clubs in the elite ranks, through the investment of a billionaire or consortium of billionaires that also happen to be mega-fans of your club, so they keep the spirit of the club, while injecting insane amounts of money into the coffers, to buy over-priced squads and win everything imaginable.
Where does that leave the Preston North End's and the Bury's of the world? They can never aspire to rise through the ranks. Their destiny appears to be written - third tier, fourth tier, non-league forever.
Just doesn't sit well with me...but I wouldn't say no to a benevolent billionaire snapping up the Saints.
What a conundrum!!
Before you know it, you may have become what you hate...it's the Faustian bargain more and more football fans will face as the game becomes more and more about money.
Well as long as we don’t try and join any elitist European leagues I’m okay with it. I know nothing about this guy, but hopefully it’s all good. Of course at this stage it’s just paper talk. We could just as easily stay as we are.
Mind you even that’s going especially well. Europa league is progressing nicely and not harming our league form as I feared it might. Our b team is doing the business and a quarter final in the milk cup (old reference but the one that sticks in my head). Currently sat 4th in the league. Just 5 points away from the top. Mind you we are also just 5 points away from 12th. It’s a very close table at this point isn’t it?
It’s not Mike Ashley is it? Being a billionaire means very little apparently.
Ah, sigh.
Well, I remember when that competition was known as The League Cup.
And I remember a prestigious competition that went by the name of the European Cup, and then, there was the one that used to be called The Cup Winners Cup.
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I cannot but agree with you.
At least, the FA Cup is still the FA Cup and not some ghastly branded trophy.
I have just started watching for the first time in my life live Premier League football games because (1) thank you Ted Lasso; (2) it's a good time to have something to cheer for; (3) it's great fun, relaxing and enjoyable (why didn't I know this already?); and (4) the fans singing! I did watch the Man City and Liverpool game, wow! I've never been a sports watcher but now I get it.
I've been wondering just how much impact Ted Lasso has had on getting Americans into soccer. Welcome to the thread!
I suggest you also start watching MLS too - the US league is not at the same level as the Premier League but it has gotten a lot better over the last decade and the games are in the evenings. ESPN+ is a cheap subscription and carries quite a few matches. It's also a good way to follow some of the best American players (the ones not playing in Europe).
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Thank you! The funny thing is I managed our varsity soccer team as a high school senior (and we won the division that year), so I understand the game. But after that, into college and beyond, never really watched much sports, although I don't know whether soccer was broadcast much in those days.
Coverage in the US has increased dramatically in the last 15 years. NBC has the Premier League rights at the moment, but apart from that and of course MLS you can now also watch some UK lower division league matches and all the Mexican, Italian, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, and South American league football regularly, including various domestic and international Cup competitions.
The cost of getting access to all of that at once is, in my opinion, a ripoff, but it is all available to Americans right now.