The 2022-2023 Football Thread

[Scepticalscribe]

The current rumor (and nothing about this deal has, to my knowledge, been confirmed publicly as yet) is that Henderson has already agreed terms with Al Ettifaq, though Liverpool has not yet agreed to a transfer fee. Klopp wanted him to stay on and the club consequently will haggle over a fee.

Barney Ronay wrote a good piece on the context of the deal that eloquently echoes my thoughts on it. And Ronay is right when he points out that we are all culpable for this. Every ounce of toleration of sportswashing is our collective responsibility. The fact that most fans don't want to face up to that reality (and many angrily, even viciously, deny it) doesn't make it ok or make it go away. These big fees and wages are bribes to draw players to a crap league and a country with a terrible human rights record in order to use them to make the regime look better / distract people from what they are doing.

And it's working. Henderson is on the record as being morally opposed to the ways nations like Saudi Arabia treat people. He is now an important member of a project aimed at ensuring that the Saudis' barbaric social oppressions at home will continue without harming their plans at growing their international reputation and business interest. In return he will earn £100,000 per day in Saudi Arabia.

Excellent post, and thank you for linking (and drawing my attention to) the piece by the invariably excellent Barney Ronay, which I had failed to spot as I have been abroad (and exceptionally busy) for the past six weeks, and have missed quite a lot.

 

[daneoni]

Fitness issues?

Off-field issues?

Okay: This, I hadn't known.

I had simply assumed that he was exceptionally prone to injury, and that - while an excellent player - his all too frequent absences cost the team a lot.

He says he's had to adjust to the EPL from La Liga which is less intense.

Regarding off-field issues, he's had some rape allegations

The current rumor (and nothing about this deal has, to my knowledge, been confirmed publicly as yet) is that Henderson has already agreed terms with Al Ettifaq, though Liverpool has not yet agreed to a transfer fee. Klopp wanted him to stay on and the club consequently will haggle over a fee.

Barney Ronay wrote a good piece on the context of the deal that eloquently echoes my thoughts on it. And Ronay is right when he points out that we are all culpable for this. Every ounce of toleration of sportswashing is our collective responsibility. The fact that most fans don't want to face up to that reality (and many angrily, even viciously, deny it) doesn't make it ok or make it go away. These big fees and wages are bribes to draw players to a crap league and a country with a terrible human rights record in order to use them to make the regime look better / distract people from what they are doing.

And it's working. Henderson is on the record as being morally opposed to the ways nations like Saudi Arabia treat people. He is now an important member of a project aimed at ensuring that the Saudis' barbaric social oppressions at home will continue without harming their plans at growing their international reputation and business interest. In return he will earn £100,000 per day in Saudi Arabia.

I think most people outside of the football world know whats happening.

But those in the football world will continue to turn a blind eye because at the end of the day its all about the money.

This is why you shouldn't look to celebrities, athletes, corporations, and governing bodies to be 'moral compasses'. Each one of them ultimately has a price they can be bought at. And will only jump on the virtue signalling to further their own agenda.

EDIT: *Most* are a bunch of hypocrites.

 

[Apple fanboy]

He says he's had to adjust to the EPL from La Liga which is less intense.

Regarding off-field issues, he's had some rape allegations



I think most people outside of the football world know whats happening.

But those in the football world will continue to turn a blind eye because at the end of the day its all about the money.

This is why you shouldn't look to celebrities, athletes, corporations, and governing bodies to be 'moral compasses'. Each one of them ultimately has a price they can be bought at. And will only jump on the virtue signalling to further their own agenda.

All are a bunch of hypocrites.

I don’t think we can say all. I’m sure many will have turned down the option to earn obscene money in the Saudi league.

 

[laptech]

The thing with sportswashing is the majority of fans do not give a damn if a player goes to a country that is well known for it's human rights abuses as long as it brings much needed money into the club and they do not give a damn if a buyer from a country that is well known for human rights abuses buys their club just as long as the buyer pumps millions into the club and gets the club to win the league and the champions league.

Classic example is Man United. Go look at the many fan forums and social media sites of the club and you will see there will be posts/comments from people saying about human rights abuses in Qatar and that this should prevent any Qatari from owning the club and what is the response? fans respond with comments saying they do not care as long as the club gets back to winning ways.

Again with United. Ever since the Glazers take over, fans have been wanting them out of the club but yet you look at the clubs attendances for the years since the take over and they are always in the top two of attendances. Everyone of those fan's who paid for a ticket don't care about wanting the glazers out or who buys the club, all they care about is watching the team play because if those paying ticket holders cared, the ground would be virtually empty week in week out due to protests.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

The thing with sportswashing is the majority of fans do not give a damn

That attitude is also a vote in favor of a dog-eat-dog system where results are all that matter and any pretense to fairness of the sport, access to the sport, and good governance is abandoned. In which case such people also lose the right to complain about cheating, financial doping, corrupt governance, asset-stripping by owners, poorly-vetted owners buying clubs, dodgy sponsorship deals, high transfer fees, insane agent fees, high ticket prices, high TV subscriptions rates, weird match times, predictable title races, some form of Super League, World Cups in ludicrous host counties, more and bloated tournament formats, abandonment of local fans, and much, more more...

 

[HandsomeDanNZ]

Harry Maguire: Manchester United defender stripped of club captaincy

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire says he has been stripped of the captaincy for the new season.

www.bbc.com

It was inevitable, I feel.
I do wonder how much game time he'll get this season. Ten Haag is likely to replace him in the window and put someone in there that he wants, as opposed to someone he inherited.

So...with that said, who would take him and how much do we realistically think Man U could ask for a much-maligned player like Maguire?

 

[laptech]

Harry Maguire: Manchester United defender stripped of club captaincy

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire says he has been stripped of the captaincy for the new season.

www.bbc.com

It was inevitable, I feel.
I do wonder how much game time he'll get this season. Ten Haag is likely to replace him in the window and put someone in there that he wants, as opposed to someone he inherited.

So...with that said, who would take him and how much do we realistically think Man U could ask for a much-maligned player like Maguire?

Whilst the club would try and get money for him, Maguire can for all intense and purposes see out his contract at the club and thus resist any attempt to sell him because he is on a good thing at United. If ETH decides not to use him so much and uses him as a bench player then so what. He does not have to push himself so hard, just do what ETH asks of him and that's it all the while picking up a very heft weekly pay check. It would not be in Maguires best interest to move to another club right now because he would probably be on a lower wage plus he would be expected to train hard and work hard for the new club. Why put himself through that when he knows he still on a good thing at United. See out his contract, pick up a heft wage each week and end on a free.

 

[Sal09]

For United fans based in Edinburgh.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Harry Maguire: Manchester United defender stripped of club captaincy

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire says he has been stripped of the captaincy for the new season.

www.bbc.com

It was inevitable, I feel.
I do wonder how much game time he'll get this season. Ten Haag is likely to replace him in the window and put someone in there that he wants, as opposed to someone he inherited.

So...with that said, who would take him and how much do we realistically think Man U could ask for a much-maligned player like Maguire?

Yes, this is (was) inevitable, given how few games Maguire actually started last season.

He may have been the club captain, but he was not the actual captain on the pitch for the vast majority of games played by Manchester United last season.

 

[daneoni]

Depends on Maguire. He could do a job for a team with lower expectations like an Everton or one of the newly promoted sides.

But he'd have to take a paycut.

Alternatively he could just sit on the bench at Utd and earn his current salary

 

[laptech]

It would seem another player has no principles looking for a huge pay check. Riyad Mahrez linked to a move to Saudi Arabia has been offered £25million a season which works out to be £480,000 a week. The wages are sickening in my opinion. The average wage for a UK medical degree trained nurse is approx. £33,000. It would take a nurse approx. 14 years to earn what Mahrez would earn in one week.

Guardiola stunned as Man City star ‘agrees’ to join Liverpool icon in mega-money move

Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez has reportedly 'agreed personal terms' with Saudi club Al Ahli, who are considering a £30m bid for the winger.

uk.yahoo.com

 

[Sal09]

Next it will be Saudi's setting up their own TV Channel Globally and buying out TV Rights.

 

[daneoni]

It would seem another player has no principles looking for a huge pay check. Riyad Mahrez linked to a move to Saudi Arabia has been offered £25million a season which works out to be £480,000 a week. The wages are sickening in my opinion. The average wage for a UK medical degree trained nurse is approx. £33,000. It would take a nurse approx. 14 years to earn what Mahrez would earn in one week.

Guardiola stunned as Man City star ‘agrees’ to join Liverpool icon in mega-money move

Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez has reportedly 'agreed personal terms' with Saudi club Al Ahli, who are considering a £30m bid for the winger.

uk.yahoo.com

Tbf he's won everything so i can see why he wants to get paid now.

The football/media wages vs public servant wages is something i agree with. The UK has categorically abused and insulted its healthcare workers for over a decade now. Hence why people are striking and/or quitting in droves

Even train drivers earn more than most healthcare workers. The Govt. has continually preyed on their sense of altruism. Except that is no longer paying their inflated bills.

 

[laptech]

Next it will be Saudi's setting up their own TV Channel Globally and buying out TV Rights.

That would not surprise me at all. They create a TV company purely for the purpose of televising sport and they go around outbidding everybody for the TV rights which then forces everyone else to pay a fee to the Saudi company for the rights to show the sport in the other countries.

The current deal cost around £5 billion and it ends at the 2024/2025 season where it is up for renewal. Sky, BT Sports and Amazon paid for the TV rights with Sky paying the most. Sky and Amazon are not UK companies but they have a UK presence so would this mean a Saudi company would have to have broadcaster presence in the UK to be able to bid on the TV rights? who knows, is anyone's guess.

 

[timber]

It would seem another player has no principles looking for a huge pay check. Riyad Mahrez linked to a move to Saudi Arabia has been offered £25million a season which works out to be £480,000 a week. The wages are sickening in my opinion. The average wage for a UK medical degree trained nurse is approx. £33,000. It would take a nurse approx. 14 years to earn what Mahrez would earn in one week.

Guardiola stunned as Man City star ‘agrees’ to join Liverpool icon in mega-money move

Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez has reportedly 'agreed personal terms' with Saudi club Al Ahli, who are considering a £30m bid for the winger.

uk.yahoo.com

Mahrez current salary (according to the first Google result which is the most effort I'm willing to put into this) is 180 thousand a week.
While a lot less one could take your post and rewrite it around this number and it would still be perfectly on point.

 

[Silencio]

Also surprised Utd haven't been more agressive with Kane pursuit. Signing a 20yr old to come and be your main number 9, in a league he's never played in before, is just asking for trouble.

United can't afford Kane under the FFP rules, and Levy would otherwise take them to the cleaners or refuse to sell him to then. I'm glad United is not wasting their time this summer — would have been reminiscent of their lengthy and ultimately futile pursuit of Frenkie de Jong. For all the whining and teeth-gnashing over United's transfer bumblings, I think they did a good job getting Mount and Onana done in a reasonable timeframe and for reasonable fees. Still need that striker, though, and got to sell one or both of McFred to clear space for Amrabat.

As for Maguire, I think it all depends on whether Gareth Southgate would seriously consider not featuring Maguire in the England team if he continues to ride the pine at United. If he wants to play, he'll have to swallow his pride a bit. United will also have to be realistic about his value in the marketplace after a few poor seasons. They seem to want £50M for him, but I'd be thrilled if someone bought him for £30M.

 

[laptech]

Mahrez current salary (according to the first Google result which is the most effort I'm willing to put into this) is 180 thousand a week.
While a lot less one could take your post and rewrite it around this number and it would still be perfectly on point.

What's even more insane is that Cristiano Ronaldo now gets approx. £3.4 million a week from the Saudi club in the mega deal he signed with Al Nassr (£175million a year). £3.4 million a WEEK!!! that's utterly insane for close to retirement age footballer. I think Mbappe at PSG get's approx. £1.6 million a week. The football world has gone mad that they are willing to pay such obscene amounts.

 

[laptech]

United can't afford Kane under the FFP rules, and Levy would otherwise take them to the cleaners or refuse to sell him to then. I'm glad United is not wasting their time this summer — would have been reminiscent of their lengthy and ultimately futile pursuit of Frankie de Jong. For all the whining and teeth-gnashing over United's transfer bumblings, I think they did a good job getting Mount and Onana done in a reasonable timeframe and for reasonable fees. Still need that striker, though, and got to sell one or both of McFred to clear space for Amrabat.

As for Maguire, I think it all depends on whether Gareth Southgate would seriously consider not featuring Maguire in the England team if he continues to ride the pine at United. If he wants to play, he'll have to swallow his pride a bit. United will also have to be realistic about his value in the marketplace after a few poor seasons. They seem to want £50M for him, but I'd be thrilled if someone bought him for £30M.

Maguire does not really need to play for England anymore. He's done his time in the squad. Now is time to just chill, have it easy at United, collect a big weekly wage until his contract ends. Only clauses in deals he has with private sponsorships would require him to maintain his position in the England squad in my opinion.

 

[Apple fanboy]

No one really knows what motivates a player. Some are happy to be bit players at part of a more successful team.
Some crave trophies and desire to be playing every minute they can.
Others just want a bigger payday.

International recognition can be a motivator. But who’s to say if playing some games at Utd will get you into the squad more than playing every week in a Saudi or European league.

But we can all agree that all the footballers wages are obscene. Have been for years. Getting worse not better.

 

[daneoni]

Arsenal now deemed to have the most valuable squad in world football.

And are only second in total outlay since Arteta took over.
Although how accurate this is, given that City are suspected of fudging numbers, is another story.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

No one really knows what motivates a player. Some are happy to be bit players at part of a more successful team.
Some crave trophies and desire to be playing every minute they can.
Others just want a bigger payday.

International recognition can be a motivator. But who’s to say if playing some games at Utd will get you into the squad more than playing every week in a Saudi or European league.

But we can all agree that all the footballers wages are obscene. Have been for years. Getting worse not better.

And some gel - and play sublime football, and are happy and fulfuilled - in a particular team (and under a particular manager) in a way that does not happen for the remainder of their career.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

United can't afford Kane under the FFP rules, and Levy would otherwise take them to the cleaners or refuse to sell him to then. I'm glad United is not wasting their time this summer — would have been reminiscent of their lengthy and ultimately futile pursuit of Frenkie de Jong. For all the whining and teeth-gnashing over United's transfer bumblings, I think they did a good job getting Mount and Onana done in a reasonable timeframe and for reasonable fees. Still need that striker, though, and got to sell one or both of McFred to clear space for Amrabat.

Very fair point.

As for Maguire, I think it all depends on whether Gareth Southgate would seriously consider not featuring Maguire in the England team if he continues to ride the pine at United. If he wants to play, he'll have to swallow his pride a bit. United will also have to be realistic about his value in the marketplace after a few poor seasons. They seem to want £50M for him, but I'd be thrilled if someone bought him for £30M.

Completely agree and well said.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Mahrez current salary (according to the first Google result which is the most effort I'm willing to put into this) is 180 thousand a week.
While a lot less one could take your post and rewrite it around this number and it would still be perfectly on point.

This trek towards Saudi Arabia is deeply depressing, and none of the players undertaking it are covering themsleves in glory.

 

[Apple fanboy]

And some gel - and play sublime football, and are happy and fulfuilled - in a particular team (and under a particular manager) in a way that does not happen for the remainder of their career.

You’ll be hoping that’s not Rice!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

You’ll be hoping that’s not Rice!

To be honest, I think that Rice would grace any team, actually, and I have high hopes for him at Arsenal.

His parting words to West Ham's fans were decent, generous, gracious and thoughtful.

But here, I was thinking more of Mahrez and his ilk - players who were romantic legends when they were a part of the alchemy of that Leicester 2016 team, players who - despite lucrative (and quite successful) subsequent moves, never quite achieved that level of fulfillment elsewhere, players who now, have ceased to think in terms of anything but the crudest acquisition of money while selling themselves and their souls to serve the interests of one of the more repellent regimes on the planet as part of their sportswashing enterprise.

Yes, such players (Kante is the same) will probably attempt to square this with themselves by arguing that they are Muslim, and with this move, they will be playing in the land of Mecca where they will be lauded for who they are.