The 2025-2026 Football Thread

[Scepticalscribe]

Usually unless it’s gross misconduct (like refusing to play or bringing the club into disrepute) a club would have to pay the wages. So if I was paid £100k a month and had 12 months left, they would have to pay me £1.2 million to leave early.

However there is usually a settlement that can be reached. Especially if the player is told he is no longer required and won’t be playing for them. Then a player will either find a solution, or sit happily in the stands collecting his wages.

When discussing an unwanted player, and the club's preference, there are two different elements, or facets, to this, and it can play out in a number of ways: Sometimes, it is the player who wishes to leave, - for pastures new, or, at least, greener, - while the club would prefer for them to stay (Newcastle and Isak come to mind), while, at other times, the club feels the player is surplus to requirement, or has no place, or role, in the manager's vision for the squad (often, as a result of other, presumably better, players, having been bought, thus displacing the unwanted player), while the player opts to stay put, as he fails to see better (or better paid) options elsewhere, and demand for his services may be limited.

As you say, if both parties are willing, a settlement can be reached.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

We rightly condemn clubs (and players) for greed, especially if that greed is of the petty and pathetic variety (Manchester United, I am looking at you, with those petty savings last year).

However, I think it appropriate to applaud good behaviour on the part of clubs, as well.

Sunderland announced that they will give a free season ticket for this season to any season ticket holder who is both over 85 years old, and has also held a season ticket for the past three years, and have stated that they will give a full refund to anyone in this category who has already paid for their season ticket.

Now, yes, obviously, the number of people who will meet these conditions will not be large, (the Guardian thinks that around 80 people will benefit from this) but - in marked contrast to Manchester United's mean-spirited savings last season - the principle of the thing is sound, and - to my way of thinking - it is a very decent gesture, a wonderful gesture in fact, and one worth acknowledging and applauding.

 

[Apple fanboy]

We rightly condemn clubs (and players) for greed, especially if that greed is of the petty and pathetic variety (Manchester United, I am looking at you, with those petty savings last year).

However, I think it appropriate to applaud good behaviour on the part of clubs, as well.

Sunderland announced that they will give a free season ticket for this season to any season ticket holder who is both over 85 years old, and has also held a season ticket for the past three years, and have stated that they will give a full refund to anyone in this category who has already paid for their season ticket.

Now, yes, obviously, the number of people who will meet these conditions will not be large, (the Guardian thinks that around 80 people will benefit from this) but - in marked contrast to Manchester United's mean-spirited savings last season - the principle of the thing is sound, and - to my way of thinking - it is a very decent gesture, a wonderful gesture in fact, and one worth acknowledging and applauding.

Agreed. The kids for a £1 is often used by some clubs as well, especially for cup games. Another great initiative by some clubs.

 

[laptech]

Reading your posts in response to my question it seems to me the consensus is that if a player wants to see out his contract there is nothing the club can do about it barring finding a clause in the contract that allows the club to terminate it.

This next bit is in relation to the first sentence of @Scepticalscribe post that is above mine and that is about United looking to make savings. I read a post in reddit about a United fan that recently had bought expensive tickets for an Old Trafford Museum tour and that they said the whole tour experience was awful and then catalogued all the issues of the tour. It was then pointed out to the poster that the second round of employee firings included the majority of the hospitality team. It would therefore appear United's savings have had a serious impact in other areas of the club. Make savings so can spend more money on players but give your paying customers a bad experience because the staff that gave paying customers a good experience got fired.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

What are you opinions of this? A player refusing to leave their club so the club get's no money for them but instead winding down their contract so they leave on a free. Mbappe did it with PSG and it looks like Sancho of United is now doing the same because he has refused everything the club has/is doing to transfer him out of the club.

If an employee of a company does something so egregious or they persistently under perform, their employment is terminated an told to leave the same day, in a week, a month or two months but yet if a football player behaves the same, their version of employment termination is to be put on the transfer list and yet they can refuse to leave and instead wind down their contract.

A player under contract is employed by the club. The two parties have agreed to a term of employment. If the employer unilaterally decides to try and sell well before the contract term, and make some money, the player is completely within their rights to refuse. Just because the full term of a contract is often not fulfilled under this system doesn't mean it can't be...any move requires the acquiescence/cooperation of three parties at minimum (selling club, buying club, player).

It is often said that the players have 'too much power,' but before Bosman clubs flagrantly exploited and abused players. We shouldn't go back to that.

My sympathy is generally with the players, not the clubs. They have very short, intense careers that place incredible mental and physical stress on them. Sure, there are some notable brats, but in most cases I'd say they are fairly compensated given their public exposure and physical wear and tear. Clubs, on the other hand, are too often run by crooked / buffoonish oligarchs, tycoons, and states, who often swindle fans and players alike through an army of suited shills, shell companies, and delusions of grandeur....they play fast and loose, only to take to the hills when they've broken their shiny toy through their own incompetence. How many stories do we still hear about players not getting paid, despite some dodgy owner/chairman promising the moon, only to vaporize when they run out of people to lie to?

So if I were a player, I'd watch my back, and not feel bad running down a contract when a club wants to ship me off somewhere I don't want to go purely for their benefit. As a group, clubs and even fans show little loyalty to players, so why should we demand loyalty from them? Football is mostly business now. Their are counterexamples, but we often forget the meaning of professional. It is, by definition, a hired gun. Not a volunteer, not a believer, not a supporter through thick and thin.

 

[daneoni]

I guess the theme for this window is gentleman's agreements that have been allegedly broken causing player revolt

Gyokeres
Lookman
Wissa
Isak

Notable mentions from prev seasons
Harry Kane
Luis Suarez

Point is, if its not written on paper. You're incredibly naive.

Isak's statement is a calculated move to incinerate any association with NUFC and force their hand. I wonder if this will repeat itself if Real Madrid or Barca come calling.

 

[Bodhitree]

My sympathy is generally with the players, not the clubs.

I agree wholeheartedly with your summary, well said. The club owners are largely unsympathetic characters, tycoons and businessmen who are looking to buff up their image, and a players career is no more than ten years in their prime, if that.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I have no sympathy for the players or clubs. Neither cover themselves in glory.
Isak is paid a good wage and is now refusing to play for them. That’s just holding the club to ransom until you get what you want.
There are better ways to conduct yourself.

 

[Micahrea]

I have no sympathy for the players or clubs. Neither cover themselves in glory.
Isak is paid a good wage and is now refusing to play for them. That’s just holding the club to ransom until you get what you want.
There are better ways to conduct yourself.

True, but at the same time clubs do the same to players all the time. Loyalty in football rarely goes both ways.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I have no sympathy for the players or clubs. Neither cover themselves in glory.
Isak is paid a good wage and is now refusing to play for them. That’s just holding the club to ransom until you get what you want.
There are better ways to conduct yourself.

My previous post focused on players choosing to run down their contracts rather than be shipped off, for which they do have my sympathy.

But players going 'on strike' is a different matter. It's a risky strategy that often backfires. Unless there is an actual breach of contract the player is on shaky legal ground, and even if Isak is being treated badly by NUFC I think he's making a mistake by going public. To be fair, I also think that clubs making players train separately as a punishment is also a risky, damaging, and often unproductive strategy.

NUFC and Isak have collectively created a bad situation that seems to have no good way out. On the other hand, clubs, players, and fans can be incredibly fickle...if he were to come back and score regularly I'd be willing to bet it could still mostly blow over, or at least reach some kind of truce for the season. Right now NUFC do need Isak more than they need the money, and they have a contract - one that Isak signed without demanding a release clause, I believe.

From the LFC perspective, he's a good player but I'd hesitate to pay the sums he's rumored to actually cost. And if NUFC fans are angry about him being 'poached,' I'd say I'd be angry too, but every club does it to every other club. It's not unfair or malicious or unusual. Unless Mourinho is involved.

It's embarrassing the way some fans naively expect players to be 'loyal', or see them as 'traitors' when they want to leave, as if a football club is a family or a military unit or something. It's not. It's a ruthless business awash with colossal sums of money. Some players do show genuine loyalty to a club, it's true, but I'd be willing to bet most of those players are actually being loyal to their fellow players, managers, trainers, etc. Not club suits, the city, or random fans. The concept of a player being local and loyal to their club and city belongs to a previous era, with very few exceptions.

That all may sound cynical, but I believe it's a realistic perspective.

 

[timber]

I'm pretty certain that if one was to do a list of all "loyal" players and cross checked it with which clubs it would be found out that almost all of those are top flight high paying clubs to begin with.

 

[Sal09]

We need Sol Campbell like News Conference if Arsenal end up hijacking Eze deal from Spurs 😂

This is bigger than Ozil transfer announcement lol.

 

[Sal09]

My previous post focused on players choosing to run down their contracts rather than be shipped off, for which they do have my sympathy.

But players going 'on strike' is a different matter. It's a risky strategy that often backfires. Unless there is an actual breach of contract the player is on shaky legal ground, and even if Isak is being treated badly by NUFC I think he's making a mistake by going public. To be fair, I also think that clubs making players train separately as a punishment is also a risky, damaging, and often unproductive strategy.

NUFC and Isak have collectively created a bad situation that seems to have no good way out. On the other hand, clubs, players, and fans can be incredibly fickle...if he were to come back and score regularly I'd be willing to bet it could still mostly blow over, or at least reach some kind of truce for the season. Right now NUFC do need Isak more than they need the money, and they have a contract - one that Isak signed without demanding a release clause, I believe.

From the LFC perspective, he's a good player but I'd hesitate to pay the sums he's rumored to actually cost. And if NUFC fans are angry about him being 'poached,' I'd say I'd be angry too, but every club does it to every other club. It's not unfair or malicious or unusual. Unless Mourinho is involved.

It's embarrassing the way some fans naively expect players to be 'loyal', or see them as 'traitors' when they want to leave, as if a football club is a family or a military unit or something. It's not. It's a ruthless business awash with colossal sums of money. Some players do show genuine loyalty to a club, it's true, but I'd be willing to bet most of those players are actually being loyal to their fellow players, managers, trainers, etc. Not club suits, the city, or random fans. The concept of a player being local and loyal to their club and city belongs to a previous era, with very few exceptions.

That all may sound cynical, but I believe it's a realistic perspective.

All this noise but he still hasn’t put in an official transfer request.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

All this noise but he still hasn’t put in an official transfer request.

What went on behind closed doors is not public knowledge. But whatever it was, it seems to have gone badly....

 

[Sal09]

Romano getting abused by Spurs fan on X for using a naughty pic lol.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

We need Sol Campbell like News Conference if Arsenal end up hijacking Eze deal from Spurs 😂

This is bigger than Ozil transfer announcement lol.

It would seem that Arsenal's record of players sustaining serious injuries at the very beginning of the season continues apace.

Earlier today, it was announced that Kai Havertz - who had already been out injured for a considerable period last season - had suffered a knee injury during the brief spell he was on the pitch (around 20 minutes) during last week-end's game at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

Having equivocated (yes, I know, they wished to conclude some player sales first) re the potential purchase of Eze for weeks, the very alacrity with which this is being concluded (in the absence of outgoing sales and in the absence of further details re the extent of the injury suffered by Havertz, who, one must recall, was out injured for several months last season and who has just returned to the squad) suggests to me that the injury suffered by Havertz is not minor.

 

[Sal09]

It would seem that Arsenal's record of players sustaining serious injuries at the very beginning of the season continues apace.

Earlier today, it was announced that Kai Havertz - who had already been out injured for a considerable period last season - had suffered a knee injury during the brief spell he was on the pitch (around 20 minutes) during last week-end's game at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

Having equivocated (yes, I know, they wished to conclude some player sales first) re the potential purchase of Eze for weeks, the very alacrity with which this is being concluded (in the absence of outgoing sales and in the absence of further details re the extent of the injury suffered by Havertz, who, one must recall, was out injured for several months last season and who has just returned to the squad) suggests to me that the injury suffered by Havertz is not minor.

Yea it was right at the end of game. Ugarte the culprit.

Im glad we gone after Eze.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Yea it was right at the end of game. Ugarte the culprit.

Hm.

We have developed a habit of incurring serious injuries at the very beginning of a season, either in training, or, in one of the very early games; moreover, Havertz had barely recovered from his earlier injury and had just returned (and he had missed 18 games - most of the second half of last season - with a serious injury).

Im glad we gone after Eze.

As am I.

 

[laptech]

Spurs could be the most hated club in London if their new plan goes ahead. It appears Spurs have paid a cash strapped council £2 million to buy up a large park area owned by the council so they can build 11 pitches and a small building for their women's team because apparently Spurs refuse to allow the women's team to use any of the men's 17 pitches.

The 'David and Goliath battle' to stop a Premier League team taking over a park

Some 16 hectares of land is set to be lost, 207 adult trees chopped down and animal species not native to anywhere else in London will vanish.

metro.co.uk

This has got the locals and many Londoners extremely angry because a very nice large green area of London could be lost for commercial gains all because the council that owns the land needs money.

 

[Bodhitree]

I’ve been watching some of the early Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League qualifiers… some interesting games and the teams are not bad as such, it’s fun to watch some of the lesser teams in Europe. I actually think the Conference League has added a certain something to European football, even if the expectation is that in the end the winners are going to come from the stronger leagues.

I only watch the highlights of these games on YouTube, I like the format of 10-12 minute slices better than what’s presented on tv these days.

 

[Alphazoid]

Get Eze in also, and i'll be content.

And so it was.

Maybe i'm to greedy but i'd still fancy a specialist Left Winger but can't have it all i suppose

With the signing of Eze, Arteta is now approaching £1bn (currently around £900m) in spending and only has 1 trophy to show for it.

For me he really needs to deliver this season, otherwise he should bow out.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And so it was.

Maybe i'm to greedy but i'd still fancy a specialist Left Winger but can't have it all i suppose

Indeed.

With the signing of Eze, Arteta is now approaching £1bn (currently around £900m) in spending and only has 1 trophy to show for it.

The team needed a complete rebuild when Mikel Arteta was first appointed, - the sort of rebuild that cannot be achieved over four to six transfer windows - it clearly takes longer than that.

More to the point, the club still meets (and has managed to keep its spending within) FFP guidelines; there is no point spending that sort of money if the return is bankruptcy.

Other clubs have spent even more, to considerably less effect.

And, while I would have preferred some actual trophies, managing to land the runner-up in the Premier League for three consecutive years is nothing to be ashamed of, and neither is achieving a semi-final position in the Champions League.

Last season, our defence was the best in the League.

My main concern lies to some extent with our inability to score, and, also with the frequency - and nature - of some of the serious injuries suffered by key members of the team in recent seasons - an issue that this summer's splurge may go some way to addressing, as it will (or should) allow for a greater degree of squad rotation while maintaining standards.

For me he really needs to deliver this season, otherwise he should bow out.

I beg to differ.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Spurs could be the most hated club in London if their new plan goes ahead. It appears Spurs have paid a cash strapped council £2 million to buy up a large park area owned by the council so they can build 11 pitches and a small building for their women's team because apparently Spurs refuse to allow the women's team to use any of the men's 17 pitches.

The 'David and Goliath battle' to stop a Premier League team taking over a park

Some 16 hectares of land is set to be lost, 207 adult trees chopped down and animal species not native to anywhere else in London will vanish.

metro.co.uk

This has got the locals and many Londoners extremely angry because a very nice large green area of London could be lost for commercial gains all because the council that owns the land needs money.

Spurs can never be the most hated club in London. Not whilst we have Millwall!

 

[Apple fanboy]

Not looking forward to the Chelsea game. Playing against these billion pound squads is hard for the smaller clubs like ours.
Then if (when?) we get defeated the papers will be full of under pressure Potter headlines. Crazy!

 

[Scepticalscribe]

Not looking forward to the Chelsea game. Playing against these billion pound squads is hard for the smaller clubs like ours.
Then if (when?) we get defeated the papers will be full of under pressure Potter headlines. Crazy!

A billion pound squad, yes, but Chelsea are not a cohesive, or coherent team.

At the moment, - yes, it is early in the game, but still- West Ham lead by a goal to nil.