Premiere League & World Soccer Thread

#6,976
#6,976
VolsLFC said:
I personally think it is becoming increasingly more noticeable that the powers at be in sports view sports purely as entertainment and could care less whether they are fair or not.
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It’s not just competitive integrity they don’t care about, and it’s certainly not just the PL. It’s become purely how much money they can extract from their fans, and if you happen to be entertained somewhere along the way, great. Just look at college football. How many long-standing regional rivalries have ended thanks to conference expansion over the past decade in the name of “progress”, and how many more will end in the near future? The piles of cash have caused them to lose sight of what made people like them in the first place. That can work for a little while, but not forever. Just ask NASCAR.
 
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#6,977
#6,977
bleedorange0037 said:
It’s not just competitive integrity they don’t care about, and it’s certainly not just the PL. It’s become purely how much money they can extract from their fans, and if you happen to be entertained somewhere along the way, great. Just look at college football. How many long-standing regional rivalries have ended thanks to conference expansion over the past decade in the name of “progress”, and how many more will end in the near future? The piles of cash have caused them to lose sight of what made people like them in the first place. That can work for a little while, but not forever. Just ask NASCAR.
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Completely agree. Money controls all in sports it seems unfortunately.
 
#6,980
#6,980
bleedorange0037 said:
So it looks like the PL are fast tracking the next round of annual FFP assessments so that they can dock Everton and Forest points this season before the rules change over the summer. Most Everton thing of all time to get hit with a points deduction twice in three months for something that is reviewed on an annual basis.

I’ll readily concede that the club have been poorly run, but there seems to be no consideration for the fact that there are MASSIVE mitigating circumstances in Everton’s case and unlike like a couple of other teams in blue, we’ve cooperated fully with the investigators, and done everything in our power to get back within the guidelines. Up to and including selling Richarlison at a heavily discounted price.

I’m one of the least conspiracy-minded people in the world, but at some point it really does just start to feel like the league have an agenda against the club and aren’t going to stop until they find a way to relegate us, which there will be no coming back from.

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Definitely feels like selective enforcement and certain teams having a greater benefit of the doubt than others.
 
#6,982
#6,982
C/O said:
Mourinho out at Roma. Get that guy back in the EPL stat. I need entertainment.
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If only the product on the field was half as entertaining as the rest of the circus he brings. It was somewhat better in his later years in the PL, but his peak at Chelsea was oftentimes the full embodiment of anti-football.
 
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#6,983
#6,983
bleedorange0037 said:
If only the product on the field was half as entertaining as the rest of the circus he brings. It was somewhat better in his later years in the PL, but his peak at Chelsea was oftentimes the full embodiment of anti-football.
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The style difference between his personality and style of play has always been hilarious to me. It would be like if Lane Kiffin ran a 3 yards and a cloud of dust offense, always punted on 4th down, etc.

I still love going back and looking at old clips of his press conferences.
 
#6,990
#6,990
Already on the exit. This one just felt like oil and water. Benzema also looking to leave or at least loan out. Saudi league already having trouble keeping some of their new big money investments. Benzema is a little more surprising as he was at least excited about it due to his religion.

 
#6,991
#6,991
Nash_Vol97 said:
Already on the exit. This one just felt like oil and water. Benzema also looking to leave or at least loan out. Saudi league already having trouble keeping some of their new big money investments. Benzema is a little more surprising as he was at least excited about it due to his religion.

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I can’t find it at the moment, but I watched a video recently on why all these players are leaving the Saudi league…basically, no fans, low quality, families are uncomfortable and the strict laws. I think what most people predicted would happen.
 
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#6,992
#6,992
WestTennesseeVol said:
I can’t find it at the moment, but I watched a video recently on why all these players are leaving the Saudi league…basically, no fans, low quality, families are uncomfortable and the strict laws. I think what most people predicted would happen.
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Yeah, it was always going to end up this way for most of the players that left. Some are still fine. Guys like Ronaldo and Neymar are soaking up that money. Some other guys that went are perfectly happy too but they are because they made sense to go there. Take Kante and Koulibaly as an example. They both are devout Muslims and both commented how they were very happy to play football and dig deeper into their faith while there. Those moves just made sense. Others like Henderson didn’t.
 
#6,993
#6,993
Nash_Vol97 said:
Already on the exit. This one just felt like oil and water. Benzema also looking to leave or at least loan out. Saudi league already having trouble keeping some of their new big money investments. Benzema is a little more surprising as he was at least excited about it due to his religion.

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Not surprised by Henderson moving on. Reports are that Firmino is looking for a transfer out as well. I think the Saudi's are always going to have issues keeping players long term who aren't Muslim. The cultural differences are too vast.

I don't think Stevie lasts too much longer as the manager at Al-Ettifaq, either.
 
#6,994
#6,994
Through_The_T said:
Not surprised by Henderson moving on. Reports are that Firmino is looking for a transfer out as well. I think the Saudi's are always going to have issues keeping players long term who aren't Muslim. The cultural differences are too vast.

I don't think Stevie lasts too much longer as the manager at Al-Ettifaq, either.
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The really unfortunate part for Henderson is he may also not get paid for the 6 months he was there. He apparently deferred wages for some UK tax law reasons and now since he’s leaving he may not get to recover them. Idk how that all works but just saw a tweet from the guardian or some other outlet on it.
 
#6,997
#6,997
Through_The_T said:
Not surprised by Henderson moving on. Reports are that Firmino is looking for a transfer out as well. I think the Saudi's are always going to have issues keeping players long term who aren't Muslim. The cultural differences are too vast.

I don't think Stevie lasts too much longer as the manager at Al-Ettifaq, either.
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To be fair to the Saudis, that’s just because Stevie G is a terrible manager
 
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