European Football 2021-22

I've absolutely been waiting for this game for 3 weeks!!!

I was on holiday in a place where no footy was shown so I didn't see any of the last prem games, play off finals or euro finals!

I indulged in a bit of the u21 game earlier but Sunday's National League playoff is the biggest game I will have seen in over a month!

You only sing when you're fishing!

 

Which game's that? We looked at final tickets and I think it was about £60 for 2 adults and 2 children, but we dithered too long and missed out.

 

Ah I see. Sorry, lost the thread.

 

I see our northern neighbours beat you today. A lot of surprising results in the first round of Nations League. Austria and Netherlands trashing Croatia and Belgium respectively, Denmark and Armenia beating France and Ireland. Us losing to Norway (I know a lot of people online think Norway are better than us, but we have a better squad overall and were in much better form than them), now you lost to Hungary.
On the other hand, Nations League ia a joke competition and I don't think these results mean much, but I guess we'll see in November.

 

On a side note, regardless of the seriousness of the competition Hungary has really improved in recent years.
I wouldn't mind a Hungarian player at Watford (lots of decent players, available for relatively little money).

 

It’s all in the levers. Activate short-term cash flow!!!

 

How can Barca owe £17m to De Jong and at the same time wazz hundreds of millions up the wall on new players? Should be given severe penalties surely?

 

Aren't the Spanish league refusing to allow them to register new players so their "new signings" may have to just walk away ?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomsan...o-allow-fc-barcelona-to-register-new-players/

 

Nobody will loan them money anymore so they're instead having to resort to other measures. They've sold off 25% of their TV income for the next 25 years to a hedge fund to receive a lump sum now, which to me seems like the multimillion pound version of a payday loan cycle - you have no money so you borrow some to tide you over. Next month you have less money due to the loan repayment so have to borrow a little bit more money and so forth. So Barca are essentially going to have 25% less money than they usually would - for the next 25 years. Utterly crazy.

This *could* be mitigated with a change in transfer strategy - if they used that money to restructure the club, and to snap up all the young talents breaking through at various clubs that they could resell for a higher value in a few years then maybe you'd say it was worth that hit as that money was needed to inject the club with quality, to pay off some debts + their future transfer fees could also help pay off some of that debt. But so far they've spent £40m on Lewandowski who turns 34 in a couple of weeks time and most of their other signings are basically peak age that I'd be surprised if they sold for more than they're buying for (free transfers aside!) so guess they're not gonna do that.

There was an article on The Athletic a few weeks ago that showed how much of a state they're in - some of the key points:

- Tried to take a bank loan secured against future Champions League revenue. UEFA unsurprisingly wouldn't allow it
- Tried to bribe a UEFA official into investigating PSG + Man Citys finances
- In 2019 they had the highest wage bill in the world - 33% higher than Man Utds in 2nd place
- When negotiating with Leeds for Raphinha they wanted to sign him now but not pay anything until January if they weren't allowed to register him. Leeds unsurprisingly said no
- Luis Suarez was told he was no longer needed in a 40 second phone call with Koeman. He was apparently furious nobody from the board contacted him after scoring almost 200 goals for the club

 

Your idea of a change in transfer policy makes absolute sense, but they are terrified of not being able to compete with Real Madrid each and every season, hence the attempted signing of peak players all the time.

 

Yup, it requires a drop in ego as well, realising that they might not be a top team for a number of years - but at least they'll have a team at the end of it and might be able to once again compete for the top once the finances are in order. So as you said - it'll never happen.

 

Incredible from Heidenheim!

 

?

 

Some decent gin:

 

No doubt they were emboldened by Mourinho's pathetic rant at him in the car park after the match. He really is a **** of the first order.

 

West Ham filth supporters at it again

 

Now they have had a penalty.

Come on Viola.

 

Forza Viola!

 

They should be disqualified.
Hitting a player with an object, probably a bottle.
UEFA will do nothing as usual.
There'll be more trouble now.

 

Great result! Pleased for West Ham. What a moment for Bowen, Moyes and their fans to always remember. That’s what football is all about, 90th minute winners in a final.

 

Duxbury will be happy his team won.

 

Interesting fan arrangements. Presumably lots of corporate guests taking up most of the seats with 5000 from each team allowed in the stadium to give the occasion some atmosphere. The rest of the plebs corralled into a pen in the town square to watch on a screen and throw beer over each other (why do people feel the need to do that?). This is the future model for all 'elite' clubs.

 

From Popbitch: