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Football: (Sky-)blue raindrops over a Red parade?


A Horse Named Stranger

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5 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

Mourinho's 2011/2012 Real Madrid side remains hands down the best counter-attacking side I have ever seen.

People forget this because of the Barca team they faced and the success that came for us after he left. But he build a magnificent team and a lot of Real's success that came later is thanks to him.

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3 minutes ago, Rorshach said:

Yeah, I don't think of Chelsea (Mou 1) as a counter-attacking side. They didn't dally much, but they also had control of games a lot, as I recall (though control of the game was more Benitez' schtick).

His Real Madrid used to control games a lot too. They used to average over 60% possession. When I say counter-attacking I don't mean parking the bus and breaking from deep in their own half. That team was absolutely lethal in transitions.

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9 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

His Real Madrid used to control games a lot too. They used to average over 60% possession. When I say counter-attacking I don't mean parking the bus and breaking from deep in their own half. That team was absolutely lethal in transitions.

Gotcha.

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while Woodward might be walking away, I can't see the Glazers preparing to sell like now. No ESL money is a big blow for them, but so was us not being in the CL for years. I mean, apart from the PR stuff, why would they sell now that we are slightly getting results again, and that CL & PL revenue aren't decreasing by any manner?

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Us not being in the CL did not affect the Glazers in the slightest. They continued to take their dividends and director fees regardless of whether we were in the EL or CL. In fact the Glazers are the only owners in the PL who were still payed full dividends and director fees last year even though the club suffered significant losses due to the pandemic and subsequent postponement and they will be taking out their dividends and director fees this year too.  No matter what happens those leeches still get payed and the only thing they've ever done for the club is saddle it with massive debt.

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So it’s basically over right? Lasted about 48 hours! What an absolute clusterfuck!

This is actually pretty inspiring to be honest. The total outrage and collective disgust actually did something good.

Problem is, what happens now. Football really does need fixing. Will there be a realisation that it needs to be less,  not more commercial? Will they realise that some sort of control over who owns football clubs needs to be established?

All really unlikely, but there is just a smidge of hope

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4 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Problem is, what happens now. Football really does need fixing. Will there be a realisation that it needs to be less,  not more commercial? Will they realise that some sort of control over who owns football clubs needs to be established?

All really unlikely, but there is just a smidge of hope

I see that Oliver Dowden has reiterated that the fan-led review is still going to take place and insists that reforms must happen so that something like this cannot happen again in the future. Hopefully that's not just empty political pandering.

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1 minute ago, Heartofice said:

Problem is, what happens now. Football really does need fixing. Will there be a realisation that it needs to be less,  not more commercial? Will they realise that some sort of control over who owns football clubs needs to be established?

That's the biggest shame of this whole fiasco.

This Super league initiative could've at least opened up a dialogue that could lead to improvements that modern football desperately needs. As it is, it will just be seen as a massive win for UEFA and all the problems will be swept under the rug and whoever tries to speak up will likely be seen as if they were calling for a new Super league.

I mean, the whole CL format that's been announced to start in 2024 is plainly stupid. Thirty six teams, four of which are wild card teams in one massive group divided into tiers, no home and away games against the same opponent, more meaningless group stage matches and knockout stages start from quarterfinals... Why? Who wants that?

One of the biggest reasons for the Super league was CL ratings dropping, which I assume was most likely due to matches between top European clubs and smaller clubs who just couldn't keep up in 90-95% of the matches. UEFA's proposed solution? Increasing the number of group stage matches from 96 to 180, having CL matches played on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and throwing MORE football to an already saturated market. Just insane!

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1 minute ago, baxus said:

That's the biggest shame of this whole fiasco.

This Super league initiative could've at least opened up a dialogue that could lead to improvements that modern football desperately needs. As it is, it will just be seen as a massive win for UEFA and all the problems will be swept under the rug and whoever tries to speak up will likely be seen as if they were calling for a new Super league.

I mean, the whole CL format that's been announced to start in 2024 is plainly stupid. Thirty six teams, four of which are wild card teams in one massive group divided into tiers, no home and away games against the same opponent, more meaningless group stage matches and knockout stages start from quarterfinals... Why? Who wants that?

One of the biggest reasons for the Super league was CL ratings dropping, which I assume was most likely due to matches between top European clubs and smaller clubs who just couldn't keep up in 90-95% of the matches. UEFA's proposed solution? Increasing the number of group stage matches from 96 to 180, having CL matches played on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and throwing MORE football to an already saturated market. Just insane!

Yes, if we have to now go with the proposed CL that they laid out yesterday then that really isn’t much better. 
 

Neither solution is good. There is a real misunderstanding of why people watch football. Just a massive assumption that people will want to watch football because football exists. They won’t. 
 

The CL is the least worst because it has some semblance of sporting achievement. But it’s also a horrible idea.

The problem isn’t to do with what format the CL is, it’s far deeper. The problem is the ability of some clubs to Hoover up all the best players, spend ludicrous amounts of money while others scrabble to survive.

If anyone wants to see the issues with unfettered capitalism it’s right here in football. The tendency towards oligarchy and monopoly, the need to unending growth to pay off endless debt, wage inequality, lack of interest in social good and externalities. All there

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10 minutes ago, baxus said:

One of the biggest reasons for the Super league was CL ratings dropping

No, that really wasn't even in the top three reasons. The biggest reasons were that the pandemic screwed up the finances of the major clubs, at the same time as many of them have struggled to qualify for the CL or do as well in it as they need to, and the clubs want a predictable income from matches against each other every year. The combination of these three factors = ESL.

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25 minutes ago, baxus said:

Yeah, I'm sure that CL ratings dropping for years had nothing to do with clubs worrying about their long-term income.

I didn't say it had nothing to do with it. But these clubs were interested in a super league for a long time now, and the regularity of the income stream is criticial: the key factor for the clubs, and the reason they weren't satisfied with reforms from UEFA, was this matter of guaranteed participation. That's been a demand of the clubs for years and one that UEFA won't accede to, because they can't.

So that's why a breakaway super league, and the 'why now?' is the pandemic crunch plus (for some) their recent poor performances.

 

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