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Football. Sweden then (probably) France, a Waterloo double?


BigFatCoward

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Congratulations to England for winning the second most important match yesterday!

Unfortunately for me (and the world, I'd imagine), Bryne FK lost the more important match (well, it was a match with Bryne FK after all!) to the team leading the Norwegian second division.

Though, to be fair, Brann hasn't lost all season, so it would have been a miracle had we beaten them.

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Meanwhile in Germany...

as you are aware, I do tend to bring up more obscure things, related to football politics and stuff from time to time. This is one of those posts. Those who aren't interested, can skip ahead. This is one of the tales surrounding the German club ownership/the German 50+1 model.

This is about Hannover 96. 

They have a money man in the background, too. Not a benign one, like Hoffenheim. In this case it's Martin Kind (his company is producing hearing aids, rumoredly they are quite good actually. I can't vouch for it, as my hearing is still intact). As we all know, Germany has this 50+1 rule. Which means, that the football clubs, are well,  clubs and not some rich dudes plaything - in theory at least. There are ways how rules are bend to an extreme. Kind has been putting cash into the club for quite a while, so he might actually qualify for those long term investor exceptions in any case. Disclaimer: Hannover has a very weird complex legal set-up, which I quite frankly do not fully understand. Not my circus, not my monkeys. So I didn't really bother to delve into it. But basically, the model seems to involve three parties.

The Club, the first football team (henceforth Football Inc.), Hannover 96 Sales and Services Ltd. and lastly Football Management Ltd. 

Kind is holding a majority share of the Sales and Services Ltd, who owns Football Inc. That is kinda bad from the 50+1 perspective (and he is also Football Inc.'s CEO), as the club should still have the final say, on what happens. That's where this Football ;anagement Ltd. construct kicks in. The club owns Football Ltd. which appoints the CEO of Football Inc. That's more or less the thick of it, as far as I can tell.

Kind himself is not particularly popular among football fans, not just in Hannover, but in general. In no small part to a) him being a dick, and b) his objection to 50+1 and him always having that threat of a legal challenge against 50+1 in general. And to be blunt, if things go to court, I'd fancy his chances. There was a power struggle brewing in the background at Hannover for a while, which resulted in the members (fans) electing somebody, who is rather against Kind. The sides more or less reached a truce and signed a treaty, with Kind agreeing to make payments to the club in general, which benefits other sports, and probably fanworkshops etc. 

Some time last week things got really interesting. The club (through Football Ltd.) removed Kind from his position as CEO of Football Inc. As reasons the club gave, that Kind violated his agreement with the club. Kind launched a legal challenge against his removal as Football Inc.'s CEO. And for now he got an injunction, that leaves him in place as CEO of Football Inc. Football inc in turn now claims, that the club violated acting in violation of the foundation of Football Ltd. and in breach of contract themselves. 

 

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B.Silva can play in midfield too – he's class as a number 8. I find it hard to believe that City would even consider selling him as that would definitely weaken them and there's no obvious replacement (maybe Paqueta but he's not nearly as good as Silva right now and not as versatile either).

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I can totally see Pep being convinced he can fit Grealish into a CM role (I don't think he's necessarily wrong, either, he played central for Villa a few times and I tended to think it was his best position so long as someone behind him was doing the tackling dogwork, but it would be a huge gamble). 

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Silva has mostly played as a #8 during his time at City aside from his first season at the club. Once Mahrez joined, Silva primarily played as a CM but he's class on either flank too. That versatility will be hard to replace. If he does leave, that weakens City a fair bit.

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I’d be happy to see FDJ go to United if it meant Barcelona took Bernardo Silva from City.  He has played a huge role in their success under Pep.

BTW is it possible that United will play Martinez as a DM rather than CB?  It seems mad that they still haven’t signed a DM (nor would FDJ fill that role) but I read that Martinez can play there.  With Maguire retaining the captaincy, perhaps he’ll be starting alongside Varane at CB.  Because I don’t think ETH has a history of playing three CBs.

This is the great thing about the off-season re-set: new uncertainties about the season ahead.  Last summer City and United were tipped for the title race and Liverpool were considered a spent force.  This summer a United have so much in flux that it’s really hard to know what to expect from them.  Could Rashford and Martial rediscover their scoring of two seasons ago alongside Sancho, or will they revert to last year’s form?  Will a real tactical coach make a huge difference or will the players give up like they did for Rangnick?

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Konate injured his knee in the additional friendly yesterday.  Waiting for a scan to reveal the severity.

That friendly against Strasbourg was mostly kids because so many of the second string are injured already.  Jones and Keita had a muscle strain and illness respectively.  Jota and Ox have been out for several weeks already.  Tsimikas picked up a new injury last week.  And we really need Alisson and Kelleher back soon because Adrian showed again why he cannot be relied upon.

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I'm gonna annoy you all with some american league mls stuff.

my club dc united dead bottom of the table recently got Rooney as coach. Sunday was his first match in charge. 

down 1 and looking destined to leave the stadium disappointed we grabbed two 90+ minute goals to win! absolutely insane!

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14 minutes ago, MercenaryChef said:

I'm gonna annoy you all with some american league mls stuff.

my club dc united dead bottom of the table recently got Rooney as coach. Sunday was his first match in charge. 

down 1 and looking destined to leave the stadium disappointed we grabbed two 90+ minute goals to win! absolutely insane!

Ah, the impossible, last-minute comeback. One of the best feelings in football. 

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