The College Dropout

Ah yes because Isak being a Senior Executive at the football club is in the ballpark. But Jamie Reuben being an Executive is a gross misunderstanding of industry power dynamics in this context.

Not to get too political but for me the distinction between a worker and owner/executive management is significant. One has power in authority over the other. The other (the worker) is the one that generates the value. I see work life like this and this is the lens through which I view football. For me player power, is worker power. It’s a fundamental distinction which dictates everything else. An executive has power, an executive has power over employees, executives make the most important decisions. Alexander Isak nor any PL footballer is akin to an Executive. Alexander Isak job is to play football, he has no power over anyone else but himself. The only power he has is to refuse his labour to the business. It’s the tool of the worker against their bosses. Footballers are workers with a Trade Union. Managers have one too. Is there a Union for football executives? If Isak was akin to an executive he would’ve been able to negotiate his contract with the board himself and leave as soon as he wanted minus his notice period/competitor clause. Thats what Eales did. The comparison IS misleading, it distorts the power dynamic. Football clubs do have Executives and they do not include players (except maybe Mbappe at PSG and Messi in Miami).

You are right that Yasir is not an Exec. But Alexander Isak is very obviously not a Senior Exec like you first mentioned. He’s a regular member of the playing staff. Your original analogy is way off and misleading. You have him inordinate power as an Exec which he didn’t have. He used the power any regular worker has - withdrawing his labor. You’re making an argument to fit your narrative.

No. They are literallynot regular employees. Yasir and Jamie Reuben are Executives of NUFC, Bruno G Is obviously not akin to an Executive. Football is an easy business to compare to regular businesses. The footballers are contracted employees. That’s it. It’s that Simple. Executives don’t go on strike. The labour goes on strike. Paul Mitchell over leveraged the power of the contract. The contract is only valuable if Isak plays to t the best of his abilities. This is why Palmer got a new contract a year after signing a 7-year deal. He needs to be kept happy to perform at his best. The contracted years isn’t absolute power - especially against your most prized assets. Going on strike is the workers most powerful leverage against its owners/management. It’s extreme mind.

It’s not like this… at all. Football players are not senior execs - not even the captains. They are (extremely well paid) staff. Workers. The talent. Labour. As the highest performing member of revenue generating staff, Isak agreed with the actual executive management that he would be remunerated at the level of his performance. In the restructure the new management acknowledged he was an elite performer but said the business couldn’t afford to pay Isak what he was worth and worse (to Isak) used the length of contract as a hard form of control to tell him to be quiet and go away. I don’t think any fan, player or whoever thought Isak wasn’t deserving of a contract befitting his ability at that point - except Mitchell and Eales. At this point I think it’s entirely fair that Isak resolves to leave the club after another season. The club have essentially said ‘we can’t afford to pay you what you’re worth’. In the real world the worker joins the rival business asap. And as the primary Labour at the club, players only have 2 forms of power: (1) disharmony, (2) striking. Isak chose both which was too far and a disrespect to the fans and team mates. And the contract culprits were leaving the club - the people that has disrespected him.

Yeh that’s what I agree with @TheBrownBottle on. It’s not excusing his behaviour. But it acknowledges the club did not manage the situation perfectly. A lot of fans have issues with him wanting to leave in the first place I think. I have no issue with Isak wanting to leave, in his situation 90% of people would too. He went about it in an awful manner. I expect Tonali would heavily consider leaving at the end of this season. He might even push for it. But I don’t expect him to go on strike and refuse to train. He’s got better regard for the club and fans than that.

Haven’t followed this discussion bur this is where I’m at. For a lot of fans they don’t want to entertain the idea that the club may have contributed or helped to escalate the situation. It’s heroes and villains.

A lot wrong with sacking Nuno after a handful of games. Get rid of him in the summer and sign players for a different type of football.

He would 100% score a winnnf goal in that scenario.

Sorry it was Botman I said looked slow when he joined from the clips. Bruno I said he looked slow as part of my first observations of actually watching him play. Sorry a whole 6 weeks after he signed. Of which YOU specifically gave me pelters for saying. YOU were totally wrong. 3 years later you’re giving me stick for something YOU played a part in Legit, are you not embarrassed? You’re trying to claim some legitimacy because my dates were 6 weeks out. YOU were one of the people giving me pelters for saying Bruno was slow when I remember how - I’m hiding you. You offer nothing constructive.

Isak was the perfect profile for the system he was in. It’s a similar profile to Wilson but a levels up.

You not embarrassed to spend years following me around the forum and getting it wrong. Just because you want to contradict me?

I owned you. For years. You still on my dick. Ignored.

You seem to have a history of wanting to disagree with me without engaging your brain.

Who thought he was a cunt?

I don’t think Ashworth was shit tbh. He made some sensible decisions.

The last line is key. First order get Sandro and Tino signed up long term.

Fantastic value below the Prem. Watkins. Rogers. Bowen. Olise. Eze. Wharton. All come through the Championship or lower. It’s been a goldmine for Palace.

Estevao is going to be some boy. He's got great movement. Hate that Chelsea have him.

Btw hate these neon yellow Brazilian kits. They won't win anything in that clobber. Also dislike the neon Red Liverpool kits. The darker red they had a few years ago under Klopp was beautiful.

Not to go all HTT here but it is a bit funny that a lad of East African heritage, with a distance runner physique (for a footballer at least), has such bad stamina. PSG Away... I don't think he broke into a jog after 55 minutes. He barely moved after an hour. Was begging Howe to take him off. Offered absolutely nothing. Better to have had Krafthu uptop. I think his biggest weakness is that he's very one-footed. At his best he can shift the ball seamlessly but it's not always possible and shifting it so smoothely requires a lot of confidence. I've not seen him score a goal like Kane did against us in the 6-1 at SJP. "You think I won't place this perfectly with my left? Here you go. Prick."

Did you ever mention it before? (just asking). I got pelters for saying it or that Bruno looked slow before he joined and now people ride those observations into OTT narratives imo. I think he did get better with the stamina in his time here but it was still a weakness when he left. He went from 55 minutes of Howe ball, to about 70/75 minutes.

We only have 3 real first team full backs. Our first choice RB is injured and so is our first choice LB. If James and Cucurella got injured they would start Malo Gusto and Levi Colwil/Jarrel Hato at LB. No idea if Hato is any good or not but he’s a full Dutch International at 19 years old, was a regular at Ajax and was bought for €36m. Gusto is a 22 year old full French international who I think is decent. The floor level technical ability of Chelsea’s squad is super high. This is how they are able to not look convincing but finish above us 2 years in a row. im not suggesting Chelsea can afford for their injury situation to get significantly worse. But Chelsea are one of maybe 3 teams that could get injuries to 5 CBs, their best player, their starting striker not fit enough to play 90, their backup striker injured - and still win in the CL and beat Liverpool. And they’re going to go again in January.

With the emergence of Anderson and Wharton there isn’t a need. But I thought James could do a solid job at CM for England. I’ve seen him play there under Tuchel before and he was solid. Also played there in the Championship I believe. He’s a much more positionally intelligent player than Trent. I held on to my James stock.

He’s played there before under Tuchel. He’s also played CM under Tuchel too to a high standard. James is one of the most complete English footballers I’ve seen, hope injuries don’t wreck his career. It’s taken injuries to 5 players to play Reece James at CB. 2 injuries and we are playing Dan Burn at LB. The squad depth is different levels.