The College Dropout

PSG are uniquely positioned to be a global force in the way we aren’t. The city and the local talent pool is insane.

This is what you’re not understanding. The bright lights mean they are not the attraction. They can blend in with the thousands of millionaires that are in the city. In Mayfair and Kensington they are just another rich person. They can be close to anonymous and not live in isolation. You can crack on and live a normalish life. I

I grew up relatively poor in London. It’s a good place to be poor tbh. I started my career with a totally unpaid internship and got the bus to it in the big city. Turned that into a half decent job. Having a roof over my head in London made it possible to eventually get a pretty good career going for myself.

No. London is a rich persons playground and they get to be fairly anonymous. Lots of places for wives to shop and usually some cultural enclaves to get food and bits from too. Chelsea in particular is th least parasocial of all the bigger clubs. People will mind their business around them.

Maybe true last year. Their best players will get flogged next season like everyone else.

Aye it's not great news and we do have a track record of moving early. The last 3 were all considered coups and have proved important to us in different ways. It's not the end of the world and we can still do great business in the window. But it hasn't been a good start and there's obvious disruption upstairs.

Better than Schar in aerially duals, slightly faster. If he could properly run he would be a target for top clubs. For some reason I thought he was 21/22. Would prefer Thiaw at a lower fee though

I'm sure it happens at City. I'm sure Monchi was hired at Villa because of Emery too. And obviously it happened at Liverpool too. If the manager is THE man and the club want to build around that particular manager, he'll have input. It's not entirely clear at our clubs who does what. Roman Era Chelsea - it was Roman's club. He made all the major decisions. Marina was his main advisor and seemed to run the club day-to-day. Petr Cech (was it?) and others seemed to have important roles but Roman made most of the major calls. It's a bit unclear with us - whose baby is it? When Stavely and Mehrdad where here. It is obvious they ran the club and had the direct line to PIF who could be convinced to go bigger than initially planned. You had Reubens, Eales & Ashworth but S&M where the dominant figures. Ashworth seemingly was in charge of contract extension decisions and heavily involved in transfers. But we don't know the extent he influenced the budget. Indeed it seemed he had planned 2 FFP exit routes and when he left S&M closed one of them. I *think* Ashworth was key in signing Tino & Hall - we were linked with Robinson previously and in retrospect - that looks like a Howe #1 pick. I think Howe liked Hall & Tino but I doubt either was his #1 choice. We need someone that can challenge him and provide him with smarter alternatives. No disrespect to Robinson, if his contract was up next week he would move to a top 8 club.

I agree with this. I think the Saudi league is long term more important for them but thr World Cup is massive and gigantic worldwide statement. I made the point that NUFC are not their main footballing priority and some others have disagreed. Bankrolling the CWC and some of our ‘rivals’ and spending big on castaways from our rivals - serves bigger priorities. Where we stand in their footballing priorities will dictate how much non-direct money and effort they will invest in us. Multi club, fucking around with assets, shmoozing UEFA etc. is a lot of effort.

Hard power - I mean physical - buying influence. They become a major partner to UEFA and potentially the PL and the dynamics change. Champions League was sponsored by Gazprom for ages man. If a PIF company is in that position we’ll never get kicked out of the CL for non financial compliance if that’s a priority. Saudi leaned on Boris Johnson to get the sale done with a very fair concession. Saudi have clearly influenced FIFA. If they want to they can lean on UEFA too. UEFA are easy to lean on too, their biggest risk remains a mega club owned breakaway league. Old money clubs are the main agitators of that.

We have legal council that says we can’t copy perfectly compliant moves other clubs already do? That doesn’t make sense. Villa are about to do it too. Not true at all. PSG won 2 league titles prior to Qatar investment. Qualified for the CL 5 times. Prior to Qatar they were nowhere near the top 3 French football team and not one of the biggest in the word. Man City have been cheating im talking about copying an established legal precedence. We were even last to do those dodgy transfers which is a big reason we got the worst deals. We’ve only leveraged PIF Saudi clubs once for player sales. We aren’t seeing the full force of PIF in action to succeed which is a choice. Not the end of the world. They are still engaged and invested. things have gone well in the pitch so I can’t imagine they feel a massive need to pivot approach. Both City and PSG had cycles of failure before changing approach. And that was with fewer obstacles.

I’m saying they did a good job pal.

I like Van Hecke. I think he has enough pace and more pace than what we currently have. He’s not catching a quick attacker like but it’s not the massive panic stations we can get when being run at.

You say that but didn’t the literal Prime Minister of the country lean on the PL to make the sale go through? With the only known concession ask was that Saudi stop pirating a major PL service? And imo - they did this over something that isn’t even their primary footballing priority. They have shown they can lean politically, buy local influence, invest in media etc. In terms of hacks PIF can use Newcastle United to do their local investment and then just sell it to themselves. They’ve shown no desire in creative PSR behaviour. PSG are in bed with UEFA that way, which is why they’ve been allowed to do what they have - even in recent years. The CL with PSG was one of their primary goals and they did everything possible to achieve it. Soft power, hard power everything. In many ways it’s positive for us. They’ve taken a measured approach. More aggression would’ve led to a Chelsea type chaos probably. Not to the same degree but chasing names, embarrassing FFP moves, chopping and changing managers etc.

Staveley and Ashworth at least got business done and had influence over PIF. Too much I guess.

You think the money and close proximity is happenstance? It’s clear as day. I’m not concerned. I said PIF’s primary football focus is not Newcastle United. It is their own league and the World Cup. So their funding FIFAs vanity projects and funding their own league with big names - even if they are from our rivals. PIF has the power to corrupt UEFA and circumvent rules. But they don’t want too. Thats fine. If a European football club was so crucial to their football efforts I think they just do the deal to buy Spurs.

ref cam is amazing btw

This is based on reports - an incorrect reports at that ‘According to various reports, the prize money for next year’s competition is set at €2.5 billion’. ’.&nb In April 2024 there were no sponsors or tv networks signed. No confirmed prize pot or close to accurate numbers. December 2024 - FIFA announce Saudi Arabia will host World Cup 2034 December 2024 - fifa annouce DAZN as global viewing rights holders for $1Bn February 2025 - A PIF owned subsidiary confirms they invested $1bn in DAZN to own single digit equity. March 2025 - Verified reports of a $1Bn prize pot then confirmed by FIFA ‘It is partly based on the $1bn exclusive global TV deal agreed with sports streaming service DAZN in December.’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cgl0zrxl8z9o https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/club-world-cup/usa-2025/articles/record-prize-money-solidarity It’s in plain sight mate.

He played 3.3k minutes this season over 42 games. If he's fit enough, he'll play more next season. You can bookmark this.

Nah I think JP comes in and plays regularly - largely at the expense of the 3rd CM. 70/30 when everyone is fit. Then injuries and suspensions mean they both play more. Isak will start every CL game and 95% of PL games he's fit for. Same is true for Haaland, Kane, Son, Saka, Rodri, Salah etc. Every top team has 2 or 3 players that just start 95% of game. Isak is in that bracket. He might be forced to play 60 minutes on occasion. If he's fit all season he's starting 45 games. The beauty of JP is he still gets a bag of minutes at AM and we can take Isak off earlier than we have been.

Barkley was a 2-year deal with Villa have an option for a 3rd. Villa have Onana, Kamara, McGinn, Tielemans at CM. With Europa League football, they probably don't need him and could use the FFP saving on his wages. Jorginho was initially signed on an 18-month contract. - Aggresively reduce age of squad - Requalify for CL - Not run into PSR issues next June I don't think all 3 is possible personally.

I don’t think JP, Ederson, RW, RCB is feasible. If it is - great. I also don’t think it works from a squad perspective. I think one of the striker or CM needs to be someone ok with sitting on the bench. Having all first teamers would be great and intent to go for it. But don’t think it works.

Agreed. Longstaff and Willock are dead squad spots. We’ll change formation to avoid playing them - even if it doesn’t suit the team or opponent. Before his calf injury and the return of Kamara - Ross Barkley was getting regular minutes at Villa. At worst we need a player of that ability. Someone that would’ve started that last game of the season. Assuming we sign an AM Miley needs more minutes than that player is going to get (hopefully). Which is why a veteran is ideal. We need quality in depth. Welbeck plays for Brighton. He’s not on big wages.

Btw this isn't true. PIF are clearly bankrolling FIFA and the CWC. Where did FIFA get the $1Bn pot from? A short time later, we learn DAZN spend $1Bn on the rights. Why the hell would DAZN spend that money for the CWC? To then stream it for free?? That would get DAZN 3 seasons of CL in England and actually generate some revenue. Then we learn PIF paid $1Bn for a single figure equity in DAZN. That would make DAZN worth at least $10bn and it very obviously is not. Then of course Saudi win an uncontested World Cup bid. PIF are in bed with FIFA and bankrolling their 2 major events. Very fairly - their footballing priority is Saudi Arabia. The country and the league. So they are in bed with FIFA, not UEFA. They are bankrolling FIFA and their league and they don't really care if that also means bankrolling our rivals. That's a small price to pay for thier main objective.

I think you have to when you’re in the CL. You need the bodies. Your Endo’s, Jorginho’s, Arteta even.