Colos Short and Curlies

I've sent a few messages into Talksport touting him for the Spurs Job seeing as he is being limited at Newcastle by the players he has available. No bites from them unfortunately

But as someone has a standing legal complaint against the EPL for competition type issues it would be the perfect place to suddenly have 'found' some emails that need to be presented to the other side

We've also got to do worse than Brighton and Burnley and Southampton even if Fulham pull it out of the bag.

Not the most catchy catchphrase ever

Or Premier League rules... As much as I hate Bruce I won't blame him for not starting Willock for this one

They wouldn't waste the takeover for this summers excuse when the 'reasoning' behind the ESL already gives them an out for not spending

To be fair though, post Bobby it's only Pardew and Rafa who have lasted more than 2 years with us. Bruce will make it 3 unless the take over happens before the 19th July

It's Burnley if not Fulham. They meet in 2 game time, single biggest game remaining this season in the Premier League imo

So either every club gets together and agrees to start each season on -50 points - i.e. nothing changes or it's a forced sale (at a distressed price no doubt) in all but name. Personally I think the ship has sailed on the 50+1 idea for the premier league, commercially it's too big now. The answer (if there is one) will lie in the overall Premier League framework and regulation. If you can get independent representation in the league then you can get regulation in that doesn't just serve the self interest of the status quo

Burnley really need something from their next 2 before they face Fulham. If Fulham win that one then they go 3 behind with Sheff Utd straight after (assuming they get nothing in their game pre Burnley)

Embargoed

The Ashley would rightly take them to the cleaners. It's us, another country or nothing for PIF

There is zero chance the PL let PIF buy another PL club, they'd be taken to the cleaners.

One thing that would trigger a liability however would be if PIF were allowed to buy another Premier League Club........

Very last line

That doesn't say they are confident of winning, it says they are confident that there is no financial liability - losing the arbitration leading to the takeover happening does not have a cost to it. Even if it was about compensation all this is really saying is they think they have at least a 50% chance of not losing, not that they are confident of winning

Are they asking about the shirt or the model? Answer is yes to both

Yeah it's in Oswestry, which is one of the most Welsh looking place names on the route from Chester to South Wales (non Motorway of course). Although they retained the TNS abbreviation they changed their name from Total Network Solutions to The New Saints in the mid 2000's with a sponsor change. they are a Welsh FA affiliated club as the original club was from a neighbouring Welsh village and they only merged with Oswestry in the early 00's

This would never happen but it would be great if the likes of Talksport and Sky took an approach for the rest of the season not to discuss the 6 clubs outside of commentaries. Starve them of the oxygen that drives their commercial interests. Of course the aforementioned platforms are completely complicit in the creation of a 'big 4', 'big 6' etc and it's a self fulfilling cycle where they believe that pushing these forward drives viewing/listening figures so it won't happen

I'd rather change the 2 league cups in England Scotland to be a joint competition - maybe even bring in the Welsh league as well. Keep it regional (country) for the first few rounds and then joint later on, or arrange the prize money to ensure that a first round match between Inverness and Plymouth doesn't result in either team losing money. Rotate the final between the 3 countries as well

A bit of a hybrid Scouse/Glaswegian accent developing there in places

Possibly, on the competition aspect. I'd have thought a hot shot lawyer would be able to successfully argue the intention was never to impact the competition within the league and that the award of finishing first (i.e. Champions League) is outside of the stretch of these rules. Even in the event that the league had gone ahead and the clubs used youth/reserve players on a Saturday then as long as they were in a registered squad (and there would no doubt be a different squad for each competition the same way there is for European competition now) then they would be within the letter of the regulations

With a likely lack of punishment fro UEFA or the PL I guess we're going to have to hope that JP Morgan included some hefty exit clauses. If there is an industry more self serving and murky than football than its financial services, they never lose

On what basis though? I doubt the test has any text relating to something that this could be applied to. Basically the test is not fit for purpose

The issue with this is how do the owners dispose of the clubs if they fail the test? It's the same with fans demanding that the owners walk away. The value of these clubs is prohibitive for a 'good' sale, you are looking at hedge funds or similar structures to FSG. Most of the Middle East is out due to other club ownership and I really don't see how PIF can buy any premier league club other than us now, the legal ramifications would dwarf the SL argument for the Premier League. Chelsea fans had no issue when Abramovich was spending hundreds of millions to deliver the Champions League (and saving them from going under remember), Liverpool fans similar with FSG. It's unfortunate to say the least but fans will be the victims of any punishment but there is no real alternative.