Stifler

Admittedly no, and I was going to start my post by saying that.

I thought that this Burnley team were supposed to be mint. Absolutely average here.

They can’t though. The deadline for any points deductions to apply for this season has already passed.

Why? The guy they will place in charge will be someone who’s record is clean.

So I did some thought calculations. A £200m a year TV deal for the EFL, if we assume the EFL Cup and EFL Trophy takes away approximately 21% of the total deal, and excluding play off games, would equate to about £50k per club per match in revenue. Again this is taking away the expenses and if the money was distributed evenly from the Championship to League Two.

Nah, we played a pre-season friendly with Juventus and played in the silver/grey strip which was it’s only outing.

Yes, however if the EFL is able to sell every game from every league to 1 provider, then you would imagine the Premier League would be saying that them selling 10 games a week to 1 provider is a better scenario then selling 36-72 a week that the EFL will be doing.

They are, however I have been watching some MLS games and watched the timer between the timer on the screen, and the timer on Flash-scores which is usually ahead of the TV broadcasts on normal TV. Anyway the most it’s been behind is 30 seconds, it’s often just seconds behind Flash-scores, and on par with normal TV broadcasts.

My preference would be Apple because they already have the MLS rights and I can see them having an ‘All Football’ subscription package. I also like how they offer some MLS games for free to those on Apple TV+ without the MLS add on, and some free for everyone. Whoever gets it though, I’d like it for them to get the Premier League ones as well, just so we can have 1 provider.

DAZN have only bid for the right, they will be one of many bidders. Apple are bidding as well and I’d imagine they would go in hard. Amazon will probably be in there, and Viaplay are also said to be interested. Sky will probably be interested but I think the EFL want to sell 1 package globally which you’d imagine would put both Viaplay and Sky at a massive disadvantage. DAZN have had financial struggles, so I can see the EFL being cautious with them, especially after what happened with ITV digital which nearly sent the EFL bust. YouTube (Google) recently won the USA Sunday ticket for the NFL, after Apple withdrew because the NFL wanted the payments to go through them, and Apple wanted subscribers to subscribe to them directly. So on that basis you would think that they would also have an interest in getting sport on TV. £200m a year (which is what the EFL want) is pocket change to the likes of Apple, Amazon, and Google/YouTube. Where as it will likely be a bit more of a barrier for DAZN etc.

The EFL one is said to be done before the season starts. The Premier League one will go out to tender in August, but won’t conclude until next year. If the EFL have made every match available and scrapped the 3pm KO’s, then the Premier Leagues hand will pretty much be forced to follow suit. The Premier League sooner or later will go the way of scrapping the 3pm blackout regardless of the EFL do it this time around or not. By keeping the stance that they aren’t going too, they can allow the EFL to go ahead and do it 1st, then they don’t get the blame for opening the door.

The non-league attendance debate will go until we test it. What are attendances like on Champions League midweeks?

It’s next year for the Premier League.

The Premier League rights come up for auction next year. If the EFL sells the 3pm KO’s (they will), then the Premier League will follow up. The current cycle of broadcast rights never even went to auction, they just extended the existing deal. I could see the Premier League scrambling to offer the existing broadcast holders all the games between them for the final year of the deal, similar to what they had to do a couple of years ago.

I fully expect Apple to make a similar bid as well. I can’t see DAZN having the money to actually compete with the likes of Apple and even Amazon. They have apparently been in financial trouble lately, and losing subscribers. I do believe that the EFL will get a deal where every game is shown, 3pm or not. This will force the Premier League to follow up a year later when their rights go to auction. Sky have lost the UEFA qualifiers, and in recent years lost the UEFA club competitions, as well as a Premier League package. Even the MLS has left them. Their time is limited to be honest.

They’ll just blame it on the immigrants, vote Tory, and praise Brexit.

In all honesty I struggle to see why they have a problem with Levy, aside from not winning a trophy. They have gone from being an average Premier League club with an average stadium, average squad, and average everything else. They now have the best stadium in football, if not in sport as a whole. It also attracts NFL games, and other events. Early rumours are that it is in line to be home for a new London based Rugby Super League club. They have a new state of the art training ground. They have brought in some really good players in the past, and done so at a profit where there is not much overall outlay. They have brought in good managers. Poch was a young, up, and coming manager when he was appointed. Despite his downward slide, Mourinho had won something everywhere he had been, and has even won a trophy for Roma since. Conte was considered to be a massive coup who just hasn’t worked out. They also have gained amazing commercial deals. Their deal with Nike, with the exposure they get, they should not be getting for a club that isn’t relatively successful. Ok so their last trophy was only 15 years ago, poor them, and was only the League Cup, poor them again. No club is guaranteed success, no matter how well ran they are behind the scenes. This is one of the reasons why I was so desperate to win the League Cup a month ago, because no matter how well our owners do, the success is not guaranteed. I can’t help but feel that Arsenal going back around is making their fans start getting twitchy. If they win the FA Cup next season is Levy suddenly the good guy who’s done everything right?

It’s all a bunch of nothing though, and they know it. We know he is both our chairman and a director of PIF. We know that PIF is a sovereign wealth fund for Saudi Arabia. What they claimed to be a problem was that he could act on the behalf and of interests of Saudi instead of Newcastle in his role. That was what they allegedly put in place to protect and until he does something that questions his duties to the club, then it’s not in doubt. Declaring that he’s a Saudi minister does nothing for the Premier League, because they knew this beforehand. Of course non of this gets clicks though, so the headlines and stories are easy to make up by making clear scenarios ambiguous in the story that they tell.

Of course some people will complain, leave them be. The club will sharp tell them that they either stand to keep their seats, or move. No matter what you do, you will upset some people. When Spurs build their new stadium, social media was full of their fans complaining that they never got their exact old seat back, despite every seat in their new stadium being better than any seat in their old stadium.

Yeah, I think our group is arguably the hardest. If you are not Italy or England and finish in the top 2, then you have done well. How the fuck Belarus are allowed to compete is beyond me though.

Because Kazakhstan have superior potassium.

It’s sunny in Philadelphia is very hit & miss. Some episodes are funny, others are just cringy. As for hating Wrexham, I guess people are just tired of all the publicity over them because of their owners. I think a lot of National League fans think they have just bought the league. However I do think that they have helped emphasise that having only 2 clubs go up is a problem, and possibly that the National League should be absorbed into the EFL. Personally, I’m not that arsed. I think a lot of Wrexham fans have been through it, and they have gained the lottery ticket everyone down there wants. On top of that Wrexham itself is a fairly deprived area. It lacks investment and jobs, and I guess it’s good that the town now has something to cheer about with their football club.

Portland Timbers vs LA Galaxy on at 8:30 on Apple TV MLS pass, Atalanta match is on at 11:30 for those who have started following them. If you all need your football fix.

Isn’t it law that Liverpool away kits have to be fucking rancid?

I see Carlisle are going out of their way to fuck up promotion to League One.