Dr Jinx

Nah it’s a disaster waiting to happen. It’ll be a novelty for a year or so and then ratings will drop. The PL can keep going but it won’t quite be the same brand by the time the others come crawling back.

Just now, Yorkie said:

A big investment from them then, which is obviously a good start, but this is supposedly forever more. Fail to see how they can sustain it. The great contradiction at the heart of all of this is that these clubs need the CL/PL too. When it comes the the global audience, their popularity/marketability has been built on their performance in traditional football competition; from them being the best. Remove that earned validation and you surely, surely lose a lot of the attraction. And if they're not in the PL/other leagues, they won't have their homegrown fans to fall back on. 

I just don't see any world where we lose these teams from the leagues unless, like I say, relying on the 'global'/consumer audience is really enough to sustain a full breakaway league forever more. I doubt the compromise they'll eventually find will be especially palatable, but I'm not sure about how much we're really on a precipice here. Just feels more like a very big play. 

They think they’ll earn up to 10 billion a year within a few seasons.

4 teams from each country to the CL is too much anyway. The league would be more exciting if teams weren’t content with finishing 4th each year, the stakes should be higher.

So basically Sunderland could get automatically promoted to the Championship? Fucks sake man

Just now, RobS said:

Haven't Bayern said no already?

 

They haven’t said yes.

Uefa and the PL (and other league associations) need to show some backbone now, they’ve threatened action. Time to do something.

1 minute ago, FCB said:

As far as I understand, they're kicked out the league and any European competitions from next season.

If they decide to come back, they have to restart from Vanarama National League.

Kicking out clubs from next season when they’ve already left ?

Just now, FCB said:

Basically no longer associated to UEFA.

So how does that effect the current champions league? Surely they can’t compete

It’s the perfect time to announce a Saudi takeover in fairness ?

It’s a terrible idea, short sighted. So what happens if Arsenal finish bottom of the group stages? Do they get relegated? If not then it’s a total farce. The idea of competition is that if a team does badly they get relegated.

It seems to me that it’s as much of a hostile move against each individual league, especially the PL. I think that’s the longer term goal 

The current Premier League season should be postponed immediately.

It would be a complete farce to go through the motions.

2 minutes ago, Ketsbaia said:

Fulham didn't deserve the win and VAR is the death of football. 

Probably a conversation for another thread but VAR isn’t the problem, it’s the people interpreting what we can all see now and are still getting it wrong.

Like the penalty yesterday for example, Clark did have his arm up but the West Ham player had his head under his arm and moved it when he jumped. Without the interference he might not have touched it at all.

It does need work on the offside though. Those lines simply don’t work unless they can see something we can’t.

If Arsenal play like that against us we should get something from it. They don’t seem to give a fuck about their league position these days 

22 minutes ago, duo said:

Anyone watched 'The Dissident' on Prime?  Certainly makes you think 

I think most of us have considered what you’re getting at. Why should nufc be the only club to be questioned about morals though?

I can separate it and enjoy any success guilt free, as we should.

Do you think Chelsea fans lose sleep at night wondering how many corpses Roman Abramovich has buried to be able to bankroll their success? Or how about City fans worried about human rights abuses?

They need to press on, what an opportunity now to improve our goal difference 

Get in!!!! Big Joe!!

A total guessing game but maybe the delay tactics of challenging the chair were to get those freedom of information requests out in the public before pressing on. The whole issue of them briefing Downing Street in what’s supposed to be a confidential process seems important to the case.

1 minute ago, FloydianMag said:

If you run with a theme of corruption, especially using the press to do so, you’d better be sure you’ve got evidence to back you up surely?

When have the media ever needed evidence to run with a story? Whether MBS is guilty as sin about the Journalist, there’s fuck all evidence, like physical evidence. That he ordered and facilitated it, but that doesn’t stop the press from calling him a killer.

4 minutes ago, Candi_Hills said:

Scallops with leeks and rich mussel soup = He’s got the leaks all ready to present and then the rich muscle is moving in.

Fish supper last night = He ate Amanda out

Pretty obvious.

? do you think they let George Caulkin watch?

6 minutes ago, FloydianMag said:

It was ‘leak’ and ‘leek’ that first piqued my interest in his tweet.

A bulk of the newspapers picked up where they left off with the “Killer Saudi Prince” thing. Someone has to have been feeding them new information that they’d bother running with this again. Id say that’s what the reference is to.

One thing I did notice though was that the consortium/club were very naive in terms of using the press. They should have been running with a corruption theme to muddy the waters and put pressure on the PL.

Yes it would seem that arbitration is about to start and that someone on the PL side has been talking to the media once again.

Hence the “leaks” comment by NDM.

The media have reverted to the negative campaign against Saudi almost in unison. I wonder if that’s because they are worried about losing the case?

It’s like throwing the gauntlet to the consortium.. “ok so you want to buy the club, be prepared for an endless press frenzy”

With Wilson and ASM back fit I wouldn’t rule out anything happening. They concede goals and were lucky to hang on v Leicester last weekend.

I’d worry about us defensively though.

Alan Smith was atrocious as well.

The published emails can only add to the case. The club will argue that the test wasn’t applied according to the PL’s own rule book and it’s looking increasingly certain that this was the case.

Whether they can prove a direct separation between PIF and the state might not even be important anymore.

4 minutes ago, Candi_Hills said:

Does anyone know, is arbitration a professional and pally type of thing or does it get dead spicey?

It will be an absolute smug affair from start to finish. 

No not directly related to a takeover but it’s a positive first step in what could be a messy divorce from Mike Ashley.

It might only be a temporary measure but it’s a symbolic one. Castore have little to gain over running the shop when they already had the kit deal just like Mike Ashley had little to lose by keeping the shop open under SD, no rent to pay etc.