Other clubs' transfers

[The Bonk]

@brummie I have a sneaking suspicion you'll quite enjoy your football this year, mate. Barring any injuries to key players, but same goes for us. Think it'll be a competitive top of half the table this season. 

[Decky]

I dont think the Saudi League impacts us in any real way. PIF could invest in us enough to make us another Man City and the money spent will be nothing to them. I'm sure they will still want to be one of the top dogs in the PL and Europe regardless of how the Saudi League is going. My only concern would be if they had ideas about some of our top players going to the Saudi League to improve the product over there. There's nothing we could do to stop it. 

[mighty__mag]

58 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Sustainability isn't a factor, they're richer than God. That fee is chump change.

 

Nobody does business to throw money away with no return, do they?

 

It's just obscene, 1m a week is pathetic. 

[Cronky]

I can't imagine ever getting interested in whether Al Nassr or Al Hilal wins the Saudi league, no matter who they've got playing for them. If the Saudis were to stage Usyk v Fury, that's something else, but a team sport is different. Interest is generated by an identification with a club for all sorts of historical or personal reasons. Throwing money around isn't going to create that.

 

[Manxst]

2 hours ago, mighty__mag said:

 

Nobody does business to throw money away with no return, do they?

 

It's just obscene, 1m a week is pathetic. 

The ‘return’ is influence and reputation rather than financial in this instance. Other investments bring in the cash, and they can afford to throw away mega bucks on this project as a result. 

[wiseman]

Probably will come to regret saying this, but I struggle to see their league ever being anything more then a novelty. They're signing amazing players, but it's still a handful of players across a whole league. Buying top quality defenders will never seen as exciting so I can't see them doing that, so we may end up with world class attackers playing against part time defences.

 

Their clubs will still need to build the entire infrastructure and depth that most professional clubs have and this will take time, even with unlimited wealth behind them.

 

The whole thing with their league just feels soulless

[Viana]

It does feel soulless and that's where you need to create an actual football culture. 

 

MLS isn't perfect, but it's a good yard stick to measure against. You need supporter groups and people committed to attending rain or shine. Superstar players will get casuals through the door and the odd tourist, but that won't generate an atmosphere either. 

 

I'm curious if they plan to try and poach executives from European leagues next to try and build things out. 

[timinperu]

49 minutes ago, wiseman said:

Probably will come to regret saying this, but I struggle to see their league ever being anything more then a novelty. They're signing amazing players, but it's still a handful of players across a whole league. Buying top quality defenders will never seen as exciting so I can't see them doing that, so we may end up with world class attackers playing against part time defences.

 

Their clubs will still need to build the entire infrastructure and depth that most professional clubs have and this will take time, even with unlimited wealth behind them.

 

The whole thing with their league just feels soulless

I think the reason for such investment, is similar to what Qatar did with their league in the years running up to the World Cup bid. They bought ex- World Cup winners, and great players at the end of their careers solely to highlight the country. I spent two months there during this time, and 60 minutes into a game the sheik and his entourage would enter the mostly empty stadium, the foreign players would be subbed on. 15 minutes later with the score 3-0, the sheik would leave, the said players subbed. Job done. Rinse and repeat.

 

This was one of the steps they took to acquire the World Cup franchise. This appears to be the same model SA are following. The aim is not to compete at all, it is to sell their country and raise awareness. Appears to be going well so far. 

It will not have a massive long term impact on other leagues. The premier league is just this, it is the world’s premier league, and it will remain so. Their clubs may do well in the Asian champions leagues, but this is all.

[Myleftboot]

Matheus Franca apparently joining Crystal Palace.

[Ben]

6 hours ago, Decky said:

I dont think the Saudi League impacts us in any real way. PIF could invest in us enough to make us another Man City and the money spent will be nothing to them. I'm sure they will still want to be one of the top dogs in the PL and Europe regardless of how the Saudi League is going. My only concern would be if they had ideas about some of our top players going to the Saudi League to improve the product over there. There's nothing we could do to stop it. 

 

I imagine we are in a position to get first choice on any player sent to Saudi, probably get the majority of the wages paid for by them as well.

[LV]

3 hours ago, Viana said:

It does feel soulless and that's where you need to create an actual football culture. 

 

MLS isn't perfect, but it's a good yard stick to measure against. You need supporter groups and people committed to attending rain or shine. Superstar players will get casuals through the door and the odd tourist, but that won't generate an atmosphere either. 

 

I'm curious if they plan to try and poach executives from European leagues next to try and build things out. 

They’ve already started with the executives. I can’t remember any names but they’ve def been trying to poach some. 

[TheBrownBottle]

Let’s be honest, South America has the history, the clubs, and often the players yet almost no bugger in Europe has ever given a shite about S American football other than at a World Cup or when a player from that continent signs for your club.

 

The same disinterest applies many times over for plastic leagues with loads of money chucked at them.  The ‘product’ isn’t why the average European punter watches football.

 

I think it would be great to see Asia develop competitive leagues and clubs - but I don’t think throwing unsustainable amounts at likely uninterested players is the way to do it.  The £1bn deal for Mbappe would make an incredible difference if invested in KSA football academies etc.  But they aren’t actually interested in that. 

[TheBrownBottle]

9 hours ago, duo said:

One thing that worries me is where does Newcastle fit in with all of this - clearly the Saudi League the priority for PIF.  They will want to build a league that is the best in the world - granted they are a long way off.  But as has been said they have limitless money they can throw at this and if they keep buying players - in time --> Super League?  The knock on effect is the weakening of other leagues including the PL.  Which brings me back to Newcastle as surely we'll also be one of the clubs that will suffer playing in a weakening league. 

Of course the KSA league is the priority. It’s their money.

 

I don’t see where the suffering comes in.  I wasn’t any less entertained when we were finishing high up in a mediocre English top flight in the mid 90s. 

[Whitley mag]

PIF have always stated they want to develop sport at home, what better way to get the young population interested than bringing in superstars. They will use this to get interest building then hope to develop their own players.

 

I doubt they even consider it a long term thing spending these sums on players.

 

As for us the Chairman has already explained clearly what the aim is to be number 1. Nothing I have seen so far would make me doubt this, they know they have to comply and build us up sustainably which they’re doing a brilliant job of so far.

 

We’ve only seen a small part of the investment in infrastructure so far, just wait until the new training ground and stadium plans are announced.

 

The best part though is not worrying this summer about Spurs or Liverpool taking Anderson or Miley from us. Not even Villa can say their players are untouchable just look at Grealish, I think with PIF behind us we need fear nobody domestically signing our players anymore.

[El Prontonise]

PIF's (the royal family) spending on these players is a bribe to keep their own population in check.

[AJ9]

With the amount of money going on wages in Saudi Arabia, in reality no club is going to be able to sustain it unless there is some sort of massive TV or commercial deal going on to support the league. So how could it be at all sustainable? Unless PIF continues to finance the whole league structure, but then if all the clubs are in essence owned by the same people, like PIF franchise clubs, what is the point of the competition? 

[Nucasol]

5 minutes ago, El Prontonise said:

PIF's (the royal family) spending on these players is a bribe to keep their own population in check.

Bread and circuses.

[jackflap]

Sounds like West Ham might be walking away from a deal for Ward Prowse, with nobody else linked him staying put would surely help our pursuit of Livaremento.

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by jackflap

[Froggy]

17 minutes ago, AJ9 said:

With the amount of money going on wages in Saudi Arabia, in reality no club is going to be able to sustain it unless there is some sort of massive TV or commercial deal going on to support the league. So how could it be at all sustainable? Unless PIF continues to finance the whole league structure, but then if all the clubs are in essence owned by the same people, like PIF franchise clubs, what is the point of the competition? 

 

A lot of people keep talking like this. I'm starting to think people don't understand just how rich these people are. The money is essentially unlimited. 

[GeordieDazzler]

4 minutes ago, jackflap said:

Sounds like West Ham might be walking away from a deal for Ward Prowse, with nobody else linked him staying put would surely help our pursuit of Livaremento.

 

 

 

They’ve bid 25m, Soton want 40m 

 

Sounds like temperatures are rising at West Ham, Moyes wants PL experience but everyone knows they have the Rice money 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by GeordieDazzler

[Menace]

£40M for JWP is absolutely mental.

[AJ9]

@Froggy. Re the money, I know, but is their interest unlimited? Like what value do people place on a PIF franchise league where each club is basically owned by the same people. 
 

Edit - the way I see it is if the City Group clubs started a league and just bought all the best players to play against each other. Beyond the initial interest, would people really give a shit about the competition? And if the interest doesn’t sustain, do PIF continue to pump money into it?

 

 

Edited August 1, 2023 by AJ9

[TRon]

11 hours ago, mighty__mag said:

Yes I understand the wealth, that's not the hard part. 

 

The long term sustainability is the tricky bit? 

 

It will never take off.

 

The whole league would need to be competitive, or you're just looking at an SPL type league with two major clubs.

 

There's no Uefa type competitiveness either.

 

I just see failure, and a massive waste of cash, a bunch of players out in a country with awkward social settings, and when they're fed up, nobody will be able to afford to help them out, without these players taking huge pay drops. 

 

It's utterly pathetic. 

 

 

 

 

You are looking at it from a European POV, which is understandable, but there is a massive appetite for football in Asia, you only have to look at how Man U or Liverpool sell their shirts in that continent to see the potential. I can remember a poster on here used to have a profile pic of some Iraqi kid wearing a NUFC shirt while toting a rifle during one of the various gulf wars.

 

The Saudis have the money to invest big time in growing their professional football league, while there might not be much interest in Europe, it might get successful enough to get a following in Asia or Africa. Those are big markets, you only have to see how PL clubs have toured Asia to try and get a piece of it to realise that.

[mighty__mag]

7 hours ago, Manxst said:

The ‘return’ is influence and reputation rather than financial in this instance. Other investments bring in the cash, and they can afford to throw away mega bucks on this project as a result. 

 

Maybe in their own country, but globally, nah.

 

 

 

 

[Ben]

Who currently has the TV rights to show the Saudi League?