Well at least you entertained the thought rather than completely dismissing it. I'm not such a believer in fair play. Personally, I think that if a cartel of clubs could successfully keep all the competition and big money to themselves, they'd try it. It rather astonishes me that normally cynical football supporters don't even consider the scenario is possible.
Whenever anyone talks about a conspiracy I reach for my gun. Life is usually just simpler than you think. Football clubs are rich companies and they try to buy the best players...the richer ones are more likely to use the scattergun system because they can afford to buy too many players. They hope to get the best by this method and sell on the rest (making a profit if possible). We aren't rich enough for that...a player who doesn't work out is too costly a mistake for us...therefore we are more likely to spend wisely. If the richer clubs buy proven players from smaller clubs, they increase their success rate.
Exactly Fran. This "cartel" of teams are not exactly exempt from having players pinched themsleves. How many Arsenal players have gone to Man City recently? Adebayor, Nasri, Clichy, Sagna...
Haha. When I see a Saints player blatantly diving to the ground trying to win a penalty, I'll say, "but it's not cheating, it's Saints!"
This is the thing that really pisses me off. You clearly don't understand the premise so you heap derision on it. Ta.
Of course I understand it. It's not exactly a complex train of thought. I just happen to disagree with it. And my joke was just light-hearted banter (wahey!), so chill bro. IMO we weren't robbed by any clubs last summer. WE decided to sell our players. It's all on us. We could have easily said "no" a la Morgan. If the players in question had sulked about it, that's their fault (and their agents), not the buying clubs. Re: Poch. Don't forget the way our beloved club treated Nigel Adkins. We absolutely shafted him. Losing Poch was just karma.
Also don't forget the time we robbed Paul Sturrock from Plymouth. They were on the verge of their second promotion in a row. A dozen or so games away in fact. That was shameful.
Regular meetings in a dark stained wood panelled room. Cigars and port as they plot which clubs will acquire the best Saints players. And now, as we advance within a few games of a European competition Barcelona are so afraid of us they have also come along for a glass of port. Koeman can't turn around but for questions about managing the biggest club in Europe. No conspiracy or conspiracy, the higher you climb, the bigger the competition becomes.
But anyway, I only suggested that it may be possible, even highly possible. Remember that in times past match fixing between clubs happened, so cheating has occurred at club and inter club level. Where huge amounts of money are concerned, the temptation to cheat is heightened. I don't rule it out as impossible.
No, they very much do it to better themselves. No one in the Man Utd boardroom is thinking that they need to buy Clyne to ward off the existential threat that is Saints...they're thinking that they need another good right back, that we have such a thing, and that for the right price we'll provide them with such.
Fair enough, but buying players isn't "cheating". Liverpool still had to risk losing 20 million (plus wages) on Lovren, while we were profited by the same amount. Now if they had just come in and smashed his knee-caps with a sledge-hammer, then that would be cheating. Anyway, this forum is like a pub. You dare to say something leftfield/wacky/against-the-grain etc, it will be jumped on, but it's just a laugh at the end of the day.
You see I'm not suggesting what you propose either. I can see quite clearly that certain posters don't get the idea I'm putting forward. One or two are. Unfortunately, this forum can be like the worst aspects of a pub. We can't have a left-field conversation without someone deciding to take the piss. Then everyone jumps in. It's a shame. It would be a better forum if we could.
TSS, Black isn't taking the piss he is joking. Just because some don't agree with what you said, doesn't mean they don't understand what you are getting at. Everyone has a different opinion and that's what I see in this thread. I myself don't see it as big teams working together to stop others. I see it as big teams wanting to get better players. The best players will always want to play for the biggest team it's how football is these days.
I completely agree the top clubs buy just so teams like saints and Swansea are not such a threat but Chelsea are by far the worst offenders here. Sometimes they do actually want the players for first team but for players like bony who have so much to give but will never get a first team this is where football has gone wrong
you wouldn't see saints buying a top Bournemouth player to stop them coming up with no intention of playing him and send out on loan for 4 years.
