5 blokes work in my office. Me and 4 others. There’s me, one lad who doesn’t like football but if he had to name a team it would be City as he went to a few games a a kid. Then there’s 3 Liverpool ‘supporters’ Two of the silly bastards have never been but still give it big licks. Only Arsenal fan I know is my mate Dicko, who’s from London and actually goes to games.
Been in pub and it’s definitely worse I don’t like either of them but Liverpool fans usually quieter **** plastic United fans giving it loads ****s the lot of them
Looks like Arne was good at running well oiled machine, but when it comes to building a new machine... it is not same. Even 4 games they won before losing streak, 3 of them were 85+ minutes goals.
From The Athletic. Standstill in Liga over U.S. game, broadcasters asked not to show it Empire-building in football has the subtlety of a bulldozer. It runs you over and then tells you it’s good for you. Those it seeks to manipulate tend to shrug or sigh as they bow to the inevitable. Spain’s La Liga must have hoped as much when it set about taking a regular league fixture to the United States: that the lines of resistance to its big idea would crumble like Nottingham Forest’s faith in a manager. With support from the powers that be, UEFA included, its intentions were as good as a fait accompli — until it transpired that nobody had thought to ask the players. La Liga is not the only division scheming to hold an official match abroad. As it plots to stage Villarreal versus Barcelona in Miami in December — the first time a European league game would be played outside its jurisdiction — Serie A is clearing a path for Como and Milan to meet in Perth, Australia. The clubs are on board, at executive level at least, and so are the authorities, albeit with some reluctance. But the battle for hearts and minds is not going well. Over the weekend, La Liga players staged a co-ordinated protestagainst the controversial initiative, acting on the instructions of their union, the Spanish Footballers’ Association (AFE). At the start of their matches, they stood motionless for the first 15 seconds, refusing to engage. AFE said the action was “symbolic” and a response to “La Liga’s lack of transparency, dialogue and consistency”. La Liga has since called for “a return to useful and constructive dialogue”. AFE had said on Friday that Villarreal and Barcelona would not participate in the protest. That made sense, since they are the clubs lined up to play in Miami on December 20. Except when it came to it, their players took a stand and joined in too. “We did it out of respect for our fellow footballers,” said Barca’s Pedri, underlining the strength of opposition La Liga faces. 'It will distort the competition' La Liga tried to negate the dissent by instructing TV broadcasters not to show the 15-second strikes. DAZN’s Spanish coverage of Oviedo versus Barcelona showed the outside of the stadium while the teams briefly downed tools. At other games, the coverage cut to aerial shots or a La Liga graphic promoting peace in the Middle East. The tactic didn’t work entirely. The protests were referred to by commentators and both Movistar in Spain and DAZN’s English-language coverage broadcast footage of players standing still. A letter sent by La Liga president Javier Tebas to AFE on Thursday, warning of “unwanted consequences”, fell on deaf ears. La Liga is determined to push its proposal through, as is Serie A. Both competitions argue expansion into new markets is essential for their long-term growth. But La Liga in particular is being met with widespread anger. Real Madrid head coach Xabi Alonso claims Villarreal versus Barca on neutral, foreign ground would “distort the competition”. His Barca counterpart, Hansi Flick, described himself as “not happy” and claimed La Liga was essentially calling the shots. In theory, Villarreal and Barca would be turning out in the U.S. two months today. It leaves La Liga with little time to placate all and sundry. It might be that the league simply employs the bulldozers but in doing so, it would ride roughshod over some of its most high-profile stakeholders. Is a match in the States worth the collateral damage?
This initiative, like everything in top flight football, is solely about money - the top clubs are like pigs at a trough, snuffling for their next morsel. With the growing number of English clubs being foreign owned, including eleven American owned PL teams, it's only a matter of time before the clamour for a neutral fixture for English clubs begins. It's the thin end of the wedge!
This is the new world of corporate football. Clubs owned by Private equity ,Corporate investors,Hedge Funds,Venture capital and private debt firms . The money sloshing around for the world's top 1% is truly staggering . In fact it's probably the top 0.5% .
Coincidentally just this past weekend the NFL (American football) was being played at Wembley. Popular with the people there maybe not so much for their fans back home thousands of miles away.
Maybe this is how football "balances out", in ten years all EFL clubs will be owned by foreign billionaires.
