So a crazy week of European football comes to a close, but this isn’t going away because this is the 2nd time these greedy club owners have tried to take over with a breakaway league in the last 3 months. Twice they’ve had a go and all instigated by the Glazer family who are the CUSTODIANS of Man Utd, and the Fenway Sports Group (John Henry) who own Boston Red Sox Baseball team. Florentino Perez from Real Madrid said this week that this isn’t dead and had taken them over 2 years to put together. There were other Americans who jumped on the train, quickly followed by other European clubs which are heavily in debt. FSG and the Glazers have been plotting for years to Americanise our National Sport, because they cannot understand why we don’t have franchised sport which guarantees incomes for owners, has wage caps and means no relegation or promotions, they also see a fortune to be made from arranging their own broadcast deals but with the ultimate aim of pay per view streaming. Arranging broadcast deals is very lucrative when done properly. In the USA the main sports NFL, NBA etc have their own broadcast deal and sell the rights or segments to other US Broadcasters and the same for overseas broadcasters. In the UK Sky revolutionised the way we consume sport and they were involved in the start up of the premier league, so its a bit rich of them to complain about the ESL debacle. The present Broadcast deal is now due to be renegotiated again soon, and Sky, BT etc want it cheaper but the Premier League know there’s a bigger market and Amazon Prime, Netflix and a whole host of other broadcast and streaming outlets are now wanting to buy in. There are some very switched on members of the Premier League now and Andrea Radrizzani is the biggest and most switched on. He owns Asser which have broadcast rights in the Far East, he owns 11Sports Network, he is involved with the Qatari Royal Family who own BeinSport and PSG (Why PSG refused to join ESL) and they have broadcast rights for football and other sports all around the world. Radz also has the unique relationship with the 49ers who are experts on broadcast rights for major sports. Radz realises that the Premier League should have its own broadcast company similar to F1. F1 do their own filming, editing, production and everything and broadcasters buy the stream for all of the 3 days of testing, qualifying and race itself, or even the F3 and Sports car races which also take place on the circuit that week. BBC Sports used to have its presenters at the races and 15 minutes before the start of the race F1TV takes over (You see the logo on screen and anthem for a few seconds) so BBC are now using live pictures from F1TV but using its own presenters. CH4, Sky Sports, SkyF1, ITV are all doing the same as the BBC did. But that means that the company who own F1 are paid by everyone televising their product. Radz wants to do the same in football and cut out broadcasters which means more money selling their product to Sky and BT etc. Radz also realises that Leeds Utd would also have a better product by having LUTV selling streams to anyone, anywhere in the world. The real money that ESL was trying for, was streaming, and if any of the 12 clubs say they decided to pull out of the ESL because of what fans told them, they are lying prats. Indeed we were told in a statement that LEGACY FANS were dead and new fans were the future. We are legacy fans, fans that attend and support the club or buy LUTV etc to watch Leeds games. Legacy fans cost money because it means paying for policing, St Johns Ambulance, stewards, match day staff…….. They could make money in the future from streaming to fans anywhere in the world, and for example Man Utd know they could sell 15 million streams for each match. Even at just £1 per stream you are earning £15m x 38 = £578m and you know streams would be more expensive than that!! Radz also knows the reach that Leeds Utd has and will at some stage cash in on that but only when he legally and morally is able to do so. 49ers are also fully aware of the clout Leeds Utd has but its untapped goldmine is for the future. Parag Maratha has fully understood the relationship between the fans, its stadium, its history and heritage, and knows without these elements of the club the product is sterile. He has bought into not doing anything to hurt the club or its fans, ever. Radz will be involved in the new TV rights deal and get best price for all in the Prem but the model will have many changes which will include small elements of some of things mentioned above, but it’s a start to see change happening. Leeds Utd understand that our National Sport is for the fans and will always be for the fans and the City and is fully aware of the backlash. 49ers are aware that they are custodians of the club and fan base and cannot ever change the club from local to International. It will always firstly be local but have an International arm. Those 6 English clubs didn’t decide to pull out because of fans and media, it pulled out because for the first time a government had called it out and threatened sanctions. It said overseas travel for the clubs could be stopped, it said work permits would be stopped or the criteria for permits made tougher. A new tax regime for any club involved, tax penalties on overseas earnings for these clubs, Boris said he could make these 6 clubs pay the full cost of policing, he even put a Tory MP Tracey Crouch in charge of a full investigation into football ownership. Ms Crouch is a qualified FA coach and knows football inside out and is of the same opinion as Gary Neville that football needs a regulator.…… Boris threw everything up in the air and these greedy prats realised something would stick and make it tougher or more expensive so all 6 English clubs pulled out, which in turn meant the thing was dead. UK Government was the only government that said anything about it, so you may dislike Boris but he helped stop it. We know these underhand dealing had been going on for a long time and we also know there were clubs in Portugal, Germany, France, and many others who were interested, but all wanting a slice of something but not this and not right now. It was too close to the last takeover fiasco they attempted in January, and this time the yanks had done no real due diligence because they expected arrogantly that Uefa and the Prem would bottle it because they needed these 6 clubs to sell their product and without them the product would be weaker. They also got the LEGACY FANS versus future fans calculation very wrong. They also assumed club stores could move to just on-line and the same with merchandising. They also underestimated the resolve of the ‘smaller 14 clubs’, because the new ESL clubs would have an extra £250m per club more than the others. Meaning they expected to get their share of the prem riches and have an extra £250m each on top, which would make it impossible for anyone to afford top players, wages etc. It would also have stopped any of the 14 clubs qualifying for Europe and earning extra cash because these 6 had already been selected every year. You cannot compete against this financial clout as we found out when facing relegated clubs that had £100m in parachute payments. 16 years it took us but the extra £250m these 6 clubs get would dwarf parachute payments. The other thing that would have happened is that the Glazers for example would at some stage sell old Trafford and relocate to somewhere warm and cheap as it makes no difference where the club play but they can still be called Man Utd. That’s what happens in the NFL when taxes go up in certain states, the franchise will move to another state offering tax breaks. Be under no illusion these people see $ signs for everything especially in a closed shop where you get paid huge sums for not achieving anything because you cannot be relegated, its big cigar time. Another big driver for the yanks was a hole in the market appearing. This was one of the main reasons for going in heavy now, they saw an opportunity as the culture war against china takes off. Chinese businesses were gradually taking over many of Europes football clubs and some are deemed as football giants. Chinese bidder for Newcastle Birmingham City Aston Villa Wolves WBA Shares in Man City Athletico Madrid AC Milan Inter Milan Parma Sochaux Espanyol But in the last year there has been a backlash against China due to the covid pandemic and some of the decisions China have arrogantly taken against anyone who disagrees with them, like Australia. ‘Capital Flight’ is happening which means deals for football clubs have gone on hold, Chinese cash is leaving the UK and Europe and the USA so the Yanks see added value in going in now in a big way. Wolves is a classic case of a club flying as soon as Fosun (Chinese owner) took over, they invested in a top coach and gave him cash. Wolves were by far the best team in the Championship and strolled the league. They then did great for 2 seasons in the premier league and got into Europe, but then last Summer everything changed and cash was withdrawn. Players were sold but not replaced an Nuno Espirito Santo is fuming, and may even leave this Summer as his team have been fighting at the wrong end all season. Swansea have been doing well but again investment pulled so yet another season with no promotion. WBA again doing well in the Championship but cash pulled last Summer means relegation again this season. The NBA in America has been corrupted by Chinese money and they are afraid of upsetting China as that’s where all the money comes from that pays the millionaire basketball stars. These stars who criticised Trump and loved to virtue signal have kept quiet on Chinese slave labour because that’s where Nike get all their trainers made. One club owner was forced to resign recently because he had a go about Ouiga Muslims in China being tortured and his club couldn’t afford to lose the China cash. This is why the Yanks see an opportunity to fight back. It has been stopped yet again but its not going away until someone deals with it and that means punishing those clubs involved and tying them all down to meaningful contracts which would cripple them financially if they breach contract again. I am guessing that many Directors of these clubs will be sacrificial lambs to the slaughter, but will any of the owners want to sell up? I believe these people have already got most of what they wanted when Uefa extended the CL format and added 4 extra teams. This means extra games and even another way of getting in if you are a big team who failed to qualify. I can still see The world Series Soccer Final at Wembley every May but will the fans be singing Abide With me or the Star Spangled Banner
Great piece Doc This will not go away until proper punishment has been given to all the perpetrators of the so called ESL Personally I am not into punishing the fans of these clubs but boy do I want the club owners to pay This is down to the PL UEFA etc. If they don’t take action now then ESL will be back in no short order make no mistake I actually think we need gov legislation of some form to protect our sport from the yanks and slit eyes yes that’s racist but they started it Football is a European Sport we need to keep them well away from what is ours.
It seems there are some huge costs involved for each of the 12 clubs, and the start is paying off the £8m per club enrolment into the new ESL Company. This was required to allow them to commence negotiations for broadcast rights. There will also be massive legal costs for each club doing their own legal work plus a combined group legal bill as a new company. There are also potential massive costs for canceling a contract with the American Bank who had agreed to bankroll the whole ponzi scheme
Mmm Ponzi Scheme Maybe the bank, think it was JPMorgan maybe they should be Prosecuted for being involved Don’t care how much the clubs have to pay to get out of the scheme if they don’t get out permanently and in writing they should be ceremonially slung out of the EPL EFL UEFA and not allowed to play anywhere in Europe. Let them move to China and play their games there, see how much money they make out of that, the greedy twots
Apologies for off thread comment, but just got a call out of the blue from my Dr. There were a couple of no shows for the Pfizer jab, so off I pop with the mot and got it done, just need to go back 4 weeks time for 2nd. Job done.
JPMorgan ponzi scheme? A lot of talk about ‘pyramid structuring’ an initial joining ‘gift’, future ‘benefits ‘? Now JPM sue them all for breach of contract. If it sounds too good to be true........... And to top it off their own fans hate them.
Another broadsheet quality article, Doc. You know what I think & you know you should at least try. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on.
There's something spinning about in the back of my head from some time ago about FIFA taking a strong stance against government intervention. Still current, or am I imagining it?
The more I read and the more I think about football in general the more I am convinced that the governing bodies are a bunch of crooks along with some club owners, expanded champions league why? Money money money These billionaire owners didn’t get their money by being nice but by being out and out barstewards
Fifa had to change when Blatter was taken down especially when it was government intervention that won the world Cup from a real bid as it was embarrassing for the new reformed Fifa. Infantino had to accept government input from various European countries when he took over at Uefa after corrupt showings. These organisations will no longer be allowed to do whatever they want as governments like ours and the USA swore to rip them down the next time. IOC is also under warning
I just read part of an interview that will be published fully tomorrow with Florentino Perez, president of real madrid and group leader of the 12. I cannot be bothered to translate the whole thing, maybe tomorrow I will. The utter bollox this bloke speaks is beyond belief. I will translate one phrase. Hay cuatro mil millones de fans del fútbol repartidos por todo el mundo y la mitad de ellos son fanáticos de los clubes de la Superliga. There are 4 thousand million football fans spread over the world and half of these are fans of the 12 clubs of the super league. A total disillusioned self centred ****er whose only aim is to make money and finish in front of barca. A grade A ****.
Seen a lot of that Este and you’re right hes on something because hes deluded. I heard a pod yesterday from Italy saying there had been no investment in Italian football for 20 years. Stadiums are run down, Chinese quietly taking over, more and more clubs skint but a deluded few think they can just carry on demanding more and more. The product as these people call it is very poor compared to what it was even 10 years ago.
The one thing that shocked me through all this, was that all the clubs involved were really insolvent, except Man City and Chelsea. Chelsea and Man City are owned by independent wealth and have no debt, the others owe huge amounts of cash and need huge amounts of cash to survive and pay down debt. Why did City and Chelski get involved? Same thing greed, because they had been conned into believing it was going to happen and they needed to get on the train or get left behind. If it was Abramovitch on his own he will take the hit but if someone at Chelsea advised him that person is toast. Same at City so watch this space. There is going to be a lot of casualties very soon but wonder if any of the real culprits will fall on their sword
Decent piece on our U23s and comparing to the old reserve team model https://trainingground.guru/article...rn-to-reserve-team-model#.YILDNCWwlRA.twitter
Another young prospect gone this week, Max McMillan 18yo winger signs his first pro contract with Fleetwood. Max was a regular for the U18s but obviously deemed not good enough to step up to the 23s. So thats 2 gone this week and I am expecting a lot more with some players out loan who will be got rid of, some U18s who will not be good enough to step up to the 23s and some 23s who wont make it to the first team or who wont be good enough for next seasons team in Prem 2 League 1. Brutal Grayson has signed 2 of our kids this week now as Connor Teale went earlier in the week. Wonder if Fleetwood and Grayson will be an outlet next season for some Leeds loanees?
