The Court of Arbitrary Arbitration - Random Facts, Thoughts, Etc.

Agents, who do nothing for the game, are starting to run football - WH co chairman David Gold

www.bbc.com/sport/football/45514862

The obvious conflict of interest in some cases, such as Pogba's move to United where Raiola represented all 3 parties in the negotiation, is what's mind boggling to me.
I'm curious if the same type of stuff happens in other sports. For all the power agents may have in the NFL, NBA or MLB, it's nowhere near as bad as it looks with football and all it's loopholes and shady practices...

 

So well know United is still one of the most valuable sports teams in the world, but does anyone else feel like the team has been trending downwards in terms of branding the last few years? I feel as though PSG and City are setting the bar at the moment in terms collaborations and tapping into the new generation. All they are missing is that elusive CL title (and for City, winning the league more consistently) to solidify their status. Meanwhile United has been shipping out shit merchandise and lackluster performances on the field.

 

I don't think they are trending downwards in terms of branding as you say, it seems every few months there is some announcement with the Official Curtains or whatever of MUFC. Plus revenues continue to rise each year and the top 3 usually rotate between us and the big two in Spain. Yes of course PSG and City are more popular than say 5 or 10 years ago but their owners pumped a ton of money into their clubs and are probably still operating at a loss.

 

Fair. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm seeing a lot of interesting and innovative ideas from City and PSG, and I am concerned that (down the line) we will be left in the dust. But, as you say, they have pumped lots of money into the club and I'm sure there is an army of creatives sitting around a table trying to figure out the next big thing. Not so much with us.

Of course none of this fancy bs will mean much if they don't get results on the field... but they are, for the time being.

 

Despite the poor to mediocre results on the football side of things, United is consistently at the very top and I mean very top (which means in sports in general and not just football) of pretty much all rankings or any type of classification that pertains to financial matters (from revenue earned to most valued sports team and pretty much everything in between).
I don't know exactly how PSG and City are doing: if I had to guess, I would imagine that they're doing pretty well, considering all the money that has been pumped into those clubs by their owners in recent years, coupled with some pretty decent success on the pitch.
Being the new kids on the block and having apparently almost unlimited resources, of course they may look more "appealing" to the younger generation (the players they buy, plus their style of play alone will see to that). When you see PSG having a kit deal with Jordan, of course that will contribute to amp up the cool factor among younger people. But the fact that they're serial winners is what makes them appealing to younger fans.
But when it's all said and done, from a financial point of view, United are still the benchmark (or close to it) in football and sports in general. That only does so much to the average fan, but it's very much fact.

 

F_H does have a point though. New football fans across the world will gravitate to the successful clubs on the pitch and we have benefited from that in the past thanks to our success. But the longer we continue not to win the CL/Prem, new fans will start to support the currently successful clubs like PSG and City. That in turn will lead to more sponsorship/branding/etc for them.

 

I'm not arguing the fact that clubs like City or PSG are not appealing to newer fans. You can probably even lump Pool in that category as well. The fact that they're playing attractive, win things (speaking of City and PSG at least) and have some of the players in vogue ATM, like Neymar and Mbappe just to name those 2, and it's expected that new/younger will gravitate towards those clubs.
My point remains is that it's possible (we'll have to see how things develop in the coming years) where United may have arrived to a point where the brand is strong enough that it may survive for a time, despite inconsistent results on the pitch. The Dallas Cowboys or NY Yankees are perfect proof of this. How long has it been since they've won the SB or the World Series? Yet the brand endures and they still remain at the top, not just in their respective sports, but simply in all of sports.
Teams are City and PSG are perfectly positioned at the moment, sure. But at the same time, it's not a given either that United will necessarily fall behind from a financial point of view anytime soon (especially as long as someone like Woodward is in charge).

 

Inside the new state of the art Manchester United changing rooms at Old Trafford. 🏟

This is class. 😍 pic.twitter.com/OIgquVEPjY

— EPL Bible (@EPLBible) September 22, 2018

 

Interesting choice in eyewear from Davids's nowadays. Looks like he's gone for a retro 80s type frame.

 

We've picked out three #MUFC must-reads!

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) October 14, 2018

 

13 years ago, a group of disillusioned Manchester United fans broke away and formed @FCUnitedMcr.

@DeanJonesBR went along to experience football as some feel it should be: https://t.co/YoPeGj4ABt pic.twitter.com/45ERaiJfaC

— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 6, 2018

 

A look at the US's dynamic duo in midfield.

www.espn.com/soccer/club/united-states/660/blog/post/3699768/tyler-adams-and-weston-mckennie-are-the-us-midfield-duo-of-the-future

Really an exciting time for football in the US (national team), with so much top talent coming through. The key now obviously is to get the right guy to develop and lead them.
Gregg Berhalter appears to be the leading candidate and the buzz around him is good, as far as his philosophy is concerned.
Still believe there was/is a tremendous opportunity, with this new crop coming up, to take the USMNT in a completely new direction. Especially with the WC being played here in 2026.

 

Barca are the team with the highest wage bill in all of pro sports.

www.theguardian.com/football/2018/nov/25/barcelona-team-average-10m-year-wages-sporting-intelligence

United are 10th and the highest in the Prem. At least, teams like Barca, Real and Juve (surprise entry for me, even if Ronaldo's salary alone must be responsible for ballooning their wage bill) are justifying their high numbers unlike us.
With the money being pumped into the league in recent years, it's no surprise however that it is the highest paying league in the game.

 

We'll be facing off again as part of #MUTOUR 2019 in 🇦🇺 — we'd love to see you there! https://t.co/bw1WzaNmzp

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 29, 2018

 

The good days, even in days that really blew (3/14/98 and 5/8/02 notably).

Losing trophies or titles hurt, no doubt about it, but will still take and go thru that pain over what we are experiencing currently and barely being relevant or not even being in the running.

 

Been enjoying this show so far about Robbie Lyle (Arsenal fan TV creator) running his team and trying to put together this fan football channel league.
Can't stand that DT guy though. Just like his post match interviews, the guy comes across as a fake tough guy, who hams it up for the cameras (in other words, he's kind of a bitch or a prick if you to be nicer about it).
In today's ep, they're playing The United Stand team and it's totally worth watching.

Fwiw, AFTV played Full Time Devils last year and lost... Can they do better this time? This was on the back of a pretty nasty feud between DT and Mark Goldbridge from United Stand.

 

Wishing all a happy, healthy and successful 2019!

 

Behind the scenes look at the French national team the day of the 2018 WC final.
Gave me goosebumps just by watching it (especially all the pregame stuff) because you can only imagine what the players are going thru, playing in the biggest football match of their lives so far.
And afterwards, after the job is done: the elation, the camaraderie (before and after really), all of it. Has to make them feel like a band of brothers: love that stuff tbh.

 

Not sure why barthez is on the list. Did he win anything with us?

It has to be VDS and DDG for me.

🔴 Favourite Manchester United goalkeeper in recent history? 🙌#UCL pic.twitter.com/HYk1VDV83O

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) January 14, 2019

 

It has to be between DeGea and Schmeichel, VDS was bit slow in reaction and was goodis not in same league of DeGea or Schmeichel.

 

That looks like the cover of a teen magazine there.

 

Agree Schmeichs or DDG for me too, as shot-stoppers nothing much to split them.

However liked how Schmeichs was more vocal with his defenders when not happy - for example after Jones first few mistakes at the weekend PS would have had a word and by the end would probably have punched his lights out

 

DDG has the edge as a shot stopper over schmikes. For me.

 

The blemish on DDG would be his distribution compared to others on the list and he has not won much with us(NEVER HIS FAULT)

 

An worthwhile observation. Well done.

DDG has the clear edge as the shot stopper but it's fair to give the clear edge to Schmeichel as a keeper who took command of the box.

But a keeper's overriding responsibility is to stop shots on goal and it's pretty hard to identify a single keeper in the history of the game who was better at that responsibility than David De Gea.