Many Newcastle fans in turn point to the £11bn of annual trade the UK does with Saudi Arabia - including being one of the world's largest sellers of arms to the kingdom - and ask why football should be held to a higher standard. They ask why investment into a club such as theirs should be blocked when the government is happy to do business with Saudi Arabia in other industries. Indeed, this week the Prime Minister himself is reportedly poised to visit Riyadh for talks on oil. Chelsea fans can point to the way Russian finance was warmly welcomed into London over the last two decades, and ask why they should be singled out. Whataboutism at its glorious best.
throwing bottles at players / game officials is SO last year .... In Argentina, the derby between Rosario Central and Newell’s Old Boys was delayed after grenades, thrown onto the pitch by fans, blew holes in the playing surface.
So a team could have to play 19 (19!!!!!) matches to win the CL. We all have an exhaustive list of why it's so dumb. My question is HOW? 13 matches is what is required to win now and it's a big strain on clubs and players. 38 League matches 19 CL matches 7 League cup matches 6 FA Cup matches 10 international matches 80 matches in 365 days. One match every 4.5 days With two more away fixtures in the CL which are most likely going to require out of country travel. And a growing likelihood of additional attempts by FIFA to pack more international matches into the calendar. The players need to put a stop to this. Why isn't FIFpro fighting this? They have the power to simply skip a World Cup (Qatar would be a perfect opportunity for this) or not get on the planes for away CL matches. Players will be lucky to stay fit until age 30 with this madness.
this is timely ... https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60837850 Injuries across Europe's top five leagues increased during the first half of this season compared to last year, despite a drop in soft-tissue injuries. Injuries in the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A, up to 18 January, already account for nearly 60% of last season's total.
When the PL expands to 22 teams and can squeeze more money out of the broadcasters they'll allow the 5 subs.
Liverpool won't be unduly concerned about the new financial regulations that look set to be imposed by UEFA to replace Financial Fair Play. European football's governing body have been working for some time to try and find a workable replacement for FFP, which has had its critics in recent years with regards to being toothless and unable to wield any power over clubs to rein in spending, something that UEFA has argued against, claiming it has improved financial management across European football since it was first introduced a decade ago. The new model, which will be assessed at an executive board meeting of the European Club Association on Thursday, is believed to be referred to as 'financial sustainability regulations'. While FFP has placed limits on the losses clubs in European competition were able to make, FSR are seemingly geared towards tying spending more directly to revenues, where clubs will eventually only be able to spend 70 per cent of their revenues on player wages and the amortisation of transfers. Amortisation being the spreading of a transfer fee paid for a player for accounting purposes over the length of the player's contract. If you look at Liverpool; established top four Premier League club; consistent Champions League qualification; bigger revenues than lots of clubs in Europe thanks to the Premier League TV deal and their commercial prowess," Dr Dan Plumley, a football finance expert and senior lecturer in sport finance at Sheffield Hallam University, told the ECHO. "They would have more revenue than a lot of clubs on the continent, so if you set it as a spending limit of 70 per cent of turnover then the clubs that earn more can spend more, it's as simple as that. You are in some way, by proxy, creating an environment for the biggest clubs to continue to thrive and to continue to pull away. "UEFA have always recommended a wages/turnover ration of 70 per cent, they have just never enforced it. If it is just looking at it as straight wages and transfer amortisation against revenue then it is the biggest clubs that will be the winners because they earn more." https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/uefa-set-make-ffp-change-23477284
The fact that this World Cup is still going ahead as scheduled when it was clearly a rigged vote, they had to move it to the winter to accommodate the weather, their backwards laws and the way their migrants were treated to prepare for the World Cup, just goes to show you how f ucked FIFA is.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60873713 If it weren’t for Liverpool, I’d likely of ********ed off football a while back. Those looking after football continues to disappoint at every turn.
the SPL showing the kind of common sense that the PL simply cannot muster .... Rangers' Scottish Premiership visit to Motherwell has been moved to Saturday to allow extra preparation for their Europa League semi-final with RB Leipzig.
and here we go, right on cue .... The Premier League have reportedly rejected Liverpool's request to move their away meeting with Newcastle United from its scheduled kickoff time. Liverpool are currently involved in every available competition, with the Reds eyeing a historic quadruple. However, with Jurgen Klopp's side still active on all fronts, the games are coming thick and fast, leading to the Reds requesting that their scheduled encounter with Newcastle on April 30 be moved from its 12:30pm kickoff time.
Well, if we do somehow pull off the quadruple, we'll know we did it with no favors from the Premier League.
So the government, BoJo announced, is dipping its fingers into the running of the EFL. I can’t see any problems here. English football set for radical shake-up amid UK government intervention https://www.espn.com/soccer/english...ical-shake-up-amid-uk-government-intervention
Mino Raiola has passed away aged 54 following an illness. The Italian was one of the biggest football agents in the world, representing Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Erling Haalandf, Marco Verratti, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Mario Balotelli any more more high-profile figures.
WOW! One of the slimiest and scummiest agents around. Never happy to hear about someone dying (well almost never) - but not shedding any tears here.
ah, turns out he's not dead. The prominent football agent Mino Raiola has tweeted to say he is alive, in response to multiple reports in Italy and then rehashed across other European media outlets that he had died. The Italy-born Dutch national, one of football’s most powerful and high-earning agents, tweeted: “Current health status for the ones wondering: pissed off second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate [sic].” His statement came after Dr Alberto Zangrillo from San Raffaele hospital in Milan told the news agency Ansa: “I’m outraged by the phone calls from pseudo-journalists speculating on the life of a man who is fighting to survive.” Raiola, whose clients include Paul Pogba, Erling Haaland and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is understood to have been living with a serious illness since January. A tweet from Raiola’s official account in January said he had undergone medical checks requiring anaesthesia, but that he had not had emergency surgery.
this was fast - good to see. there's too much of this bullshit at games across the UK these days.... A man has been jailed for 24 weeks after pleading guilty at Nottingham magistrates court to assaulting the Sheffield United captain, Billy Sharp, at Tuesday’s playoff semi-final at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground. Robert Biggs, 30, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm. He was told that a separate charge of illegally entering the playing surface had been dropped. The Nottingham Forest season ticket-holder appeared in court from custody and did not oppose an application for a football banning order during the hearing. The prosecutor Marianne Connally told the hearing that Sharp required four stitches to a wound to his lip after being head-butted by Biggs. Connally said the incident was caught by cameras covering the match for live television.