Any ideas on how it should be handled given that, unlike Man City and their case, they volunteered this information to the PL?
Unfortunately it's Europe; so instituting the "hard cap" the NFL has would've been litigated up the wazoo by probably every big club in Europe. I'm not disagreeing with you considering so many clubs have had millions in debt piled on them by some unscrupulous individuals. At some point however, a club has to exercise some level of restraint in their spending.
In terms of points deductions, I just think they need to be handled before the season starts. Handing them down mid-season is akin to changing the rules of the competition IMO. Cheapens things.
Everton's violations are of Premier League rules, right? I don't think they would impact the rest of Europe. In the NFL we know the details of every player's contract and how much cap space each club has to spend. In the EPL, it's all rumors. Club owners probably see transparency as bad, helping players in salary negotiations. Owners can also blame FFP/PSR when they don't want to spend and no one knows if they are telling the truth or being cheap. It mostly comes down to a strong players union, which is hard to build in a sport where players have so many other options to earn a paycheck. It's the NFL and the NFLPA and that's it. In Europe, you have La Liga or Serie A or Bundesliga or Saudi Pro League or...
i wish someone would say this to Gary Neville on air, the internet really thinks dude was some technical monster because he constantly played for Cheater United...Gary couldn't lace up Michel Salgado's boots.
Very true. But all three goals came from very good crosses into the center of the box and Bowen showed great poise and confidence in finishing all of them. One of those once in a lifetime performances from a player of his caliber. Apparently Rashford is still without a league hat trick, so.....
I like Jarrod Bowen. Love dudes who have nice careers simply because they work really hard on the pitch.
I'm surprised there aren't more rumblings about Thomas Frank getting fired. Even without Toney for so long, they shouldn't be anywhere near this bad.
When the initial ruling about the -10 points came out, I heard one or two pundits speculate, but that’s exactly the kind of precedent they were setting/using. Hmm… time will tell.
Nothing against the guy personally -- if he scored a hatty against us we would calling for our back 4's heads.
With Evertons deduction reduced by 4 points, we are no longer mathematically safe from relegation. I am outraged.
De Bruyne to Haaland De Bruyne to Haaland De Bruyne to Haaland De Bruyne to Haaland Holy crap, do I need to find this on YouTube or what???
Gonna be in London in a few weeks and bought a ticket to the Dag & Red match on the 16th. Yes, it's the same day we play Chelsea at home, but there was no chance I'd even be able to logistically make it to the early kickoff. Love lower league football and Dag & Red seems decently convenient from where I'm staying.
Speaking of lower league football, what level of English football is the MLS considered to be comparable to these days?
It's hard to compare MLS to other leagues because individual MLS teams are so top-heavy, and because the gap between the best team and the worst team is much narrower than in other countries. Like, no Championship team is signing Messi or Insigne, or even a Roman Burki or Illaramendi, but they also aren't running out Fabian Herbers as a Matchday 1 starter. That said, for me it's probably somewhere mid-Championship to upper-League One.
I suppose it depends on what attribute(s) you're comparing. But if it's quality of football, i.e. which English league would an average MLS team survive or thrive in, I've heard in the past that it's probably somewhere between League One and Championship. Not sure how anyone can really know that though, since there isn't any forum where English League teams play MLS teams. And that's not likely happening any time soon, not least because their seasons barely overlap. If you're talking more money-oriented attributes like market power, budgets, salaries... I don't really have a clue, but I suspect MLS might rate a little higher by those metrics??
I tend to look at it in terms of player quality if they moved. If an MLS team signs a Championship starter, for the most part, I'm expecting them to be a starter, but basically a cog in the machine, rarely anything more. If an MLS starter (non-Designated Player) is moving the other way, it's basically the same expectation, with a bit higher likelihood that they take more time to adapt and have a harder time getting into the starting XI. If a League One team signed an MLS starter, I'd expect them to be a top player on their new team, and I'd expect any League One starter arriving in MLS to be a squad player. There are some exceptions, but that's basically my baseline in 2024.
Transfmarkt has the worst club in MLS valued at more than the most valuable in League One. Inter Miami would be the 5th most valuable in the Championship behind Hull and the 3 relegated clubs due to Messinflation. Atlanta are next and would be 10th, so MLS clubs would fall in the mid to bottom of the Championship which matches your intuition. You make a good point about being top-heavy, that's going to make the market value of MLS clubs look better when arguably the less valuable, more balanced clubs are better on the pitch. Football is more of a weak-link sport than a star-driven sport like basketball.
Pogba officially done. Barring an appeal he just received a 4 year suspension at 30yo. 🚨 Paul Pogba releases an official statement after four year ban due to doping.“I have today been informed of the Tribunale Nazionale Antidoping's decision and believe that the verdict is incorrect.I am sad, shocked and heartbroken that everything I have built in my… pic.twitter.com/qsi7cYKEfc— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 29, 2024