State-owned clubs

Prevenger17 · June 11, 2023

Billy Dean said:
How would you react if a petro state bought us?

Would hate it personally. The final nail in the coffin of a game I have already mostly fallen out of love with. Apart from Everton matches, I have stopped watching pretty much all other football and there's a fair chance I'd cut that out if we became the next manifestation of some oil-rich middle eastern state's boredom

Royal · June 11, 2023

Think we're lying to ourselves if we say we wouldn't be buzzing that North Korea funded an Everton Champions league tbh

Moomin · June 11, 2023

Prevenger17 said:
Would hate it personally. The final nail in the coffin of a game I have already mostly fallen out of love with. Apart from Everton matches, I have stopped watching pretty much all other football and there's a fair chance I'd cut that out if we became the next manifestation of some oil-rich middle eastern state's boredom

NFL is the opposite of the premier league and quite fair in its rules.

I prefer watching that these days.

FrenchDarrenBent · June 11, 2023

We have to look at how the US organise their competitions.
Funny how Europe is, at least for football, a cowboy-capitalist continent while the US have rules and regulations in place to prevent undue dominance.

PhilM · June 11, 2023

While I'm not a fan of state-owned clubs, I personally don't feel they are the problem. Football has been awash with money for a long, long time now.

Perhaps not to the same extent as it is now, but perhaps people forgot the 'Merseyside Millionaires'. Blackburne and United bought the leagues decades ago.

Dean at Arsenal et al. helped produce a system where the match-going fans became cash cows, with unaffordable tickets and TV rights being the trump card.

Yet what I dislike the most is, how the authorities haven't only just facilitated it, but they have produced a system that in the most cases maintain the status quo.

FFP and PL sustainability rules mean it's nigh on impossible for teams to really compete at the top echelons if they weren't in that top bracket at the outset.

You'll have teams who grow and do it right (see Brighton), but there's a glass ceiling; teams like Southampton, who were once well regarded, can't keep it up.

The only teams who will be able to compete are those funded and supported by the mega-rich, which is where state ownership comes right into play.

They have the money to lose in the short term, deep enough pockets for the long-term, the tools to circumnavigate the restrictions (sponsorship deals)...

... and the right modus operandi. City's owners were never going to get tired or bored because it was part of their country's strategy. PIF will be the exact same.

They may have bought the league, so what... I totally understand why they've done it. If we're looking for people to blame, it's those who've facilitated it.

Would I be happy with such an owner? Nah. Nevertheless, without such an owner, the chances of us ever being successful again are slim to none...

... unless the rules are changed. That's not going to happen soon though, as money greases the pockets of those who could bring it about - money talks.

Royal · June 11, 2023

FrenchDarrenBent said:
We have to look at how the US organise their competitions.
Funny how Europe is, at least for football, a cowboy-capitalist continent while the US have rules and regulations in place to prevent undue dominance.

I don't see how we could achieve US level parity in footy tbh. You have to remove relegation so that bad teams can rebuild, and they make the rebuilds happen by rewarding teams for doing poorly in the drafts. I like US sports for what they are, but we don't have the college-ball thing to draw players from, and I'm not convinced that in a franchise based system with relocation that there'd be any teams in the prem outside of London bar for United, Lpool and Newcastle.

Taifi gorm · June 11, 2023

TheBigIguana said:
Chelsea and Abromavich isn't exactly a shining star of morality either

Not even in the same league as Franco.

TheBigIguana · June 11, 2023

Taifi gorm said:
Not even in the same league as Franco.

Aware of that I'm just saying the City stuff is really picking and choosing

Prevenger17 · June 11, 2023

Moomin said:
NFL is the opposite of the premier league and quite fair in its rules.

I prefer watching that these days.

100%. Though the game itself is a bit stop/start for my liking, it makes for an infinitely more interesting overall season. Absolutely hooked on the NFL these days and I'm counting down the days till September

AndyC · June 11, 2023

roydo said:
Quite the contradiction within one post there mate.

You wouldn’t expect much less from the knucklehead

Shevin Keedy · June 11, 2023

Prevenger17 said:
100%. Though the game itself is a bit stop/start for my liking, it makes for an infinitely more interesting overall season. Absolutely hooked on the NFL these days and I'm counting down the days till September

I used to like crown green bowls but it's not televised as much as it was back in the heyday.

MagpieRanger1892 · June 11, 2023

FrenchDarrenBent said:
We have to look at how the US organise their competitions.
Funny how Europe is, at least for football, a cowboy-capitalist continent while the US have rules and regulations in place to prevent undue dominance.

The thing is you don't have any relegation in US sports, zero jeopardy if you finish bottom. I'm sure once we have 16 majority stake US owners in the EPL they'll all group together and try and change the rules to ensure it's a closed shop. Then we'll see what people think. lol

FrenchDarrenBent · June 11, 2023

MagpieRanger1892 said:
The thing is you don't have any relegation in US sports, zero jeopardy if you finish bottom. I'm sure once we have 16 majority stake US owners in the EPL they'll all group together and try and change the rules to ensure it's a closed shop. Then we'll see what people think. lol

Every system has negatives. If the fifa (or FA) would introduce some regulation it won't be a copy/paste.

They also have wage caps, luxury tax and whatnot.
Introduce an agressive wage cap + compulsory 4 home grown players (at the club since 16 or 14 y-old) in each starting line up.

Anyway, just a fantasy for now. As long as the product gets consumed, nothing will change.

Drico · June 13, 2023

City fans moaning about being treated like cattle in Istanbul by UEFA and the local authorities crack me up. If you allow your club to be run by despots and if we all allow UEFA to be infiltrated by despots so that it can then put on its showpiece event in the capital of a despotate, why is anybody remotely surprised that people are treated in much the same way as they would be in the despotates themselves?

This is the problem with sportswashing. It is designed to normalise despotic rule and despotism. People who routinely crush human rights and not bothered about corralling you at the stadium and charging you €300 to get a bus back to your hotel at 3AM.