Alone in the Park - it's the Prem 2020-21 thread

nothing will make peasants' revolt 2 electric boogaloo more likely than project big picture

I'm not sure I get the outrage about Project Big Picture aside from the special privs for the 9 clubs, which I assume they put in there as an obviously outrageous thing they could compromise away? I suppose I should care about the League Cup? I think I quite like the idea of the end of parachute payments, I definitely like the idea of TV monies being shared (albeit unevenly) across the 92.

I guess the fans angriest about this are the ones who see their club's potential ascent to the Premiership compromised. The entire Championship are up in arms

Poor darlings.

Narrowing the financial chasm between the premier league and the EFL seems (on the face of it) pretty good, particularly if the EFL teams can get their act together in terms of salary caps and so on*. I mean, overall the proposals are probably bad but what we have now is terrible.

*yes I know, totally unrealistic, poor darlings

anybody who doesn't think that the Big *INSERT NUMBER HERE DEPENDING ON LAST COUPLE OF SEASONS* Clubs should be in charge of professional football in the UK might have some concerns about this bullshit

That’s true. That number is currently 20 and they collectively eschew any responsibility for anything past their own enrichment. I don’t want to see the number reduced but (as I said) if that concentration of power can be negotiated away, the proposals would be an improvement overall I think.

the general financial proposals seem better, yeah, tho it's easy to be suspicious about "where's the catch?"

there are long standing questions about the viability of the league system as it exists now, questions that far precede the rona. maybe nothing should be off the table in terms of a new settlement for TV money in particular. i always get worried in these situations because there are owners and fans who seriously think that there club is somehow bigger than the competitions it competes in.

The whole catch is the voting rights thing.

The reaction against it from Winter, Samuels et al is default, knee-jerk conservatism.

If it's a bargaining position from Henry, Glazers et al, it's a strong one considering how many EFL teams seem to support it.

FA's golden share in PL will block its path almost certainly though — they too are inherently conservative, but also exposes a lot of others as not having a plan.

i don't know if there's anything inherently conservative about being against constitutionally enshrining a Big Six with their own rights and privileges?

If Villa hadn’t had that unfortunate hiatus in the Champo we’d have been included in the magic circle under these proposals and idk if I’d have been tempted to turn to the dark side under such circs.

As it is, I remain dangerously compromised on this issue cause Villa are right up there with Wolves as examples of how “ambitious” high spending Championship owners you can buy your way into the Prem.

It’s tough - you can approve of the redistribution of EPL tv money while recognising that obviously any proposals emanating from these scummy disaster capitalists should be regarded with the deepest suspicion. Is there any chance that pressure could be applied to salvage the positives of the proposals while rejecting the blatant land grab by the top teams? their acknowledgment of the inequality of the current set up and the fact that they raised the prospect of redistribution of tv money themselves is interesting - cause if the proposals are rejected they’ve still sort of admitted publically that the current setup is hugely unfair

It's always going to be hard to impossible because you're dealing with 92 sets of "devil take the hindmost" capitalists of one stripe or another.

I sometimes feel like the bluff should be called on their International Superbowl of Soccerball dreams and let them fuck off and see who wants to watch some bullshit fake competition with a permanent rot(a)ting cast of a dozen usual suspects playing virtual showcase games all year round but on the other hand the answer to "who wants to watch" might turn out to be depressing and shit

In an ideal world there'd be a strong league structure throughout the game above the whims of individual clubs and money would be distributed on the basis that the top tier depends on the other tiers

But the real outcome is more likely to be the rootless franchise bullshit that runs most lesser sports around the world wherever money's at stake

Between the financial situation and the current fuckery with the laws and refereeing there's a grim scientific interest in seeing how badly the game can be ruined before I just lose interest

Read somewhere that the people behind this say they're doing this because they "care". Lol. If they do, why not pitch the same plan, but leave the voting system as it is? If the big clubs think it's so important that more money trickles down, then just... let it trickle down. I honestly don't see why one club one vote has to be abandoned*

*I know why the big clubs want it, it's a power grab

NV otm, not in the least abt the grim scientific interest

let them fuck off and see who wants to watch some bullshit fake competition with a permanent rot(a)ting cast of a dozen usual suspects playing virtual showcase games all year round

I always thought the problem with a Superleague is that the fans of all those teams - Bayern, PSG, Chelsea etc - are used to winning, or at least being in with a shout. Ending up 16th out of 20 every year turns you into the equivalent of Burnley or Crystal Palace or something. And endless exhibition games removes the essential competitive aspect of the sport, even if the 'competition' in say La Liga is only between two or three teams.

well there are the big unknowns - who would hate that and who would happily engage with it and most importantly from the money point of view would enough viewers (and sponsors) lap it up?

oh the people will watch. Even if some of them grumble at first

how else to stave off the void?

i suspect you're right and i can't imagine the point where i'd just give up watching sport on tv no matter how pointless and corrupt, i still watch Rugby League sometimes ffs

franchise football would *be* the void

I don't disagree

anyway it's been blocked for now

The Premier League clubs have kicked Project Big Picture into the long grass and agreed instead to hold an urgent strategy review involving all 20 members, as well as making a new bail-out offer to the EFL.

An emergency meeting of the 20 clubs called after last weekend’s announcement of the Project’s aims to revolutionise English football — put forward by Liverpool and Manchester United and backed by the EFL chairman Rick Parry — has effectively killed off the plan at birth.

the bigger deal is still half of the Football League going to the wall, obv

There's something grimly fascinating about watching players celebrate in front of empty stands. It's hard to place precisely where the spectacle ends and the 'spectacle' begins. That Mina/Rodriguez dance was an exhibit in the ruins of the future.

I always thought the problem with a Superleague is that the fans of all those teams - Bayern, PSG, Chelsea etc - are used to winning, or at least being in with a shout. Ending up 16th out of 20 every year turns you into the equivalent of Burnley or Crystal Palace or something. And endless exhibition games removes the essential competitive aspect of the sport, even if the 'competition' in say La Liga is only between two or three teams.

Man Utd routinely finishing bottom of the hypothetical Super League would be an amusing spectacle I guess but probably not worth it even allowing for the lulz

Not fair, Arsenal are also supposed to be in it

tbh, I would expect it to be set up to avoid that scenario, either with high caps on spending or some kind of auction / draft system like the IPL. You’d work towards a structure where close to all of the world’s top players are spread through the super league and nobody has a chance to consolidate long-term supremacy.

Jonjo Shelvey making an ear-cupping gesture to non-existent League Two fans is probably the pinnacle of the fake celebration so far.

I don't doubt the joy is genuine for a lot of players though, I'd guess that a lot of them actually prefer it when the fans aren't there, which may explain some of the performances we've seen this season.

karlan Grant gone to the Baggies - undisclosed - done deal. Rumoured to be £14m.
https://emojis.slackmojis.com/emojis/images/1471045881/949/tumbleweed.gif?1471045881

just in time for you to get robbed by the Big Picture :D

:p

We've had tedious transfer sagas that have gone on for too long before, but never one where the selfish cunt doesn't even play for the first 4 games of the season because of it, despite us desperately needing him and having no other reasonable options. Good riddance to him.

it's a shit business

Ollie Watkins is more than three or four times the player that Grant is from what I've seen in terms of his all round attributes. So the Chipper Villans© got a much much better and vfm deal. Grant is a sulky pouty downing tools type of player as well, fuck him.

if Football Manager has taught me anything it's sign the lads with a good attitude rather than good numbers

The Watkins deal has allowed me to be much more relaxed / challopy about the Big Picture because our cut of the deal amounts to our total turnover for a couple of years, meaning we can watch overspending clubs implode from a position of relative safety, for a little while at least.

I don't even get angry about big-club powergrabs. Getting to the prem was fun and getting very drunk on a chartered oldschool BR train to Wembeley was fun. But after the first few games in the bigtime and Tottenham at home was the watershed game where Wagner shit himself and abandoned his football philoshopy, everything after that has been mostly either mis-matched garbage or incompentent garbage and completely joyless. All my best memories are of playoffs or relegation battles.

Grant was always fast, with a powerful strike, poor control, and quite brainless. I can't say that I don't appreciate 2.8m worth of sell-on though!

yeah in the final third most of his play is awful, but the lad can strike a ball!

his pace is a declining assett that wasn't even that remarkable in the Champo, but he still scored goals in one of the worst ever Prem sides - albeit in defeats where his goals were usually when we were already dead. Take the money and run.

You've only signed one CAFC legend in recent years, and he's in your current squad :)

I think Sarrs in his roaming cb role could be a real assett under our current manager and could prove to be one of our really canny free transfers. We are probably taking a big hit on on selling Kongolo to Fulham for £3m (if his glass achilles pass a medical) but we just need to get the fucker off the wage bill and they are probably doomed anyway!

lol didn't mean to mistype him as a virus!

European Superleague is the biggest bogey man of all time. Never going to happen. No one wants it. Been used as a scare tactic my entire life following football.

More "meaningful" Champions League games on weekends is what they want. Less League Cup shite, less Nations League shite.

Honestly I had more fun watching the single leg Friday and Saturday CL games than I've had watching that tournament in years, Spurs improbable run to the final notwithstanding. The stakes just felt elavated, like the games deserved the bombast for once.

100%. It means less overall TV money though, so UEFA will never adopt it as a permanent thing

eh tbh i fucking love 2 leg champions league knockout ties.

that may be an lfc thing, but then again psg destroying barca then shitting themselves at the nou and roma rolling over barca were both good times. also as unfair as it is i love the jeopardy of the away goals rule esp in the 2nd leg

whole idea of a european super league doesn't interest me at all and that's coming from someone who much prefers watching champions league games over the prem

Rollerball style World Super League or gtfo

i don't care, this is class

⭐ Grand Theft Porto T-Shirts OUT NOW ⭐

Free shipping all weekend. Limited availability.

Head over to our site to get yours today!

➡️ https://t.co/X1n7aM7D32#WWFC #TalkingWolves pic.twitter.com/stMqzA5zFy

— Talking Wolves (@TalkingWolves) October 16, 2020

The champions league is and has always been boring as shit imo