CB Fry

Can't believe our talisman has not been selected yet again.

You'd think there probably was already some kind of clause in the current agreement anyway, and the rules of the Premier League already had direction that clubs can only participate in specific competitions (ie League Cup, Europa League). So would been a legal tussle anyway. But I guess the point stands: Amazon and Sky won't be taking any more of this shit.

The climbdown is the punishment and that's that.

Let's hope he picks the messiah Jankewitz. Just for no other reason to stop the meltdown on here because he's not picked.

I think everyone is forgetting the "root and branch" review of football which will show its teeth with incredibly hard hitting measures like "a fan's parliament" or a "fan consultant" on every club board. Fig leaf bollocks like that. And squeaked out on a dull news day in six months time when everyone has forgotten the fuss. Meanwhile, the UAE, the yanks and and the Russians continue to own our national heritage, and plenty of dinlows on here will wish and wish and wish that it was us they owned.

Every single element was amateurish. Just one step up from a teenage tantrum. The only way they could make it work was to get one of the administrative bodies on board. The most obvious route maybe FIFA pitched against UEFA, or buy off the parent leagues (PL, La Liga) so they get behind it. But they didn't even attempt to get a sliver of respectability or viability so they just got shat on. And the second they said "....and it starts this August" I knew it was bullshit. None of the broadcasters or any potential corporate sponsors can act that quick for a project that big. Was a blundering fantasy with absolutely no grounding in reality whatsoever. Complete embarrassment for those involved.

And the kite is down.

Seems odd but welcome. Seriously lads, no one is forcing you to own English football clubs. Bugger off. A full scale round of deflation of wages and fees would be most welcome.

I would have liked it to have gone on long enough for Arteta to have got absolutely rinsed in a pre-match press conference....what makes you think you deserve to be in elite competition ahead of West Ham/Leicester/etc etc.

Should he have not tried to win the Europa League? What have Manchester United won since - I believe it is fuck all. How's that for a "measure of success"?

But there's been a goal in the 91st minute....... to Swindon. What a shame.

So to be a success at Manchester United he needed to have got them to have qualified for the Champions League the season before he got the job? Right you are then.

Will never not make me smile.

We're into Grandpa Simpson meme territory already then.

But surely the news reports wouldn't have led on it for 48 hours if it was just posturing? What a load of old bollocks.

But the Super League is still a gamble for them. It's not they are 100% definitely going to get the £xxxx gazillion they think they're all going to get.

I don't think Netflix has expressed any interest in sports rights anywhere. Amazon do seem to be getting stuck in though with Tennis and Rugby especially and their bits of Prem action. The new league could just go full on owned streaming, like Disney plus or the WWE where they just own their own content. But not sure if that model works quite as well without beer and betting companies.

Might we go back to the seventies/eighties, where the likes of Derby and Forest could win the league? Or Ipswich could challenge, or even little old Southampton. Ooooh wouldn't that be terrible for the younger generation of transfer-fee "show some ambition" money obsessed fan-boys. Whoever yesterday on here said they were embarrassed because Bournemouth had a higher record transfer fee than us, i imagine would be absolutely distraught.

Er, yes they do.

I hadn't heard that. But yeah, sounds about right. The big six will try and turn it into a battle of the Premier League against the Champions League and by extension the international competitions: too bloated, too many fixtures. There will be common ground there. But as you say, the main common ground is the likes of Palace and us are over a barrel.

Er, no. I think some are getting a bit carried away. The Premier League is still critical to the "big six". This is just a replacement for the Champions League because these clubs think they are too jolly important and wealthy to lower themselves to playing Sparta Prague and Genk. Although with no top four to strive for it does rip the heart out of a chunk of the competition. Anyway, the only sanctions that will work is them being unilaterally booted out of the Premier League, and hopefully that gets announced today by the other 14. I imagine the other 14 will bottle that of course because they still need those clubs, as do Sky and the other sponsors.

I still think it is not much more than a kite flying exercise. The notion that it would start this August is the giveaway. No it won't, the time to set up any of the commercial arrangements aren't enough. The Premier League need to respond in a similar way. Go nuclear and threaten them with 25-30 point reductions (which could relegate Arsenal and Spurs) and/or expulsion if they don't repent. Go back hard. A Premier League season without those six could be an absolute riot. (As long as Everton don't win it.) But its not going to come to any of that, too much mutual benefit. The actual output will be longer and more nuanced, and will involve the dismantling of UEFA in the same way the Premier League hollowed out the FA. Its not really about Super League this August it's about big clubs taking absolute control of the levers of power for the next twenty years. Right now they've just set a bomb off, but the long game only just starting.

I think it is good we are breeding the next generation who one day can progress to even more embarrassing defeats with the first team.

I see the Mourinho apologists on Sky Sports have worked up a SaintsWeb-Ralph style factoid for Jose's time at Spurs. Apparently if you only look at matches since he took over, Tottenham would be fourth. The old 17 months between November '19 and April '21 analysis system. Everyone is at it.

Oh, I agree. The Premier League and Football League should up the ante in the same vein. Announce this morning some outline plans of how to fill those six places for next season, maybe involving the teams in 18th in the Prem and the teams finishing 7/8/9th in the Championship. Some kind of super play off thing. Probably don't plan to get to 20 clubs next season. Or, just go balls out and say all six are kicked out as of today and forfeit their next match until they fulfil an invitation to a formal hearing next Monday or something. Shit house them back.