Leeds, Cantona the key or maybe this wasn't such a shock?
TomTom - you’re right about the straw that broke the back of the camel. I think many fans have rather queasily stomached the money pouring into the game (Andy - C’mon it’s not just City FFS.) until now.
Rod Wallace and Lee Chapman had scored the goals; and Speed, Strachan, McAllister and Batty were probably more important in midfield. If we only had a crystal ball to foresee how he would transform Man Utd....
Quote from: Falling Down on April 19, 2021, 08:14:48 pmTomTom - you’re right about the straw that broke the back of the camel. I think many fans have rather queasily stomached the money pouring into the game (Andy - C’mon it’s not just City FFS.) until now.True. It was Chelski before City and the Mancs before them (and an honourable mention to Blackburn). Since the inception of the Premier League it has, with the exception of Leicester, gone to big spenders including Liverpool.
I still wish we weren't getting relegated but the Championship is a more entertaining league overall than the PL.
Quote from: nai on April 19, 2021, 08:28:20 pmLeeds, Cantona the key or maybe this wasn't such a shock?My memory is that Cantona's role on the First Division title wining side became greatly exaggerated in hindsight. He played less than half the season and scored 3 league goals. He was a bit of a cult hero by the time he left but Rod Wallace and Lee Chapman had scored the goals; and Speed, Strachan, McAllister and Batty were probably more important in midfield. If we only had a crystal ball to foresee how he would transform Man Utd....
BUt since I started following football only five clubs have won the league that you'd say were out of the ordinary: Forest, villa, Leeds, Blackburn & Leicester
So as an outsider who doesn't follow football can someone tell me why football got to the point where apparently the government have to chair some sort of fucking COBRA meeting to discuss who and where people play it?
As far as I understand football is already a money dictated game, matches typically played behind a paywall (Sky/BT Sports) and is increasingly expensive to watch. Why is this different?
Surely if a bunch of teams with private owners want to get together and make their own league that's their decision to make, and it's up to people to decide if they want to keep watching? Or is that the crux of the issue, whether it's their decision to make has yet to be decided?
So as an outsider who doesn't follow football can someone tell me why football got to the point where apparently the government have to chair some sort of fucking COBRA meeting to discuss who and where people play it?As far as I understand football is already a money dictated game, matches typically played behind a paywall (Sky/BT Sports) and is increasingly expensive to watch. Why is this different?
Maybe I'm showing my ignorance here but isn't football typically a case of the teams with the most money do the best? The excitement around owners with money coming into take over is usually because better players are bought?
They chose the wrong thing to invest in and want to change how the game works (ideally they want it to basically be a series of ultra-marketable, consequence-free friendlies, which is an impossible combination) to compensate for that.I agree that the government shouldn’t be involved FWIW.
I mean, this is something governments typically get involved in; usually I'd expect the Culture and Sport Sec to stick their oar in at least.At the end of the day Football is a massive sport, and a massive part of our culture. The PL is arguably the most prestigious national league in the world and so like, you'd expect the gov to have a viewpoint on it potentially falling apart.Whether anything can be done by the gov is another matter of course. What they are doing is perfectly legal. They'll make noises about it in the very least cos it makes em look big and important and they are populist twats so