Sportsbet.io's English Premier League Football Pool Discussion Thread

[examplens]

People seem to think Newcastle will be like Man City spending billions on their squad. They won’t be able to, the City takeover was in 2008 before FFP, Newcastle don’t make a lot of money as they’re not a well supported club outside of Newcastle. Sure they’ll be better than they are now but they’re not going to compete at the top of the table any time soon.

Newcastle has a tradition and some potential for sure. If they find proper management in a few years they can be in "rich" club.
For example, I remember when Manchester United buys Park Ji-Sun, South Korean footballer, their popularity skyrocketed in Asia. This helped them a lot in their marketing potential and making a profit in this market. is in a similar situation now is Liverpool with Salah and Mane even if Africa a little poorer market.

[1714721025]

1714721025

[1714721025]

1714721025

[1714721025]

1714721025

[LTU_btc]

People seem to think Newcastle will be like Man City spending billions on their squad. They won’t be able to, the City takeover was in 2008 before FFP, Newcastle don’t make a lot of money as they’re not a well supported club outside of Newcastle. Sure they’ll be better than they are now but they’re not going to compete at the top of the table any time soon.

I think that Newcastle is bigger club now than City was back in 2008. Yes, their results is poor in last 10-15 years, but it's club with good history and quite many loyal fans, even outside England. And it's not true that they don't make a lot miney. They've been in TOP 20 of biggest revenue making clubs in the world
Though, I doubt that they can achieve something amazing with new investments. Other top clubs are very rich too and EPL is just too competetive. Fighting for 5-6 is best what they can achieve in next years with big investments.

[cryptofrka]

I read somewhere that the new Newcastle boss has 10x more money than the Man City boss.

I agree with LFC_Bitcoin in thinking there's not a way to buy 10 first-team players anymore, but investing in infrastructure and academy is not a part of FFP and Newcastle can heavily invest there immediately.
We still need to see how strict will the FFP rules be after the coronavirus outbreak because most clubs will not be able to abide by them for this/next season.

I still hope City gets banned from Europe and FFP remains a factor but there will be pressure to remove it for a period of time or at least to lessen its strictness. I see a chance for rich clubs to take advantage of that.

[DeathAngel]

I read somewhere that the new Newcastle boss has 10x more money than the Man City boss.

I agree with LFC_Bitcoin in thinking there's not a way to buy 10 first-team players anymore, but investing in infrastructure and academy is not a part of FFP and Newcastle can heavily invest there immediately.
We still need to see how strict will the FFP rules be after the coronavirus outbreak because most clubs will not be able to abide by them for this/next season.

I still hope City gets banned from Europe and FFP remains a factor but there will be pressure to remove it for a period of time or at least to lessen its strictness. I see a chance for rich clubs to take advantage of that.

The issue Newcastle will have is star players won’t want to go there.....yet. When Man City first had money obviously they were a crap team so they had to pay older players high wages to try & get better to attract tye interest of better players. I remember Man City got Adebayor & Bellamy when they first got taken over.

[hilariousetc]

It's probably easier for foreigners to buy clubs than it is for a UK resident because it will be much harder to check where all the money came from. Some countries are worse than others for either money laundering or accounting for where all the money came from. If you're a Russian or Saudi you probably just say oil and they check your books and that's good enough . The oil rich Arab nations are trying to branch out though because they know their wealth isn't going to last forever when the oil runs out so that's probably why they're buying football clubs. That's why places like Dubai are spending shit loads to try change their perception in the West and boost their tourism now so it becomes a popular spot as that's where their money will come from in the future.

I've stopped fooling myself a long time ago when it comes to financial due diligence. Too many legal shortcomings and loopholes, big money wants in (world's biggest and most valuable company, even with $10 per barrel oil), lawyers do what needs to be done. Like you said, it just needs to say oil.

@examplens can't speak about Russia but I think the oil-producing gulf nations do want this for recognition and reputation-building, but it's definitely more about their future and reducing its reliance on oil.

And it's a simple model, already shown by the Scandinavians and West Europe. Invest the oil, diversify in overseas investments with your sovereign wealth fund, and do well. Problem is the Gulf nations are still embroiled in conflict abroad. They're doing all sorts of things now, want to be blockchain hubs, humanitarian hubs... you'd be surprised how much Gulf money props up UN organisations these days.

Strange they haven't really got into bed in a big way with crypto yet.

There's always loopholes and they're kept open for a reason. Take tax evasion by billionaires and their companies. Businesses like Apple and Google pay little tax in most countries they operate in, or no where the amount they should do as they exploit loopholes in various ways. Governments could close the loopholes if they wanted but they don't probably because they get their parties financed by the people who want them kept open. There's a lot of people in countries like Russia and Arabia who have businesses that are essentially just printing money. They have so much money spending hundreds of millions is like a just doing a 'big shop' for them so buying football clubs is nothing to a billionaire and they might as well diversify their money as much as possible in legitimate businesses and football is going nowhere even with the lockdown. We also probably don't know the true wealth of a lot of these people. On paper they might be worth x amount of billions but behind the scenes they could be worth much more. Take Putin for example. He claims to have little money officially but there's rumours he might in fact be one of if not the richest man on the planet: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-putin-spends-his-mysterious-fortune-2017-6?r=US&IR=T

He probably isn't and I'm sure it'll be of the oil barons in the Arab world but I expect many more clubs to be bought in the future  by these people and they're just probably waiting for their chance to swoop them up. Most people don't want to let go of the clubs they own but Newcastle seems to have been a liability and nothing but a stress for Mike Ashley and the fans also hate him. Can't see why they'll like the new owners much more either, especially if they don't start spending cash, but as people have said it's not as easy as it used to be so I'm sure they'll get frustrated pretty quickly if nothing changes.

[tokeweed]

I read somewhere that the new Newcastle boss has 10x more money than the Man City boss.

I agree with LFC_Bitcoin in thinking there's not a way to buy 10 first-team players anymore, but investing in infrastructure and academy is not a part of FFP and Newcastle can heavily invest there immediately.
We still need to see how strict will the FFP rules be after the coronavirus outbreak because most clubs will not be able to abide by them for this/next season.

I still hope City gets banned from Europe and FFP remains a factor but there will be pressure to remove it for a period of time or at least to lessen its strictness. I see a chance for rich clubs to take advantage of that.

The issue Newcastle will have is star players won’t want to go there.....yet. When Man City first had money obviously they were a crap team so they had to pay older players high wages to try & get better to attract tye interest of better players. I remember Man City got Adebayor & Bellamy when they first got taken over.

Prolly cos they were just starting to build the club and know that they didn't have Ferran Soriano and Txiki Berigistain back then.  Two characters responsible for getting Pep in imo.

Anyway..  Anybody else starting to feel depressed?  Lol.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

@tokeweed

Being stuck indoors all day & not being able to see friends & colleagues is depressing to be honest. We all work all week & look forward to the football & a few beers at the weekend but all pubs & bars are closed & football is off atm.

I’d say currently is one of the lowest times I can remember for my mood.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

I read somewhere that the new Newcastle boss has 10x more money than the Man City boss.

I agree with LFC_Bitcoin in thinking there's not a way to buy 10 first-team players anymore,

Even if they wanted to buy 10 first-team players, the possibility of them successfully getting top players at the peak of their careers, is highly impossible. Which top player will want to play for a team that hardly find themselves in the top half of the table, talk more of competing for the top 4/6 spots of the league or go as far as winning the tournament.

Manchester City transformation was quite possibly because they were already a top clubs but just lack funding and a managerial genius to transform the club into one of Europa finest. Newcastle still has a long way to go in achieving any Cinderella story that involves them coming out from no where and because a strong contender for the title.

[tokeweed]

^  City wasn't a top club before the oilers took over.  They were the cooler side tho...  Unlike the more commercial Man U.  

[cryptofrka]

Even if they wanted to buy 10 first-team players, the possibility of them successfully getting top players at the peak of their careers, is highly impossible. Which top player will want to play for a team that hardly find themselves in the top half of the table, talk more of competing for the top 4/6 spots of the league or go as far as winning the tournament.

Manchester City transformation was quite possibly because they were already a top clubs but just lack funding and a managerial genius to transform the club into one of Europa finest. Newcastle still has a long way to go in achieving any Cinderella story that involves them coming out from no where and because a strong contender for the title.

Nope, not really. Man City was bought in 2007, they ended the season in 14th place. They were nowhere near the top club definition, Newcastle is more so now than City was when they got bought.
City still managed to get Robinho after a season in which Darius Vassel, Elano and Stilian Petrov were their top 3 players.
That season they ended 9th I think and bought Adebayor, Tevez, Lescott and Santa Cruz for huge amounts, also ended outside top 4.
Then bought Dzeko, Yaya Toure, Silva, Kolarov, Milner and Boateng for over 150 mil which was huge then, and ended in top 3.

So, bottom line, money will eventually prevail if you have it and if you're able to spend it.

[tomahawk9]

'The Sun' is at it again:  Premier League clubs plan to return to training on May 9 after telling players to get ready to go back to work

Manchester City transformation was quite possibly because they were already a top clubs <...>

Not really. Before the Abu Dhabi group took over in 2008, Man City was a mid-table to bottom of the league team, they even got relagated to 2nd division in the late 90's and early 2000's. Blackburn Rovers and Aston Villa were top teams back in the day, one had won the PL title and the other the Champions League 

[hilariousetc]

@tokeweed

Being stuck indoors all day & not being able to see friends & colleagues is depressing to be honest. We all work all week & look forward to the football & a few beers at the weekend but all pubs & bars are closed & football is off atm.

I’d say currently is one of the lowest times I can remember for my mood.

I'm not that social anyway so going outside isn't that much of a big deal, but I must admit it does start to feel a bit claustrophobic when you're essentially forced to stay inside. The only difference between a house and a prison is you can choose to walk out the door anytime at home but even that has been limited now. I think things will start to get bad though if the lock down happens for most of the year or even years. The toll it will take on people's mental health may cause more issues than the virus especially in the long-run. The economy collapsing and business and jobs disappearing is likely to cause a huge recession which will only make people's mental state worse. Instead of doing nothing during these times there's lots of stuff you can be doing. Read. Watch films, maybe even write something yourself. Now's a great time to start exercising as well if you don't already. Buy a couple of dumbbells or a skipping rope or even just do body weight exercises.

I read somewhere that the new Newcastle boss has 10x more money than the Man City boss.

I agree with LFC_Bitcoin in thinking there's not a way to buy 10 first-team players anymore,

Even if they wanted to buy 10 first-team players, the possibility of them successfully getting top players at the peak of their careers, is highly impossible. Which top player will want to play for a team that hardly find themselves in the top half of the table, talk more of competing for the top 4/6 spots of the league or go as far as winning the tournament.

Manchester City transformation was quite possibly because they were already a top clubs but just lack funding and a managerial genius to transform the club into one of Europa finest. Newcastle still has a long way to go in achieving any Cinderella story that involves them coming out from no where and because a strong contender for the title.

Newcastle were a far bigger team than City and they're possibly in a similar situation now, only Newcastle have the FFP rules to deal with so I doubt they're going to achieve the success City did. Man City weren't really ever a top club before the money. They've been a very average one for most of their existence. They were 15th back in 05/06 and narrowly avoided relegation in 03/04. Go back to 08/09 and 07/08 and they finished 10th and 9th and it was only then when they got the oil money they started to slowly creep up the table in the following seasons before finally winning it in 11/12. City will likely be the last team to achieve something with money just being thrown at them and that's the only reason players did go to them because they were offering record wages and transfer fees.

[CryptopreneurBrainboss]

***

***

My bad, just did some research and found out you guys are right. Well in my defense, I started watching premier league and keeping tabs on clubs in the 2010s, although before then I alway had Chelsea as my favorite club from childhood. Never knew Manchester city were this poor before the oil money came in to change things around.

Still though I think the competition in the league right now won't let Newcastle succeed as Manchester City did. We have the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City fighting to become a dormant force, with Chelsea, Leicester also putting in some effort meanwhile back then it was just Manchester dominating with few challenges from arsenal/Chelsea (I think).

[hilariousetc]

***

***

My bad, just did some research and found out you guys are right. Well in my defense, I started watching premier league and keeping tabs on clubs in the 2010s, although before then I alway had Chelsea as my favorite club from childhood. Never knew Manchester city were this poor before the oil money came in to change things around.

Still though I think the competition in the league right now won't let Newcastle succeed as Manchester City did. We have the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City fighting to become a dormant force, with Chelsea, Leicester also putting in some effort meanwhile back then it was just Manchester dominating with few challenges from arsenal/Chelsea (I think).

Probably depends how old you are as well. Blackburn, Newcastle and even teams like Leeds were all top teams either winning or coming runners up and look where they all are now. Even Aston Villa and Norwich came second and third in the inaugural Premier League season and I remember that one and especially the season before where Leeds won the very last First Division before it became the PL beating Manchester United to it.

Apparently the games might be free to air once they return:

The Premier League is considering making some behind-closed-doors fixtures available free-to-air when the season restarts, the culture secretary has said.

Oliver Dowden has said he had been having "productive talks" with governing bodies from across British sport on restarting following the coronavirus shutdown.

He said the resumption hinged on passing the government's five tests as well as meeting social distancing guidelines.

Dowden said it was also important to send out a message that was "consistent" with that being given to the public.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52387971

I really hope this shakes up the system and they either start live streaming more games or start showing the 3'o clock matches. It's about time football in the UK got with the times as all the games are live streamed in many other countries. If they don't get shown on TV within their contractually obligated time frame they'll have to issue a billion+ in £s so they're going to need to recoup that money from somewhere. I wonder what sort of impact that would have on the league's finances and if they could even afford to do it. I'd be surprised if they have a spare billion pounds just sat in a bank account they can dish out. They might have to do some sort of sweetheart deal with the various TV companies where they give them huge future discounts on the football rights packages.

[DeathAngel]

hilarious -

I’d be more than willing to pay a monthly subscription for all games to be televised, I don’t know why they don’t do it. I’m sure Barca & Real have this service.

[buwaytress]

He probably isn't and I'm sure it'll be of the oil barons in the Arab world but I expect many more clubs to be bought in the future  by these people and they're just probably waiting for their chance to swoop them up. Most people don't want to let go of the clubs they own but Newcastle seems to have been a liability and nothing but a stress for Mike Ashley and the fans also hate him. Can't see why they'll like the new owners much more either, especially if they don't start spending cash, but as people have said it's not as easy as it used to be so I'm sure they'll get frustrated pretty quickly if nothing changes.

There's this guy, a former leader in my state, imagine a huge tract of land and sea full of oil, and full of timber, and extremely small population. We only hit 50% literacy LAST YEAR, we still fight diseases most countries eradicated decades ago (right now we have rabies, hand foot and mouth disease, in addition to Covid). Yet our GDP is massive, most goes towards central government (if anyone ever wonders how Malaysia got so rich), and massive untold amounts into the pockets of our ex leader, now retired.

Taib Mahmud, totally under the radar but he has also been rumoured to be the richest man in Asia. Take into account his entire dynasty and he puts some names to shame. He stays out of limelight because he doesn't do things like buy football clubs!

Oh and I do hope that streaming shake up happens!!! It's criminal how I actually subscribe to a local service for English games and I still don't get to watch all of them.

@tokeweed

Being stuck indoors all day & not being able to see friends & colleagues is depressing to be honest. We all work all week & look forward to the football & a few beers at the weekend but all pubs & bars are closed & football is off atm.

I’d say currently is one of the lowest times I can remember for my mood.

Hope you're well buddy. I've been working remotely for almost 4 years in a new country now, so I haven't met any of my friends (I don't have many anyway) for that long, and because of my circumstance, I hardly even meet people. I know only my butcher, neighbour... probably a bit more used to it than most, but it's still a rather lonely existence. That time I got out in Qatar for a few days was pretty cool, meeting real people for the first time in zonks. Now without football, it is a bit more depressing and especially with paycuts and now filling weekends with jobhunting rather than football. Bloody depressing... but we're all be okay I think.

Should go see you guys when we celebrate the league win!

[hilariousetc]

hilarious -

I’d be more than willing to pay a monthly subscription for all games to be televised, I don’t know why they don’t do it. I’m sure Barca & Real have this service.

As would I and I already get them all through Dazn but you need to jump through a few hoops to get it, but I would happily pay more for a UK-based service. They'll probably do their own subscription service eventually (and they do in some countries already) but they probably don't want to take the risk just yet whilst also severing ties with Sky and other big broadcasters. Once they go from TV to streaming there's probably no going back. What they should do is launch the service alongside TV broadcasters and give them a discount on the TV rights and maybe phase TV out. They still won't be able to show the 3'o clock games in the UK though unless they change the law. It's a silly and outdated one though.

[tokeweed]

^  Yup...  I got rid of cable like a couple of months later after getting used to the firestick.  It has everything both paid and free stuff.  I personally like Kodi a lot.

[hilariousetc]

^  Yup...  I got rid of cable like a couple of months later after getting used to the firestick.  It has everything both paid and free stuff.  I personally like Kodi a lot.

I used to do the dodgy streams before but they were too unreliable and with lag and stuff or just cutting out. You end up missing out on goals. I would never pay for Sky unless they showed all games so for now I'll just stick with dazn which is great. I'm still hoping for some sort of UK-based service. Dazn are actually going to launch in the UK soon but I think it will mainly be for boxing. I'm sure they'll try bid on getting some of the PL rights when they're next available but not sure they'd have the money to outbid Sky. They'll probably do what Amazon did and just bid for a smaller package or maybe get BT's games if they drop out (which is speculated they will) or they just outbid them.

This article made me laugh:

https://talksport.com/football/695238/newcastle-takeover-outrageous-xi-new-owners-chelsea-man-city-transfer/

Chelsea and City weren’t much better than Newcastle before their billionaire owners took over and transformed them pretty much overnight.

Suddenly, the Blues were buying world-beaters such as Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack, while City were nabbing the likes of Robinho from Real Madrid.

There’s little reason why Newcastle wouldn’t be able to launch a similarly dramatic transformation of their current squad if backed by Bin Salman’s billions.

Back in May 2019, when Sheikh Khaled’s takeover bid emerged, Newcastle actually became second favourites to sign PSG sensation Mbappe, behind Real Madrid

Little reason? Apart from Financial Fair Play rules. You know it's slow for news when people are making ridiculous fantasy teams up:



Newcastle should just start charging 10k for a game ticket and get their owners to buy the tickets every week. They'll soon rack up enough money 'legitimately' to then start spending and become the new City  .

[tokeweed]

^  City wanted to copy Barca's template and had long term plan on how things should pan out.  And it wasn't just about winning trophies, it was also about building their academy and producing young talents like how Barca does it.

And they picked their transfers well over the years on average...  Unlike United after SAF.