It is a strange one. While I agree that it is possible that it is some sort of chess move, you have to take into account the American influence here. Across the pond, the boss is the boss and consulting stakeholders is vaguely lefty and would cause raised eyebrows at the country club. Slipping a few million to a congressman or two is the way to sooth any local angst. Not the first clash between American and European business culture.

Arteta may prefer Nketiah.

But I'm all for the front 4 you mention. But who is the centre-forward? Pépé or Martinelli?

My grandad was a Spurs fan. My dad tells me he thinks he watched Spurs win their first FA cup in 1901.

He was a top bloke. But maybe the breed has degenerated recently?

Apparently, Sky broadcast the build-up to last night's match as free to air, which naturally was all about their opposition to the Super League. The paywall kicked in for the start of the game. Says it all, really.

Its a matter of degree.
Football in Europe certainly has its faults. But if you imagine it couldn't get a lot worse you are completely wrong. There is still a pyramid structure, still some flow of money downwards, and some a strong culture of supporting local clubs.

A closed off superleague would destroy that.

What I love about soccer is that its not artificially spruced up to provide a thrill a minute to the goldfish-level fan. Take dull 0-0s and Scunthorpe vs Hereford out of the equation and you rob the game of its variability and capacity to surprise. You might as well just script the whole thing. Even Bayern vs Barcelona can produce 0-0s, and Messi doesn't do magic all the time ... imagine how that would sit with the important 11-15 year old demographic--would they sit though that or switch the channel to WWE or pornhub, where melodrama and thrills are guaranteed?

Well put Decaf. Although on a side note, WWE is crap these days, NXT and AEW is where the real magic happens in America.

The inevitable backlash
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/super-league-owners-american-liverpool-manchester-united-arsenal-milan-glazer-kroenke-john-henry-paul-singer-142109507.html

The first 10 to 20 minutes will tell me a lot in the Everton game. I would love to know if there is collective belief that the squad can move up a couple places. From what I see on the pitch, I would guess they do but its not desperate. I don't see a sense of urgency for 90 minutes. My guess and its only a guess, the Europa Cup is what they are focused on.

Football sold out a long time ago. The media are narrating this as a story of good v evil but do you think the owners of the remaining 14 PL clubs are any less unscrupulous or immoral than the big 6? I doubt it, they've all made their tens of millions and you can bet your bottom dollar not all of that money has been made honestly and fairly.

Football is a dog eat dog world filled with shady characters who would sell their own granny for a quick buck. Sky, BT and Uefa concerned about the integrity of the game? Bollocks, all they were concerned about is that the gravy train might not have been pulling into their station any longer.

You make a good point, Haz. If the club is put up for sale today the list of potential buyers at over £2 billion is tiny and the list of potential buyers without a track record of dodgy business practices is probably non-existent.

Yup. Competition is huge. Football would be mad to try to compete in that market.

Imagine what they'll come up with next? Someone is bound to think of combining for example, wrestling and evangelical preaching, perhaps with a few live snakes and bears thrown in, or public hanging of liberals. Gosh, Trump may even run again. The mind boggles.

The Guardian article gets it right on why I (and many other Americans) love football.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/american-fans-love-european-football-112006539.html

But there are degrees of selling out. You are never going to get a system that is utterly lacking in shadiness and dodgy lads, unless you completely get rid of money.

You Europeans don't know how good things are there. Luxury! Come and see how football (not to mention just about everything else) 'works' in South Africa

Saw this excellent cartoon on twitter

Has to be Martinelli. I also think he offers far far more to our all round game than Nketiah.

Nketiah did exactly what he's brilliant at last weekend, being in the right place at the right time to poke home from a few yards when we're desperately laying siege to the opposition goal.

I hope Arteta thinks the same way.

Sky must have been absolutely bricking it for the last few days.

They lose the European viewing requirement to a streaming service then the next time premier league rights are renegotiated they would be bang on to lose that as well to DAZN if it had worked out well.

Your not selling satellite tv packages off the back of James cordons shenanigans on league of their own.

TG - BT have had the European rights for some years now.

Oh yeah totally forgot course, I guess what was being suggested is that the new ESL rights had been sold to DAZN ie streaming which kind of threatens the traditional relationships of the UK based providers BT and sky which is why they were freaking generally probably.

https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/04/20/fabregas-posts-11-word-tweet-on-esl-collapse-some-arsenal-and-chelsea-fans-respond/
FABREGAS POSTS 11-WORD TWEET ON ESL COLLAPSE, SOME ARSENAL AND CHELSEA FANS RESPOND

I completely agree.

Remember this. Gazidis was part of it aka Kroenke rep.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.the-su ... eting/amp/

Yes, see my post from yesterday. #527928

One good thing....it brought Harlow out of exile....now where's Daz and Chocolate Gooner

Let’s be honest a lot of those pundits who were opposed, were only self-interested as they could see Hugh wage reductions if suddenly the top 6 were out of the league and they were talking about Burnley v Brighton as if anyone gave a f..k, I am not sure their wages would match their egos.

The self interest from UEFA, FIFA and the EPL was hypocritical at the best. I don’t think this is finished yet. There will be other models put up in the future.

Apparently the apology from Arsenal was from the Board. I think SK should have apologised. On the Arsenal Vision podcast they raised an issue that gave me some concern. This is my summary:What if Kroenke just says, bugger Arsenal I am uninterested and there won’t be any money for transfers this summer. As long as we don’t get relegated they are not of concern. I would not doubt it could be in his thoughts

Good to hear from Steve. Hope he is in good health.

Then it will become quite obvious what he is, and surely the crowd will up the ante against him?

#KroenkeOut

To be honest it wouldn’t shock me either. Didn’t I say as much not all that long ago and I thought the idea was dismissed by a couple of members who were, in my view, quite possibly being over optimistic?

I’ve given evidence (the Forbes rich list) that shows the owner of Arsenal has personal wealth in excess of some clubs who have been perceived as financially doped. I realise some members wouldn’t be comfortable if Kroenke spent enough of his own money to make us financially doped. To be brutally honest that’s not a viewpoint I share but I respect the opinions of those who look at things that way. Sorry but for me it’s little more than a ‘look at how moral I am’ attitude that isn’t for me.

But going back to your post Gaz from Oz, if what you suggest is was ends up happening, I’m not going to be surprised. I think it’s perfectly realistic. Indeed, more than that I feel it’s likely. Sure, I might be wrong and I sincerely hope I am.

However, Arsenal have to pay back a £120m Bank of England loan next month and with that presumably unavoidable monetary commitment on the horizon, my guess is a net zero spend (transfer fees spent on new players equalling the transfer fees received from selling players) is the best we can possibly hope for. I actually suggest a negative net spend (transfer fees spent on new players being less than the transfer fees received from selling players) is more likely than a positive net spend (the transfer fees spent on new players exceeding the transfer fees received from selling players).

Am I wrong in thinking the only clubs that have taken Bank of England loans recently are Tottenham and Arsenal? Because if that is the case, why is it when no league team outside North London have done so?

A Daily Mail report on Stan Kroenke.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... e-masthead

Yes, I do recall your earlier view. I think net zero spend is all we can hope for. I know people are suggesting we need to spend 300mil but I just don't see much money being available in any league this transfer round unless the owners stump up the money. I am unaware of which clubs took loans but I don't think the taxpayers of the UK would find any favor in Arsenal asking for an extension after the SL fiasco.

Hi Bern,

The question is, how do you get him to sell?

It seems the only way is for someone to make him an offer he simply cannot refuse. How likely is that given the already small amount of buyers with deep enough pockets to buy the club even at its current valuation.

A potential buyer might have to offer him something like twice the current valuation, say like £4 billion, and that's before you even start spending money on transfers. Realistically, who is going to do that.

Frankly, you could buy Leeds United or Villa, with their history and massive fan bases, and turn them into a european heavyweight on a fraction of that money.

You’re probably right socrates. I know some were snooty about Usmanov saying they wouldn’t want him anywhere near the club. I’ve said myself that we don’t know how good or bad an owner he would have been. But we do know how bad an owner Kroenke is and that alone makes me regret the fact that he is now the owner rather than Usmanov, and presumably Stan will remain the owner for the foreseeable future. Given a choice between Kroenke and Usmanov, my own choice would definitely be Usmanov. My own preference is irrelevant. But that doesn’t change it.

Unsurprising and depressing in equal measure.

Although the £3m consultancy fee was a revelation. I hold no real hope for our future.

As much as I am against the current concept of the European Super League, listening to some of the nonsense spoken about it makes me cringe.

Someone on Sky Sports News just used words like 'mayhem' (hardly), 'abhorrent' (no, racism is abhorrent, the better word for this is unacceptable).

The hypocrisy.

Oh, and it's an indictment of current society that not as much fuss is made of poverty, inequality, racism, tax dodging, lying politicians etc. We live in a world where our priorities are utterly screwed.

You are right to be concerned. We may not want to, but for a moment look at it from the owner's perspective. He and others had a plan to hugely increase the club's revenue, wipe out existing debt, and dare we say it, provide a weekly fixture list against most of the best teams in the world. Adopting the American model of spending caps offered the chance to finally get on a level ground with the other ESL members. The intention was to also remain in the Premier League. As far as these things can be financially risk-free, this was going to be it for his club. Right now he is back to square one - servicing debt and facing richer competitors who can virtually pay what they want for the best players. If I was him, I might hang on to my money until the ESL plan is revisited.

You won't hear from Daz - he is still too embarrassed to show his mush after we beat United in the Cup Final all those years ago...

That was a thorough examination of his position which from his perspective makes sense. This is a commercial venture for him, rather than a love affair. If he invests I just won’t be surprised, I will be in shock. As for people saying we need to invest 300 million in the team. You are dreaming if you think he or any other owner will do it.

Yes, and the paradox in the backlash against the ESL from the fans of the Six, is that by rejecting it they have denied themselves what many have asked for in the past - regular viewing times; higher quality fixtures; a more level playing field with respect to player recruitment and financial stability off the field. If we are in the Europa League next year, playing largely middle of the road opponents, we might be thinking how preferable it would be to play Real, Barca, The Old Lady etc?

Does your spell checker automatically change Juventus to The Old Lady?

This is what I couldn’t believe too,

The sheer hypocrisy. Boris Johnson was right it was a cartel but heres a guy who paid his mistress 100k of tax payers money.

Murdoch corp lecturing people on morality ? I mean please !

Gary Neville who despite being right on this issue pumped a ton of money into Salford with his rich mates so they climbed up the table.

Then just the sheer craziness that this is top tier news when our export business to Europe has been destroyed but the media can’t comment on it, covid and all the other *%^@.

How can this command such attention at the end of day.