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The Evo-Web Football Thoughts Blog

@shareq01 Just a way to make sure all the 'big' teams are in it every year.

Should return to the days of two leg knockout games from the first round. Then if any of the big teams get knocked out they won't have to moan about playing too many games.
 
mattmid said:
@shareq01 Just a way to make sure all the 'big' teams are in it every year.
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It will just further open the divide between Small And Big clubs, financially too, also more pointless games just for more revenue, also makes players more tired. I hate it. It's just bad, and I hope it never goes through
 
mattmid said:
@shareq01 Just a way to make sure all the 'big' teams are in it every year.

Should return to the days of two leg knockout games from the first round. Then if any of the big teams get knocked out they won't have to moan about playing too many games.
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Yes. A million times yes. It's one of my 'God for a day' changes. Totally random draw, two leg knockout, one in the final. Every game means something, shocks are possible.

Also talk of the J.League selling out today, with a breakaway top league and removal of the shared incomes agreements. Again, GTF.
 
Honestly I hate professional football these days and have found it impossible to care about any club team or competition for years.

All the biggest bullshit ideas like these may meet enough resistance to be held back for a few years, maybe even a decade or two, but it feels like just delaying the inevitable as money will win out in the end. Expecting the "game 39" nonsense idea to cycle around again soon etc.

The game itself on the pitch I still enjoy, especially international tournaments and playing in real life, but the increasingly soulless commercial product of club football is a joke. Football could become like the Olympics for me where I just tune in for the major tournaments every couple of years, but even that being held in Qatar next year puts me off.
 
shareq01 said:



I hope this doesn't happen..
Thoughts?
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Firstly, I think the decision has been delayed until next month: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/56573883

I've watched less football this season than ever, when there's been more to watch than ever (and now there will be more). Clubs can't cope as it is.

I'm falling out of love with the game, and greed like this is one of the biggest reasons - keeping the rich clubs as rich as possible (with the UEFA coefficient making sure that, if you don't qualify via league position, you still qualify if you're a big club - kaCHING).

It's not just a football issue, though. It's a "modern life" issue. It even affects the video games (microtransactions)...

But what can we do - if we want to watch the best teams in the world, this is what we have now.
 
It wouldn't happen but the one thing all us fans could do would be to cancel the sports subscription on Sky/BT (and likewise in other countries with their main provider) and football would be totally screwed. I have actually scrapped BT myself after they put it up another £5 a month, it's the principle of it as much as the increases.

I'm in the same boat as @Chris Davies in that I've watched less football than ever this season. I look at the Premier fixtures and half of them are just not worth watching anyway. Champions League group games are largely boring with only the knockout stages worth watching and I won't be watching those anyway as they are on BT.

There was a huge outcry (rightly so) about the Premier League charging per game when the initial decision came to show all the games due to no fans being allowed at games but meanwhile the EFL are still charging £10 to watch a game in the lower leagues.

How long before the Euro's and World Cup's are no longer on BBC/ITV here and therefore free to watch (bbc tv license excepted)?

I miss going to games but even with that I've had talks with friends in recent years about do we ever really want to be in the Premier League again, should it ever happen and the consensus was not really as it stands for everything that is wrong with modern football. What's the point being in a League you can never win? Part of the joy of being a fan is that feeling at the start of every season that this just might be the year you can mount a promotion challenge. What's the feeling in the Premier League? Another season fighting relegation or the dizzy feeling of oh this might be the season we can finish in the top half. Even the fact of seeing some of the best players in the world wears off after a while.
 
With football and indeed football gaming (similar conversation going down in the FIFA 21 thread) there has to be a breaking point. A point where the consumer becomes fatigued by the product, a product that's been changed so much that there are no more worlds to conquer because everyone who can has paid their money. Generation Y is spent. There's so much football to be consumed now in so many different ways, there has to be a point where there's nowhere to go. Agnelli is talking about subscription services for the last 15 minutes of games only! Are we on course for a time when matches last only 15 minutes? Maybe fewer players? Does football at the higher level become FIFA Street/Volta?

I've watched only Aberdeen games this season. And some J.League highlights as I find that league fascinating. I haven't watched one Sportscene (Scottish MotD) which would have been unthinkable even a few years ago.

I also expect the protected sporting events (World Cup and Euros) to fall. FIFA already chanced it in 2013, failing in the European Court (bye bye) to get it on the market in the UK. But people are there to be bought (albeit usually by each other) and I in my cynicism believe no protection will be offered by government for football and football gaming fans.

PPV subscriptions and lootboxes for all!

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It would be interesting to know if the viewing figures on sky have fallen. I know some of the numbers for those pay per view games earlier in the season were very, very low. I think BT only get a couple of hundred thousand for their games don't they? How on earth they are recouping their investment I don't know other than advertising slots and I guess the constant increase in subscription prices for all their products.

It surely stands to reason it has to go bang before long, as a financial model football clubs must be amongst the worst run businesses in the world.

On the one hand you've got clubs complaining about too many games and on the other hand clamouring to get into Europe each season. Presumably so they can continue to moan about playing too many games. There's pointless competitions in the lower leagues such as the EFL Trophy.

I think what would be a good idea for the English cups is this. Seeing as the Premier teams don't really want to be in the League Cup then how about this?

FA Cup stays as it is.
EFL Trophy is scrapped.

League Cup:

Premier teams are no longer in it.
The National League clubs are included meaning 96 clubs in total enter the competition.
Championship and previous season's top 8 in Lge One get a bye to round 2.
Each round is one match, extra time and penalties on the night.
Straight knockout all the way through
And here's the kicker
The Winner gets a place in the preliminary round of the Europa League.

Imagine being a fan of a National League side and having the chance of European Football.

Result of all that is Premier League teams have at most 6 FA Cup games if they reach the final leaving them plenty of time to play their endless Champions Lge/ Europa League group stage matches.
 
Good discussion, agree with most things said here.
The problem is that Covid suits the big clubs, because there is no grass roots football at the moment.
Normally if you are fed-up with the top of the football pyramid, you go watch lower down the pyramid and then you see the real football, the sport we all like. But now there is no alternative.
I presume that most people who complained about the Super League are English. You guys will have at lest for English clubs in that Super League. Belgium will have none (we have the number one national team in the world for years now, although our team is weakening considerably). The winner of our Cup will not even play in the Europa League, but in the new European Cup.
The biggest appeal of football is the unpredictabillity of it all. Well that used to be the appeal. The big clus are bending the rules their way and that is very unfortunate.
Juventus are the club that want to advocate the super league most of all, the irony is that they are eliminated 3 years in a row from the CL by clubs, they deem not worthy to be in that Super League. One of them is Ajax, arguably the biggest club ever. Certainly the most influential football club ever...
 
Great article.
Thanks.
I know why both the Spanish clubs want more money.
The EU has decided that the Spanish banks should treat both Real Madrid and Barcelona like any other customer in any other bank.
Until now they got preferred treatment from the Spanish banks.
Don't forget that Barcelona is more than 1,5 billion euro in debt.

Clubs like Bayern and PSG ar e not in debt, although PSG is completely dependent from Quatar. The day tQuatar stops the money they are in serious trouble. I don't understand why Bayern Munchen sees PSG as an alliance in this business, because Bayern are a club that is very transparant financially.

It's all about excessive greed. Hence why the players have to play match after match, hence why the Euro's will be organised (wich is madness), hence why the WC will be organized in Quatar where moren than 600 slaves died while building the stadiums that will be used in the WC.

But we all love football and will watch that WC, we should boycott it.
 
Football probably has no future. It's already way less competitive compared to the XX century and early 2000s. European competitions are boring, four major European leagues are boring af, the gap is increasing and it will continue to increase. The only competitive football today can be seen in Premier League, the knockout stages of Champions league and big international tournaments, but they will probably not exist in the future because the superclubs won't let the players play for their countries, I predict they will be more powerful than UEFA and FIFA and that will be the end of it.
 
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@Flipper the Priest

"If the referee misses a penalty for the Hungarians, all fans find it just as unfair as they would if it happened to the Swedes. "

I think I'd want to know what the referee is doing taking their penalties!


"The brand names aren’t Facebook, Amazon and Google, but Real, Juventus, PSG, Arsenal, Barça, Bayern, City and United"

Give it time...

Talk about contradict himself in that article.
 
100% in favour of Super League

let it happen and then burn and crash massively

let European football heal and reform itself

now that there's 3 tiers of Euro competitions you could even get away with making Champions League into 16 teams and give more nations a chance to take part - no need for 4 slots for top leagues.

i would rather it happened now than in 5 years, the sooner UEFA and Europe overall can reform and rebuild, the better for everyone
 
Apparently confirmed:



I only pray UEFA will have the balls to go hard and reinvent football in Europe

good riddance, I will keep good memories for myself


EDIT: official statement, 100% confirmed

 
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Quote from our manager after this weekend's game and for me this encapsulates everything that is wrong with modern football:

"I thought we were excellent out of possession."
 
Apparently Spotify owner and Henry/Vieira/Bergkamp are seeking to buy Arsenal from Kroenke.

Sounds bizarre if you ask me but I wish them all the very best and I hope they can somehow make it.

If it really goes through I'm going back to being Arsenal "fan" (sorry I'm not legacy fan im fron eastern EU) after like a decade. I would love to see them succeed again. And even just breaking out of this painful mediocrity and building a new team would be a big win.

Fingers crossed!
 
Saint Angelo said:
Apparently Spotify owner and Henry/Vieira/Bergkamp are seeking to buy Arsenal from Kroenke.

Sounds bizarre if you ask me but I wish them all the very best and I hope they can somehow make it.

If it really goes through I'm going back to being Arsenal "fan" (sorry I'm not legacy fan im fron eastern EU) after like a decade. I would love to see them succeed again. And even just breaking out of this painful mediocrity and building a new team would be a big win.

Fingers crossed!
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I think this is the best we'll get in terms of these 'elite' clubs being brought into well-meaning hands. A billionaire with good intentions, and people the fans can trust and hold accountable. Probably not sustainable, but a step in the right direction.
 
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What are Evo-Web's thoughts on this?

I see many people disagree on Twitter but... I find it impossible to argue with.

How else does football become anything other than a Super League? It already is, in all but name. Yes, the structure allows promotion and relegation, but - we now have a situation in England where the teams who went down last year are bouncing straight back up again, because they have the firepower (financially and more) to be of a higher tier than everyone else in the Championship, and yet they don't have enough to stay in the Premier League.

I understand the argument that, if you make money, you've earnt it, and you shouldn't be crippled for the sake of everyone else. But the percentage difference in that "firepower" between clubs, and whole tiers, is so big now that it's not really a sport any more. It just isn't 11 people vs 11 people now. It's 11 of the most naturally gifted people that money can buy (trained to perfection with the use of cutting-edge technology), versus 11 mere mortals.

Surely it would be for the benefit of the sport if one or two clubs couldn't buy all the best players in the world so easily, and had to make sacrifices - because then you'd find out who the REALLY good managers are, and you'd see real tactical battles, given the more level playing field. Pressing a team for 90 minutes is a good tactic when you have facilities the other team couldn't dream of.
 
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Chris Davies said:
AfYJbTQ.png

What are Evo-Web's thoughts on this?

I see many people disagree on Twitter but... I find it impossible to argue with.

How else does football become anything other than a Super League? It already is, in all but name. Yes, the structure allows promotion and relegation, but - we now have a situation in England where the teams who went down last year are bouncing straight back up again, because they have the firepower (financially and more) to be of a higher tier than everyone else in the Championship, and yet they don't have enough to stay in the Premier League.

I understand the argument that, if you make money, you've earnt it, and you shouldn't be crippled for the sake of everyone else. But the percentage difference in that "firepower" between clubs, and whole tiers, is so big now that it's not really a sport any more. It just isn't 11 people vs 11 people now. It's 11 of the most naturally gifted people that money can buy (trained to perfection with the use of cutting-edge technology), versus 11 mere mortals.
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Firstly, John Barnes is a roaster, and I disagree with 99% of the stuff that comes out his mouth. But this is the 1%.

There's too much having cake and eating it. Unless it's enforced by Government (our notoriously anti-capitalist one(!)) who's going to take the lead on this no-ownership model? Why would a multi-billionaire relinquish control and assets to fans, or plough billions or hundreds of millions into a club without having total control over it?

It's at the point of no return. How much could Man City, for example, fans raise through a membership scheme? Could a Man City, majority-owned by supporters, compete at the top level of the Premier League, let alone Europe, with global brand status in jeopardy? I'd respect them immensely if they tried, I know that much!

For all the bluster about the Super League, I don't think supporters' (of all these 'elite' clubs, not just Man City's) moral outrage extends to conceding that much glitz and glamour, our superiority over the so-called smaller clubs. At the end of the day, the sheer popularity of the biggest clubs (this Scottish neutral thinks immediately of Man Utd and Liverpool, and maybe Arsenal, don't @ me) would see greater membership and more minority investment, and more money and - logically - success as a result. But the playing field would be much more level.
 
@Chris Davies 100% agree with John Barnes on this one. I was saying this the other day when the fans were protesting about getting these owners out of their club. Who exactly can afford them - exactly the same sort of people, so unless you get really lucky they'll be of exactly the same mindset.

A salary cap is the logical answer to controlling the finances. Whether that be a percentage of turnover or some kind of team cap.

The other thing that would spread the talent out is to go back to three subs on the bench. See how many players want to hang around getting no game time at all rather than move somewhere they will actually play regularly. Currently the ever increasing subs bench just means these clubs can keep more players content by having them involved in the match day and getting time on the pitch.

What you said about the same teams coming up and down from the Premier league is spot on and is beginning to happen further down as well. Rotherham looking like being relegated yet again after two relegations and two promotions in the four previous seasons, just yo-yoing between the Championship and League One.


Yesterday's League Cup Final proved your point. You have Tottenham who were set to join the elite breakaway league by right and yet they can't (or wouldn't) take on Man City in a proper game of football, having to resort to 10 men behind that ball and counter attacking. They didn't even get out of their half for about the first 10 minutes, raising an ironic cheer from their own fans when they finally did. That's not competitive football. Yeah ok they stayed in the game by virtue of Man City only being 1 up but let's be honest, with better finishing on the day City could have been out of sight by then.

And slightly off topic Foden is a joy to watch.
 
It made me laugh when so many Newcastle fans were welcoming the Saudi takeover just because they think Mike Ashley is a bastard and it might make them CL contenders again. Saw one poll where around 97% were in favour of it going ahead.

I'm not saying Mike Ashley is a saint, but is that really an improvement?

Agree with Barnes but sadly can't see anything being done about it. Fans of the clubs wouldn't support a more ethical/sustainable structure if it meant mediocrity on the pitch.
 
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Why Man City or Chelsea should be forced to spent the same amount of money with Burnley for example..?Ok it's one thing to say that there may be a limit of 100 millions for transfers or whatever and you can't pass that or even forced to have 4-5 academy players in your squad to help teams put more attention to their academies..but forcing everyone to spent the exact same is just unrealistic.Some teams are rich and some not so rich..that also goes for people,for companies etc.It is what it is.If you force it with a ''communistic'' way that every team should have the same money and same players then one thing is for sure..that they will be mediocre teams with mediocre players..and in the end they'll produce mediocre football..
 
I think what also needs to be done away with is for UEFA to stop pandering to the big teams, stop seeding them, make it an even playing field in the European competitions. All qualifiers go into a knockout round unseeded until you have your 32 for the group stage (personally I'd have it knockout all the way but they never would because of money). At least this way perhaps the money would be spread around a few more teams each season.

As for the 'big 6' in England there's a chance four of them won't even be in the Champions League next season. Now that would be funny. Leicester looking good for third, so come on West Ham sneak that fourth place.
 
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