Club "sponsors" which do not exist

Chelsea were obviously the original oil backed shady cnuts, but there's something even more grotesque about City. I guess with Chelsea it was the one man band, Bond villain oligarch thing. With state backed clubs, the ulterior motives of washing their image and diluting public perception with regard to human rights abuses is just another level entirely. It's an ugly symptom of the world we live in and entirely depressing.

The PL would be fecking interesting as all hell if you could just delete Man City.
 
There's a holier-than-thou attitude in the English media that English football is exempt from corruption
Definitely. And it seems to be getting worse. The Premier League as a product is bigger than ever but I fear for English football. There’s always a chance it goes the same way as Serie A did after peaking in the 1990s.

And who can stop Man City’s spending? No-one. Unless the government step in I guess. But why would they? City spend a fortune on the area of Manchester which surrounds the Etihad Stadium. They create jobs, they pay huge sums in taxes.

In time to come, Newcastle will challenge them and be the next City but on steroids. But the rest of the league will just watch on whilst we wave our “the Premier League is the best league in the world” flags.
 
One of the major differences between Chelsea and City is Chelsea were already a big club at the top end of the table, City were absolutely nothing and wouldn't have been sugar daddy'd if it wasn't for being in the same city as us. It's just daft to see how easily a nothing team can be catapulted to the top of the sport with insane money invested.
 
I think you are right many Utd fans are dying to get rid of the Glazers but like the Saudi thread showed most of us have no interest in a oil state running the club, most want owners who run this like a football club and let the club use all their income on footballing matters and infrastructure. But how can we keep hammering the City fans while the FA and the government do absolutely nothing.

Ah, I think you are of the optimistic persuasion. There is nothing to be done. By the PL, FA, FIFA, government, etc. Football will just die a natural death.
 
Football has always been plagued with some form of corruption since I can remember. We had Calciopoli in 2006. We also had the Bruce Grobbelaar match-fixing scandals of the (I think) 1990s. And then obviously we’ve got FIFA being investigated by the FBI in more recent times.

But Man City’s corrupt behaviour is in a different level, on another plateau. They obviously pay anyone and everyone behind the scenes and cover it up with fake sponsorships. PSG are at it too and it won’t be long until Newcastle Utd are sponsored by a Saudi Tech Giant which doesn’t actually exist.

The modern game is corrupt at its core because the money involved is more obscene than it has ever been.

Football, eventually, will consume itself. I have a passing interest in the game these days yet was obsessed with it when I was a young man. I still follow United closely but don’t care about the sport in general anymore. World Cups being held in Qatar, talks of a Super League and nothing clubs like Manchester City being bankrolled by dodgy human-right’s abusing states has soured my tastes when it comes to the beautiful game I once loved.
The thing is though, it’s still the beautiful game when you watch a match, like a dumb action movie. And that’s why we keep tuning in.
 
The game is run by buffoons especially our own FA.

PSG & City are cancers of the game that needed to be treated early. Instead UEFA have allowed them to grow & decimate their host. The FA have a novel plan. Rather than taking the nuclear option of Chemo & Radiotherapy to erradicate City they are going to infect the league with another cancer to try & control the primary cancer. When Newcastle start to decimate the host they will then have to find another cancer to control the secondary cancer which in turn was controlling the primary cancer. Anybody with half a brain can determine how this ends. The host becomes infested & eventually dies.

The way i see this ending is that the big PL clubs will take control of their own TV rights. This will allow them to compete on a relatively even keel with the state funded clubs. City & Newcastle would generate a quarter of the TV revenue of clubs like Utd & Liverpool. City & Newcastles owners would keep putting their own money into their clubs to counteract this disparity. This would then though have an effect on their transfer spending. Abu Dhabi think nothing of injecting £100 Mill into City every season as this keeps them ahead of the competition. They would start to think twice when they would be needing to inject £200 - 300 Mill every season. This then gives the the smaller clubs a problem as there is no way clubs like Leicester & Southampton can pull in £100 Mill for their TV rights. In effect it has to be decided if all but 2 clubs in the league go to the wall or is it just going to be the smaller clubs without rich owners.
You'd then effectively ruin the Premier League by reducing the clubs outside the top six or seven into mere punchbags. Liverpool, Arsenal, United, and Chelsea are going to get good TV deals, maybe even Spurs. Newcastle and City will be continually bankrolled. And there will be scorelines like Chelsea 6-0 Brighton, United 7-1 Leicester, and City 8-1 Wolves every weekend. The whole thing will be a farce. It would be pointless watching 90% of the matches.

The most important thing that makes the Premier League the best in the world is the competitiveness of the matches between the top half and the bottom half of the table.
 
They don’t from me

I'm talking about the press in general. The"it's alright, that happened years ago, so it's alright now " attitude. Whilst they regularly spend 1/4 billion in the transfer window, have 100 players out on loan, the majority of which have never even been to Stamford Bridge etc etc.

The club disgusts me.
 
You'd then effectively ruin the Premier League by reducing the clubs outside the top six or seven into mere punchbags. Liverpool, Arsenal, United, and Chelsea are going to get good TV deals, maybe even Spurs. Newcastle and City will be continually bankrolled. And there will be scorelines like Chelsea 6-0 Brighton, United 7-1 Leicester, and City 8-1 Wolves every weekend. The whole thing will be a farce. It would be pointless watching 90% of the matches.

The most important thing that makes the Premier League the best in the world is the competitiveness of the matches between the top half and the bottom half of the table.

The PL is already ruined. The fact is that none of the lower teams are going to break into the big 6, soon to be big 7 with Newcastle. You may as well try to make the top of the league more competitive. As it is now we have 1 team nailed on for the title. There's 5 teams scrambling for a CL place with the loser going into the Europa. A few more teams are then going for the Conference. The rest of the bottom feeders are trying to secure their PL place happy to get the £100 Mill.

The majority of bottom feeder teams in the PL are happy as long as it's not Utd or Liverpool winning. Many of these teams keep quiet on City & Newcastle as they are hopng to be taken over by a State too. The majority of City games against these sides consist of the opposing team being stuck in their own half for the majority of the game showing no intention to do anything but keep the scoreline respectable. It makes these games nothing more than practice matches. These teams are getting rich off the backs of Utd & Liverpool bringing exposure to the league but screw us over at every opportunity playing like men possessed in their fixtures against us.

Ultimately, we need to take a leaf out of City's book & do what's right for us rather than the collective as that's the only way we'll get back on our perch. There is no longer romance in football it's about how deep your pockets are & what you are prepared to do to fulfill your goals.
 
Wasn't it said that the owner was buying up season tickets also. Stadium is never full when they play the lower teams but it says "Sell Out".
 
You'd then effectively ruin the Premier League by reducing the clubs outside the top six or seven into mere punchbags. Liverpool, Arsenal, United, and Chelsea are going to get good TV deals, maybe even Spurs. Newcastle and City will be continually bankrolled. And there will be scorelines like Chelsea 6-0 Brighton, United 7-1 Leicester, and City 8-1 Wolves every weekend. The whole thing will be a farce. It would be pointless watching 90% of the matches.

The most important thing that makes the Premier League the best in the world is the competitiveness of the matches between the top half and the bottom half of the table.

League is already ruined, everybody knows City is gonna win the league in the end.

Once Newcastle use all their financial doping, it will be Abu Dabhi vs Saudi Arabia competing for Premier League, the rest watching in the corner fighting for miserable CL and Europa spots.

This all started when corrupt PL officials let Roman and his oligarch money buy Chelsea.

It's game over now.
 
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It's just daft to see how easily a nothing team can be catapulted to the top of the sport with insane money invested.
Leaving City aside, so then how do teams based out of small cities (low fan catchment area, no exciting nightlife) ever dream of becoming anything more than cannon fodder? If any player in a team like Milton Keynes, Cheltenhem, etc. does well he is instantly snapped up. Sure the selling club earns money but they will never be able to build a team. What you feel about City is what Bournemouth feels about you - United earned their money on the back of being in a larger city (nightlife, access, finance, schooling, shopping, lifestyle, etc).
 
Leaving City aside, so then how do teams based out of small cities (low fan catchment area, no exciting nightlife) ever dream of becoming anything more than cannon fodder? If any player in a team like Milton Keynes, Cheltenhem, etc. does well he is instantly snapped up. Sure the selling club earns money but they will never be able to build a team. What you feel about City is what Bournemouth feels about you - United earned their money on the back of being in a larger city (nightlife, access, finance, schooling, shopping, lifestyle, etc).

Not sure I’ve ever read such nonsense here before
 
Leaving City aside, so then how do teams based out of small cities (low fan catchment area, no exciting nightlife) ever dream of becoming anything more than cannon fodder? If any player in a team like Milton Keynes, Cheltenhem, etc. does well he is instantly snapped up. Sure the selling club earns money but they will never be able to build a team. What you feel about City is what Bournemouth feels about you - United earned their money on the back of being in a larger city (nightlife, access, finance, schooling, shopping, lifestyle, etc).

You could earn a killing advising Di Maria and Gundogan's wives.
 
Not sure I’ve ever read such nonsense here before
So are you denying that being in a big city gives you advantages over a small town? Not saying that this is the only reason but then why are all the top teams i.e. regular winners of cups and leagues based out of big cities or suburbs to big cities?
 
So are you denying that being in a big city gives you advantages over a small town? Not saying that this is the only reason but then why are all the top teams i.e. regular winners of cups and leagues based out of big cities or suburbs to big cities?

So how many teams in England are from London? Why are they not all successful?

Why is there no Bristol team in the PL?

Why have Nottingham Forest been out of the top flight for many years?
 
Leaving City aside, so then how do teams based out of small cities (low fan catchment area, no exciting nightlife) ever dream of becoming anything more than cannon fodder? If any player in a team like Milton Keynes, Cheltenhem, etc. does well he is instantly snapped up. Sure the selling club earns money but they will never be able to build a team. What you feel about City is what Bournemouth feels about you - United earned their money on the back of being in a larger city (nightlife, access, finance, schooling, shopping, lifestyle, etc).
Did you read this back before you decided to go ahead and post it?
 
So how many teams in England are from London? Why are they not all successful?

Why is there no Bristol team in the PL?

Why have Nottingham Forest been out of the top flight for many years?
Because being in a big city is not enough but it helps - Manchester/Liverpool/London/Amsterdam/Madrid/Barcelona/Milan/Turin/Rome/Munich/Seville are all huge cities relative to the country they are in. How many Domestic leagues, CLs, ELs have been won outside the big cities since 1990?
 
League is already ruined, everybody knows City is gonna win the league in the end.

Once Newcastle use all their financial doping, it will be Abu Dabhi vs Saudi Arabia competing for Premier League, the rest watching in the corner fighting for miserable CL and Europa spots.

This all started when corrupt PL officials let Roman and his oligarch money buy Chelsea.

It's game over now.
One mistake cannot be fixed by another mistake... that's what you're suggesting.

Instead, FFP should be stringently adhered to and clubs spending more than their earnings should be dealt with harshly. Fines should be about docking points and not merely some monetary fine.

This is one area where UEFA/FA haven't done their jobs well. Manchester City are blowing the League away because they've been allowed to spend endlessly and they don't even have proper sponsors. Once this is taken care of, Pep won't win the League every year. But do the regulatory bodies have the balls to do this is another question.
 
One mistake cannot be fixed by another mistake... that's what you're suggesting.

Instead, FFP should be stringently adhered to and clubs spending more than their earnings should be dealt with harshly. Fines should be about docking points and not merely some monetary fine.

This is one area where UEFA/FA haven't done their jobs well. Manchester City are blowing the League away because they've been allowed to spend endlessly and they don't even have proper sponsors. Once this is taken care of, Pep won't win the League every year. But do the regulatory bodies have the balls to do this is another question.

It’s not really a question, we know full well they have neither the means or the appetite enforce such a thing.
 
One mistake cannot be fixed by another mistake... that's what you're suggesting.

Instead, FFP should be stringently adhered to and clubs spending more than their earnings should be dealt with harshly. Fines should be about docking points and not merely some monetary fine.

This is one area where UEFA/FA haven't done their jobs well. Manchester City are blowing the League away because they've been allowed to spend endlessly and they don't even have proper sponsors. Once this is taken care of, Pep won't win the League every year. But do the regulatory bodies have the balls to do this is another question.

Not unless they want to end up like Kashoggi
 
I'll believe it when Gary Neville talks about it because he is the voice of fairness and care for the game.
 
You'd then effectively ruin the Premier League by reducing the clubs outside the top six or seven into mere punchbags. Liverpool, Arsenal, United, and Chelsea are going to get good TV deals, maybe even Spurs. Newcastle and City will be continually bankrolled. And there will be scorelines like Chelsea 6-0 Brighton, United 7-1 Leicester, and City 8-1 Wolves every weekend. The whole thing will be a farce. It would be pointless watching 90% of the matches.

The most important thing that makes the Premier League the best in the world is the competitiveness of the matches between the top half and the bottom half of the table.

Is this a bit of a myth? In the 2017-18 season midtable la ligament clubs collected more points than their premier league counterparts, although the relegated teams in la liga got fewer points than the ones in England.
 
Too busy sucking up for World Cup
Yep. It's a shame he has such a blind eye for obvious moral issues as long as money comes in to the game. He would be a great person to listen to on football matters if only he could grow some sense of ethics.
 
And, as always, nothing will be done about any of it.

Can't wait for the City V Newcastle super Sunday double headers where they are allowed to make it a 6 pointer each time they have a fixture by playing first their their A and then B sides (both full of 18 man squads of players all costing a minimum of £60 million each) against each other on the same day. Sponsored Etihadbet.com
 
And, as always, nothing will be done about any of it.

Can't wait for the City V Newcastle super Sunday double headers where they are allowed to make it a 6 pointer each time they have a fixture by playing first their their A and then B sides (both full of 18 man squads of players all costing a minimum of £60 million each) against each other on the same day. Sponsored Etihadbet.com

Yeah and Howe won't be manager then
 
Definitely. And it seems to be getting worse. The Premier League as a product is bigger than ever but I fear for English football. There’s always a chance it goes the same way as Serie A did after peaking in the 1990s.

A chance? City have won 4 of the last 5 leagues with the most expensive squad ever assembled and just spent an unknown, undisclosed figure on a goalscoring robot. It's already there. Until Newcastle catch up the league is a one horse race. Like Serie A it will kill the league off in time, but the FA can't see that far ahead. Too many brown envelopes in the way.