Ah, but can any among us really claim to know the enigma that is @Arminius ?
Don’t know who the other one is that you’re referring to.
haha. Without wanting to make them or me identifiable, both are Australian, have made a good proportion of their wealth (in one case all) from property and I know from living in two separate Australian cities. One is a good friends father and the other we have several acquaintances/loose friends in common and have chatted at a couple of parties.
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Elizabeth Holmes seems to have done things the right way.
I posted this on the Newcastle thread but as it sort of covers the 2.
This is an article on what the Saudis own, invest in and generally make money off
I’d be interested to know if people generally give those companies a swerve also or if they have used and will continue to use companies like Disney, Facebook and Uber etc.
I don’t trust BBC to have done their research
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Ah, well, it is only my desire to remain pure that is holding me back from being a billionaire.
I think there is a difference between ‘walk away’ and ‘drift away’. There are already depraved, immoral owners with effectively limitless resources in football, it is hard to say that this last step was too far. I don’t even particularly begrudge the Toon fans being excited about a new era for their club. Would a similar transaction be enough for me to say ‘I am done with LFC’? I’m not sure it would.
However, I am definitely drifting. Maybe that is partly covid, but my interest level is not what it once was in the sport in general. In a similar fashion, I once followed hockey closely, and my interest just faded. I realized that while I am a devoted fan of the Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s and 80s, I am not particularly interested in the NHL of today. A generation of being focused on chasing the television riches of the American market has lost me. I genuinely don’t recall the last time I watched a regular season game, the last time I went to a game live must have been at least eight years ago. I couldn’t say precisely when that happened, which contract/strike/expansion team/change of broadcasters was the last straw, there may not have been a last straw at all.
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It’s modern sport and it’s only going to get worse
For me, it was the strikes/lock-out that did it. It was then I realised that the time spent watching games on TV consumed too many hours of my life, and the time I could use to do something else, whether it would be productive (rarely), or more time wasting things (likely). After that, I have only gone and watched live games at the stadium (Blue Jays) or arena (Leafs or AHL when I was in Chicago) when I managed to score cheap or free tickets, but rarely on TV.
Strikes were definitely a big part of it, much as I suspect covid has played a significant role in waning interest in footy. Got out of the habit of watching a hockey game in an evening without much else to do, and didn’t get back into it. I think the number of games watched fell dramatically after that mid-90s strike, and I stopped watching much at all after the one about 15 years ago.
Similarly, last year I stopped watching Premier League games in December. I simply realized I wasn’t enjoying them, could never decide whether I wanted to listen to the laugh-track or the sounds of an empty stadium. Somehow when Liverpool’s result was disappointing I would be down, but wasn’t get a corresponding lift from a win. In trading, when the risk is asymmetric to the downside, you don’t want to be involved. So I just stopped, went and did other things. I checked the table from time to time, but didn’t watch a match until the season finale (which was worth watching). Definitely more engaged this season, but I have missed a few matches to go canoeing or the like.
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Very similar to myself and my interest in cricket and rugby. I remember getting up at ungodly hours to listen to radio commentary of tours Down Under after readmission in the 90’s. Haven’t really watched any of either for over a decade now. The 2005 Ashes was the last real good cricket I can remember watching.
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You’ve missed some great stuff, including the whole of Ben Stokes’ career.
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Oh yes, I don’t doubt that at all. I’ve seen some games here and there but the interest for me waned significantly with the Hansie Cronje debacle and then my own lack of playing time and just…, died at some point. Great moments in the 90’s, though. De Villiers bowling out the Aussies in Sydney defending 117 probably ranks high in the happiest I have ever been thanks to a sporting event, and I wasn’t even really in my teens yet! Ah well.
The 05 ashes was just outstanding. One of my all time favourite sporting contest.
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No not really… don’t agree with any of that. As I said, it would be a big step towards disillusionment with the club.
But if I’m honest, I will likely compartmentalize things.
Judge them on their human rights but view their holding of the club as a transitional thing. I’d want them gone and it would annoy me to have them as owners.
But it is like Monsanto (or now unfortunately Bayer-Monsanto). It doesn’t mean I’m going to boycott them and not eat any GMO stuff because I think they are evil. It’s just too hard to avoid.
But I don’t like overspending. And I’m pretty happy with the current owners. So hopefully this stays a very distant hypothetical situation.
I’ve found myself drifting away from following sport as I’ve gotten older and I guess it is a combination of the growing cynicism that comes with age and life is, well, just busy - there is no longer the time to fitter away the day on football, cricket or any other sport. I used to play football in the local leagues wherever I was at the time and similarly cricket but I just don’t have the time or the urge to make time for them anymore.
With Liverpool, I still look for the score, follow/watch the games when I can and post here on occasion, but the close/intense focus (oftentimes without perspective in the past) is no longer there. If we were to be taken over by Putin, the Saudis or some such, then I would stop following Liverpool.
I should add that the cynicism specifically linked to football, is fuelled by the vast influx of money more than anything else. I find it hard to imagine how or justify why a person can earn 250k or more a week. Even 10k a week seems absurd but that’s where we are.
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I think the debate about wages is one for another thread. I’ll just add that my MIL (rest her soul) was an NHS worker all her life and we had a rather heated debate one night about wages. Her stance (understandably) was that somebody who saves lives should be paid more than somebody who kicks a football. I went over the basic maths of employment with her (an employee needs to earn 3 times their salary for a business) and then showed her the revenue streams for Liverpool. She was utterly stunned that there was that much money in football. Didn’t alter her opinion on what she thought was “right” but she did get the simple maths angle that if a player earns 3x for the club then it’s understandable to be paid x.
you’re equating saving lives to a business and it is still just kicking a ball around - both, debates for other threads.
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How did you do the maths for saving someone’s life? Save the life of a 20yr old who then goes on to contribute £1m in taxes over their life…on the 3x principle, I presume a nurse should be paid £333,000 for every life they save?
Meanwhile, player wages typically constitute at least 60% of turnover. Seems like they’re considerably overpaid on the 1:3 ratio and should probably take 50% wage cuts. At least.
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Then what about the teacher who inspires a child to be a hugely successful entrepreneur who pays millions in taxes? Should we introduce performance tracking to that extent?
Unions would love that.
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At the level the top players work, football isn’t ‘just kicking a ball around’.