They had spent stupid reckless amount on players for God knows why. It’s one thing to spend stupid amounts on known quality players but another to spend like 30m on a youth, play him for 1000 odd minutes then now loan him to Wolves. They deserve this financial mess.
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Very good work Mr Gordon:
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You spelt Edwards wrong.
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Whereas at Everton… Hahaha…
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We can also give the owners some credit here too, I thought.
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agree with ARD.
yet more fluff from TAW.
yeah, sure, the idea of giving Barca 200m quid for their third best attacker was to ultimately send them bankrupt.
yeah…might pass on that subscription to TAW
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Jebus…
Yes it does.
it seems you misunderstand my point because I never claimed they currently did. What I said is it seems clear to me that a big goal of the group is to wrestle broadcast rights away from the current centralized model to one where clubs can control their own rights.
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Yep, that’s been an openly expressed objective for some time and it’s not really about NESN as a broadcast platform (although that is definitely a factor that would aid NESN’s expansion) but more about FSM monetising the broadcast rights themselves.
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no it doesn’t. NBC has national PL broadcast rights in the US. NESN is the equivalent of a local TV Station, doesn’t carry syndicated programs. check the schedule.
maybe they hope to make a play for the PL someday, but I don’t think they have the viewership to make that happen anytime in the near future
as @Arminius can attest, the Canadian rights were usurped from SportsNet here in Canada (formerly Setanta) to DAZN internet-based website. Whilst Sportsnet will play the odd game on TV on a Saturday morning, if you want to watch all of the PL (and SerieA, Belgium, MLS and Championship matches) then you need a DAZN subscription)
…
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I’m going bow out because what I’ve said is factually true and easily verified so you are clearly taking the wrong end of the stick and debating something I haven’t said.
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if you think that it’s possible that the FA will allow clubs to control their own broadcast rights whilst still part of their organization, then you’re missing the point I’m trying to make.
SuperLeague may have been the avenue that LFC and the other participants were trying to make, and we have seen how that whole scenario played out…
While I wish it were different, what I personally think is likely or possible isnt a factor in what FSG have as their vision for ownership.
Prior to owning us Henry already had a set up where his companies were both the owner of the entity selling the broadcast rights and the one buying them.
It was clear to me from day 1 that achieving something similar with Liverpool was his goal. As Kopstar points out, that does not have (and almost certainly wouldn’t due to lack of brand identity) to mean using NESN as a vehicle, it is more a replication of the model. People at FSG have said things the explicitly points to this as a vision for them and it’s been easy to see how many of the moves they have made has been an attempt to push the game in that direction. Whether I think it is likely to come off is completely irrelevant.
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I think you misunderstand. I (and Rory) wasn’t saying that the Neymar deal fucked Barca. It was that after PSG destroyed the market Barca went a bit mad and started throwing huge sums and wages at unsuitable players with little thought - Dembele, Coutinho, Griezeman etc. They were essentially spending money to show they could spend money, which they couldn’t
In Rory’s words the issue was not only were Barca awful at transfers, but they were awful at transfers just as PSG made it absolutely deadly to be awful at transfers. A club like Barca could probably deal with fucking up a few 30m transfers, but when those players suddenly cost 150m each, you absolutely cannot get that wrong.
And the planning stuff was Neil Atkinson’s point. Barca had a process that worked (La Masia supplemented by the odd stellar name). If you are going to deviate from your process, you’re probably in trouble. Glad our owners have a good one.
On PSG, I have absolutely no difficulty believing that those cunts would happily destroy the market so that clubs either couldn’t compete or would fuck themselves trying. Maybe a cynical secondary aim, but certainly in the pro column when they were weighing up that deal.
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Fuck me.
Their points were exactly as @AnfieldRdDreamer set out, although Rory Smith is probably a little more cynical on PSGs motives
The problem was my post or his reading of it.
Honestly, really good interview.
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For the avoidance of doubt, Rory’s points as follows.
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One of PSGs motives in the Neymar deal was to distort the transfer market, to the point where even big clubs would struggle to compete for players or get in difficulty trying.
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Barca allowed themselves to get into trouble by panicking at the new reality, throwing ridiculous fees and wages around trying not only to continue to compete with state owned clubs in the market, but just to show they could.
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They could have doubled down on their tested strategy and used the Neymar money to secure themselves for decades. That they didn’t is terrible management.
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A big reason for why Barca felt under pressure to fuck themselves was their ownership model is insane. Presidents have to promise massive signing to appease the fans and get elected. The whole culture in football of success being determined by spending money, chasing big signings and trying to ‘win the transfer window’ is going to destroy football.
A big takeaway from the Barca fiasco for me is that I’m more resolute in my belief that Fans should not be allowed anywhere near the reigns of football clubs.
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I think the important context to the situation was that it was essentially a dick measuring contest. It started with Barca pissing off PSG with their public pursuit of Veratti. PSG told them it was not appreciated and Barca basically ignored them, thinking they were above such blow back. PSG then said, “Ok, then I’m going to fuck your mum. And your wife.” And then did.
Barca didn’t respond by taking a step back and looking at how they over played their hand. Instead they responded out of bruised ego and determined to show the world that they could get any woman they wanted. I don’t know that you can ascribe Machiavellian motivations to PSG of them thinking Barca would end up in the hole they dug for themselves. But they absolutely 100% did what they did to inflict emotional and psychological pain on them. It wasn’t just about taking their best player, it was about making them hurt.
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Much happier with DAZN here, over sportsnet (Rogers) and TSN (Bell) and Sportsnet world(Rogers). You had to have all three for all PL and CL games. These companies (TSN and Rogers) were complete Canadian based collusion scammers, money grabbers, there was no legal alternative till DAZN came along.
The only thing that annoys me occasionally with DAZN is lag, and I miss out on FA and other minor cup, and both of theses competitions have deteriorated so much over the years that I don’t feel I’m missing much. I also like that I can suspend my subscription for 2-3 months after the season ends.
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This is still something I disagree with. It wasn’t actually PSG that destroyed the transfer market. That one deal for Neymar doesn’t do it alone, not even the additional follow up deal for Mbappe. What destroyed the market was the multiple, badly thought out, deals that Barca then made. Barca didn’t have to make those deals, Barca making those deals was completely out of the influence of PSG. I think PSG would have been more than happy, probably ecstatically happy, if the post Neymar market returned to the pre Neymar price levels and they just sat there offering ridiculous fees for anyone they really wanted blowing everyone else out the water.
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