It’s not just the MLS, though.
The globalisation of football means that many fans don’t have any connection to the city in which their chosen club is based. When this connection is missing, fans are more likely to gravitate to individual players, or even managers, and then follow them when they move on.
Consequently, many global fans are more interested in “big names” than the clubs themselves.
Could not be more true.
Curious though: has this “star power” effect been seen even in a place such as Liverpool?
I’m highly doubtful that it has—given the long-established clubs in and around Merseyside.
I think you need to be a certain type of person to support Liverpool (or Everton, for that matter), so it isn’t so commonplace with our fans.
However, I have no doubt that there will be some people who have stopped supporting the club now that Jürgen has gone, and others who will do so when Mo moves on, for example.
I worked with someone who was a Barca supporter because of Messi and that establishment’s supposed “grittiness.” Well, that ended after corner taken quickly, at which point he declared himself a supporter of PSG and Chelsea.
To his further discredit he adored Pep. However, to his credit he disliked City. But then to his discredit he thought Pep was innocent because Pep apparently doesn’t know City is cheating.
This is my world. And yet I persevere.
You work in a lunatic asylum?
Fixed
for accuracy
You have made me feel blessed that I didn’t watch the game or read the coverage.
I’ve seen a number of those kind of comments, some of them being actually serious. Apparently some English viewers are completely mystified by that. I genuinely find the naivete adorable.
Your post has made me think about what I appreciated most from Klopp’s era with us: that it was glorious even when we didn’t win anything at all. For instance, I still look fondly back to his first season with us, with that crazy EL run, the Dortmund come-back and other great games. Or at the season when our entire central defence was out, and we still managed to claw our way back into the top four , with Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams overperforming game after game. It was glorious.
We truly are a lucky bunch to have witnessed so many great moments in the last nine years, also with the trophies coming in of course! Now it’s over, and we’ll see what the future brings. It will surely be interesting.
As for Perez, he can fuck right off. A wholly uninteresting figure.
Perez is not doing much different than Ronnie Moran was famous for. There are variations of the story, but the two common ones both deal with winner’s medals. One version has him carrying a box of winners medals into the changing room after the last game and putting them in the middle of the room and then challenging players to go and take one if they felt they earned it (the insinuation meaning no one would dare take one). Another has him going around the room dishing them out, only to then immediately do a second lap to take it back from everyone with the reminder that tomorrow they start the quest to go and win another one next year.
Of course, Moran’s role was the be task master preparing the players. Perez is a crooked figure head who writes checks.
Enjoyed Squires calling out Rio:
This is just pointless
UEFA confirmed on Friday that there had been “significant changes made to the ownership, governance, and financial support of the concerned clubs” which would “substantially restrict the investors’ influence and decision-making power.”
The shares held in Girona and Nice have been transferred to independent trustees “through a blind trust structure established under the supervision of the CFCB.”
The measure applies only to the 2024-25 season, after which the shares will transfer back to City Football Group and INEOS.
Everyone at Girona will only be there because they were hired by someone at CFG, and if they do well the most likely promotion for them is to get hired into a similar role at City.
UEFA: In other words, they paid us a shitload of money to turn a blind eye to their dodgy dealings
Qualification for the new season started tonight.
Arsenal 3rd favourite?!
Did you see the league table?
Arsenal are better than us and Bayern had a bad season, by their standards, so I don’t see why not.
That being said, these odds are usually pretty strange, especially if they are from UK bookies. England favourites for the Euros? Hmmm…
Lots of great sounding clubs involved - Petrocub, Differdange, Flora, The New Saints etc.
See Shamrock Rovers are making their annual pilgrimage to Iceland.
Great stuff 
