GRcade

Drumstick wrote:Whatever it is it ignores all the foundational work that came before it.

Exactly, Arsenal have been overspending since football began in 1992.

Drumstick wrote:Whatever it is it ignores all the foundational work that came before it.

You mean the encasing of inconvenient journalists in concrete beneath stadia?

BBC Sport wrote:Four of the leading Saudi Arabian clubs have been taken over by the country's Public Investment Fund.

Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal - the top three in this season's top flight - plus second-tier champions Al-Ahli - have all come under the control of the PIF, which also owns Newcastle United.

How can they now own four clubs in the same division? They'll be competing against... themselves?

jawa_ wrote:

BBC Sport wrote:Four of the leading Saudi Arabian clubs have been taken over by the country's Public Investment Fund.

Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal - the top three in this season's top flight - plus second-tier champions Al-Ahli - have all come under the control of the PIF, which also owns Newcastle United.

How can they now own four clubs in the same division? They'll be competing against... themselves?

They don't care who wins, they only care about how much money they can make from it.

SEP wrote:

jawa_ wrote:

BBC Sport wrote:Four of the leading Saudi Arabian clubs have been taken over by the country's Public Investment Fund.

Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal - the top three in this season's top flight - plus second-tier champions Al-Ahli - have all come under the control of the PIF, which also owns Newcastle United.

How can they now own four clubs in the same division? They'll be competing against... themselves?

They don't care who wins, they only care about how much money they can make from it.

Given the demand for oil is bound to drop significantly over the next 25 years, the need to invest their oil money somewhere.

SEP wrote:

jawa_ wrote:

BBC Sport wrote:Four of the leading Saudi Arabian clubs have been taken over by the country's Public Investment Fund.

Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal - the top three in this season's top flight - plus second-tier champions Al-Ahli - have all come under the control of the PIF, which also owns Newcastle United.

How can they now own four clubs in the same division? They'll be competing against... themselves?

They don't care who wins, they only care about how much money they can make from it.

Given the demand for oil is bound to drop significantly over the next 25 years, the need to invest their oil money somewhere.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65819185

Tottenham Hotspur have appointed Ange Postecoglou as their new manager on a four-year contract.

Postecoglou, 57, leaves Celtic after winning successive Scottish Premiership titles in his two seasons in charge.

He is Spurs' fourth permanent manager since Mauricio Pochettino led them to the Champions League final in 2018-19 and follows Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte.

"We are excited to have Ange join us," said Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.

/predictable

Some big moves in the market today:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65832658

Argentina legend Lionel Messi will join American side Inter Miami after his exit from French champions Paris St-Germain.

The former Barcelona player is set to reject a more lucrative offer from Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.

The Miami deal includes collaboration from brands like Adidas and Apple.

Forward Messi, 35, won the award for the world's best player seven times and is expected to win it later this year after World Cup success.

This is the first time Barcelona icon Messi has played outside Europe.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/65836734

Real Madrid have agreed a deal with Borussia Dortmund to sign England midfielder Jude Bellingham for 100m euros (£86m).

The 19-year-old, who joined Dortmund from Birmingham City in July 2020, was one of England's top performers at last year's World Cup.

Bellingham wants the move and will have a medical in the next few days.

The midfielder, who has been linked with some of Europe's top sides, will sign a six-year deal.

Manchester City and Liverpool were two of the sides keen on Bellingham, who is set to become the world's third-most expensive teenager.

Stop it football, you're killing us

I'm predicting 3-1 to West Ham.

I also predict the Tottenham manager will get sacked before Christmas.

There is an inversely proportional relationship between the current UEFA trophies' footballing importance and their aesthetic value.

The Milk Cup was the best as the trophy was just a bottle of milk.

So I'm assuming we have no West Ham fans on here?

Happy for West Ham/David Moyes (and Flynn Downes...), i was sure the game was going to extra time and penalties, then bam!

BTB wrote:So I'm assuming we have no West Ham fans on here?

Happy for West Ham/David Moyes (and Flynn Downes...), i was sure the game was going to extra time and penalties, then bam!

I know we have one:

Blue Eyes wrote:.

Congrats!

With Real Madrid signing Bellingham, their midfield options have got to be best of any team on the planet*?

Modric
Kroos
Bellingham
Valverde
Camavinga
Tchouameni

Modric is signed up for another season but will probably move on next summer, maybe Kroos too. But they've already bought their replacements and they'll all get considerable game time across the season. Fantastic forward planning it has to be said.

*(other than United with McFred obviously)

And they're going to add Kane up top in the coming weeks no doubt.

These transfer fees these days are obscene.
I honestly can't see Luton being willing to spend more than maybe £5m on a player and I don't think they'll go anywhere near that much.

They still have memories of what happened the last time we overspent and got clobbered by the FA and ended up in administration so are not going to risk that again.
Wages are even more silly and I can see them being the lowest wage team in the league by miles even after massive pay rises for players who stay fromlast season.

I'm hoping for a 15th place finish if we get super lucky but even after the extra cash they get money is going to be a problem.
We have zero hope of competeing with the top 10 teams on transfers even if we stay in the prem for the next 10 years.

Peter Crisp wrote:These transfer fees these days are obscene.
I honestly can't see Luton being willing to spend more than maybe £5m on a player and I don't think they'll go anywhere near that much.

They still have memories of what happened the last time we overspent and got clobbered by the FA and ended up in administration so are not going to risk that again.
Wages are even more silly and I can see them being the lowest wage team in the league by miles even after massive pay rises for players who stay fromlast season.

I'm hoping for a 15th place finish if we get super lucky but even after the extra cash they get money is going to be a problem.
We have zero hope of competeing with the top 10 teams on transfers even if we stay in the prem for the next 10 years.

Best thing Luton could do is keep their squad, enjoy the ride, bank the TV money and invest in a new stadium/training facilities and if they get relegated, go back into the Championship and dominate thanks to parachute payments.

Peter Crisp wrote:These transfer fees these days are obscene.
I honestly can't see Luton being willing to spend more than maybe £5m on a player and I don't think they'll go anywhere near that much.

They still have memories of what happened the last time we overspent and got clobbered by the FA and ended up in administration so are not going to risk that again.
Wages are even more silly and I can see them being the lowest wage team in the league by miles even after massive pay rises for players who stay fromlast season.

I'm hoping for a 15th place finish if we get super lucky but even after the extra cash they get money is going to be a problem.
We have zero hope of competeing with the top 10 teams on transfers even if we stay in the prem for the next 10 years.

Absolutely zero chance they won't utterly smash through that.