Saudi Arabia and the Championship

[Pugin 601]

At heart I am a paid-up member of 'Against Modern Football', so anything that torpedoes the Premier League big boys is fine by me.

Which takes us to Saudi Arabia trying to muscle in at the head of the table of world domestic football. 

Modern Football sees an increasing gap between the Premier League and the Championship. Elsewhere someone has rightly said this season's Championship is the most mental ever. True enough, but Luton, Sheff Utd and Burnley are demonstrating that being outstanding a League below cuts little ice in the Premier.

So, once Saudi has raided the PL for players to the point where a critical mass of players has been procured, and the process becomes commonplace, might we just see a closing of the gap between PL and Championship? Might some PL investors decide they can't beat them, so they will join them. I do hope so.

 

 

[The Real Buh 3,432]

I honestly think of Saudi does start to really muscle in they’ll use it as a catalyst to advance the need for a European superleague. All the big clubs want it, they don’t want to play Norwich and the like. They want to play Real Madrid every week to please their customer base in India and China and Malaysia and the USA. You know, the real fans.

[lake district canary 4,531]

What we are witnessing is the ruination of the top of the sport, pure and simple, perpetrated by greedy power hungry rich playboys under a barely concealed mask of supposed respectability, whose money and power was/is gained by ruthless, unethical and sometimes inhuman means. The sad part is that there doesn't seem to be anyone in this country who can stand in their way and we see this ever escalating spectacle of money talking.

It has always been about money, of course, but not like it is today, where ethics are now so far removed, that football has become tainted with money gained from such dubious means, that it is rampantly disgusting that no-one in so called control of the game can stop it.

[duke63 542]

Football is fast becoming an exhibition event to make money rather than a sport. 

[lake district canary 4,531]

17 minutes ago, lake district canary said:

What we are witnessing is the ruination of the top of the sport, pure and simple, perpetrated by greedy power hungry rich playboys under a barely concealed mask of supposed respectability, whose money and power was/is gained by ruthless, unethical and sometimes inhuman means. The sad part is that there doesn't seem to be anyone in this country who can stand in their way and we see this ever escalating spectacle of money talking.

It has always been about money, of course, but not like it is today, where ethics are now so far removed, that football has become tainted with money gained from such dubious means, that it is rampantly disgusting that no-one in so called control of the game can stop it.

I should have added - "made worse by fans who relish the money and forget the more sinister side of where that money has come from when that money comes to their club....."

Edited August 28, 2023 by lake district canary

[Bert 236]

I have been calling for some time for investment from a stinking rich Arab or Chinese owner, I was as usual well ahead of the trend 

Edited August 28, 2023 by Bert

[Capt. Pants 4,236]

It might get worse. No better time to buy a Premier League club, then have the Saudis come along and buy your players for £50m+ a piece. Will hugely benefit clubs with very large squads, like Chelsea with some 350 players on their books.

Decent footballers will be in high demand, it's a great time to be good, which is why NCFC should strive to recruit/develop a squad for the future.

As I mentioned on another thread it will depend if the Saudi League is a viable product that fans across the world want to watch. I have my doubts, but who knows.

Edited August 28, 2023 by Capt. Pants

[cambridgeshire canary 6,722]

22 minutes ago, duke63 said:

Football is fast becoming an exhibition event to make money rather than a sport. 

Been that way since Sky took over the Premier League. The Prawn sandwich brigade have been running the show ever since

[hertfordyellow 460]

The Saudi league has been useful for some premiership teams rather than a threat. No one who is top class and or in their prime has gone to the league and the Saudis are paying huge money for 30+ year olds that are a big name but not really the future. Good example Kante has barely strung games together in the last two seasons and helped Chelsea with FFP balancing.

It is also handy for clubs to pick out the less committed. If you are 27 and wanting to going to Saudi, you care more about money than career so should keep well clear of.

[cornish sam 954]

12 minutes ago, hertfordyellow said:

The Saudi league has been useful for some premiership teams rather than a threat. No one who is top class and or in their prime has gone to the league and the Saudis are paying huge money for 30+ year olds that are a big name but not really the future. Good example Kante has barely strung games together in the last two seasons and helped Chelsea with FFP balancing.

It is also handy for clubs to pick out the less committed. If you are 27 and wanting to going to Saudi, you care more about money than career so should keep well clear of.

This to an extent, it gives the top clubs easy access to buckets of money, eases ffp concerns and hoover up more young talent... As this is across all of the top leagues there is a chance that it actually delays the super League rather than hastening it as they have this new, unexpected revenue stream. Yes it might **** the managers off that they are losing good players, but they aren't the ones that actually matter in this one...

[The Real Buh 3,432]

Lower league football is about to become a whole lot more popular

[Jezzard 16]

1 hour ago, Pugin said:

At heart I am a paid-up member of 'Against Modern Football', so anything that torpedoes the Premier League big boys is fine by me.

Which takes us to Saudi Arabia trying to muscle in at the head of the table of world domestic football. 

Modern Football sees an increasing gap between the Premier League and the Championship. Elsewhere someone has rightly said this season's Championship is the most mental ever. True enough, but Luton, Sheff Utd and Burnley are demonstrating that being outstanding a League below cuts little ice in the Premier.

So, once Saudi has raided the PL for players to the point where a critical mass of players has been procured, and the process becomes commonplace, might we just see a closing of the gap between PL and Championship? Might some PL investors decide they can't beat them, so they will join them. I do hope so.

 

 

Possibly, had the same thought. Once the three foreign player rule was removed in the late 90s, it decreased competive balance between European leagues and within them. At the same time more and more money came in, to the greatest extent in the PL, allowing clubs access to unlimited talent pool with high spending power. This really affected clubs like NCFC. If the Saudi spending lasts (or if other leagues catch up with PL spending power) it will decrease the talent pool whilst inflating prices of all including average players. You’d expect this will increase competitive balance, so decrease the gap within the PL and between the PL and championship. Maybe significantly, maybe not but could help NCFC. Ignoring the unpleasantness of Saudi sports washing, I’d be more than happy for NCFC to be a mid table club in poorer quality PL. 

[yellowrider120 763]

1 hour ago, lake district canary said:

What we are witnessing is the ruination of the top of the sport, pure and simple, perpetrated by greedy power hungry rich playboys under a barely concealed mask of supposed respectability, whose money and power was/is gained by ruthless, unethical and sometimes inhuman means. The sad part is that there doesn't seem to be anyone in this country who can stand in their way and we see this ever escalating spectacle of money talking.

It has always been about money, of course, but not like it is today, where ethics are now so far removed, that football has become tainted with money gained from such dubious means, that it is rampantly disgusting that no-one in so called control of the game can stop it.

That's not true. Go back to the years before WW2 and then in the Fifties, I would suspect it was all about 'the game' and 'glory'. Where were the big investors then or the multi billion £ media deals? Nothing similar existed. In fact you can go right up to the creation of the PL, that's when this nonsense kicked off. Only need to look at the league tables of the old Division One for proof. 

[yellowrider120 763]

1 hour ago, The Real Buh said:

I honestly think of Saudi does start to really muscle in they’ll use it as a catalyst to advance the need for a European superleague. All the big clubs want it, they don’t want to play Norwich and the like. They want to play Real Madrid every week to please their customer base in India and China and Malaysia and the USA. You know, the real fans.

Not so sure about that. Last time they tried the so called 'super league' it collapsed like a pack of cards when even fairly mild protests began. From memory, the 'clubs' you speak of were actually only the main 'owners' (in a shareholding sense) and the CEO's. The managers and players were not even consulted. That said, I do agree with your last two sentences. Dripping with sarcasm but so spot on. 

[The Real Buh 3,432]

9 minutes ago, yellowrider120 said:

Not so sure about that. Last time they tried the so called 'super league' it collapsed like a pack of cards when even fairly mild protests began. From memory, the 'clubs' you speak of were actually only the main 'owners' (in a shareholding sense) and the CEO's. The managers and players were not even consulted. That said, I do agree with your last two sentences. Dripping with sarcasm but so spot on. 

The idea of a superleague, especially one not controlled by a UEFA or whatnot, is not going away.

The amount of money that can be hoarded is astronomical when you remove all the inconveniences like Norwich or West Brom or whatever and just make all the money yourselves.

I think they kind of knew it wouldn’t work to be honest, the next attempt will be a “well, we have to or we’ll fall behind” sort of angle.

[The Raptor 1,211]

I don't see the attraction of the superleague.  To me Man utd v Munich or  Barcelona v inter to pick two random examples are attractive games to watch in the champions league knockout  because of the rarity of them and whats at stake. They happen every year and that's lost.

Within 5 seasons Athletico v Dortmund would just be Stoke v West brom. A mid table game no one really wants to see!

[lake district canary 4,531]

1 hour ago, yellowrider120 said:

That's not true. Go back to the years before WW2 and then in the Fifties, I would suspect it was all about 'the game' and 'glory'. Where were the big investors then or the multi billion £ media deals? Nothing similar existed. In fact you can go right up to the creation of the PL, that's when this nonsense kicked off. Only need to look at the league tables of the old Division One for proof. 

Yes it is true. Money has always talked, big clubs in big cities with a huge fanbase were always way better off than smaller clubs, but I agree it has got out of hand, which was my main point.

[hertfordyellow 460]

2 hours ago, The Raptor said:

I don't see the attraction of the superleague.  To me Man utd v Munich or  Barcelona v inter to pick two random examples are attractive games to watch in the champions league knockout  because of the rarity of them and whats at stake. They happen every year and that's lost.

Within 5 seasons Athletico v Dortmund would just be Stoke v West brom. A mid table game no one really wants to see!

I can’t see how both champions league and super league survive at the same time. Complete saturation of basically the same fixtures.

[Mella Yella 40]

In the Casino of the Super Rich, the bundles of Money gets thrown around the tables that would easily buy a third world country, let alone respectability, but underneath the tables, the blood is dripping down the table legs, & collecting in a large pool that they have around their feet, and when they leave the table, you can see quite clearly where they have been walking.

[Newtopia 517]

TBH if the rich clubs want to go into a closed super league based on the size of their wad of cash I am genuinely all for it.  I would even watch the games.  Please leave the real clubs alone to play in an English league, where big investors have zero interest as the audience is just domestic and the returns modest.

[Besthorpe-48 102]

14 hours ago, The Real Buh said:

Lower league football is about to become a whole lot more popular

Oh my god buh. I agree with you.

It's a cold Tuesday in February and norwich in 3rd are at home to blackburn on a good run in 7th

Meanwhile on the box man City are at home to Slavia prague 

Where would you rather be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Duncan Edwards 2,237]

15 hours ago, Bert said:

I have been calling for some time for investment from a stinking rich Arab or Chinese owner, I was as usual well ahead of the trend 

But were you? You were very much in the China camp.

The next step will be the Eurasian Champions League and it will soon come to pass that our Mountaineering Magnate was very much ahead of the game by scouting Nepal as a base for our surge to prominence.

Unfortunately, the knee-jerk short termism of our fan base has seen that project consigned to the dustbin; expect to see it resurrected in Yorkshire soon.
 

Although seeing WACCOE renamed WACCOEAAUTGOFSW might not be a seamless transition. 

[Paul101 93]

22 hours ago, Pugin said:

At heart I am a paid-up member of 'Against Modern Football', so anything that torpedoes the Premier League big boys is fine by me.

Which takes us to Saudi Arabia trying to muscle in at the head of the table of world domestic football. 

Modern Football sees an increasing gap between the Premier League and the Championship. Elsewhere someone has rightly said this season's Championship is the most mental ever. True enough, but Luton, Sheff Utd and Burnley are demonstrating that being outstanding a League below cuts little ice in the Premier.

So, once Saudi has raided the PL for players to the point where a critical mass of players has been procured, and the process becomes commonplace, might we just see a closing of the gap between PL and Championship? Might some PL investors decide they can't beat them, so they will join them. I do hope so.

 

 

no

 

all we will see is the saudi league paying over the odds for players to secure behind the scenes deals with people outside football

 

vile country that shouldnt even be allowed to take part in international sport

[AJ 1,221]

Misleading thread; I thought this was going to be a post about how a league full of overpaid has-beens is no better in quality than the championship. Which, in truth, it probably isn't. 

[Capt. Pants 4,236]

The point is neither the Saudi League or a European Super League (which isn't going to happen) produces its own players of the quality required through a league structure, they will always rely on buying in talent from across the world. That demand will be attractive to feeder clubs who in turn will source talent from grassroots football from their leagues. Those feeder clubs will get even richer. You will always have disparity - that's how professional sport is.

In other words where there's muck there's money.

With our first class academy and a bit of vision, NCFC could do well out of this, but clubs like Southend will still struggle.

 

 

[Google Bot 3,278]

Crazy thing is that it's the same pool of players, just different jerseys and higher money.

I think what will happen is that transfer fee's will start to lesson and shorter contracts will become the norm, which will see massive wage increases - and that's what will kill us, if the market becomes more mercenary and open in that way it only suits the big boys and not teams like us wanting long term commitments to build players.

The other massive factor is that the growth of the Saudi league will mean a huge interest in Arabian youngsters stepping up wanting to be pro footballers, and their families being more willing to support them in that dream vs more traditional jobs.

If this picks up, 5+ years time they'll producing much homegrown talent and idols of at least the level of Salah, Mahrez, Ziyech etc.  

Just consider how big the pool is across those countries, and into that the facilities made available if they throw money into that market - they could even follow the US model and create some kind of viable 'college' league which is a more affordable option to watch too.

At that point, they're not taking from the game, but providing it.  We know the super league is incoming, and we all know that they could buy their way into UEFA champs league - as football at the highest tier is solely about money nowadays.

Not a clue what it means for us though.  Will supporters even have as much interest in the game if the top boys get taken away?  For me getting to the prem league and seeing us walk out at Anfield, Old Trafford etc. is what we aim for.  I'm not sure looking forward to going to Saint Mary's holds the same feeling.