SEE YOU! A brand spanking new modern fitba thread 2022/23

The Saudi League is vile, don't get me wrong, but it is funny seeing all these Premier League fan boys getting irate, posting stuff like "I can't believe this, they're ruining the game with money" etc and not noticing even the slightest hint of irony.

 

100%. We sold our national game to global capital, now its getting outsourced.

 

This makes lots of sense to me

 

Yep. Kind of like celebrities and high profile boxing matches. They don't care about the sport but want to be seen at "the place to be" when it's hard to get tickets.

 

Talking of Trevor Francis being the first million quid player i wonder when the first billion quid player will happen - the rate things are going maybe not too long

 

For a flat transfer fee probably a while still, although the way these things are structured it won't be long (if it hasn't already happened) that such a deal is potentially worth a bill or more.

If anyone could or would spend 10 figures one what amounts to a piece of jewelry and not sporting reasons it would be the Saudis.

 

In the US main sports, there are no transfer fees. Playeys are drafted, traded for or signed through free agency. Their annual salary is what gets reported. I remember when Kareem Abdul Jabar was to make $1 million a year (early 80s?) It was big news. No one could believe an athlete could be getting paid that much. Twenty years later, A-Rod aka A-Roid, signed the famous 10 year $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers.

 

Canadian sports is pretty much the same thing with much less people and correspondingly much less talent. (also more igloos) In the early 90's there was Rocket Ismail who was likely to be the number one draft pick in the NFL but played in Canada because he got offered a much fatter stack of cash. A lot of people were outraged. All the usual talk about money over sport blah blah. It's hilarious now thinking of a Canadian franchise paying more money than the NFL. One NFL team is worth more than the whole Canadian league on a bad day.

Needless to say the Saudis have more money than some new owners of a semi-pro league looking to make a splash. I don't think any Saudi Arabian pro league is ever going to be something main stream but money talks and it won't just be nearly retired players they seek.

 

When the USFL first started out, they were poaching players headed to the NFL by offering more money as well. It is hard to believe now.

 

Messi, as expected, is destroying MLS defenses.

 

I saw this vid on advanced fitbaw statistics last season, measuring things like total xg contribution per action based on when a player receives the ball vs when he releases it. There were like 5 of these new, next gen metrics that data companies had applied for the first time that year to sell to clubs and old ass 35 y/o Messi came out number one in all but one of them. And by like a mile, too. That boy is really, really good at soccering

 

Jordan Henderson no longer an LGBTQ+ ally after Saudi move, says Hitzlsperger

 

Newcastle snatched up HARVEY Barnes.

Yes, HARVEY.

 

En route to Dublin for the first sellik game of the season. Lets see how much Rodgers changes the shape if at all. Wouldn't mind us testdriving a 3-5-2 for europe but once preseason is over its so hard to get any useful practice in with different shapes when you're playing pub teams half the time

Speaking of which @Irish any stand-put Dublin pubs i might've missed previously? Ive o'donoghue then frank Ryan's and thomas house pencilled in as latebars but open to revision

 

You should ask the locals if they know of any Irish pubs in the area.

 

The Long Hall on George's Street, Grogans on South William St, Hogan's on George's St...usually end up in O Donoghues myself or O Neill's on Suffolk Street if it's about watching a game on big TV

 

Well impressed with the aviva its class. And we seem to be the only glaswegians here which always makes any place nicer Sellik looking good

 

What pubs have you hit so far?

 

Chelsea fined 10 million for some kind of financial shenanigans.

It's just laughable. A working man getting a 50 dollar parking ticket is more impacted.

 

Premier League and Fifa helpless against Saudi juggernaut’s relentless progress | Jonathan Wilson

 

We went to O'Donoghues and to the long hall which salaco recommended (and was extremely impressive). Besides that just a few random places we passed

 

Did you tell them Salaco sent you and get free pints?

 

I think there's a real chance that QPR get relegated to League One. Shocking second half of the season last season. Poor pre-season friendly performances (were hammered 5-0 by Oxfotd United!) and injuries are mounting.

 

I could've done with a few freebies....ouch

 

Tensions simmer between McCabe and Pauw

 

Drinking in Dublin centre is ridiculously expensive

 

What do you fellas follow when the European leagues are in the off season? Once again, I've been spending a lot of my football watching on the Brazilian league. That the new MLS Leagues Cup, which is the MLS sides vs the Mexican sides.

 

To be honest, football is such a tyranny for me now I just take real pleasure from not having to follow it.