The on topic thread 2.0

[moomba]

That’s mental, but a significant chunk of that would be put down to a vastly improved product wouldn’t it? It’d be interesting to look at a price comparison for a club that’s been a little more stable over that period.

To be fair my seat was taken over by corporate (both sides on L2 are corporate) so it's not a typical price rise.

But most seats has risen fairly consistently over the past decade. Most would be paying around double from a decade ago.

If they're going to claim improved product I'm putting in for a refund on Stuart Pearce's last season.

 

[Latro]

 

[Magma]

excellent stuff from polish mike dean

 

[Latro]

People should be jail for this.

 

[ADL9798]

Great to see Raheem finding his voice on this issue and becoming such a great advocate over the last year or 2.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

People should be jail for this.

It’s South America dude

 

[Zidane98]

After fathering more children than goals scored last year Berahino has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving after fleeing police claiming he thought a gang of youths were chasing him to rob his watch.

 

[jd2010]

One of our best transfer stallings was not paying what WBA wanted for Berahino!

 

[Zidane98]

One of our best transfer stallings was not paying what WBA wanted for Berahino!

The Matrix level bullet dodging.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

One of our best transfer stallings was not paying what WBA wanted for Berahino!

How true. But Michael Ricketts was probably before your time. Least I think that was his name

 

[ADL9798]

Holy hell it’s Monsieur Creosote.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

Holy hell it’s Monsieur Creosote.

View attachment 621811

Amazing to think that was once a pro footballer

 

[Zidane98]

Meanwhile in Italian 3rd division:

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/italian-club-kicked-out-after-20-0-humiliation

This really is shocking at Serie C level.

 

[jd2010]

How true. But Michael Ricketts was probably before your time. Least I think that was his name

I know of the story after the fact wasn't really keeping tabs of the news back then. Rivaldo was probably the oldest rumour I can remember!

 

[RPCB]

Meanwhile in Italian 3rd division:

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/italian-club-kicked-out-after-20-0-humiliation

This really is shocking at Serie C level.

One of the weirdest stories I have read in football. A bit sad really.

 

[Zidane98]

One of the weirdest stories I have read in football. A bit sad really.

Is Serie C professional? I know they rejigged the regional competitions back in 2017 but can't find out a definitive answer to whether Serie C is professional or not. If it is then what happens to those players at the club that was kicked out? They've got contracts that need paying and they can no longer sign anywhere else until the summer window.

 

[kangaspurs]

If that is the case then what is his (or a Saudi Arabian investment company) intention in buying the club? He is worth 800 billion and makes the Sheikhs look like peasants. Making money surely isn't the factor in buying Utd for them.

Traditionally the Saudis have shown no interest in opening the country up to the west like UAE / Qatar are doing right now. They have not been interested in maintaining a positive image of their country or even cared what the rest of the world thinks. Perhaps with the Khashoggi scandal would they be looking at United as a giant PR / sports washing exercise in the same manner that City / PSG are for the various states behind them? And what is the inside word on the Glazers? With them being motivated by money would they accept an offer for the club far above its market value (an offer too good to refuse so to speak)?

Interesting times ahead indeed.

On the bolded, it's quite the contrary.

Prior to the Khashoggi (for want of a better word) scandal, MbS was the tip of the spear in softening Saudi Arabia's image on the global stage. He was considered this young 'progressive' who had led a number of social changes within SA, particularly with regards to women's freedoms, and also has led a campaign to open SA to the world, encouraging greater tourism. Pretty sure he was also the leader of the charge to lobby FIFA to convince them to share Qatar 2022 with SA and the UAE. Tifo football did a video on the proposed Saudi takeover of United and it had been mooted long before the Khashoggi incident as part of a broader soft power strategy, again you guessed it, led by MbS.

Like all soft power campaigns though, it's not one without an ulterior motive. It's not a campaign that's designed for the benefit of SA and the world, but for the benefit of MbS and the Saudi royal family. It's come at the same time as SA have become more aggressive in their region, with an escalation of the bombing in Yemen and the Qatar-Saudi spat, and an increase in a crack down and disappearance of political dissidents, both within and outside SA, again, both apparently led by MbS who AFAIK is the crown heir.

 

[RPCB]

Is Serie C professional? I know they rejigged the regional competitions back in 2017 but can't find out a definitive answer to whether Serie C is professional or not. If it is then what happens to those players at the club that was kicked out? They've got contracts that need paying and they can no longer sign anywhere else until the summer window.

From what I have read it is a professional league with a promotion (to Serie B) and a relegation system. It’s a confusing in that there are 60 clubs playing in Serie C with 3 groups of 20 teams. Each group promotes one club automatically to Serie B and has the same number of teams vying for the promotion playoffs (a bit like Championship football for example)/relegation. Apparently the rejigging/rebranding only goes as far as renaming the league to Serie C (it was called Lega Pro before that).

 

[Magma]

Holy hell it’s Monsieur Creosote.

View attachment 621811

 

[Bojan KantKick]

Alan Brazil still looking like a beetroot

 

[Bojan KantKick]

 

[Bojan KantKick]

Awesome

 

[WealstoneRaider]

Alan Brazil looks like a dead man walking. I get out of breath just looking at him

 

[kangaspurs]

Awesome

His was the worst refereeing performance I have ever seen when we played Leicester the other week. Genuinely dreadful stuff.

 

[Sozabarus]

Awesome

Probably because he refs most of the big games.

Or you could read something else in to it.