RandoEFC

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Frankly what the Premier League have done, hand in hand with Sky, to English football with their capitalism on steroids makes it absolutely hilarious for them to be going around using the phrase "too much money" in any context whatsoever. This is a nation where the disparity between the top two leagues is so monstrous that anyone who gets relegated receives hundreds of millions in "parachute payments" just to stop them from going completely bust, a league where the only sustained "upward mobility" that any club has really achieved in the last 35 years has had to come from billionaire investment from overseas. The Premier League created the wild west and now wants the residents to live off rations. I have no sympathy whatsoever. I hope the entire organisation collapses because it's almost comical how not fit for purpose it is. There's been a lot in the news lately about clubs being criticised for voting against a deal with the EFL which would allow more money to trickle down the pyramid. Those clubs should be criticised but why the fuck are they allowed to vote on this stuff in the first place? This independent regulator can't come soon enough but it really does need to take radical action from day one.

It certainly should which is why I say *if* but I don't have high hopes for City getting held accountable against the rules and sanctions that were in place when they were charged. I don't think the points penalties really have a place in most circumstances. If they introduce this rule where it's basically spend as much as you want but you have to pay a 'luxury tax' if it's more than X amount then that's basically the end of this attempt at profit and sustainability because the likes of Man City and Newcastle whose owners have bottomless pockets will just spend whatever they want. It would be nice at least if they could use any money that teams have to pay as a luxury tax to share between teams lower down the pyramid but I suspect it's more likely to find its way into the pockets of Premier League executives. You can call me cynical if you want .

As I said in the Everton thread. If they change the rules and City end up managing to pay a luxury tax after Forest and Everton (twice in one season) have been given actual punishments then nobody can argue that the league isn't corrupt anymore.

Maybe the "they're not corrupt, they're just incompetent" shouts will finally stop when City are able to pay a "luxury tax" to get away with their 115 charges after delaying and obfuscating while Everton and Forest faced actual punishment. I'm not holding my breath though!

Pole Position - Which driver will post the fastest lap in Q3? VER Podium - Which drivers will finish the Grand Prix in the top three positions AFTER MAX VERSTAPPEN IS REMOVED FROM THE RESULTS? 1. PER 2. LEC 3. NOR Random Driver - Predict the finishing position of this week's random driver, Pierre Gasly. 14TH Bonus Question - We've done this one before - which driver's finishing position will outperform their current Drivers' Championship position by the most places? E.G. if Carlos Sainz finishes 2nd, he will have outperformed his current position in the Drivers' Championship (4th) by 2 places. If nobody picks the "biggest overperformer", then I'm going to give the full 5 points rather than 2 consolation points to whoever makes the best pick. HAM

Nobody has predicted yet so don't forget! @Stan @MUFC @Tommy @nudge @Whiskey @The Palace Fan @Coma @DeadLinesman @OrangeKhrush Practice starts tomorrow.

Wouldn't put it past City at all to win all of their remaining fixtures.

PSR would probably be fine if they had some sort of "live" accounting available of the sort you described. I still think when you get to situations like Reading, or Everton/Leicester to a lesser extent, where a football club is being run into the ground by incompetence and the ownership is contributing to the problem, then the owner should be punished, not the football club. If the club is then unable to register new players until they've reduced the wage bill by X amount or something then fine. These clubs are unlucky to have lunatics in the boardroom and they aren't seeing any benefit to their over-spending. The footballing authorities have a duty of care over them in my opinion, all these points penalties do is pour fuel on the fire. Hopefully only for a matter of months longer. Obviously you wouldn't put much faith in any UK government or any of the current footballing authorities to be making those calls but maybe the Independent Regulator will be better if they get the right people running it. I just think fans should be treated as valued stakeholders again. I'm not saying they should be allowed to run the club or owners should be booted out every time a team has a bad transfer window but it's the wild west already. Anyone with the money to buy a football club can do so and ruin them with basically no repercussions. If these people are actually held accountable to treat our football clubs with respect and make sure they're run in a competent way or risk losing the right to be involved. They did it with Chelsea when Abramovich was no longer able to run the club so it's clearly possible.

I don't like weighing in on this really because the state of Israel is obviously quite important for Jewish people. I don't really see why it's so hard for the US and UK leaders to come out and say they support the state of Israel and its right to defend itself but they do not support the homicide carried out by Netanyahu and his government. The discourse on this in the UK is beyond fucked up though. Seemingly millions of closet Islamophobes who couldn't point to Israel or Gaza on a map are too ready to call anyone who criticises Israel's actions antisemitic. I assume it's the same in the US. And at the root of it all, it isn't a moral obligation to the Jewish Israeli population that even motivates our leaders to pussy-foot around the truth, it's a matter of money, trade and/or their own interests in the Middle East.

I honestly think instead of punishing clubs who are being fucked over by their own owners with points penalties that just risk plunging them into even bigger trouble, the FA/government should have the power to strip these twats of their ownership, sell the club on their behalf to the highest bidder that can pass the fit and proper owners test, hand the old owners the money and bar them from owning any English football club for 30 years. Genuinely don't see how this proposal is at all unfair or controversial. It provides a safety net for millions of fans across the country. It worries me how bitter and selfish some football fans are when they say that clubs should be "punished" for not being run right. It's only the fans that end up really being punished when they're the ones with no control over the mess in the first place.

That second half was actually decent. Not great but decent. The body language wasn't resigned as it was in the first half. Got the rub of the green for once with the timing of Newcastle's disallowed goal knocking the wind out of them and getting a penalty. Jordan Pickford man of the match because they probably should have been out of sight by the time we woke up. Use that as a platform to beat Burnley on Saturday and we should be back on track to survive. Hopefully Wolves nick a winner and then no silly bullshit from Arsenal against Luton tomorrow.

If Burnley hold on tonight and beat us at the weekend they'll be one point behind us and we probably have a deduction coming.

Forest 2-0 up as well. Getting things done when they have the chance which we absolutely won't do at home to Burnley on Saturday. Forest will be ahead of us on goal difference by the end of tonight.

1-0 down already. Terrible defending. Now we're chasing a game on the road with Ashley Young on the wing.

Well they've dropped before but not in modern history. The financial situation changes the potential for relegation from an embarrassment to an existential crisis as well sadly.

That's a war crime of a lineup from Dyche. I don't think we've won a game since Godfrey has been playing in one of the full back positions. He gets targeted all the time. Coleman made a mistake on Saturday and Patterson isn't ideal defensively but play an actual right back there ffs. Young at right wing. I know he played there in the 3-0 win against these at home but... eugh. Sadly, Harrison, Garner and Calvert-Lewin can all have no complaints about getting hooked.

I think I've said it before but the only thing that keeps me vaguely arsed about Everton not getting relegated is a misplaced sense of pride and knowing that it's unarguably the worst thing that has happened to the club in countless decades. I can take us being average or shite year in, year out but there's just such a sense of injustice that two people can systematically ruin a football club supported by millions of people and there's nothing we can do about it except for kick off about it on the Internet and organise protests that get no traction because the media give such few fucks about any clubs that don't fit "the brand" that it gets nothing more than a cursory mention on TV or in the papers and therefore never amounts to any pressure on the people responsible.

That's not what I said though is it? They were on 35 points before we played them and we'd have 31 without deductions, we beat them 3-0 in the reverse fixture. The only other league games they've won in 2024 were Burnley and Luton. They're one of the poorest teams in the league and in almost as bad of a run as us, which is what I actually said. They have very little to play for and we were desperate for a win. It was a winnable fixture for all of these reasons and by all accounts, we were not just beaten but comprehensively outplayed. It isn't a good enough response to an 11 game winless run when you've just had a three week break to hit the reset button. None of what I've said there is even remotely controversial and I never said we were "better than Bournemouth" in the first place.

The problem is, there's nobody in charge to make that decision, we (literally) can't afford to sack another manager and his coaching team, and above all else, there's nobody else who considers taking over Everton who can do any better. I'm not impressed by him at the moment though. Just had a three week break between games and come back to put out the same team with the same tactics and deservedly lost to one of the poorest and out of form teams in the league. It hasn't gone down well. If the ownership situation wasn't what it is you'd have widespread calls for a change in my opinion and he couldn't make any excuses either after 12 without a win.

I think this is probably done isn't it? I can see a few leaving after the season but not before. Outside chance the Forest owner does what Leeds did last year and sacks another one if they're in the bottom three with 4-5 left but aside from that I don't see anyone getting the bullet.

We should probably still be fine as long as the corrupt, incompetent dickheads at the PL don't give us an inexplicably large points penalty again. What's annoying is that after that run in December, this team gave itself a headstart and a chance to put Brentford and possibly Palace between themselves and the relegation zone so that we could go into this final stretch with the pressure pretty much off and a bit of a cushion to protect us from a further points deduction. Unfortunately after a difficult run of fixtures we decided to go full Lampard for the last 5-6 fixtures and we're bang in trouble again.

I'm surprised that you're surprised by anti-competitive practice in elite-level football. It basically defines the sport now.

Our 42nd Last Man Standing competition is over and for the first time, it's @Storts' name getting etched into the hall of fame. I can't prove whether or not he's taken part in all of the previous 41 editions but he's certainly a long term player and has had to wait for his induction into the Last Man Standing Hall of Fame. Congratulations!

We have a winner! @Stan Valencia ️ @Lucas Valencia ️ @Storts Real Sociedad ️ @Michael Valencia ️ Congratulations to @Storts for claiming this round with 6 consecutive winning picks! I'll do a proper update when I'm back from holiday and kick off the Ligue 1 round.