RandoEFC

Everton second charge drops tomorrow by the sounds of it. I assume some people have inside knowledge as our relegation odds dropped from 7/1 to 5/1 in the last 24 hours despite Forest losing today. Points to a 1-2 point deduction to me. Hopefully nothing worse than that and hopefully we appeal.

Genuine question - does anyone, be they United, Liverpool or neutral fans, actually enjoy it when they put Neville and Carragher on commentary for this fixture? Neither of them are remotely capable of staying impartial although Neville at least remembers to take a step away from the microphone when they score, you can still hear it. It just comes off as really unprofessional to be honest. Sacrificing insight so that they can post "reaction videos" of them both in the commentary box. I assume this is a symptom of having hundreds of millions of Liverpool and United fans ("fans") across the world watching the game but just wondering whether there's any reason to actually like it. Having them in the studio for me is fine but I want my co-commentators to bring some insight. The fans in the stadium provide enough "reactions" to what's going on. You don't need biased pundits to do the same.

Chelsea have dropped points against Burnley and Sheffield United now. I really hope we don't play like garbage down there next weekend while Luton go to Man City because there's something to be had there.

Yeah I thought this on the replay. It looked like he got a touch on it but he was outside the area. Probably a red card if he ends up preventing the goal and then a draw at best anyway for Liverpool and presumably their 3rd choice goalkeeper in the next game.

Agreed. Probably the most temperamental team in the league. Quansah is a bit unlucky to be honest. It's a pretty innocuous misplaced pass and the only reason it's become a goal-costing error is an unreal finish from Fernandes. Liverpool only have themselves to blame for dropping points. Nunez put in one of his Nicklas Bendtner tribute acts today. Arsenal have it in their hands now. People cry-arsed about their tactics last week but now they're top on goal difference because they've got the best attacking and defensive records in the league. Personally think City will still come through and win this. I don't see either Liverpool or Arsenal as the finished article and I think both will drop further points whereas it wouldn't remotely surprise me to see City win all of their remaining games.

0 shots in a half for any home team is incredible. For Man Utd.... wow. Sometimes you watch them and think it's amazing that they're as high as 6th. I don't think any team makes the headlines for the wrong reasons as often as they do.

Absolutely mental that footballers still do this. If it's a leg break or a head injury then let the referee blow up. If not then the player is almost certainly faking it. Not 2 minutes after play resumed, Diaz got on the end of an attack almost scored against them.

Okay race thanks to the tyre strategies.

Hopefully a Forest loss tomorrow keeps us 4 points clear of both before the rumoured drop of the second PSR judgement on Monday. 7 points over Luton would have been a nice buffer. Fucking Bournemouth.

Gruesome win but we got it. That should be Burnley buried now but Luton coming back to beat Bournemouth is pretty devastating.

1-0 at half time. Calvert-Lewin with a hilarious goal, just like the one Nunez scores in midweek, after a turgid 45 minutes of football from both teams.

Really we should beat Burnley this weekend and put some space between us and the relegation zone. That would effectively kill them off I think as well. We should then be able to get a good haul from Sheff Utd, Brentford and Forest all at home. As long as we avoid defeat at Luton then I think we'll be good even if a couple more points get deducted. I don't trust us to do any of that though and am emotionally ready to go into Sheff Utd at home needing a win to guarantee safety before we go to Arsenal on the final day. The prize? Looking forward to another relegation battle and likely points deduction next season, but after we've sold Onana and Branthwaite and can only afford 35 year old free transfers to replace them.

A salary cap or general budget cap would be great in theory. The problem is that if the Premier League agree on that then you might have a more competitive league but you won't have nearly as many of the world's biggest players come. Some of us would be much happier with the state of the English game but the league and the clubs are never going to go for that unfortunately. It would be great if all of the leagues across the world would agree to follow the same budget caps. The likes of Celtic and Rangers, the Turkish clubs, Portuguese clubs, Greek, Dutch, etc. could actually be properly relevant again in European competition - imagine! Even if you could get the UEFA members on board with that though there's always a Chinese Super League or Saudi League waiting in the wings threatening to offer these players unregulated amounts of money. The horse has bolted. The very best scenario that's vaguely realistic is that PSR is implemented in a way using some sort of live accounting where clubs are banned from signing or registering players or offering any of their players or staff bigger contracts once their losses cross a certain threshold. The only way we get football back is if the Super League actually happens, the teams involved take all the rampant capitalism with them and the English pyramid is ripped up and reformed with a lot less money swimming around in it.

The modern fan has such a short attention span and a disproportionate interest in online "banter" and bragging rights. They don't watch football for the sport of it, they watch it so that they can be a part of the storylines and the manufactured drama on social media. Leicester will never generate the same sort of buzz as the breakaway teams (to varying extents). Leicester winning the league was a nice novelty for most but yeah, the modern football fan doesn't want too many Leicester City's. Football is a drama more than a sport now and people want familiar characters that they recognise, not a different cast every season. The whole sport vs brand is the root cause of most of what us "legacy fans" would call the issues with football now.

Didn't watch the last part of the game but just watched the goals back. What the fuck . The lack of professionalism in both of those squads is astounding.

It wasn't more marketable though apparently. You'd think it would have been. This article explains it to some extent, there's probably better ones out there but I'm too lazy to look harder than I have. https://www.forbes.com/sites/grantfeller/2016/05/04/what-leicester-citys-unlikely-triumph-can-teach-all-sports-brands-need-competition/ The key passages: In terms of business Leicester’s victory has, so it’s argued, breathed life back into the predictable and boring business of Premiership football. It is 21 years since any team other than Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City or Manchester United won the top-flight title. The narrative to each season was being written before a ball had been even kicked. When Davids have no chance against Goliaths, it gets boring. Well, now David has won and already doubts are being raised as to whether it is a positive thing. One senior economist I spoke to believes the outsider’s triumph is good for the game but bad for business and could well lead to a decline in football revenue, especially on television. “The reality,” he told me, “is that Sky viewing figures are slumping – everyone likes Leicester but no one watches them in live Premier League games. And BT (which shows live games between Europe’s top clubs) is very worried about the Champions League next year because although Leicester has qualified as a top seed it doesn’t have as broad an international following as well-known British clubs such as Manchester United.” ... Some commentators consider Leicester’s triumph to be the kind of shot in the arm motor racing’s revenues need – plucky David conquering all-powerful Goliath. The next six months will show whether that’s true or whether, as astute economists predict, brands desperate to bask in the glory of an unlikely victory suddenly realise that the paying public wants what it always had. A Goliath-controlled status quo.

Yeah and don't forget the caving in to the five subs rule, getting rid of various extra time, replays, two legged cup ties that all play into the hands of the clubs with the biggest squads and the biggest fixture lists and limit further the chances for clubs down the pyramid to earn the gate money lottery. I'm still yet to hear a word from any of the Super League Six managers about having six group games in each of the European tournaments, and extending said tournaments by allowing teams that finish 3rd to drop down to the one below for the knockout rounds. All unnecessary bollocks to generate extra lucrative fixtures but when it comes to travelling down to Bristol Rovers for an FA Cup 4th round replay because your second string of £150k a week players couldn't put their £15k a week squad to bed at the first attempt, it's "inhumane what we're asking of these players with this fixture list". You could go on all day really.

I've heard a few people mention this around the various episodes of the PSR discourse this season, the sort of "in the know" types who know people in football and can attest to the powers that be not liking the Leicester storyline. I didn't realise one of them had actually said something to that effect publicly. Incredible really.

Not sure what's more embarrassing, the first 25 minutes of Man Utd's performance that had me thinking Chelsea were going to win 4, 5 or 6 nil, or Chelsea somehow fluffing a 2-0 lead in the blink of an eye to a team who had put them under no pressure up to that point. Two quite embarrassing and ridiculous teams. Good entertainment at least.

His trump card was to hit Everton with 10 points because his idea of showing the league can govern itself is just handing out harsh punishments to look big and strong. There's clearly much more to it running the league than that and even that one gambit failed because the response was universally negative. He's not a man to provide strong leadership of any sort. The fact that at least two of the "big" clubs lobbied for his appointment tells you all you need to know.

£10 returns £665

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!