[Football] Would the Premier League be better off without Manchester City?

[Nobby Cybergoat]

You can't totally ignore the irony that the Premier League, an institution created 30 years ago to horde power and wealth away from the majority of clubs and the grassroots, is now under mortal attack from a small number of clubs within trying to horde power and wealth away from it.

Just because we are now in this league and clearly have done very well out of it doesn't mean i'll shed a tear if the whole edifice comes crumbling down

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Difficult, but I think you could probably exclude majority ownership by people from countries with terrible human rights records

So a businessperson couldn't own a club on the basis of what country he / she was from?

Yeh, that one will last a long time

 

[Binney on acid]

Yes, and Chelsea and Hove Albion.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

I think Chelsea have actually shown MORE blatant disregard of the spirit of the laws, than even City.

f*** 'loopholes'. Just call it cheating, as literally everybody knows it to be.

 

[Drebin]

In at least two ways they are, ironically, damaging the product that has created their popularity and success.

Off the pitch they are ensuring their financial dominance, undermining the competitiveness of the industry that is based on competition. There is a reason few follow Scottish or German football in comparison to the Premier League.

On the pitch, they continue to dominate the ball and play high quality, but not necessarily exciting, football. There was a good article in When Saturday Comes a month ago about relative indifference to their games by neutral fans, and the subsequent indifference to their success. It is boring to watch one team dominate a game (unless it’s your own).

Man City leaving the PL would damage the marketability of the league globally, but improve the product as a competition. Unfortunately, the increasing amount of City shirts being worn by children now suggests the former is more important than the latter.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I think Chelsea have actually shown MORE blatant disregard of the spirit of the laws, than even City.

f*** 'loopholes'. Just call it cheating, as literally everybody knows it to be.

No such thing as cheating in football. There's only being clever, or cute or using all your experience

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Nah, they can win it every year as far as I'm concerned, it's not like we'll ever likely win it, and if it stops either of the nation's 'darlings' - Liverpool or Arsenal - winning it that's fine by me. Football at the top end is full of odious financial and sometimes unethical shenanigans, City just a more extreme example. 'Proper' club in their original guise, as alluded to above.

 

[Weststander]

In at least two ways they are, ironically, damaging the product that has created their popularity and success.

Off the pitch they are ensuring their financial dominance, undermining the competitiveness of the industry that is based on competition. There is a reason few follow Scottish or German football in comparison to the Premier League.

On the pitch, they continue to dominate the ball and play high quality, but not necessarily exciting, football. There was a good article in When Saturday Comes a month ago about relative indifference to their games by neutral fans, and the subsequent indifference to their success. It is boring to watch one team dominate a game (unless it’s your own).

Man City leaving the PL would damage the marketability of the league globally, but improve the product as a competition. Unfortunately, the increasing amount of City shirts being worn by children now suggests the former is more important than the latter.

Shirts …. the Haaland factor in Norway?

In Sussex or travels beyond, I’ve still barely seen a ManC top. Literally the last time was a market in Hove on the PL’s final day in May …. a glory hunter wanting to tell the world she supported the $$$$ champions.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I think Chelsea have actually shown MORE blatant disregard of the spirit of the laws, than even City.

f*** 'loopholes'. Just call it cheating, as literally everybody knows it to be.

Do you wanna buy a hotel? Training ground?

Actually, no you can't because i'm selling it to myself and its totally legit.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It's not just them, is it? I would be quite happy to see the back of any club that isn't owned by a lifelong local fan.

I know what you mean but this is a 90 degree distraction from the core issue.

(Local owners can be shit)

The Citeh Owners have done massively well for the locals.

(Liverpool had an unfair advantage when Littlewoods switched their investment to Anfield)

Money doesn't guarantee success

(Chelsea won more things before the mad American made them more than twice as rich as they had been).

City are an unholy alliance of mega wealth, clever ownership, extraordinary manager, elite players and a ruthless and unflinching willingness to break rules.

Citeh have made themselves unbeatable now, which the the main reason for the focus on the rule breaking by fans of other clubs.

I think we need to suck up their monopoly, as we had to suck up Liverpool's, followed by Sir Alex's streak. Booting Citeh out or letting them leave is silly.

But we just need to make the rules that allow them to get away with financial shithousery illegal. Ditto Chelsea and all the others.

Until it affects Brighton in which case I will cry "enough is enough!"

 

[Simster]

So a businessperson couldn't own a club on the basis of what country he / she was from?

Yeh, that one will last a long time

Feeble comment.

Why won't it last a long time then? Try and actually explain why not.

 

[nevergoagain]

No, simply because getting rid of them would create a vacuum for yet another billionaire owner to come in with a different club and do exactly the same thing (Cough cough Chelsea).

 

[CHAPPERS]

Money doesn't guarantee success

Every PL club ranked by their annual wage bill - the difference between 1st and 20th is crazy

Manchester United should be doing so much better considering how much they spend on wages 💰 😳

www.givemesport.com

??

 

[TugWilson]

Is that what we should be aiming for though? PL hegemony over other leagues? It is desirable or healthy that low ranking PL clubs can lord it over euro challenging La Liga or Serie A clubs by taking their players at will?

What is most important in my opinion is the overall health of the game of football around the world. And in football as well as in global economics, a reduction in wealth inequality is the only way to achieve that end

So what would you do with PSG Barcelona Real Madrid the current Napoli ?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Every PL club ranked by their annual wage bill - the difference between 1st and 20th is crazy

Manchester United should be doing so much better considering how much they spend on wages 💰 😳

www.givemesport.com

??

There is a big difference between increasing the probability of something and guaranteeing it.

Anyway, context, dear boy. I was constructing a perverse narrative that, when the caveats are washed away, reveals the only relevant issue - the rule breaking.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Feeble comment.

Why won't it last a long time then? Try and actually explain why not.

Well, because it's obviously discriminatory to have a rule like the one you suggest which bars people from particular countries from owning a club. The first hint of a legal challenge and the whole thing would collapse

Fit and proper owners teste have been talked about for ages but never implemented. Why? The problem as I see it is who would be excluded? Maybe you could put something in place which would exclude Putin as he’s globally sanctioned. Also someone with an unspent conviction for fraud in this country.

But how could you go wider than that? How can you introduce subjectivity in a way which couldn’t be easily challenged? Remember the PL have allowed someone to own a club who its widely understood to have ordered a journalist to be murdered in an embassy and cut up with a bonesaw

 

[Drebin]

Shirts …. the Haaland factor in Norway?

In Sussex or travels beyond, I’ve still barely seen a ManC top. Literally the last time was a market in Hove on the PL’s final day in May …. a glory hunter wanting to tell the world she supported the $$$$ champions.

To an extent. It started as soon as they won the title in 2012.

The scale of glory hunting here is impressive. There are quite a few Blackburn fans here from their success in the 90’s who have little choice now but to just put on a brave face.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

So what would you do with PSG Barcelona Real Madrid the current Napoli ?

Good examples. And as we can see across Europe, most national associations have let inequality go unchallenged. In fact the opposite is true. This is why the same teams win the league in most European countries in most years.

The PL is slightly less crap in that respect as there are several ultra wealthy clubs, not just one or two.

I don't think there is anything you can do with the clubs you mentioned. But a reduction in their power would be beneficial for their leagues and the overall health of the sport. I don't have a plan as such, but, if for example Barca totter over under the weight of debt, i'll reason that's probably a good thing for the many. Similarly if the Qatari owners of PSG get bored and move onto another plaything somewhere else and PSG go back to being just another club in the league rather than a superpower that can bend the league to it's will, that will be great for French football

 

[Simster]

Well, because it's obviously discriminatory to have a rule like the one you suggest which bars people from particular countries from owning a club. The first hint of a legal challenge and the whole thing would collapse

Fit and proper owners teste have been talked about for ages but never implemented. Why? The problem as I see it is who would be excluded? Maybe you could put something in place which would exclude Putin as he’s globally sanctioned. Also someone with an unspent conviction for fraud in this country.

But how could you go wider than that? How can you introduce subjectivity in a way which couldn’t be easily challenged? Remember the PL have allowed someone to own a club who its widely understood to have ordered a journalist to be murdered in an embassy and cut up with a bonesaw

Yes it is obviously discriminatory, that's the whole point. But that doesn't mean it can't be implemented through law. The fact that the bone saw scumbags run Newcastle show that something a bit more definitive and discriminatory needs to be implemented.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Fit and proper owners teste have been talked about for ages but never implemented. Why?

Because nobody has the BALLS to do so?