Your last point is what makes it sad for me. These are some of the privileged few who don’t actually need the money - I get why a normal person would go there because you work there a few years and you materially change your quality of life when you go back to wherever home is for you. For footballers I guess they want to go from £25m net worth to £50m or something.Thanks for the reply pal
The part about "not having to cover yourself as a woman" was the most interesting part for me...
It didn't make sense to me that footballers' families will agree to go there if females had to cover themselves up every time they went outside;
I can imagine it (or anything other that makes you undo such a basic thing that you're used to doing for your entire life without giving it a second thought) being such a daily hassle that there's hardly any amount of money that'll be worth it....
That being said- I never had to test myself as to what I will and won't do to earn millions of pounds.
Saudi League thread
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It's not about being perfect, it's about not saying shit and then do the opposite.
Imagine a self proclaimed pro-palestine guy going to work in Tel Aviv, and getting his fat paycheck from an israeli billionaire, who donates money to the israeil gov, so more palestinian houses are bulldozed every year.
It's ok, humans lie...a lot
I’m not sure why some of you feel the need to keep trying to convince yourselves of this. Is it insecurity? It’s not enough for you to say “He’s done nothing wrong, I would do the same thing” or “I don’t agree with all their policies but it’s a lot of money and I would do the same” you have to keep telling yourself that everyone would do the same thing. Despite the fact it’s blatantly untrue. Not even just for idealistic reasons, think about it from a pragmatic perspective, surely a myriad of different profiles come to mind where it would be absolutely untenable for them to move out there?
The same holds true for friends of mine who were working in India and Haiti for some years. You basically don't really notice in what country you live.
Mane en route apparently. What a fall from grace.
First and 2nd in Ballon d'Or last year will be playing there.
If these folks keep this up, they could soon start luring targets and even players away from the biggest European clubs
Yes, what a fall from grace. Washed
My dad worked as a doctor is Saudi Arabia, and if I saw an opportunity to work there and it suited my family and I, I would. (The big issue is we'll probably not enjoy the lifestyle over there for a prolonged period)
If everyone refused to work in every nation where the law doesn't reflect our ideals, I don't think any of us would work.
If everyone refused to work in every nation where the law doesn't reflect our ideals, I don't think any of us would work.
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One of their teams is apparently set to appoint Fernando Santos who now manages Poland national team. This will be the second Portuguese coach in a row to ditch us in the middle of qualifying campaign, though considering it will be just after losing to Moldova I can’t say I mind it much.
All these players will collect the money and leave in two years. The process then starts all over again.
It's unsustainable. The clubs/owners are getting played.
It's unsustainable. The clubs/owners are getting played.
I bet City won’t be one of the clubs complaining
If it is possible to watch their league, I would never watch it anyway. I know nothing about the teams and do not feel anything for any of them. And the league is still not strong enough to watch "just for fun", as I see it.
Plenty of opioids for a man ITK that’s for damn sure.
Saudi and UAE are on good terms. If it was Qatar, it would be another story.
If they can keep this up and actually become a strong league I’m certain they’ll find an agreement with UEFA to be included in the Champions League, Europe or not.
I dont think so, but what they might try to do, is push FIFA for a more glamorous world clubs tournament with bigger prizes. Maybe.
The groundwork has already been laid in my opinion with the idea being muted of having the Champions League in America. That’ll be for one season and then Saudi/Qatar will host the final and a side could be invited to join as hosts etc.
Actually the UAE and Saudi leaders have been in an extended moment of real tension. They've been backing opposing sides and different goals in Yemen and Sudan, and are locking horns as they both seek to be the regional cultural, economic, and military power. Saudi's leadership has been especially antagonistic, practically forcing companies to leave the UAE to resettle their headquarters in Saudi, and as recent as this week he threatened to create a blockade against the UAE, further than what was done against Qatar.
Basically, I wouldn't be surprised to see their rift spill over into football. I couldn't find this list of clubs flagging Saint-Maximin's suspicious transfer fee, but it would be interesting to see whether City is one of those clubs.
Anyway I for one welcome this new era of our Gulf overlords waging proxy wars via club administrators filing complaint emails to the Premier League.
How much have these cnuts spent so far this transfer window?
Imo, I don't think they're getting any "settled" big name players going anytime soon. You're never getting a Haaland/Fernandes type player leaving Europe. What you might get are:
Stars nearing the end of their careers (Ronaldo/Benzema)
Players who have made a big money move recently but perhaps it hasn't worked out and clubs are finding it hard to sell to another European side due to the big wages. (Koulibaly/Mane)
Mid-level (ish) European players who are well known enough but perhaps haven't got it in them to get a more established European side to sign them (Neves)
This is exactly what we are getting, what's your point?
Agree completely. I've been in the position of being able to quadruple my salary by moving to Hong Kong for more than a decade and have never done it. That would be a life-changing salary increase. You wouldn't get me to move to Saudi for 10 x my current salary, and that would make me genuinely wealthy.
This is valid, but there's no need to put "not taking the money" on some sort of a high horse. Going to play in Saudi Arabia is not an evil act, and looking to earn more money is not an evil act.
Talksport just reported that Mbappe bid has been accepted and he's on his way. If that's true it's a game-changer
The super league will happen because of it. Games will be played all over the world etc
Evil is a strong word, but I certainly think less of people who accept money to improve the image of a criminal regime.
You'd say it's unbelievable but it isn't in the slightest. A game so completely divorced from reality now.
All we can do is accept it, and hope that they seriously go all out and make a super league full of Harlem Globetrotter teams before football collapses into it's own arse.
I also hope that they start doing what China have just done and build 100,000 seater football grounds with the latest tech because seeing the grounds Ronaldo has played at last season, they don't really fit the dystopian super league future that we're about to get.
They are not improving the image of a "criminal" regime any more than Messi going to play in Florida improves the "criminal" reign of Ron DeSantis.
I guess using quotation marks in the word criminal means we won't see eye to eye on this.
If that happens, I'm completely done with top level football.
Yeah there’s loads of reasons why someone wouldn’t go to work somewhere, even while being generously financially compensated for said move. While I don’t know what you do for a living, in your case quadrupling your salary would be an insane jump in earnings, but obviously that’s only one aspect when deciding where you’d like to aspect.
In that post I was speaking strictly to pragmatic reasons. When losif said that no one say no to working there when your salary gets quadrupled, it ignores how the makeup of the individual will be a big factor in that. The LGBT stuff is obvious, but things like gender will play a role too. They’ve changed some of their laws in recent years, women can drive now and the abaya is no longer compulsory, but on the whole they still have to abide by laws and expectations that men don’t. Your religious identity would be a factor too. If you’re an orthodox Jewish man for example, wearing a kippah is technically prohibited. You won’t find a synagogue there, a Church if you’re Christian or a Gurdwara if you’re Sikh etc. Personally I wouldn’t last a month with there drug laws.
In regards to the bolded it’s all subjective. Looking to earn more money isn’t an evil act, but the manner and location in which you do so will affect how people perceive the morality of it. Ignoring the human rights aspect, I don’t know what your personal views are on Russia and Ukraine, but a lot of people would find the idea of someone with a lot of personal agency going to work in Russia today because they’ve been offered a lot of money, immoral. SA have been one of the main instigators of one of the biggest humanitarian crises currently taking place, and if someone thinks the former scenario would be immoral I think they’d have to fed the same way about the second.
In these cases I think individual cases don’t really matter, so I’ll give an opinion on them when it’s being discussed, but I don’t get too hung up on it either. We all have the freedom to choose our own paths, but I think that same freedom comes up with the fact we can be scrutinised for our choices.
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The figures including the wages for the Mbappe deal are just eye-watering. Even for a year it will set him up for life.
This is hilarious and gross at the same time.
Money is the root of all evil and this continues to take the cake.
Money is the root of all evil and this continues to take the cake.
That is incorrect.
Quoted some of you from the Henderson thread and put it in here as that’s where me and Adexkola were conversing. About the general payday argument, the idea that setting out to earn more money isn’t an evil act (obviously we’re talking lawful enterprises here such as playing football and not murder for hire etc) adexkola said in another post he’s going there to just play football and not directly involve himself in killing etc MackRobinson implied the humans rights record shouldn’t matter in this context, as as Bosnian_red said there’s no need to make it anything more than a footballer playing football for a large payout, and that ultimately people shouldn’t have an issue with such a move.
So I’m wondering how widely applicable this logic is to you, through the medium of two (fun
) questions. The first is basically the Russia situation I talked about in my quoted post. If a player was offered a massive wage to leave their current club and join a Russian club today, would you think them worthy of criticism for accepting such a deal? And the second question is if not, is there a hypothetical situation in which you would find such a move worthy of being criticised (bearing in mind I’m talking strictly of geopolitical or social issue reasons, not something like team loyalty etc).Of course none of you have to answer if you don’t want to, it’s just curiosity on my part as it’s not something I often get an answer to.
I haven’t yet seen a Saudi game shown on TV - however was wondering what the crowd experience is like - I know the money being offered up to the players is insane - but what is the crowd like - atmosphere?
Seen the images of the Messi effect in the MLS and the crowds are loving it and all the stars are out to watch - cant think that this will be happening in Saudi stadium - what sort of temperatures are they going to be playing in and genuinely interested in what the game day experience/crowd would be like……just can’t see it being a proper football stadia atmosphere?
Getting loads of money to play in a tepid footballing environment can surely only last for so long? Also, wonder how long before some players just find the lifestyle a bit to difficult, especially those with Wives and Kids?
Seen the images of the Messi effect in the MLS and the crowds are loving it and all the stars are out to watch - cant think that this will be happening in Saudi stadium - what sort of temperatures are they going to be playing in and genuinely interested in what the game day experience/crowd would be like……just can’t see it being a proper football stadia atmosphere?
Getting loads of money to play in a tepid footballing environment can surely only last for so long? Also, wonder how long before some players just find the lifestyle a bit to difficult, especially those with Wives and Kids?
I forgot to reply
Focusing on the second part of your reply.I'm someone who is vigorously opposed to Russia's illegal war on Ukraine and hope Russia suffers an overwhelming defeat.
If someone was going to Russia to work for their defense ministry or armament industry, I'd have an issue with that as there is a direct link between their profit, and Russia channeling their work output into continuing the war in Ukraine. If they were Britney Griner going to Russia to play basketball to earn more money than they would in the WNBA in the US, and otherwise did not contribute positively to the war, then I would not have any issues with that.
Same with Henderson. If he permitted his image to be used in anti-LGBT rhetoric, or started equivocating how LGBT folk should tone it down, then I'd have a problem with the move. So far, I've seen no evidence that his transfer to Saudi Arabia has an additional detrimental impact on the plight of LGBT people in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere.
The inconsistency of this standard is what gets to me the most. It's immoral to play in Saudi Arabia, but playing in Turkey or Florida USA is ok?