No, it's all very entertaining.Bloody hell, I'm starting to think this thread should be closed indefinitely.
Glazers exploring potential sale | Stay on topic and post respectfully | Do not post dodgy tweet sources
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's emphatic 4-1 win over Chelsea at Old Trafford and celebrate Manchester United being back in the Champions League. They also discuss United Women, takeover latest and transfer rumours before previewing the FA Cup Final vs. Manchester City.
Imagine the amount of headers we'd score
I agree, the global money that has poured into English football is not a new thing, but to say this has happened without a peep is wrong. The protest against Murdoch buying United, for example, was huge and thankfully it was stopped, the Green and Gold campaign, lots of people were very uncomfortable with Ambramovich, Dubai and more recently Saudi Arabia.
The introduction of nation states into the game is just another horrifying step down that line, again there will be protests and outcry, but s long as people who run the game are coining it in sadly nothing will change. But for me, and I'm very aware I am one opinion in many, it's a sad and slippery slope and football is driving down it like a Ferrari on a bobsleigh track.
Ha! Very true.
Agreed. As long as it stays above the belt, fans should be able to hash it out.
fecking hell - I can’t imagine how annoyed I would be as a Brighton fan at these events.
I agree. Hence why I disagree with those who automatically tags as ridiculous those who believe that the majority of Qatari women are happy with the way they are living. I saw an entire generation of women who were happy with being treated in similar conditions myself. Even in 2023 women politicians barely make it into the Maltese parliament despite the fact that the best current politician BY FAR is a woman (we're talking Churchill vs Truss gap here). Malta is a EU country btw, who is democratic, who has strong British and European roots and whose got more women voters then men. Yet women constantly refuse to vote women politicians and they are insanely conservative on issues such as abortion for example. As said Malta has more rigid abortion rules then Saudi.
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There would be endless opportunities for the Qataris to create legitimate revenue streams directly connected to the club. Redeveloping the stadium and the surrounding area would definitely add quite a bit. There would be many more global avenues too. City have done it - although lots of their sponsorships and revenue streams are artificial, some of them aren't. The potential for Utd is limitless if they actively tried to build revenue paths (which they would)
Oh for the days of "you can stick your Rupert Murdoch up your arse"
Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I think we missed the boat on stadium costs etc. If I recall correctly infrastructure costs will now be included in FFP.
I find this thread interesting; logged in for the first time in years to give some thoughts. There's a lot of somewhat understandable mental gymnastics going on, and the place seems to be split into a few camps.
1. Those wanting to take a stand - These people would generally rather see the club in debt and struggling, than a sportswashing regime take over. If the US or Israeli government bid, they'd probably hold the same view. They either hate state ownership, or slave workers, or lack of womens rights, or general sportswashing. But their view is on principle. For some if it happens, that's the club dead to them.
2. Those 'resigned' to the fact we'll be taken over by somebody, and they probably won't be a good guy. It doesn't sit comfortable, but they love the club, and they'd rather be rich and win than poor and lose so support a ME bid. They may make some light justifications like 'maybe we can improve rights in qatar etc'. They will continue to support the club and bear the owners through grit teeth.
3. Those who don't care, they just want to win. Bring on the richest bidder. Maybe they'll wear some nice ME clothes after the takeover like the Newcastle fans did.
4. Those who are cheerleading for the ME, and using the discomfort in the first two groups to accuse of xenophobia, racism, etc etc. It's strange to me, as it's blindingly obvious that if the state of israel made a bid, they would have a collective aneurism and suddenly be in camp one. I don't really understand why this group isn't simply in camp 3, and instead are attempting to recreate a reality that the ME are good guys and their culture is no more distasteful than ours.
In short, it seems some people are cashing in on the ME interest to advance ME political interests and discourse, which I find weird as hell. There should be absolutely no reason to attempt to defend Qatar and its human rights records etc; simply don't respond. But a group of people are going out of their way to interact and attack groups one and two and recreate reality. It's become a political football in the football forum...
I don't know what to think of it all really. And I'm probably shamefully in camp 2. I won't stop supporting the club or watching etc.
1. Those wanting to take a stand - These people would generally rather see the club in debt and struggling, than a sportswashing regime take over. If the US or Israeli government bid, they'd probably hold the same view. They either hate state ownership, or slave workers, or lack of womens rights, or general sportswashing. But their view is on principle. For some if it happens, that's the club dead to them.
2. Those 'resigned' to the fact we'll be taken over by somebody, and they probably won't be a good guy. It doesn't sit comfortable, but they love the club, and they'd rather be rich and win than poor and lose so support a ME bid. They may make some light justifications like 'maybe we can improve rights in qatar etc'. They will continue to support the club and bear the owners through grit teeth.
3. Those who don't care, they just want to win. Bring on the richest bidder. Maybe they'll wear some nice ME clothes after the takeover like the Newcastle fans did.
4. Those who are cheerleading for the ME, and using the discomfort in the first two groups to accuse of xenophobia, racism, etc etc. It's strange to me, as it's blindingly obvious that if the state of israel made a bid, they would have a collective aneurism and suddenly be in camp one. I don't really understand why this group isn't simply in camp 3, and instead are attempting to recreate a reality that the ME are good guys and their culture is no more distasteful than ours.
In short, it seems some people are cashing in on the ME interest to advance ME political interests and discourse, which I find weird as hell. There should be absolutely no reason to attempt to defend Qatar and its human rights records etc; simply don't respond. But a group of people are going out of their way to interact and attack groups one and two and recreate reality. It's become a political football in the football forum...
I don't know what to think of it all really. And I'm probably shamefully in camp 2. I won't stop supporting the club or watching etc.
I am all up for debating the merits of the regime, I am not originally from middle east myself and even I agree their labour laws could be improved for expats that are living there.
As for women rights, things are getting better gradually, I am working in a ME bank in which half the workforce is women and they drive aswell.
Even Saudia have allowed women to perform Pilgrimage without their male guardian and have opened up driving for women etc.
My gripe is when things are linked with religion, which should not be the case.
Agreed
Who has linked anything to religion? Isn’t that… you?
A lot of the people in camp four are working/living in the ME from reading the thread. Great summary though.
It’s bollocks mocking posts like this that get allowed on here under the banner of humour which the mods will most likely turn a blind eye too.
From a Brighton point of view, I'm over the moon with our owner and catching up and matching the likes of United, Chelsea etc has never been a reality. We are higher now than at any other point in our history so I'm just happy to enjoy it while it lasts. Though I do think there's the odd poster here that could do with a bit of time in League 1 to understand how football is for most English fans!
I agree that there is still huge untapped potential. I still don’t think we as fans should see this as it meaning that we go out and drop 100m on every player we want. We have a responsibility to ensure we don’t break the market for it to never recover from. We’re already pushing 40m valuations for “ok” players.
I’d just be fuming that you - as an example as an amazingly run club - are locked out of top four by these nation state clubs.Not fair at all.
Focus on the sale
Folks let’s keep the morals out of this one, there is a thread for that. Let’s focus on the details of the actual sale process please
Not sure I like any post that starts with "let's keep morals out of this" ....especially from an Admin.
golden blunder is right. There is another thread who tackles this issue.
The point he's making is it's supposed to be about the sale of the club, not to discuss whether we agree with middle eastern rules/values.
Perhaps start a new thread?
literally just asking you to post in the thread dedicated to that subject rather than in this one
They are managed similarly to pretty much all big clubs. They try to do a good job, hire people that are generally competent and spend money when needed. The only issue with PSG has been with Al Khelaifi being a known active member of Paris nightlife with some of the players which happened to be seen as teacher's pets.
As far as I know they have always given total freedom to whoever they hire as the DOF until it's clear that he is doing something wrong and managers generally get what they want within reason. Honestly there isn't much to say, at least nothing that separate them from the way wealthy clubs are run.
Edit: For you maybe Inter under Moratti could be a good reference.
Did you watch them last night? Did they look to you like a club that has invested insane amounts of money wisely? See also basically every CL campaign they’ve had since the takeover (along with a few crappy domestic league campaigns too)
I think it’s needed as there is no chance of a constructive discussion otherwise on the sale and its outcomes. As he said there’s a specific thread to discuss the morality issue which needs to also be constructive
I wouldn’t have thought so. No one would ever be able to build a new stadium in that case. Imagine Spurs having to factor extra expenditure of 1 billion into their accounting.
Shit can hit fan even when things are run properly. For example SAF was at the brink of losing the dressing room which then led to the cull of Ince, Kanchelskis and Gillespie. So I think its beneficial to everyone who do not follow the French league (including myself) to know the details from those who actually follow it
Is it that bad?
It was but it's not a current issue, iirc it was a particular issue around 15-17.
I haven't been posting in this thread, just reading - but I would suggest that the two things are intrinsically linked and you can't really have a discussion about Qatar buying the club without discussing the moral ramifications of such a sale. But that's just my opinion
Yes I totally agree, I would still expect us to be prudent with transfers. Walk away when we deem a price to be too high (as City have done with Sanchez, Fred, Maguire, Kane). If we allow ourselves to get our pants pulled down all the time, our financial advantage will get wiped out in short order. You can also help your rivals if you're overpaying for players - for eg. Barcelona have played a big role in Liverpool's recent success by handing them an absolute fortune for Coutinho.
I think the main benefit to the proposed Qatari ownership are:
1) Top class stadium + training facilities
2) Marginal spending advantage over the other top clubs
When you combine 1) and 2), it instantly makes the club a more attractive prospect for players because there will always be confidence that we'll compete at the highest level (or that we're unlikely to be ever far away)
As you say, the advantage won't be derived from from early day Abramovich spending each season (which isn't a smart strategy anyway, even if it were possible under FFP)
Whilst I’m not one at all against the Qatar group buying us (I think when it comes to billionaire owners most have demons that some don’t mind and others do)
what I am concerned about is some of the purchases they have made lately and the insane and unsustainable wage bill - not to mention the dressing room upset that goes with the disparity in wages amongst first team players.
a €730m wage bill and an annual loss of c. €370m is not something I want United to get into.
Ideally they’d want to invest in the academy, stadium, infrastructure whilst still promoting the ‘United’ philosophy but at the same time enabling us to get a Kane or someone like that should we need without thinking too much about finances.
If that's the case then its not a huge problem. After all they were new in football. However I wouldn't like a Moratti situation were you had Branca and him acting like 12 year olds who were playing football manager. Silvestre once said that the manager asked for a striker at one point only to end up with 3 left backs.
Threads a shitfest, close it up and stick to tweets only.
So, how exactly are things going to play out after the soft deadline on Friday? Interesting parties will submit their bids but will there be a renegotiation of offers afterwards? Also, will there be another window for additional interested parties to bid again?
Would be fine if people actually could just stick to the news and the process. Take all your other thoughts elsewhere, like the other threads.
It's totally off topic but the bolded part is one of the biggest nonsense that I have seen in recent years. There has never been and will never be a big club where there isn't a large disparity in terms of wages. Teams are rarely made of players that have the same age or the same talent across the entirety of the teams which is why the top earners in top teams earn far more than the bench/squad players or the young/very young players.
As an example in a club like Bayern you have players that earn 2-3 millions a year and others that earn 20-23 millions. And that example is true everywhere without any noticeable upset because players aren't completely dumb, they know their place in the hierarchy.
I think having three absolute star players who are awful defensively will create that problem, I think you can carry one star player in a side, while all others have to work hard to compensate his shortcoming/workrate. We technically had Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez but the latter two were workhorses, the prime Barca side used to cover for Messi's pressing.