The Champions League

The new Champions League format formulated to feed the UEFA cash cows is milking the players’ welfare, too many matches, where is Arsene Wenger who likes to profile his player welfare concerns under the FIFA umbrella, it’s a big hairy pair of bollocks, to sit alongside Arsenal documentaries, the ‘Invincibles’, no thanks, Wenger’s gone rogue. The printout punches out a block busting 144 matches to be played in this seasons Champions League, as opposed to 96 matches played last season, marks down as a 50% increase. Has the Champions League become a farce? Failure in the early phases of matches can still equate to qualification, a mixed bag of results can still prevail to the last sixteen stage, to finish between 9^th and 24^th in the snaked Champions League table leads to a series of knockout matches, is that the old European Cup theme, not quite, that was termed as classy, it’s all gone down a peg or two since those European Cup encounters.

The new format is trumpeted in many quarters as a success, should that be the case? Money into the coffers is the club’s driver, are players lying in hospital beds a secondary thought, do clubs care about players welfare in its entirety? The Professional Footballers Association becomes the big britches on defending players huge salaries of the elite to avoid salary caps being introduced, but not so combustible on players welfare, managers do not utilize their full squad numbers to a degree, so the question on player overload matches has to be asked.

Liverpool FC have creamed 82.7 million pounds with Arsenal on the rails at 74.4 million pounds the stages figures of the Champions League road map, Aston Villa for their part having been starved of European football since the 2010-11 season have become the villains of the piece alongside Arsenal with extortionate ticket price hikes breaching out at a 100 pound match ticket for the CL, the greed badged up rip-off. Can and will supporters continue to pay the cash lords? The picture perfect it is not anymore with those quality streets on offers in the stalls are not of the same quality anymore. It has filtered into the world’s domestic leagues, the Premiership of note as a spectacle. The non-jeopardy in the early stages of the CL equates to no cutting edge to deliver quality, it manifests to be recognised, money and greed have become the kings on the football block. Link to article Dec 2^nd 2021 ‘FIFA’s Loon Tunes’, Arsene Wenger inserted.

The PFA, Salary Caps

The Professional Footballers’ Association are threatening legal action aimed at proposed salary caps, the PFA do have the bootstraps to implement a restraint legally but it can be pin holed. Player’s scandalous wages are a kick in the guts to clubs’ revenues, the Premier League clubs are jaded with the ongoing escalating player’s wages are setting a voting phase in place to introduce salary capping at all Premiership clubs with the 2025-26 season being marked down to kick start. Clubs have positioned at the outset post to explore the salary cap window. On the sixteen favoured vote, Manchester City and United alongside Aston Villa voted against with Chelsea sitting on the fence.

Further down the pipe the newly termed ‘anchoring’ is straddled to ride sheriff badged up to steady the ship on club’s spending on transfers, wages and agent fees. The chicken laying the golden eggs as a projected proposal would bizarrely be the Premiership’s bottom club from the previous seasoned. To highlight mode, last season’s 20^th positioned club Sheffield United earned 110 million pounds, meaning the Premiership top spenders would in turn be limited to a 550 million pound spend to set the proposals in play, five times the amount, figures variable on each season. Southampton who are betting slips to finish as the 20^th Premiership at this season’s end would be the get go on figures to be set to get go on salary caps, the green light.

To extend the pipe further within a two year window, the football landscape could change significantly with regard to players wages and contracts at a possible further level change into a reverse effect, link to the Manero article on football’s bumpy road ‘Diarra, Football’s Smoking Tinderbox’ Nov 26^th 2024. The end game is for football’s regulator on the horizon with changes blackboarded chalked all arrowed to ensure that clubs operate in a financially sustainable way.

A Clear and Present Danger

Are Manchester City a clear and present danger to English football? Seems to be the case. The curtailing of the labelled unlawful Premierships ATP (Associated Party Transaction) laws causing the creaking into football’s pillars of cement, but should that be the case? The tribunals wig heads making their judgment calls. To smell a rat on London Bridge, the Premiership prior made amendments to the ATP laws. On a second hearing ahead in the headlights (at time of writing) a second bloody nose for the Premiership could see the STP being drowned with no more air intakes. A reach out to the magician’s hat to pull the rabbit to implement a fresh regulation, that has to prevail, if not football is in clear and present danger.

A free smoking field would lead to Manchester City and Newcastle United to dominate the Premiership until the next universe evolves, who wants that? A two clubbed league, yes City have dominated for near on a decade, but that tells the story tellers all we need to know, City’s sponsorship deals to strengthen the club up to spend big and long on players and salaries until the Premierships ATM regulation stepped in December 2021 to blow the gaff, that’s what we thought until the tribunals wig heads made hay on their decision making to let that combine harvester make hay, badged up, as for the rest of the Premiership clubs they can follow with eternal hope not laid on their pitch markings, welcome to hell City and United they become to become an uneven sporting playing field could be hammered down to add to the final nail in the coffin.

The Prem’s ATP rules blocked City from two major sponsorship deals of note, Abu Dhabi and the Emirates alongside Newcastle United with the Magpies not coining the full sponsorship funds with Sela, the fair market sponsorship dealings are these clubs angst. Two clubs owned by countries wealth, they are in denial of this with City fronting as the City football group (CFG) and Newcastle’s front door knock being the (PIF) Public Investment Fund. The Premier League’s PSR rules (profit and sustainability) are set to run for one more year, changes will then be implemented. A second tribunal hearing is to sit on the ATP with the big slammer down the pipe being the 115 Prem charges v City, English football cannot be governed by two countries come football clubs, that is the clear and present danger.

Manero on X

@chestermanero
Replying to football talk HQ, not me, qualified coach, worked in professional football, instrumental in the appointment of a football manager, advice sought.

@chestermanero
Replying to Jake Paul, fight Froch, bring closure on this, if you beat this great champion then your speak means everything, otherwise that is not the case in its entirety, enjoy your jet.