The idea that Liverpool fans should lecture anybody about PSR is a nonsense, while one Man Utd fan is seething.
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Summertime blues
Isn’t the summer supposed to be a fun time? Sun’s out, Guns out and all that? But I am finding it all a bit dull and depressing without any proper footy (CWC does not count). And this is coming from a United fan who was looking forward to the break to be honest. It’s not as if you can switch off totally though, with constant chat and “news” about prospective signings for our clubs. And this is the thing that I’m finding difficult this year.
I spend every day (when I’m not working, shut up) scrolling through stories for the slightest hint of a new signing. Usually a quick search of “Mbeumo”, “Manchester United” and “Fabrizio Romano” on the web and then a quick check of the Athletic app. It’s pretty slim pickings and not in any way fulfilling.
But I, like many other football fans, am addicted to the dopamine hit of finding out if my team might sign the next Pele – and most websites, including F365, know this. The result is a race to the bottom for clicks as all the outlets aggregate every single utterance, reporting most as gospel.
The quest for clicks is completely understandable but also utterly bonkers. The headlines make little, to no sense and always bear no resemblance to the contents of the article. F365 have been very aware of this for ages holding offenders to account through Mediawatch. The most annoying I’ve seen so far this summer is ‘Man United sent Amad exit demand after winger ‘strikes transfer agreement’ which obviously makes you think Amad has agreed a transfer to another club. Nope. The actual story is Louis Saha saying United shouldn’t sell Amad (which no one sensible is suggesting) and I still have no idea which winger has struck a ‘transfer agreement’.
Of course, most of the Bos taurus faeces that gets written is about United and Liverpool, presumably because they get the most clicks.
And I suspect this is why Will Ford, on the wind up as usual, wrote a silly article suggesting United drop 40 big ones on lifelong Liverpool fan Harvey Elliot.
And is it just my experience through the eyes of a United supporter or are outlets linked to other clubs – particularly Spurs and Newcastle – especially interested in our transfer business this year? As far as I know, Cunha was never going anywhere but United (except maybe Arsenal at some point last season) yet everyone’s obsessed with why he’s joined us. Of course it’s the wages lads, we’re rubbish. Although, we’re not in Europe in a World Cup year. I can see a benefit there.
I’ve gone off piste a bit here, where was I?
Aggregators are REALLY starting to annoy me. Mostly because no one ever checks the sources. I feel like Football 365 used to do some good writing. It’s sad, but it does now feel like you’ve joined the Click Wars wholeheartedly. The number of articles about United that you write based on nonsense from Fichajes is absolutely bizarre. And I know it’s supposed to be “fun” but your transfer rumour ranking (feel free to link it here – you’re welcome) had Spurs more likely to sign Mbeumo than United purely because Duncan Castles opened his mouth. The man is extremely unreliable.
The oracle of Ornstein had already proclaimed that Mbeumo wanted to United and he expected the deal to happen, that’s all you need to know. It always used to be funny when Mediawatch Mediawatched F365 (how much media can Mediawatch watch?) but it now feels a very hypocritical endeavour.
The lesson from all this is to pick your sources: The Athletic, especially Ornstein, and Fabrizio Romano (if you learn to read through his paid advertisements and his vague pronouncements, e.g. “x player is on x clubs list”) are all you need. Everything else is an aggregate of these and all the other crap on the internet.
While I’m on rant, I try to avoid Mark Goldbridge as he’s far too much of a negative Nancy for me (bit rich maybe) but I had to laugh today as I watched him do an Alan Partridge voice, as he does, completely unaware that he’s parodying himself when he does it. He really is a grade a bellend.
Actually, the real lesson is probably to do something else other than football in the summer. Sing. Dance. Travel. Wear Sunscreen.
Ashmundo
The case for keeping Harvey
The thing that became clear last season, and arguably was Slot’s major failing was that he didn’t trust the deputies enough to rotate a bit more. It is the only logical explanation for why he’d let the same first XI play out a gut wrenching 120 minutes and lose to PSG and 4 days later make no changes for the Carabao Cup final. It was no shock we looked so lethargic as we lost that cup final.
And Slot has done plenty to deserve trust; I remain unconvinced we would’ve won the league last season had Klopp stayed on as manager. I don’t think Klopp would’ve turned Gravenberch into a 6 and I don’t think he would’ve kept most of the squad out of the treatment room.
But I do hope someone is in Slot’s ear asking if he’s been watching Harvey Elliott at the Euro U21s. He’s mixing his previous big game experience with his obvious talent to just tear it apart and he looks amazing. This is a boyhood Liverpool fan and I realise selling him for £40m might be handy in the short term but he’s only 22. For me (, Clive,) he’s shown enough to suggest he deserves a proper chance next season. In addition we have to factor in that Salah is off to AFCON this year so could miss as many as 8 games I think. Elliott isn’t Salah but he can definitely be dangerous in that position.
I honestly think he would be happy to stay if he knew he would get 20 starts and 10 sub appearances at least next season. Every time he came on last season (admittedly for only 350 minutes) he looked decent and sharp and desperate to make something happen. I would love to see him stay and succeed personally but I fear the management just see big money when they look at him.
Minty, LFC
What the average Liverpool fan really knows about PSR
I was talking to two Liverpool fans last week and one of them said to me, ‘what’s this PSR all about?’, before the pair then went on to demonstrate that they had no idea what it really is, how it works or what it’s there for.
The lads love their football and their club but they’ve no real need to interact with or understand PSR, their club isn’t impacted by it, other than the stealth protectionism it offers. Outside a select few clubs it dominates fan talk these days. Inside the bubble, they barely know it exists.
Dan the Newcastle Fan
…I do not generally engage with some of the correspondence about money, I prefer football to be about football but since Villa started getting half-decent again it’s been haunting my brain more and more often.
To the Liverpool fan saying Newcastle need to bide their time and build slowly… I say… knickers to that. When were Liverpool last relegated? The lowest position Liverpool has been in since the 1950’s is 8th with top 5 finishes for the vast majority of that time. Liverpool have not gradually built anything recently other than a nice cherry on top of an already lovely cake. What are you proud of? It’s like the King being proud of all the hard work he did to get on the throne.
Also, this is not ‘the same frustration Liverpool faced before the trophies came’. Your frustration came from newly minted clubs outspending you and winning trophies when you had it all to yourselves in the 80’s and early 90’s. Ours comes from an inbuilt inequality where the biggest clubs get bigger while the others are denied the chance certain other clubs were allowed in the past 20 years but not now.
Clubs like Villa, Newcastle and a few others are struggling in the regard that we need to spend money to even get a sniff of Champions League, it’s a boom and bust cycle for clubs like us.
Get into Champions League
Lots of money but we have already spent it gambling on getting into the Champions League.
Following season struggle to compete on two fronts unlike established teams. Spend some more money to try and get in there again.
Fail to get into Champions League.
No money, no Champions League – PSR comes to bite you on the ass and disassemble the team.
I can understand the frustration of the Newcastle (and Villa) fans regarding the inability to spend large sums of money to compete just like lots of other clubs did not too long ago whilst also fully agreeing with all of the reasons why PSR exists.
I just really don’t like fans of an old, rich, moneyed, establishment club patting us on the head and saying ‘just wait 50 years and do better’ like we did. Sounds like the ‘self made billionaire’ who claims anyone can do it and neglecting to mention the millions they inherited off their father to start their business.
God, I need some real football back already. You know, some sport. That thing where when the whistle blows and there are rules to make things fair and equal between teams. May the BEST team win… not the richest.
Funstar Andy
READ: Liverpool lead biggest transfer summer spenders as Kerkez takes them near £200m
…Not wanting to get in to a flame war with Liverpool fans which won’t end well, but it is all well and good someone waxing lyrical about achieving success ‘the right way’ while being the ones at the top of the tree, being one of the most successful football teams in the world currently and historically, and being part of the hallowed group who are financially secure from any PSR consequences.
For any team without the pedigree of the top six, PSR guarantees no other club can make it into their zone without a huge slice of luck, AND even if they do, it ensures they cannot stay there.
Ljdub says that Newcastle can achieve the same success as the top six ‘the right way’. I would ask him how? Under PSR there is no model of a football club that can get into and stay in that top echelon. The top six cannot be caught financially without breaking the rules.
Firstly: there is no example club whose model has allowed them to sell their best talent and replace with players as good or better for less in fees, while only being allowed small incremental increases in what they can spend on wages. Liverpool are not that example – they have always been a member of that top six in principle if not in league position. Their historic success has entrenched them, and kudos for that, but should that be denied to all others in perpetuity? Their global appeal and fan base grants them revenues beyond the capacity of the other 14 teams in the league to surpass, because of PSR.
Secondly: squad depth requires money to be spent, and for there to be a large wage bill available. Leicester, Newcastle, Villa all have got to the top and fallen back again. Clubs can assemble competitive, quality first XIs within the rules, but they cannot compete with the top six when it comes to expanding the squad with enough quality to cope with the increasing volume and intensity of games if you are involved in European competition. Your success becomes the root cause of future failure.
And lastly: PSR ensures that top six clubs are too big to fail financially, even if on the pitch they do. Of course I’m going to bring up Man Utd here. Its no bother to them where they finish, they can quintuple the wages of the best players from any of the other 14 clubs in the league and come back again stronger.
Not to get all Johnny Nic about it, but PSR has enshrined the principle of inherited privilege, whoever is at the top now will always be at the top. PSR ensures that not even winning the lottery is an option to get in to the top tier of society.
In football even if you buy and then cultivate the talent to compete at the top end, those with more than you will simply buy what you have. In the Isak situation Liverpool will benefit from a top quality player and won’t miss the money they spent on him. Newcastle have to replace him with someone as good or better, for less money and wages. Newcastle cannot afford a flop or PSR will eat them alive, but Liverpool absolutely can see Wirtz and Isak do sweet FA and still have the readies to get more players in next transfer window.
I agree with the principle of having rules which mean owners cannot ‘do a City’ and just spend their own bucks without restriction, but setting the rules so that the chasing pack cannot go faster than the lead runners just means that the lead runners will always be in the lead! This isn’t about envy, this is about there being realistic prospects for teams outside that top six to share in the possible glories of winning the league. PSR prevents that from happening.
James Barrett
Just buy both, Arsenal
It seems to me that the obvious solution to the Sesko vs Gyokores debate is to buy both. One is 27, one is 22, one in his peak and one due to reach it over the next 3 or 4 years. It’s an ideal solution for the club to develop that front line over a longer time-horizon.
Am I missing something?
Arsenal being Arsenal they will probably end up getting a 17 year old from France or Brazil.
JDB
Could be a three-horse title race
Some interesting takes from Philip Correa and Two Can Play That Game.
Liverpool’s marquee players? Two thirty-somethings clinging to their primes like Klopp clings to a 4-3-3 and both on contracts that might outlast their knees. Add in a phenomenal Bundesliga talent who does look very good but could very well take time to adapt to the physical nature of the league and the price tag. Gives you a cocktail that’s more combustible than vintage Thiago.
As for Arsenal, let’s not rewrite history. They didn’t “change” goalkeepers, Raya’s understudy was a loanee whose deal ended, and they signed a solid, budget-friendly replacement so they weren’t one injury away from starting an enthusiastic 17-year-old. They also lost their midfield engine room and had to replace it fast. One of the signings, incidentally, is the same lad Liverpool fans spent all of last summer writing sonnets about. Funny how quickly love fades.
Yes, Arsenal need a striker. But let’s not pretend there’s a magical Tesco aisle stacked with world-class No.9s waiting to be plucked. Many top clubs are on the hunt for one, and most are waiting for the dominoes to fall. Arsenal’s business so far suggests they have a plan and don’t mind biding their time.
Fair play to City though. Shrewd recruitment, a Ballon d’Or-calibre metronome returning, and de-aging their midfield by nearly a decade. I’m genuinely excited for a three-horse race this season as all three teams have an argument for and against winning the league.
Just don’t be surprised if Pep’s lot gallop past everyone by Christmas with Haaland scoring hat-tricks like he’s farming achievements on FIFA.
Shy Ronnie (hoping for a three-horse race but preparing for a City sprint)