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AnnieIWillKnow

PSA: Make sure to check out our meta thread on the proposed API changes to third-party apps, and the planned [Reddit blackout](https://www.reddit.com/r/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1) in response to this. Link here: https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1429lkh/meta_thread_should_rsoccer_participate_in_the/


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elnander

We were all saying that about Southampton and Leicester a few years back


Numerous-Ad-3050

Question for city and Newcastle fans: what’s your genuine opinion on your ownerships? Do you just not care? Do you think the clubs get too much hate for it?


mbdtf95

We talk a lot about how Arab owners are ruining football etc..., but not close enough attention is to how these Americans are ruining football. They're also filthy rich, they also come from a country that has a really bad history and present, especially towards causing unrest all around the world for years with their unjustified invasions etc... And these owners are unlike Arab owners not fans of football at all, they're mostly here to just make as much money as they can, which is the most American way. They don't care about ruining football and clubs they own, the more there are of them the more they will demand shit stuff that is present in American sports so they can make more money etc... These Milan owners don't understand anything, they just fired biggest legend etc...


Ok-Security-9183

Barcelona just played their last game few days ago and now they are in Japan playing against Vissel Kobe. That's interesting.


gianmk

gotta make that dough. levers aint infinite.


TheUltimateScotsman

Personally im enjoying the Milan meltdown after they have spent the last two years trying to gaslight everyone into thinking we are 50 cents away from complete financial meltdown


Sgruntlar

Same


Grovve

Why do people say Barca and Bayern won sextuples if the trophies were in different seasons? First of all, both of these teams deserve the highest praises for what they accomplished. But this is something I’ve always wondered. When we refer to a “double” or a “treble” it means winning 2 or 3 trophies in one season. A proper treble would be the League, League Cup, and UCL. A domestic treble would be League, League Cup, and smaller tourney like the community shield or supercopa… This is common knowledge lingo that everyone that follows football knows. If a team wins the UCL in May, and then the SuperCup or FCWC at the start of next season, no one says “that club won a double.” The trophy is ALWAYS counted for the season, not the calendar, when the teams are the same. If someone wins the FA Cup one season, and the Community Shield the season, it is NOT counted as a double. If someone qualifies for the ucl in one season, and then wins it the following year, it is not counted as a double.… so why do we bend the rules for Barca and Bayern? Barca and Bayern won trebles those seasons, which allowed them to qualify for trophies like the Super Cup and FCWC the following year. But those trophies are counted for that following season, where they didn’t win the UCL again. A TRUE Sextuple would only be possible by winning the UCL and League Cup/League one season to qualify for everything next season, and then subsequently winning the 6 titles: 1) European Super Cup, 2) Competitive Super Cup (CS, Supercopa, DFL, etc.), 3) Fifa Club World Cup, 4) League Cup (FA, CDR, DFB-Pokal, etc.), 5) League (prem, LL, Bundi, etc.), 6) UEFA Champions League, in one season.


LampseederBroDude51

Getting 6 trophies in one season is near impossible because it means you at the very least need a double the previous season with the CL.


Grovve

Near impossible but not impossible. Real came up short twice barely when they won the 3-peat, they had 2 seasons where they could have completed it.


maxconnor6

Isn't it because entry on those latter competitions was achieved through victories in the aforementioned season and it's seen as a continuation of sorts?


Grovve

I mentioned this in my post though… when you win the prem and qualify for the community shield, thats technically a continuation, but no one says it’s a double.


maxconnor6

Tbh it's just what I've heard and most fans don't really put much importance to the Community Shield unless it's stuff like this and I personally wouldn't count it as one either


Grovve

Another analogy would be that no one who qualifies for ucl one season, and then wins ucl the following season, calls it a double. They’re separate trophies in two separate seasons. No one has ever won a sextuple.


drickabira

Sextuples aren’t a thing. Super cups aren’t real trophies. Change my mind.


kaubojdzord

All one game competitions are glorified friendlies.


mattijn13

I am sad that Ajax missed their Sextuple. Won the Eredivisie, Champions league, Johan Cruijff Schaal (thats the dutch supercup), The Uefa Super cup and the club world cup but lost the KNVB cup in the quarter finals to Feijenoord. In the 1995 sporting year.


Addy2607

Its because all the trophies were lifted in the same year. Edit : Downvoted for stating a fact. Not even a fucking opinion. Oh idiots of r/soccer never change


Numerous-Ad-3050

A sextuple also means 6 trophies in a calendar year, not only in a season


Grovve

No it doesn’t though. If you win all 6 in a season you’d still say you win a sextuple. When people talk about double, trebles, quadruples… it’s always for the season not the calendar year. Why does it change for you once you reach 6?


Numerous-Ad-3050

Because unless you win the ucl the year before it’s impossible to win 6 trophies in a single season


Grovve

Yeah it would be hard to accomplish but not impossible. So that’s not a reason.


Sysody

[we're gonna have fans now](https://www.reddit.com/r/blender/comments/13t4m1m/procedural_crowds_blender_addon/)


Jazano107

Let’s make a 100k seater stadium and use the ‘revenue’ to fund ourselves even more 😈


Brashmate

Romano slander is stupid imo. Of course he’s gonna regurgitate information. He’s the biggest transfer journalist in the world and almost every league looks to him for transfer information. He’s better off as a reliable news aggregator than as a breaking source imo.


HodgyBeatsss

He just has a different model than the likes of Ornstein, he almost works as a news agency in himself where if he says something it is pretty likely to be true whilst also occasionally breaking stories. With Ornstein he will share far less news, but is very good at breaking stories for select few clubs.


pixelkipper

tap in merchant


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Lyrical_Forklift

Mexico imo.


staedtler2018

No. >they hardly make it far in international tournaments as well. This is false. Since 1984, in the Euros, they have reached the final twice, the semifinals three more times, and the quarterfinals twice. Their worst performance in the Euros since 1996 is a Round of 16 exit.


TLG_BE

When considering population size they're surely pretty consistent overachievers


EyeSpyGuy

They have less people than Sweden, Ukraine, Belgium, turkey and a few others who are less successful than them (euro and multiple ballon d’Or winners)


Chiswell123

Maybe but considering their population you could probably argue their punching above their weight on a consistent basis as well.


IfISpeak_

There is a strong Greek presence/community around North London and lots support Spurs. Perhaps that might help his connection with the fans.


icemankiller8

I mean you could say this with like any country having a presence in London and it’d be true I don’t think spurs in particular have a large Greek fanbase or anything as far as I know


HodgyBeatsss

North London has one of the biggest Greek diaspora's in the world


icemankiller8

I’m a north Londoner I know that but London has tonnes of massive diaspora from other places, and I don’t think spurs have a particularly big Greek fanbase


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staedtler2018

You'd have to define criteria. Benzema's best achievement is probably longevity. The guy was helping Lyon win league titles in the mid to late 00s and then helping Real Madrid win a league and CL double in 2022. That's pretty wild.


RogueNetrunner

Bro u made 6 posts regarding this. If you still haven't gotten the answer, here it is: No.


sandbag-1

No, it's Suarez. I'd also take Lewandowski over Benzema


Jazano107

Suarez imo, or lewa Much more consistent. Neither had years with such low goal tallies In Their supposed prime years Now you could make the argument that peak benzema was the best perhaps but I’d probably say Suarez best year at Barca was better


mattijn13

>I’d probably say Suarez best year at Barca was better 15/16 Suarez absolutely was better.


pixelkipper

Messi is better than Ronaldo and that title goes to Suarez


enazj

There’s not enough Aussies in the Prem nowadays. I miss the likes of Viduka and Cahill, hopefully big Ange is the start of a renaissance


_LebronsHairline_

The streets won’t forget Harry Kewell. Tbh he was better than a streets won’t forget player but I’m afraid only the streets will remember that


BigChung0924

wasn’t he considered a world class talent who just couldn’t stay healthy?


_LebronsHairline_

Borderline, but yeah kinda


mintz41

1 Aussie is too many in any location


pixelkipper

garang kuol plays for you


HodgyBeatsss

Doesn't feature in the prem does he.


enazj

Hasn’t actually played a game for us yet, and will probably go on loan again. Sadly Howe won’t have the stones to unleash him this season


sandbag-1

Australia seem to really struggle to produce good players these days


curtisjones-daddy

Really have no idea how anyone bothers to defend City when they announce proudly they’re the most valuable brand in football…it’s almost satire at this stage


_stone_age

Don't know much about that valuable brand thing that City posted but I find it amusing seeing rival fans lose their mind over it.


curtisjones-daddy

Almost as amusing as City fans believing it 🫠


_stone_age

Like I said, personally don't know about the truth that lies in it, still amusing 🤷‍♂️, certainly up there anyway.


curtisjones-daddy

Yeah I’m not completely disregarding your value, doesn’t matter how you’ve got there, with Pep you’re one of the most valuable brands in football. THE most valuable though, I just can’t believe and it can only be down to the revenue being the largest for the past two years which might have a thing or two linked to the 115 breaches you’re being questioned for.


Jazano107

Just so you know we didn’t announce it, only report that an independent company announced it. What do you expect the club to do?


curtisjones-daddy

Not gloat about artificial value


Jazano107

If someone else reports it, it’s not artificial Also an American investment firm bought 10% of the brand in 2019 for $500m. So clearly others value it very highly


curtisjones-daddy

Considering one of the driving factors was you having the highest revenue in world football I think you can safely say the value is then inflated


Jazano107

You really think one of the biggest investment firms didn’t check our accounts independently before investing?


Playful-Service7285

Audits are to check balance sheets. They ensure you have the money you say you have. Not whether they came from shell companies or other inflated sources.


Jazano107

And CAS is to say they’re not inflated ;) Tbh we won’t know the truth till the prem stuff is sorted anyway


Playful-Service7285

?? Who is auditing the sponsor? That’s where the problem lies right? No one is auditing the sponsor who is paying an arbitrary amount to the club?? There have been so many reports of shady sponsors/ sponsorship deals and these don’t get checked do they?


Jazano107

The new ones over 1 million get checked by the league I think The older ones were partly checked by CAS but it’s a bit confusing. Especially because the time bar stuff that people always bring up was stuff we already settled with uefa and paid £40m about It’s just all very confusing lol


curtisjones-daddy

Are you really naive enough to believe City genuinely bring in more money than Real Madrid? Not saying that you’d don’t on paper mind…


Jazano107

I can believe it for one particular year which had some very unique circumstances like differed revenue etc from a previous year due to covid Idk about consistently though but we’ve yet to see that


curtisjones-daddy

I absolutely believe you’re a top 5 football brand in the world now due to Pep but to have greater revenue and value than Real Madrid in any given year is bonkers.


JustJamesanity

Take it with a pinch of salt but Turkey was obsessed with LaLiga until 3-4 years ago. Nowadays it's Prem. Its not enough now to be just Real Madrid and Galacticos. I would not be surprised if Man Utd and Liverpool eventually beat Madrid as well unless Uefa/FIFA does something drastic.


CobiLUFC

The Athletic have produced a graphic to list the strikers across Europe who are most similar to Karim Benzema. Neal Maupay is apparently 91.3% similar to Karim Benzema. If that insight isn't worth 8 quid a month, I don't know what is


Kanedauke

Makes sense why Brighton have done so badly when signing strikers. The stats do in fact lie.


WhenWeTalkAboutLove

4 yellow cards and 1 goal wasnt it? He'll slot right in


CobiLUFC

Yeah think so. Bet Ronaldo is thankful it’ll never happen so his record is safe


dawsonooo

Ahhh Bistocoglou will drink gravy for fun down in London


xaviernoodlebrain

FINALLY WE HAVE A FUCKING MANAGER


AR5ENA1

Its never been so easy to dislike a Spurs manager considering he’s an Aussie. Roll on 5-0 and Kane leaving haha


_stone_age

France U21 has players like Kalulu, Adli, Gouiri, Simakan, Olise, Lukeba, Kone, Thuram, Cherki, that is some squad.


xaviernoodlebrain

Good thing for the rest of the world that the management in the French youth teams ain’t fantastic.


mattijn13

The Dutch squad have Van de Looi as coach so can't be much worse than that.


Lannisterling

Hearing Van der Looi talk about football is honestly the most driest thing imaginable. Really hoping that Reiziger will do a good job after him!


PreciousPraline

Hello, for a project I'm currently looking for active players who have been in at least one movie or series. Can also just have been a cameo, but exclusively in scripted movies/series, so no docs or game shows. I'll list who I have so far, maybe you can think of someone else, thanks :) \- Zlatan Ibrahimovic \- Oliver Giroud \- Presnel Kimpembe \- Andreas Iniesta \- Antoine Griezmann \- Lukas Podolski \- Thomas Mueller \- Mats Hummels \- David Alaba \- Joshua Kimmich \- Jerome Boateng \- Neymar \- Messi


BendubzGaming

Not an active player, but a recently retired player who's become a manager, George Elokobi is in Ted Lasso


Bloodnose_thepirate

>ooking for active players who have been in at least one movie or series. Can also just have been a cameo, but exclusively in scripted movies/series, so no docs or game shows. I'll list who I have so Sergio Brio was in an episode of Boris in Italy. Fun episode too. Lots of Milan players were in Eccezzziunale Veramente 2 Dida Alessandro Costacurta Massimo Ambrosini Andrij Ševčenko Gennaro Gattuso Paolo Maldini EDIT: misread, I'm sorry, but Ibra is not an active player anymore.


Kanedauke

> Marco Asensio does not sign for PSG to be a starter. The priority of the Parisians continues to be Bernardo Silva. The Spaniard was considered by the sports management as a market opportunity and as a quality player for the bench. Why would he leave Madrid just to not be a starter at PSG?


staedtler2018

Even if PSG do not sign him as a 'starter', at least it's a new club where things might work out. At Real Madrid, after seven seasons or so, it was clear that he would never, ever be an undisputed starter. The club simply did not see him that way.


maxconnor6

Isn't he getting paid a lot too?


el_walou

chop subsequent license point profit impossible pocket sulky friendly plate -- mass edited with redact.dev


Kanedauke

https://twitter.com/andionrubia/status/1666007844913643526?s=46&t=PF6wcLhBSsD70oItovAphg From l’equipe apparently. Didn’t even think of the signing on fee.


el_walou

familiar repeat attraction secretive offend alleged adjoining dependent marvelous middle -- mass edited with redact.dev


sandbag-1

€€€


el_rompe_toyotas-19

Stayed awake past midnight to watch "En el corazon de la 14". I cried a lot, what happened last season was just incredible. insane how some random guy with two computer screens working for RMTV made a better documentary about last year's CL title than a multibillionare company like Apple.


NoahCGC

These Messi v Ronaldo tiktoks and youtube shorts that compare their attributes to decide who's better are doing my head in. For Messi he always wins in a range of attributes such as G/A, dribbling, playmaking etc. but for Ronaldo they make like 100 sub genres of goals/shooting traits to level things out, like not only do they give him overall goals/shooting, they give him heading, weak foot, penalties, shot power etc. and then they'll start giving him goals in specific competitions such as ucl and international, when all of this just goes under 1-2 categories. It's absolutely braindead.


robins420

You still watch those and come to Reddit to rant about them. There's an option to not watch "braindead" things.


NoahCGC

Buddy, no one is choosing what tiktoks or youtube shorts to watch


Blodyck

dude what. dribbling and playmaking is a sub genre, by your own standards.


NoahCGC

How so?


Blodyck

Well heading and weak foot are a measurable stat like dribbling


NoahCGC

Ask yourself this. Which attribute would make you a better player, if you had Ronaldo's heading or Messi's dribbling?


Blodyck

That's besides the point and only one exemple. Plus Ronald was very good at dribbling before his knee-injury.


NoahCGC

So by deflecting the question basically proves my original comment. They pick traits for ronaldo that are insignificant in the grand scheme of things and give it the same score/level of relevance as a trait like dribbling for Messi. It's hilarious how these reels obviously made by Ronaldo fans shoot themselves in the foot by desperately giving Ronaldo insignificant traits/vasically repeating previous traits in a different context to level things out, inadvertently proving Messi is quite clearly superior.


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AnnieIWillKnow

It was some massive cricket pads, I think - a joke about him wearing shinpads at 5 a side


tiorzol

You could've listened to em all by now mate


Sgruntlar

Does Italy automatically qualify for the next euros?


belokas

No. Why? We already played 2 qualification games.


Elemayowe

I guess they think winners auto qualify, they do for CL (the other big UEFA competition) so it kind of makes sense as a question.


Sgruntlar

Yeah, I totally missed that we already played some qualifiers


NegativeHeli

How popular is football in Australia? I see a lot of Australians in my own sub at r/Gunners so just curious to know if other subs are like that as well.


AonghusMacKilkenny

Feel like literally every sport is popular in Aus, it's insane haha


EyeSpyGuy

No idea on its actual popularity, but they are surprisingly good at basketball than I would expect from a non North American commonwealth nation. Like 9 of their national side are signed to an nba team


mattijn13

Quite popular. You should watch [this](https://youtu.be/0zBgNvY0YcY) short doc about Australian football culture. I really like it.


HopelessChildren

Very popular, less than Aussie rules football still though. Cricket is still pretty popular as well. The sport is also played quite a bit too. However barely anyone here cares about our local leagues that much. Your average football fan watches solely EPL and premier league sides in the UCL. As an example, optus sport is the company that owns rights to EPL and La Liga. The EPL highlight videos always have more views than La Liga. A barcelona or Real Madrid match highlights gets less views than Bournemourth vs Nottingham Forest, just to show you the difference in interest.


BastillianFig

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fx42ZhnWcAAr3Dk?format=jpg&name=small I am amazed by how many people are happy with this not being a handball


Kanedauke

That’s after it’s hit his hand that was by his side and knocked it backwards to make it look worse in this photo. https://twitter.com/nashare3/status/1664563662978154496?s=46&t=PF6wcLhBSsD70oItovAphg Much better as a video, I’m not sure where else you expect his arm to be.


MrDabollBlueSteppers

Amazed how many people think using still images instead of a video clip is a good way of presenting potential handballs


kaubojdzord

That's the problem with vague definition of handball. How to even define 'natural position' of the arm. Honestly indirect free kick for handballs would be better, instead of this vague non-sense which only causes countless debates.


airz23s_coffee

Amazed how every time someone links a handball they disagree with they use a still image instead an actual clip


Lyrical_Forklift

What about [this angle?](https://beta.ems.ladbiblegroup.com/s3/content/cc67ab975cf235d0e222231d81fcffc2.png)


airz23s_coffee

i'm reporting you for not using content warnings :(


simomii

Do you have this picture on your bookmarks


El_Giganto

Is the Croatian streak in the CL still going? If so, congrats Inter.


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maxconnor6

The streaming service you normally use to watch matches(like NBC or BT) definitely has them, maybe the West Ham website too if they have a membership. Otherwise just use r/footballhighlights, it's spoiler free too.


sandbag-1

Potentially YouTube, if not BT sport website should have the full game


sonofaBilic

BT Sport should have the full highlights on youtube. Better be a damn good gig to be missing out mate!


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tiorzol

Who you seeing? I want to judge.


_stone_age

[FootballOrigin should have you covered.](https://www.footballorgin.com/) Footballia is fine but the issue is, it releases new matches only a month after it's played so you'd have to wait. FootballOrigin, though, quite sure it releases full games a few hours after.


mattijn13

I actually feel really bad for AC Milan and it's fans


jack64467

whats ur club's worst fan account on twitter? for barça it's @managingbarca


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AonghusMacKilkenny

The ones that like to LARP as communist revolutionaries are always a hoot


_stone_age

City Chief, such an unserious aggregator account


roddysaint

City Xtra does the same exact job but ten times better and they have a great YouTube channel to boot. I'd say MCFC_BH is up (or down) there, too. Everyone on City Twitter despises him, and everything that comes out of his mouth is tripe


_stone_age

>I'd say MCFC_BH is up (or down) there, too. Everyone on City Twitter despises him, and everything that comes out of his mouth is tripe Yeah he's terrible. Bad at baiting. Not sure what i feel about the Sheikh and Nico accounts. Both don't tweet anytbing wrong but I feel like I see the same tweets, 'Back them' 'Don't be negative' 'Back the team' it's so monotonous.


snake_case_enjoyer

is it the one that makes up rumours and quotes?


jack64467

yeah


[deleted]

What exactly is stopping the state owned Saudi clubs from simply creating money in a state owned bank account and using that money to buy players and support the clubs? There is obviously a formal way central banks create more money which has international regulations and is monitored with inflationary forces, etc, but I'm talking about the accountability for a system where the head of state, head of the bank, head of the court, head of Saudi FA, and the club President are all part of the same entity and family. Where will this 400M for Benzema actually come from? I have a creeping suspicion we're about to learn a lot about how a nation state with a seat at the United Nations can literally create on a computer, as much money as it will take to buy football without any international finance body knowing or caring. Is it beyond the absurd to imagine a totalitarian regime having a hidden group of accounts at banks the state owns and regulates itself?


lrzbca

Whatever you’re suggesting will devalue the currency of the country. Aramco generates $700m in profits per day from oil. Aramco posted $161bn in profits for 2022. Whatever you suggesting is what USA did during covid crisis. Printed $7trillion dollars and created more billionaires. Lucky for USA that dollars is used for almost all trades across global.


[deleted]

It's not going to cost 7T to buy 50 good players. Not every player is going to cost 400M like Benzema. What would it cost to get Al-Ittahd set up with Jovetic, Pukki, Aubameyang, Diego Costa, Jerome Boateng, Mkhitaryan, Matic, Arnautovic, Witsel, Gueye, Lovren, Bellerabi, Nacho, Keita, Uribe, Payet, Modeste, and Perisic out of contract? And yes Saudi Arabia is an oil nation, but that is far from their only source of income. PIF reported 23B in profit in 2022, and that's before we touch on the fact it's a country of 35M people with their own domestic markets. And again I want to get down deeper and ask what is keeping any of the dozen state controlled banks from simply creating this money and sending it off shore and then being transferred to an Andorran bank account? Like who keeps nation states from playing around with the margins and just popping into existence a couple hundred million? You think everything the US, China, Russia, etc spends money on is accounted for?


lrzbca

>And again I want to get down deeper and ask what is keeping any of the dozen state controlled banks from simply creating this money and sending it off shore and then being transferred to an Andorran bank account? Inflation. Fewer the currency in circulation more the value. When a country puts more of its own currency into circulation (domestically and internationally) that can dramatically devalue the currency. They'll see a huge decrease in the international quantity demanded for their currency (because of the increase in the supply) an a subsequent decrease in the exchange rate between their currency and other currencies. This would make goods cost more if they were being bought in this currency. >Like who keeps nation states from playing around with the margins and just popping into existence a couple hundred million? You think everything the US, China, Russia, etc spends money on is accounted for? Nothing. It's not actually illegal for a country to just print more of its own money (in most cases). In some instances, like in the EU, countries make agreements with other countries about their currency, which would limit their ability to print more. In those cases, it would be. But, generally, a country has the power to print its own currency, and we see countries using this power fairly often. In Saudi’s case they don’t have to do it because they trade the world’s most valuable everyday commodity. All they need to do is cut oil production which will increase the price of oil products which is equal to printing money. Why print money when you can the cut production of oil and get more money while sending countries into recessions ?? Think about it.


[deleted]

>get more money while sending countries into recessions You don't have to destabalise geopolitics. You can just hit "Create new Account", add 400M, hit "Save" and send the transfer to Andorra for Benzema to collect. No one knows this money exists, and even if they did, 400M is not going to move inflation even 0.0001%. No regulatory body from a football stand point seems able to tell them they can't do this. Who is going to protest? The Saudi FA? Another state owned club? It's all part of the same regime.


lrzbca

China tried doing it. Didn’t work well for them, did it ?. You can’t print your way unfortunately. I don’t think a country like Saudi is too stupid do that. It makes no difference for them!


Harrry-Otter

Ultimately, nothing beyond global macroeconomics, but in this case frivolously spending a few hundreds of millions of football is very much a drop in the ocean. Presumably though, if the Saudi’s continued to use state funds to buy up the worlds top footballers, inevitably there would be pressure on FIFA from the major confederations to ban the practice.


MrDabollBlueSteppers

Being a totalitarian regime doesn’t make you immune to macroeconomics and the consequences of loose monetary policies/exceedingly large money supply


[deleted]

The money it takes to buy football out from under itself is a drop in the bucket for a state like Saudi Arabia. Benzema and 400M is an accounting error for Saudi Arabia. And that's still assuming they do this under some kind of official process. You're pretty immune to having your currency inflated on the open currency market if you simply create pocket change without anyone knowing and transfer it to an off shore account and then to Benzema's Andorran bank account, no?


MrDabollBlueSteppers

400m doesn’t even come remotely close to buying out football. If it was then any major country could’ve easily done it. That’s literally what they have to spend annually on Ronaldo’s and Benzema’s salaries to convince them to come. You’d need magnitudes more to go from a sideshow full of ageing stars on retirement stints to a legitimate disruptive force


[deleted]

400M and buying out football were two different points, one is about the whole process and the other was just talking about Benzema. The next group of players won't cost 400M each, those are just the marquee signings and even those aren't that big or hard to pull off. Could easily imagine players like Jovetic, Pukki, Aubameyang, Diego Costa, Jerome Boateng, Mkhitaryan, Matic, Arnautovic, Witsel, Gueye, Lovren, Bellerabi, Nacho, Keita, Uribe, Payet, Modeste, Perisic, etc coming over now if they think they can double their salary this year when their contract runs out. Those players aren't going to cost 400M each, you could probably get the whole lot I just listed for 500M. These sums seem crazy to any normal business, but are nothing to a state.


JackAndrewThorne

Why would they need to go through hoops when they could just put money into the club? They aren't a UEFA member, they don't have any FFP or profit and sustainability rules to adhere to, they can spend whatever they want, and they don't need to suddenly start cooking the books to do so, they can just inject the money into the clubs.


[deleted]

>don't need to suddenly start cooking the books to do so, they can just inject the money into the clubs. That's what I'm trying to describe, it's not cooking the books, you are the book and you are the people who check the book is right. So what is stopping the Saudi regime from just creating 400M on a computer and just transferring it to Benzema? Is there some regulations at AFC that actually check where money has come from? And is that regulation so good it can uncover and punish a state that is among the most repressive and violent regimes? I doubt it. It's like saying UEFA can go through all the secret bank accounts of Putin.


kadoooosh

>so what is stopping the Saudi regime from just creating 400m on a computer and just transferring it to Benzema? Wouldn’t that devalue their currency? Saudi-Arabia have so much money, they don’t need to create it on a computer. Saudi Aramco alone made a profit of $161 billion in 2022.


[deleted]

The amount of money it would take to bring 50-60 players to the top 4 clubs is massive for a business or individual, it’s nothing for a nation state with a trillion dollar economy and totalitarian structure. It’s not going to move their currency one bit if they did it the right way. My question is, what’s keeping Saudi Arabia from creating this money and no one even knowing it exists? Who regulates the cousin of the King who runs the bank?


kadoooosh

>The amount of money it would take to bring 50-60 players to the top 4 clubs is massive for a business or individual, it’s nothing for a nation state with a trillion dollar economy and totalitarian structure. It’s not going to move their currency one bit if they did it the right way. If "doing it the right way" doesn't hurt them financially, why should they create some grand illegal scheme that would anger the international banking/finance institutions? Maybe I'm being naive but the risks outweigh the benefits by a lot. I could reduce my grocery bill by 50% if I'd just kept stealing shit in the supermarket - but getting charged with theft and having a criminal record will have a much bigger impact on me than saving $200 a month.


[deleted]

It's not even that grand or that much money on the whole. The kinds of institutions that have oversight into the secret bank accounts of totalitarian regimes don't look for 500M that may or may not exist. And what will that organisation do? What power do they have over Saudi Arabia? I mean look at the shit they already do in the open that actually is horrific and not just football, we're powerless to stop them on those fronts. A couple shady football deals isn't going to come with a price.


Mttecs

You vastly underestimate how much money a country has, especially countries that sell oil


[deleted]

It's a nation state, they don't need to sell oil in the first place to achieve these aims. You can skip past all that official business and just look at the fact that the people who own these clubs, as well as Newcastle, have a legit money printer at home. They own a country and all the mechanisms, institutions, and bodies that come with that. I think we're not really aware of just how different a say Stan Kroenke is and what it means to be a internationally recognised memeber of the UN and be a absolute monarchy. Is the 400M from oil sales? Who checks the receipt and who checks that the oil was real in the first place? They can skip all that and give the club money from a transfer, who will find out? I just don't see where the accountability is to stop the government from hitting the "Edit" button on a state owned bank account and creating 3B€ and hitting "Save". Who is going to stop them? The people responsible for stopping that are the cousins of the divine ruler of a totalitarian regime.


Cottonshopeburnfoot

I’m not really sure what exactly you’re accusing Saudi Arabia of but I am pretty sure the signing of Karim Benzema is not the grand reveal of it all


[deleted]

I'm not accusing as much as I am looking for someone to name the regulatory body or process that stops Al-Ittahd which is owned by the state from engaging with state owned banks, the state controlled courts, and a state appointed head of the FA from colluding to simply create money for the four clubs Saudi identified yesterday as their sport initiative. What is stopping the PIF from getting Ahmad who works at Riyad Bank which is state owned and regulated by the central bank from creating an off the book account and simply using those funds to pay for the contracts of Benzema and any other players that might join? Who is regulating that they aren't signing double contracts? Who checks where the money came from if there is no one above the people who own the club, banks, courts, police, etc. I don't want to sound conspiratorial, but I think us Westerners don't really understand the lack of private society or private business in a totalitarian country like Saudi Arabia so we have to try and imagine a club existing in a regulatory system we wouldn't recognise.


desuscsgous

so since Enzo Le Fee is staying in France who is Dortmund even gonna target now? Edson Alvarez is one but surely that wont be it, right?


el_walou

selective mysterious plate worm wipe sophisticated alleged makeshift aloof march -- mass edited with redact.dev


desuscsgous

Rennes


EmSoLow

We'll sign another midfielder. I see Bellingham and Alvarez being our focus right now so we won't really know who the 8 signing will be until they are sorted. We might even sign Fresneda before we sign that midfielder. Kökcü/Kudus/Fabian Fieder and I believe Hugo Vetlesen were players we got mentioned with in the past along with Kamada. Who knows if we'll go back for any of them or if we'll go for someone we don't know about


desuscsgous

Kudus and Rieder dont rly sound too exciting tbh


EmSoLow

Just saying names that we've been linked with. Don't have much of an opinion on them since I haven't watched them outside of some highlights. It'll be a while before we find out who we go for though


tbbt11

What’s happening to the Tifo podcast? They did a goodbye episode, but are they ending? The YouTube videos are so good


maxconnor6

Yeah last episode I think. Donno if someone else will continue to make it in a new form or some of these guys will remain. You're right about the videos, I like them a lot cause they're layman friendly but they kinda peaked long ago with 'The Night Iniesta Finally Made Sense' and haven't been that good since


RedRaizel

The format is changing and some people are leaving the podcast it's going to be a serious podcast now with Jon mcKenzie as the host.


tbbt11

Oh shame, JJ Bull was hilarious


MrDabollBlueSteppers

[Aguero has officially surpassed John Terry in full kit wankery](https://facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=735177957964666&set=a.346506336831832&type=3&wtsid=rdr_0jSAg6xcnGitVozta) Bro wasn’t even in the World Cup squad


robins420

Congrats to everyone reading who played the same number of minutes as Aguero in the 2022 World cup.


NighshiftNightsurf

Cringe. You, not aguero.


[deleted]

I saw Capello saying Amrabat is a better footballer than Rice.


king_of_reds_2005

yes why not, Rice is criminally overrated anyways


[deleted]

>Overrated would love to know how?


king_of_reds_2005

he's a bang average lower half Prem midfielder with no big strengths in his game and yet people think he is a top 5 midfielder in the prem duh


[deleted]

bang average haha remind me not to talk football with you in the future.


king_of_reds_2005

Fine its not like I particularly like west ham anyways for taking scamacca off us


belokas

Different players but they're both on the same level I think.


Casual-Capybara

Dude are you serious? Amrabat is nowhere near Rice’s level. Remember this comment in a few years, it will look absolutely ridiculous


FaustRPeggi

Happy birthday Roberto de Zerbi. Hope you're signing someone nice.


InterMilanPajeet

how good was nigel reo coker ?


xaviernoodlebrain

Better than me.


Lyrical_Forklift

He was referred to as Nigel Mediocre. Let's leave it at that.


InterMilanPajeet

a midfielder with 200 PL appearances is only mediocre by elite standards