dbsweeney

Wigan should be a goal up by now!

Just chucked some into the pot.

Is it just me, or does there seem to be fewer Monday games this season? Wolverhampton 2 Swansea 1 Aston Villa 2 West Bromwich Albion 2 Bolton 1 Sunderland 1 Newcastle United 3 Wigan Athletic 1 Liverpool 4 Norwich 0 Arsenal 3 Stoke 1 Fulham 2 Everton 1 Man United 3 Man City 3 Blackburn 1 Tottenham 3 QPR 0 Chelsea 2

Leazes is gonna go thermonuclear when he reads this.

Not really the place to say it and it's very out of the blue and has fuck all to do with the topic ... but I'll just go ahead and say it anyway. Above all teams, I most definitely think that Liverpool is the absolute worst of them all. I can't stand that club.

Yes, good call. But again ... a Yank.

Bet it's Liverpoo again and that Yank owner. As much as can be said against the likes of Abromovich and Mansour (or however you pronounce his name), I'm sure they understand the concept of the League system.

IF we're around about top six come January, I really hope that Ashley does something similar to when we were in the Championship. That is, realise that we can really turn this season into something if we have a bit more depth and put up the cash for the extra striker, CB and LB. Famous last words though ... and I'm not holding my breath—at all.

That decent first touch and cross is the only decent piece of work Leon's done so far.

It all just saying that we're all just so very, very naughty for being so ungrateful towards MA.

Just out of interest for people, how PL compares to others regarding wealth distribution:

Good point ... wasn't aware of that!

I'm sure we're bigger than some (for example, in our Championship season NUFC would be televised overseas far more than other CCC clubs ... meaning that we do have some sort of profile in the larger world), but we would be a minnow compared to Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool etc. viewing figures, esp. when the Big 4 play against each other.

Liverpool 1 Man Utd 3 Man City 3 Aston Villa 0 Norwich 2 Swansea 1 QPR 1 Blackburn 2 Stoke 1 Fulham 2 Wigan 3 Bolton 1 Chelsea 3 Everton 0 West Brom 3 Wolves 2 Arsenal 2 Sunderland 1 Newcastle 1 Tottenham 1

Correction concerning TV rights money and La Liga. It appears that an amount is considered for the entire league, but within that amount Baraca and RM can bully what percentage they receive. As such, Barca and RM receive 55% of total rights money (which is, I assume, shared 50-50), while the other 18 teams receive a collective deal of the other 45% of total rights money. In other words, the other 18 teams receive fuck-all of the amount, in comparison, that Barca and RM receive.

If they’re considering following the Spanish model, which I’m pretty sure they are, it’ll mean that each club (all twenty) will be considered on their own ‘merits’. The ‘big’ clubs will each deal with the TV rights owner(s) for overseas distribution. Man U will do it separately from Liverpool, Chelsea etc. Very likely that Man U would benefit the most. Followed, I think, by Liverpool (hence Ayers making the comment in the first place ... I mean, I can’t comment on where PL viewing occurs most [s-E Asia and Africa], but if Australia is anything to go by, there’s still a BIG Liverpool following. [Mind you, that could be because there are a lot of recent arrivals from the UK here.]). Anyway, what would probably happen with the rest of the league is that they wouldn’t have much sway over the matter. In fact, they’ll probably be more likely to have to accept what ever the TV rights owners are willing to give to them. For example, the likes of Man U can bully (let’s say) Skysports, threatening to sign with ESP instead. As such, they’ll sign with whatever TV channel offers the most to Man U. However, for (let’s say) the 16 or so other teams in the league that don’t hold any sway over overseas viewership, Sky or ESPN will give a take-it-or-leave-it type deal that’s likely to be FAR less than what the likes of Man U will be on. I think that the disparity is La Liga is something like that the lower level teams receive as little as 20% as much what Real Madrid or Barca receives. Either way, if you think there’s disparity now ... you ain’t seen anything yet, Baby.

Yup!

Remember when football was a sport? How interesting will the league be if this happens? We already have a problem with the so-called top 4-6. If this happens, they may as well play each other six times a season and call it a league. Even if I was a supporter of Liverpool, Man U, Arsenal etc. I wouldn't want to see this happen.

But it's not just Liverpool this is about ... this would have been in the minds of the traditional 'Big 4' ever since Barca and Real Madrid started negotiating their TV rights. The reason Ayre has brought it up now is because of the TV viewing rights decision that's just gone through the European courts (the pub down in Portsmouth). It's really Man U and Liverpool that first have most to gain from this (and Arsenal and Chelsea close behind). While Man City and Spurs have made up ground in the PL in recent times, the most well-known brands are still the old Big 4. I can see Leazes' point that if you're a supporter of one of those clubs, it'd be great. A massive cash bonanza. But it would most certainly be to the detriment to the quality of competition in the league (which is already out of wack). And as NUFC stands at this moment in time, we would suffer negatively. And once the TV rights are established and structured in this way, those teams that receive the big bucks would perpetually do so as it would be neigh on impossible for a club in the middle and lower tiers of global recognition at the moment to make the leap. Even more so than now, we would have an SPL/La Liga situation where it is the same damn teams over and over and over and over again winning the league. The way the PL is structured now, it's difficult for a team to break through as it is. It would become 100 x more difficult if this was to happen. Unless you are a Big 4 supporter, this is bad news.

This is what's going to happen ... and it will ghetto-ise the rest if the league and make all that argument in the "Can't stop looking at the league table" thread irrelevant. Would be the biggest thing to happen to the league since its inception ... and if it went ahead, a European superleague would be a certainty. Not good at all ... This has the potential to be an atomic bomb to all clubs but for the big four and would certainly send some clubs to the grave. It would also effect the money received as parachute payments with relegation and the money received in the lower leagues would drop further.

I've been one of those who's asked him to change his tune. He's capable of doing it. A few months ago now, he was challenged to not bring up the whole Ashley/Shepard line of comments for a whole week (or was it month ... I don't remember). And he did just that. Also, when he's not pushing the same line all the time, he often has a lot of decent things to say. It's just that recently it's been terrible and he seems to think he's playing a game of to-the-death brinkmanship. I agree, I'm sure it's very off-putting to newbies to come to the board.

Disintegration always deserves a look, too!

the old ones are the best No they aren't. The sphincters gone and shit spurts out everywhere.

Only really discovered his stuff last year. Rosemary Lane is a great album. Great guitarist

Leazesmag May I repeat something I posted only a week ago. Any points in your messages that are of worth (which you are certainly capable of) get lost in your he said-she said style of trying to catch people out. You have made your point many, many times. Please, for the love of Christ, give it a rest.