Generic small time football blather thread FOREVER

[Gemmill 34419]

He was caught out by my astonishing sexiness is what he was caught out by. 

[Toonpack 6844]

I would just like to point out that despite being RETIRED, I am a#3 back and sides and #4 on top (although thinning admittedly)

 

Wahl Lithium-Ion for the clipper nonces

[Gemmill 34419]

Alright Buzzcut Malone. Captain Flattop! 

[Alex 30374]

19 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

He was caught out by my astonishing sexiness is what he was caught out by. 

That’s more like it

[Gemmill 34419]

 

[Howmanheyman 26772]

34 minutes ago, Gemmill said:

 

 

Mrs Neville recognises that particular Gary Neville moan.

 

[Gemmill 34419]

The Gary Goalgasm. 

[PaddockLad 14580]

 

 

Can someone contradict me here if I say this is probably good for us? #unqualifiedopnion 🤷🏻‍♂️

[wykikitoon 16610]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cpeg7jq4xg7o

 

[wykikitoon 16610]

Thats for non pay wall

[toonotl 2409]

This seems like it would be good in the short term but bad in the long term.

 

I hope that football doesn't go down this route but it seems like the Americanised bullshit is here to stay and only getting worse.  It means that teams with basically no supporter base will potentially become juggernauts and compete for titles on the basis of zero history or support (except for bandwagon jumping nonces) because their competition is hampered. An example is the Melbourne Storm in the Australian NRL. They're a wonderfully run club that poaches numerous Queensland players from the Brisbane region and has dominated the upper end of the competition ladder for a decade or more on the back of a good coach, solid planning and preferential treatment from the NRL administrators in the interests of "breaking into the Victorian market". Sounds great to have more competitive teams. But that's not how it plays out in practice.

 

Melbourne Storm is strong because a big problem for them has been removed, i.e., market share relative to the other teams and pathways for local talent to come into the team. A salary cap allows them to sidestep these issues. But the benefits they enjoy are not diminished, i.e., support from the game's administrators, a nice place to live for prospective players, an experienced coach for whom players want to play, a recent history of success that draws players there on the chance of winning silverware, etc., the list goes on.

 

And you might say that some (or even all) of these benefits are earned. But so is a revenue advantage in the broader sense of club history and development (at least in the vast majority of cases). So why is one type of advantage deemed unfair and others are allowed to remain? It's obviously because a "salary cap" system is really just a marketing gimmick to promote a "competitive" competition. But I would argue that it isn't any more competitive than other sports. The same teams come to dominate for years or even decades because of factors that are not dependent on a salary cap.

 

A salary cap system, for me, produces an artificial and largely illusionary equality because, although money is a massive factor, it is not the only factor. And if you equalise the salary spend, then those other factors will simply become the new reason for an uneven competition. And many of these factors simply can't be controlled. Then other measures come into play. For example, if your team is in an undesirable location -- simply move the team to a better location. And, thus, the franchise system of the American sporting leagues, which has also happened in Australia with teams with rich traditions being upended and moved thousands of kilometres away.

 

At the end of the day, you can't control everything but it seems like more and more that it is the perceived remit of the game's administrators to act like they can do so. It's pure arrogance built on the back of corporate greed and the opportunistic pursuit of a quick buck. I would prefer an officiating body that does less and professes to know as little as possible because this sort of shit is short-sighted nonsense initiated by self-congratulatory blowhards who have been in the game for ten minutes and act like they fuckin' know everything. Football was fine for the few hundred years it existed without any of this crap. Not to be the old man in the room complaining about the good ol' days and whatever but it really boils my piss that the mega-rich have to come in and spoil everything with their "campaigns" and marketing spin crap. Does absolutely everything that belongs to the people have to be taken away in the interest of the almighty dollar?