Football (Soccer) Thread

[Josephus]

Not really a surprise about Conte. Probably the least successful era in the club's recent history. Well, Lampard may be available. 

[FunkMonk]

Arsenal 3 United 2. Incredible game. Last minute winner by another young player from Hale End.

I can't lie. The title.....

[Sheilbh]

A day of profound Everton Evertoning

Started with a loan signing who they'd been working on for the past 24 days. All agreed, he'd done the medical and the promo photos - then Spurs hijacked it in the morning.

Tonight the Guardian breaks that Moshiri is looking to sell the club - then the club drop a 25 minute interview with Moshiri on YouTube and he says the club isn't for sale.

I don't really know how any player is meant to want to join when they don't know who the manager is - but I imagine a manager probably wants to know who the owner'll be.

Just chaos

Sunderland vibes intensifying

Meanwhile the new stadium is still not built and a big debt for someone to buy...

[FunkMonk]

A day of profound Everton Evertoning

Started with a loan signing who they'd been working on for the past 24 days. All agreed, he'd done the medical and the promo photos - then Spurs hijacked it in the morning.

Tonight the Guardian breaks that Moshiri is looking to sell the club - then the club drop a 25 minute interview with Moshiri on YouTube and he says the club isn't for sale.

I don't really know how any player is meant to want to join when they don't know who the manager is - but I imagine a manager probably wants to know who the owner'll be.

Just chaos

Sunderland vibes intensifying

Meanwhile the new stadium is still not built and a big debt for someone to buy...

Yeah it's shocking how quickly things are falling apart for Everton. I'm genuinely sorry you're having to go through this mess.

[Josquius]

If Everton could just let us loan simms again plz?
Think of it as an investment in getting a forward with experience of reaching the championship playoffs when it's your priority next year.

[Josquius]

I've never paid attention to the German league. It always seemed an automatic bayern win and there's maybe 2 or 3 other interesting teams.

But apparently Berlin are suddenly good now and launching a title challenge

[The Larch]

So it seems that the sponsor for the next Women's World Cup is going to be... Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia to sponsor Women's World Cup and tighten ties with Fifa
Tourist authority joins international brands on list
World Cup starts on 20 July at Eden Park, Auckland

Saudi Arabia's tourist authority is to sponsor football's Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this year, despite the country's history of oppression of women's rights.

Fifa is expected to confirm that Visit Saudi will join international brands such as Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa in attaching its name to the 32-team tournament that will kick off in front of an expected 50,000 supporters at Auckland's Eden Park on 20 July.

The deal has been agreed under Fifa's new "commercial partnership structure" dedicated to developing revenues specifically for the women's game, with funds generated from the World Cup going back into the sport. There will be some scepticism over the suitability of the arrangement, owing to repression of women's freedoms in the Gulf state.

The actual organisers of the WC are less than excited about the sponsorship, though.

Saudi Arabia tourism body's sponsorship of 2023 Women's World Cup condemned by human rights groups
Australian and New Zealand football organisations seek 'urgent' clarification from Fifa over its deal with Visit Saudi

Human rights advocates have condemned the decision to allow Saudi Arabia's tourism authority to sponsor the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, calling it a "textbook case of sports-washing".

Visit Saudi is set to join international brands such as Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa in attaching their names to the 32-team tournament that is due to kick off on 20 July at Auckland's Eden Park.

Despite Saudi Arabia's history of oppressing women's rights, Fifa has decided to ratify the deal under the new "commercial partnership structure" dedicated to developing revenues specifically for the women's game.

But the announcement has sparked criticism from human rights groups in Australia.

A spokesperson from Football Australia said they were seeking clarification from Fifa.

"We are very disappointed that Football Australia were not consulted on this matter prior to any decision being made," they said.

"Football Australia and New Zealand Football have jointly written to Fifa to urgently clarify the situation."

It seems to me that this is part of a larger long term bid to secure the 2030 WC for Saudi Arabia, after seeing Qatar's success with it. Let's brace ourselves for the coming years.

[FunkMonk]

Seen that Chelsea spent like over 600m on transfers in the winter and summer windows, the most in history and more than every other club in Europe COMBINED 

[mongers]

Seen that Chelsea spent like over 600m on transfers in the winter and summer windows, the most in history and more than every other club in Europe COMBINED 

Russians out, UAE occupied/succeeded, so it must be Saudi money?

[FunkMonk]

Seen that Chelsea spent like over 600m on transfers in the winter and summer windows, the most in history and more than every other club in Europe COMBINED 

Russians out, UAE occupied/succeeded, so it must be Saudi money?

The same Saudi fund that owns Newcastle are also major investors in the PE firm that owns Chelsea so that could very well be true. Who knows, it's all very murky. It is what it is and the football world has to deal with it.

Speaking from a pure footballing perspective, I have to question whether all these players will mesh well together very quickly, if at all. They basically did a Nottingham Forest with a bigger wallet. Not saying they'll get relegated, of course, because a lot of these players are super talented, but it can't be easy to bed in a style of play and a team spirit with all these young new players at once. And I'm not convinced Potter is the right manager to do it.

[Sheilbh]

And still have players who they quite obviously were trying to move and who won't get much playing time.

I really like Potter but it's going to be a big man management challenge - it'll be interesting to see how he does because in my head he's a good coach and tactical coach but hasn't really had to deal with a big, expensively assembled and probably underutilised squad

[Josephus]

Looks like MLS is going the Apple Plus route to watch on TV. You need Apple + and a separate subscription to MLS ($100 for the season)
This will kill the casual viewer.

[Josephus]

In other news, looks like Canadian coach Herdmann is off to his home country to coach New Zealand.

[Josquius]

Chelsea being Chelsea they have a habit of making a profit off players that they sign for a few million and more or less never play a first team game.

In other news, looks like Canadian coach Herdmann is off to his home country to coach New Zealand.

He's going to be coaching New Zealand from Co. Durham?

[FunkMonk]

Looks like MLS is going the Apple Plus route to watch on TV. You need Apple + and a separate subscription to MLS ($100 for the season)
This will kill the casual viewer.

This sounds insane. Apple must have thrown the bag at them.