The January Football Thread

[Ian]

It's January, and along with the never-ending avalanche of football which is going to smother us all (there's a Premier League game on every day until Friday, when we then launch into the FA Cup. It never stops.) there will also be a torrent of transfer rumours because as the window swings open, Fabrizio Romano emerges from his burrow and prepares himself to utter his terrible catchphrase.

I was looking at a list of worst January transfers (it had the usual suspects, Alexis Sanchez, Torres/Carroll, etc.) and spotted a picture of this fresh-faced young go-getter:
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/fqvvxs7eD3sej7Lobwustf-970-80.jpg.webp

So yeah, happy new year, lads.

[The Merse]

Boro had some corkers in the days of batshit local paper welcome photos https://twitter.com/football_ldn/status/997503293629845504?s=46&t=ucQY4atFWw0cqi_8BEcXeQ

[Waffdon]

The league must be absolutely dreadful this year for Spurs to be in 5th place. Absolutely dogshit

[Gray Fox]

Liverpool have had either their joint, or outright worst PL era start ever and yet are still right on top of them. Everyone else is bickering amongst themselves while Arsenal lol away down the road.

[Waffdon]

Presume Villa go 2-0 up here and throw away their lead like every other Spurs game.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Spurs are rancid. We should pass them before the end.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That pass from McGinn :drool:

Lovely finish too.

[Waffdon]

What a touch and finish that is.

Will be a travesty when Harry Kane breaks the PL scoring record winning nothing in his career

[Gray Fox]

That was well worked.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Unai Emery is such a likeable manager. Hope he does well there.

[Gray Fox]

What a touch and finish that is.

Will be a travesty when Harry Kane breaks the PL scoring record winning nothing in his career

Dont you dare disregard the Audi Cup like that.

[Waffdon]

Just clocked the first goal. Of course it comes from a Lloris mistake. How he hasn’t dropped yet I don’t know

[niko_cee]

Presume Villa go 2-0 up here and throw away their lead like every other Spurs game.

This is your answer to your earlier question about how Spurs are where they are in the table, they've burgled the points to take them from 10th to wherever they are through a series of inexplicable comebacks.

Not entirely dissimilar to their North London neighbours whose run of deflected/miskicked/goalkeeper fuck-up 'assists' must surely run out at some point.

I think the fact that in normal times we'd be coming up to Christmas in the league has distorted a lot of perspective. So much time to go and the real grind usually only starts towards the end of February.

[Ben]

Gerrard was/is shocking, isn’t he?

[Waffdon]

This is your answer to your earlier question about how Spurs are where they are in the table, they've burgled the points to take them from 10th to wherever they are through a series of inexplicable comebacks.

Not entirely dissimilar to their North London neighbours whose run of deflected/miskicked/goalkeeper fuck-up 'assists' must surely run out at some point.

I think the fact that in normal times we'd be coming up to Christmas in the league has distorted a lot of perspective. So much time to go and the real grind usually only starts towards the end of February.

Yeah, Spurs could/should have lost 5 in a row. Lost today and against Liverpool whilst also being 2-0 down to both Brentford and Bournemouth in the 2nd half. Also were behind 3 times in the Leeds game before winning 4-3

[Waffdon]

Jorginho as the lone midfielder to any team with pace :sick:

I don’t know why managers keep letting it happen. They’re just so open any time they lose the ball on the turnover

[Jimmy Floyd]

That goal was like something from a women's game in the 1980s. Bizarre.

[Spikey M]

Chelsea and Spurs should do a manager swap. They both have managers determined to play football that relies on their weakest areas.

[Jimmy Floyd]

A good amount of seethe going on here about not much. Any fanbase outside London and Manchester basically exists on a seethe footing nowadays.

[Waffdon]

Koulibaly really isn’t suited to this league whatsoever. He looks so scared.

[Waffdon]

I do feel bad for Potter for having to try and pick a winning team within this Chelsea squad that won’t make your eyes bleed. All their good players are injury prone and the rest are the most ‘safe’ players imaginable. Eye bleeding stuff, they look so easy to play against on the break. Forrest should get something out of this.

Potter will probably bring Aubameyang and Ziyech on rather than someone younger to make it an even worse spectacle.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There was a foul in there on Pulisic, shouldn't have counted.

[Waffdon]

Haaland might break a record against this Chelsea side in a few days

[Lewis]

I didn't realise David Moyes' West Ham were right down in the shit. What has happened there?

[Waffdon]

Gallagher, Aubameyang and Ziyech triple sub. Forrest must be shitting themselves.

[Giggles]

Haaland might break a record against this Chelsea side in a few days

If you go too hard on the jinx it doesn’t work.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Imagine making a double sub where both incoming players have their socks above their knees.

[Waffdon]

Not really. I’ll be genuinely surprised if he doesn’t score a minimum of 2 down to his physicality alone

[Jimmy Floyd]

The Irish forward, Limerick O'Bammion (as Carragher would have it), is rubbish.

[Giggles]

The Irish forward, Limerick O'Bammion (as Carragher would have it), is rubbish.

If it was some Ghanaian you’d have every ug and bug down to a tee. Be better.

[Lewis]

If it was some Ghanaian you’d have every ug and bug down to a tee. Be better.

:lol:

[Jimmy Floyd]

You're white so you can't be a race victim I'm afraid, that's just how these things work.

[Waffdon]

Conor Gallagher is Chernobyl of footballers. He’s playing in the top league with no technical ability whatsoever. Gets by on running.

[Giggles]

You're white so you can't be a race victim I'm afraid, that's just how these things work.

Even if that were true (it isn’t), it doesn’t make you any better.

[Waffdon]

Chelsea with and without record with Reece James must be pretty special.

4 wins and a draw with James under Potter. 4 wins, 3 draws and 5 losses without (2 of the wins were in CL)

[Jimmy Floyd]

Such a stupid performance by us, and similar to others this season having gone ahead in that we Southgate it and allow the opposition to dictate the tempo. Carragher (despite his pronunication of Aubameyang) is right to say that this is the softest Chelsea team for a long time, you can't have people like Jorginho and Koulibaly playing in England, these guys are slow-tempo footballers who don't like it when the pace picks up.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Chelsea with and without record with Reece James must be pretty special.

They read it out the other day but the striking thing was that the Chilwell difference was even starker. Chilwell was 82% wins with him to 36% without him or something.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You're white so you can't be a race victim I'm afraid, that's just how these things work.

He's so precious about Bottom Ireland too.

Quite funny considering the disdain he has for pretty much every other nationality, especially ethnics.

[Waffdon]

They read it out the other day but the striking thing was that the Chilwell difference was even starker. Chilwell was 82% wins with him to 36% without him or something.

Stupid from the Yanks to allow Tuchel another transfer windows. He’s absolutely useless at building a team. They’ve spent so much and will have to spend a hell of a lot more - no manager in the world is getting anything special out of the current team. Ziyech, Aubameyang, Jorginho, Koulibaly, Azpilicueta and probably Pulisic all need to be let go and replaced just off the top of my head.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't know why they spaffed so much money on these Koulibaly and Aubameyang contracts. Felt like an approach brought in directly from American sport where there's a limited pool of experienced top players so to win you need to compete and pay well for their services. In football there's a massive global player pool and there are a lot of people you can turn into decent players so why spend so much money on those two.

[phonics]

Nothing better than opening up the old Twitter app and seeing Conte is yet again crying.

[Don]

I didn't realise David Moyes' West Ham were right down in the shit. What has happened there?

His fate was sealed the minute Paqueta was signed, what a move that was for both parties.

[Waffdon]

PSG started with 4 central mids in a diamond against Lens and the latter have absolutely bullied them so far in their midfield 2.

[Davgooner]

Unai. :henn0rz:

[Gray Fox]

PSG started with 4 central mids in a diamond against Lens and the latter have absolutely bullied them so far in their midfield 2.

The lad who scored for them is the one they took just before Newcastle got him, no?

[Waffdon]

Aye.

[Gray Fox]

Second half of this Glasgow derby has started with a bang.

[Ben]

Trash quality as always but there’s the usual needle so all good fun.

[Kikó]

It's been better quality than I've seen recent times. It's one of the few fixtures that hasn't changed in my lifetime in terms of style of play and atmosphere.

[Gray Fox]

First half was barely League 2 quality. Neither side could string 5 passes together. Much better since the break.

[Don]

Why does Ange have such a fetish with sushi chefs to bench Jota (and even the Zionist)?

[Gray Fox]

Fabinhos' turn to be sold down the river today. Thiago and Elliott to be cut through at will.

No real attacking threat off the bench again today too. Still, nice to see what I think is our best CB partnership back. Konate was mega in the 2nd half of last season.

[Waffdon]

No Doak, no party

[phonics]

Can't believe Liverpool let go Own Goal after their performance against Leicester. Come back to bite them here.

[Gray Fox]

All of this conceding first is very dull.

[Waffdon]

You’ll still conjure up two goals out of nowhere. Van Dijk continuing his uselessness is pleasant though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

More corners please.

[Shindig]

Imagine if Toney hadn't been crocked. :|

[Jimmy Floyd]

Liverpool seem to have regressed from being a good team that scythed teams apart, to just being 90-minute agents of chaos, for good or ill. You can't disrupt a Liverpool game, because it's already apart at the seams.

[Luke Emia]

Fabinhos' turn to be sold down the river today. Thiago and Elliott to be cut through at will.

No real attacking threat off the bench again today too. Still, nice to see what I think is our best CB partnership back. Konate was mega in the 2nd half of last season.

I have no idea what Elliott has done to be so highly rated. He doesn’t work hard and he doesn’t seem to produce much going forward.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Does that not count as a new phase of play when it hits Konaté? Is he not trying to deflect it or is he just standing in the way as an innocent bystander?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Wissa finally gets his goal.

[Waffdon]

Them two old dears softly shouting ‘who are ya’ hahahah

[Gray Fox]

There was a good first 10 mins and then it's all fallen apart.

This needs to end about 5-0 so he might fucking change something.

[Waffdon]

The whole league just look a bit shit outside of Arsenal and somewhat Newcastle considering their starting XI.

[Don]

Brentford away with 5 forwards and 'captain. Leader. Legend' missing was always gonna trouble the scintillating form we were on. Keep calm, this is like the time when we had to field Nat Phillips at CB and everyone thought Klopp was finished. Codyball begins after tonight.

[Lofty]

That scouse midfield has has more holes in it than my undercrackers for some time now.

[Gray Fox]

The worrying thing is this team now seems incapable of pinching the ball up the field and countering. This is leading to slow build up play allowing opposition to get back behind the ball.

This Liverpool team being outworked is something I would have scoffed at a season or two as well.

[Kikó]

Hey giggles, Liverpool are actually losing this time.

[Baz]

Bring Faes on.

[Gray Fox]

I don't remember Van Dijk being subbed before.

[Giggles]

Hey giggles, Liverpool are actually losing this time.

I would have went with 3-1 up based on the posts so far.

[Kikó]

Give it time. They're well on top.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Konaté so weak there. You can't lose that physical battle to a tired man half your size.

[Luca]

Konaté getting outmuscled by a midget, you really love to see it.

[Gray Fox]

Was that about their first attack of the half?

[Giggles]

I would have had Liverpool to go 100% from Jan to the end of the season. That’s shocking.

[Gray Fox]

Time to dust off those #FSGOut signs.

[Dquincy]

Klopp saying the 3rd goal should have been a foul on Konate. :harold: Muppet.

[Gray Fox]

I thought so on first viewing, but when he sees the replay he should have no complaints. Konate was trying to buy the easy foul to get out of jail and the ref didn't buy it. Next time deal with it and don't leave it to chance.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've noticed in the PL games I've watched post-resumption that refs are letting quite a lot go. Long may that continue. We still only have about 4 good referees but hopefully that will improve.

VAR needs to move towards a system where the burden of proof for disallowing goals is on the defending side. In neutral games it's a complete bore watching goals get ruled out all the time.

[niko_cee]

I have no idea what Elliott has done to be so highly rated. He doesn’t work hard and he doesn’t seem to produce much going forward.

He's definitely talented, but I think a bit much is being asked of him to play as an '8' in a midfield also containing Thiago, in a team which is not the smooth functioning pressing machine it was when he first came into the team and looked the part last season. He's definitely more of a '10' type player so either he gets shunted out onto a flank or they change the way they play a bit. He's only 19.

Didn't see the game but sounds like Konaté had one of his standard [bombscare] performances.

[Don]

1610044272409210880

Get the fucking midget in the bin.

[Waffdon]

Class. Get him signed, Brighton.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've become obsessed by Infantino now. Selfie in front of Pele's open coffin is magnificent stuff from him. Don't think he'll top it, but then I've thought that before.

[Ben]

He also wants every country to name a stadium in after Pelé. :D

[niko_cee]

Yeah, I nominate Everton's new gaff.

Away from the stadium stuff I was disappointed there was no queue stream for his coffin lying in state business.

[Ian]

I'd missed the coffin selfie. :face:

Saw the stadium thing though. Astonishingly lol. I assume whoever names the most after him gets the 2030 World Cup.

[Giggles]

Liverpool and Bohemians should cover you lot and ourselves seeing as predictably both clubs made his passing about themselves.

[Don]

I presume the wokerati are mocking the don for a lack of respect by taking a [group] pic at the coffin whilst also simultaneously paying too much respect with the stadium name idea. He's fucking massive.

[Jimmy Floyd]

In both cases we, the wokerati, are saying he is a ridiculous clown with no shame.

[Lewis]

I was wondering how he manages not to be endearing with all of his antics, since they usually pull it off, and then I found out he's Swiss-Italian rather than just Italian. Explains everything.

[niko_cee]

There's a tweet on the BBC livetext of the Pele business about his final resting place, and it looks like some sort of apartment block. Is that a thing in Brazil as well? Multi-storey cemeteries?

[randomlegend]

Starting with a backline of Wan-Bissaka - Lindelof - Maguire - Shaw is a bit bomb scare.

[Luca]

No Tavernier for them is a big loss, but the back 4 did make me shudder with ‘bad nostalgia.’

[Luca]

Surely this is a last chance for Van de Meek.

[Ben]

Arsenal look great early doors here. They're actually excellent, no longer pretenders.

[SvN]

Surely this is a last chance for Van de Meek.

I saw a United fan say he hopes this is the game where he "kicks on" or he risks becoming "another Kagawa". The useless Dutch fanny WISHES he was another Kagawa. Not fit to lace his boots.

[Kikó]

He's already done about 4 terrible things that a footballer at this level shouldn't be doing.

[Dark Soldier]

Taking out two of their players in one spectacularly shit tackle was good though

[Kikó]

Probably for the best that he's got an injury. Absolutely woeful.

[niko_cee]

Sacked in the morning!

:cool:

Might scalp Klopp next time out as well, although that's less likely.

[Waffdon]

Yeah, that’s some collapse

[Jimmy Floyd]

Losing 4-0 at home to Brighton is an auto-sack. Everton not a big enough club for Frank. To the sofa, my man.

[Don]

God I love to see Lamps in the mud. All well and good scraping a draw with shit-on-a-stick football like against City but you need to be a competent footballing manager/side to get 3 points in games.

[Waffdon]

Let him take the reigns under Boehly. He’ll play all their young players they keep signing anyway.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He'd probably do better than Potter, tbh, even though Potter is the better coach. Work that one out, large-brains.

[Magic]

He'll be nominating himself for a knighthood soon.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fat Boy :cool:

[Giggles]

What has Ferguson been like with a start?

[phonics]

That was a definite pen on Gabriel right? I’m not just a biased nutter (in this specific situation)

[randomlegend]

Van De Beek injury is a bit grim:

https://i.redd.it/gftdwgkk9w9a1.jpg

Ooft.

[randomlegend]

That was a definite pen on Gabriel right? I’m not just a biased nutter (in this specific situation)

Link a video.

[mo]

Grim - not quite David Busst or Luc Nilis territory, but looks awful.

[Gray Fox]

If he's lucky that's just a bad sprain, but it does look like that's a see you in October type.

[randomlegend]

Garnacho is going to be world class.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Howe would absolutely destroy Arteta.

[Lewis]

Garnacho is going to be world class.

He will be when he gets some Ronaldo teeth. At the minute they look like they're all from different people.

[phonics]

Link a video.
https://twitter.com/ashjm1969/status/1610382226369249280?s=21

[randomlegend]

https://twitter.com/ashjm1969/status/1610382226369249280?s=21

Probably but they are hardly ever given.

[Shindig]

Lucky to get away with it, to be honest.

[randomlegend]

If Arsenal weren't fucking useless we'd be third with a game in hand over Newcastle.

You drongos all had us about 8th in the predictions thread :harold:

[Waffdon]

I reckon Ten Haag will get them 2nd. Haaland is due a muscle injury.

[Don]

Dildoboy is hyped again :happycry:

About to get raped in the next 2 games to leave them in nowhere much at the half-way point after overpeforming on their xPTS significantly. Top 4 ain't happening.

[Luca]

Dildoboy is hyped again :happycry:

About to get raped in the next 2 games to leave them in nowhere much at the half-way point after overpeforming on their xPTS significantly. Top 4 ain't happening.

But enough about Nunez and Liverpool. What about United?

[thommo]

Up to 7th with 3 wins on the trot after the World Cup break. Even the most optimistic Fulham fan couldn't have predicted this. Quite poor in the 2nd half last night, looked very tired, but still able to grind out the away win with a clean sheet.

[Giggles]

Speaking of Fulham, I forgot Parker wasn't the manager still and had missed him rocking up at Bruges.

[Jimmy Floyd]

That is a bizarre one, Hoefkens sacked the other day for being 4th, despite getting them to the Champions League last 16. Scoddy Parker will have a free hit at Benfica, I guess.

Anderlecht 11th these days, guessing there are a load of low-cost moneyball setups in that league.

[niko_cee]

Tony Bloom's got one [as I think do City] so yeah, it's probably rife with 'feeder clubs' which is a bit of a sorry state of affairs.

[thommo]

Genuinely can't believe he's managed to swindle that job at Club Brugge. Soporific football with a healthy dose of possession for possession's sake.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I was surprised to discover in my FM save that City also have an outfit in Uruguay, and (upon further wikipedia inspection) own Troyes, Girona, Palermo, Yokohama F Marinos and Bahia as well as the named outfits in New York, Melbourne and Bombay.

Pretty dystopian, really.

[niko_cee]

All part of the loan fee transfer farm anti-FFP merry-go-round.

[phonics]

If you’d like a bit of extra dystopia. Peps brother owned Girona before the City Group stepped in.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Is it not just straight accounting fraud?

[niko_cee]

It's not fraud when you have as much money as they do.

[Gray Fox]

Sounds like Van Dijk is out for weeks to months with his hammy going pop against Brentford. The prospect of Goe Jomez once again looms large.

[-james-]

https://i.imgur.com/o6soZqG.png

The fact that we only get one of the games on telly when the kick-offs are staggered like this is a FUCKING DISGRACE. Pandora's box is open now that we've all experienced Prime coverage.

[Don]

The Serie A festival of football today has been tremendous, 2 games at a time from 11:30 till 10:30 non-stop :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

I don't think the TV companies would even pay the amount required to televise significantly more PL games.

[Baz]

I had a cracking stream for the City-Everton game. It showed the match, down the right was a live league table and along the bottom had the other three live scores. When a goal went in in another match the score changed from, say, 0-0 to GOAL and the commentary was like ‘and there’s been a goal at Craven Cottage’ but didn’t say who, then 30 seconds later we got Picture in Picture to see the goal from the other game, then back to Man City. Was a bit like a watered down NFL Red Zone. The future of football. Like if Soccer Saturday showed the action they talk about.

[Ian]

Prime had a "see all the goals" thing like Red Zone a day they had simultaneous games, didn't they?

It will eventually go the NFL Network route in some form or another because there's more money to be made so somebody will make it happen.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

BT Sport do it for Champions League games too.

[Baz]

BT Sport do it for Champions League games too.

Oh yeah forgot about that. The Goals Show. So good.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I've often wondered what would make the PL bin off the broadcasters in the domestic market and charge the viewer directly via its own broadcast, like MLB does and increasingly F1.

The answer is: the PL domestic TV deal is worth £5.1 billion across Sky, BT and Amazon, or £1.7 billion a year. To recoup that you would need this amount of subscriptions:

1 million subs at £1,700 per annum
2 million subs at £850 per annum
4 million subs at £425 per annum
8 million subs at £212.50 per annum
12 million subs at £141.67 per annum

Is that realistic? I'm not sure it is.

[Boydy]

Wouldn't they be able to make money off advertising too though?

[-james-]

It would also presumably cost them a lot more than it costs Sky if they were to broadcast every game. I'm surprised they haven't at least leaked the idea to try and wring another zero out of Sky.

[-james-]

1610701702159650819

This is very lol.

[Ben]

The coach sounds like a twat but that comes across as very “wahhh fuck this guy, he wouldn’t bring my son off the bench”.

[Jimmy Floyd]

As much as Berhalter has weirdo energy, 'Gio' is nepo baby to the max.

[randomlegend]

Wouldn't they be able to make money off advertising too though?

Absolutely, or it wouldn't make sense for Sky etc to be paying what they are.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Sky etc make their money from subscriptions, which in Sky's case are a shit ton a year - the business model being that people buy it for PL football and are thereby forced to take all the other stuff for a premium price. Same with BT sport, same even with Amazon Prime in a way.

Our market just isn't large enough to replicate how the Americans do things - you just wouldn't get the numbers. I suspect our consumers are tighter with money as well.

[randomlegend]

I feel like your logic doesn't make sense. If it's financially worthwhile for Sky to do it just to get extra people to sign up or add on sports, then it simply has to be worth it for the Premier League to do it when they would only be selling the football.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It wouldn't, because (as mentioned) they wouldn't be able to sell the subscriptions and wouldn't be able to absorb all the extra costs of producing the games.

It's one of these weird situations - what suits the armchair fan can and will never happen, UNLESS the value of TV rights plummets to about 25% of what it is now and you're left with a hardcore who are then willing to pay anyway.

[Giggles]

It’s all going down the shitter the more and more people just watch clips on Twitter and not full matches.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Serie A rights in the domestic Italian market are worth about 20% of PL rights in the UK market. They could probably try it there, may already have done since DAZN have it, I'm not sure.

Even La Liga is barely over 50% the value of the PL deal. Bundesliga is worth about 60% but then Germany is a bigger market so still pisspoor. People here are pretty blind to how inflated the PL TV deal is.

[Lewis]

Sky would presumably have gone down the tubes years and years ago if none of this made sense.

[randomlegend]

It wouldn't, because (as mentioned) they wouldn't be able to sell the subscriptions and wouldn't be able to absorb all the extra costs of producing the games.

It's one of these weird situations - what suits the armchair fan can and will never happen, UNLESS the value of TV rights plummets to about 25% of what it is now and you're left with a hardcore who are then willing to pay anyway.

Why can Sky sell enough extra subscriptions just by having the football to make it worth it but the League wouldn't be able to sell enough subscriptions to make just the football worth it? It doesn't make sense.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Why can Sky sell enough extra subscriptions just by having the football to make it worth it but the League wouldn't be able to sell enough subscriptions to make just the football worth it? It doesn't make sense.

What would you pay monthly to watch live PL football?

[randomlegend]

It doesn't matter what I would pay. If Sky are selling enough extra subscriptions to make paying what they do for the football worth it, then logically it simply has to be possible to make enough just selling the football.

I don't know how to lay this out properly so it makes sense.

[randomlegend]

Google says sky sports is like £34 a month, so £408 a year.

If Sky are making enough money for it to be profitable selling it for that amount, why would it not be profitable for the Premier League to sell it for the same amount?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Sky is £57 a month minimum I think (special offers aside), as there's a base layer onto which you have to add sports.

And the answer to your question is that the two are not selling the same thing. Sky are selling a TV package that is also of value to people in the household who like sports other than football, or who don't like football at all, or who occasionally watch football but mainly watch other things. PL streaming would be selling exclusively live PL games - no CL, no Football League, no FA Cup, no internationals, no F1, no cricket, no rugby, no boxing, no Game of Thrones, no Sopranos, no whatever the hell else is on Sky TV.

HOWEVER, if you took PL football out of the above package then the business model would come crumbling down. That doesn't mean that the rest is worthless and isn't factored into consumer decisions to buy or not buy. It just means that without the live PL football, Sky wouldn't have the key offering that underpins this premium rounded product.

It also matters a lot how much you would pay for live PL football. If it's less than the £80 odd a month you'd have to pay to Sky, BT and Amazon to watch all of this season's football, then there's no point in the PL even entertaining the idea, because their money comes from there.

[randomlegend]

But Sky also has to pay for that other content.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It has to pay hardly anything. Cricket and F1 are the next two biggest subscription drivers, the two combined cost only £400 million a year. PL football costs them £1 billion a year for just 128 games, AND they have to pay the massive amounts to actually do the broadcasts. The company's total revenue is £13 billion.

The PL would never recoup that money through a streaming service. In a market of 300 million you would, because economies of scale.

[randomlegend]

I still don't think it makes sense but I lack the eloquence to express why so I am giving up.

[Boydy]

How many people subscribe to sky sports?

[Gray Fox]

Belter of a finish from Kane for his second. No idea why Spurs refuse to play until after half time in every game though.

[randomlegend]

How many people subscribe to sky sports?

Doesn't seem to be readily available information as far as I can see.

[randomlegend]

Belter of a finish from Kane for his second. No idea why Spurs refuse to play until after half time in every game though.

Bore off idiot we're talking about subscription economics here ffs.

[Shindig]

NOWTV subs will get bundled in with the pile as well.

[Ben]

I thought Brian Hill was history. He's looked alright here.

[Lofty]

According to Jim's figures earlier 12 million people paying £12 a month covers it. The main problem is as said it doesnt cover all the football like yank sports where it's all one organisation.

[phonics]

There’s a reason why they don’t release the numbers is because they’re really fucking bad.

[Boydy]

Don't pubs have to pay way more to be able to show Sky as well? Presumably the premier league could also charge more for that.

[Jimmy Floyd]

According to Jim's figures earlier 12 million people paying £12 a month covers it. The main problem is as said it doesnt cover all the football like yank sports where it's all one organisation.

Plus there is zero chance of getting 12 million subs. Most PL games aren't even watched by 1 million people.

[randomlegend]

I know this is old, but someone has just linked this on a thread about Umtiti being racially abused by Lazio fans and I'd never seen it before.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50814275

I'm sorry, WOT :D

[Ian]

I think I might've themed a monthly football thread around that for want of anything else going on when it happened but yeah, mental.

[Waffdon]

Sterling going off is a blessing in disguise. Of course he brings on Aubameyang though. Potter doesn’t help himself.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He might as well have just stuck with ten as bring pierrick on.

Might see a fair bit of Chukuwemeka or Omari Hutchinson if we lose a few goals and it isn't tight.

[Don]

Chelsea looking far better than I had them down for, having not watched them for a long time. Once they get rid of all that Havertz-Auba-Puli-Ziyech shite and bring in Chucky-Omari-Casadei they'll be elite.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Christ, you're lucky you haven't watched them for a long time. I do rate Potter as a coach though, even if his interviews are naff as fuck.

Paul Tierney's got no hair on his head, but absolutely loads of hair on his arms. Very offputting.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/africa/64154037

Cameroon's Under-17s face a race against time to field a team for regional African Cup of Nations qualifiers after more players failed age tests ordered by Samuel Eto'o, president of the country's governing body, Fecafoot.

The former Barcelona and Inter Milan striker's insistence on using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) screening saw the squad ravaged at their training camp in Mbankomo, on the outskirt of Yaounde.

Of the initial 30-member group, 21 failed the tests.

But BBC Sport Africa now understands Cameroon have suffered a fresh setback as 11 new players also failed tests on Tuesday, with coach Jean Pierre Fiala struggling to find replacements.

:D

[Waffdon]

He might as well have just stuck with ten as bring pierrick on.

Might see a fair bit of Chukuwemeka or Omari Hutchinson if we lose a few goals and it isn't tight.

He needs to start just blooding them in. Season is basically a write off already at this point. At least he brought Chukuwemeka on instead of Gallagher.

[Don]

I see Haaland is balding :cool:

[Lewis]

He really can't afford to the ugly bastard.

[Jimmy Floyd]

God we need Chilwell back. Cucurella is absolute garbage.

[-james-]

Grealish has been phenomenal lately.

[Waffdon]

‘Pep’ has schooled Potter in the 2nd half. Absolutely wide open down the wings and Potter hasn’t changed or reacted to it at all. That goal was always coming down either side

[Jimmy Floyd]

You can blame Kepa for that, but Mendy would just have pushed it straight into the middle of the six yard box for the alien to tap in.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Beautiful subs by Potter. How can you expect me to work under these conditions??!!??!

Did Aubameyang go off or has he just gone for a pint?

[Lewis]

Proper mugs game picking managers up from well-managed smaller teams. Chris Hughton looked like a good manager at Brighton; 'Nuno' at Wolves; Brendan Rodgers at half his teams for a particular period of time; everyone who Southampton have employed in recent memory. You would have better odds getting Sam Allardyce in than hiring whoever finishes ninth with Moneyball FC.

[Waffdon]

That replay there shows how close it was to him. He genuinely thinks it’s going for a goal kick and leaves it

[-james-]

Proper mugs game picking managers up from well-managed smaller teams. Chris Hughton looked like a good manager at Brighton; 'Nuno' at Wolves; Brendan Rodgers at half his teams for a particular period of time; everyone who Southampton have employed in recent memory. You would have better odds getting Sam Allardyce in than hiring whoever finishes ninth with Moneyball FC.

Chelsea have had everyone else by now.

[Lewis]

Mourinho must be due a third crack under these American retards.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Very frustrating game to watch, with Mount we'd have at least drawn it. About 10 wasters among those who have played, including Kovacic who is dire.

[Shindig]

Steve Clarke can just grimace them into a unit.

[Waffdon]

Very frustrating game to watch, with Mount we'd have at least drawn it. About 10 wasters among those who have played, including Kovacic who is dire.

Boomer

[Don]

Potter doubters are idiots.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Chukwuemeka needs a lot more game time based on that performance.

[Waffdon]

I think he would have been starting before now as he started to get decent minutes off the bench before the World Cup. Then Chelsea decided to inject him with whatever they do to all their good players and he was injured for a month or so.

Nkunku getting injured just before the World Cup after it’s confirmed he’s joining in the summer confirms this. Enzo Fernandez will probably be thankful his move looks to have collapsed.

[SvN]

Mourinho is definitely coming back at some point. Just need to wait for the stars to align.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Not under these cats. If Potter doesn't work out they'll plump for Gianpiero Buontactico or whoever the flavour of the month is by then. Mourinho will get Portugal surely.

[Don]

Got a lot of time for what I'm hearing and seeing from this Gustavo Scarpa lad Forest have randomly plucked from a favela. Won everything there is to be won over there yet complete unknown to most in Europe. Enjoys skateboarding and rubik's cubes, speaks fluent English like a proper cutie and came on the other day for a brief cameo in which he made some outrageous cross-field pass. Look forward to his story.

[Lewis]

You can see Frank Lampard's scalp under the lights. He needs to resign for his own health.

[Manc]

Keane sporting a superb moustache.

[Ben]

I agree, tremendous.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Lamps getting sacked tonight :drool:

[Gray Fox]

Please don't beat them by too much. He needs to still be in for the upcoming Derby.

EDIT: I've just seen it's actually not until mid-February and there's no way he lasts that long. Smash away.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

De Gea :lol:

[Gray Fox]

De Gea pulls off some miracles at times but doesn't half Lloris it every now and then.

[Lewis]

Was there not a pretty vital offside when Varane clears the ball back into play?

[Gray Fox]

Was there not a pretty vital offside when Varane clears the ball back into play?

If the defender intentionally plays the ball then it negates the offside. It goes back out and creates a new phase of play.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It's fun to stay at the NEW PHASE OF PLAY, it's fun to stay...

You can goalhang with all the boys.

[Ben]

It's got to be offside really though. If Coady isn't milling about up Varane's arse then he probably doesn't bother trying to clear it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sir Marcus has been very good lately.

[Don]

I'm seeing glowing reviews of another Antony disasterclass :harold:

[Don]

Malacia for that offside goal :D still, he definitely isn't useless at attacking so there's that.

[Gray Fox]

It's got to be offside really though. If Coady isn't milling about up Varane's arse then he probably doesn't bother trying to clear it.

Indeed. The rule is bollocks but I suppose they just want more goals.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

What was wrong with that Malacia tackle?

[Adramelch]

It's got to be offside really though. If Coady isn't milling about up Varane's arse then he probably doesn't bother trying to clear it.

Yeah it's a bullshit rule. I always look back at that Lukaku goal in the last Euros where the ball was clearly aimed at him, the defender just in front of him cleared it and then Lukaku picks it up and scores. Surely that's interfering with play at the very least?

[Luca]

Malacia for that offside goal :D still, he definitely isn't useless at attacking so there's that.

Obsessed :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

The rulemakers are so anxious about dull product/content that they will completely liberalise interpretations of offside, it's only going in one direction. You'll see red cards disappear except in a few circumstances over the next few years too.

[Lewis]

Anthony Gordon looks like the caddy from Happy Gilmore.

[Gray Fox]

VAR should be overturning that penalty.

[Don]

Obsessed :drool:

Haven't even begun, son. Got 2 balls and a shaft that need some hard polishing by you boys when City absolutely humiliate you and bring you back to reality.

[-james-]

You can see Frank Lampard's scalp under the lights. He needs to resign for his own health.

I came here to post about this. Should've known really.

[Boydy]

He looks terrible around his eyes as well.

[randomlegend]

Obsessed :drool:

Liverpool are shit again so it's all he's got.

[Don]

The Malacia and Antony e-victories are absolutely stunning in their potency and flair, I'm not surprised it has both of you on the ropes. Take a bollock each simultaneously and kiss please.

[Luca]

He’s on the ropes :drool:

[Kikó]

Antony is a young lad who is clearly raw and needs coaching. Malacia was signed for€12m or something daft, I'd be surprised if he's Cafu and not a good squad player in time.

Poor game last night, DDG was on the eckies but it didn't cost us too much. Casemiro was probably his poorest for a while but it didn't cost us overly. It's really a joy to watch garnacho at the moment.

[randomlegend]

Haven't even begun, son. Got 2 balls and a shaft that need some hard polishing by you boys when City absolutely humiliate you and bring you back to reality.

I expect if you make this exact same post another twenty times it might be funny.

[wullie]

Our 2-1 home defeat to Wrexham later is live on S4C, I hope this means the commentary is incredibly biased and in Welsh so I don't understand a word apart from the odd shout of BASTARD ENGLISH.

[Shindig]

Nah, when they slip English idioms into the commentary, it's a rare treat.

[Waffdon]

Yevrah’s mate Roberto is leaving Belgium to take over Portugal.

[Ian]

Is that actually confirmed? if so how the fuck does the absolute chancer keep doing it?

[randomlegend]

Is that actually confirmed? if so how the fuck does the absolute chancer keep doing it?

1611715914269089798

Looks like it.

[Ian]

Jesus wept.

[Baz]

Darwin Nunez ruled out and Cody Gakpo set to start. INJECT IT. :drool:

[Don]

What the fuck do you mean ruled out? If that's another injury I can't.

[Gray Fox]

I've heard it's absolute bollocks and it's the full first team:

Alisson, Trent, Matip, Konate, Robertson, Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago, Gakpo, Nunez, Salah

[Ben]

Demoted to ITV4 in favour of Ant and Dec.

[Yevrah]

Roberto is going to nail life as much as Sven did at this rate.

[Shindig]

Yep, this is a Newcastle third round tie. :uhoh:

[niko_cee]

The best day of the English footballing calendar got me to thinking, what is Ross Barkley up to these days [somewhat inspired by some of these Newcastle haircuts/hairlines]? I see he's at the washed up footballer graveyard that is Nice.

Nice.

[wullie]

Only the top two in the Championship have a better defence than us, and we've conceded three first half goals to Wrexham. I can't speak Welsh but I definitely heard 'shambles' in there.

[Shindig]

VAR would've ruled that out. :moop:

[Don]

Fuck me, look at our XI :drool: I've got a massive erection for our Utd boys to moisten.

[mo]

Only the top two in the Championship have a better defence than us, and we've conceded three first half goals to Wrexham. I can't speak Welsh but I definitely heard 'shambles' in there.

Absolute quality this game - commentators sound exhausted.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Windass :drool:

[Shindig]

Fucking awful midfield performance from us. Sheff Wed have pressured us into a right hole.