April Football: Just 71 Days to the Club World Cup

[Jimmy Floyd]

Eight teams remain in the various European competitions; one team remains in the Premier League title race, but many more will vie for fourth place glory, fifth place triumph, sixth place nirvana and the eternal fame that will come with top seven status.

Relegation is sorted. Southampton, Ipswich and another team that escapes me are soon to fuck off and die until the year after.

Promotion? Sheffield United look to be soaring back. Faltering Leeds take on spluttering Burnley to join them.

In the FA Cup, Nottingham Forest take on Manchester City for a place in the final, while Aston Villa do the same against Crystal Palace.

Other footballs will no doubt be kicked worldwide. Of particular note, Spain has a decent title race going, as does Italy, though in Wales it looks as though The New Saints may have seen off Penybont.

Semi-automated offsides are coming to the Premier League, you can imagine my excitement at the idea of a laser ruling on where people are standing on some grass. Perhaps this is the boon that football needs.

Discuss your April soccer action here.

[John Arne]

£10 that Al-Nassr replace Club Leon in the Club World Cup.

[Pepe]

What's going on with Leon?

[John Arne]

I believe they got kicked out for multi club ownership

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/apr/04/club-leon-pachuca-get-hearing-date-in-appeal-over-club-world-cup-ouster

[Pepe]

I see. Yes that's been a thing in Mexico for a long time.

[Ben]

Are the proper clubs going to take the Club World Cup seriously now or is it still Mickey Mouse?

[John Arne]

They've thrown so much prize money at it, the bean countries want them to take it seriously.

[Gray Fox]

It'll be interesting to see how clubs view the competition if the money in it stays as is, or increases.

[Waffdon]

Every club will absolutely take it seriously. It’s free money by just being there never mind winning a few games

[Lofty]

Just like the horse racing and golf over there, you can call it mickey mouse but mickey's gold plated.

[Pleb]

Fuck all that.

Have you seen the state of the National League South particularly the TITLE RACE?

[Shindig]

Four horse race

At least the FIFA Club Cup has a proper format now. The chance for smaller clubs to upset the apple cart is ... at least more likely than those times where the European sides get byes.

[Spikey M]

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It's just the way we're shit mate.

[Waffdon]

Just like the horse racing and golf over there, you can call it mickey mouse but mickey's gold plated.

It’s a far bigger upgrade than the usual Club World Cup.

[phonics]

It’s so Spurs that the only silverware they won in 25 years was also the 3rd worst season they had in that time. Even when they win they’re a joke.

[phonics]

I was trying to find arsenals ppg and ended up on transfermarkt. The year George Graham won the title with Arsenal they scored 74 goals and conceded 18

[Gray Fox]

He just doesn't see how that was clear and obvious, mate.

[Gray Fox]

It’s a far bigger upgrade than the usual Club World Cup.

Quite. It will be quite the advantage to the clubs that can get into it every year.

[niko_cee]

Will it though? Financial muscle is not what it once was, and those serial attendees are fine extorting money out of their own leagues generally.

Will be equally interesting to see if Pep and whoever is in charge of Chelsea next February are crying into their cornflakes about not having had a pre-season and player burnout.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Part of me thinks we should go to a baseball-style schedule with 3-4 league games a week every week. Either the game slows down and becomes much more skill-based as a result, and/or you have to utilise your squad far more and actually play all those stockpiled players (obviously we're regulating for a maximum squad size).

[niko_cee]

More like baseball.

Not something that should ever be said of any sport. Even lawn bowls.

[Jimmy Floyd]

More like baseball is pretty much the journey of every sport over the last 10 years, except of course baseball, which is becoming more like cricket.

[Gray Fox]

Will it though? Financial muscle is not what it once was, and those serial attendees are fine extorting money out of their own leagues generally.

Will be equally interesting to see if Pep and whoever is in charge of Chelsea next February are crying into their cornflakes about not having had a pre-season and player burnout.

Well the idea is spending is based on earnings right? If this competition pays you in another £60m for basically just turn up then that's another good player you can buy without having to sell.

[niko_cee]

It's another player you can buy.

Whether they are good or not, well, ask Todd Boehly.

Are they tethering to turnover or the turnover of the lowest club turnover in the league in the new system? Presumably the former, but I'm not sure money is as all powerful as it has been.

[Pepe]

Part of me thinks we should go to a baseball-style schedule with 3-4 league games a week every week. Either the game slows down and becomes much more skill-based as a result, and/or you have to utilise your squad far more and actually play all those stockpiled players (obviously we're regulating for a maximum squad size).

162 games per season in the MLB. Imagine the money football teams could make.

[niko_cee]

The mass deaths from all those pies and pints [never mind all the tension] would make covid look like a mild cold.

[Gray Fox]

It's another player you can buy.

Whether they are good or not, well, ask Todd Boehly.

Are they tethering to turnover or the turnover of the lowest club turnover in the league in the new system? Presumably the former, but I'm not sure money is as all powerful as it has been.

Newcastle as an example has almost a bottomless pit at its disposal, but can't use it unless they start cracking that top 4(5), right? Or are things drastically changing there?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Man Utd v Norwich for the 9th time that season, both teams with 3rd choice XIs out, attendance 98,000. Unsinkable.

[niko_cee]

Newcastle as an example has almost a bottomless pit at its disposal, but can't use it unless they start cracking that top 4(5), right? Or are things drastically changing there?

My point is more that as you dilute the pool of who has unlimited resources, the power of those resources diminish significantly.

Abramovich Chelsea could bowl in and paint the town red [blue?], it took City much longer, and a conspiracy of ineptitude from United and Chelsea [their major financial rivals] was needed to usher in their dominant era, now if you add Newcastle into the mix you have at least 4 mega money clubs, I still include United in this, with two probably better football teams at the moment in Liverpool and Arsenal not far off, albeit with lesser resources, and then there are the rest of the league who have more money than all but the elite of Europe. The Premier League is too competitive financially for financial muscle to be as powerful as it once was. So this arrangement will do very nicely for Real and Bayern and all of the other dominant teams who have to worry less about their domestic standing, but whilst it will aid City and Chelsea, it is by no means a magic bullet.

As to the actual financial rules, no one has any idea about them, do they? The premier league can't do APTs, I was reading the other day that UEFA may take a much dimmer view of the Chelsea BlueCo sales of the hotels and the women's team.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Everyone has enough money now that it's much more important what you spend the money on. Liverpool are the only club that have consistently understood recruitment over the last decade or so. Everyone else has spent far too much money on players who are much too far away from being the finished article.

It won't make any difference to get £50 million extra from the Infantino Shield. It'll still be of maximum efficiency for Newcastle to sell Lewis Miley whether they have fifty quid in the bank or fifty billion.

[Shindig]

Newcastle as an example has almost a bottomless pit at its disposal, but can't use it unless they start cracking that top 4(5), right? Or are things drastically changing there?

From our financial report in March:

"Newcastle United increased its latest reported revenue to £320.3million (from £250.3million in 2022/23), reflecting 90% and 32% increases in commercial and matchday revenues respectively."

So, number go up. It also mentions the player sales which (I believe) do not include Minteh and Anderson's sales. They were concluded on 1st July 2024 which will be covered in next year's report. God knows how much the cup win brought in but maybe the mad scenes on TV gave us some visibility. Plus having the women's side play the occasional game at St. James gets some extra matchday revenue. Again, that's probably small potatoes.

I think the really big clubs make their bread from being a global brand. We're not there yet. We might never get there without regular European football.

[niko_cee]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football...s/cvgpx32emreo



Suspended one match ban? How long for? Arsenal need to find a way for them to violate the rules of decent conduct again [donning a Real Madrid shirt obviously qualifies as this off that bat].

[Magic]

That's a proper Rwanda '94 picture.

[Jimmy Floyd]

That or he's just finished a slap-up dinner with Barbecue Cherizier.

Suspended for a year, so if Mbappé violates the rules of decency in next year's group stage clash with Forest he'll have to serve a one match suspension in the subsequent trip to FC Zurich.

[John Arne]

This Iroegbunam fella has the worst touch for an BPLEPL player I've seen for some time.

[Gray Fox]

This recent trend of the hand over the mouth while talking to your opponent is a bug bear of mine.

[Magic]

We are on the cusp of the most awesome bottle job.

[Gray Fox]

I was told the other day that 12 of the matchday squad for Everton from the Liverpool game are out of contract in the summer and that's without the almost inevitable Branthwaite saga.

They look bad enough already.

[Danny]

Looking at transfermarkt its not that bad.

https://www.transfermarkt.us/fc-ever...ende/verein/29

[Danny]

On first viewing I thought Skelly had a handful of his shirt. Holy fuck thats a joke.

[randomlegend]

United u18s are something else. Just beaten Leeds 13-1.

[Luke Emia]

More good work from the ‘Mentality Midgets’. 11 points to go.

[Gray Fox]

Absolute shitshow from Darren England there.

[Lofty]

Blowing FT then deciding it was a free kick is AFCON level reffing.

[Ben]

We are on the cusp of the most awesome bottle job.

What is going on?

[Magic]

What is going on?

Well, it all started with the "we'll beat Reading's record" mentality after the Blunts and Blunderland victories.

[Gray Fox]

More good work from the ‘Mentality Midgets’. 11 points to go.

To be fair to them, Arsenal didn't do anything wrong today. Were winning and then Everton were given a penalty for I still have no idea what.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Palace had 3 points from the first 6, and then on for 40 from the next 24. They'd be right in the CL shakeup if not for that start.

[Kikó]

Phonics rage intensifies.

[Shindig]

Carl Magnay has called on Gateshead to bring some clarity to the club’s situation as speculation over a proposed takeover by a consortium led by former Everton and Sunderland striker Victor Anichebe continues.

Hmmm ....