Random footie

[Durhamfootman]

nice red dwarf reference, btw. Made me smile

[yuppie]

Thats a real interesting read SP. I guess Barcelona are hoping UEFA and La Liga crumble at the thought of possibly loosing them. It is disgraceful and i thought it was just them not honoring contracts with present players. Seems so much more worse.

I had read somewhere that they were planning to use this a threats to continue with the breakaway super league. With the way things are going at Man United perhaps they will want to rejoin the league as well.

[sussexpob]

nice red dwarf reference, btw. Made me smile

I have no idea why I said that... But it is a class line

[sussexpob]

Thats a real interesting read SP. I guess Barcelona are hoping UEFA and La Liga crumble at the thought of possibly loosing them. It is disgraceful and i thought it was just them not honoring contracts with present players. Seems so much more worse. I had read somewhere that they were planning to use this a threats to continue with the breakaway super league. With the way things are going at Man United perhaps they will want to rejoin the league as well.

Juventus, Milan and Barcelona by memory were trying to revive the dead body of the Super League long after the majority of clubs noticed it was over, so its hard to see what has changed. I think all three are the most debt ridden clubs in Europe, so it seems the appeal of the super league becomes more popular as a last resort... the fans reaction was extremely negative, so its hard to see that ever happening again.

At the moment UEFA do nothing and La Liga seem to be playing it by the book... wouldnt surprise me if La Liga buckled before the week is out, the big two spanish clubs always seem to find a way round things.

Not that La Liga can help Barca with its catastrophic finances....

[Durhamfootman]

Union beat Glasgow Rangers this evening in the champions League qualifiers... Great game, and Union could have ended it on the night but a few chances went missing. Probably get annihilated at Ibrox, but was still a great atmosphere and game.

nostradamus

[sussexpob]

Union beat Glasgow Rangers this evening in the champions League qualifiers... Great game, and Union could have ended it on the night but a few chances went missing. Probably get annihilated at Ibrox, but was still a great atmosphere and game.

nostradamus

Rangers were the better team by some distance on the night, but this game leaves a real horrible taste in the mouth courtesy of one of the most stunning refereeing moments I have ever witnessed.

With the tie 2-2 on aggregate, and coming to an end, James Sands made a clumsy challenge from behind (he might get the ball, but cleans out the man with it, always a yellow card...even the Daily Rangers/Record twitter feed said it was clumsy and worthy of a booking ) ... the ref went straight up to him and gave him his second yellow card, pulled out his notepad to put his number in it, realised he had already booked him, then stood there seemingly not knowing what to do as Rangers players barged into him screaming in his face. I thought at first he was listening to VAR to see if the challenge was in the box, and I was saying to my wife I was confused as Sands hadnt been shown a red card but had clearly already been yellow carded.

He ended up going to the linesman for a chat, and then gave a free-kick to Rangers for what can only be described as a phantom reason and rescinded the booking (the Union player had beaten him, was in front of goal, and was fouled... what the free kick was for is anyones guess). UEFA confirmed after the match VAR was not consulted in anyway.

So yeah, the referee decided to change his mind without using the technology, and only when he clearly realised he needed to send Sands off.

Ironically, Lazare was then booked and sent off for Union for two yellow cards for dissent.... not a single one of the three players who pushed the ref when he sent of Sands were booked, but Lazare was booked for reacting badly to a foul.

To cap it all off, Rangers third goal was from a free kick that was the cleanest challenge ever.... as per Athletic Scotland, so again, I am not being biased.

UEFA got what they wanted.

[sussexpob]

I mean, WTF is the point of VAR if not for that? Its the key moment of a two leg tie, the referee clearly believed he was right (offically the linesman informed him he thought it wasnt a foul) , the result of the decision has massive connotations...

Isnt it weird how this non use of VAR always favour the big team. The truth is, the referee didnt want to go to VAR because he knew he'd have to send him off. How can this be allowed to happen?

[Durhamfootman]

I don't understand how or when VAR gets used. I still can't tell whether it's supposed to happen automatically in the background, or whether the ref has to ask for a VAR check. It always seems to be completely arbitrary and with something designed to correct mistakes, it probably shouldn't be

[sussexpob]

I don't understand how or when VAR gets used. I still can't tell whether it's supposed to happen automatically in the background, or whether the ref has to ask for a VAR check. It always seems to be completely arbitrary and with something designed to correct mistakes, it probably shouldn't be

The referee decides. The VAR ref in the booth can recommend he checks something, but if he doesnt want to, he doesnt have to. The ref must make an original decision too with clear evidence to overturn. The amusing thing is, they then argue challenges by coaches arent needed because the booth reviews things automatically... but then the booth has no power to force the ref to view an incident, so the point is totally mute.

They have to change the rules to allow that like in NFL. One challenge a game which renews if successful. So many VAR decisions that would be overturned are not passed to the video referee because the on field referee misguidedly hasnt seen something and doesnt pass it on.

[Durhamfootman]

yes, there were a few instances during the recent womens Euros where the use of VAR seemed totally random

[sussexpob]

La Liga once again refuse to register Barcelona's players, but what seems apparent at this stage is Laporte is now green lighting further asset stripping to force these transfers through; and of course, that asks serious questions as to what damage to the future they are doing.

Barcelona essentially have green lighted a number of "levers" as they have termed it, which will be pulled to extract income from assets at different times. The first/second of these were the TV rights, and then selling part of their publishing rights, and then selling a big stake in their TV production and content company. All the cash will be ploughed into talent acquisition and trying to demonstrate they have enough money in the short term to pay the squad. One only has to look at the devil in the detail to see the dangerous game they are playing. At the moment they look set to flog more of their stakes in these companies, which according to Laporte is indirectly linked to the clubs fortunes, but what he really means is the effect will be delayed over time.

Take the TV deal. Sixth street paid about 20 million a year for their stake in Barcelona's tv rights... even this year, that stake is worth 45 million. Over the next 25 years, this agreement will lose Barcelona 1.125 billion in revenue, assuming of course that the TV rights dont rise in value, which they have pretty much every year/period in existance, and generally exponentially. They accepted the deal purely to get cash up front, but every single year for the next 25, that deal is just bleeding value... its like taking a loan out with a massive rate of interest. This is reflected now in all of Barcelona's future assets, with sales in most categories. To force the registration, Laporte is going to sell more of these rights at lower than their actual yearly yields, just to get money before the 31st August. Each on of these sales is a blow to the football club moving forward.

When Barcelona loaned 900 million from Goldman Sachs recently, it was stated that only a small portion of that would be used for footballing budget. Yet Laporte has blown nearly 20 percent of the loan on players (before wages), so he's even out of control on his own investment agreements.

When you factor it all in, to register 170 million of new players, they have essentially lost over a billion euros..... and thats before you think they are in debt to nearly 1.5 billion. In any objective measure, that makes absolutely no sense.

But hey, Lewandowski will probably start on Saturday, and that seems all that matters.

[Durhamfootman]

I saw mention of the '4th lever' the other day

sounds like a Bruce Willis film title to me

[sussexpob]

Saying now a few of the new players have termination clauses that state they can leave for free if not registered by Saturday... I would find that very funny

[yuppie]

Saying now a few of the new players have termination clauses that state they can leave for free if not registered by Saturday... I would find that very funny

And thats how Forest got Lewandowski for nothing

[sussexpob]

Andreas Christensen apparently changed his Instagram photo back to one in a Chelsea shirt holding the CL trophy, and with ESPN reporting he can leave for free in the next 48 hours if Barcelona dont register him, I guess the player doesnt seem very confident about staying around.