FFP

[lovejoy]

FFP as it current works ringfences the biggest teams (top 4 or 5) over the rest and then those in the premier league over those in the championship. It's not meant to do this. It is meant to stop clubs going bust. Personally I think "doing a Blackburn" is fine, as long as the club is sustainable. So my plan would be:

Stop nation states owning clubs (political interference and soft influence)
Put a cap on debt levels.
Require owners to set aside funds for clubs to be financially sustainable over 3- 5 years (so if they walked away the club could manage in the medium term).

If spomeone is rich enough and happy to pump the money in then why stop them?

[Richard E]

Leicester are in trouble with the Premier League now, apparently.

[Tuscans]

Aston Villa have sealed the biggest front of shirt sponsorship in the club’s history with Greek online sports betting platform Betano — £20m annually for two years! The Betano deal runs for two years until 2026, when the ban on gambling companies on shirt fronts comes into effect from the start of the 26/27 season.

[Nii Lamptey]

Guess beggars can't be choosers in our current predicament, but such a shame we couldn't have something that was visually and ethically a little more classy for our 150th year (+ in the champions league too)

[lovejoy]

I disagree, take the money while we can an leave it to individual to decide if the company is suitably responsible for your custom. No point in being too altruistic. If it was a case of this gambling firm vs Acorns and lose Watkins I know what I'd prefer.

[Dogtanian]

Great. A logo that looks like a giant arse.

[Somniloquism]

Someone showed another teams shirt with the logo and it is just all in black.

[Bad English]

Great. A logo that looks like a giant arse.

We've got John McGinn!

[PeterWithe]

Still the ranking appears to be, Villa, Liverpool, Inter Miami, Barca/Real Madrid, then the Mancs and London clubs.

Of those behind the one true choice, I really object to the Yanks and Iberians. The others are bad enough, but it takes a different level of insecurity and insufferability to follow a celeb player or truly hateful anti-football conglomerate from another country. These people grow up to be middle managers and HR sadists. They need isolating and firing into space.

My boy has a Inter Miami kit, I haven't yet got around to finding out enough about them to hate them as much as the others, and, well, he wanted one and anything for a quiet life.

[Percy McCarthy]

Still the ranking appears to be, Villa, Liverpool, Inter Miami, Barca/Real Madrid, then the Mancs and London clubs.

Of those behind the one true choice, I really object to the Yanks and Iberians. The others are bad enough, but it takes a different level of insecurity and insufferability to follow a celeb player or truly hateful anti-football conglomerate from another country. These people grow up to be middle managers and HR sadists. They need isolating and firing into space.

My boy has a Inter Miami kit, I haven't yet got around to finding out enough about them to hate them as much as the others, and, well, he wanted one and anything for a quiet life.

Yep. Had to buy mine a Real Madrid shirt, and worse, watch him burst into tears when Kane missed that pen v France. I had burst out laughing which luckily he hadn’t noticed as I comforted him.

You just have to do these things as a parent. On the plus side, he has no problem telling gloryhunters what he thinks of them.

[dorsetvillian]

My lad had shirts from lots of top European teams but certainly only Villa from the UK.

[john e]

My lads get Athletic Bilbao shirts

[Stu]

Leicester are in trouble with the Premier League now, apparently.

Just seen John Percy tweet this story. It feels like a critical mass now: teams trying to compete are getting pinged left right and centre yet the gigantic elephant in the room that is the manc oil bandits just roll on with no issue.

[ldavfc4eva]

Guess we will add Acorns as the European shirt sponsor? Win win if so for everyone

[Chris Harte]

Guess we will add Acorns as the European shirt sponsor? Win win if so for everyone

Not all countries in Europe ban gambling sites, so it'll be BK8 in Lille.

Seems that Spain, Italy and the Netherlands do, however.

https://theathletic.com/4383423/2023/04/07/premier-league-betting-italy-spain/