09 Mar 2025 20:00:06
Question for ed,
Do you think these owners care about the fans opinions?
Its clear the fans do not like maresca system or style of play and his atrocious interviews,
How much more of this rubbish are we going to have to watch before maresca is run out of the club as yet another manager no were near the level required.
{Ed001's Note - they only care about the bottom line, like most owners in football. So long as the crowds keep turning up and buying merchandise, they don't care. It is the moment the crowds dip and takings lessen that they start taking notice.}
09 Mar 2025 20:17:50
I can’t see it happening but if the attendances dropped I wonder if the TV media outlets would pay the big bucks.
09 Mar 2025 21:36:33
Tom, I am bored with the narrative that the PL is the best league in Europe. True, any team can beat any team but that is because most clubs are pretty average. This season Liverpool are head and shoulders above everyone else . Yes they have some top class players: Alison, TAA, VVD and Salah but the the rest are nothing to write home about. However, they appear to have a top class coach which makes the difference. No doubt they will improve their squad in the summer so will probably do the same next season. I suspect that the PL will eventually lose its attraction as watching a lot of the the games it can be very predictable and boring.
09 Mar 2025 22:25:03
Jimbo don't disagree on the PL but I think we are going through a period where the top players have been played into the ground think this is true in all the top leagues,
Liverpool head and shoulders above anyone else but even they are starting to look tired.
We haven't been great but beat the gooners, unlkely I know but we would only be 3 points behind Arsenal.
09 Mar 2025 23:15:53
Seymns, I don’t accept that players are being played into the ground. Top clubs know they will have to play a lot of games. Clubs can register 25 players plus any players under 21 and use 5 subs. Top coaches can rotate their players depending on the importance of the game. As for Chelsea we have several players who are never available which puts pressure on the rest of the squad. We were knocked out early in the League and FA Cup and were able to use a “B” squad and young players against pub teams in the Europa Conference League: no excuses.
10 Mar 2025 01:36:48
I guess it’s about perception. I can only assume that the people who make the decisions to spend big money for premiership games have a reason/ BP. It seems to be a common business metric because the premiership seems to get top money for it’s product world wide.
10 Mar 2025 07:51:58
Jimbo I would agree that we don't rotate as much as we should but I do think that the top players over the long term don't have a proper break meaningless friendly's both international and club with pre season tours and with the World Club Championship coming up it will be even worse next year.
10 Mar 2025 08:51:36
Seymns, another one of my wild predictions but I can see a player match cap that covers all competitions being introduced. I think it will be 55-60 games a player can play in a season/ year.
10 Mar 2025 08:57:44
I should have also added that I think allowable squad sizes will be increased.
10 Mar 2025 09:53:40
You will still have unhappy players like we have had this season.
The first 11 will play 38 games in the league (if they keep fit), the rest will play cup competitions, and if in Europe, they will play the lower ranked teams.
10 Mar 2025 10:28:36
Bill, we are not alone in having unhappy players who don’t play regularly. As far as I’m concerned I would be unhappy if a player was happy to be in the stiffs!
10 Mar 2025 12:39:19
I’m sure players would support a match cap. They probably wouldn’t if they were paid by the game or a wages cap was introduced.
10 Mar 2025 13:25:52
That’s for the club and the player representatives to work out but if this Government take control of football governance, I think it’s very likely to happen.