lfu

Keeping Up With The Vardashians thread for the general chat forum?

If there's one thing about ultra culture I don't get it's the capturing of your rival club's scarves/banners/shirts, to drape upside down at the front of your own section (and then burning them? The kit collector in me pains at the thought of setting fire to a 90s shirt that would fetch £100+ in good condition 😂)

Got to wonder at this point if it's worth just releasing a data update as "FM25" next month and postponing the actual game until FM26

Go on Top, strike a £500 million per year sponsorship with Thailand's Tourism Authority

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/man-city-victory-as-premier-leagues-sponsorship-rules-declared-unlawful-0mp6kb7m0 Man City victory as Premier League’s sponsorship rules declared unlawful new Two deals with Etihad and First Abu Dhabi Bank deemed to have been ‘unfairly blocked’ in landmark decision which will spark huge concern among rival clubs The key facts Rules deemed unlawful because they did not take into consideration interest-free loans from shareholders to clubs Likely change in the regulations could lead to City striking more lucrative deals and seeking damages from the Premier League Clubs with high levels of borrowing now in danger of breaching of Profitability and Sustainability Rules Arsenal, City’s title rivals, have borrowing of more than £200million made up entirely of shareholder loans Premier League’s stance was backed by Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, West Ham United, Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham, and Wolverhampton Wanderers Manchester City have inflicted a potentially damaging defeat on the Premier League after the rules governing commercial deals between clubs and related companies were declared unlawful. In a landmark decision that could have huge ramifications for England’s top flight, it was ruled that City were unfairly blocked from agreeing two huge sponsorship deals earlier this year. It opens the door for the English champions, majority-owned by Abu Dhabi, to strike significantly higher sponsorship agreements with associated parties than previously allowed — including with Etihad, their stadium and shirt sponsor — and to pursue compensation and costs from the Premier League for abusing its position. Other clubs could also now seek damages should they believe they have been impacted. An independent panel of three retired judges concluded that the rules were unlawful because they did not take into consideration interest-free loans which shareholders lend to clubs. The decision will spark huge concern among a number of City’s Premier League rivals — who rely heavily on such loans — and is likely to lead to the rules being changed. The panel states that, of the £4billion in total borrowing across the Premier League, £1.5billion is in loans from club owners and shareholders. If the rules are altered and commercial loan rates are now applied to these interest-free loans and have to be included in a club’s profitability and sustainability calculation, many clubs could find they are in breach of Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR). City had argued that such payments were unfair and not at market value because they were interest-free and, in some cases, did not have to be repaid at all. For a club such as Arsenal, with borrowing of more than £200million made up entirely of shareholder loans, that is a potentially seismic development. Associated Party Transaction (APT) rules were introduced in December 2021 in the wake of the Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United, and further amended in February this year. The rules were designed to maintain the competitiveness of the Premier League by preventing clubs from inflating commercial deals with companies linked to their owners. Transactions are independently assessed to ensure they are of “fair market value”. The Times revealed in June that City had launched unprecedented legal action against the Premier League and argued that the APT rules were contrary to the Competition Act 1998. While some elements of City’s claim were dismissed, the 175-page partial final award, which has been seen by The Times, found that: • Some of the new rules brought in by the Premier League earlier this year, which include placing the burden of proof onto clubs to show that deals are of fair market value, are unlawful • The rules are also unlawful because they do not take into account interest-free loans that shareholders use to inject funds into their clubs • Both the original and amended rules are procedurally unfair because a club is not given access to comparable deals the Premier League can use to determine fair market value.

Zabarnyi is 6 or 7 feet away from Stephy which I think is on the fringe of "too close to react in time", but given Smith (#15) is closer and anticipating the ball has his arms by his side, for me that sways it into a justifiable penalty

Does this belong in this thread? 😂 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/nadhim-zahawi-football-hooligan-liverpool-b2623543.html Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has admitted that he used to be a football hooligan and would “go out looking for fights”. The 57-year-old, who served under Boris Johnson, revealed he was a member of Liverpool Football Club’s firm as a younger man. Speaking at the Henley Literary Festival, a partner of The Independent, Mr Zahawi said: “I was part of Liverpool’s firm and would go out looking for fights as a football hooligan. “In one fight with Southampton fans, I remember a giant police horse smashed me into a shop front on Seven Sisters Road in London.”

Union Berlin have revealed their updated plans to renovate/expand their stadium 40,500 capacity with 32,500 standing places and 8,000 seats, with construction to take place during the 26/27 season. Looks absolutely mega.

Another demand to make of the club at the next fan meeting then: if they still want to hand out clappers, put mental health resources on the the clappers for the fixture closest to World Mental Health day

For those unenamoured with modern Premier League football and the Super League Six, I highly recommend the Bundesliga (outside of Bayern Munich) and the 2. Bundesliga. Often entertaining games with end-to-end football, raucous atmospheres and great fan culture. I've been following Kaiserslautern as a second team since 2017/18

if he doesn't get 4 points from Bournemouth and Saints then it's irredeemable (if it wasn't already!)

Arsenal had 10 "Big Chances" yesterday We've had 8 Big Chances all season (joint 18th along with Wolves)

Deflected header from a set piece and a 0.0xG flukey wonderstrike to paper over the cracks of Martinelli getting loose from him for their first goal, Martinelli's cross for Trossard's goal coming from his flank, and kicking the ball out of Mad's hand straight into Havertz for their 4th goal. Not to pin the whole of the blame on JJ but it's yet more data for the worrying trend of how many goals we're shipping, baffling how Cooper doesn't realise it

Place your bets on who the first team to put a bid in for him will be I can see Barca offering £20m (£1m upfront and £19m to be paid in 2054) plus the ghost of Oriol Romeu's hamstrings in January to replace Ter Stegen

Should we call it the Okazaki role instead?

Can only see Arsenal taking a very early 2-0 lead, taking their foot off the gas and us doing nothing for the next 60 minutes until Ayew is subbed off for Fatawu at 75, we try to attack and then instantly concede a third or fourth Will be comparatively happy if it goes any better than that

This needs to be brought up at the next fan meeting with the club

Banger of a goal from Osorio for Midtjylland

or Diego Martínez https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/nov/29/diego-martinez-i-saw-english-football-and-i-had-to-experience-it

something about symbolising the rise in popularity of women's football, it's a bit contrived

Losing the xG battle against a League 2 team, jfc that's embarrassing

What's the material like with Hummel kits? They can make really nice looking stuff but I've read that some have complained of the shirts feeling cheap and nasty

Umbro's UK sublicence being taken over by Castore doesn't fill me with confidence (effectively it seems like they'll be Castore's second tier brand in the future, meaning not very commercially lucrative deals?), but they have been doing some great kits lately What other brands would be appealing choices, New Balance maybe? Their kits for Porto and Lille this season are decent looking but they had some shockers with Liverpool

Slim Fit

Coady hasn't shown any glimpses of being a PL-calibre defender in about 3 years Why should Cooper not be given the blame for chucking him on to defend a 1 goal lead with over 20 minutes including stoppage time left to play?