Premier League 2021-22

[Jell 0 Biafra]

Is Grealish really going to make City any better than they already are? I don't think so.
As a Liverpool fan who wants to see Liverpool win the League and with City being one of Liverpool's rivals for that league, I'm not overly bothered about them buying Grealish.
I think Man United have done better business that would have me more concerned as much as it pains me to say.

Probably not.  But he might well have made Liverpool or Utd better than they are, and now that can't happen.

[Armagh18]

Is Grealish really going to make City any better than they already are? I don't think so.
As a Liverpool fan who wants to see Liverpool win the League and with City being one of Liverpool's rivals for that league, I'm not overly bothered about them buying Grealish.
I think Man United have done better business that would have me more concerned as much as it pains me to say.

I agree. Grealish is class but is he that much of an upgrade on what they have? Not for me. They are crying out for a Kane.

[Armagh18]

Is Grealish really going to make City any better than they already are? I don't think so.
As a Liverpool fan who wants to see Liverpool win the League and with City being one of Liverpool's rivals for that league, I'm not overly bothered about them buying Grealish.
I think Man United have done better business that would have me more concerned as much as it pains me to say.

Probably not.  But he might well have made Liverpool or Utd better than they are, and now that can't happen.

If that's City want to spend £100m on let them at it

[nrico2006]

Can Grealish handle no longer being a big fish in a small pond and how heavy will that price tag sit with him? Can't see them going for Kane now.

[Armagh18]

Can Grealish handle no longer being a big fish in a small pond and how heavy will that price tag sit with him? Can't see them going for Kane now.

Great result if they sign Grealish not Kane.

[thewobbler]

Grealish has the attributes of someone who is about to burst into life like Gazza in the early 90s. He has exceptional talent and drive, and the physical attributes are locking into place.

But City no more need him than they need an FFP inspection. They're stacked in left midfield. They're stacked in playmakers. He'd need to go up in production by 50% to make them 10% better.

——

Re Kane.

Football is  fucked. Clean fucked. That so many pundits and "general interest" fans are adamant Kane needs to win things so much, that he has to sign for the club who buys everything, is a dreadful reflection on the sport.

They seem to want city to win 5-0 each week, just to watch this "amazing" football.

Sport needs to be competitive to be fun.

Which is why FFP was put in place.

But right now it seems thats not what the people really want. Admiring  collective greatness seems to be more enjoyable than watching competitive matches.

The EPL has to eat itself soon.

[shark]

Grealish has the attributes of someone who is about to burst into life like Gazza in the early 90s. He has exceptional talent and drive, and the physical attributes are locking into place.

But City no more need him than they need an FFP inspection. They're stacked in left midfield. They're stacked in playmakers. He'd need to go up in production by 50% to make them 10% better.

——

Re Kane.

Football is  fucked. Clean fucked. That so many pundits and "general interest" fans are adamant Kane needs to win things so much, that he has to sign for the club who buys everything, is a dreadful reflection on the sport.

They seem to want city to win 5-0 each week, just to watch this "amazing" football.

Sport needs to be competitive to be fun.

Which is why FFP was put in place.

But right now it seems thats not what the people really want. Admiring  collective greatness seems to be more enjoyable than watching competitive matches.

The EPL has to eat itself soon.

Agree with the first sentence, but not the second. FFP was put place to reduce competitiveness. It was driven by the teams who happened to be at the top of the food chain at the time, and wanted to make sure they stayed there.
If they wanted to increase competition then they would have put in the same spending cap for every single team. But instead they said the team at the top can spend more than the teams chasing them.

[TabClear]

Grealish has the attributes of someone who is about to burst into life like Gazza in the early 90s. He has exceptional talent and drive, and the physical attributes are locking into place.

But City no more need him than they need an FFP inspection. They're stacked in left midfield. They're stacked in playmakers. He'd need to go up in production by 50% to make them 10% better.

——

Re Kane.

Football is  fucked. Clean fucked. That so many pundits and "general interest" fans are adamant Kane needs to win things so much, that he has to sign for the club who buys everything, is a dreadful reflection on the sport.

They seem to want city to win 5-0 each week, just to watch this "amazing" football.

Sport needs to be competitive to be fun.

Which is why FFP was put in place.

But right now it seems thats not what the people really want. Admiring  collective greatness seems to be more enjoyable than watching competitive matches.

The EPL has to eat itself soon.

Agree with the first sentence, but not the second. FFP was put place to reduce competitiveness. It was driven by the teams who happened to be at the top of the food chain at the time, and wanted to make sure they stayed there.
If they wanted to increase competition then they would have put in the same spending cap for every single team. But instead they said the team at the top can spend more than the teams chasing them.

I would be a big advocate of the use of salary caps, trades and drafts to create a level playing field. It seems to work in AFL/NFL in terms of increasing competitiveness and making sure all teams have their day. Unfortunately I think it only works in a situation where there is no international market for the top players so unlikely to work in soccer.

[thewobbler]

I'd think they should look at imposing a maximum number of full internationals at a club.

E.g  say it's capped at 20. You couldn't then buy any further full international players if you've got 20+ of them  already on the books. So you'd have to sell before buying. There'd be no issue having more than 20 of them. Just that you can't buy any more of them.

It's an imperfect concept I know. For example Arsenal could unearth 6 gems from their youth team which means they are looking at an awful lot of jiggerypokery in a couple of year's time to have any transfer market flexibility. But the key outcomes should be:

- it would limit  the potential for the type of player hoarding that City are currently doing. It's an absolute disgrace that they've a better bench than all but maybe two starting teams in England.

- it should put an end to international managers handing out caps like confetti. It wouldn't  be in a club's interests to let their erratic 19 year old prodigy gain international experience, until he's clearly ready for it.

- it could inadvertently act as a salary control tool. Chelsea would be less keen to have £200k a week substitute wingers as that type of salary means they wouldn't be able to shift such a player to make room for new blood.

- we would almost certainly see oodles of those swap deals that happen so much in Football Manager, but not in the real word. Which should see transfer fees fall.

- and within a max of 20 senior players in a squad, youth teams players will have a greater chance of breaking into a settled team, rather than being cast out into the carabou cup once a year.

[nrico2006]

Are the PL not looking into City's finances now with the expectation there will be some punishment coming from their investigation?

[johnnycool]

Are the PL not looking into City's finances now with the expectation there will be some punishment coming from their investigation?

Answer the PL to look at those club owners who've leveraged their debt onto the club rather than fresh money coming in with no strings attached.

[TabClear]

Are the PL not looking into City's finances now with the expectation there will be some punishment coming from their investigation?

What punishment though? The FA has no interest in getting into a legal spat with a club with City's resources so it will probably be  a "record" fine that would not be a weeks salary bill for city plus
some sort of a suspended points deduction that will never take effect.

Bottom line is City pay the fine and move on

[TabClear]

Are the PL not looking into City's finances now with the expectation there will be some punishment coming from their investigation?

Answer the PL to look at those club owners who've leveraged their debt onto the club rather than fresh money coming in with no strings attached.

This would not affect City. Ironically they are so loaded they do not have to leverage the club.

[Captain Obvious]

[johnnycool]

Are the PL not looking into City's finances now with the expectation there will be some punishment coming from their investigation?

Answer the PL to look at those club owners who've leveraged their debt onto the club rather than fresh money coming in with no strings attached.

This would not affect City. Ironically they are so loaded they do not have to leverage the club.

Hence Man City are in less danger of folding if the Arabs walked away.

Leeds back in the day were on the verge due to spending money they didn't have and financial rules are indeed needed.

I'd have my concerns about how Farhad Moshiri is "funding" Everton. Wonder if he's stumping up the cash himself or just borrowing cheap money on the never never!