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League also losing some referees…
Kevin Friend the latest of four long-serving Premier League referees to quit this summer in an unprecedented changing of the guard at PGMOL https://t.co/zJLBWJL6bE
— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceTel) June 21, 2022
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Howard Webb looks to be the new PGMOL chief refereeing officer next season taking over from Mike Riley.
Exclusive: Howard Webb to return from MLS as Mike Riley's de facto successor next season, as PGMOL chief refereeing officer. Will be a handover period when pair work together. Story with @Tom_Morgs https://t.co/A1pcWsEkNh
— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceTel) June 25, 2022
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As has been talked about before, the formation of the Premier league in the early 90s was the turning point and created the culture we have now whereby clubs became very rich and/or attracted billionaires to invest. To try and put some kind of lid on it all now is futile unless there is a genuine desire and big enough movement to turn things around. But do the fans really want things to change? Only if they’ve not got their own billionaire owner but if they suddenly did get one then they’d shut up pretty quickly. And therein lies the problem.
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Boehly seems to be picking up where Abramovich left off.
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This article from the MEN seems to point to the emphasis being on Ten Hag to lead the recruitment with the director of football following his lead. Still looks a bit of a mess if true.
“But United’s targets this summer all have one thing in common: Ten Hag. Murtough is happy to try and progress those deals but by doing so he is essentially hitching himself to the wagon of the new manager. If it goes wrong his head will be on the line as well, which is not usually how it works.
The focus is clearly on players Ten Hag is familiar with this summer and perhaps that speaks to loss of knowledge within United’s recruitment department. They are turning their attention to data, but experienced scouts such as Jim Lawlor and Marcel Bout have departed.
These are clearly defenders Ten Hag knows well, but it does feel like he’s leading the recruitment this summer, with Murtough simply tasked with delivering players.”
Via https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/man-utd-ajax-transfer-news-24291637
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I think Mane stated the AFCON win was the biggest trophy he won, ahead of anything at club level, so I think Senegal is where his affinity is strongest for. Hence you have him saying he’ll do what the Senegalese people want him to do. Added to that, I do wonder if the ‘rivalry’ with Salah on the pitch was a factor in him wanting another challenge somewhere, somewhere where he may have a bit more freedom in where he wants to play on the pitch? Or be top dog? Will he potentially be Lewandowski’s replacement and so be the no.1 striker there?
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I think many of those signings could be categorised as “statement” signings as opposed to signings bought with much thought into how they would fit in to the team. But I do think some of the fans are part of this as they constantly call for big signings. Then they turn on the owners when they fail. Those who try to lead mobs end up being chased by them.
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You know your club and manager are set up right when you don’t need to worry too much about players leaving. I think there were reports last summer that Sterling was unhappy at his playing time and also last summer Bernado I think was reported to be looking for a change. But both stayed and still had good seasons because of the manager. See also Fergie at Utd. A club should use players, not the other way around.
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Not completely digested this yet, but interesting analysis of expenditure comparisons of City & Liverpool after Simon Jordan highlighted the difference in net spend. He replies to Swiss ramble in this thread:
Recently on Talk Sport Simon Jordan @Sjopinion10 claimed, “Klopp’s net spend is £28m-a-year, Pep’s is £100m-a-year.” This thread will look at #LFC and #MCFC accounts to see whether this statement is correct – and whether we should assess their expenditure in a different way.
— Swiss Ramble (@SwissRamble) June 16, 2022
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Spot on Ed. You could just never imagine either manager, Solskjaer or Southgate, lifting a dressing room into battle. They should only have ever been considered interim managers, neither was ever good enough to take their respective jobs permanently. And, like the Utd board, it’s now awkward for the FA who don’t know what to do with a WC coming in the winter. Perhaps Ralf Rangnick is available from Austria? 😁
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Simon Jordan summed up the situation below. Southgate is a safe pair of hands that can say the right things in the media. But a safe pair of hands doesn’t win you tournaments.
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Probably also an element of thinking of shirt sales when buying established stars.
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In fact, if you chart the success of club buys of players who weren’t stars before they signed and those who were stars when they signed, I suspect the players with better longevity at their clubs were those who weren’t stars before they signed. If you look at City, I’d argue Mahrez was maybe the only established star that was bought and he took a few seasons to fully establish himself at City. Same applied at Utd under Ferguson – his teams were mainly made of players who became stars under him as opposed to him buying established stars. And the established stars were established probably because the team they were at was built around them, then they had to adapt to a new team/country.
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Nil, the biggest signing both City & Liverpool made were their respective managers, Guardiola & Klopp. They are the lynchpins of their respective successes. The paradox (and danger) of success is that you start to forget the ingredients that got you there in the first place, and you can start buying the real top end players just because you can do as the number of opportunities of your success skyrocket. Now both Guardiola & Klopp are outstanding managers who will most probably find a way to adapt such players into their respective teams, but I do really wonder how much Pep in particular wanted Haaland. A combination of the best manager with the best players is not the optimum condition – that condition is reached with the best manager and the most *effective* players. As I said, the signing of Veron at Utd was such an example of it not always working. Success can make you drunk if you’re not careful.
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A big club’s going to take a punt on Eriksen I suspect.
Christian Eriksen: “I have different offers and options, which we are considering, and then we make a decision”, he told Viaplay via @utdreport. 🇩🇰 #transfers
“I would love to play Champions League football again. I know how much fun it is, but it isn’t essential for me”.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 14, 2022
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Any thoughts on where Poch goes now after PSG? I can’t see a job out there for him so he’ll probably wait around and see who gets sacked. He’ll be there like a cloud hanging over ten Hag if he doesn’t get off to a flyer.
Or…Man Utd appoint Conte after Ten Hag fails to deliver & Poch goes back to Spurs. Then, harmony can return to the universe 😉
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How much did Pep really want or need Grealish & Haaland? Is it not more the case that City have money and ambitious owners who want the best players and managers like Pep can’t really say, no I don’t want them. Grealish struck me as a statement signing and to some extent Haaland is perhaps the same. I remember when Utd sort of started doing this when buying players like Veron who didn’t work out. I think it happens when clubs can get ‘drunk’ on success. That’s not to say Haaland won’t bang in goals, just that I’m not necessarily convinced Pep was the one who made these moves happen. Of course you can counter argue that the best managers can accommodate and adapt the best players into their systems. But I think it can cause them a headache.
Hence I’d say is that it’s probably better for managers to buy unfinished articles so they can complete their training more quickly in their own mould rather then working with more of an established player who you have to spend a longer time to retrain and rework.
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Funnily enough, remember when we bought Aspas, a striker, to try and fit into a 433 and it was a disaster? He career both pre and post Liverpool was great because he played up top again. There does seem to be a pattern with this. Neither Minamino nor Origi were good enough in a 433 and always looked better up top. Naivety that you can change players?
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City have picked up some good players under the radar Adlab, but as for Haaland, there are very few clubs who could afford his wages. What you could argue was that missing out on Kane the season before was a huge blessing in disguise which saved their money, assuming Haaland explodes, which is hard not to see given his record at both club and international levels. But both City and Liverpool are completely indebted to their managers, who both have a huge pull and without which neither team could do such good transfer business.
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I just hope we’re not buying Nunez on the basis of his performances against us in the CL. I think we bought Minamino on his performances against us but he only cost buttons. I can only suspect we’ve been tracking him for a while. As Ed alludes to, I’d have him down as more of a rough diamond than an established star yet. OK, that’s what the club tends to do but the money is a lot more than what we’d normally pay for an unfinished article. I think the club needs more creative Firmino type players. We’ll see how quickly Carvalho can get in the side. Can’t see Thiago playing a full season so cover needed there too.
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